Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	day_n	deliver_v	lord_n	4,080	5	4.2950	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62324	A sermon preached before the King at New-Market, April 2, 1676 by Samuel Scattergood ...	Scattergood, Samuel, 1646-1696.	1676 (1676)	Wing S843; ESTC R14320	12,816	31

not though the whole world be his enemy while God is his Friend He is not to be won by its enticements nor daunted by its threatnings but he stands firm and unshaken upon this rock exalted above its frowns and smiles Conscience that is so terrible an enemy to him that fears not God is his most faithfull friend and it is as comfortable a friend as it is a dreadfull enemy It alwaies joyns with God it is his Vice-roy to pronounce that sentence on Earth which he passes in Heaven While this therefore tells him that God is his refuge and strength he may say with the Psalmist what follows I will not fear though the Earth be removed and though the Mountains be carried into the midst of the sea This will enable him to comport and demean himself like a Child of God in all conditions It will teach him with S. Paul in whatsoever state he is therewith to be content This will sweeten every bitter cup. This will lighten the burden of his affliction This will make all his bed in his sickness This will fill him with joy even at the hour of his death and enable him to deliver up his soul into the hand of God with comfort and full assurance of a blessed Resurrection And then in that great and terrible day of the Lord wherein the Heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat when the whole World shall tremble and neither Heaven nor Earth be able to abide the dreadfull approach of that great Judge but both shall pass away and be consumed before him when the Wicked shall call in vain to the Mountains and Rocks to fall on them and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn Then shall Conscience shew it self to be a most faithfull friend embolden him to lift up his head with joy plead for him against all his Accusers and through the merits and mercy of Christ acquit him at that grand Tribunal Then shall this Wisdom as it hath freed him from the greatest evil from sin and hell so also confer upon him the greatest Good and invest him with eternall Holiness and Happiness Thirdly and lastly All other Wisdom without this is but meer Folly but this of it self alone without the help and concurrence of any thing else which the world calls Wisdom is sufficient to make us eternally happy For in what else shall we place Wisdom if not in the Fear of the Lord Shall we place it in pleasures Alas there are none to be found any where but at Gods right hand The pleasures of this world are but torments they seem perhaps to delight us a little for the present but soon after they sting us to the heart Shall we place it in Riches They are but fading and perishing enjoyments and must shortly leave us and if they should tarry with us never so long the wise man tells us that they profit not in the day of wrath Shall we place it in Honour there is nothing more uncertain then that for though it be never so splendid and glorious for a while yet it must ere long be laid in the dust Indeed Honour and Authority is so far from being an ordinary and indifferent thing that if we consider it aright it is perhaps the greatest temporal Blessing that God hath to bestow upon Man and Kings and Rulers have this happiness above the rest of Mankind that they have power to do more good in the world and to bring greater glory to God then inferiour persons and consequently may procure for themselves a more honourable Throne and a brighter Crown in Heaven All shall be there full of glory and every one perfectly satisfied and content with his own condition but yet there shall be a difference and while some shall but twinkle as the Stars others shall shine as the Sun The meanest Subject that hath been loyal to his King and obedient to his God shall at the last day be rewarded with an incorruptible Crown for we shall all be Kings and Priests unto God But I know not any thing in Scripture that doth not freely permit a godly and religious Prince to hope to be as highly advanced above his Subjects in Heaven as ever he was here one Earth if he manages his Sceptre with this Wisdom here in my Text which will be sure to establish his Throne and make his Crown to flourish Again shall we place Wisdom in Learning This also if it be sanctified by Grace is a very great Blessing but without that it is as great a Curse without Grace it will but enable a man to sin more powerfully insomuch that he that hath a learned head and an unsanctified heart may almost stand in competition with the Devil himself who should be the Master worker of iniquity and gain most Proselytes to the kingdom of Darkness The ignorantest Pesant may make a sorry shift to grope out his way to hell even blindfold but the learned Atheist sees so many roads to it that he will pick and chuse his way so discreetly as to be sure to provide for himself one of the hottest places S. Paul had continued a Persecutour to his dying day notwithstanding all that Learning that he got at the feet of Gamaliel had he not also learned Christ And therefore he professes this to be the onely true Wisdom for saith he I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord Phil. 3.8 But to rise yet one step higher then Learning can advance us Suppose God should endue us with the Spirit of Prophesie to foretell things to come or with a power to work Miracles and to cast out devils yet we should be never the nearer to Heaven for all this without the Wisdom here in my Text. For one of these faculties was bestowed on Balaam and yet for all his good wishes 't is probable that he died not the death of the Righteous and the other on Judas and yet himself was a Devil Alas what were we the better if we knew the hour of our death if we knew too that from that hour our everlasting punishment should bear its date What would it profit us though we knew the minute when the Archangel should begin to sound his Trump if we knew withall that that sound should summon us to hear the Sentence of our eternall condemnation Such Wisdom as this would be so far from making us happy that it would antedate our misery and torment us before the time All other things then so long as we want this one thing which is needfull will be but weak Advocates to plead our cause before Christs Tribunal And as all the Wisdom of the world will profit us nothing without this so this of it self alone is sufficient to make us happy He that hath never been either at Rome or Athens nay though he knows not so much as one letter of the Alphabet is wise enough if he hath but learned the Cross of Christ He that is never so poor hath wealth enough if he be but rich in Faith and though he appear to men as having nothing yet possesses all things The Brother of low degree that is never so mean and contemptible in the eyes of the world if he hath but this Wisdom in the Text is highly honourable in the sight of God But to what purpose should I spend any more words in illustrating the incomparable worth of this Wisdom which as it deserves all so it needs no commendation I will therefore detain you no longer but conclude all in the words of the Prophet Jeremiah cap. 9. v. 23 24. Thus saith the Lord Let not the Wise man glory in his wisdom neither let the Mighty man glory in his Might let not the Rich man glory in his Riches But let him that glories glory in this that he understands and knows me that I am the Lord which exercise loving kindness judgement and righteousness in the Earth for in these things I delight saith the Lord. FINIS