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	life_n	world_n	8,295	5	4.5590	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66060	Sermons preach'd upon several occasions before the King at White-Hall by the Right Reverend Father in God, John Wilkins ... ; to which is added, A discourse concerning the beauty of providence by the same author.	Wilkins, John, 1614-1672.	1677 (1677)	Wing W2213; ESTC R22933	57,878	194

true both with respect to Publick Communities and Private Persons First For Nations If we consult the Stories of former Times we shall find that saying of Solomon constantly verified That Righteousness doth exalt a Nation but Sin doth prove a reproach to it And more especially the sin of Irreligion and Prophaneness As this doth increase in any Nation so must the Honour and Reputation of that Nation decrease The Roman Empire was then at the highest as to its Name and Greatness when it was so as to its Virtue when they were most punctual in observing the Rites of their Religion though that were a false way of worship most Heroical in their Justice Courage Fidelity Gratitude then it was that they deserv'd to Govern the World and to be had in greatest Honour above all other Nations And not only Tully and Polybius two Heathen Writers who upon that Account might be thought more partial But St. Austin also and Lactantius two of the Fathers do ascribe the flourishing of that Empire when it was at his height to the Religion and Piety and Virtue of those times And as they did afterward degenerate from this so did they decline likewise in their Greatness and Honour 2. Thus also hath it been with particular persons Amongst the Heathen What Elogies do we find in the Honour of Socrates Aristides Cato Epictetus The latter of which though but a poor Slave had yet such a Veneration paid to his Memory that his Earthen Lamp by which he was wont to study was after his Death sold for 3000 Drachms Nor was it otherwise amongst the Christians The Apostles were but poor Fisher-men Illiterate Mechanicks Many of the Martyrs were but of mean condition much Opposed and Persecuted in the World And yet these Men during the time of their lives were highly Reverenced amongst those that knew them and since their Deaths what can be more Glorious than that Renown which they have amongst Men when the greatest Kings and Princes will not mention their Names without Reverence when whole Nations are willing to set apart and to observe Solemn Days and Festivals in Honour of their Memories And as it hath always been thus formerly so I appeal to every mans breast whether it be not so now Let them but examine what their Inclinations are towards such Persons whom they believe to be truly Virtuous Not only to such amongst them as are their particular A●qua●ntance and Friends but lik●wise to S●rangers nay to very Enemies whether they d● not esteem and love them and will well to them I shall crave leave to speak briefly to two Objections that may be made against what I have been Proving I. The Scripture saith speaking of good Men That the World shall revile and persecute them and speak all m●nner of evil against them Our Saviour himself was despised and re●●●ted of M●n And his Apostles 〈◊〉 used as the rubbish and off-scour●●●● of all things To these two things may be said by way of Answer First It cannot otherwise be expected but that when a New Religion is to be set up men must be highly concern'd in their opposing of it and of those that promote it And the fore-cited Texts do particularly relate to this very case when Christianity was first introduced into the World and to be propagated by the Sufferings of those that Professed it which being an exempt case and not according to the usual course of things therefore these Texts are not equally applicable to other Times and Places when and where the True Religion hath obtained and the Kings prove Nursing ●athers to it Secondly Those that knew our Saviour and his Followers did highly Honour them And as for others that were ignorant of them and not sufficiently convinced of their Goodness 't is no wonder that they used them accordingly The most vicious person that is if he doth either know or have reason to think another to be Virtuous must of necessity pay to him an Inward Reverence Because 't is not in any mans power so far to offer violence to his own Faculties as to believe any thing against its Evidence 'T is true indeed men have a greater power over their Words and Actions than they have over their Belief and therefore they may call and use such a one as they please they may revile and persecute him And in this sence Honor est honorante But even in so doing they seem to pay a Veneration to Religion it self whil'st they are fain to disguise it under the Names of Hypocrisie Heresie Superstition thereby to justifie themselves in their opposing of it II. It appears by the Experience of all Ages that Vitious Men are sometimes had in Honour To this it may be Answer'd 1. External Honour may be due to them 2. Internal Honour may be given to them by such as do not know them The meer Opinion of being Virtuous must of necessity have the same advantage in this respect with Real Goodness The main difference is that it is not like to last because is almost Morally impossible for a Man who doth only dissemble Virtue to stand always upon so strict a guard as not to be discover'd If it be said that men who are Notoriously Vitious are sometimes applauded and Cry'd-Up for their Virtue It may be answer'd That this cannot be so truly stiled Honouring as Flattering The proper Notion of which doth consist in giving undue Commendations Nor will any contribute to it but vile Sycophants the worst kind of Enemies and the most Incompetent Judges of real worth Such only being fit to give Praise who are themselves Praise-worthy Now if this be the true state of the Case I have been speaking to That the generality of Wise and Considerate Men in all former times have attested to this Truth if the Reason of the thing require that it must be so And if it appear accordingly from Common Experience to be so If the most Material Objections against it may be so plainly and fully satisfied then there can be no sufficient Reason to doubt of the truth of this Preposition That Religion and Virtue is the most proper means to promote the Interest of Honour which is the thing I am to prove I shall crave leave to suggest two things by way of Application and I have done First this may convince men of ●olly who seek for Honour by any other Means The great Instances which are commonly given of Mens being Fools is from their chusing such Means as are altogether insuffient for the End they Design As the endeavouring to make a Blackamore White by washing of him c. But the using of such Means as are not only insufficient for but opposite unto and Destructive of the End they Propose this is a degree above Folly and may be stiled Madness 'T is as if a Man should run into the Water to dry himself and into the Fire to cool himself And yet this is the Case of many Men in the World

yet Riches to men of understanding nor Favour to men of skill but time and chance happens to them all i. e. There is a secret Providence which doth over-rule all those worldly events in such a manner as is not accountable to Human Reason Even amongst Secular Businesses which we are apt to think most within our reach and compass there is nothing so much under the power of the wisest Counsels and Endeavours but that the Providence of God may interpose for the disappointing of it and render it ineffectual And then for those Accidents to which our Persons are liable He observeth these three things 1. Our obnoxiousness to Pain and Sickness which he stiles by the names of Wrath and Sorrow under which when a man lies languishing none of his Worldly Enjoyments will signify any thing to him nor will they be able to afford him any such ease or help but that he may be thereby cut off in the midst of his days and then all his thoughts perish or else waste away a great part of his life with much anguish and weariness and may sometimes perhaps be driven to that extremity by noisome and painful Diseases as to chuse strangling and Death rather than Life 2. If it be supposed that by the strength and cheerfulness of a Man's natural temper he should escape these live many years and rejoyce in them all yet he must remember the days of darkness which shall be many i. e. Those who devote themselves to continual Mirth and Pleasure cannot yet avoid the thought of their future estates what shall become of them hereafter when they are to depart out of this World but that the remembrance of this will be often thrusting into their Minds when ever they are retired and serious And this being to them a dark obscure condition concerning their well-being in which they can have no reasonable hopes must needs therefore be a great damp and allay to all their other Enjoyments 3. But in the third place Suppose a man should be able to avoid sickness and to put the trouble of these tho●ghts likewise far from him yet there is somewhat else which he cannot possibly decline Old Age will unavoidably steal upon him with all the infirmities of it When the grinders shall be few and appetite cease when those who look out of the windows shall be darkned and the keepers of the house shall tremble when a man shall become a burden to himse●● and to his ●riends when those of his nearest Relations whom he hath most obliged by kindness shall think it time for him to depart unto his long home to creep off the Stage and make room for succeeding Generations and then after a little Funeral-pomp of the Mour●ers going about the streets a man shall be buried out of the way and forgotten for there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool seeing th●t which now is in the d●ys to come shall be forgotten Every Generation producing somewhat which seems new and s●range to take up Men's talk and wonder and to drown the Memory of former Persons and Actions And I appeal to any rational man Whether these are not some of the most material reflections that occur about Human Affairs Now from all these premises put together he inserts this Conclusion in the Text That to fear God and keep his Commandments is the Whole of man i. e. To be serious in the matter of Religion and careful about our future states is that which every considerate man after all his other disquisitions and experiments will find to be his greatest interest that which doth most of all deserve his care and study There are these Two parts in the words 1. A Description of Religion which in the former Clause is said to consist in fearing God and keeping his Commandments An awful apprehension of the Divine Nature and an obedient submission to His Will 2. A Commendation of Religion in the latter Clause This is the Whole of man It is the second of these only which I purpose to treat of at this time In the handling of which the first thing to be enquired into is What is the true import and meaning of this phrase in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the understanding of which it will be proper to consider the several ways of expressing it in other Translations The Septuagint and the Vulgar do render it verba●●m This is All or Every man The word Du●y which is supplied by our English being not in the Original or in other Translations This ought to be the way and course of all mankind so the Targum This is the course to which every man is designed so the Syriack This will be most profitable and advantageous to men so the Arabi●k This is the whole of man so some of our later Interpreters most proper to the scope of the place it being an usual Analalogy in the Hebrew Totius universalis pro toto integrante All for Whole So that according to these various Interpretations of the words they may contain in them a three-fold reference To the Essence the Happiness the Business of man According to which the sence of them must be That Religon or the fearing of God and keeping his Commandments is a matter of so great consequence to Human Nature that 1. The Essence or Being of man may be said to consist in it 2. The Happiness or well-being of man doth depend upon it 3. The great Business or Duty of man is to be conversant about it and to labour atter it These particulars I shall endeavour to make out by such clear Principles of Reason attested to by several of the wisest Heathen Writers as may be enough to satistie any serious man who is able to under●●and the reason and consequence of things and will but attend and consider 1. I begin with the first Religion is of so great importance that the Essence of man may be said to consist in it Mankind may be considered under a two-fold notion 1. More Separately and by it self according to that Principle whereby 't is constituted in such a rank of Creatures 2. More Complexly as joyned in Society for which Man seems to be naturally designed and without which he could not well subsist Now Religion will appear to be Essential to him in both these respects 1. As considered S●parately according to those Principles by which he is framed That which doth constitute any thing in its Being and distinguish it from all other Things This is that which we call the Form or Essence of a thing And this for the Human Nature doth consist in those very things which are the chief Principles and ●oundations of Religion namely the Apprehensions of a Deity and an Expectation of a future state after this life Which no other Creature below Man doth partake of and which are common to all Mankind notwithstanding the utmost endeavours that can be used for