Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	call_v	life_n	word_n	4,662	5	4.0526	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62598	A sermon preached at the funeral of the Reverend Benjamin Whichcot, D.D. and minister of S. Lawrence Jewry, London, May 24th, 1683 by John Tillotson ...	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.; Whichcote, Benjamin, 1609-1683.	1683 (1683)	Wing T1235; ESTC R985	14,500	40

said to do who are in a state of great anguish and torment as those are supposed to be who are in Purgatory But above all this Reasoning of S. Paul is utterly inconsistent with any imagination of such a state For he encourageth all Christians in general against the fear of death from the consideration of that happy state they should immediately pass into by being admitted into the presence of God which surely is not Purgatory We are of good courage says he and willing rather to be absent from the body And great reason we should be so if so soon as we leave the body we are present with the Lord. But no man sure would be glad to leave the body to go into a place of exquisite and extreme torment which they tell us is the case of most Christians when they dye And what can be more unreasonable than to make the Apostle to use an argument to comfort all Christians against the fear of death which concerns but very few in comparison So that if the Apostle's reasoning be good that while we are in this life we are detained from our happiness and so soon as we depart this life we pass immediately into it and therefore death is desirable to all good men I say if this reasoning be good it is very clear that Saint Paul knew nothing of the Doctrine now taught in the Church of Rome concerning Purgatory because that is utterly inconsistent with what he expresly asserts in this Chapter and quite takes away the force of his whole Argument 3. To encourage us against the fear of death And this is the Conclusion which the Apostle makes from this consideration Therefore says he we are of good courage knowing that whilst we converse in the body we are absent from the Lord. There is in us a natural love of life and a natural horrour and dread of death so that our spirits are apt to shrink at the thoughts of the approach of it But this fear may very much be mitigated and even overruled by Reason and the considerations of Religion For death is not so dreadfull in it self as with regard to the consequences of it And those will be as we are comfortable and happy to the good but dismal and miserable to the wicked So that the onely true antidote against the fear of death is the hopes of a better life and the onely firm ground of these hopes is the mercy of God in Jesus Christ upon our due preparation for another world by repentance and a holy life For the sting of death is sin and when that is taken away the terrour and bitterness of death is past And then death is so far from being dreadfull that in reason it is extremely desirable because it lets us into a better state such as onely deserves the name of life Hi vivunt qui ex corporum vinculis tanquam è carcere evolaverunt vestra vero quae dicitur vita mors est They truly live could a Heathen say who have made their escape out of this prison of the body but that which men commonly call life is rather death than life To live indeed is to be well and to be happy and that we shall never be till we are got beyond the grave 4. This Consideration should comfort us under the loss and death of Friends which certainly is one of the greatest grievances and troubles of humane life For if they be fit for God and go to him when they dye they are infinitely happier than it was possible for them to have been in this world and the trouble of their absence from us is fully balanced by their being present with the Lord. For why should we lament the end of that life which we are assured is the beginning of immortality One reason of our trouble for the loss of friends is because we loved them But it is no sign of our love to them to grudge and repine at their happiness But we hoped to have enjoyed them longer Be it so yet why should we be troubled that they are happy sooner than we expected But they are parted from us and the thoughts of this is grievous But yet the consideration of their being parted for a while is not near so sad as the hopes of a happy meeting again never to be parted any more is comfortable and joyfull So that the greater our love to them was the less should be our grief for them when we consider that they are happy and that they are safe past all storms all the troubles and temptations of this life and out of the reach of all harm and danger for ever But though the Reason of our duty in this case be very plain yet the practice of it is very difficult and when all is said natural affection will have its course And even after our Judgment is satisfied it will require some time to still and quiet our Passions 5. This Consideration should wean us from the love of life and make us not onely contented but willing and glad to leave this world whenever it shall please God to call us out of it This Inference the Apostle makes ver 8. We are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. Though there were no state of immortality after this life yet methinks we should not desire to live always in this world Habet natura says Tully ut aliarum rerum sic vivendi modum As nature hath set bounds and measures to other things so likewise to life of which men should know when they have enough and not covet so much of it till they be tyred and cloyed with it If there were no other inconvenience in long life this is a great one that in a long course of time we unavoidably see a great many things which we would not our own misfortunes and the calamities of others publick confusions and distractions the loss of Friends and Relations or which is worse their misery or which is worst of all their miscarriage Especially a very infirm and tedious old age is very undesirable For who would desire to live long uneasie to himself and troublesome to others It is time for us to be willing to dye when we cannot live with the good will even of our friends when those who ought to love us best think much that we live so long and can hardly forbear to give us broad signs that they are weary of our company In such a case a man would almost be contented to dye out of civility and not chuse to make any long stay where he sees that his company is not acceptable If we think we can be welcome to a better place and to a more delightfull society why should we desire to thrust our selves any longer upon an ill-natured world upon those who have much adoe to refrain from telling us that our room is better than our company Some indeed have a very happy and vigorous

he preached constantly and relieved the poor and had their children taught to reade at his own charge and made up differences among the neighbours Here he stayed till by the promotion of the Reverend Dr. Wilkins his predecessour in this Place to the Bishoprick of Chester he was by his interest and recommendation presented to this Church But during the building of it upon the invitation of the Court of Aldermen in the Mayoralty of Sir William Turner he preached before that Honourable Auditory at Guild Hall Chapel every Sunday in the afternoon with great acceptance and approbation for about the space of seven years When his Church was built he bestowed his pains here twice a week where he had the general love and respect of his Parish and a very considerable and judicious Auditory though not very numerous by reason of the weakness of his voice in his declining Age. It pleased God to bless him as with a plentifull Estate so with a charitable mind which yet was not so well known to many because in the disposal of his charity he very much affected secrecy He frequently bestowed his alms as I am informed by those who best knew on poor house-keepers disabled by age or sickness to support themselves thinking those to be the most proper objects of it He was rather frugal in expense upon himself that so he might have wherewithall to relieve the necessities of others And he was not onely charitable in his life but in a very bountifull manner at his death bequeathing in pious and charitable Legacies to the value of a thousand pounds To the Library of the University of Cambridge fifty pounds and of King's College one hundred pounds and of Emanuel College twenty pounds To which College he had been a considerable benefactour before having founded there several Scholarships to the value of a thousand pounds out of a Charity with the disposal whereof he was entrusted and which not without great difficulty and pains he at last recovered To the Poor of the several Places where his Estate lay and where he had been Minister he gave above one hundred pounds Among those who had been his Servants or were so at his death he disposed in Annuities and Legacies in money to the value of above three hundred pounds To other charitable uses and among the poorer of his Relations above three hundred pounds To every one of his Tenants he left a Legacy according to the proportion of the Estate they held by way of remembrance of him And to one of them that was gone much behind he remitted in his Will seventy pounds And as became his great goodness he was ever a remarkably kind Landlord forgiving his Tenants and always making abatements to them for hard years or any other accidental losses that happened to them I must not omit the wise provision he made in his Will to prevent Law-suits among the Legatees by appointing two or three persons of greatest prudence and Authority among his Relations final Arbitratours of all differences that should arise Having given this account of his last Will I come now to the sad part of all sad I mean to us but happiest to him A little before Easter last he went down to Cambridge where upon taking a great Cold he fell into a distemper which in a few days put a period to his life He died in the house of his ancient and most learned Friend Dr. Cudworth Master of Christ's College During his sickness he had a constant calmness and serenity of mind and under all his bodily weakness possest his soul in great patience After the Prayers for the Visitation of the Sick which he said were excellent prayers had been used he was put in mind of receiving the Sacrament to which he answered that he most readily embraced the proposal And after he had received it said to Dr. Cudworth I heartily thank you for this most Christian office I thank you for putting me in mind of receiving this Sacrament adding this pious ejaculation The Lord fulfill all his declarations and promises and pardon all my weaknesses and imperfections He disclaimed all merit in himself and declared that whatever he was he was through the grace and goodness of God in Jesus Christ. He expressed likewise great dislike of the Principles of Separation and said he was the more desirous to receive the Sacrament that he might declare his full Communion with the Church of Christ all the world over He disclaimed Popery and as things of near affinity with it or rather parts of it all superstition and usurpation upon the consciences of men He thanked God that he had no pain in his body nor disquiet in his mind Towards his last he seemed rather unwilling to be detained any longer in this state not for any pains he felt in himself but for the trouble he gave his friends saying to one of them who had with great care attended him all along in his sickness My dear friend thou hast taken a great deal of pains to uphold a crazy body but it will not do I pray thee give me no more Cordials for why shouldst thou keep me any longer out of that happy state to which I am going I thank God I hope in his mercy that it shall be well with me And herein God was pleased particularly to answer those devout and well-weighed petitions of his which he frequently used in his Prayer before Sermon which I shall set down in his own words and I doubt not those that were his constant hearers do well remember them And super add this O Lord to all the grace and favour which thou hast shewn us all along in life not to remove us hence but with all advantage for Eternity when we shall be in a due preparation of mind in a holy constitution of soul in a perfect renunciation of the guise of this mad and sinfull world when we shall be intirely resigned up to thee when we shall have clear acts of faith in God by Jesus Christ high and reverential thoughts of thee in our minds inlarged and inflamed affections towards thee c. And whensoever we shall come to leave this world which will be when thou shalt appoint for the issues of life and death are in thy hands afford us such a mighty power and presence of thy good Spirit that we may have solid consolation in believing and avoid all consternation of mind all doubtfulness and uncertainty concerning our everlasting condition and at length depart in the faith of God's Elect c. Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace Thus you have the short History of the life and death of this eminent Person whose just Character cannot be given in few words and time will not allow we to use many To be able to describe him aright it were necessary one should be like him for which reason I must content my self with a very imperfect draught of him