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
A75270	The virgin saint, or, A brief narrative of the holy life and Christian death of Mary Wilson with some memorable passages, and occasional speeches a little before her death added thereunto ; to which is also adjoyned a sermon, preached at her funeral by Mr. Geo. Nicholson, together with several consolatory letters, written by divers ministers, to her mournful father, Mr. Richard Wilson of Crosfield in Cumberland.	S. A.; Nicholson, George, ca. 1637-1697. Sermon preached at the funeral of Mrs. Mary Wilson.	1673 (1673)	Wing A28A; ESTC R42607	83,061	185

Death which is our burthen and which we groan under Rom. 7.24 She shall sin no more nor sorrow no more nor die no more though she be dissolved yet she is with Christ which is best of all she is perfectly holy and perfectly happy where she shall rest from her labours and her works shall follow her R●vel 14.13 There are three things that make Men and Women count themselves happy here below To have a good estate to have it in a good place and to have it by good Neighbours now all these three she and every one that dies in the Lord do eminently enjoy First Their Heavenly inheritance is exceeding great 2 Cor. 4.17 Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard the like 1 Cor. 2.4 1 Pet. 1.4 Secondly 'T is in a good place Heaven 2 Cor. 5.1 which is an House and City made for them and builded by God and therefore must needs be good Heb. 11.10 Thirdly 'T is by good Neighbours God Christ the Holy Spirit Angels and Just Men made perfect Adam had a good inheritance and in a good place but he had an evil Neighbour of the Devil that troubled him and marr'd all but there are no ill Neighbours in Heaven whether she is gone and therefore perfectly happy You must not understand this as if I asserted that I had an absolute certainty and assurance of her happy state for its God's Prerogative alone to know certainly who are his 2 Tim. 2.19 and therefore Grace is called the hidden man of the heart we cannot certainly know the good state of another 1. Because there is not any thing in Religion which can be exprest to another which may not flow from an Hypocritical as well as a sound and sincere Heart 2dly Peter was deceived in Simon Magus and calls Sylvanus a faithful Brother as he supposes 1 Pet. 5.12 Yet first the Scriptures speak of such marks of Grace whereby we may know that others belong to Christ John 13.35 whereby Christians are made manifest to others 1 Corin 11.19 and declared to be the Epistle of Christ 2 Cor. 3.2 3. Secondly There is such a sympathy and conformable working of God's Spirit in the Saints and their hearts answer each● other as Face answers Face in a glass that they are but as one Soul Acts 4.31 yet this amounts not to an absolute but to a charitative at most but to a moral certainty so far as its possible for a man to perceive the gracious estate of another such a certainty yea as great a certainty as is attainable by the forementioned ways from whence it comes touching her happy state ●hath been no stranger to me nor to your self ●either and therefore sith your loss is not comparable to her gain sorrow not immoderatly look through your loss and see her gain beyond it and sorrow not as if you were without hope For if you should this first would ●ewray your ignorance of the blessed estate of God's Children after this life Secondly Such Sorrow is rather for hopeless Heathens than for Christians for Egyptians than for Israelites or ●osephs Gen. 50 3-7 or for Davids when ●hey fear that their Absoloms are dead in an un●●generate estate Thirdly Her Death is no ●bolishing of Nature but a Sleep for a time and Resurrection and an awaking time to eternal Life to be satisfied with Gods likeness is certain wherefore comfort your self with these things ●ll these you have in 1 Thos 4.13 14 c. Psal 17. last Secondly Though your Loss be great yet his may lessen it and give some allay to it that it ● but a loss of her bodily presence for a time you have not lost your Friend but sent her a little before you praemittimus non amittimus saith one he is still your Daughter Abraham's wife is ●alled his wife though dead eight several times ●n the 23. Gen. to note saith Mr Calvin that ●he divorce of death is such that there remains nevertheless some conjunction and there i● other thing than the restoring to time t●● maintains and preserves the law of mutual c●● junction and neerness to note out saith Parus on the place that death makes not any s● divorce betwixt godly Couples and Friends 〈◊〉 that there remains still a blessed conjunction 〈◊〉 twixt them which is founded in the hope of happy Resurrection now is it not better have a Daughter in Heaven than upon Earth Thirdly How can you say that your Lo●● great When you have lost nothing that 〈◊〉 your own she was God's first and last b● by Creation Redemption Adoption c. 〈◊〉 was never yours only you had the loan of 〈◊〉 God lent you her so many years as she li●● and now He hath call'd for her and taken his own home again And will you be troub●● and grieve and sorrow because he hath sen● and taken his own home again If a man you any thing for a while will you grieve●vex and take on when he sends for it or 〈◊〉 it home again or will you be troubled that was made fitter for God when he call'd fo● by Death than when you received her 〈◊〉 God at her first breath She received o● natural being at her birth but after a spir●● being in the new Birth God making you i● mental herein that she might be meet for lowship with her Father in Heaven and partaker of the inheritance of the Saints in ●●ht Colos 1.12 And are you troubled that ●●d call'd for his own when fitted for him ●s she so good that she was too good for God ●●d will you aggravate and greaten your sorrow ●on this account O wonderful For a David 〈◊〉 mourn immoderatly for his Absalom who ●●bably feared that he was gone to a place of ●●ment was no wonder at all But for you 〈◊〉 sorrow inordinately for her that is gone to ●aven a place of Pleasure and endless Joy is ●●y strange and gone to her Father whose ●ughter she was and is none of yours For ●re is no earthly Comfort we enjoy that is our ●●n only lent us and we are Stewards be●sted with it for a while at length God calls 〈◊〉 it again when he pleaseth only Grace when ●en us is our own because its never taken from 〈◊〉 this Seed remains in us till it be perfected Glory Luke 16.12 1 John 3.4 Fourthly Consider that though she be dead ●●o you yet living even in her body as to God 〈◊〉 before him Luke 20.38 For though death ●●aks the union betwixt the Soul and Body 〈◊〉 it breaks not the bond of the Covenant be●●een God and her the Covenant is alive ●●ugh she be dead Matt. 22.31 32. The ●●tion of God to Abraham was as strong when was dead as when he was alive God is not God of the dead but of the living for all the Saints are alive to him though dead as to us yet they are alive to him as their Souls are alive so their bodies are as living bodies and though rotting in their

Graves yet he own● them as much as if they were flour●shing in Stately Palaces neither can Death break the union between her and Christ this outlive Death Though Death triumph over the natural union of Soul and Body it can never break th● mystical union betwixt Christ and a Saint th● union betwixt Christ and her Body remains in●violable by vertue of which union it shall b●raised up again and united to her Soul and then she shall be ever with the Lord. Fifthly Consider that if God should have continued her with you for a long season in that pain and languishing condition which he could and might justly Whether you would not have had greater cause to sorrow and to be trouble with her presence in such pain than now you have for her absence in her freedome from it These things seriously considered and laid 〈◊〉 heart I should think might keep you from to much sorrow and trouble for your loss 3. As to Third viz. Your Sins which y●● may possibly judg to have had an hand in this pr●●sent sad stroke to this I would say as follows First If this Afflictive Providence be for your gain and advantage that survive and remai● alive and for hers that is deceased then yo● have no great cause to be troubled any further ●●an as it may make the present Dispensation an advantage to you Now that it will be for her bod and great advantage you have no cause in ●e least to scruple or at all to suspect or question her Soul is in Paradise in Abraham's bo●●me and for her Body God hath rock't it ●leep and laid it in a bed where it shall rest and sleep till it awake to eternal Life Isa 57.2 and it will also be for your advantage for hereby you will be brought to search out and 〈◊〉 see those sins which lay latent and you saw 〈◊〉 before and to be sensible of them so as to have recourse to Christ for Remission and will not this be your gain Besides it will be as a ●ean to help you to avoid running upon the ●●e rocks for the future so that hereby sins past ●ill be pardoned and for the future falling ●●to them prevented which will be exceeding ●●od for you and great advantage to you Secondly Consider that God threatned to lay very heavy stroke upon Eli and his Posterity or ever and actually executed the threatning and that for his Sin 1 Sam. 3.13 and yet see ●ow patiently he takes it and quietly submits 〈◊〉 his Will It 's the Lord saith he let him do that seems him good 1 Sam. 3.18 Do you la●our to be of the same frame quiet your self un●er the present sad Dispensation and freely ●bmit to his Will and that you may be moved ●ereunto let these things following be as inducements First Death is appointed for all It 's appointed once for all to die Heb. 9.27 We were all born to die it 's inevitable none can avoi● it none escapes it and therfore folly for a man to grieve for it or at it Secondly The time when every one shall di● is appointed All the days of my appointed tim will I wait saith Job ch 14.14 The bounds are se● over which none can pass v. 5. And is there n●● an appoin●ed time to man upon earth Job 7.1 Thirdly The Saints have quieted themselve under sad Providences and quietly submitted because 't was the Lord that was the Author and Orderer of them Thus Aaron when his sor●● were devoured by fire from Heaven held h●● peace Levit. 10.3 Eli 1 Sam. 3.18 H● zekiah 2 Kin. 20.19 when his Sons were take away laies Good is the word of the Lord. Thu● David 2 Sam. 15.25 26. and in Psal 39.9 was dumb because thou didst it And Christ him self Mat. 26.39 Not my will but thy Will ●●done So should you endeavour to say and do● sith God hath not only appointed Death and the time thereof but laies on the stroke himself whatever be the meritorious cause or means by which is is done Fourthly It 's your Duty to quiet your sel● and freely to submit to his Will For First 1. The Will of God is a Soveraign Will H● hath absolute and unaccountable Dominion over his creatures as the Potter hath power over his ●lay I may say here as the Apostle in another case Who art thou that repliest against God Roman 9 20 21. It 's an uncreature-like temper to maintain reluctancy against the will of God 2. His Will is a most righteous Will the Lord never wills or doth any thing wherein he swerves from the rule of Righteousness or wrongs the creature in the least Job 34.23 Jer. 12.1 Righteous art thou O Lord. Non-subjection therefore to the Will of God must needs be an ●●nrighteous thing 3. Gods Will is an Holy Will He wills nothing but in greatest Holiness neither doth He do any thing wherein he swerves from the rule of Holiness He is holy in all his works Psal 145.17 Habbak 1.13 14. 4. It 's a Will in conjunction with greatest Wisdome proceeding in all things according to wisest Counsels doing all things in truest order manner season and beauty In wisdome he made all things Prov. 3.19 20. He orders all things according to the counsel of his will Ephes 1.11 and makes every thing beautiful in its time Eccles 3.11 And though we do not know now yet we shall afterwards the beauty of all his Providences therefore 't is perverse folly to repine at his Will 5. To the Saints it is a gracious Will whatever the outside of any Providence may be Mercy is the inside to them Mercy is the Soul what ever the Body of it may be All his waies 〈◊〉 mercy to his Psal 25.10 All Providences wo●● together for good to those that love him Rom. 8 2● Even those afflictive Dispensations towards his Children that proceed from Gods Fatherly di●● pleasure and from Sin as the procuring cause the rise and principle is Love and the desig●● and end their good Due chastisement given t● a Child by his Father is an argument that 〈◊〉 loves him a Father loves his Child when he corrects him yea when the correction proceed from fatherly displeasure for a Father neve● corrects his Child hut when he is displeased with him As a man so God may be much displease with and much love the same person at the same time And as it is your Duty to quiet your heart and freely to submit to his Will so also its you● Duty to bless God though the providential D●spensation be sad There are many cogent Argu●ments to move you to it 1. You came naked into the world without a Daughter or any thing else and naked you shall return again this was one Argument that moved Job to bless God Job 1.21 22. 2. It s the Lord that hath taken away therefore bless the Lord as Job did Job 1.21 3. God's Will is done and fulfilled and you● Prayers are answered You prayed that

them in time by past 't is possible you do not now perceive but I hope you shall afterwards to the bringing forth of the peaceable fruits of righteousness as Christ and one of his Apostles speak in another case John 13.7 Hebr. 21.11 And it s no wonder that you so earnestly desir some assistance and succour for your support sith the present Providential Dispensation toward you is sad and you in much sorrow and heav●ness because of it and in a sad condition under it though good old Mr. Dod saith That n● man is in a sad condition but he that hath a hard heart and cannot pray But I will suppose that your condition is sad enough all thing considered and that you are very sad and so● rowful in and under 〈◊〉 and it may arise from one or all of these three following things First The Remembrance of the no small commodity and comfort both bodily and spiritual that your enjoyed by her sweet company and comfortable and profitable communion with her Secondly Your irrecoverable loss of her as to her bodily presence in this world and consequently your deprivation of partaking of the like profit and comfort from her for the future Thirdly Your former and present Sins which possibly you may apprehend to have had an hand in this sad and sudden stroke that is now fallen upon you But that neither of these asunder nor all conjoyned are ground sufficient for such Sadness and Sorrow that you seem to be affected and afflicted with and to labour under I shall now come to demonstrate First As to the former Profit and Comfort you did partake of through her presence 1. Consider that you are more bound to bless God for what you have already enjoyed this way and in this regard than to be burthened with or troubled for the present sensible want of it As God sets the day of Prosperity over against the day of Adversity as Solomon speaks Eccless 7.14 So should you set the former prosperous days you had with her over against the present adverse days you have now in the want of her and then you will soon see that there is no comparison betwixt the one and the other and that you have no such cause to be so afflicted with the present want of it as to hinder you from or in blessing God for the former enjoyment And if Epicures could satisfie and comfort themselves in their greatest dejections Ex praeteritarum voluptatum recordatione through the thoughts of former pleasures that had affected their Sense How much more may you comfort your self in the remembrance o● the pleasure profit and comfort that you had by the almost twenty years enjoyment of her and through the thoughts of it be raised up to bles● God for it as Joseph did for the last Seventeen years enjoyment of his dear father And as Joh did when his Children were taken away by death whom the Lord had given him to enjoy so long and as Saint Jerome did Lord saith he thou hast taken away my father whom thou gavest I am not sad because thou hast received him but I give thanks to thee because thou gavest him you have cause and ground enough to go and do the like 2. Consider that by drawing near to God acting faith upon him by living by Faith you may enjoy all that profit comfort and counsel in a larger and fuller manner and measure that you ever did in and by her presence She was but the instrument by which but God the principal Agent who can comfort without her as well as with her the comforts you had we not from her but from God by her 2 Cor. 7. ● Comforted us by Titus he was a good man and ●rought good tydings yet he doth not say that Titus did comfort them but God comforted them ●y his coming 'T is not your Friend or Relation that comforts you but God by them She was but ●he stream He the Fountain she was but a ●reature He the Creator she was but the vessel through which it was poured He the Ocean of ●ll good and comfort 2 Cor. 1.3 4. And in●eed God often deprives us of precious means ●nd instruments of good and comfort that we ●ight come to Him and enjoy it all in Him That we might see that it was neither in nor ●ame from the creature but that it was in and ●ame from himself alone where you may find ● for seeking And go with your bucket of ●aith to this Fountain to sill your Soul full of ●ll Comforts And surely it is your happiness as well as of all the People of God that all com●●rt is in his hand and at his disposing con●●dering his nature that makes him willing and ●●ady to relieve and comfort you his Relation ●● you he is your Father And will a Father ●t his Child lye comfortless when he can help ●im His Omniscience knows where your shoe brings He knows what comfort you want He ●es your afflictions I have seen I have seen ●●e Afflictions of my People Israel Exod. 3.7 ●●e knows what you need Mat. 6.32 His ●mnipresence you are ever within his reach He can lay his hand upon every joint where you are pained and put a Plaister on every wound His Omnipotence He is able to comfort there is nothing too hard for him to do He can command yea create Comforts Commit therefore the keeping of your all to him as unto a faithful Creator 1 Pet. 4.19 Secondly As to your great and irrecoverable loss of her I will not say as you unparallel'd loss for it doth not at all run parallel with somes loss witness Job 's and Elie 's but I will suppose the loss very great as indeed it is Yet First Consider together with your loss her gain oppose her present gain to your present loss you have lost a good Daughter she hath got a better Father and Mother she i● gone to God her Father and to Jerusalem above which is her Mother which is a greater gain t● her than your loss is a loss to you You have lost a Daughter that was mortal and was bo●● to die she hath got a Father that is Immorta● that shall never die You have lost her bodily presence she enjoyes the presence of God Christ his Spirit Angels and the Spirits of just one made perfect Your loss is but temporal h●● gain is eternal Your loss is but earthly h●● gain is heavenly Your loss is but a bodily loss her gain is Spiritual Yours was but the loss ● her Graces as to the actings of them among you her gain is Glory She is gone from th● Valley of Achor of Bacah and Bochim from Trouble Tears and Mourning to the Valley of Berachah to the Valley of Blessing and Praise to fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore where all tears shall be wip'd away from her eyes where is no more Death or Sorrow or crying or pain she is freed from the body of Sin and