Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A37536
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The present interest of England in matters of religion, stated wherein is clearly demonstrated that the Protestant religion may be fully secured from popery, though the penal laws be taken away / by W.D., alover of liberty for conscience sake.
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W. D., lover of liberty for conscience sake.
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1688
(1688)
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Wing D99; ESTC R21223
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21,170
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32
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we escape if we neglect so great Salvation Heb. 2.3 This is the work that every man should most pursue and that early and not to refer it and put it off to a dying hour O how unfit a time is that for so great a work Often-times Mens Speech is taken from them they would speak but cannot sometimes their reason is taken from them they are light-headed and speak they know not what surely that is not a proper season for men to make their peace with God. Can any man think that God Almighty will be so soon reconcil'd to him that hath lived a sinful wicked life all his days when he lyes on his death bed under the weight of all his sins when wrath is in his bosom and vengeance at his back I was told lately of a rich man that spake these words on his bed a little before he dyed I have left thousands for this Child and thousands for that Child but I have no treasures laid up for my self in Heaven To make them Rich I have made my self Poor to make them great I have made my self miserable and now my poor Soul is left to shift for it self what will become of it I know not O is not this the sad state and condition of many a Rich Man when he comes to dye A great man may enjoy much and yet he wants more than he enjoys he wants the favour of God an interest in Jesus Christ and that joy of the holy Ghost which is unspeakable and full of glory and that love of God which is better than life and that grace which is sufficient and assurance of that glory which God hath promised and Christ hath purchased O work while it is day for the night cometh when no man can work When once the Master of the House is risen up and hath shut to the door and ye begin to stand without and to knock at the door saying Lord Lord open unto us and he shall answer and say unto you I know you not whence you are Depart from me ye workers of iniquity Luke 13.25 26 27. O be therefore traders for heaven that God may be your portion Christ your gain Heaven your home and Glory your reward This then is the work of your Salvation to continue in well-doing seeking for Glory and Honour and Immortality Rom. 2.7 and Eternal Life But Glory Honour and Peace to every one that worketh good ver 10 11. For there is no respect of persons with God. Secondly A Generation Work. And you will say What is that Have you not known have you not heard has it not been told you God Almighty hath spoken to these Nations from Heaven by his mighty works which we have all seen and the Trumpet of his providences hath sounded this truth aloud in our ears To loose the bands of wickedness to undo the heavy burthens and to let the oppressed go free and that ye break every Yoke Isaiah 58.6 Who is there amongst us that hath not heard this voice The King that sits upon the Throne hath spoken to us by his late gracious Declaration for Liberty of Conscience Gamaliel by one argument silenced a whole assembly of persecutors that had agreed to slay the Holy Apostles And they took Counsel together to slay them Acts 5.33 Gamaliels argument was this Now I say unto you Refrain from these men and let them alone for if this counsel or this work be of men it will come to nought but if it be of God ye cannot overthrow it lest haply ye be found even to fight against God verse 38 39. Now the King by his gracious Declaration hath done much more for he hath silenced all the persecutors in three Kingdoms and tyed up their hands that they cannot smite with the fist of wickedness Many Thousands of Gods people in these Kingdoms have spoken also to you by the many humble addresses they presented to the King blessing God and thanking the King for this Liberty of Conscience which they now enjoy Persecution is a thing so ill in its nature so black in its name so bad in its effects and consequences so displeasing to God so hurtful to a Kingdom and so destructive to trade that modesty it self might restrain men from that hellish and devilish work though they had nothing of Christianity in them and this will appear farther because Blessed are they which are persecuted for Righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 5.10 Now if they be blessed that are persecuted then they that persecute are cursed If Heaven be the reward of faithful sufferers for Conscience sake towards God then Hell will be the portion of persecutors 2 Thes 1.6 If persecution be a thing so evil and bad let us consider then what these Penal Laws and Tests are and what they have done or has been done by them 1. First then These Penal Laws have arm'd your Enemies and put Weapons into their Hands to destroy you that are Dissenters When you were in the hands of your persecutors they neither pity'd you nor spar'd you but broke open your Doors and entered into your Houses taking away your Money and Goods and at some places not leaving the Poor People a Bed to lye on nor a Stool to sit on forcing you to attend from Sessions to Sessions and from Assize to Assize still keeping them bound over and putting many into Prison and there keeping them long and some so long till they dy'd And at that time they told you that it was not they that spoil'd you of your goods but the Laws it was not they that shut you up in Prison but the Laws it was not they that punish'd and destroy'd you for your Consciences towards God but the Laws This was that persecutors said then and this is that they say now it was the Laws that destroyed you and not them The King by his Declaration hath put Violence out of their Hands that they cannot hurt you and do you pray to God that he might put Violence out of their Hearts that they may not hate you and take hold of this opportunity that God hath put into your Hands by all Just and Lawful means that those Laws may be destroy'd that have destroy'd so many people This makes men bold to commit the greatest wickedness when they have Laws to encourage them and bear them out This said the Jews that Murdered our Lord and Saviour John 19.7 We have a Law and by our Law he ought to dye Dan. 6.15 And this was the thing that cast Daniel into the Den of Lyons namely the Law of the Medes and Persians And this was that encourag'd Haman to contrive the destruction and ruin of so many thousand Jews at once Esther 3.8 The Law being on his side and against them And this is that the Prophet Micah complain'd of That the Statutes of Omri were kept up and all the works of the house of Ahab Micah
appear'd afterwards by Haman's Plot Esther 3.8 9. And Haman said unto King Ahasuerus there is a certain people scattered abroad and dispers'd among the people in all the Provinces of thy Kingdom and their Laws are diverse from all people neither keep they the Kings Laws therefore it is not for the Kings profit to suffer them If it please the King let it be written that they may be destroy'd and I will pay ten Thousand Talents of Silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the business How sad is it then not to follow the call of God These Jews lookt upon the Way up to Jerusalem to be long the Journey dangerous the Success doubtful the King a Heathen the Enemy there before and therefore they despised the work of God and prefer'd their ease before glory and bondage before freedom and their little concerns before the great and glorious work of God. They chose rather to dwell amongst the Heathens and to see their abominable Idolatry than to go up with their Brethren to Jerusalem to worship the Lord. When men take their measures from their fears and jealousies and not from the word of God and his providences When men consult with Flesh and Blood and not the duty of their places and the work of God that lyes before them When men lean to their own understandings and reject the counsel of God When men rely upon an Arm of Flesh and not upon the mighty God of Jacob then they do despise the work of God in their day and cry it down and endeavour to bring an evil report upon it saying Ah this is not the time this is not the way these are not fit instruments to be imploy'd O vain man know and consider that Gods power is irresistible his wisdom unsearchable and his ways past finding out Sin at the first was the cause of all ignorance but now ignorance is the cause of all sin Our work below is then the best done when our work above is the first done Sometimes men resist the work of God and oppose it in their day and seek to overthrow it This the persecuting Jews did in the days of our Saviour and in the days of the Apostles For this man doth many Miracles Acts 5.39 if we let this man alone all men will believe on him and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation John 11.47 48. These words were spoken in Counsel and the design of them was to overthrow the work of God to persecute Christ Jesus to death and his faithful Witnesses Then from that day forth they took Counsel together for to put him to death verse 53. he came and preached peace to them but they proclaimed War against him He came to his own but they received him not He came to heal them but they wounded him He came to save them but they killed him He was full of love grace and truth but they were filled with rage malice prejudice and unbelief They clipped the wings of his mercy and clogged the wheels of his love and kindness They shut up the treasures of his grace against themselves and held the hand of his power by their unbelief And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief Matth. 13.58 That which the unbelieving Jews said then the unbelieving Gentiles say now We will not have this man to reign over us Sin and Satan shall reign the Law and the Letter shall reign But he that is Lord of life and gives life shall not reign over us The ways and methods that the Jews took to keep the Romans out brought the Romans in upon them For they persecuted Gods Faithful Servants and commanded them not to preach the Gospel not to speak in his name and that brought the wrath of God upon them Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved to fill up their sins alway For the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost 1 Thess 2.16 When men take evil ways to save themselves from the evil they fear that may come and may not come it is the ready way to bring that evil upon them they fear Take therefore no thought for the morrow for the morrow shall take thought for the things of it self sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof Matth. 6.34 When we make God our refuge and strength then he makes Heaven our inheritance and the Earth our passage to that glorious inheritance I have in the first place shew'd you what was done heretofore by the Jews and what that work of God was in their days For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Romans 15.4 And now in the second place I shall shew you what that work of God is in our day that you that know may know more and do the things that are Just and best for your selves and others This then is a twofold work 1. A Salvation Work. 2. A Generation Work. 1. First a Salvation Work. Work out your Salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day the night cometh wherein no man can work John 9.4 Death is a work but wants to be done the doing of it well then will require now our utmost endeavours our greatest diligence our always abounding in the work of the Lord a considering of our ways a right ordering of our conversations a running the race that is set before us a striving to enter in at the strait gate a giving all diligence to make our calling and election sure a growing in grace and a laying up a good foundation against the time to come and a labouring for that bread that perisheth not O consider this that Heaven and Hell will divide between them all the people that are now living upon the earth in a little time every man must shoot the Gulf of Eternity at Death and then another Gulf will be fixed And besides all this between us and you there is a great gulf fixed so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot neither can they pass to us that would come from thence Luke 16.26 They that dye in their sins God will never return to them to shew mercy and they shall never return to him to receive mercy O work therefore while it is called to day the day of mercy is yet continued and the day of grace is not yet ended he that will dye but once must dye daily he that will be delivered from the second Death must have a part in the first Resurrection He that will be equal with Saints in Glory must be eminent with Saints in Grace No Souls can live with God in Heaven but such in whom the Spirit of God lived whiles they were on Earth They that neglect the work of their Salvation cannot escape the punishment of their Damnation How shall