Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	bring_v	people_n	zion_n	63	3	8.9541	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62642	Sixteen sermons preached on several subjects and occasions by the most reverend John Tillotson ... ; being the second volume, published from the originals, by Ralph Barker ...; Sermons. Selections	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.; Barker, Ralph, 1648-1708.	1700 (1700)	Wing T1269; ESTC R18542	169,737	479

that Church will impose her Errors upon all that are of her Communion then those who refuse to comply do not sepavate themselves but are cut off do not depart but are driven out of the Communion of that Church and Separation in that case is as innocent and free from the guilt of Schism as the Cause of it is for the terms of Communion are become such that those who are convinced of those Errors and Corruptions can have no Salvation if they continue in that Communion and then I am sure their Salvation will not be endangered by leaving it or being Excommunicated out of it for that would be the hardest case in the World that Men should be Damned for continuing in the Communion of such a Church and damned likewise for being cast out of it Therefore no Man ought to be terrified because of the boldness and presumption of those who with so much Confidence and so little Charity damn all that are not of their Communion for we see plainly from the Text that Men may be in the right and surest way to Salvation and yet be Excommunicated by those who call themselves the true Church and will not allow Salvation to any but those of their own Communion The Disciples of our Lord and Saviour were certainly very good Men and in a safe way of Salvation tho' they were Excommunicated and put out of the Synagogue by the chief Priests and the Rulers of the Jewish Church I proceed to the 3. Observation which was this that from uncharitable Censures Men do by an easie step and almost naturally proceed to Cruel Actions After the Jews had put the Disciples of our Lord out of their Synagogues and thereby concluded them to be Hereticks and Reprobates no wonder they should proceed to kill those whom they thought not worthy to live they shall put you out of their Synagogues says our Saviour and when they have done that they will soon think it a thing not only fit and reasonable but Pious and Meritorious and a good Piece of Service done to God to put you to death Uncharitableness naturally draws on Cruelty and hardens Humane Nature towards those of whom we have once conceived so hard an opinion that they are Enemies to God and his Truth And this hath been the source of the most barbarous Cruelties that have been in the world witness the severity of the Heathen Perfection of the Christians which justified it self by the Uncharitable Opinion which they had conceived of them that they were despisers of Religion and the Gods and consequently Atheists that they were pertinacious and obstinate in their Opinions that is in the Modern Stile they were Hereticks And the like uncharitable conceit among Christians hath been thought a sufficient ground even in the judgment of the Infallible Chair for the justification of several bloody Massacres and the cruel Proceedings of the Inquisition against Persons suspected of Heresie for after Men are once Sentenced to Eternal Damnation it seems a small thing to torment and destroy their Bodies 4. Men may do the vilest and most wicked things not only under a grave Pretence of Religion but out of a real Opinion and Perswasion of Mind that they do Religiously Murder is certainly one of the greatest and most crying Sins and yet our Saviour foretels that the Jews should put his Disciples to Death being verily perswaded that in so doing they should offer a most acceptable Sacrifice to God yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you shall think that he offers a Sacrifice to God Not but that the great Duties and Virtues of Religion are very plain and easy to be understood and so are the contrray Sins and Vices But then they are only plain to a teachable and honest and well-disposed mind to those who receive the word with meekness and are not blinded with wrath and furious Zeal to those that receive the truth into an honest heart and entertain it in the love of it they are plain to the humble and meek for the humble God will guide in judgment and the meek will he teach his ways such as these God seldom suffers to fall into fatal mistakes about their Sin or Duty so as to call good evil and evil good to call light darkness and darkness light to think Uncharitableness a Virtue and downright Murder a great Duty But if Men will give up themselves to be swayed by self-Love and self-Conceit to be governed by any base or corrupt Interest to be blinded by Prejudice and intoxicated by Pride to be transported and hurried away by violent and furious Passions no wonder if they mistake the Nature and confound the Differences of things in the plainest and most palpable cases no wonder if God give up Persons of such corrupt minds to strong delusions to believe lies It ought not to be strange to us if such Men bring their Understandings to their Wills and Interests and bend their Judgments to their Prejudices make them to stoop to their Pride and blindly to follow their Passions which way soever they lead them for God usually leaves such persons to themselves as run away from him and is not concerned to secure those from splitting upon the most dangerous Rocks who will stear their Course by no Compass but commit themselves to the wind and tide of their own Lusts and Passions In these Cases Men may take the wrong Way and yet believe themselves to be in the right they may oppose the Truth and persecute the Professors of it and be guilty of the blackest Crimes and the most horrid Impieties Malice and Hatred Blasphemy and Murder and yet all the while be verily perswaded that they are serving God and Sacrificing to him Of this we have a plain and full instance in the Scribes and Pharisees the chief Priests and Rulers among the Jews who because they sought the Honour of Men and not that which was from God and loved the Praise of Men more than the Praise of God because they were prejudiced against the Meanness of our Saviour's Birth and Condition and had upon false Grounds tho' as they thought upon the Infallibility of Tradition and of Scripture interpreted by Tradition entertain'd quite other Notion of the Messias from what he really was to be because they were proud and thought them selves too wise to learn of him and because his Doctrine of Humility and self-Denyal did thwart their Interest and bring down their Authority and Credit among the People therefore they set themselves against him with all their Might opposing his Doctrine and blasting his Reputation and persecuting him to the Death and all this while did bear up themselves with a conceit of the Antiquity and Priviledges of their Church and their profound Knowledge in the Law of God and a great External shew of Piety and Devotion and an arrogant Pretence and Usurpation of being the only Church and People of God in the World And by virtue of these Advantages they thought

Temple because it was his Presence that should fill that house with glory and it was in that place that the Messias who is called the Peace is promised to be given and in this place will I give Peace saith the Lord of Hosts And this is likewise most expresly foretold by the Prophet Malachi chap. 3.1 Behold I will send my Messenger and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom ye look for shall suddenly come into his temple even the Messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in behold he shall come saith the Lord of Hosts And accordingly Jesus our Blessed Saviour came during the second Temple he was presented there by his Parents and owned by Simeon for the Messias he Disputed there and Taught frequently there and by his Presence filled that house with glory For that the Son of God Taught publickly there was a greater Honour to it than all the Silver and Gold of Solomon's Temple And not long after his death according to his express Prediction this second Temple was destroyed to the Ground so that not one stone of it was left upon another And when some Hundred of Years after it was attempted to be Rebuilt Three several times the last whereof was by Julian the Apostate in opposition to Christianity and to our Saviour's Prediction Fire came out of the Foundation and destroyed the Workmen so that they desisted in great Terror and durst never attempt it afterwards And this not only the Christian Writers of that Age in great numbers do testifie but Ammianus Marcellinus a Heathen Historian who lived in that time does also give us a very particular Account of this memorable matter So that if by the Expectation of the Nations be here meant the Messias as I have plainly shewn then he is long since come and was no other than Jesus our Blessed Saviour who according to this Prophecy was to fill the second Temple with glory which hath now been demolish'd above One thousand six hundred Years ago and the Rebuilding whereof hath been so often and so remarkably hinder'd from Heaven The Consideration of all which were sufficient to convince the Jews of their vain Expectation of a Messias yet to come were they not so obstinately rooted and fixed in their Infidelity There remains now the IV. And Last Circumstance of this Prophecy viz. That the coming of the Messias was to be the last Dispensation of God for the Salvation of Men and consequently was to be perpetual and unchangeable Yet once more and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land And I will shake all nations and the Expectation of all nations shall come Yet once more from which Words the Apostle to the Hebrews argues the Perpetuity of the Gospel and that it was the Dispensation which should never be changed Heb. 12.27 And this word Yet once more signifies the removing of those things which are shaken as of things that are made that those things which cannot be shaken may remain And then it follows Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved c. It was usual with the Jews to describe the times of the Gospel by the Kingdom of the Messias and accordingly the Apostle here calls the Dispensation of the Gospel a kingdom which cannot he moved In opposition to the Law which was an imperfect and alterable Dispensation For this is plainly the scope of the Apostle's reasoning namely to convince the Jews that they were now under a more gracious and perfect Dispensation than that of the Law ver 18. Ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched and that burned with fire meaning Mount Sinai which was a sensible literal Mountain a mountain that might be touched in opposition to the mystical and spiritual Mount Sion by which the Dispensation of the Gospel is described Which by the way prevents the Objection of its being called the Mountain that might be touch'd when it was forbidden to be touch'd upon pain of Death Ye are not come to the Mount that might be touched that is I am not now speaking of a literal and sensible Mountain such as was Mount Sinai from whence the Law was given but of that Spiritual and Heavenly Dispensation of the Gospel which was typified by Mount Sion and by Jerusalem but ye are come to mount Sion and unto the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant And then he cautions them to take heed how they reject him that came from Heaven to make this last Revelation of God to the World which because of the clearness and perfection of it should never need to receive any change ver 25. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth viz. Moses who delivered the Law from Mount Sinai much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven whose voice then shook the earth alluding to the Earthquake at the giving of the Law but now he hath promised saying Yet once more I shake not the earth only but also heaven that is the whole World in order to the coming of the Messias and the planting of the Gospel in the World and then he argues from the Words once more that the former Dispensation should be removed to make way for that which should perpetually remain And indeed there is no need of any farther Revelation after this nor of any change of that Religion which was brought from Heaven by the Son of God because of the Perfection of it and its fitness to Reform the World and to recover Mankind out of their lapsed and degenerate Condition and to bring them to Happiness both by the Purity of its Doctrine and the Power of its Arguments to work upon the Minds of Men by the clear discovery of the mighty Rewards and Punishments of another World And now the proper Inference from all this Discourse is the very same with that which the Apostle makes from the Consideration of the Perfection and Excellency of this Revelation which God had made to the World by his Son See that ye refuse not him that speaketh for how shall we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven And at the 28th Verse of that Chapter Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear that is Let us Live as becomes those to whom God hath made so clear and perfect a Revelation of his Will We have all the Advantages of the Divine Revelation which the World ever had and the last and most perfect that the World ever shall have We have not only Moses and the Prophets but that Doctrine which the Son of God came down from Heaven on purpose to declare to the World God hath vouchsafed to us that clear and compleat Revelation of

of hope unto the end and let us not be slothful but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises Now the God of Peace who brought again from the Dead our Lord Jesus Christ the great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant make you Perfect in every good word and work working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight SERMON XI The Blessedness of Good Men after Death The Second Sermon on REV. XIV 13. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth Yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them IN my Explication of these Words I told you that they are in the general Sense and Meaning of them a solemn Declaration of the Blessed Estate of Good Men after this Life but deliver'd upon a Special Occasion as is signified by that expression VOL. II. from henceforth that is from the time of that Vision in which was represented to St. John the last and extremest Persecution of the faithful Servants of Christ and which should precede the fatal downfal of Babylon from that time blessed are the dead which die in the Lord that is considering the Extremity and the cruel Circumstances of this last and severest Persecution we may from that time forward reckon those who are already dead supposing that they died in the Lord to be very Happy in that they do not live to see and suffer those grievous things which then will befall the Faithful Servants of God In my former Discourse I consider'd the Words according to the general intention of them abstracting from the particular occasion upon which they were spoken endeavouring to set forth the Happy Estate of Good Men after this life from the Two Reasons and Grounds mention'd in the Text namely because they rest from their labours and because their works do follow or accompany and go along with them which two particulars constitute the Happiness of the future State Serm. XI That which farther remains and to which I now proceed is to make some Inferences from what I have said upon this Subject And in doing this I shall have an Eye on the special occasion of the Words as well as on their general intention And the Inferences shall be these following First If those that die in the Lord are at rest from their Labours and Pains then this Text concludes directly against the feigned Purgatory of the Church of Rome which supposeth a great number of those that die in the Lord and have obtain'd Eternal Redemption by him from Hell not to pass immediately into Happiness but to be detain'd in the Suburbs of Hell in great Pain and Torment till their Souls be Purged and the Debt of Temporary Punishment to which they are liable be some way or other paid off and dischargeed Secondly Here is a mighty encouragement to Piety and Virtue to consider that all the good we do in this World will accompany us into the other Thirdly It is a great encouragement to Patience under the Sufferings and Persecutions which attend Good Men in this World that how heavy and grievous soever they are at present they will end with this Life and we shall then rest from all our labours Fourthly The consideration of the extreme Sufferings of Christians in the last Times and which perhaps are not far from us should render us very indifferent to Life and all the enjoyments of it so as even to esteem it a particular Grace and Favour of God to be taken away from the Evil to come and by Death to prevent if he sees it good those extremities of Sufferings which seem to be hastning upon the World I. If those that die in the Lord are at rest from all their labours and pains then this Text concludes directly against the feigned Purgatory of the Church of Rome which supposeth a great number yea the far greatest part of those that die in the Lord and have obtain'd Eternal Redemption by him from Hell not to pass immediately into Happiness but to be detain'd somewhere they are not certain where but most probably in the Suburbs of Hell in great Pain and Torment equal in degree to that of Hell and differing only in Duration I say to be detained there till their Souls be purged from the Defilements they have contracted in this World and the Debt of Temporary Punishments to which they are liable be some way or other paid off and discharged They suppose indeed some very few Holy Men to be so Perfect at their departure out of this Life that they do immediately and without any stop pass into Heaven because they need no Purgation and those likewise who Suffer Martyrdom because they Discharge their Debt of Temporary Punishments here But the generality of Christians who die in the Lord they suppose so imperfect as to stand in need of being Purged by Fire and accordingly that they are detained a longer or shorter time as their Debt of Temporary Punishments is greater or less And indeed they have a very Considerable and Substantial Reason to exempt as few as possibly they can from going to Purgatory because the more they put in fear of going thither the Market of Indulgences riseth the higher and the Profit thence accruing to the Popes Coffers and the more and greater Legacies will be left to the Priests to hire their saying of Masses for the delivery of Souls out of the Place of Torments For tho' the Prayers of Friends and Relations will contribute something to this yet nothing does the Business so Effectually as the Masses and Prayers of Priests to that end But how is it then that St. John says that those that die in the Lord are happy because they rest from their labours If so be the far greatest part of those who die in the Lord are so far from resting from their labours that they enter into far greater Pains and Torments than ever they endured in this World And therefore Bellarmine that their Doctrine of Purgatory may receve no prejudice from this Text would have from henceforth in the Text to be dated from the day of Judgment when he supposeth the Pains of Purgatory will be at an end But why from henceforth should take date from the day of Judgment he can give no Reason but only to save Purgatory from being Condemned by this Text. For St. John plainly speaks of the Happiness of those that should die after that time whatever it be which he there describes but that time cannot be the day of Judgment because none shall die after that time Just thus Estius one of their most Learned Commentators deals with another Text which by the generality of their Writers is urged as a plain proof of Purgatory he shall be saved yet so as by fire Upon which he says it is sufficient that there is nothing in this