Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	die_v	good_a	life_n	16,696	5	4.8534	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61587	Protestant charity a sermon preached at S. Sepulchres Church, on Tuesday in Easter week, A. D. MDCLXXXI / by Edward Stillingfleet ...	Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699.	1681 (1681)	Wing S5622; ESTC R8099	23,524	56

covetous and hard-hearted Wretches then have of their sordid penuriousness in heaping up riches without any tenderness or compassion to the necessities of their Brethren and Christ's Representatives How will they wish ten thousand times when it will be to no purpose to wish that they had rather laid out their money in doing good than laid it up for those who may go to Hell the faster for the great Temptations they leave behind them Neither let the prodigal Fools think they shall escape better for being so contrary to the griping and stingy humour of the Covetous for it is not the vain and careless squandring an Estate away in riotous courses will make a man's condition more tolerable at that day but it is the provident seasonable carefull distribution of our Charity for wise and good ends which shall meet with so glorious a reward 3. Especially in the last place if we faint not and do not repent of what good we have done but continue so doing to the end of our Lives For this reason I presume it is that many reserve their greatest Acts of Charity to their Deaths but it is dangerous putting off their Repenting and doing Good till they come to die for fear their hearts or those whom they trust deceive them But if men begin to doe well in their health and strength let them not faint when they come to die but continue charitable as well as faithfull unto death and God will give them a crown of life And now my business is to make particular Application to this great Assembly not to be weary in well-doing and therefore I shall repeat to You A true Report c. You perceive by this Relation how much Good hath been already done in the care of the Education of poor Children and in the cure of and provision for the Maimed and Distracted all which are very commendable ways of well-doing and it is a great advantage to me this Day that I am onely to perswade you not to be weary in this well-doing for in due season You shall reap if ye faint not You have already broke through many discouragements and since the sad calamities of Plague and Fire which made such desolations among us You have done even as to these charitable Foundations what hath been to the Admiration and Astonishment of beholders Which of us all who saw the City in its Ruines with so many Churches and Halls and Hospitals buried in its rubbish could ever hope to have lived to see them rise again with a much greater Glory and our new-built Hospitals to appear with that Magnificence that strangers may easily mistake them for Palaces We have lived in an Age that hath beheld strange Revolutions astonishing Judgments and wonderfull Deliverances what all the Fermentations that are still among us may end in God alone knows our unanswerable returns to God for his great Mercies may justly make us fear that he hath greater scourges provided for us the best thing we can doe for our selves is to amend our ways and to bring forth fruits worthy of amendment of life not barely to own and profess the Protestant Religion but to adorn it by holy and exemplary lives and doing all the Good we can while we have opportunity And to that end I shall offer these Considerations and so conclude 1. The more Good ye doe the more Comfort you will find in the doing it Therefore be not weary in well-doing There is a certain secret pleasure and inward satisfaction that follows doing Good which increases by exercise and continuance This is so far above the pleasure of the Covetous and Voluptuous in pursuit of their ends that it approaches nearest of any thing we can conceive to the satisfaction of the Almighty who delighteth in doing Good It was a remarkable saying of our Saviour which Saint Paul preserved It is more blessed to give than to receive How happy do the Poor think themselves when those who are Rich are bountifull to them But the advantage is on your side they are the receivers but you are the gainers What you bestow on them you lay up in store for your selves which will yield far greater comfort when you come to die than having raised a vast Estate for that is onely carrying a greater account into another World but this is a great help to discharge it 2. Doing Good is really one of the best parts of our Religion True Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the Widow and Fatherless in their Affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the World It is not giving a cold formal visit to the Widow and Fatherless that makes any part of Religion but doing all the good we can to them by advice and counsel by supplying their wants and taking care of their affairs No Duty takes in so much of the substance of Religion as true Charity It is the fulfilling of the Law the end of the Commandment i. e. of the Gospel the bond of perfectness That without which all other pretence to Religion is but flattering of God and meer hypocrisie For all our Prayers and Praises are but verbal acknowledgments that which he hath put the trial of our love to himself upon is our love to our Brethren For he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen 3. Doing Good to others is taking the best care of our selves We all seem very apprehensive of dangerous times and very fearfull what may become of us the best course every wise and good man can take in difficult and uncertain times is to doe his own duty and to leave events to God And there is no duty more unquestionable more safe more advantagious to himself as well as to others than to doe good i. e. to be kind and obliging to all to forgive injuries to reconcile enemies to redeem captives to visit the distressed and according to our abilities and opportunities to relieve those that are in wants and necessities This is the way to dwell safely and to be quiet from the fear of evil for as long as God governs the World he will take care of those who commit themselves to him by patient continuance in well-doing 4. Doing Good doth the most answer the obligations God hath laid upon you by the Mercies he hath vouchsafed to you And now give me leave to plead with you the Cause of the Poor and Fatherless Children the Cause of the Wounded and Maimed who cannot help themselves the Cause of those who deserve so much more pity because they cannot pity themselves being deprived of the use of their Understandings If God hath provided well for you and for your Children wherein can you better express your thankfulness for such a mercy than by your kindness and charity to those who are destitute of the means to make them Men. If you have reason to bless God for your