Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	body_n	hand_n	soul_n	5,920	5	4.8872	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A36020	A sermon at the funeral of the Lady Elizabeth Alston, wife of Sir Thomas Alston, Knight and Baronet preached in the parish-church of Woodhill in Bedford-shire, Septemb. 10, 1677 / by William Dillingham ...	Dillingham, William, 1617?-1689.	1678 (1678)	Wing D1487; ESTC R10439	20,890	43

assured that he had fought a good Fight I shewed before briefly now He knew that he believed that he had fought and run and kept the Faith by reflecting upon the Operations of his own Soul as a Man that thinks may be assured that he thinks by a kind of rational Sensation whereby the Soul is conscious of its own Acts. But that his Faith and other Graces were true and genuine he might gather from the effects and fruits of them as here we see he doth from his Fighting and Running and from observing his own Sincerity in the answer of a good Conscience and Faith unfeigned while the Spirit of Grace doth by shining upon its own work in his Heart illuminate the Object and by enlightning the eyes of his Soul enable the Faculty to apprehend and discern that Object that it is indeed the genuine Work of the Spirit in his Soul And thus the holy Spirit of God by making us to know the things that are freely given unto us of God 1 Cor. 2.12 doth bear witness with our Spirits that we are the Children of God Rom. 8.16 I will not deny but that this Assurance which Paul had was a special Priviledg not common to all nor to many true Believers All true Believers have not Assurance some have not yet attained to it others may have lost it yet all must endeavour after it and all may attain to it seeing the Grounds and Arguments whence it may be inferred are common to all in some degree But they being eminent in St. Paul his Knowledg clearer his Love stronger his Zeal hotter his Obedience greater than those of others hence his Assurance was fuller and few can arrive to his pitch Yet since all true Believers have like kind of Evidence in suo quisque modulo according to their several measures and have the general Promises do believe and endure to the end and are faithful unto the death therefore all true Believers may possibly attain to be assured of their present state of Salvation and that they shall persevere therein and so in the end enter into the Kingdom of Glory and receive the end of their Hopes the Salvation of their Souls No danger that this Doctrine of Believers being assured of their Salvation should encourage them in the least to indulge themselves to commit Sin seeing it ariseth and is cherished ex intuitu from the beholding of the actings of Grace in our hearts and lives Holiness of life is the ground of Assurance if that once flag this must needs also fail for if upon reflexion we find our lives unholy this cuts the sinews of Assurance by taking away the Argument by force whereof it is and without which it cannot be inferred or concluded Extra studium Sanctitatis usum Mediorum non potest in actum exire haec Fidei persuasio was the Suffrage of our Divines concerning assurance of Perseverance But I am call'd away to consider the other particulars which yet remain to be spoken to and I shall do it very briefly 3. The Bestower of this Reward The Lord the righteous Judge By the Lord here is meant the Lord Jesus Christ as appears by that which is added the righteous Judge for unto Him hath God the Father committed all Judgment even to the Son The Person of CHRIST God-Man shall execute and actually exercise the Acts of Judging at the last Day Hence it is said Act. 17.31 God hath appointed a Day wherein he will judge the World by the Man CHRIST JESUS And Christ himself saith Mat. 7.23 I will profess unto them I never knew you depart from me And Rev. 2.10 I will give thee a Crown of Life There is one in the World who undertakes to dispose of earthly Crowns and Scepters to whomsoever he pleases yea and of the Crown of Righteousness too and the Kingdom of Heaven wherein yet he falls short of the modesty of him whose true Vicegerent he is for He pretended no further than to give all the Kingdoms of the Earth and the glory of them Luke 4.5 6. All this is delivered unto me and to whomsoever I will give it But what ever others may pretend unto The Lord Jesus Christ is the only dispenser of this Crown of Righteousness the Crown of heavenly Glory Jesus Christ he is Judge Which speaks infinite Comfort unto all true Believers their Advocate shall be their Judge and therefore they may promise themselves all lawful favour But he is a Righteous Judge this affords further comfort He is faithful who has promised His Promises are Yea and Amen By his free Promise he hath made himself a debtor though not so much to us as to himself and his own truth So that it is now but a righteous thing with God to recompence rest unto his persecuted Servants 2 Thess 1.7 4. The last thing to be considered in the words is the time when this Crown of Righteousness shall be given to Paul At that day viz. when 〈◊〉 the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels as we have it in the place last cited Which time our Saviour points out by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 7.22 in that day by way of emphasis And so St. Paul loves to call it as he doth three several times in this Epistle Chap. 1.12 He is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that Day And Vers 18. The Lord grant that he may find mercy at that Day The Day of the General Judgment lay uppermost in Paul's mind and his thoughts ran much upon it and no wonder if his eye was always upon his Crown for that is the time when he shall receive this Crown of Righteousness It is true indeed that at the day of Death when the faithful Soul shall return to God that gave it and be resigned up into the hands of Jesus Christ it shall be perfected in Holiness and enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but the glory shall not be perfect and compleat until such time as the Body which has been the Souls yoke-fellow and companion in doing and suffering for Christ here shall be redeemed from the Grave for which we are said to wait Rom. 8.23 Hence the Souls from under the Altar cry how long Rev. 6.10 and hence it is that the Spirit and the Bride say Come Rev. 22.17 Come quickly v. 20. Then shall the Soul and Body now again united be presented to Jesus Christ at his appearing and so the whole Man shall be rewarded and be for ever with the Lord. At the day of Death shall be a privy Sessions for every particular Soul but the general Assize shall be at that Day that great Day of Universal Judgment The believing Soul at the day of Death shall enter into the Heavenly Kingdom but the Solemnity of its Coronation shall be deferred till that day then and not till then shall its Glory and Happiness be compleated And thus much briefly be spoken concerning St. Paul's

To assure him of a Crown of Righteousness and by that Assurance mediately to comfort him against the Fear of Death of which I shall speak afterwards 2. By this consideration to comfort himself immediately and next way against the Fear of Death The Testimony of a good Conscience Conscientia rectè factorum doth arm and support a man against the gastly aspect of approaching Death For What is it that makes Death so terrible unto Mortals that the very mention of it makes them tremble like an Aspine-leaf The Apostle tells us The Sting of Death is Sin 1 Cor. 15.56 The guilt of Sin upon the Conscience is that which puts the Heart into such a palpitation For the Conscience knowing that for all those Impieties whereof it keeps the Register it must come to judgment and the Books must be opened and every one must be judged according to what is found written in the Books it dreads Judgment to come as Felix did and cannot but look upon Death as on the grim Serjeant that comes to arrest us and to summon us to judgment This is the Sting in the Tail of Death But now a good Conscience sprinkled with the Blood of Christ that sincerely reports unto us that we have by Faith in the Blood of Christ received him for the Pardon of Sin and gives us in an holy Life in evidence of the Truth of our Faith doth thereby shew that the Promise of the Gospel which was made conditionally is now become absolute unto us and that therefore we are already passed from Death to Life And then being once assured that our Debts are pardoned and the Hand-writing cancelled we fear no longer Death's Arrest but may say with this Apostle O Death where is thy Sting Thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory through Jesus Christ our Lord 1 Cor. 15.55 56. Thus we see that the Testimony of a good Conscience and nothing else without it can give us true and solid Comfort when we come to dy A wicked man may through the hardness of his Heart and searedness of his Conscience be sensless and stupid in his Death and so fall down like a Log into Hell-flames An erroneous Conscience may make a man brave it out and with Curtius leap desperately into the Gulf of the Bottomless Pit An Hypocrite's Conscience may set a fair outside upon it and dy possibly with seeming Joy but in the midst of Laughter his Heart is sad his Joy is but like the risus Sardonius when Men seem to dy laughing but 't is rather a Rictus than a Risus a grinning of the Teeth than Laughter and shall end in gnashing of Teeth in another World 'T is only the Testimony of a good and pure sincere and enlightned Conscience that can yield a man good ground of true and solid Comfort And therefore St. Paul being now as it were at Death's door takes this Cordial before he knocks hath recourse unto his own Conscience for his Letters Testimonial drawn up from a Survey of an holy and well-led Life and here he finds support And the like he had done before 2 Cor. 1.12 For our rejoycing is this the Testimony of our Conscience that in Simplicity and godly Sincerity we have had our Conversation in the World This also hath been the Practice and Method of other Saints and Servants of God in Scripture who when they were under the apprehension of their approaching Departure have fetcht their Comfort from the lame Topick which St. Paul here made use of viz. the Testimony of a good Conscience concerning their passed Lives and Conversations Thus good Hezekiah Isa 38.1 c. having received that doleful Message the Sentence of Death pronounced by the mouth of the Prophet Set thine House in order for thou shalt dye and not live whence does he look for his Comfort but from the secret witness of his own Soul testifying unto him the Sincerity of his former Course which he is willing to have tryed by the Sun-beams of God's own Knowledg v. 3. Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walke I before thee in Truth and with a perfect Heart and have done that which is good in thy sight Thus Elijah sitting under the Juniper-tree 1 Kin. 19.4 could not with any comfort have desired seriously as he did that God would take away his Life from him had he not had this assurance written on the Table of his own Heart that he had been very Zealous or Jealous for the Lord of Hosts as himself professeth v. 10.1 And how could good old Simeon with joy have sung his Nunc dimittis had he not known in his Conscience what the Gospel reports of him that he was a just and devout Man waiting for the Consolation of Israel Luk. 2.25 As ever therefore we desire to find Comfort in our Death let us lead holy Lives and keep good Consciences as Paul and these other Servants of God did There are scarce any so profligate and given up to all Impiety but do desire Comfort when they come to dy But alas by their wicked Lives they have stop't the Minister's mouth seared the Breasts of Consolation and cut off those Conduit-pipes which should have conveyed Comfort into their Souls There be many who will be ready to say with Balaam O let me dy the Death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his but they will not live the Life of the Righteous Mark the perfect Man and behold the upright for the end of that Man is peace Psal 37.37 But alas what Peace can thy Conscience or any other speak to thee while thy crying Sins and Impieties are so many Light is sown for the Righteous and Joy for the Upright in Heart Psal 97.11 A man may with as much reason expect to reap where he hath not sown as to reap Joy and Comfort in Death without sowing the Seed of it in an holy Life Sow then in thy Life-time what thou wouldest reap when thou comest to dy And thus I have done with St. Paul's First Meditation or his Reflexion upon his former Life well-spent I come to the Second Medit. 2. St. Paul's second Meditation is a Prospect into the Life to come and the Glory of it together with his own Share in it Wherein we have these Severals to be taken into our Consideration 1. The Reward it self called a Crown of Righteousness 2. The Certainty of it in those words laid up for me 3. The Bestower of it the Lord the Righteous Judg shall give me 4. The Time when it shall be bestowed at that day I. The Reward it self which is no other than Eternal Life the Glory and Joys of Heaven Which we have here set forth unto us under the Metaphor of a Crown of Righteousness The Joys and Glory of Heaven are called a Crown 1. Because Eternal Life and Blessedness are promised to us under the Notion of an Heavenly Kingdom Luk. 12.32 Fear not little Flock for it is your