Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	continue_v	daily_a	great_a	32	3	2.1033	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50403	A memento to young and old: or, The young man's remembrancer, and the old man's monitor. By that eminent and judicious divine, Mr. John Maynard, late of Mayfield in Sussex. Published by William Gearing, minister of the Gospel	Maynard, John, 1600-1665.; Gearing, William.	1669 (1669)	Wing M1451; ESTC R216831	88,644	216

upon this improvidence when changes happen which are grievous in themselves they become more grievous to us for want of preparation That which in its own nature is a misery is made a double misery to us when we are not prepared for it What discomfort will sickness bring when it cometh unlook'd for and when we have not prepared for it by searching our hearts casting up our accounts getting assured pardon of our sins at the hands of God when a sick body and a guilty conscience meet together there is a woful condition when a man shall lie down in his death bed with the guilt of all his sins lying upon him and pressing upon his Soul there is a grievous burthen and especially when death cometh and findeth him not regenerate findeth in him no other life but that which floweth from the union between the Soul and Body no new spiritual life issuing from an inseparable communion between Christ and him Oh how wi●l death insult over such a one how will the name the thought the visage of death dismay him when it meeteth him alone not joyned to Christ and entreth into a single combat with him not strengthened by an happy union with the Lord of life will it not tear him in pieces as a Lion might do a little Dog It is a double misery not to be aforehand with death not to be provided for this change 4. on the other side much ease much good much comfort followeth upon a timely foresight and wise preparation for such changes When a sad and sudden change was brought upon Hezekiah a sharp fit of sickness supposed to have been the Plague and a peremptory message from the Lord by the Prophet Set thine House in order for thou shalt die and not live Did it not wonderfully ease his burthen that he was so well prepared for this change and able to say his conscience bearing him witness 2 Kings 20. 3. I beseech thee O Lord remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and hav● done that which is good in thy sight What a comfort will it be when thy health is turned into sickness thy strength into weakness when thou art fastened to thy bed and hast received in thy self the sentence of death if then thou findest thy self provided for this change A sweet comfort it shall be in old age when the Grashopper is a burden even the lightest thing it shall then ease that burden of years that makes thee stoop if thou didst in time foresee and provide for it turning to the Lord aforehand that so thy gray hairs may be found in the way of righteousness CHAP. III. Use 1. 1. THis may serve to reprove the great sensuality and security that is naturally among us that we look at things present and do not seriously take to heart such changes as may befall us A Comment upon Psal. 49. would be a fit enlargement of this use where the Psalmist discourseth excellently of this point both shewing the folly of men trusting to outward things as to certainties and declaring his own spiritual wisdom which God had taught him in preparing for any changes that might befall him First he calleth for attention for all sorts of men throughout the world Hear this all ye people give ear all ye Inhabitants of the world both low and high rich and poor together It concerneth all sorts nearly and all sorts are faulty therein and need to be stirred up by way of remembrance Then he doth very effectually seek to win attention by the excellency of the things which he is about to deliver My mouth shall speak of wisdom and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding such wisdom as many worldly wise men never learned yea he sheweth in the next verse that it is an hidden wisdom and as a parable to natural men for the most part Then he entreth upon his discourse and in the first place beginneth with himself ver 5. Wherefore should I fear in the daies of evil when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about as if he had said I do foresee changes and afflictions I look for assaults from Satan but I am armed against them through the mercy of God who hath pardoned my sins and therefore when such evils come and Satan shall seek to entangle my Conscience as in a snare as if these were sure arguments of God's hatred against me I will not fear I am prepared for these things Then on the other side in the next verse unto the fifteenth he goeth on at large declaring the folly and blindness of worldly-minded men c secure sinners in this case They that trust in their Wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their Riches none of them can by any means redeem his Brother nor give to God a ransom for him They trust in outward things as if they were enduring substance and their hearts are lifted up with thoughts of their Wealth and Riches they think not seriously of changes to come they trust in their strength and healthy tempers in their Youth they rest their hearts in their present carnal contentments sinful pleasures c. as if these things should alwayes continue whereas they can neither rescue or ransom themselves or dearest friends from the power of death that he should live for ever and not see corruption For he seeth that wise men die likewise the f●ol and the brutish person shall perish and leave their wealth to others This sheweth their great sensuality and sottishnes that though they have daily experience of divorces separations made by death between men and their wealth their honours their pleasures and that they are forced to leave all and go naked out of the world yet they do not apply this and make it their own case but they go on even like to the brute beasts which when they see one of their own herd led away to the slaughter-house regard it not but delight as much as before in their fat pastures sitting themselves daily more and more for the same end So these though they see those that were framed of the same clay with themselves drop away and return to their dust yet they mind it not unless it be for a short fit but set their hearts upon these things as much as if they had never heard of any that had been taken away by death For their inward thought is that their Houses shall continue for ever c. The Spirit of God here looketh into the inside and rippeth open the bosomes of these earthly-minded persons and sheweth what thoughts and hopes they have even of perpetuities here on earth and so they love and strive for these things as if there were eternity in them as if they were everlasting things Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not he is like the beasts that perish Let him enjoy never so much of these things yet he abideth not there shall come a change

all shall be turned upside down and he shall become like the beasts that perish As he is sottishly and sensually affected with things present like the beast so he shall return to the earth like it and be turned out of all ver 13. This their way is their folly yet their posterity approve their sayings It is a sad thing that when experience hath taught the world so often the vanity of such thoughts yet that those that come after should be of the same mind too think as they thought do as they did live as they lived The Psalmist addeth Selah and it is well worthy even of a note of wonder and astonishment Children see their Parents sins and see how they are taken away and all their pride and covetousness c. doth them no good the pleasure of all is vanished and gone it is no more yet will they run blindly on in the same way so will others that come after them Neighbours and acquaintance though they see this yet they will follow them and tread in their steps this is their folly Selah it is remarkable folly Ver. 14. Like sheep they are laid in their grave Death shall feed on them c. As sheep dying in the field are devoured and fed upon by Ravens and other birds of prey and beasts of the field so death shall not only slay them but feed upon them it shall consume them and turn them into rottenness and dust Then saith he The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning After this long night wherein death shall feed on them in the grave the morning light of that great day shall arise upon them when all shall rise again and then the Righteousness shall have dominion over them and sit in Judgement upon them Oh how many changes are here which they do not effectually foresee and provide for Friends are taken from them they are taken from their wealth Death killeth them Death feedeth on them and if here were an end it were nothing but then cometh that great day after this long night when they must be awakened by the last Trumpet and see the Righteous whom despised sit as Judges over them But Ver. 15. The Psalmist sheweth how he had taken into consideration aforehand all these things and was prepared for them But God will redeem my Soul from the power of the grave for he shall receive me Selah David did not settle his heart upon any things of the world but he looked for death and prepared for it made account of being Death's prisoner in the grave but then withall he had overcome death and the grave before hand by the power of faith laying hold of the promise of God knowing that he should be ransomed and redeemed from it not as the wicked whose hearts were set upon the things of the world to be carried from the prison of the grave to execution but he knew that the Lord would receive him to glory and upon this he sets a special note again Selah Then he sheweth what little cause any child of God hath to be troubled at the outward prosperity of the wicked and in the end concludeth all with this speech Man that is in honour and understandeth not is like the beasts that perish Let him be never so highly advanced and enriched yet if he doth not understandingly consider of changes likely to come upon him but glut himself with the things of this present life he is more like a beast than a man and maketh no use of that reasonable soul which God hath given him above a beast whereby he hath an ability to look beyond these things that lie before his eyes for the present and to make use of his experience in those changes which he hath seen in others applying to himself and reasoning from one thing to another and so to provide for the like to come upon himself You see here the very picture of a caranal secure heart setled upon its lees embracing this present world and doting upon it not foreseeing nor providing for those many changes and turnings of things that are likely to happen and especially that great change that shall certainly come death the grave and resurrection unto Judgement Which were they throughly sensible of they should have a low esteem of these perishing vanities and uncertainties under the Sun and not hazard their dear Souls by too much affecting and too eager seeking after them CHAP. IV. Use 2. WE are all here to be exhorted in a more serious manner to set before our eyes and hearts a more deep consideration of those changes that may befall us and especially of that which must certainly come and to provide against them The Prophet Habakkuk saith I will stand upon my Watch and set me upon the Tower and will watch to see what the Lord will say unto me and what I shall answer when I 〈◊〉 reproved He was before like one standing upon the lower ground looking upon things present things that lay before him viz. The present prosperity of the wicked prevailing over the Church and was troubled at it in his thoughts to see the wicked devour the man that was more righteous than he Chap. 1. 13. Hereupon he is tempted to complain of the Lords wayes of Providence and his manner of governing the world But now being sensible of his errour he would get upon the higher ground upon a watch-tower that he might see into changes that should come afterwards and discern things afar off when the wicked should be most severely punished for all their cruelty in oppressing the people of God So Christians when they stand upon the lower ground and consult with flesh and blood and look upon things with fleshy eyes their thoughts are bent upon things that are at hand even present things but they must get upon the watch-tower raise up their hearts in holy meditations upon the word so that they may see afar off what is coming and what shall be hereafter what changes of things shall happen in time to come When Jehu had the Kingdom of Israel bestowed upon him with a charge to execute Justice on the wicked house of Ahab he rode in his Charet with other Captains Souldiers to Jezreel where Joram the King and his confederate Abaziah King of Judah were together in Vers. 17. it is said There stood a Watch upon the Tower in Jezreel and he espied the Company of Jehu as he came and when a Messenger was sent out and detained he could see this too and give the King knowledge of it yea and a second time he could see who it was too ere the King saw him at all as it seemeth standing upon the lower ground And the driving saith he is like the driving of Jehu the Son of Nimshi for he driveth furiously Then saith Joram make ready when he was even upon his back But then it was too late he was now within the reach of Jehu's Bow So whiles the wicked

But this answer is not sufficient for those places of Jerem. 31. and Ezek. 18. speak not of a civil but of a divine punishment III Others again answer it thus that God punisheth the sins of Fathers on their Children if they do such like sins as their Father He will punish the Children for their Fathers Idolatry if their Children are Idolaters also and punish them that hate God as their Fathers did before them If this were true then those places in Jeremiah and Ezekiel were answered with this exception The Son shall not bear the iniquity of his Father unless the Son be wicked too the Childrens teeth shall not be set on edge unless they eat sowre grapes as their Fathers did before them But this answer is not to the purpose neither 1. Because Children have been punished for their Fathers sins which they never imitated as the Children of the Sodomites were destroyed with the same destruction their Fathers were 2. Sometimes the Children who have repented have been outwardly miserable because their Fathers were exceeding sinful 3. Because then God did not punish the sins of their Fathers on them so much as their own personal sins not punish their Fathers Idolatry but their own Idolatry nor their Fathers Adultery but their own 4. The force of the threatning is taken away for God brings that threatning of visiting their Idolatry upon their Children to make Fathers to take heed of Idolatry Then this would be the sense of it according to their interpretation Take heed ye Fathers of Idolatry for I will punish your third and fourth generation if they be Idolaters By these reasons it is evident that this answer that God punisheth Children for their Fathers sins because Children follow their Fathers in their sins is not sufficient IV. This answer may give full satisfaction There is a three-fold evil of punishment with which God visits sinners 1. There is eternal damnation so no Child is punished for his Fathers sins but the Soul that sinneth that shall die Every man is damned for his own proper sins only such as eat the sowre grapes of sin they shall gnash their teeth in Hell 2. There is malum morale a moral evil God his giving up the Children to follow their Fathers steps is a punishment for their Fathers sins But this God doth not inflict upon them as they are sins but by denying grace to the Children of wicked Parents upon which denial they fall into the like sins their Fathers did before them God denying grace to the posterity of Idolaters they commit Idolatry also 3. There is malum naurae evils of nature as Losses Crosses Afflictions Famine Sword Plague temporal death God oftentimes punisheth the Children for their Fathers sins with these temporal punishments For Gehazi's Covetousness his posterity shall be leprous and for the mutiny of Dathan and Abiram their Children perished with them For David's Adultery the Sword shall never depart from his house to all successions So oftentimes it falls out that for the riot adulteries or oppressions of Progenitors Children are brought to a morsel of bread The reason is because God in punishing the Children punisheth the Fathers also Qui● Filii quaedam pars parentum because Children are part of their Fathers as branches are part of the tree therefore the good that is bestowed on the Child or the evil inflicted on him is the good and evil of the Father Quest. But how can the evils which Children suffer when their Fathers are dead be a punishment to him that is deid how can the evil which the fourth generation suffereth be the evil of the Father dead it may be many years before Resp. 1. I answer yes they are evils to them because God threatens them as punishments to them Shall we think that God would threaten this as an evil if it were not look as other evils threatned which follow the wicked after they are dead are a punishment as the name of the wicked shall rot shall stink when they are dead They that pass by their graves shall say Here lieth a beastly drunkard here lieth a profane swearer a cruel oppressour These are curses though they are not sensible of them So when God shall ruine the posterity of wicked men it is a sore punishment to them As now it is a mercy to just men that their memory when they are dead shall be blessed and that the seed of the Righteous shall be blessed on earth Then on the contrary if the seed of a man be cursed it is a punishment to the Fathers 2. We are not to judge of punishment only by our sense and feeling as if it were no punishment because dead men are not sensible of the miseries of their Children but we are also to judge of punishment by the evil which is in it Now it is a sore evil when God shall for the sins of our Fathers bring ruine upon our estates miseries upon our bodies Plagues Sword or Famine upon us 3. It is a punishment to the Fathers though dead because it is directly contrary to their wills and intentions Fathers would have their Children rich and happy after their death and would have their Houses and Names to contiue for ever but God in justice ruinates their Families and cloatheth their Children or Childrens Children with misery as with a garment Object But put the case the posterity of wicked men are converted and become godly doth God punish such for the sins of 〈◊〉 Fathers Sol. I answer yes God sometimes may and doth deprive such of their honours and estates and takes them away with temporal death for the sins of their Fathers But then the evils which such Children endure are only parentum poenae their Fathers punishment and are filiorum probationes medicinae exercitia the Childrens tryals medicines exercises God in mercy turneth their afflictions into their spiritual advantage God makes their death a passage to glory and life eternal And these afflictions though they are the punishments of their Fathers yer shall work out for them a greater weight of glory Here let me add these things 1. We must hold this as an undeniable truth that God is alwayes righteous in all his administrations of Judgements whether in punishing Parents or Children for Parents sake Though the Judgements of God are sometime hidden yet they are never unjust There is no iniquity in the wayes of God though we cannot see the equity of them 2. There is a matter of condemnation in all Children though God sometimes in punishing doth not punish them with an immediate relation to their own sins 3. When God visits Nations and Kingdoms then usually he doth it for the sins of the present generation as for the sins of our Fathers Our sins and the iniquities of our Fathers do joyn forces to bring down Plagues and devastations upon the Kingdom The Jews were led into Captivity for their own sins and their Fathers also So Daniel in his Confession of sins