Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A67564
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The Christians victory over death a sermon at the funeral of the Most Honourable George Duke of Albemarle, &c. : in the Collegiate Church of S. Peter, Westminster, on the XXXth of April M.DC.LXX / by Seth, Lord Bishop of Sarum.
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Ward, Seth, 1617-1689.
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1670
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Wing W818; ESTC R12260
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16,635
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40
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the Sâ—ul may be Concluded in Consequence whereof both before and during the tâ—me of Christ All the Sects of the Iews except the Sadduces And I think All the Philosophers except Epicurus did declare for the Doctrine of an Immortality Yet it is truly said of Christ that he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he cleared or brought to light the Doctrine of Immortality The Opinions which ruled the World before him both of the Philosophers and of the Rabbins were not only false but pernicious They still made Death the King of Terrors and were so far from Establishingâ— that they overthrew the Capacity of Personal Rewards and Punishments after Death These are the Consequences of all those Hypotheses which either destroy the substance of the Soul with Epicurus Or the individual permanency of the Soul with the Platonists the Peripateticks and the Stoicks Or which assert the Metempsychosis of Souls passing from Men to Beasts or Men with the Pythagoreans and many of the Iews And these were the Imaginations which had possessed the World before the Ministry of Christ. If the Soul were a Crasis or Harmony a Modus or Motion of the Body it would then be dissolved in Death it would cease to be or sleep in the lifeless Atoms whereof the Body was composed But He hath taught us that men may Kill the Body and not be able to hurt the Soul from whence it follows that the Soul is a distinct and permanent subsistence If the Immortal part in man were a Delibation of the God-head or Intellectus agens or the Soul of the World and upon Death were back again refunded into them the Individual nature would be destroyed But He hath taught us that this is still preserved that the Souls of Abraham Isaac and Iacob are distinctly preserved in the hand of God If Souls did transmigrate from men to beasts or from one man to another who could be rewarded Pythagoras or Euphorbus he hath instructed us that the Soul doth not shift and flit from one body into another but in their departure when they go hence they pass into Everlasting Habitations Lastly He hath informed the World that not only the souls of the Righteous but of the Wicked also are Immortal That as the soul of Lazarus so also the soul of Dives was permanent and existent after Death Thus Christ hath cleared the Doctrine of Immortality and in respect of the soul the capacity of personal Rewards 2. Moreover to fill up and câ—mpleat the capacity of the whole person and so render it intire He hath delivered to the World the Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Body namely that the time is coming when Death shall be finally swallowed up in Victory That He himself shall then descend from Heaven with a shout with the voice of the Arch-Angel with the Trump of God and the Dead shall rise That the dead in Christ shall rise first That what is sown in Corruption shall be raised in Incorruption That all men shall rise with their own bodys both Just and Unjust that the hour is comingâ— that all that are in the Grave shall hear his voice and come forth That the Sea shall give up the Dead which are in it And Death and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall deliver up the dead which are in them That those that have done good shall go into the Resurrection of Life and those that have done evil shall go into the Resurrection of Condemnation Thus hath our Lord Christ cleared the Principle and foundation of a Generous Contempt of death by bringing to Light the Capacity of Personal Rewards in the World to come But 2. He hath clearly delivered the whole method and Administration of Rewards themselves Inchoate and particular in our decease 2. Vniversal Consummate in the great Day of Retribution at the time of the general Resurrection In the Gospel we are taught that immediately upon our Dissolution the Souls of the Righteous enter into a state of happiness and the souls of the wicked into a state of Infelicity For the former to be dissolved is to be with Christ for the latter to die is to become miserable Say to the Righteous it shall be well with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they die in the Lord they rest from their Labours their works follow them Say to the Wicked it shall be ill with him the Other is comforted but he shall be toâ—mented Lazarus died and immediately was carried by Angels into Abrahams Bosome The rich man died and was buried and presently we find him in Hell in Torments But the great and final distribution of Rewards the Circumstances and intire Oeconomy of the General Judgment as it is delivered only so it is delivered punctually and exactly in and by the Gospel This tells us That God hath appointed a Day wherein he will Judge the World That Christ is ordained of God to be Iudge both of Quick and Dead That he shall come in the Clouds and every Eye shall see him That the Powers of Heaven shall be shaken and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in Heaven and they shall see him coming in the Clouds with power and great glory That he shall send his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet and they shall gather together the Elect from the four Winds from one end of Heaven to the other That he shall sit upon the Throne of his Glory That all Nations shall be gathered before him We must all appear before his Judgment Seat to answer for the things done in the body whether they be good or evil That he shall separate the one from the other as the Shepherd divideth the Sheep from the Goat That the Books shall be opened and the dead shall be Judged out of those things which are written in the Books That every secret thing shall be brought to light the secret Counsels of the Heart the hidden Works of Darkness shall be revealed and he shall Render to every one according to his Deeds That this sentence shall be pronounced upon the blessed Come ye blessed of my Father c. And this upon the cursed Go ye cursed c. Finally that upon the sentence given the righteous shall enter into joy unspeakable and full of Glory And the Wicked shall pass into a state of everlasting torment where shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth These are those Powers of the World to come whereof the Apostle speaks As there are movimenta mechanica mechanical powers whereby the motion of bodies is excited and regulated So Rewards and Punishments are movimenta spiritualia those spiritual powers which excite and regulate the motions of the Soul and that which gives to these their utmost force and moment is this Consideration That they are to be Eternal This Consideration is able effectually to affright men from base and ignoble Actions and to inspire them with noble
and heroical designs to raise them above all worldly things and bring them to a Rational contempt of Death And this is that Theory which Christ hath delivered concerning the state of the Vitâ functi But Secondly Christ hath not only delivered but he hath also assured the world of the truth of this Theory He confirmed the truth of his Doctrine the Divinity of his precepts the certainty of the Rewards and punishments of the world to come the infallible performance of his promises and his threatnings Not by giving the world a set and series of imaginary principles of vain Philosophy and Science falsly so called engendring strifes and everlasting disputations Not by bare Assertions and confident Repetitions only as did the Epicureans of old And as is the manner of some in our daies who have taken up their principles amongst our selves Not by Phantastical obscure Ratiocinations concerning Numbers Vehicles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the like But by evidences plain and convincing by proofs sensible and experimental partcularly accommodate to the eviction of the truth of the matter in question and to the conviction of all mankind By raising Lazarus and others from the dead he at once gave an experiment of the immortality of the Soul and of the Resurrection of the body of the capacity of eternal Rewards and Punishments Of all his Doctrines he gave infallible sensible undeniable proof by the purity of his Precepts The Sanctity of his Life The Testimony and witness of his Death By fulfilling all the Prophesies concerning him By his Predictions and his Miracles By a thousand several instances of supernatural Wisdom and Power By his glorious Resurrection his Visible Ascension By sending down the Holy Ghost on the Apostles By enabling his Disciples and his Followers to work Signs and Wonders in one word by innumerable Arguments Thus the Captain of our Salvation the Author and Finisher of our Faith hath cleared the Foundation and Principle of Heroic Actions in exhibiting to the World the Grounds and Causes of a just and rational contempt of Death ANd now blessed be his Holy Name who by his Grace applying those Principles to the hearts of the Professors of Christianity is pleased in all Ages to raise up Christian Heroes for a Testimony to the energy of his eternal Gospel And in particular Blessed be his Name who in our Time and in our Nation hath been pleased to raise up that Great and most Honourable Person the Illustrious GEORGE Duke of ALBEMARLE that Great and most eminent and uniform despiser of Death That Glorious Performer of Heroic Actions Concerning whom I am obliged though very briefly and scantly to speak His Country the source of many Gallant men His Extraction from a generous ancient eminent Family His early Addiction to Arms the School wherein he was trained the degrees by which he ascended His youthful essays His virile Performances both at Sea and Land in Forreign Countrys in England Ireland Scotland All memorable and such as will be great in Story shall not detain you The little which I intend to speak shall take its Epocha from that time when God was pleased to raise him up to be our Deliverer to call him forth and show him openly upon the Theater of the World making him a spectacle to Angels and to men Since this time if we shall well consider him in every Circumstance I conceive I may without flattery or partiality pronounce 1. That a greater Action hath not been performed than that of the Restauration 2. That a greater Person than He concerning whom we are speaking hath not bâ—â—n produced in many Generations And these are the two things which I shall propose to your Observation To enter into the places of Rhetorick and to expatiate in a formal Panegyrick were to violate your patience and offend the manes of him to whom we perform this parentation He was a man Great of Performance little of Speech no lover of wast words or fine composed Orations but a great Affecter of what was short and plain easie and inaffected In compliance with this Character of him I shall briefly and plainly intreat you to consider That for a man to exert an Heroical performance two things are requisite 1. There must be the exercise of Vertue Prudence Fortitude Iustice Temperance and their subordinate vertues in an eminent manner And 2. There must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something divine and extraordinary An eminent opportunity an Object Arduous and Honourable And a Success that may have in it an evidence of something supernatural Consider how all these Circumstances were combined and constellate in that marvellous work of the Restauration 2. Moreover seeing that Honor est in honor ante and lies in the Apprehension of Spectators who alwaies have one eye on the prosperity as well as an anothâ—◠〈◊〉 the merit of a person And who do not give a final Judgment ante obitum supremaque funera Therefore to estimate the greatness of this Person I shall intreat you to consider 2. The perseverance of his vertue 3. The Felicity wherewith it was attended 1. For the Glory of the Restauration The greatest advantage of Honour with God and Man which can befall a Military Person is not to slay his thousands or his millions but to be made a Repairer of the Breaches of his Country and a Restorer of paths to dwell in For this there must be Opportunity if there be no breaches there can be no repairer For this God gave him Opportunity How great alas were the Breaches how gaping how desperate were the Wounds of these sinful miserable Nations Hell had broke loose upon us and Confusion had obtained and held a Dominion of 20 years The Flower of our Nobility Gentry c. cut off by the Sword of the Rebellious How were the mighty fallen I may not stand to make a gradation of our miseries Quanquam animus meminisse horret Yet I must repeat it the King and the Priest the best of Kings a most excellent Prelate fell under the Swords rather under the Axes of an impious Rebellion The Sun was turned into Darkness the Moon into bloud the Stars thrown from their Orbs. Our Religion abolished our Foundations overturned our Laws abrogated The Government of Church and State dissolved the Governours Banished imprisoned murdered Instead of Religion Atheism and Infidelity Fanatick Rage and wild Enthusiasm Instead of Liberty and property the voice of Sequestrations and Plunders Decimations Transportation Imprisonment were heard in the Land Our Kings and our Princes were among the Gentiles the Law was no more the Prophets received no Vision from the Lord. How often did his Majesty attempt a Restitution How often was he disappointed He came to his Own but his Own received him not they said This is the Heir Come let us Kill him and the Inheritance shall be ours God permitted them to fill up the measure of their Iniquities to baffle every attempt for a Restitution He suffered them