Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A53500
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The living, dead pastor yet speaking in two sermons, preached on Bartholomews Day, Aug. 24, 1662, in Bewdly Chappel / by Henry Osland then minister there, and now published by some friends of truth.
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Osland, Henry.
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1663
(1663)
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Wing O531; ESTC R17697
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23,412
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72
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your choice A dead ministry is as good as none and an unpreaching Preacher is little better I mean such as preach well but live ill that look towards heaven and row towards hell Most people desire a Preacher like themselves but do you seek for one better then your selves you must some of you mend a great deal before you make the most holy and best men and a great deal more before you can be the best Magistrates and therefore for your selves you need a good yea the best Minister How much better was Joas for Jehoiadah it is but a little time and God will ask you how you came by your places and how you used your power I wish you may give a good account of both 3. As you are professors of Christianity both Magistrates and people have I pray you a special care of the honour of God in the Town God hath been honoured many years in this place godliness was eminently befriended so that the Town was eminently hated and greatly beloved for its sake the godly far and near loved it the wicked hated it and often threatned its ruine Oh let the honour of God be dear to you all Let not sensuality fleshly walking revellings chamberings and wantonness and all those luxuriances of the carnal part be found amongst you which are so contrary to the glory of God Remember God saith I will honour them that honour me 1 Sam. 2. 30. and those that set light by God shall be despised Mat. 22. Whether ye eat or drink whatever you do do all to the glory of God 1 Cor. 10. make this your end and aim in all undertakings Answer the temptation of Satan to pride lust envy gluttony drunkenness and flesh pleasing with this question Is this to the glory of God what will be the issue the end of this action will it redound to the glory of Christ how near would earth come to heaven and what a glorious resembrance would there be of the heavenly host of Saints and Angels by the sons of mortals on the earth if all they did were done to Gods honour its these base ends of pleasure profit credit ease earthly applause and honour that men prosecute on earth which makes this world so like the suburbs of hell and turns so many thousands into hell Psalm 9. For the wicked shall be turned into hell and all the people that forget God that is to glorifie honour exalt God Oh that you would observe this and all agree in aiming at and intending his honour and all of you would resolve never wickedly to sin more in Sabbath breaking swearing lest we dishonour God and cast contempt upon the dreadful Name of the Lord our God 4. My next direction is Endeavour to do the will of God and not your own live over your prayer thy will be done selfishness is a great sin and self is nowhere stronger then in the will when a man will have his own will God and his Laws are set in defiance wilfulness is the broadest plainest way to self-destruction If we should ask Why is the world so wicked it is because they are wilfull and they will have their own wills And why are so many thousands damned Because they followed their own wills and would have their own wayes and they could never be reduced to the will of God nor conquer the powers of their souls nor their earthly members to submit unto and close with the will of God but they made Idols of their own wills and then their own wills made them a worship and service of the jealous God which he abominated and their wills chose them out wayes which were cross to Gods ways And hence their perdition arose as you read of the Jews their wills choosed their own wayes then was war in the gates and God tells them Oh Israel thy perdition is of thy self thou hast destroyed thy self take heed of this wilfull refusing of the will of God and following of your own 5. Take heed of embracing damnable errors the things that God hath witnessed against especially take heed of Popery Antichrist must down and Babylon must fall though all the Kings of the earth labour to uphold them and that the Pope is the Antichrist and Rome Babylon there is more said for it then can be said against it Save thy self oh Zion from those that dwell in Babylon partake not of their sins lest you partake of their plagues the Beast and the false Prophet must be tormented with endless fire they have shed so much of the blood of the Saints that they must have blood to drink of which they are worthy You may safely lay down your lives for refusing Popery one of the late Prelates of this land hath left it on record that there is no peace with Rome Bishop Hall 6. Beware of a league with sinners let your companions be such as fear the Lord will you live in the bosome of those that must be in hell for ever such as will be enticing and drawing you from that which is good and into sin wicked companions have been the bane of many thousand souls you have choice enough there are many pretious believers amongst you of all sorts old and young rich and poor get into their acquaintance and fellowship as a man is so will his society be if sinners entice consent not Joseph himself was corrupted in dwelling in the house of Pharoah it is good breathing in a wholesome aire 7. Let not any sin raign or quietly dwell in you you may with less danger to your everlasting estate lie in a fire or dwell in an ocean of water then lie and abide in sin and yet no man will stay in a flame one hour or lie in a river or pond Oh but how long will men lie in the bed of sin and suffer sin to lie in them even till death dissolves the frame and separates the soul from the flesh and both body and soul from God Believe it Sirs sin is as bad and as full of evil as ever you heard it to be from the mouth of God or man do not lie in it till you feel it let not feeling make you believers but fetch faith from the undoubted Word of God You wonder why Ministers make such an out cry against sin why it is dayly their work to cry it down you wonder why men are so precise to stand at such a distance from the appearance of evil the shadow of sin Oh what nice men are those with you that cannot swear with you and subscribe to the Ceremonies and drink your healths Oh Sirs did you know the evil of sin the poyson that is in the smallest cup the venom that is in the least drop you would keep at the same or a greater distance from it then others do You that would not let a blemish be in your faces a small disease in your hearts Oh why will you let a sin lye in your souls a sin that will
the pure Gospel of Christ yet he will keep them alive in famine and save their souls from dearth It is all one with this great Shepheard to feed with means or without means with or without Gods people shall be fed and nourished 3. In giving life to the sheep John 10. 28. 10. I am come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly Inferiour Shepherds can give you but meat and food but the great Shepherd gives life also Use LEt then the first Use be of Comfort to the Lords people I know it is matter of trouble to many Congregations of faithful believing Christians that their Guides are gone and that they shall hear the voice of their profitable and beloved Pastors no more Well these are driven from you and a wofull breach is gone through the land yet the great Shepherd abides with you Precious believers be not cast down at your losses Are you scattered in the gloomy day as the sheep upon the mountains this Shepherd will gather you again Are you pursued with Dogs and Wolves do they bite you and devour you this Shepherd will defend and save you Do not you know where to go to find pasture this Shepherd will find a pasture for you Do at not any time say that you are as sheep without a Shepherd when you put forth the first act of saving faith you were assuredly put into Christs fold and you shall be kept there by his wisdom and care and no one shall ever pull you out of his pasture again 2. Here is matter of Exhortation If Christ be the great Shepherd then follow Christ hear his voice obey and follow him Beloved brethren you are like to hear my voice but in few words more All you that have given your names to me and have ever followed me I command you to follow the great Shepherd and follow none any further then they follow him his voice is the Gospel that he inspired that his Disciples penn'd and that he himself sealed with his own blood all are strangers that speak not according to this DOCTRINE 2. That the great Shepherd was dead for a time This is the second Doctrine To prove the death of Christ by many Scriptures and Arguments is needless it being an Article of our faith yet consult with these few texts Zac 13. 7. Awake my sword against my Shepherd Matth. 26. 31. Rev. 1. 18. I am he that liveth and was dead That Christ was dead but for a time is an Article of our faith also The third day he rose again from the dead it was no long time that the grave did hold him You may ask me What became of the sheep when the Shepherd was dead You may see in John 17. 11. I am no more in the world but these are in the world holy Father keep them through thy own name those whom thou hast given me He delivers them up to his Father and God undertakes the keeping of them and the sheep were safe continually till the Lord brought back from the dead the great Shepherd Christ left them in safe hands he had more regard to his sheep then to himself he suffered himself to fall into the hands of bloody and malitious men but he preserved his sheep he promised them that he would not leave them comfortless but he would come to them Use BE informed hence that if the great Shepherd were dead for a time then it is no Marvail my Brethren if the lesser Shepherds are dead for a time time also For as Christ was so must we be in this present world 1 John 3. This is one part of our conformity to Christ to be conformable to him in his death Phil. 3. 10. The Prophets saith Zechary do they live alwayes or for ever Zech. 1. 5. As for your Fathers where are they and for the Prophets do they live for ever They must dye as the great Shepherd did Now Ministers dye either a Natural or a Civil death A Natural death which is the separation of their souls from their bodies their Civil death is when they are dead in Law when the Law of the Land where they live silenceth them and makes them as if they were naturally dead And on this account there are many dead Shepherds this day in England this day of the moneth this day of the year this twenty fourth of August is the Shepherds killing-day and whilest England stood there was never so many faithfull Ministers dead whilest they lived There are many thousand Sheep bewailing their dead Shepherds and Pastors this day and many a child bewailing his dead Father Such Fathers which have begotten them to God as Elisha did Elijah My Father my Father the Chariots of England and the â—orsmen thereof This is the killing dâ—y O think it not strange though it be so It is said in the eleventh of the Revelations that the Witnesses must be slain and their dead bodies must lye in the streets so many dayes The Witnesses some take for the two Testaments but they have no bodies it is most probable that these are men and such as shall not be naturally slain but Civilly slain and it is very probable that they set out the faithfull Ministers and Magistrates that have been Christs Witnesses and born a testimony to his truth and wayes and such as stand to their testimony and will not deny his name these must be slain yet not naturally dead they must lye in the streets as dead men unserviceable disabled to do their own or the usual work of Christ that they have done they cannot act as Magistrates and Ministers These things are now doing The witnesses are at this time slain how long they shall lye we know not Whether three dayes and an half or longer but as Christ was dead so must they And beloved hearers this is the day that I shall be in this sense a dead man a dead Shepherd a dead Witness after twelve years labours and witnessing to the truth of Christ in this place It is your duty to remember the great Shepherd who is alive again who will seek you and provide for you and let you want no good thing but lead you forth in the green pastures two supporting things I would have you to observe 1. That the death of the great Shepherd was no loss but a gain both for himself and you First It did procure him a name above all names that is a power above all powers Every knee shall bow to him and to him every tongue shall confess so that he shall be admired in all that believe 2 Thes 1. All the earth shall admire him he is by his death become the Author of Eternal salvation he is an Advocate King Priest Prophet and shall be Judge at the last All power is committed to him in heaven and in earth Matth. 28. And Secondly His death was gain to us we had like sheep gone astray and had never returned had he