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	great_a	see_v	5,480	5	3.2974	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44765	A discourse on persecution, or, Suffering for Christ's sake clearing the notion of it, and making a discrimination of just from vnjust pretensions to it : and passionately recommending true Christian suffering to all those who shall be call'd thereto : occasionally representing the folly and sinfulness of illegal, arbitrary courses for the prevention of it, and the security of our church / by John Howell ...	Howell, John, b. 1658?	1672 (1672)	Wing H3130; ESTC R9661	29,187	50

Spirit which alone can order the unruly Wills and Affections of Men who worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure yea and to suffer also when he sees it expedient If we are not sufficient of our selves to think a good thought as of our selves much less is it in our power to Deny our selves in this signal manner in undergoing those Bodily Pains which the meer Natural Man dreads the thoughts of We must therefore of necessity recur to a Divine Influence to the Supernatural Assistance of God's Grace And indeed as no Man can Believe at all unless it be Given him from above unless God help his Vnbelief so no Man can shew his Faith in such an eminent Instance without a more than ordinary Effusion of that Blessed Spirt which should actuate his Faith enlarge his Hope enkindle his Love and every way prepare and arm him against the Fiery Trial. Whence otherwise could it be that so many Christian Heroes rejoyc'd in their Sufferings and Brav'd it in the last Agonies of their Souls when the Devil and his Torturing Instruments did their Worst and Cruelty display'd it self in the most direful Instances of Pain and Horrour Whence could it be but from the still small Voice of the Comforter within them from the Encouraging and Assisting Hand of the Almighty I will instance in one or two whose Memories are fresh their Names among others generally and deservedly reverenc'd and their Cases very remarkable How can we suppose that Rose Allen should be the Burning of her Hand without any the least complaint or regret that she should bid her Tormentor add to her Pains and sing for Joy at the place of her Execution I say how can we supppose that she a poor Maid-servant should prove so couragious did not He who can do all things Assist her in This or lessen her Pain or enable her to bear it To what other means than the Divine Impulse and Assistance can we attribute the good Bishop Farrar his Wonderful Assurance of his own future Courage and Behaviour and then his answerable deportment when the time came and his Sufferings required it he declar'd before hand to a Friend and as I have heard to other spectators also that if he once stir'd in the Pains of the Burning in any irregular way they should give no credit to the Doctrine he had before Preached to them and was then about to Die for And not only so but what crown'd the rest he really stood unshaken undisturb'd and Triumphed rather than Suffered in the Flames and so he had continued past all Peradventure but that he was knock'd down by a malicious a Cursed Hand for Cursed sure was the Hand that dar'd strike what the Lord had so plainly so signally upholden And Cursed was his Family for his sake for the Family of the Gravels which was then considerable enough came quickly after to beggery and want and as far as I can learn there is nothing now remaining of it but the Name and one single person a Man-servant to secure it And may It never be lost at least as long as Popery has a being in the World We must we must ascribe This also to the Finger of God We must believe it to be the Lords Doing for it is marvelous in our Eyes And if this be the Work of the Almighty we may by an easy and natural inference conclude the other is so 2. Another motive I would offer to your consideration is the Example of all those Saints Confessors and Martyrs who have gone before us So great were the Sufferings those blessed Saints underwent so bravely did they behave themselves under them that as it is our Duty to imitate so it may be the highest of our ambition to equal them Whoever sees the list of their Sufferings with the History of their Severe treatment may be furnished with a Catalogue of well nigh all the Sufferings Humane Wit can devise or Humane Nature bear Wild beasts the Fire the Scalding Bath the Scaffold and the Rack with the rest of those terrible Instruments of Heathenish Cruelty took away so many of them that it must have been a Miracle as great as their Patience was that there was any one Christian left Of all the Apostles only St. John died a natural Death nor did he escape without a Miracle Escape did I say he did not escape unless to Die daily be not to Die at all unless a long Banishment and the Scalding Oyl for which he both deserved and had a Church Festival a Day of Martyrdom might be term'd an escape And so for the rest There were almost as many Martyrs as Christians and to be Baptised into the Death of Christ was in effect to resolve to Die as he died and the day of Martyrdom was in the ordinary account of those times the Birth-day of the Christian Wherefore seeing we are compas'd about with so great a Cloud of Witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us and let us run with Patience the Race that is set before us We may with much more ease traverse these Rough Paths as being somewhat plain'd and smooth'd by the footings of those that have gone before If so many thousands of Saints have march'd before us and defied all the Threats and Tortures of their Enemies shall we be afraid to follow after them We who are taught by their Example that there 's nothing unsufferable nothing too hard for a firm Faith a lively Hope and a Love that is pure and obstinately bent upon Duty Did they hardly allow themselves the Name of Christians till they were haled to Martyrdom and had Sealed their Faith with their Blood And shall we strike Suffering out of the Laws of Christianity out of the number of Duties Certainly we have no Reason no Authority for it But and if they bore the Cross who had especial tokens of God ' Love it is our part to Bear it too and Bear it we must as ever we hope for the Benefits of it And as Christ suffer'd for them leaving them an Example that they should follow His Steps so He and they too in some sense have suffer'd for us leaving us an Example that we should follow Theirs Which if we do we shall arrive at the Haven where They are and where We would be we shall receive the same Reward of our Sufferings the same Crown of Glory they are possess'd of which is another Motive to the Duty I am recommending to a resolute and chearful Suffering for Christs sake And here I shall briefly consider 1. The Certainty of this Reward 2. The Greatness of it 1. The Certainty of this Reward There is nothing more Certain for there is nothing more Clear and Evident in Scripture than that a constant sincere and universal Obedience entitles Men to all the Promises of the Gospel And now Suffering for Christ's sake does undeniably presuppose or imply all this

can turn the Heart of the most Persecuting Governour or he can hold his Hand that he shall not hurt us Blessed be God we have no reason to expect or fear any thing like Persecution but on the contrary as we do at present enjoy all the Blessings of an easie Government and a most Gracious Prince so we have abundant reason to hope for and to expect the continuance of them For Mercy and Smoothness sit triumphant on the Royal Brows there is something of the Divine Philanthropy runs in the blood and is adopted into the Royal Line and it is a symptom of an evil Mind to suspect any danger of cruelty or severity there where these good Qualities Reign Let us however put the Case for Argument sake in the very worst Circumstances That a Popish and Tyrannical Prince should Reign over us We must not oppose and fight against him for so we should fight against God For whatever his Opinions whatever his Practices be he is His Vicegerent he is appointed and substituted by Him 'T is not for us then to cry with the Sons of Belial in the Parable We will not have This man to reign over us 'T is not for us to use any Vnwarrantable Means to shut him out No This were to distrust Providence and to fight against it This were to do Evil that Good might come of it and we know the Resolve of all sober judicious Casuists in the Point That we should not commit one single Sin tho 't were to save the whole World from Destruction Now therefore if to Distrust Providence and to Fight against it be as we may reasonably conclude it is a forfeiting all our Title to the Divine Protection what security what grounds of Hope can we have or propose to our selves by any Illegal any Vnchristian Proceedings What can we hope to conquer the Almighty with our Armies or terrifie Him into a compliance with our Wishes Are we stronger than he David said My trust hath been in the Lord therefore shall I not fall So that by the Rule of Contraries we may conclude That if our Trust be not in the Lord we shall fall an unpitied Sacrifice to our own Folly and to an Offended God And indeed God himself has declar'd as much Wo to the rebellious children saith the Lord that take counsel but not of me and that cover with a covering but not of my Spirit that they may add sin to sin Isa 30.1 Then far be it from us to take Ill Courses for the Security of our Religion seeing all such must of necessity be uneffectual or if they were not yet that it is more Christian-like and more Prudent to engage God in our cause by an entire Submission to a hearty Acquiescence in his Dispensations for so should we Secure our Religon and our Innocency too and come what would we could but Suffer unto Death when our Religion would Advance by our Fall Spring up and Flourish by our Martyrdom So that it is every whit as Unreasonable as it is Impious to go about to Secure Religion by the breach of its Laws to secure it from Persecutions seeing it is raised promoted and ennobled by them So glorious are the effects so great is the Excellency and the Vsefulness of Suffering for Christ which yet will appear farther if we consider 2. How that it promotes Peace and Unity amongst our selves That Peace and Vnity are Excellent and Amiable I presume needs no proof especially in a Christian Countrey these being the proper badges of Christianity How very apt Persecutions are to Cement and Quiet the Minds of Men let it be our present consideration And we shall certainly find Them the most practicable 't is well if they be not the only Expedient now left for the bringing back of that Vnity which hath so long withdrawn it self is so greatly talked of and yet so little contended for in good earnest by this our Broken and miserably Divided Nation When he must pass for the best Religionist whose Tongue or Pen is keenest and traduces his Neighbour most according to Art When it is the diversion of some the business of others the Custom of very many first to create Differnces and then to maintain them To sow Divisions enflame our Disagreements and to stir up Strife all the day long What cure what remedy more proper for such Feuds and Animosities among us than that which diverts our thoughts another way and employs our Minds in our own concerns Now This is the effect of Suffering for Christs sake This the good Office of our most Cruel Persecutors For while they Persecute us from City to City they give us little leisure or opportunity to fall out by the way whilst they continually Molest and Abuse us we have little stomach or occasion to molest to abuse one another or to draw our Pens I mean unless it be for manifestos of our innocence and in the defence of our common cause So that the Pressures of our Enemies like those on Arched Buildings make our Vnion the firmer and those Storms without us as it were by an antiperistasis produce a Calm within We find this experimentally true in former times When Heathen Persecutors reign'd there was a perfect Harmony and Agreement among Christians They laid aside all Picques and Anomisities between themselves and employ'd their Minds in better thoughts They were in continual expectation of leaving This World and therefore in continual preparation for another The Clouds that hung over their Heads engag'd them as far as they might to keep at home Or if they haply wandered about 't was for their own safety not for the Destruction of their Neighbours their Friends and Countrey-men and Fellow-Christians not for the Destruction of their most bitter Enemies of those very Enemies who made them wander Hence was it that Christians then lived like true Fellow-members of Christ their Head And as they own'd one Common Religion so they embraced one and the same Fate and cheerfully marched together thro the Flames There were then no Separatists no Dissenters among them but and if their Flames like those of the Theban Brethren diffused and spread 't was not out of Enmity or Dislike but for greater Splendor for Triumph Let us in the 3d. place consider the Excellency of Suffering for Christ in those four noble Virtues which are its inseparable attendants namely Fortitude Patience Faith and Love 1. All Suffering for Christ's sake is attended with Fortitude That Christianity obliges us to be Valiant we may learn from St. Paul where he sets out the compleat Armour of a Christian He bids us take the Helmet of Salvation the Word of the Spirit and the Shield of Faith with other such like accoutrements wherewith says he you shall be able to quench all the fiery Darts of the Wicked Now what signifies an Armour to a Dastardly Spirit to one that will not dares not use it I shall take for granted then that as we are