Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A27616
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The loss of the soul the irreparable loss, opened and demonstrated ... in a sermon, on Matt. XVI, 26 / by T. Beverley.
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Beverley, Thomas.
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1694
(1694)
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Wing B2161; ESTC R20343
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27,012
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36
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Principles and Operations It takes for granted no gross Impieties or Immoralities should be amongst them not so much as the Apostle says as once named among them as Becometh Saints but then it hath much higher Gâ—aces Powers and Actions to Communicate to them whereas among us If a Man be no Swearer Professed Prophane Person no fordidly Covetous Person Defrauder or Oppressor Talks and Lives Soberly and Joyns in the Duties of Publick Worship and Acknowledgment of God we are ready to say This is an Excellent Man But this was not so in the Eye of Christ For He in his manner of Discourse and Preaching â—aâ—â—â— to the Sober and Moral Men and our Men of Good Lives 〈◊〉 Religious Men and that distinguish themselves from the Lewd and Irreligious Now saith Christ to such whom we are ready to think very very safe Take heed you are not the Persons losing your Souls though you do it with a great deal of Gravity Soberness and Becommingness in the Wâ—rld and under such a profession of Christianity and Protestancy that no one should so much as dare to question your Salvation Lest He offend and scandalize you and discourage All from being Christians as the young Man who went away sorrowful discouraged and as we speak disobligeâ— k … ked off from the Doctrine of Christ and staggering the very Disciples who cried out Who then can be saved I will therefore lead you into the occasion of these words of our Lor'ds What is a Man profited if he gain the whole World and lose his Soul c In this Chapter v. 21. Began Jesus to shew to his Disciples that he must go up unto Jerusalem that Head City and Seat of the Jewish Religion and the Doctors of it the Elders Chief Priests and Scribes that hâ—ld the Standard of it of whom He must suffer many Things and be killed and Raised again the Third Day I must saith he be Mocked I must be Buffeted I must be Spit upon I must be Laughed at and Drolled upon and I must dye that ignominious death of a Slave of a great Criminal and Malefactor But I shall Rise again the Third Day Now Peter looking not at all upon the Rising the Third Day but letting that pass for a Phantasy a Thing in the Clouds as we do All Discourse of the Kingdom of Christ at this Time else that might have Reconciled him But He altogether intent upon the Suffering part began to take Christ to task and to Rebuke him saying Be it far from thee Lord This shall not be unto thee Let not this thing be once thought of That such a Person as Thou art should be thus Treated Deal more mercifully with thy self For Thou who canst do all things canst hinder it if thou pleasest But Christ turned to Peter and with an unusual sâ—verity said to him Get thee behind me Satan For Thou savourest not the Things that be of God but those that be of Men. Then he adds This is a Thing I am so far from being turn'd off from that I establish it as a Rule for All my Disciples If any Man will come after me as my Disciple Let him deny himself take up his Cross and follow me in all this I have represented upon my self And if any Man think much of this and chuses rather to save his Life such a one shall lose it but He that loses his Life thus for my sake shall find it All this is as if Christ should say I do not only say you must leave your Debaucheries the Gross Pride and Vanities of this World but you must come to that to be willing to lose your Lives you must Take up your Cross do that the Nature of Man so much abhors Now 〈◊〉 Peter having such a Love to Christ said Let it be far from thee so we are ready to say too looking upon our selves or any other a Man of Condition a Man of Quality as we speak what you come to Take up your Cross to deny your self to go lower in the World This shall not be But Christ is positive If any Man when required by me to lose his Life will save it He shall lose it But if any will lose his Life so required by me He shall find it in a higher Life as I shall find my Life the Third Day Now saith Christ Life and Soul are you know the Power and Measure of all enjoyment and if you lose your True Life Soul Self though you gain the whole World what do you get by it But beyond this If you come to Repent so great a Loss and to cry out What shall I give as an Exchange a Ransom for that Soul that Life lost and no such can be found How Miserable will you be Here is the very Reason and Thread of our Lord's Discourse And herewith agree all his Discourses on this subject Let us take them in the Gospel Verity and Purity the very words of Christ Luke 14. 35. There were Great Multitudes following Christ Many were taken with the Excellency of his Discourse with the Majesty of his Holy Conversation and Miracles But he turned to them and saith I would not have you mistake me If any Man come after me and hate not his Father and Mother and Wife and Children c. and his own Life also He cannot be my Disciple And therefore saith he Consider well and the Point of Consideration He sets out by two close similitudes Implying Christianity undertaken in the Truth of it is like Building a Tower which he that does had need sit down first and count the charge and it is like beginning a War in which equal Power is to be well stated lest otherwise All end in scorn and Ruine So saith He Whoever undertakes to be a Christian to be my Disciple must first consider whether he can bear it out I say To be a Christian For Christ saith Disciple and we generally say Christians And indeed by Oracle as from Heaven the Disciples were called Christians Acts 11. 26. So to be a Disciple and to be a Christian however the word Disciple be become a word of scorn among us is the same thing Now if any Man will be a Christian here are the Terms of it and we must drop the very Name of Chriâ—tian if we are not thus prepar'd And yet who is thus prepar'd Take another Scripture John 12. 2 4. Christ considering his own dying compares the thing to a casting a Corn of Wheat into the ground Verily verily saith Christ except a Corn of Wheat fall into the Ground it abideth alone but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit He that loveth his life shall lose it and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal Here is the plain sense of loâ—â—ng Life or a Soul when we lose Life Eternal and to lose that with the gain of a Life that the whole world can make great is a loss wholly unaccountable intollerable and