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	saviour_n	soul_n	4,582	5	5.0993	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53333	The blessedness of good men after death a sermon preach'd at the funeral of the Revd. Mr. Henry Cornish, B.D., who died on Sunday, Decemb. 18th, in the eighty ninth year of his age and was interred on Thursday, Decemb. 22d, 1698, in the Church of Bisiter, in the County of Oxford : with a preface to rectifie some misrepresentations &c. in a late pamphlet, entitled Some remarks on the life, death, and burial of the said Mr. Cornish / by John Ollyffe ...	Ollyffe, John, 1647-1717.	1699 (1699)	Wing O286; ESTC R7832	31,135	36

not he had learned from his Great Lord and Master who was kind unto all and who by his Pattern and Precepts had made Universal Love the great Character of his Religion And by this means one would think He could not have many Enemies For who could find in their Hearts to be Enemies to one in whom there was resplendent so much Goodness And this Goodness was set off by a profound Humility and low Condescension and Respect to the Meanest the Lowest the Least By this He was apt to prefer others before himself and to set a Value upon the Parts and Performances of some Young Persons above his own Gray headed Knowledge and Experience By this Kindness and Humility his Self-distrust and Self-abasement He was preserved from the Fiery and Furious Zeal which is the Blemish of some of all Parties that differ in some Circumstantials of Religion and Worship He could not imagine why a Difference in some Circumstantials should make Men Hate and Curse one another among whom there was a good Accord in the Main and Substantial Points of Christian Doctrine Therefore He could bear a Kind and Friendly Respect to other Good Men of other Perswasions besides his own as He would hope for the like from them He had a great Calmness in his own Temper but He was Forward and Fervent in Spirit in the Service of his God as appeared in his Devotions in a Private but much Honoured Family where I have heard him And his long and continu'd Labour in the Service of God in that Way wherein He thought He might Glorifie God even to extreme Old Age is a great Instance of his Delight therein of his Pious Zeal for the promoting of Religion and of his Earnest Desire of the Eternal Welfare of Men. He always appeared to me to be one of Eminent Piety of Exact Walking of an Healing Spirit and to be full of Love to God and Good Men of different Denominations He was not for a Wrangling or Disputative Divinity which tends to Gender Strife but for Plain Practical Godliness in its Life and Power which hath always indeed most Sweetness in it and so will especially appear to have at the last His Afflictions I hear in many Respects have been many but that his Faith and Patience also have been as Eminent Wherein He deserves as in many other Things your Pious Imitation In a Word He Lived long in the Exercise of Piety towards God and of Good Will to Men and how He Died you know I could gladly have enlarged much more upon his Character but these few Things I could not but mention being always bound to have his Memory in Honour For I must ever acknowledge I have had him of Old in many Respects my Friend in some Respects as my Father and Patron and in some others a Guide and Director when I first entred my self upon this Sacred Function This Acknowledgment I cannot but take this Opportunity to express nor do I know any just Reflections that any can make upon it I shall now only make an Inference or two from what I have said on the foregoing Subject and then Conclude First To Comfort and Prepare Good Men for the Expectation of their Death that they may not be Frighted at the Approach of it as such a Dreadful Thing it being most certain that when they remove out of this Tabernacle they enter into an Estate of present Bliss in the presence of their Lord. If the Soul indeed were to lye in a stupid Lethargy in the Grave and have no more Sense or Reflection or Enjoyment after the time of Dissolution they should desire to continue here as long as they can that they may bring more Honour to God in the World and so might further their Reward hereafter thereby And they might have just Cause to take Death for their Enemy whensoever it comes that should deprive them of so great Advantages here and bring them none in the room But there is no fear of all this The Soul is an Active Spark the Breath of the Almighty which whilst it is in the Body by the Laws of Union that were fix'd in the Original Creation by the great Creator must sympathize with it But when the Body is no longer a tolerable Habitation for it it will then Dislodge and take its Flight and the Holy Angels wait to carry it aloft through all the Airy Armies of invisible Fiends to place it above out of the reach of all their Malice For the Soul is a Thinking Substance which hath no Relation to Matter but is of another Nature from it and hath quite other Properties in its Idea And being Immaterial it is not subject to Putrifaction or Dissolution of Parts because it hath no Parts and therefore none to be dissolved but must in its own Nature Subsist and Live still But whatever the Philosophy of the Soul may be we have full assurance from Divine Revelation of its continued Life and greater Perfection and Enjoyment after Death than before Mat. 10.28 Our Saviour told his Disciples That Men tho' they might kill the Body yet were not able to kill the Soul and therefore bid them not be affraid of them Rom. 8. The Body indeed must Die because of Sin but the Spirit the better part is Life because of Righteousness So that Good Men have no Cause to be mightily Affrighted at the Approach of Death For tho' it be the King of Terrors to outward appearance yet they may look upon it as a Routed or Conquered Enemy as a Serpent that hath lost its Sting and Strength which howsoever it may Hiss and show its Rage and Fury yet cannot hurt So that Good Men may Triumph over it and over all Things else besides because neither Death Rom. 8.38 nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor Things present nor Things to come nor Height nor Depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate them from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. But in and over all these Things they are more than Conquerors through him that Loved them Death is now rather a Friend to them the Messenger of the great King to invite them to his Supper which he hath prepared for them The same Comfort there is at the Departure of Others Friends and Relations that Die in the Lord. For now they are past from all their Labours and Troubles from all their Fears and Dangers their Pains and Sufferings whatsoever and are gone but to take Possession of the Promised Crown It is a Loss to us indeed that they are gone and Self-Love makes us to Mourn and Complain at it But what do They lose in leaving us or the World and the little Accommodations of this Life that are now entered upon the Possession of the Inheritance Tho' we lose by them because they are gone yet we ought not sure to Grudge at their Happiness Secondly To Exhort all to the Faith and

are all but to promote Religion Faith Purity and Charity among Men. And 't is Pride Interest Passion Stiffness and Revenge that spoil and hinder all But whosoever they are that do not prefer Religion and Peace above every Thing else all violent Incendiaries all Self-seekers all Carnal Politicians that to gratifie an Humour to serve an Interest or to keep up a Ballance make it their Business to foment Discord and to keep Divisions a-foot I will be bold to say they know not what manner of Spirit they are of they seek not Christ but themselves their God is their Belly and their Glory is in their Shame And let them be Dissenters or Church-Men or of what Denomination they will they are not true Christians This Wisdom descendeth not from above but is Earthly Sensual Devilish For where Envying and Strife is there is Confusion and every Evil Work But the Wisdom that is from above is first pure then peacable gentle and easie to be intreated full of Mercy and good Fruits without Partiality and without Hypocrisie And the fruit of Righteousness is sown in Peace of them that make Peace Jam. 3.15 This Peace I am for I love neither Faction nor Fury Obstinacy nor Revenge but could be glad to do any thing in the World to convince heal or reconcile And so I hope would many others But I can see but little success of Attempts that have been made this way and can have but little hopes till God is pleased to take the Matter into his own Hands to bring the Spirits of Men to a certain Temper on all sides which yet the most do not seem to be inclined to which hath been no small Trouble to me to observe so that I have been almost tired out with vain Expectation in this Matter But if I can do no good towards a Composure or Accommodation of these our Uncharitable and Unchristian Differences I am resolved however I will not irritate or inflame what I would be glad to heal as I dare say I should have done if I had taken this Reflector's Measures But now we are upon it let us consider what Methods He would have had me used to bring those People to Church more frequently at other times First he saith I should have taken the opportunity to Commemorate the great Charity of the Church of England which like a Natural and Indulgent Mother hath always open Arms to receive even her Froward and Rebellious Sons and alloweth her Offices of Christian Burial to those who despise her other Ordinances that she patiently waits their Submission while they live and affords them the last Offices of Piety when they come to Die which sure might win upon all Ingenious Spirits to oblige her with Conformity and Obedience in all reasonable Service But I am apt to be of Opinion after all that they would hardly have thought this Argument to have any great Weight in it Charity is a very good and obliging Thing But unless they can have Satisfaction given them about the Reasonableness and Unexceptionableness of the Service it self which they Dissent from which this Reflector doth not proceed to nor doth advise me to it tho' that was the chief Thing and would have been most to the purpose I doubt the Churches Charity alone in the respect which he mentions would hardly bring them to Conformity and Obedience to it But to give Him his due He doth not insist upon this as the chief Thing being apprehensive 't is likely of the weakness of it taken by it self It was something else he had principally in his Thoughts as appears by his long Harangue about it which I cannot but wonder at viz. That it was an Holy Place where they were now Assembled and where their Beloved Teacher chose to lie at Rest which He had hinted before And that I might have inferred That they do not Die so much out of Charity with the Church as is commonly imputed to them For they like well enough to be Buried there in the Church Ground And when they come to depart out of this World they leave their Bodies as a Legacy to it And to leave a Legacy to one is justly thought a Sign and Seal of Reconciliation and perfect Love I never heard indeed that they were much out of conceit with the Earth of the Church-Floor And if that be a sign of their Reconciliation to the Church I find they are contented to give a Testimony of it at any time when there is the like Occasion And tho' these Brethren chuse to serve God in a Common and Unhallowed Barn rather than in a Place Solemnly Devoted to be God's House of Prayer yet on Death-Bed Thoughts they cannot Will their Bodies to be committed to the Threshing-Floor but make it their last Option to be Buried with their Forefathers as it is Natural or Customary for all to desire and let their Sepulchres at least be on the good old Consecrated Ground tho' I dare say they never think of the Consecration when they do so And who knoweth but the Better Sort of Dissenters may have such Scruples on them as these That if they should be too soon admitted into the Bosom of the Church they could by no means live up to the Rules and Orders of it whereas delaying their Admission to the last when their Bodies are brought to Church They may possibly suppose that such a final Action may determine their Salvation and to be Buried in the Church be a sufficient Atonement for their long Absence from it And then upon this he saith I might have took occasion to perswade the Brethren there present that they would be as well affected in their Life and Health as they generally come to be in their last Sickness and point of Death that is to bring their Bodies to the Chuich whilst their Souls are yet in them which would be a more acceptable Sacrifice than the bare Carcase and Refuse of Mortality And why should they desire to be Interred within the Precincts of the Church unless they think it their own last Home and proper Place Would any of us request that our Dead Bodies should be carried into an Enemies Country rather than be laid up in our Native Land It must argue some good Affection sure to the Spot of Earth where we resolve to lay down our Mortal Man and to mix our common Dust And moreover therefore I should have encouraged these Brethren not to forsake the Assembling of themselves together in that Holy Place where the Mournful Occasion had now brought them The Ground was not Polluted with Idolatrous Worship if it had their Reverend Teacher would not have desired to have found there an Ark of Rest for his Earthly Tabernacle By these extraordinary Arguments and Motives I should very powerfully have Exhorted the Brethren there present to come to Church every Sunday in the Year And if any of them should have an Humour more Obstinate than ordinary such rare and

shall ever come near to hurt them more For the Devil and Wicked Men as you have heard are all to be by themselves and there shall be a great Gulf fixt between them and the Servants of God so that they shall never be able to bring their Fire and Faggots their Wheels and Gibbets near them there There shall be nothing to hurt or destroy in all that Holy Mountain But if the Servants of God should be freed then from all these kind of Labours yet if there should be any of some other kind for them to undergo it could not be perfectly well with them not could they be said to be perfectly Blessed which yet it is designed they shall be So that we may well conclude that it is not only the Labour of Persecutions and Martyrdoms that then they shall be freed from but from all Labour and Pains whatsoever that should bring any Sufferings along with it First Most certainly Then there shall be no more Labour for or about the Body to nourish or feed to maintain or preserve it Because then there shall be no more weakness of the Body no more Sickness or pained Limbs or decay of Spirits to seek a Remedy for The Body indeed will not presently after Death be raised to this State of Life and Blessedness but must lodge a while in the Grave which is appointed for its Dormitory till the Judge shall come and the Trumpet shall sound to raise up all that are asleep in Jesus But when once it hath been strained thro' the Grave then it shall leave all its Corruption behind it And it shall be a weak and natural Body no longer It is sown indeed in Weakness but it is raised in Power it is sown in Corruption but it is raised in Incorruption it is sown in Dishonour but it is raised in Glory it is sown a Natural Body but it is raised a Spiritual Body 1 Cor. 15.42 And therefore it shall not need those Supports and Refreshments then as now it doth Then there will be no need of Meats and Drinks to maintain it Meats are now for the Belly and the Belly for Meats but God shall destroy both it and them 1 Cor. 6.13 For the Body then shall be Hale and Well and Strong without them all Phil. 3. Ult. For He shall change our Vile Bodies saith the Apostle and shall make them like unto his Glorious Body When our Saviour himself saith Mat. 13.41 That the Righteous shall shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father So that tho' they shall have the same Body for Substance yet not of the same Constitution or all its parts for the same Offices and Purposes Our Bodies then will be no more such Dead and Lumpish Things as they are now but Active and Vigorous even as Spirits themselves and therefore without Fainting and Weariness Therefore all those Trades and Callings which are here so necessary to provide for their Support or to secure and defend them from Cold and Ill Weather shall then be at an end There we shall have a Building of God an House not made with Hands 2 Cor. 5.1 Eternal in the Heavens It shall never decay or grow leaky more There will be no Winds or Storms to annoy no ill Airs or bad Weather no dirty Roads or painful Travelling no Darkness or Night For there is the Throne of God all Lightsome Pure and Blissful there shall be no Night because no need of Rest and yet no Weariness in the perpetual Day where the Servants of God tho' they are always at Work yet are never tired they shall be so Holy and Strong and their Work so Good Rev. 48. Cap. 5.13 that they rest not Day nor Night saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come but are singing Halleluja's to God and to the Lamb for ever and ever Secondly Moreover not only Bodily Labour but the Labour of Study and Mortification for the improvement and refining of our Souls shall then be over likewise it is a great deal of Pains and Labour we must be at here for a very small Improvement We must read many Books and much Reading is a weariness to the Flesh Eccl. 12.12 as it is in the Margin It tireth the Spirits and impares the Health And yet this we must endure in the getting of Knowledge we must go through many Studies and spend many wearisome Nights and Days and be a long time either in making Observations of our own or gathering from others before we can come almost to any thing And in this we must sustain many times a great expence of Spirits For the Intense Exercise of our Minds will draw our Bodies into consent And the Spirits being so much taken up one way there are hardly enough left many times to discharge the Vital Offices of Nature So that the Blood becomes Impoverish'd the Face Pale the Limbs Languid and Weak and the Vessels obstructed within that are the very Channels of Life And yet after all this it is but a little Knowledge for the most part that we are able to attain unto of any kind whatsoever That which we get indeed is very Pleasant as little as it is For Wisdom exceedeth Folly as far as Light excelleth Darkness Eccl. 2.13 Yet in much Wisdom is much Grief too and He that encreaseth Knowledge encreaseth Sorrow Eccl. 1.18 And after all a great deal of that Knowledge which we spend so much of our Time about I doubt is hardly one degree above Folly it self But in that State hereafter there will be none of all this Toil for the improvement of our Minds For there is the Land of Vision where we shall see God the chief Good as He is and shall with open Face behold his Glory 1 Cor. 13.12 Now we see but through a Glass darkly saith the Apostle but then Face to Face now we know but in part but then shall we know even as also we are known And if we shall have such a Vision or Sight of God himself then we may be sure the Knowledge of no other Thing shall be hid from us as far as it may be of any use to us for our Comfort and Happiness For he that giveth us the greater will not withhold from us the less Then we may expect to see and behold many Things by an immediate Intuition and to have a clear and plain Introspection into their Natures and Properties Or at least the longest train of Reasoning will be easie and quick Principles will be open and plain the Impressions deep the Connexion between Things clear and apparent so that the Mind will be no more in Pain or lose it self in long or tedious Deductions For the Powers of the Minds will be advanc'd and perfected the several Objects distinct and manifest Idea's of Things will be present to us or ready at a Call so that the turn of the Mind to its several Objects

or Decay For so it shall be 1 Thes 4. for as much as we shall for ever be with the Lord who will for ever Delight in his People ever take Care of them and be a Guard to them that no Evil shall come near them Oh Blessed Day and Blessed State when all this Good shall be imparted to them But when will all this be Thirdly I now proceed therefore to the Third Thing observable in the Words which is the time of the beginning or the Commencement of this Happiness which shall be Henceforth i. e. from the very Day or time of their Death or Departure out of this World Not that they shall be presently instated in all that full Possession of Good which I have mention'd which cannot be whilst their Bodies remain still in the Grave or before the Resurrection Therefore the full Possession or Perfection of Happiness is not to be expected till the Coming of Our Lord as the Scripture generally sets it forth to us Col. 3.4 But when Christ who is our Life shall appear then shall we appear with him in Glory But yet this Happiness is to begin on the Day of the Saints Dissolution Henceforth from the very time of their Death They shall Rest from all their Labours presently and their Reward doth then begin I know there are other Senses given of this Expression but I can see nothing but this that answers the Design of comforting the Afflicted Servants of God in their present Sufferings which this Text is intended for There is nothing but this Possession of the Reward at Death can denominate them Blessed from Henceforth If they might Glorifie God in this World tho' it were in Suffering yet they would rather desire to do so than be gone hence unless they may come to the present Enjoyment of their Happiness How are they Blessed from Henceforth in having the Reward of their Works if there be no such Reward yet to be enjoyed If the Soul were to sleep in the Grave in a lumpish and unactive State where then would be their Blessedness It were better to continue longer here in performance of their Master's Work and in the Service of their Lord as long as God shall be pleased to uphold them and enable them to hold out in it tho' it were in the midst of Labour and Suffering And they would chuse to do so because hereby they would further their Reward hereafter when God shall Reward Men not only according to the Nature but also according to the Measure and Degree of their Labour and Sufferings All the Troubles and Labours of this Life therefore would rather be endured a great deal than One would chuse to be put into an insensible and unactive State where there is neither Work nor Enjoyment no One that hath any thing of Christian Zeal and Magnanimity would be glad to be removed hence so long as God is pleased to give him Strength and Patience to hold out unless He might immediately pass to the Enjoyment of that Happiness which is the End of all his present Seeking and Striving and Labouring It was this that put St. Paul into such a Strait that he knew not which to chuse Phil. 1.21 For to me to Live is Christ saith he He being heartily devoted to him and being glad to be employed in his Service but then to Die was present Gain For that He must mean or else it had been better and more Gain to live still For if I Live in the Flesh this is the Fruit of my Labour to be serviceable to Christ in the Conversion of more to him Yet what I shall chuse I know not Why Would not the Apostle chuse to serve Christ in the Work of the Gospel rather than cease to be But I am in a Strait betwixt two having a Desire to deport and to launch out from this Body and this World and to be with Christ which is far better That was the Reason why He was willing to be gone from the Body because then he was to be with Christ and that would be far better for him For in this the Apostle is very Positive and Peremptory 2 Cor. 5.1 For we know saith he if our Earthly House of this Tabernacle the Body were dissolved we have a better Dwelling for our Spirit prepared a Building of God an Habitation in the Heavenly Glory an House not made with Hands of Mens or Mortal Facture or Procreation Eternal and undecaying there And in this therefore we Groan earnestly and desire to be clothed upon with that our House which is from Heaven Knowing saith he Ver. 6. that whilst we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord therefore are willing rather to be absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord. So that it seems the Souls of Good Men at Death are to leave the Body and then be absent from it and then they are forthwith to be present with Christ So 2 Tim. 4.7 Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that Day And what Day was that But the Day of his Departure of which he speaks Ver. 6. and saith was then ready at Hand And that we may not think that this was only a Priviledge belonging to him or to such Excellent Persons as he was He adds and not to me only but also to all them that Love his appearing So that we see that this is a Blessing that all the Faithful Servants and Followers of Christ shall partake of as well as the Blessed Apostle himself Now the Enjoyment of this Happiness in the Regions above I do not only in Charity hope as I would of every ordinary Good Christian but do most firmly believe is the State and Condition of this Reverend and Good Man whose Relicks we have now before us and upon the occasion of the Interment of which we are here met Of whom therefore I cannot but say something tho' not near so much as his Character I believe doth deserve my Acquaintance with him having been so long Interrupted as for some Years He seemed to me to be an Aged Person when I first knew him but by Temperance and Wise Conduct and the Blessing of God thereupon and by the Divine Protection warding off Evil Harms and Accidents from him which might either have cut him off or broken his Health much sooner how hath his Life been prolonged to almost half the common Age of Man since that time It being now towards Thirty Years ago since I was first acquainted with him That which I had always observed in him was a great Kindness and Benignity of Disposition joined with an Undissembled Integrity and Uprightness whereby I dare say he wish'd Well to all Men and bore a Loving Respect in his Carriage to all and rejoic'd in all Men's Welfare and Happiness and was glad when He could himself any ways promote it This I doubt