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	immortal_a	soul_n	7,080	5	5.8875	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A58147	Work & reward, or, The testimonial of a believer for his entrance into glory, examined and approved in a sermon at the interment of the vertuous lady, Margaret St. John, wife to ... Sir Alexander St. John, Septem. the 3. 1656 / by Francis Raworth ...	Raworth, Francis, d. 1665.	1656 (1656)	Wing R374; ESTC R21375	26,633	69

make a difference between dying for and dying in the Lord as if that belonged onely to Martyrs this to all true Professors Martyres hic intelligi concedimus solos vero negamus Gorhan But the substance is That when Gods children have done their work they go to bed their Lusts die in them and they themselves die in the Lord as Children in their Fathers arms Secondly As we have the work so likewise we have the wages or rather reward of Christians And that 1. Generally They are said to be blessed Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord They are blessed in Hope while they live and blessed in Possession when they die As a Christian cannot be fully happy before death so he cannot at all be miserable after death 2. Particularly and Punctually And that 1. Negatively Because they rest from their Labors their labors in suffering their labors under sin the labors of their Callings and subjection unto Temptations The World was their Tempestuous Sea Heaven is their Port and Harbor the Earth was the place of their working Heaven the place of their resting In portu navigunt quare sopor fessis 2. Positively and their works do follow them Though they leave the world yet they leave not their works behinde them The authority and warrant of all this is premised This Oracle is not the Invention of man but the voice of God It is the Spirit of God who knows the minde of God that saith so Thus saith the Spirit Quaery Why is it said from henceforth Were not those that dyed in the Lord before happy Answer Some say the Emphasis on this Particle henceforth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 q. d. Times will now be troublesome and as it was their blessedness that lived to the Lord at any time to die for the Lord so especially it is their Blessedness to die then It is some mercy to die before times of Judgement as it is a mercy for some to die in times of judgment Secondly Others refer it to their Blessedness immediately after their death that is their Souls sleep not in their Bodies till the Resurrection as some dreamingly affirm they are immaterial and immortal and ●o sooner do they go out of their earthly Tabernacles but presently they ascend to Heaven It is probable that the Spirit hereby would also presignifie by way of contradiction the Opinion of the Papists about Purgatory as if the souls of good men did take that stage in their way to Glory No saith the Spirit their Purgatory is in this world here they are purified and immediately upon the dissolution of the union between their souls and Bodies as their Bodies are blessed in the hope of a Resurrection so their Souls are presently blessed in possession those that die in the Lord are thenceforth or immediately blessed But I principally on this solemn occasion pitch on the last clause And their works do follow them First for the Explication then for the Application 1. For the Explication here are two Quaeries to be answered Quaerie 1. What is meant by works Answ There are 1. Evil works as there are evil workers The works of the flesh are manifest uncleanness idolatry strife and contentions Gal. 5.19 20. At death the sins of the godly leave them and their Graces onely follow them there sins shall be cast not into a shallow river where they may appear and swim up aloft upon the waters but into a deep Sea of Oblivion We must remember our evil works and God will forget them we must forget our good works and God will remember them 2. There are also good works or as the Apostle phraseth it fruits such as are gentleness and joy temperance and meekness Gal. 5.22 23. And these are those works that follow those that die in the Lord. 1. Specially works of Charity as they say of Oswald King of Denmark that in regard of his liberallity to the poor his right hand though he was dead withered not Works of Charity are in Scripture in a peculiar maner called good works 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of principality and eminency above many other works that yet are good in regard of the influence they have for to produce and give a lustre to all good works 2. More largely Though works of charity be good works and necessary to salvation yet there are many good works besides works of charity Faith is the work of God and a good work repentance is the work of God and a good work Charity is a Caelestial Orb but not large enough for all the stars of good works to shine and move in Therefore when the Apostle speaks here of good works we are thereby to understand in general all works that are good not onely a single Work not onely their Charity but their Faith their Repentance their Holiness they all do follow them Quaerie 2. What is meant by their works A. 1. Here is noted propriety Their own works follow them not the works of other men which Criticism suggesteth to us 1. The Absurdity of the Papist who maintains that a man may be so righteous as that he may not onely merit Heaven for himself but for others also It was an arrogant saying of a Romish Pharisee That he had done all for his own Salvation many years ago and staid in the world after that onely to gather treasure for others But as a wicked man shall perish by the hand of his own unbelief so the Just shall live by his own faith not the Prayers and Performances not the duties and doings of others but their own works follow them 2. The formal interest of a Believer in his works They are his works not because he is the fountain but because he is the subject of his Graces Sin otherwise is most of all things ours yet in a favorable sense as nothing is so much our own before we work as our will so nothing is so much our own as our works when they are done they cleave to us whether as fomentations to nourish us or as Corrasives to gnaw upon us that lies in the nature of the work but ours they are and cling to us our Work seem to be more ours then our Faith is ours our Works are ours as we have done them our Faith ours as we have received it Faith is ours as our Goods are ours Works are ours as our Children are ours Certè nos operamur sed Deus operatur in nobis ut operemur Querie 3. What is meant by this that our Works are said to follow us A. Though the acts of Grace be transient yet their vertue is everlasting They follow us Notes 1. Their company to glory As a Christian follows his work on earth so his works shall follow or accompany him to heaven he goes not out of the world naked and void of grace as he came into the world but he carries the garments of salvation the extrinsick and Red coat of Justification the intrinsick and internal

and unprofitableness under the means of Grace and that for ever Remember Christians that Death that is a Trap door to let some down into hell shall be a Portal or Gate to let you into heaven That that stroke of the King of terrors that shall separate your souls from your bodies shall separate sin likewise from you souls Your sorrowes now are mixt with your joyes your darknesse with your light you have indeed some rest while you labour how full then will your rest be when you shall rest from your labours and work no more this is your day of working hereafter is your day of rewarding this is your seed-time hereafter is your harvest Si Deus tam bonus sequentibus quam bonus fuerit consequentibus though here you sigh and mourn yet hereafter you shall sing and rejoyce though here you are as Pearles hid in and besmeared with durt yet hereafter you shall shine as the Sun Then you shall see the fruit of the travels of your souls then you shall not repent of your mortification and repentance Then finally will it appear that that man is happier that hath had Saint Pauls Coat with his heavenly graces then the Purple Robes of Princes with all their Kingdomes Fifthly By way of Advice to all That they may so carry themselves while they live that their works may gloriously follow them when they die To which purpose First Bee importunate at the Throne of Grace that ye may be made the workmanship of God which you must be before you can do the work of God Fiamus opus Dei ut facimus opus Dei your natures must be renewed before you can doe new actions A bad man can never Theologically do good works morally he may but he that doth a moral work only shall have a moral reward only as the wheele turns round not to the end it may be made round But on the contrary as the stemms must first be grafted on the stock before they can bring forth fruit so we must be Branches in Christ united to and made one with him before we can be fruitful in good works The Church in the Canticles is described no where by the beauty of her hands or fingers though oft by the beauty of other parts of her body because a Christian should abound in good works and yet in silence without boasting Or Secondly because it is Christ alone that works all our works in us and Grace is not our Creature but the manufacture of Christ Bona opera non praecedunt Justificandum sed sequntur Justificatum Secondly If you would have your good works to follow you send them before you Now Repent now Believe and hereafter you shall have the reward of your Repentance and of your Faith and as for Charity part with that you cannot keep that you may obtain that you cannot lose When the world shall leave you your good works shall follow you your gracious actions your good works are an inexhaustible fountain that shall never be dryed up a durable spring that shall never fail they are acts of time short in performance yet eternal in their recompence Non transeunt opera nostra sicut transire videntur sed velut aeternitatis semina jaciuntur Though they are sown in this world they shall spring in the next that which you lay out for Christ on earth you lay up for your selves in Heaven the hand of the poor is the Treasury the Gazophylacium of Christ and by charity in a Gospel sense you make your Maker your Debter and surely if thou be the Creditor of the Almighty it will not be long ere he come out of thy Books How foolish are they that fear to lose their wealth by giving it and fear not to lose themselves by keeping it He that lays up his Gold may be a good Jailor but he that lays it out is a good steward Merchants traffick thither with a commodity where 't is precious in regard of scarcity We do not buy Wines in England to carry them to France Spices in France to carry them to the Indies so for labor and work repentance and mortification there is none of them in Heaven there is Peace and Glory and the favor of God indeed Their works in my Text go with them they dare not go without their fraught A Merchant without his Commodity hath but a sorry wellcome God will ask men that arrive at Heaven Gates ubi opera Rev. 22.12 His reward shall be according to our works Thou hast riches here and here be objects that need thy riches the poor in Heaven there are riches enough but no poor therefore by faith in Christ make over to them thy monies in this world that by Bill of Exchange thou mayest receive it in the world to come that onely you carry with you which you send before you Do good while it is in your power relieve the oppressed succor the fatherless while your Estates are your own when you are dead your riches belong to others one light carryed before a man is more serviceable then twenty carryed after him In your compassion to the distressed or for pious uses let your hands be your Executors and your eyes your Overseers and that I may not be mistaken let your Charity have these two Qualifications 1. Let your works be done in Faith as without works we cannot profit men so without Faith we cannot please God we must be marryed to Christ or our children are not Legitimate our works are not right All our surviving out of the Ark will not save us from the deluge of Gods wrath As Isaac said to Abraham Father here is the Altar and the wood but where is the sacrifice so at last day when you shall knock at Gods door and seek to enter and hold up your Lamps and cry Lord we are Virgins we are Christians we were hospitable and charitable according to thy command let our neighbors be witnesses of our good works but will the Lord reply True here are your duties and your works but where is my grace of Faith Are these a satisfaction to my Justice where is my Benjamin the righteousness of my Son to plead for you My Beloved There seems to be less glory in Faith then in any other Grace it seemed but a sorry Grace a Grace of no great vertue Holiness is acceptable because it honors God Charity is noble because it profits men Thankfulness is melodious because its the tune of Angels Other works seem to make God a Debter to give as it were something to God but ad quid fides What is Faith good for Yes it is good for every good purpose it s the root of all the Graces it s the richest Grace because its the inriching Grace if Faith go before Works will follow Vbi Christus non est boni operis fundamentum ibi nullum est bonum aedificium 2. As works of Charity must be qualified with Faith or else our haec ego