Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	dead_a	die_v	live_v	15,229	5	5.8506	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A79011	The saints rest: or Their happy sleep in death. As it was delivered in a sermon at Aldermanbury London, Aug 24. 1651. By Edmund Calamy B.D.	Calamy, Edmund, 1600-1666.	1651 (1651)	Wing C264; Thomason E641_19; ESTC R206731	10,922	21

THE SAINTS REST OR Their happy Sleep in Death As it was delivered in a SERMON AT Aldermanbury London Aug 24. 1651. By Edmund Calamy B. D. JOHN II. II. Our friend Lazarus sleepeth PSAL. 116. 15. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints LONDON Printed by A. M. Anno Domini MDCLI THE SAINTS REST Act. 7. 60. the later part And when be had said this be fell asleep THese words contain in them the happy closure and upshot of Stephen life wherein we have three particulars 1. The Person that fell asleep 2. The Speech that he made when he fell asleep 3. What he did when he had finished his Speech First We have the Person that fell asleep and that was Stephen He was a man full of faith and full of the holy Ghost as you may see Act 6.5 He was the first Martyr that ever suffered for the cause of Christ hence I might gather this Doctrine viz. That the best of men are subject to violent and unnatural deaths Stephen that was full of the holy Ghost was stoned to death and John the Baptist that was full of the holy Ghost from the very womb was beheaded Peter was crucified and so was Andrew Isaiah was sawed asunder Teremiah was stored and Zacharias was slain between the Temple and the Altar But I shall passe this The second part of the Text is the Speech that Stephen made when he fell asleep Hoc dicto obdermivit that is when he had finished his prayer He fell asleep Hence observe That it is an excellent way to close up our lives with prayer To die praying is a most Christian way of dying They stoned stephen calling upon God After this manner Christ died he prayed Father into they hands I commend my spirit and having thus said gave up the ghost This he did that it might be a patern to all Christians Prayer is a necessary duty at all times but especially when we are a dying and that for these three Reasons 1. Because when we are to die we have most need of Good help for then the devil is most busie and we most weak 2. Because when we are to die we are to beg the greatest boon of God that is that he would receive us into his heavenly Kingdom Now prayer is the chief means to obtain this mercy for it is Porta Coeli Clavis Paradisi the Gate of Heaven a Key to let us into Paradise Therefore we have great reason to die praying 3. Because when a Saint of God is dying he is then to take his last farewell of prayer In Heaven there is no praying but all thanks giving there is no need in Heaven therefore no prayer in Heaven Now a Saint of God being to take his leave of prayer when he is to die therefore it is sit he should die praying I beseech you remember this patern in the Text St Stephen died calling upon the Lord Let us die praying as that Emperor said Oportet Imperatorem stantem mori so may I say Oportet Christianum mori praecantem it behovesa Christian to die praying Quest But what was the substance of Stephens prayer Answ. He prayed for himself and he prayed for his persecutors 1. He prayed for himself Lord Jesus receive my Spirit ver. 59 2. He prayed for his persecutors Lord lay not this sin to their charge ver. 60 I will not enter upon this part of the Text for it would swallow up all my time Therefore I shall wave it and come to the third part which is that that by Gods assistance I purpose to speek unto viz. What Stephen did when he had finished his prayer When he had said this he fell asleep that is he died Behold here the magnanimity the piety and the Christian courage of Stephen The people were stoning of him and gnashing their teeth upon him and the good man dies with as much quietness of minde as if he had died in his bed He fell asleep while they were stoning him While he died he prayed and while he prayed he died But what made Stephen die thus quietly Reade the 55 verse and you shall see the reason of it Being full of the holy ghost he looked up sted fastly into Heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God Behold saith he I see the Heavens opened and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God This made him die with such a sweet quiet and calm temper He saw Jesus Christ standing at the right hand of God ready to receive his soul and that made him die with such an extraordinary quietness of minde Death in Scripture especially the death of Gods children is often compared to a sleep It is said of David That he slept with his fathers And it is said I Thes. 4.13 I would not have you ignorant concerning them which are asleep that is concerning them which are dead And I Cor. II. 30 For this cause many are weakly and sick among you and many sleep that is many die This expression is a metaphorical expression and will afford us many rare and precious instructions about death And therefore the grace of God assisting me I desire to spend the rest of the time in the opening of this metaphor The Observation is this viz. That when a childe of god dies though his death he never so unnatural and violent yet it is nothing else but a falling asleep Or The death of a childe of God though stoned to death though burnt to ashes though it be never so violent and unnatural is nothing else but a falling asleep When he had said this he fell asleep Somnus est mortis imago Sleep is the image of death There are many notable resemblances betwixt sleep and death some of which I shall speak unto at this time 1. Sleep is common to all men there is no man can live without sleep A man may live long without meat but no man can live long without sleep So it is true of death Death is common to all it is appointed for all men once to die And therefore David said He was to go the way of all slesh Statutum est omnibus semel mori Omnibus est calcanda semel lethivia All men must sleep the sleep of death or else be changed which is a metaphorical death 2. As sleep ariseth from the vapours that ascend from the stomack to the head and tie the senses and hinder their operations so death came into the world by Adams eating the forbidden fruit and by the poisonfull vapour of sin that brought death upon him and all his posterity By one man sinne entred into the world and death by sinne and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned Rom. 5.12 Had Adam never sinned Adam should never have died But In illo die said God In that day thou eatest the forbidden fruit thou shalt die the death Sinne

should be nothing else but Meditatio mortis but a meditation of death And it is the saying of Moses Deut. 32.29 O that men were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end Beloved it is the greatest part of wisdom every day to remember our later end That man is the only wise man and happy man in life and death that is ever mindfull of his death But before I make an end I must answer one Question viz. Whether the death of the wicked be not in Scripture compared to a sleep as well the death of the godly I answer That wicked men in Scripture are said to fall asleep when they die It is said of idolatrous Jeroboam That he slept with his fathers Of Baasha and Omri those wicked Kings That they slept with their fathers But then the Question will be In what respect is the death of the wicked compared to a sleep Even as a man which is asleep sometimes hath no benefit rest nor ease thereby when the sick man awakes he is many times more sick then he was before he went to sleep Some men are much disquieted in their sleeps by hideous and fearful dreams Nebuchadnezzar when he was asleep had a most scaring dream and when he awoke he was amazed there with So it is with a wicked man Death to a wicked man is a sleep but it is a terrifying sleep the soul that goes immediatly to hell where it is burned with fire that never shall be quenched and where the worm that never dies is alwayes gnawing upon it The body that indeed lies in the grave asleep but how even as a malefactour that sleeps in prison the night before he is executed but when he awakes he is hurried and dragged to execution so the wicked man fals asleep in death but when he awakes he awakes to everlasting damnation But now a childe of God when he sleeps the sleep of death he sleeps in his Fathers house and when he awakes he awakes to everlasting happiness And this makes way for the fourth and last Use which is a Use of very great consequence And it is to beseech you all that you would labour so to live that when you fall asleep you may sleep an happy sleep There is the sleep that the wicked man sleeps when he dies and there is the sleep that the godly man sleeps when he dies Now I beseech you labour so to live that when you fall asleep your sleep may be an happy sleep unto you that when you awake in the morning of the resurrection it may be an awakening unto you But then the great Question will be How shall I do this I shall give you four or five helps for this First If you would sleep an happy sleep at death then you must labour to sleep in Jesus Christ It is said 1 Cor. 15.18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ And 1 Thes 4 14. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him What is it to sleep in Jesus To sleep in Jesus is to die in the faith of Jesus Christ 2. To sleep in Jesus is to die with an interest in Jesus Christ to die as a member of Christ united to him as our head For you must know that the dust of a Saint is part of that man who is a member of Jesus Christ and every believer when he sleeps in the dust he sleeps in Jesus Christ that is he lies in the grave and his dust is part of Christ mystical and Christ as an head will raise it up and cannot be compleat without it Now then if ever you would sleep an happy sleep labour to get a reall interest in Christ labour to live in Christ while you live And then when you fall asleep you shall be sure to sleep in Jesus There are many would have Christ to receive their souls at death and that say with dying Stephen Lord Jesus receive my Spirit But if ever you would have Christ to receive your souls when you die you must be sure to receive him into your souls whilst you live if ever you would have him to receive you into heaven you must receive him into your hearts No man makes a will but he saith Imprimis I bequeath my soul unto Jesus Christ my Redeemer But how dost thou know that Jesus Christ will accept of this Legacy If thy soul hath not Christs image upon it if it be not regenerated and renewed Jesus Christ will never own it Thou maist bequeath it unto Christ but the devil will claim it if thy soul hath the devils image upon it if it be a swinish polluted unbelieving unregenerate soul thou maist bestow it upon God but the devil will recover it out of Gods hands pardon this expression it is not mine but St Austins Beloved if ever you would reign with Christ when you die he must reign in you whilst you live and if ever you would sleep an happy sleep you must live in Jesus that you may sleep in Jesus Secondly In the second place If ever you would sleep an happy sleep at death then you must take heed of overcharging your selves with worldly cares A man that is full of cares cannot sleep therefore when men would sleep they lay as the Proverb is all their cares under their pillow they labour to shut all cares out of their minde O take heed that you do not murder your souls by the cares of the world Beloved a man that eats out his heart with worldly cares will never sleep an happy sleep the cares of the world will choak all the good seed of the Word of God and therefore as men when they sleep lay aside all worldly thoughts So if ever you would sleep an happy sleep take heed of overmuch carking and caring for the things of this world and remember what you have heard this day and that will regulate and moderate all your cares Naked you came into the world And naked you must go out of the world Why should we we take care for that we know not who shall enjoy after us Thirdly If ever you would sleep an happy sleep when you die you must take heed of sucking too much of the pleasures of this life A man that eats a full supper will sleep very disquietly therefore they that would sleep quietly use to eat but light suppers for when a mans stomack is over-charged it takes away his sweet sleep from him So if ever you would sleep an happy sleep when you come to die O take heed of sucking too much of the pleasures of this life take heed of eating too large a meal of worldly delights and of creature comforts these worldly pleasures will make the sleep of death unquiet unto you Oh let not Dalilah's lap deprive you of Abrahams bosom Remember that David by Bathsheba's imbraces lost the imbraces of God I mean the sense of the imbraces of God the joy and comfort of them Fourthly If ever you would sleep an happy sleep in death then labour to work hard for Heaven while you live Oh how delightfull is sleep to a weary man When a man hath taken pains all the day as the Traveller that hath travelled all the day or the Ploughman that hath been at work all the day how quietly how soundly doth he sleep in the night O Beloved If ever you would sleep an happy sleep at death then labour to work out your salvation with fear and trembling and give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure The more you labour for Heaven the better the sweeter will your sleep be when you come to die And remember this That as much sleeping in the day time will hinder a mans sleep at night So you that idle away the time of your providing for Heaven in this your day you that sleep away the minute upon which eternity doth depend Oh you will have a sad sleep when death seiseth upon you Take heed therefore of sleeping whilst you live that so your sleep in the night of death may be comfortable unto you Fifthly Lastly If ever you would sleep an happy sleep when you die then take heed of the sleep of sinne Sinne in Scripture is compared to a sleep Awake thou that sleepest that is thou that finnest Sinne is such a sleep as brings the sleep of death Sinne brings the first death and sinne brings the second death All miseries whatsoever are the daughters of sinne If you would sleep an happy sleep and have an happy awakening at the Resurrection then take heed of the sleep of sinne Awake thou that sleepest arise from the dead and Jesus Christ shall give thee life Ephes. 5 14. So Rom. 13.11 12 13. with which I will conclude and I pray you mark it well for it was a Text that converted Saint Augustine Knowing the time Beloved that now it is high time to awake out of sleep for now is our salvation nearer then when we believed The night is farre spent the day is at hand let us therefore cast off the works of darknesse and let us put on the armour of light Let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkennesse not in chambering and wantonnesse not in strife and envying but put you on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fullfill the lusts thereof FINIS Observ. Observ. Luk. 23.46 1 King 2.10 Doct. Job 18.14 I Cor. 15.42 43. Use I. Luk. 23.27,28 Use 2. Use 3. Quest Answ 1 King 16.6 28. Quest Answ Use 4. Quest Answ