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	heart_n	sin_n	4,063	5	4.5548	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B10225	The substance of what Sir Henry Vane intended to have spoken upon the scaffold, on Tower-Hill, at the time of execution, being the 14th of June, 1662 published to prevent false reports.	Vane, Henry, Sir, 1612?-1662.	1662 (1662)	Wing V77; ESTC R233015	2,957	9

THE SUBSTANCE OF WHAT SIR HENRY VANE INTENDED To have spoken upon the Scaffold on TOWER-HILL at the time of his Execution being the 14 th of June 1662. Published to prevent false Reports LONDON Printed in the Year 1662. THe work which I am at this time called unto in this place as upon a publick Theater is to Die and receive a discharge once for all out of prison to doe that which is but once to be done and the doing or not doing of which well and as becomes a Christian does much depend upon the life we have been taught of God to lead before we come to this they that live in the faith do also die in it Faith is so farre from leaving them in this houre that the work of it breaks forth then into its greatest power as if till then it were not enough at freedome to doe its office that is to look into the things that are unseen with most stedfastness certainty and delight which is the great sweetner of death and remover of its sting Give me leave therefore in a very few words to give you an account of my life and of the wonderfull great grace and mercy of God in bringing me home to himself and revealing his Sonne in me that by the knowledge of the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent I might even whilst here in the body be made pertaker of eternall life in the first fruits of it and at last sit down with Christ in glory at his right hand Here to mention some remarkable passages and changes of my life And in particular how unsought by my self I was called to be a member of the long Parliament what little advantage I had by it and by what steps I became satisfied with the Cause I was engaged in and d d pursue the same what the Cause was did first shew it self in the first Remonstrance of the house of Commons Secondly in the Covenant Thirdly in the more refined pursuit of it by the Commons house in their actings single with what result they were growing up into was in the breast of the House and unknown or what the three proposals mentioned in my charge would have been at last I shall not need now to repeat them But onely from all parts together to assert that this Cause which was owned by the Parliament was the Cause of God and for the promoting of the kingdome of his deare Sonne Jesus Christ wherein is comprehended our liberties and duties both as men and as Christians And since it pleased God who separated me from the womb to the knowledge and service of the Gospel of his Sonne to separate me also to this hard and difficult service at this time and to single me out to the defence and justification of his Cause I could not consent by any words or actions of mine that the innocent blood that hath been shed in the defence of it throughout the whole warre the guilt and morrall evils of which must certainly lye somewhere did lye at my door or at theirs that have been the faithfull adhearents to this cause which is with such evidence upon my heart that I am most freely and chearfully willing to put the greatest Seal to it I am capable which is the powring out of my very blood in witness to it which is all I shall need to say in this place and at this time having spoken at large to it in my defence at my Trials and had intended to say more the last day as what I thought was reasonable for the arrest of the judgement though I was not permitted then to speake it Both which may with time and Gods providence come to light And I must still assert that I remain wholly unsatisfied that the course of proceedings against me at my tryall were according to Law but that I was run upon and destroyed contrary to right and the Liberties of Magna Charta under the form of Justice which I leave to God to decide who is the Judge of the whole world and to clear my innocency Whilest in the mean time I beseech him to forgive them and all that have had a hand in my death and that the Lord in his great mercy will not lay it unto their charge And I doe account this lot of mine no other then what is to be expected by those that are not of the world but whom Christ hath chosen out of it for the servant is not greater then his Lord and if they have done this to the green tree they will doe it much more to the dry However I shall not altogether excuse my self I know that by many weaknesses and failings I have given occasion enough of the ill usage I have met with from men though in the main the Lord knows the sincerity and integrity of my heart whatever aspersions and reproaches I have or do lye under I know also that God is just in bringing this sentence and condemnation upon me for my sins there is a body of sinne and death in me deserves this sentence And there is a simil●tude and likeness also that as a Christian God thinks me worthy to beare with my Lord and head in many circumstances inference to these dealings I have met with in the good I have been endeavouring for many years to be doing these Nations and especially now at the last in being numbred amongst transgressors and made a publick sacrifice through the wrath and contradictions of men And having finished my course and fought the good fight of faith and resisted in a way of suffering as you see even unto blood This is but the needfull preparation the Lord hath been working in me to the receiving the Crown of immortality which he hath prepared for them that love him The prospect whereof is so chearfull that through the joy in it that is set before the eyes of my faith I can through mercy endure this crosse despise this shame and am become more then conquerour through Christ that hath loved me For my Life and Estate all is not so dear to me as my service to God to his Cause to the Kingdome of Christ and the future wellfare of my Countrey and I am taught according to the example as well as that most Christian saying of a Noble Person that lately dyed after this publick manner in Scotland How much better it is to chuse Affliction and the Crosse then to sinne or draw back from the service of the Living God into wayes of Apostacy and Perdition That Noble Person whose Memory I Honour was with my self at the beginning and making of the Solemne League and Covenant the matter of which and the holy ends therein contained I fully assent unto and have been as desirous to observe but the Rigid way of prosecuteing it and oppressing uniformity that hath been endeavoured by it I never approved This were sufficient to vindicate me from the false Aspersions and Calumnies which have been laid upon me of Jesuitisme and Popery and almost what not to make my name of ill Savour with good men which dark mists do now dispell of themselves or at least ought and need no pains of mine in making an Apology For if any man seek a proof of Christ in me let him read it in this action of my Death which will not cease to speak when I am gone and henceforth let no man trouble me for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus I shall not desire in this place to take up much time but only as my last words leave with you That as the present storme we now lie under and the dark Clouds that yet hang over the Reformed Churches of Christ which are comming thicker and thicker for a season were not un-fore-seen by me for many years passed as some writings of mine declare So the coming of Christ in these Clouds in order to a speedy and sudden revivall of his Cause and spreading his Kingdome over the face of the whole Earth is most clear to the eye of my Faith in that Faith in which I Dye whereby the Kingdome of this world shall become the Kingdome of our Lord and of his Christ Amen Even so come Lord Jesus FINIS