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	lord_n	sabbath_n	4,018	5	9.9916	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A78440	Balaam's wish: a sermon Wherein the vanity of desires without endeavours, in order to the obtaining the death of the upright, and their last end, is opened and applyed. First occasionally preached, and now at the request of some published. By an unworthy messenger of Christ.	Cawton, Thomas, 1637-1677.	1670 (1670)	Wing C1652; ESTC R225053	24,897	113

without some preface of Honour as King David my Lord the King c. and so he is about forty times called King David and my Lord the King David in one Chapter but now see what an alteration there is in the first verse of the next Chapter When the dayes of David drew nigh that he should dye He that was my Lord the King so often a little before now he comes to dye is plain David so that you see death maketh all equal Do you then desire to dye the death of a Great man Surely it is not so good as to dye in the fear of the great God and therefore Hezekiah a potent and noble Prince when he had a message of death pleads not Remember Lord that I have been a King that I have worn the Crown and swayed the Scepter Isa 38.3 but Remember Lord that I have walked before thee in truth with a perfect heart and have done that which is right in thy sight it s a poor thing in death to have been saluted Your Lordship and Your Ladyship Your Honour and Your Grace Your Highness and Your Majesty at every word if we cannot see our selves to be the persons whom the King of Heaven delights to honour Fourthly another had rather dye the death of the Wealthy many persons we see in the World they toyle and labour and sweat and if you ask them the reason it must needs be this that they might leave something behind them when they dye Christians that is not our own which we cannot carry with us into another World the rich man in this respect is like a poor man that is invited to a great mans Table whilst he is there he makes use of the Plate and Silver Spoons and other things but he must pocket up none of these but leave them behind him when he goes thence so God gives him a great many things here to use but he must leave them all at death Or just as it is with Travellers who make use of the movables of an Inne for that night they lodge there but the next morning they leave them and go onward in their journey Job 21.13 They spend their dayes in wealth and in a moment they go down to the grave Who would not choose to dye the death of the righteous rather than of Nabal or the rich man in the Gospel What a vain thing is man to desire to dye rich To leave a portion of Goods behind him and not to have a good portion in Heaven Surely the wealth and accommodations of the World do not make any person the more fit or willing to dye I remember a story that when the Duke of Venice shewed Charles the 5th at Venice his Earthly Paradice stately Palace Haec sunt quae faciunt invitos mori 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rabb Gardens Riches Furniture Plate and Jewels and asked the Emperor what he thought of them he doth in a most Christian manner make no other answer but this These are the things that make men unwilling to dye Another shewing a private Christian the like sight expecting to be admired for it drew this speech from the Christian Sir you had need make sure of heaven or else you will be a great loser when you dye He that has set his heart on these things while he possesses them they will go to his heart when he is torn from them he will be unwilling to dye Fifthly let us compare the death of the righteous with the death of the Valiant some would choose this what large renown have many that have dyed upon the place in an engagement against the Enemies of their Country How doth their fame shine in History and the Chronicles of Nations embalm their Names to posterity Such as that glorious King of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus Killed but not Conquered and that noble Captain Consalvo who being counselled to retire a little backwards from the Enemy made this answer Essendo egli consigliato a voler retirarsi alquanto indietro rispose desiderare d'haver piu tosto al presente la sua sepoltura un palmo di terrerro piu avanti che col ' retirarsi indietro poche braccia allungar la vita cento anni Guicciard That he had rather at that time get a span of ground forwards though he were sure to find his grave there then retreat a few yards to lengthen out his life a hundred years But though this may seem to be a brave and noble thing to dye so yet how poor comfort is it to their souls if they be not Souldiers of the Lamb called chosen and faithfull What does it avail them to be praised where they are not and be tormented where they are All their courage and resolution all their valour and magnanimity what is it to their Salvation without grace and piety They are laudable Virtues but not saving Graces 'T is true it is very honourable for a man to dye for his Country but let me dye the death of the righteous Sixthly let us compare the death of the righteous with the death of the Learned if some men were to choose what death they would dye they would choose to dye the death of a Philosopher when they have read of Seneca Plato Socrates and others with how much constancy and courage they looked death in the face they think it brave to dye like one of these but one spark of Grace is a better Lanthorn to lead you to happiness than all the reason and wisdom those men had they were wise to admiration and yet not wise to salvation It was the speech of St. Austin in his time Surgunt indocti rapiunt coelum c. Vnlearned men arise and snatch Heaven away whilst we with all our Learning go loaden to Hell Therefore what will it profit to dye the death of the Learned I tell you Solomons repentance was better to dye with than all Solomons wisdom Learning is a poor cordial to a dying man Scholarship is a rare Ornament but a miserable Comforter when you come to dye a good Handmaid to Godliness but a bad supplyer of the place of it when Godliness is wanting Therefore what will it profit a man to dye the death of the greatest Philosopher that ever was if that be all Seventhly another it may be would choose to dye the death of the Antient some say if they might choose what death they would dye they would wish to dye in a good old age to spin out the thread of their lives to a great length and to go away at last like a Lamp for want of oyl gradually to spend the radical moisture of the body and then without pain to yield unto nature But unless you dye the death of the righteous the longer your death is deferred the greater will be the misery that will be inflicted the longer a sinner lives the more wrath he layes up for himself and therefore excellent is that expression of the

and the meaning is the Saints of God have not their portion in this world they have only a pension there 's a great deal of Arrears the people of God shall receive at their death So the same Hebrew word is used the end of that man is peace Psal 37.37 Prov. 24.20 Prov. 23.18.24.14 the last end the Arrears of that man So there is no Reward to the evill man he hath nothing to come in the other world but what he hath he hath here Vtinam post hujus vitae exitum felicitatem consequar his rectis repositam Jun. in loc but to the righteous there is an End the best is behind So Junius upon this place O that after my passage out of this life I might obteyn the happines that is laid up for these upright ones so that of Solomon Pro. 14.32 the wicked is driven away in his wickednes but the righteous hath hope in his death the meaning of the place may be either the righteous hath hope in the wicked mans death that is that things will be better when the wicked dye or else he hath hope in his own death because there is a reward to the righteous Psal 92.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And indeed the happines of the upright is not a flower that grows in the garden of this world the gold which enriches them is not fetched from natures mine it is at their last end they have their recompence so the Iews note from that of the Psalmist the Iust shall flourrish like the palm tree Il savio Salomone chiama nell ' Ecclesiaste prositto vant aggio d'uno parolache significa romanenteo varanzo percioche inquello che non rimane od advanza ma scorre ese consuma non c ' eguadagno hor le cose transitor●epas●ano sono beni che corrono e fuggono come se fossero alati per andarsene a volo the palm tree being a tall strait tree cast's its shade a great way off from the body of the tree so say they the giving of reward to the just is a great way off even in the world to come whatever is on this side eternity is fleeting and perishing it cannot be of any great moment because it is but for a moment that is of no great value that is but of a smal continuance therefore such a reward will not content a righteous man the Preacher when he speaks of profit or gain uses a word in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that imports something which remains or abides to teach that that which abides not is no true gain or profit now because the upright find not this here they stay for reward till their last end Turretin Homil. 3 Supra Luc. 12.5 6. c. But enough for the unfoulding the text Now considering together the Wish the Person wishing and the successe of his wishing we may gather this proposition worthy our observation To dye the Death and have the last end of the upright may be the Wish and desire of such as for their wickednes shall never obteyn it You see Balaam a false Prophet a Conjurer one that dealt with the Divel a reprobate one that is now fewel for unquentchable flames to burn upon to all eternity wished he might dye the Death of the upright Such being guilty of damnable hypocrisy may go loaden with all their wishes to hell Infernus plenus est bonis affectibus desideriis Paradisus antem bonis effectibus operibus Bosq Consol Desper t' is an expression of a learned in this no Papist that hell is full of good wishers but all the good workers they go to heaven The Scripture is full to this purpose such were they that said Lord Lord open to us yet depart from me ye workers of Iniquity such are all they whose works and wishes contradict one another or whose works run not paralel with their wishes Now such persons though they never so earnestly desire yet shall never obtein the death of the righteous and truly as the great God doth not judge acding to our wishes but our works so neither wise men our endeavours are the pulse by which we may learn the state and constitution of our wishes though there be but one pulse that runs through the whole body yet the Physitian feels it at the hand and so at the hand in our works we are chiefly to try wither our wishes are true and effectual Now to explain this there are 2 things would be looked into First why is the death and last end of the righteous desired by the wicked Secondly how comes it to passe that they do not obteyn it though they do desire it For the first of these why is the death and last end of the righteous desired by the wicked To answer this it proceedeth from the conviction of the happines that the godly enjoy in and after death that death finds and leaveth them in a good estate and lets them in to a better This is that that is rivited in the natures of all men they believe it is a great deal better with the godly at their death then it is with the ungodly there is in the worst of men a spark of conscience by the light of which they may read that its more safe to be in the estate of good men when death comes then in that of the wicked Conscience is a practical Preacher in the bosomes of men that much presses and applyes this doctrine if men did hearken to its instructions We need go no further to school than into our own hearts where this lesson is abundantly taught conscience being the school Mistriss which made that Atheist when he was asked which he liked best the licentious loose lives of the profane or the strict holy lives of the godly to answer cum illis mallem vivere cum his mori I had rather live with those and dye with these he had sayd better I would chose to live with them which I would be willing to dye with The godly then are in and by death made happy in the very apprehensions of the wicked In the following of which truth let us consider First the happy condition of the Saints in and by death positively 2ly relatively First positively now there are three things wicked men are convinced of that makes a godly mans death so much to be preferred and desired First a total cessation from suffering and therefore it is called a rest there remaineth a rest to the people of God Heb. 49. a Sabbatisme a keeping of a Sabbath death unto the Godly is a full stop and period to all the miseries of the present world after their painful walk there is a perfect rest in this world we labour for rest in that we rest from all our labours We were made by God and can never be happy till we are with God we came out of his hands and can neuer rest till wee are in his

Apostle Rom. 2.5 According to thy hardness and impenitent heart thou treasurest up wrath against the day of wrath What is the meaning of the phrase 'T is just like a covetous Miser that is making of a hoard he is every day adding something to it till it come to a great sum So thou treasurest up wrath the longer God continues thee the greater the wrath will be at last which thou must suffer Or as a man that every day is carrying a stick to a pile of wood with which at last he is to be burned the longer he lives the greater the pile and the more formidable the fire will be the longer God forbears thee the more interest thou must pay he will be thy sorer enemy because he was no sooner thine enemy If thou livest to be an Old man and not a Babe in Christ thy case is most dreadfull Old age in it self is not desirable an Old man is an animated grave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sepulchre with a little life in it it is the refuge and anvil for diseases to meet in and beat upon and therefore they are called evil dayes in which there is no pleasure Eccles 12.1 'T is true the hoary head when nature has snowed Gray hairs upon a man is a Crown of Glory Prov. 16.31 but it is no Crown to thee unless found in the way of righteousness Therefore the Text is thus read in the Holy tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in fut niphal The hoary head is a Crown of Glory of ornament or comeliness in the way of righteousness let it be found or it shall be found it is either to be understood as a promise thus in the way of righteousness the Crown of Glory shall be found by the hoary head or as a command thus that the Gray head may be a becoming ornament to the antient let it be found in the way of righteousness it is necessary it should be found in that way What do Old men that are not good so long in the World What is the advantage they get Surely only this They live to see more evil and to do more evil and to deserve more evil than others do that is all the happiness of an Old man that is not gracious for it is not the venerable face that will commend to God nor the snowy head of the Antient that will make way for him before the Ancient of dayes but to dye the death of the righteous To name one more Eightly compare the death of the righteous with the death of the Martyrs all that dye for such are not saved but all that dye righteous they are saved there are many persons that may give their bodies to be burned 1 Cor. 13.3 and yet their souls shall burn in Hell many persons that may be Martyrs in our account who are but Malefactors in the account of God If we dye the death of a Martyr and not of a Godly one it will be no profit for it is not the death nor the cause only but the heart that makes a Martyr Three things make a Martyr there must not only be suffering but a good cause to suffer in and a good conscience to suffer with some Martyrs that seemed nothing else to us may really be nothing less when as no righteous persons but they are happy There are some persons that may seem to us to dye for the Lord and yet do not dye in the Lord but all upright men dye in the Lord and therefore you see if we make the comparison here the death of the righteous is much to be preferred And thus you have the first thing the reasons why wicked men when they come to dye desire to dye the death and have the last end of the righteous The second thing is How it comes to pass that though they desire it yet they do not obtain it I would not speak now concerning the sins of wicked men by which they forfeit this desired happiness if a man should never so much desire health and yet go immediately and drink off a cup of poison death would be his portion before health if a Water-man should never so much desire to be at Westminster and yet row towards London-bridge his desires would be but in vain Thus it is with sinfull men they contradict their desires in their pratices therefore their desires further them nothing in the way to happiness their practices carry them faster to Hell than their desires can to Heaven But if you ask me Why do those that desire it not obtain it My answer is Because they do but desire it they have nothing but faint velleities which is too sloathfull full a way to get these great things by there are many means conscientiously to be used that this last end of the upright may be enjoyed the Lepers in the Gospel were cured not sitting still but walking Luke 17● 14 as they went they were cleansed we must be up and doing we must be at the charges and expences not only of many an earnest wish but of many a salt tear and many a bitter sigh and many a deep groan and many a hard pull before we can obtain this blessing an happy estate in death and a glorious life after it are commodities not to be had at so cheap a rate as for a wish we can gain but a little of the Earth though we take a great deal of pains for it and do we think to obtain Heaven with no pains It was the saying of an antient Rabbin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rabb If thou canst obtain but a little of this World which thou pursuest so much how canst thou look for any thing of the other World which thou followest not at all We must then be working as well as wishing Lam. 3. 41. Oratione operatio operatione fulciatur oratio Hieron therefore 't is said Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to God in the Heavens our hearts in praying and wishing our hands in acting and doing We ought to support our praying with our working and our working with our praying both these should go together we must be as well in the operative way as in the optative mood I remember the Fable of the Country man whose Cart stuck fast in the mire he falls a praying to Jupiter to help it out but doth nothing else and Jupiter bids him set his shoulder to the wheel and then cry to Jupiter so we must set our hands to the work and then desire to dye the death of the righteous Solomons advice is good Prov. 2.3 4. if thou shalt cry after knowledge and liftest up thy voice for understanding if thou shall seek for her as for silver and search for her as for hid treasure c. not only cry and lift up the voice but seek and search so the Apostle counsels Col. 3.1 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to seek the things