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	union_n	6,110	5	9.7698	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66095	Divine meditations. Written by an honourable person. Whereto is adjoyned, a determination of the question, whether men ought to kneele at the receipt of the Holy Communion. And an essay of friendship	Wake, Isaac, Sir, 1580?-1632.	1641 (1641)	Wing W226B; ESTC R219891	35,999	169

and doe them no hurt In this Visitation the Angell of God the executioner of His Iustice is abroad they therefore that desire to be spared must by Faith apprehend the merits of Iesus Christ and have their soules sprinkled with His Bloud else how can they hope or trust in God or have confidence in His Protection being not reconcil'd to Him by His Sonne Nor having by a true and lively Faith apprehended the merits of His Passion and applied them to themselves It is true our Saviour hath promised to ease those that labour and are heavie laden but conditionally if they come unto Him which is done by Faith and Repentance Wherefore in so dangerous a Visitation when the Defence of the most High is so necessary and our Trust in Him so comfortable let us be sure that our Hope be well grounded on Faith and pray without ceasing for Faith Hope and Penitence which are Graces that we cannot attaine of our selves but are gratis datae and cannot be obtained but by fervent Prayer Hee then that by Prayer and Repentance often renewed hath got sensible Encrease of the saving Graces of Faith and Hope may safely and sincerely trust in God for deliverance from the Plague either by taking it away from him or him from it Faith with out Repeutance a meere mock Faith which latter Saint Paul accounts farre better desiring to depart * Phil. 1.23 and to be with Christ Death being to the Godly a Rest to the body and happinesse to the soule which is freed from falling into sinne and admitted to the blissefull Vnion of her Creator and Redeemer Howbeit in time of Visitation and Vengeance when the destroying Angell is abroad with his Sword drawne it is no small comfort to a Christian man when Thousands fall beside him and tenne thousands at his right hand to be preserved from Infection His comfort may well be encreased and doubled in contemplation of Gods mercy * See this excellently exprest ●●● 30.18 and goodnesse to him Yet must we take heed of passing rash Iudgement on those that are visited by Gods hand concluding our selves to bee more righteous then they Our Saviour taught His Disciples another Lesson Luk. 13 upon occasion of the Galilaeans whose Bloud Pilate mingled with their Sacrifices and of those on whom the Tower of Siloe fell telling them that they were not greater sinners then other men and except they repented they likewise should perish Saint Paul's Counsell is seasonable Let him that stands take heed least he fall and his example is worthy our Imitation professing himselfe to bee the Greatest sinner though hee were an elect Vessell When therefore wee see Gods Iudgements powred upon * What then ● are we better then they ● No in no wise Rom. 39. others let us not fondly and rashly condemne them as more ungodly then we are but confesse that we have deserved as much as they and thanke him for having spared us and given us a longer Time of repentance Give glory to God for shewing mercy to thee which thou deservedst not when his wrath was powred on others which perhaps deserved it lesse than thou Improve the Time lent thee to Humiliation Contrition and Amendment of Life Be frequent and fervent in praier Let the Lord be thy Hope * Ioel. 3.16 let thy faith be operative by works of Piety and Charity Gal. Vers 9.10 11 12 13. 5.6 and then shall no evill happen unto thee for Hee shall give His Angells charge over thee to keepe thee in all thy wayes c. These Angels being Spirits are not to be seene by the eye of Faith but when by Gods order they assume Bodies and therefore we must looke up with an eye of Faith to Him who rules and commands them and hath made them all ministring spirits sent forth for the behoofe of them who are heires of Salvation Heb. 1.14 and therefore when the Angell executioner of Gods justice is abroad we may hope and trust in God that His Angells encampe about us that feare and worship Him in sinceritie of heart In the eighteenth of Genesis we reade of three Angels that appeared to Abraham in the shape of men and from him they went to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah yet in the nineteenth wee finde mention but of two Angels that were entertained by Lot and did execute the vengeance of God on those sinfull Cities Some have observed that God Almighty who was one of the three that appeared to Abraham and ministred occasion to him to pray for Lots deliverance did afterward retire and leave to his Angels the execution of His justice and that throughout the Scripture God Himselfe is never recorded to shew Himselfe visibly but when Hee glorifies Himselfe in Mercy ever committing the executing of Iudgements to His ministers This Conceipt is strengthened by our Saviours Interpretation of the Parable of the Teares Mat. 13. where Hee saies that the Officers which are to burne the Teares are the Angels Psal 39.41 42. which in the end of the world Hee will send forth to gather out of His Kingdome all things which offend and them which doe Iniquity and to cast them into a Furnace of fire When the Devill tempting our Saviour had set Him on the Pinacle of the Temple he perverted part of this Psalme to perswade Him to shew Himselfe to be the Sonne of God by casting Himselfe downe for saith he it is writen He will give his Angels charge over thee that thou hurt not thy foote against a stone Matth. 4. Pope Alexander the third is observed to have followed the Devill very close applying to Himselfe the words following abusing them likewise when he set his foote on the neck of the Emperor Fredericke saying Thou shalt goe upon the Lion and Adder the young Lion and the Dragon shalt thou tread under thy feete This had no conformity with the Doctrine of our Saviour nor with the practise of Himselfe and His Apostles He paid Tribute to Caesar not trode on his necke But I will not amplifie this Exorbitancy Transeat inter caeteros errores Canonistarum and let that Pope passe among them that detort Scripture to their owne Damnation Let us beware we stumble not at the same stone by misinterpreting * See a learned Sermon preached at Oxford by Master Iohn Hales the rare Ornament of Eton College or misapplying Scripture carelesly and negligently as Satan did subtilly and maliciously God hath given His Angels charge over us that they beare us in their hands c. but they are bound to keepe thee but in all thy wayes which words the Devill omitted because they made not for his purpose This point is clearely demonstrated in the History of the Iewes from their Exit or comming out of Egypt till their Entrance into Canaan For as long as they were in their way and were obedient to the word of the Lord nothing could hurt them as appeares by their miraculous Deliverances

throughout Yea David Himselfe a man after GODS owne heart had a spice of this disease as appeares in the 30. Psalme In my prosperitie I said I shall never bee removed thou Lord of thy goodnesse hast made my Hill so strong Ver. 6. but immediately in the next ver he confesses that the Lord hiding his face he was troubled and then he cried to the Lord and went to him right humbly being neere death or in great feare of it as appeares by the verses subsequent Thus danger ever treads on the heeles of security and oft trips them up I will close these examples with our Saviours Parable Luk. 12. the Apodosis or Application thereof being common to all men The rich man there sung a Requiem to his soule when immediately it was said Thou foole this night shall thy soule be taken from thee ver 20. II Reasons The Reasons hereof are evident For when men feare least they provide lest against danger A Citie is never more subject to Surprize then when t is ungarded The Trojans defended themselves bravely ten yeares together while the enemy encampt before the Citie but when the Greeks discamping faind a Retrait and came upon them unawares the Town was suddenly taken that held out so long A Poët describing the overthrow of that famous City the Metropolis of Asia saith thus Sic profanatis sacris Peritura Troja perdidit primum Deos. They lost their GODS before they lost their Towne Their Palladium had been stolne from them which argued their carelesse security In like manner t is seldome seene that men run any great hazard of life livelihood or liberty but they first loose GOD by carnall security David in the prementiond * Psalm 30 ver 7. Psalme intimates the cause of his Trouble Feare and Danger saying Thou didst turne thy face from me implying that he had first turn'd aside from God in the time of prosperity when hee had said I shall never be removed A second Reason may bee drawne from the Propension of our corrupt nature to Lust and Concupiscence whereto as we encline strongly so the Devill tempts us hourely Now sensuality hath never so much power over a man as in prosperitie which rendring us secure no marvaile if we fall into sensles stupidity and never reflect on the bitternesse of Death The Prophet relating hereto Psalm 32. compares such to the Horse and Mule which have no understanding whose * Affliction fires out corruption mouths must bee holden with Bit and Bridle that is Affliction and Tribulation which restraine men commonly from precipitating themselves into such grosse sinnes as otherwise they were apt to fall into Afflictio domat cupiditates exerat fidem coronat patientiam The last reason is defect of understanding Inconsideration the common errour of the World and the chiefe cause of all grosse sins and errors See 2 Chro. 12.14 and want of sound Iudgement in most men who seldome looke further then the present and consider not what may fall out hereafter Demosthenes upbraiding the Athenians with Improvidence and incircumspection presented to them an innocent Foole who being struck on the one Cheek laid his hand on the place where he had received the blow and being smit on the other did the like never using either of his hands to defend himselfe from further blowes Such is the case of mankind Ubi dolor ibi digitus Wee are so possest with worldly businesse or so besotted with pleasures that we never think on Gods Iudgments but while they are present and if we escape we conclude with Agag The bitternesse of death is past not considering that so long as we carry sinne about us we carry Nemesin à tergo Vengeance still dogs us and without Repentance will at last overtake us III Scripture Proofs Scripture Authorities to confirme this point are obvious to any that hath studied the Book of God there being nothing more frequent then exhortations to vigilancy and dehortations from security Yea the Prophets are therfore stil'd Watchmen because they are appointed to watch over us that when we sleepe in security as the Disciples did at the instant when the Shepheard was to be smitten and the Sheepe to bee scatterd they might sound an Alarme in our eares and rouze us to consideration of our danger In the Greek Anthology we reade of a Physitian who having two Patients the one Lunatike the other Lethargike lockt them up both in one Roome when he that was frantick did so beat the Lethargik that he kept him from sleeping by force and so cur'd him and withall so wearied himselfe with beating that he fell a sleep and recovered likewise If we apply this to our selves it may serve to shew us what a perillous disease a Lethargy is which requires blowes to cure it the smart whereof we may feele and beare the Markes a long while after If therefore after some great crosse or danger over-past our carnall lusts desire to renew their acquaintance with us the Vanities of the World allure us or the Devill would perswade us to think that the bitternesse of Death is past yet as we tender our owne soules let us not give eare to those charming temp tations least with Agag we be hewne in peeces when we least suspect it Nemo tam Divos habuit faventes Crastinum ut possit sibi polliceri In our best health wee cannot promise to our selves a Day and therefore can never say the bitternesse of death is past since every Day is a step to Death yea every Houre and Moment Our bodies are but earthen Vessels which a small knocke will breake so that they who have escapt a furious plague may dye of a small Fever or surfet Thus worldly dangers and disasters still hover over our heads and compasse us round and therefore none can truely say that the bitternesse of death is past but those only that are reconciled to God by Iesus Christ who swallowed up Death in Victory and exempted his children from its sting and bitternesse The danger of this spirituall Lethargie being so great and impendent let us consider what signes or Symptoms thereof may bee found in our corrupt Natures that perceaving our owne perillous estate wee may seeke to prevent it by applying such remedies as are proper and specificall The first marke or signe of this foule disease Symptoms of security is a giddle and vertiginous spirit which is most visibly seene in Reprobates who runne madly after their owne wild lusts and pursue their pleasure with such greedinesse as apparently shewes they have no sense nor apprehension of Death or Iudgement These kinde of men the Psalmist paints in their colours Psalm 59.5 they offend of malitious wickednesse verse 6. they runne to and fro and about the Citie Psal 10. They care not for God nor once thinke of him These are entred into a Lethargie being taken in the head and having lost regimen intellectus whereby they might understand their owne danger