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	lord_n	soul_n	13,508	5	5.1021	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93737	Divine arithmetick illustrated in the right and exact numbering of our days, or, A discourse of the near and continued approaches of death unto every one whatsoever with the same inference and application which the apostle in I Cor. 15 makes from and alike subject, that the knowledge and consideration of these things should exhort people to be stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord / by Richard Stafford.	Stafford, Richard, 1663-1703.	1697 (1697)	Wing S5117; ESTC R42707	17,947	18

from within my self ever since I was a Child and had the least Knowledge of Good and Evil that there was another Life and another State which People should enter upon and go into after that they are departed off from this Earth I was all along and am still as verily Persuaded and as certained of it as I am sure that at the writing these Lines I now Live and Breath And thereupon Revolving and Pondering many things in my Mind how that all things here are but vain little and passing away as a Shadow and do not signifie much fain would I be happy and safe as to the Succeeding and Eternal State of things into which my Soul must Launched forth out of this Body So I came at length to be acquainted with the Ways of God and I have made it my Business to serve him although it hath been all along which I desire to acknowledge in bitterness of Soul accompanied with too many Failings and Imperfections and comings short of what the Lord hath Required of me It should be a constant Rule that whensoever I declare and make known my own Experiences there the Reader or Hearer should confer Notes and compare it at the very same Instant with those Experiences of his own for there is nothing like to this Euperimental Kind of Preaching when a Minister doth inwardly feel what himself doth Speak and Speak out what himself doth feel for we are Fellow Servants and Fellow Travellers and God who Fashioneth the Hearts of the Inhabitants of the Earth alike Psal 34. 15. doth bring all his Sons and Daughters unto Glory by near the same way in all their several Generations and Countreys All of them that ever did or shall come to Glory they were every one of them so wise as to Consider their latter End Saith one of them Lord make me to know mine End and the Measure of my Days what it is that I may know how frail I am And so when we Read the History of the Saints and Servants of God in Hebrews this general Character is given of them all They confessed that they were Strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth for they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a Countrey Heb. 11. 13 14. And if they seek a Countrey they must be mindful of that Entrance or Passage which lets into that Coutrey which is Death A Stranger or Pilgrim are Relative Words and do Relate unto somewhat to which they should be acquainted and to somewhere they should be at home Now God is the Father of Spirits to whom they are Related and with whom they should be acquainted according to what is written Acquaint now thy self with him and be at Peace Job 22. 21. Though a Stranger is not acquainted and know in such a place yet others elsewhere do know him And so God is acquainted with all Men as they are his Creatures Thou art acquainted with all my Ways Psal 139. 3. Though alas too many are not acquainted with him And then mention is made in Ecclesiastes That Man goeth to his long Home and the Mourners go about the Streets So that he is a Pilgrim all the while he is on this Earth They are all so in Deed and Reality but few do confess themselves to be so that is Strangers and Pilgrims and declare plainly that they seek a Countrey so as not to be Mindful of that Countrey they now are in no further than barely to Furnish them with Necessaries and Accommodations for their intended Passage and Journey but not to sit down or settle any Abode or Dwelling-place herein for a Stranger or Pilgrim doth denote one who is in a Travelling and Moving Posture and they are not long in a place and also they have a fixed certain and intended Place or End to which they make or otherwise they are but Wanderers And again it is certain as long as they are Travelling and Moving if they are set aright every Minute they draw nearer and nearer to their home or ot the place where they would be Now whereas many People would willingly stay here always by their Good-will it shall not be so for an the Soul here is in Prison so it is a Moveable Prison or a Moveable Waggon and the Wheels thereof are always going until the Appointed Time when they shall Cease and let out the Soul into the Invisible VVorld Thus much is sensible and evident that the Pulse is always beating towards its last stroke It is appointed unto Men once to die This Particle once makes it yet more terrible and raises in it yet greater Thought and searching of Heart for we do more dread and are more apprehensive of things which we were never sensible of nor had experienced before Of so many Millions since the Creation of Man upon the Earth we read or hear of but very few that did return again after they were passed into the Gates of Death We read of some as of Lazarus and the Saints that arose at our Saviour's Crucifixion and Resurrection Mat. 27. 52 53. but none are recorded who gave an exact account how or what manner of thing it is to dye how much Pain they did undergo therein or how the Bitterness of Death did taste and how it was with the Soul in the separated State this is left to every one of us to know and feel It is as natural a thing to dye as it is to live for we are appointed to that all one as to be born or to pass through a little mean while here It is only to break that which was liable to be broken before or to melt down that which was meltable Suppose that any one who shall hear or read this were to dye at such a day certain about a Month or six Weeks or a quarter of a Year hence and it is likely enough to be some ones Condition How would such a Message possess that Soul with fear and surprize God who hath determined the Times before appointed Acts 17. 26. doth know exactly the day of the Month and the Year with the Place and also the manner with what Sickness or outward Accident or Casualty each of us shall dye for it is certain to God but unknown to us So it is of all the Sons and Danghters of Men although some of them are now Healthy Lusty and strong If death is not most commonly sudden yet Sickness or Casualty is always sudden which in a week or an hours time will cut down the Tree to the Ground and fetch out the Soul to give an account for the Deeds done in the Body The Lord of Life knows all by our Names and who would now think that such a Person and such a Person according as he appoints and marks them out in his own order shall die such a day and in such a place and of such a Disease or Accident This same Tongue which hath spoken forth his Truths shall one day faulter and be laid

which he is afraid to die For God will all one enter into Judgment and call People to an account for the same all one as if they did die in the very Act of such or such sins And so it is of the several deeds already done now in doing or to be done in the body Each thing now is just done and then it passes into Judgment for we shall be called in question and to give account for each days Transactions And if as Christ saith Sufficient unto the day is the Evil thereof So if we would have Boldness and Comfort at the last and great Tribunal we should in the mean while look well unto it and give heed and use our utmost diligence and endeavour that to counterpoise for the Evil of each day some Good should be done something for the Glory of God and for the Good of his Church and People as also for the Edification and Advancement of our own Souls in Righteousness and true Holiness That it may be pronounced at last to our endless and unspeakable rejoycing when all the days of this Life shall come to be rehearsed as they now pass though it will be hardly said as to the best Saints and Servants of the Lord for all come short of the Glory of God Rom. 3. 23. and of what he hath required sufficient unto the day is the Good thereof yet in each day somewhat was the Good thereof Every rising of the Sun and setting of the same sets us somewhat nearer to the general and final Audit the great day of Account and Retribution to every one according to his Works Yea so doth every minute and second which is the least reckoning of Time for as sixty minutes make an hour so sixty seconds make a minute and this Time is in continued flux and passing on until it comes to be determined and swallowed up in that last Period when Time shall be no longer Like as a little Brook or River loses it self when it ends and empties it self into the great and wide Ocean As the shadow upon the Dial is always moving though to us it seems very slow As the streams of a swift running River do continually pass by As the little sands in an Hour-glass are for the most part running Yea This whole sublunary Creation is made up of change and perishing things the World passeth away and the Fashion thereof and day after day and night after night they haste nearer unto the Eternal and Irreversible state of things so our selves Men and VVomen being a part thereof we are now in the same transitory and dying Condition and we do always approach yet nearer in time unto that state wherein as to the Earth as now it is and as to this Mortal Body and outward Flesh and Blood as to the manner of this short present Life we shall be no more But exhorting one another and so much the more as ye see the day approaching Here the Word of Exhortation is not confined to Ministers or Priests only but Indefinitely unto all Christians And so much the more Mark give heed unto and obey that as ye see the Day Approaching even the Day of Death and Immortality of Judgment and the succeeding Eternity Whether we Eat or Drink Sleep or Play Labour or are Idle the things which shall come upon us make haste and do Steal and Approach unto us nearer and nearer As it is written Fools make a Mock at Sin So there be some who make a jest of the World to come whereof the Scripture and those Instructed with the Ministry thereof do speak But it may be Proved and Demonstrated to such who have but any Sence as to Apprehend that there is a World to come in Reality whereinto many Millions of Souls have entered already and our Selves are just entering into the same It is not properly another World but only another part of this same World as a Room of an House For thus much is manifest even by Reason and Perspective Gla●●es that this Earth where we now in the Body do Inhabit is the least part of the World as a Point is unto the whole Globe This may be known as a Man And so it may be known because it is seen That the Day of Death to each Person is as certain as was the Day of his Birth and it will as certainly be as that once was And this thing of Death is the Gate or Door which lets and opens into what is called the Future and Invisible World And then do appear forth the things contained in Scripture which are the Objects of our Faith now But then they also will be Actually Present Visible and Manifested before us all one as the things which we now see handle and converse withal But let such Unbelievers and Scoffers Consider what is written To me belongeth Vengeance and Recompence Their Foot shall slide in due time for the Day of their Calamity is at Hand and the things which shall come upon them make Haste Deut. 32. 35. It is commonly-said of Old People That they have one Foot in the Grave already But this is certain and true of all People both Young and Old even Infants before they can stand or walk on this Earth that their and our Feet are continually sliding off from this Stage or Slippery place of the Earth even when we sit still or lye along upon our Beds we are always sliding off from this Earth In due time God hath fixed out and appointed the time when we shall be slidden off from this Earth And the Day of Calamity to Sinners and to such as have their Portion in this Life for Death to them is the beginning of Sorrows is at Hand It is not just already come but it is within Call and the things that shall come upon them make haste Looking for and Hasting unto the coming of the Day of God 2 Pet. 3. 12. Whether we do think thereof or not we do certainly run yea and fly towards it But the holy Ghost doth Teach and Instruct us by this manner of Speech Looking for and Hasting unto the coming of the Day of God that though we do move so fast towards it yet we should even prevent it in our Thoughts So we should think more Continually and Earnestly as we come nearer in time and see the Day Approaching Conceive the Case as so it will one time be that we were upon our Death Bed and Gasping for our last Breath and were Apprehensive every Minute or Quarter of an Hour that our Soul would take her Flight out of the Body we know not where What would our Soul for every Man's Soul is himself then give if she had it or do if she were able to be assured of the Peace and Favour of God How doth the Spirit then contract and gather it self as it were together and run and make towards the Father of Spirits Ones first Born Ten Thousand Rivers of Oyl Yea she would then