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	soul_n	understand_v	4,529	5	6.6981	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45563	The royal common-wealth's man, or King David's picture represented in a sermon preached at the solemnity of the funeral of Sir Tho. Adams, knight and baronet, and alderman of London ; in St. Katherine Creechurch, on the 10th of March, 1667 / by Nath. Hardy ...	Hardy, Nathaniel, 1618-1670.	1668 (1668)	Wing H742; ESTC R16815	26,628	50

from their labours It is a saying abundantly verified Omne quod vitae praesentis miseria This life is a wilderness of troubles wherein our bodies are exposed to pains and pain and our souls suffer somtimes by sympathy with the body and somtimes by its own immediate sorrows cares and fears but when we dy we are freed from all these Valerius expresseth it by 4 letters H. R. I. P. hic requiescit in pace Petrus Diaconus by three D. M. S. dormiunt mortui securi the dead sleep in safety and rest in peace This is that which in respect of the body is common to the wicked with the righteous but in regard of the soul peculiar to the righteous for whilst the soul of Dives is tormented the soul of Lazarus is comforted saith Abraham True the soul doth not as the Psuchopannuchists fondly asserted sleep with the body nor yet as the body for though by the separation of the soul from the body there is cessation of those organical actions which the soul performeth by the help of the body yet its immanent and immaterial acts are performed by it in that State of separation and if as we observe in our own experience the soul is active in dreams and fancies whilst the body sleepeth we may very well conceive that the Soul hath its proper acts which it exerciseth whilst it is without the body But as to a cessation from all disturbing passions the Souls of the good may be said to fall asleep In this respect they are said to be in Gods hand a place of safety in Abrahom's bosome a place of refreshment and under the Altar a place of refuge The Greek word here used as hath been already intimated referrs to the oar and tugging at the oar is a laborious imployment How Sweet is sleep to the weary labourer and so was death to David who had laboured more abundantly than others in serving his generation The Churchyards are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sleeping places the coffin a couch and the grave a bed so saith the Prophet They enter into peace they rest in their beds so the Poet Somnus ut est mortis sic lectus imago sepulchri and such a bed quo mollius ille dormit qui durius in vita se gesserit wherein he sleepeth most sweetly who hath suffered most bitterly for which reason Saint Stephen dying under a shour of stones is said to fall asleep 2. When we ly down at night to sleep we hope to awake again in the morning and therefore is death a sleep to the Godly ob spem futurae Resurrectionis for the hope of a future Resurrection Sleep is a short death and death is a long sleep but though long it is not perpetual we shall arise again and as though a man sleep many hours it seemeth when he awaketh but a few minutes so though we ly dead many years it shall seem at the Resurrection but as it were a few hours nor do we with so much ease awake any man out of his sleep as Divine power shall raise us from the dead Yea as usually we awake men by our voice so shall the dead at the last day hear the voice of the Son of God and come forth This notion of deaths being a sleep in reference to the Resurrection is true both in respect of bad and good since all shall be raised at the last day but whereas sick men awake disturb'd but healthy men refresh'd so shall it then be with the wicked and the righteous those shall arise to sorrow these to Joy those shall awake and sigh but these shall awake and sing And therefore saith David of himself my flesh shall rest in hope and again When I awake I shall be satisfied with thy likeness So that to close up this seek not consolation against Death but let death it self be our consolation True it is Death it self is very terrible yea the king of terrours and the thoughts of it so dreadful that we are very unwilling to entertain them But lo here it is reprefented to us in a mollifying Phrase and that which is familiar to us and why thus but to mitigate our fears of death upon which account Christs crucifing is called a lifting up and the afflictions of Gods servants instructions to smooth the roughness and asperity of them and withall to render death familiar to us that every evening when we put off our clothes ly down in our beds and fall asleep we may call to mind our Death and our grave looking upon this as a bed and that as a sleep 2. The next Character of death David is that he was laid to his fathers which I have already told you may be understood in reference either to the Soul or the Body 1. To the Soul and so the meaning is that when he fell asleep his soul went to the nest of those holy Patriarchs which were gone before him I am a stranger upon earth and a sojourner saith David as all my Fathers were because as they so he had but a short continuance upon earth and looked upon themselves as going hence and when he went hence he went to those his Fathers which had gone before him What that place was I shall not stay to dispute most certainly it was not a Limbus subterraneus prison under ground on this side hell where their souls were detain'd till Christs resurrection most certainly it was the bosom of Abraham and that a place of comfort yea most probably by our Saviours words the kingdom of Heaven And it is no small comfort to consider that when we dye we shall be gathered to our godly Ancestors and Progenitours 2. To the body and so it may be taken in a narrow or an enlarged sence in a narrow sence those are laid to their Fathers who are buried in the same Grave or Vault with their Progenitors but in this sence this was not true of David for where it is said He slept with his Fathers it presently followeth and he was buried in the City of David which City of David was not Bethlehem the place of his Fathers but Sion the place where the Kings were buried so that it must be taken in an enlarged sence inasmuch as the grave being the common receptacle of all men any one being buried is laid to his Fathers because in a grave which is the place for all mankind and so gathered quasi in tumulum cumulum to the heap of dead bodies It is that consideration which should render the grave so much the less dreadful to us because it is no more than what is common to our Fathers nay to the whole race of them that dwell upon the earth 3. The last Character referrs only to the body which is that he saw corruption Seeing according to the Hebrew Phrase is as much as experiencing so we read else where of seeing death what man is he that

truly I am thy servant I am thy servant Thus did David and thus ought we but do we thus we all profess our selves the servants of God and what is the proper notion of a servant but one who is ad alterius nutum at another man's command and therefore serve God we cannot if we serve not his Will But alas how many of us according to Saint Pauls Character are taken captive by the Devil at his will and like the Centurion's souldiers he bids us go and we go come and we come do this and that and we do it we serve diverse lusts and pleasures following as our Church teacheth us to confess the devices and desires of our own hearts And like those of whom Saint Peter speaketh that wrought the will of the gentiles we conform to the humours of wicked and ungodly men so far are we from being what we profess to be servants to the will of God Oh therefore let us sit down and consider with our selves 1. What the will of God is which we are obliged to serve and according to Saint Pauls exhortation Prove what is that good that acceptable and perfect will of God He hath shewed thee oh man saith the Prophet what is good and what doth the Lord thy God require of thee Whatsoever God willeth and requireth is good just and equal and that were it for no other reason but because he willeth and requireth it David speaking of the will of God saith The Law of the Lord is perfect The Statutes of the Lord are right The fear of the Lord is clean The Judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether good reason we should serve his will which is so just pure right and perfect 2. Whose will it is namely the Will of God who is 1. Supremus in imperando most supreme in commanding having an absolute Soveraignty over all his creatures Wherever the Supreme power on earth resideth Whither in one or many it is and must be arbitrary but surely much more in him who is without a solaecism or hyperbole most highest king of kings and lord of lords and therefore his Will ought to be our Law and the rule of our actions 2. Benignissimus in adjuvando most gracious in assisting who as in Justice he may command what he will so in mercy will enable us if we seek to him to do what he commands upon which account it is that the yoke and burthen of Gods law is said to be light and easie 3. Indulgentissimus in condonando most merciful in forgiving the defects and imperfections of our service for so the promise runs I will spare them as a man spareth his son that serveth him accepting the will often for the Deed and pardoning the imperfections that usually accompany best deeds 4. Munificentissimus in remunerando most bountiful in recompencing those who serve him Indeed there wants not prophane Atheists who say It is in vain to serve the Lord but Saint Paul hath assured us He is a rewarder of them that seek him diligently nay he is not only a rewarder but he himself is the reward they are his own words to Abraham I am thy exceeding great reward And surely upon all these considerations we shall conclude that nothing is more reasonable than after David's pattern in our Generation to serve the will of God From the Character of his life proceed we more briefly to the threefold character of his Death by which is described the state of the Dead 1. He fell asleep that respects the person 2. Was laid to his Fathers that respects both his soul and body 3. And saw corruption that only respects the body 1. He fell asleep Those words which precede The will of God are by some intepreters referr'd to this clause he fell asleep in which construction they afford us a good instruction namely that death befalls us not by chance but by the will of God It is appointed saith the Apostle for men once to dy and not only the thing it self in general but the circumstances as to individuals namely the means manner place time are all appointed by the will and counsel of God we are all in this world as so many Tenants to God the great Landlord and this not for any certain term of years but durante beneplacito during his good pleasure we come in and stay and go out of this world so much that prayer of Simeon imports Lord lettest thou thy servant depart in peace we can neither stay longer nor go sooner than God pleaseth A consideration which ought to be an argument of contentation both in respect of our selves and others whensoever or howsoever they dye since it is by the will of God to which we must necessarily and ought voluntarily to submit 2. To let this go I might further observe that it is said of David he fell asleep after he had served the will of God in his generation or served his generation by the Will of God not before nor doth any of Gods servants dye before they have fulfilled the work for which God sent them into the world It is said of our blessed Saviour that though the Jews sought to take him yet no man laid hands on him for his hour was not come yea he saith of himself I must work the work of him that sent me into this world whilst it is day not did the day to wit of his life exspire till he had done that work The time of my departure saith St. Paul is at hand but what followeth I have finished my course then and not till then was the time of his departure when he had finished his course It is that which may very much comfort us whensoever death seemeth to or really doth approach that as we dye not before the time which God hath allotted us to live so neither before the service be done which he hath appointed for us in our generation and if that be done we have reason to be willing to ly down to sleep as here David after he had served his Generation fell asleep 3. But that which I here especially take notice of is that Death is resembled to a Sleep It is observable among prophane writers both Greek and Latine Poets and Oratours that sleep is said to be the image the kindred the Sister the brother of Death and this metaphor is frequently used in the holy scriptures in the Old Testament promiscuously of both bad and good in the New especially of the good who are said not only to sleep but to sleep in Jesus and to sleep in the Lord. And thus Christ useth it of Lazarus St. Luke of Stephen and here St. Paul of David and this more particularly in a double respect 1. Sleep is a levamen laborum a quiet repose and a cessation of all pain and labour thus they that dy in the Lord rest