Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	conscience_n	sin_n	soul_n	4,210	5	5.0824	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45564	A sad prognostick of approaching judgement, or, The happy misery of good men in bad times set forth in a sermon preached at St. Gregories, June the 13th, 1658 / by Nathaniell Hardy ...	Hardy, Nathaniel, 1618-1670.	1658 (1658)	Wing H743; ESTC R334	20,404	40

be cut off by their bloody enemies though these do it in malice he suffers it in love For tell me is it not a mercy to be put into a safe harbour before the stormy tempest arise To get into the House before the thunder and lightning rain and hail fall This is Gods design in taking away his Servants and therefore they have reason to bid death welcome Indeed the strongest consolation against death is the consideration of the terminus ad quem to what the righteous are taken even that good and bliss and glory to come They are taken to an innumerable company of Angels to the spirits of the just men made perfect They are taken to a Palace of Glory a Paradise of Pleasure and a Mansion of Eternity Finally they are taken to the Beatifical Vision of the face of God and the full fruition of his glorious presence But withall it is confortable to reflect on the terminus a quo from what they are taken from the evil misery and calamity to come upon the place where and people among whom they lived 2. Terrour to the wicked Nothing more usual with ungodly men then to rejoyce when the righteous are taken away from among them They had rather have their room then their company as being desirous to be rid of them Hence it is that they are not only glad of but many times very active in taking away the righteous They do not account themselves safe whilest the godly are among them But oh what fools are they and how grossly deceived Rejoyce not against me O mine enemy saith the Church So may every Sonne of the Church Little cause have the wicked to rejoyce Nay instead of laughing they have more cause to weep when the righteous are taken away For if the righteous be taken away from it must needs follow that their taking away is a sign of evil to come So that the death of the godly is a sad Prognostick of the destruction of the wicked What a wall is to a Town an hedge to a Field a pillar to an House that is a righteous man to the place where he liveth And therefore as men when they intend to take the Town batter the walls to lay waste the Field pluck up the hedge to pull down the House take away the pillar So Almighty God when he designeth to pluck up to overthrow and to pull down a Kingdom or a Nation he first removeth his own Servants Wicked men look upon the good as thornes and pricks to offend them whilest they have more cause to account them as Chariots and Horse-men to defend them They think themselves most secure and happy but indeed they are then nearest to misery and ruine when the godly are taken from them By taking away the righteous they intend a courtesie to themselves but it is in truth as a courtesie to the good so an injury to themselves Though yet such is the blindness of their minds they will not see and the hardness of their hearts that they will not consider it Which leads me to the Other part of the text the Complaint which the Prophet taketh up against the wicked in these words No man layeth it to heart none considering It might be here taken notice of in general that the sin which the Prophet declaimeth against is not positive but negative Not the bloody taking away of righteous ones not the cruel rejoycing at their fall but the not laying it to heart Indeed to be an Instrument of or laugh at the calamity of the godly making their tears our wine their ruine our sport is abhominable But though we be not in the seat of the scorners yet if we be not in the posture of mourners it is justly culpable Thus Dives is charged by our blessed Saviour not with oppressing Lazarus by taking any thing from him but not relieving him in giving something to him There are sins of omission as well as commission There are breaches of the negative as well as of the afffirmative Precepts We sin as well though not so much in not doing the good required as in doing the evil prohibited Not only the wastfull Steward but the unprofitable Servant shall be cast out The Vine that bringeth sorth no grapes shall be cut down as well as that which bringeth forth wild grapes Those whom Christ will at the last day set at his left hand are not accused with any evil or unjust acts they did but only with neglect of those charitable acts they ought to have done Oh let us make conscience of not doing as well as doing To let this go the sinne in particular reproved is not laying to heart and considering the death of the righteous Concerning which I shall briefly discover three things the nature the extent and the guilt of it 1. The Nature of the sin what it is will the better appear if we observe the Emphasis of the words the one whereof considering is an act of the Judgment weighing things in the ballance of Reason the other laying to heart refers to the affections Since then any thing is laid to heart when we are deeply affected with it These do one infer the other since what we affect we take into consideration and by considering we come to be affected Whilest I was musing the fire kindled saith David The consideration of any object causeth sutable affections If delightfull joy if hurtfull sorrow The fault then here characterized is that though the righteous were taken away before their eyes yet they did not lay it to their hearts And though they could not but take notice yet they would not consider it at leastwise not so seriously and affectionately as they ought 2. The Extent of this sin will be the more evident if we observe the several Circumstances by which it is aggravated 1. It was not the death of any but a righteous man not of one but of many mercifull men and some of those men of God and yet it was not laid to heart 2. These righteous and mercifull ones did not die a natural death but were taken away when yet they might have lived in course of nature many yeares longer and done a great deal of service for God in their Generation And yet this was not laid to heart by them 3. This taking away the righteous by death did portend no lesse then ruine and misery to come and that upon themselves And yet they were so stupid as not to consider it 4. And which enlargeth the Complaint their fault was general None considered none laid to heart That is very few as else-where There is none righteous By which phrase is intimated though not a nullity yet a paucity not one of many were sensible of the losse a spiritual Lethargy had seized upon the most and the disease was become Epidemical 3. The Guilt of this sinne how great it is will be manifest in a three-fold respect 1. In regard of God it argueth

a dying when in course of nature a man might have lived long it is one thing for a candle to go out of it self and another to be blown out by the wind it is one thing for a flower to wither and another to be blasted it is one thing for a tree to fall and another to be plucked up by the roots Finally it is one thing for a man to go away and another to be taken away from any place those are Emblemes of a natural these of a violent death In this notion this word addeth something to the former phrase namely the manner of the death The righteous perisheth and that not in a natural way but is taken away by the hand of violence The result of what hath been said on this first general amounts to these two things 1. That righteous and mercifull men perish and are taken away by death Indeed it is said of Enoch God took him that he should not see death so was Eliah and had God so pleased he might have exempted all righteous men from death but then neither his power in raising them to life would have been so illustrious nor their faith and hope in believing and expecting a Resurrection so conspicuous in which latter respect the Father saith well that had good men been priviledged from death Carni quidem faelicitas adderetur adimeretur autem fidei fortitudo though it might have been some kind of advantage to the frailty of our flesh yet it would much have detracted from the strength of out faith In great wisdome therefore hath God so ordered it that righteous and mercifull men as well as others should walk through the valley of the shadow of death Indeed our Saviours assertion is universall He that keepeth my sayings shall not see death but he meaneth the second death and so else where he explaineth himself when he saith He that believeth in me shall not die for ever True it is Solomon tells us that righteousness delivereth from death but it is from the evil not from the being of death death indeed is an advantage to a good man yet still die he must But this is not all which the Prophet here intends since this perishing and taking away by death being that which is appointed for all seemeth not to be a matter of much lamentation and therefore th●t which no doubt is further aimed at in these expressions is 2. That sometimes righteous and mercifull men perish and are taken away by a violent death Indeed it is that which is threatned by God as a curse upon wicked especially bloud-thirsty and deceitfull men it is that which Malefactors are sentenced to by the justice of the Judge but yet withall it is that which may and sometimes doth befall Gods own servants nay which is more strange and yet is many times true the righteous are taken away whilest the wicked remain Solomon observed it in his time There is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness yea which is yet most sad but very frequent the righteous perish by the wicked and that for righteousness sake and the mercifull are taken away by cruell hands and that for pietyes sake wicked men never want malice in their hearts and sometimes through divine permission have power in their hands to take away the liberties estates and lives of the righteous One of the first good men that was in the world began this bitter cup which many both men of God and other godly men have since pledged It was the complaint of the Church in the Old Testament and St. Paul taketh it up as most truly applicable to the Church of the New For thy sake we are killed all the day long and are accounted as sheep for the slaughter This is that which the wise God suffers to come to passe for many excellent ends That wicked men by such bloody acts may fill up the measure of their sins and thereby at once hasten and heighten their punishment That good men may have occasion of exercising and manifesting many graces particularly the length of their patience the height of their courage and the depth of their charity When a man endureth to the end suffering even death it self patience hath its perfect work That 's a Resolution indeed which maketh a man faithfull to the death and enableth him to look upon its pale visage with confidence There cannot be greater charity then to forgive my enemy especially when he persecuteth me to the death So that when righteous men perish violently their graces flourish gloriously That hereby righteous men may be fully conformable to the righteous one the Messiah concerning whom this Prophet foretelleth that he should be cut off as the tree is by the ax from the land of the living And in respect of which the Apostle chargeth those Jews that by wicked hands they had taken and slain him Finally That by so perishing the Religion which they profess may be honoured and the God whom they serve glorified Since though both these are in some measure effected by doing well and living uprightly yet much more by suffering ill and dying cheerfully in a righteous cause And now what should the consideration hereof teach us but 1. That certainly there is another world besides this wherein a difference shall be put between the righteous and the wicked between him that feareth God and him that feareth him not Here the righteous perish as well as the wicked nay the righteous perish and the wicked prosper and the mercifull are taken away by the wicked But shall it be so alwaies Will not the Judge of all the world do right Will there not be a Reward for the righteous Yes doubtless And since in this world all things fall alike to all and for the most part it fareth better with the wicked then the godly it necessarily followeth that there is a state after death wherein the righteous judgment of God in punishing the wicked who now prosper and recompensing the righteous who now perish shall be made manifest 2. That it is a needfull prudence in righteous and mercifull men to improve their time and Talents in serving God and doing good to others whilest they live They must perish at last by a natural they may be taken away soon by a violent death and when they perish all ability and opportunity will be taken away of doing good works either of piety or pitty justice or mercy Oh then how great industry and celerity is needfull in putting forth themselves to the utmost for God their souls their Brethren whilest they live that they may do much in a little time according to that sage advice of the wise man Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdome in the grave whether thou goest 3. That sowing in