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	natural_a	soul_n	9,727	5	5.7294	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A76092	Sick-bed thoughts, upon those words of the apostle in Phil. 1, 23 ... Part. I containing an answer to that great and solemn question, what that state and condition is, which a person must be found in, before he can have good and sufficient ground, not to be affraid, or unwilling to dye? / by J.B.	Batchiler, John, ca. 1615-1674.	1667 (1667)	Wing B1075; ESTC R42879	47,054	145

many ardent affections and pious ejaculations may pass from the heart to Heaven which the Devil may not know the reason of and of which alone God is witness This then is another excuse that Conscience makes for it self and 't is none of the least And yet 4. There is one more a very good one when all else is said that can be the Conscience flies to that in 1 Joh. 1.7 The blood of Christ cleanseth me from all sin So that let the Devil accuse as home and charge as deep as hee can yet here to be sure is a full answer for him an irrefragable one and such as he can never invalidate or take away the force of And in case Satan should be so impudent as to urge the matter farther and say that is true the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin but that belongs to none but a true Beleiver which you can never prove your self to be To this Conscience answers likewise and that roundly and smartly Thou lyest Devil and besides thou art no Judge in this case it comes not within thy cognisance what transactions are in my soul what mutual embraces betwixt Christ and me what acts of faith and love are in that secret place as I said before thou knowest not It doth not therefore follow it is not de non entibus de non apparentibus idem est judicium things that appear not to one that is ignorant are as if they were not Let that matter alone Devil for as cunning as thou art thou art no Judge in it it is enough that my God who alone is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the knower of the heart Acts 15.8 knows that I love him and believe in him whether thou knowest it or not Thus now we see what a good Conscience is in both the parts of it both as 't is honestè bona pacatè bona as 't is a quiet Conscience and an excusing Conscience every way void of offence both towards God and towards men and where such a Conscience is is it not a sufficient fortification against the fear of Death What is it that can be a just ground of trouble to this man That which is the most disquieting thing of all namely his sin and the guilt of it that is removed Christ hath taken it off from him What is it can be matter of terrour to him at the great Tribunal which he must one day stand before No enemy will appear against him there for God is reconciled to him and hee that shall sit there as his Judge is no other than his Redeemer And if Conscience here even in this life whose internal motions are known to none but God himself upon which ground none else but he can impose a Law upon it and oblige it be at so much ease Surely 't is from the same God that he is going to who alone can comfort or afflict the person to all eternity hereafter whose conscience he alone also can comfort or afflict in time But I hasten to answer two impertant objections which seem much to contradict all that hath been said hitherto SECT 9. Two important objections answered against the preceeding doctrine and what hath been said upon it FIrst It may be some will say shall we think that all those that are afraid or unwilling to dye are to be looked upon as persons without such a quiet and excusing Conscience or as those which have not such inward testimonies of a good estate and that in all the particulars which have been mentioned Would not this be very uncharitable to pass such a censure Yea and very unwarrantable too and against plain evidence both of Scripture and Experience Of Scripture which positively affirms Heb. 2.15 that some and those precious ones too for 't is spoken of Saints through fear of death are all their life time subject to bondage And doth not experience farther prove it almost every day How many choice Servants of Christ have met with hard struggles when they come to dye Have been willing to live yet longer if it might bee Have they not had their dreads on them Yea their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pangs and bands in their death like a woman in travel Secondly On the other hand is it not a very ordinary thing to see wicked men live and dye in peace Men as vile as prophane and deboished as any the earth hath and yet their Consciences are quiet notwithstanding they have no disturbance at all from them nor as the Psalmist saies have they any bands in their death Psal 73.4 but seem to pass out of the world as innocent as Lambs and without any fear at all upon them These are two considerable Objections indeed and must be answered and to satisfaction too least the truth before delivered bee prejudiced and shaken by it I answer therefore to both in order and first to the first objection I say three things First by way of concession I grant it that many who have indeed such a quiet and excusing Conscience a Conscience void of offence both towards God and towards men as I have been speaking of do notwithstanding dye with fears upon them and seem to be taken out of the world by violence rather than freely to go out of it and this contrary to the very precepts even of an Heathen moralist For what saies Seneca in his 104th Epistle Vir fortis sapiens exire debet è vita non trahi a wise and a valiant man ought to go readily out of this life not to be drawn And again quid est obsecro cur timeat mortem homo What is there in death considered simply in it self that a man should fear cum illâ nihil sit mali nisi quod ante ipsam est timeri the greatest evil of it is to be afraid of it before it comes Thus he even a very Heathen Well but yet for all that such is the extraordinary timidity of some persons and good ones too such is their aptness to despond partly from the natural constitution and temper of their melancholy bodies and mindes partly from the molestation of the great enemy of mankinde through Divine permission the Devil that the work of natures dissolution comes off hard with them and is a much more difficult task to them than to some others And the truth is who that is a Son or Daughter of Adam let them be never so holy and never so fit for Heaven but more or less have something of a cohorrescency of death upon them Two such old friends and so intimate as the body and the soul are loath to part It is natural for every thing to desire and seek the preservation of it self and to oppose and be afraid of that which destroys it Hence 't is that Aristotle in the third Book of his Ethicks the fixth Chapter tells us that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Death is most dreadful Thus also another Heathen Epicur Ad me nunc Apud

when and where you have been about your pretended holy Duties what wandrings of your eyes there were by which one might guesse at the wandrings of your heart how incomposed you were how soon wearied and tyred out sooner by farre than when at your vain sports or recreations and don 't you remember how at such a time and in such a place you slept away the Sermon how drowsie you were in Prayer and the like again at such a time and in such a place and so lost your precious season of grace and the benefit of it which at that time you might have enjoyed Don't you remember these things If you don 't I do And then he proceeds to sins of another kinde and of another and of another after them and so comes pouring in with a great and long Catalogue of sins of Commission with their aggravations Then Secondly He brings in a new Charge as great and heavy as the former of sins of Omission and neglects of Duty neglects of secret Duties Family-Duties all sorts of relative-Duties and aggravates them also by their Circumstances And Thirdly Hereupon what doth he inferre but that all the Profession which hath been made hath been but a meere pretence to holiness but meere Hypocrisie which he labours yet more strongly to prove by carrying his Charge farther for saith he to the soul that he is now accusing is not all that is done by you from such and such rotten grounds for such and such unworthy ends that you may get a name in the world or make such or such carnal advantages to your self not out of any pure love at all either to God or the Duties that you would be believed to be sincere in And what is all this but a kinde of holy-cheat and a grand Imposture both to your self and others and consequently will not the hopes and confidences you build upon these false foundations deceive you And as for that repentance which you think to fly to for your refuge whilst you would make your self and others believe that you thereby get off from your guilts and heal all again Alas Is not that a meere cheat too and a miserable deceit of your own heart For if there were a true repentance in you such as you pretend to would you fall into the same sins again and again and that often True Repentance even you your self know is alwaies accompanied with an effectual Reformation and a total breaking off from every evil Now lay all this together and are you or can you be the man or the woman you would have the world take you to be No verily it cannot be your own Conscience being Judge as well as I Thus you see what the Charge is and how heavy that Satan brings in to all which an excusing Conscience makes answer and defends it self thus First For those sins saies Conscience that you like a Devil accuse me with when the matter is well-looked into will they not at least very many of them prove more yours than mine especially such as you call presumptuous sins and aggravate with such grievous circumstances 't was you that tempted me to them that hurried me on to the committing of them was it not 'T is you that laid the objects before me by which I was enticed that stirred up the old corruption which at first you foisted into my nature and which you have ever since fomented and brought fuel to This is one excuse that Conscience makes But Secondly Conscience adds I deny not but though you as a soul-murderer most maliciously tempted me yet since I consented the sins were mine as well as yours both the sins of Omission and the sins of commission but three things I can say for my self that you can never say 1. I have a most gracious Saviour and Redeemer that is given to me and that hath undertaken for me Can you say this Devil you know you cannot He took not upon him the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham even of the faithful Abraham whose seed I am 2. I have two natures in me a new Nature not the old onely I am a new man a Son of the second Adam as well as of the first I am regenerate and thorow Grace am born again I have something of Heaven in me but you are all Devil all Hell 3. I can truely say what-ever you say to the contrary that I have sincerely repented and do repent daily which you can never do For you are given up to a damned state sealed to destruction and reserved for the day of wrath As for my Repentance which you object so much against and by all your might do labour to invalidate and my Profession too which you so falsly asperse as if it were meer hypocrisie I can evidence the truth of both of them thus 1. I hate the sin which I do and the evil which I do I would not do my will is against it and the good that I would do 't is true I do it not because sin is present with me but my will is to do it notwithstanding and in Gods account 't is the Will that denominates the man as the will is such the man is 2 Cor. 8.11 12. 2. Whereas you charge me with falling into the same sins again and again I confess it whilst I carry a body of death about me and a Law in my members warring against the Law of my minde and both these agitated by such a tempting Devil as thou art I do fall daily Sins of dayly incursion and infirmity come in upon me But hast thou not heard Devil that the Righteous man falleth seven times that is often and riseth again Prov. 24.16 For repentance is not onely one single act but 't is an habitual grace in the heart proceeding from the new Creature formed there whose proper act it is All distinct natures act according to their kinde and act necessarily the Sun shines and alwaies shines because it shines naturally and can do no other So doth grace alwaies act like it self and cannot cease acting But yet 3. Conscience farther excuseth it self and tells the Devil to his face that as he would accuse it of more evil than 't is guilty of so he hath more good in him than the Devil knows of for what-ever Grace what-ever good thoughts or affections are in the heart the Devil knows nothing of all that the heart and the workings of it being altogether a secret unto him so that how many an holy struggle may be in the heart against this or that sin against this or that temptation How many a sharpe fight and combate there the Devil is ignorant of Though he see the tears that drop and hear the sighs and groans that the afflicted and grieved soul utters for sin yet hee knows not what 't is for unless it bee made known to him in so many articulated words Now then how many thousand holy sighs and groans how many repentings may there be how

fear round about He that before seemed to have no such power faculty or principle of Conscience in him call it what you will no such vicegerency of the Divine Majesty for what is Conscience but Gods Vicegerent Behold now he findes it much otherwise he now experiments the truth of those words in Prov. 20.27 The Spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord searching all the inward parts of the Belly and 't is not onely a shining but a burning Candle too that kindles wrath as wel as discovers sin and can you imagin it possible for such tormented ones as this poor miserable self-condemned man is not to be afraid to dye Doubtless they are afraid and afraid to such a degree as is not easie to be expressed and yet whilst they live in this manner is not their very life a burthen to them and a sore torment are not these the men of whom Epictetus speaks apud Stob. c. 120. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a certain wonderful sort of men that are weary of life and yet have no minde to dye or of whom Seneca speaks in his fourth Epist Inter mortis metum vitae tormenta miseri fluctuant vivere nolunt mori nesciunt that are miserably tossed betwixt the fear of Death and the torments of Life have no desire to live and yet know not how to dye And the same Seneca again Epist 101. Invenitur qui malit inter supplicia-tabescere perire membratim toties per stillicidia amittere animam quam semel exhalare Invenitur qui velit trahere animam tot tormenta tracturam Usque adeonè mori miserum est Est tanti habere animam ut agam Would one think that the man should be found upon earth that would rather waste away by degrees among grievous sufferings be content to rot in pieces one member after another and let his soul go out as 't were by drops rather than to send it out all together at one single groan That any man should bee found that would endure the lengthening out of his life under so many torments Is death so miserable a thing to be thus affrighted at it Yea and is life too of so great value as to be thus defired The like passage we finde in Cyprian also in his Book de Mortal concerning some in his age Pati non vultis exire timetis quid faciam vobis Ye are unwilling to live under your sufferings and yet ye are unwilling to dye what shall I do unto you Or how shall I comfort you Second Use for Exhortation TO good and bad to regenerate and unregenerate First to the unregenerate to whom would they could all hear it I would make it my most earnest request that they would do five things 1. Sit down and bethink themselves that they would go into their retirements though 't were but for one half hour in a day and seriously consider what their condition is how doleful dismal dangerous How angry God is with them and that continually and unappeasedly whilst they remain impenitent and unbelieving in this their unregenerate state That they would consider what vengeance hangs over their heads hourly and that if they live and dye Thus there can be no possible hope of good for them That if still they remain fearless and careless of God and will not hearken to his calls and counsels now in their life time when pangs of death come upon them and they then cry out for mercy miserably roaring in the very anguish of their soul God will be so far from hearing them who when time was would not hear him that he will laugh at their calamity and mock when their fear comes Prov. 1 24.-33 2. That hereupon they would pitty themselves and be no longer cruel to their own precious souls that they would no more neglect their own salvation the great salvation offered them in the Gospel For how much sorer punishment than ordinary must not they look for who neglect so great salvation Heb. 2.3 3. That they would suffer the words of Exhortation instruction and counsel from plain-dealing friends and such as have a true pity for them whether they have any pity for themselves or not 4. That they would be prevailed with to break off from their evil company and fall in with the Lords precious people give attendance upon his holy Ordinances that of Preaching especially which is a converting Ordinance and where God is present with it will soon make a change upon the most perverse sinner in the world 5. That they will delay no longer but hasten to do this with all speed least the door of Mercy be shut upon them and the opportunity of Grace past before they are aware of it To the regenerate even all the true Saints and Servants of the high God My Exhortation to them is two-fold First more General then more Particularly to some of them My General Exhortation to all is unto three things 1. To pity all such as still abide in their unregenerate estate Though they hate you yet do you pity them yea and pray for them watch for all opportunity of doing good to their souls give them the example of an holy life and every way do your utmost if it be possible to pluck them as fire-brands out of the devouring flames 2. Blesse God for your own most rich and unspeakable Mercy that your selves are not in the same case with them That he hath made such a vast difference between you What are you naturally better than they Were not both hewed out of the same Rock And whence doth the difference rise Is it not altogether from free-Grace Yes verily altogether from free Grace Not by works of Righteousness which we had done saies the Apostle Titus 2.5 But through his Mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration Oh then be thankful For what greater thing than this can God himself do for you than he hath done in making such a change upon you 3. Walk worthy of all this Mercy and Goodness Let God have something from you answerable to his kindness and this his distinguishing love to you and from you of all others from whom he hath removed the fears of Death so that 't is no way dreadful to you but come when it will come it shall be welcome to you But as for such of you among the Lords People as happily may not bee quite gotten over these fears and yet may bee truely willing to bee with Christ and thereupon could even wish that you had once shot this Gulf of Death Let me speak to you more particularly and entreat you 1. That you would seriously consider how uncomely at least if not a kinde of inconsistent thing it is for those that pretend for Heaven and do in good earnest set their faces thither-ward to be afraid of Death Even an Heathen could say I mean Seneca Epist 24. Confirmandus est animus vel ad mortis vel ad vitae