Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A59653
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A sermon at the funeral of Mr. Christopher Glascock, the late eminent school-master of Felsted in Essex preached there Jan. 22, 1689/90, by William Shelton ...
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Shelton, William, d. 1699.
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1690
(1690)
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Wing S3100; ESTC R38233
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17,524
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37
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Mankind shall be cursed and commanded to depart from God The same Lord Jesus who is here said to take holy Men to be for ever with himself in the next Epistle to these Thessalonians has his coming described in other terms The Lord Jesus 2 Thess 1. 7 8. shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming Fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ There is everlasting Death as well as everlasting Life and they who trifle away their time in this World without performing the Conditions upon which eternal Happiness is promised will find it to their astonishment true when though they call Rev. 6. 16. for the Rocks and Mountains to hide them yet the great Day of God's Wrath will come and they shall not be able to stand Wherefore happy they of whom these words speak who when they are called to meet the Lord in the Air shall never depart from him Which according to the tenor of the Scripture cannot be the Portion of all Men therefore there can be no difficulty or doubt in restraining my Third Observation to holy Men. Thirdly After Death all the holy People of God shall for ever be with the Lord. I confess these words do not assure us that immediately after Death our Souls shall be translated to Glory and Happiness but only tell what shall befal us after the Resurrection It is now 1600 Years and upwards since this Epistle was written and yet the end of the World is not come And when it will come none of us knows How long soever it may be it is but a small space of Time in comparison of Eternity and therefore it being otherwise certain that our Souls do not sleep in the interval between the Death and the Resurrection of the Body I consider it now without any distinction and express it indefinitely of the future State Then holy Men shall ever be with the Lord. So has our Blessed Saviour assured us If any John 12. 26. Man serve me let him follow me and where I am there shall also my Servant be Again In John 14. 2 3. my Father's house are many Mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a Place for you And if I go and prepare a Place for you I will come again and receive you to my self that where I am there ye may be also And the same assurance we have from other Texts in other Phrases Now what it is to be with the Lord is not easy for us in this present State fully to say But sure we are it describes a very great and happy State And we may in the consideration of it join some other Texts compared together with those I have named out of the Gospel of St. John We are willing rather to 2 Cor. 5. 8. be absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord. Now we see through a Glass darkly 1 Cor. 13. 12. but then Face to Face His Servants shall serve Rev. 23. 3 4. Psal 16. 11. him and they shall see his Face In thy presence is fulness of Joy at thy right Hand are Pleasures for evermore And one place more particularly describes the Glory of our Bodies Who shall Phil. 3. 21. change our vile Body that it may be fashioned like to his glorious Body So then to be with the Lord is not to be advanced only to a proximity of Place but there is an Affinity a nearness of State a resemblance and a participation also of that Glory and Happiness in which our Lord is Now let us consider a little Holy Men shall ever be with the Lord that is they shall be exalted to Honour and Glory as our Lord is Not in the same degree for of that we are not capable but in our Measures and according to our Capacities This it is to be where Christ our Lord is To be honoured of his Father and our Father If any Man serve me him will my Father honour John 12. 26. The honour that our Lord Jesus did to our Nature in becoming Man shall then redound to our Persons we shall be taken up to be with God He who is set down in the Throne of his Glory will ennoble and raise us so that even our Bodies that are sown and laid in the Grave in dishonour shall be raised in Glory The difference 1 Cor. 15. between Beauty and Deformity is esteemed considerable in this Life but the reflections that will beam upon us in that glorious State shall beyond what we can now conceive dignify our Persons That which now turns to Dust and Ashes shall be transfigured and the Righteous shall shine forth as the Sun in the Mat. 13. 43. Kingdom of their Father God has now honoured Man by making him an excellent Creature fit to govern the rest of the Creation if he could but govern himself but we are now in a very low form of excellence in comparison of the Honour and Dignity which our Lord Jesus will put upon us when he calls us as the Blessed of his Father to inherit a Kingdom prepared Mat. 25. 34. for us Therefore is that which we shall be possessed of called Glory a Crown of Glory a Kingdom an Eternal weight of Glory In comparison of which all the Sceptres and Crowns of this lower World are Trifles and Toys and not worth looking after But again To be with the Lord is to be delivered from all the Encumbrances and Necessities and Perplexities of this present Life to be raised to fulness of Joy and Pleasures for evermore To be secured from all Wants and Weaknesses from Sins and Sorrows and Fears from the Devil and Hell and Death from whatsoever would disturb and dissatisfy To be with the Lord is to have the Lord for our God and to dwell with us and the consequence of God's dwelling with us is as is descrbed God shall wipe Rev. 21. 4. away all Tears from our Eyes and there shall be nor more Death neither Sorrow nor Crying neither shall there be any more Pain for the former things are past away The Imperfections of this State shall pass away and the Necessities of it too We shall no more hunger nor thirst no more be sollicitous what will become of us no more amused and frighted with Wars or rumours of Wars no more in danger of Plots and Conspiracies under no discontent for decay of Trade or loss of Friends under no pains of Body nor trouble of Mind beyond the reach of Sickness and Diseases and effectually secured from all distrubing Accidents Yea and beyond all this which is but the absence of Misery to be with the Lord is to be in our Father's house in those pleasant Mansions where Peace and Joy dwell and triumph where the Eyes of our Understanding shall be inlightned and inabled to take a full view of the