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	live_v	soul_n	15,929	5	5.3820	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A92849	Christos kai kerdos. = Christ the life, and death the gain, of every true beleever: or, The life of a saint resolved into Christ, and His death into gain. Held forth clearly in a sermon preached at the late sad and solemn funeral of the right worshipful Rowland Wilson, Esq; a Member of the Parliament of England, and of the honorable Councel of State; and one of the aldermen and sheriffs of the city of London. By Obadiah Sedgvvick, B.D. and minister of the Gospel at Covent-Garden. Together with an epistle dedicatory: wherein is an exact account given upon some years more then ordinary experience of the superlative worth of this eminent servant of Christ, and of the Common-wealth. By George Cokayn, an unworthy teacher of the Gospel at Pancras Soper lane, London.	Sedgwick, Obadiah, 1600?-1658.; Cokayn, George, 1619-1691.	1650 (1650)	Wing S2368; Thomason E599_6; ESTC R206326	26,159	45

Do they Not Infinitely exceed them The people of Israel quit Egypt the House of Bondage and possess Canaan the Land of Promise Would you call this a Loss which exceeds All that was enjoyed in Egypt O Christian The least Good in Heaven if there be Any thing there which can be called The l●ast Good Far surmounts All the Good from which Death can part you here on Earth The Candle is out I But Now thou Hast the Sun I leave my Earthly Father I but I Now Go to my Heavenly Father I part with my Husband O but I Go to my Christ The Streams are cut off O but Now I am at the Fountain I shall Never meet with Creature-comforts more O but I shall Now enjoy Him who makes All Comforts and who is All Comforts God My God Christ My Christ for ever 2. The Christians Estate Receives a larger Addition by Death and therefore for him to dye is Gain There are three things added unto your Estate by Death which you longed to have but Never might Nor could enjoy in this Life 1. An Absolute Remedy 2. A Perfect Fruition 3. An Invariable Eternity First The Christian hath this Gain by Death That it proves an Absolute Remedy Death doth that for Him in One Moment which All the Ordinances of Christ could Never do which All the Graces of the Spirit could Never do which All the Joys of the Holy Ghost could Never do It doth instantly cure his Soul and Body It doth perfectly cure them and deliver them From All the Afflictions of Life from All the Troubles of Life from All Infirmities and Diseases in the Body from All Sinful Corruptions in the Soul from All the Temptations and Assaults of Satan All these are at their end when Life is at an end And truly to lose All these and All these for ever is deservedly to be Reckoned amongst Our Gains and Advantages I have Read of Alexander the Great that he did once ask a Philosopher How long a Man should de●ire to live who answered Until he thinks it better to dye then to live Is it Not Better to dye and to be rid of All Sin to dye and be rid of All Temptations to dye and be rid of All Miseries then to live and carry about us a Body of Sin which so often darkens our Light grieves our God and troubles our Consciences Secondly The Christian hath this Gain by Death Not onely that he hath the Better of the contrary Estates but also that by Death he p●sseth from an Imperfect Good Estate unto a Perfect Good Estate He Now comes to be of Full Age and to be a Full Possessor One says That This Bernard Life This Present Life is Not Vita sed Via ad Vitam It is Not Life but a Motion a Journey towards Life He speaks it of the Natural Life but we may raise it even to the Spiritual Life of a Christian His Spiritual Life comparatively considered is rather Via then Vita a step towards Life then Life Compare All which you are possessed of as Beleeving Christians in this Life with All that of which you shall be possessed in that other Life you may speak of them what Paul spake of the Two Ministrations Even that which was made Glorious had No Glory in this respect by reason of the Glory that excelleth 2 Cor. 3. 10. And therefore the same Apostle comparing the Present Condition of Grace with that Future Condition of Glory saith Now we see through a Glass darkly But Then Face to Face Now I Know in part But Then I shall Know even as also I Am Known 1 Cor. 13. 12. Look how Great the Disproportion is between a dark and a clear Seeing and between our Knowing of God and Gods Knowing of Us the one being very Imperfect and the other being very Absolute So Great is the Disproportion of the present Condition of Spiritual Life on Earth to that Glorified Life in Heaven 'T is true you have the same God on Earth which you shall have in Heaven and you have the same Christ on Earth which you shall have in Heaven But yet your Conjunction with Him and your Fruition of Him in Heaven is wonderfully more perfect and exquisite then it is or can be here on Earth His Manifestations of Himself to your Souls and your Apprehensions of those Manifestations are most compleatly Enlarged You shall then Know and Love and Enjoy your God even as much as Glorified Souls can Know and can Love and can Enjoy a God And God himself discovers as much of Himself unto your Souls as will make them perfectly Blessed and Fully Happy in the clear Vision and Fruition of Himself Now this Addition perfect Addition to Our Estate occasioned by Death doth plainly prove That to dye is Gain You shall Never Reign till you dye You shall Never Know as you are Known you shall Never Apprehend as you are Apprehended you shall Never be at Home you shall Never come to a Perfect Holiness to a Perfect Sight to a Perfect Full Fruition Never be Perfectly Filled up Until you Dye Thirdly The Christian hath yet one more Exaltation of His Estate by Death and that is an Invariable Eternity Whatsoever the Christian ●inds in Himself in this Life for the Habituals of Grace It is Imperfect and whatsoever he findes for the Comfortables of Grace It is very Various Sometimes it is More and sometimes it is Less Sometimes it is High and sometimes it is Low and Sometimes it is None at all Sometimes Heaven is opened and Sometimes the Vision is drawn up and Heaven is shut One while he sees the Face of God and Rejoyceth Another while God Hides his Face and then he is Troubled But by Death he comes to a Fixed and Invariable Eternity He shall Ever be with the Lord And as the Angels so shall He always behold the Face of his Father O Christians It is always Day in Heaven There the Sun still shines in Strength and Beauty and Never Sets and Never Declines Thy Joy shall be an Everlasting Joy Never Interrupted Never Eclipsed Never Diminished Full at once and Full for ever Eternal Happiness Happy Eternity Perfect Fruition and Eternal Fruition Perfect Pleasure and Eternal Pleasure As long as God is God so long will your Compleat Happiness be and abide in your God for ever and ever and ever And Now having cast up All Accounts Tell me whether you may not say with Paul To me to Dye is Gain I have read a Fancy of one Trophonius that when he had Built and Dedicated that goodly Temple at Delphos asked of Apollo for his recompence That Thing which was Best for Man The Oracle willed him to Go home and within Three days he should have it and within that Time he dyed O Christian The Best thing on Earth is to live so as to Get into Christ But the Best thing of All is to dye and to be with Christ I have done with both

dispensation take occasion to lead you forth into further experiences of himself that you might while you drink down this bitter cup taste also and see that the Lord is gracious This I know will be your only relief and that which in ●●●e will certainly scatter that cloud of sadness which indeed at present rests with too great darkness upon your Spirit which the Lord by the manifestation of himself will in his time totally dispel In the mean while let that sweet Scripture as a companion rest with you Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness he is gracious and Psa 112. 4. full of compassion and righteous That the Marrow and Spirit of this Text may be your Portion is the uncessan● Prayer of LADY Your poor Orator at the Throne of Grace and unworthy Servant in the Work of the Gospel GEORGE COKAY Apr. 18. 1650. PHILIPPIANS 1. 21. To Me to Live is Christ and to Dye is Gain I Shall not trouble you with the Coherence nor with the various Readings of these words which do consist of Two parts 1. The Scope or End of a Christians Life To me to live is Christ. 2. The Hope and Fruit of a Christians Death And to dye is Gain A Real Christian is of all men in the Best Condition For if he lives he Gets and if he dyes he Gains None Improve Life well and None Inrich themselves by Death but Beleeving Christians From these Two parts there are two Propositions unto which I intend to speak at this time 1. The First is That the Life of a Real Christian is Resolved into Christ 2. The Second is That the Death of a Real Christian is Resolved into Gain I begin with the First of these That the Life of a Real Christian is Resolved into 1 Propo●●● Christ To me to live is Christ The Life of a Chistian hath a Four-fold reference unto Christ Christ is 1. Principium The Principle or Fountain of His Life All Spiritual Life is First in Christ and Next in us As the life of the Branches is First in the Root and from thence Imparted to the Branches I Am the Vine Ye Are the Branches Joh. 15. 5. 2. Objectum Christ is the Object upon which the Christian lives I live by the Faith of the Son of God Gal. 2. 20. As the Ordinary Man lives upon his Food so the Spiritual Man lives upon his Christ Whatsoever makes for Life For that doth the Beleever live on Christ who indeed is the onely All of Life and for Life unto his Soul 3. Regula Christ is the Rule and Square of a Christians Life He that Abideth in him Ought himself also to walk As he walked 1 Joh. 2. 6. Hence those expressions My ways which be In Christ 1 Cor. 4. 17. Your Good Conversation In Christ 1 Pet. 3. 16. Be Followers of me As I am of Christ 1 Cor. 11. 1. Walk in love As Christ also hath loved us Eph. 5. 2. The Life of Christ is the Copy and the Life of a Christian is a Line written after that Copy The Life of Christ is the Seal and the Life of a Christian is the Character or Expression of that Seal His Life is in this sence also The Manifestation of the life of Christ 2 Cor. 4. 10. 4. Finis or Scopus Christ is the End unto which and for which a Christian doth live The Life of a Christian that is the Course of a Christian the Course of his Thoughts and Designs the Course of his Desires and Affections the Course of his Endevors and Labors All the Course of his Life is directed unto Christ it is subordinate and serviceable to the Glorifying of Christ None of us saith the Apostle in Rom. 14. 7 8. liveth to Himself and No man dyeth to Himself For whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we dye we dye unto the Lord c. A man lives unto himself who sets up Qui se unum respicit himself As the End of his living and onely regards himself You have a suitable expression with this in Psal 49. 18. Whiles he lived he Blessed his own Soul Hetib lenapsiselso i. e. All that he Aimed at was to please and benefit and enrich and increase himself So on the contrary To live unto the Lord to live unto Christ is Not onely to Set up the Will of Christ As the Rule of Life But Also to Set up the Glory and Advantages of Christ As the Superlative Aim or End of Life You have the like passage in 2 Cor. 5. 15. He dyed for All that They which live should not henceforth live unto themselves But unto Him which dyed for them and rose again The Apostle doth here make a Parallel and Reciprocal Intention 'twixt Christ and Christians The Intention of Christ in His Death was Their Good He dyed for them and the Intention of Christ in His Resurrection was Their Good He Rose again for them He was delivered for Our Offences and was Raised again for Our Justification Rom. 4. 25. Christ did not live for Himself but For Us Christ did not dye for Himself but For Us Christ did not Rise for Himself but For Us He intended Our Good in All these And so Reciprocally Christians should in their whole course of life Not intend Themselves but Christ Not live unto themselves but unto Christ Our Good and Salvation was His End and His Honor and Glory should be Our End Now for the further clearing of this Assertion I shall endeavor to demonstrate two Things Namely 1. That Real Christians do propound Jesus Christ As the Scope and End of their Life 2. Why they do so and why they should do so That Real Christians do Propound Jesus Christ 1. As the End of their living will plainly Appear if you do seriously consider That Jesus Christ hath All those peculiar Influences and Operations upon their Hearts which Any Chief End hath upon every man who sets it up As So unto Himself That which is Any Mans Chief End it hath Six Qualities in it 1. It doth Excitare it sets a man to work it Finis movet ad Agendum sets the wheels going it doth awaken and stir every Faculty of the Soul and makes them Active If a Mans Heart be Set on Any part of the World As his Chief End suppose it be Honor with Haman or Pleasure with Belshazzar or Riches with Dives why presently All the Soul is drawn out and works for that worldly End The Minde thinks and plods the Will desires and stirs the Affections long and thirst and the whole in that man acts and labors towards that End In like manner Jesus Christ who is the Great End of a Christians Life hath a very strong and influential virtue upon the Heart of a Christian The Glory of Christ quickens stirs draws out his Soul The love of Christ constrains us said Paul in 2 Cor. 5. 14. It doth urge us puts

panting and looking after Christ if at length he findes him I found him whom my Soul loveth Cant. 3. this makes a Full Amends for All his Tears and Prayings and Waitings So doth this of the Magnifying of Christ If Christ be set up in his Throne the Christian then Repents not O No This is Reward enough for All that ever he hath done or suffered for Christ And thus you have the First Part demonstrated unto you That Real Christians do propound and set up Jesus Christ as the Scope and End of their Life Their Life is bound up in His Life Nothing lives unless Christ lives And this is the very sum of their All to be Servants with their All to Christ I now proceed unto the Second Part Namely 2. Why Real Christians do live and should live unto Christ There are Five Reasons for that and I beseech you to weigh them well 1. You are Christs Not onely by Gift Thou gavest them me Joh. 17. 6. Nor onely by Relation I will marry thee to my Self Hosea 2. 19. But also by Purchase Therefore you should live unto your Christ If you were Christs onely by way of Donation you should live unto Him What is Given to Him that is to be used for Him If you were Christs onely by way of Relation you should live unto Him The Inferior part of the Relation is for the use and service of the Superior part of the Relation 1 Cor. 11. 9. But besides these you are Christs by way of Redemption and Purchase You Are Not your own For you Are Bought with a Price therefore Glorifie God in your Body and in your Spirit which are Gods 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. Mark the Apostle in this place He saith to Christians You Are Not Your Own Why whose are They then They are Christs And How come they to be Christs He tells them how Ye Are Bought with a Price And what of that Therefore Glorifie God c. If the Land be my Purchase should Not the Fruit of that Land be my Benefit Christians they are Christs Purchase He purchased them by his own Blood Act. 20. 28. And therefore All the Rent of their Lives must be payd in unto his Glory Ah Christians It cost Jesus Christ very dear to Redeem your Life from Death The Redemption of your Souls was the costliest Purchase that ever was made Ye were Redeemed with the precious Blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1. 19. This was the Price It did cost Christ His Life to Save your Life and should he Not have That Life which he purchased by His Life yea and by His Death Quicquid es debes Creanti Quicquid potes debes Redimenti said Bernard Whatsoever thou Art Thou owest to Him who made thee and whatsoever thou Hast Thou owest to Him who Redeemed thee 2. Jesus Christ is the Lord of Life The Prince of Life Act. 3. 15. The Lord of the Living and of the Dead Rom. 14. 9. He is the Lord of Life For Efficiency Our Life comes from Him who is our Life and For Authority The Keyes of Life are in his Hands If Any of you be the Lord or Master of a Servant as that Servant may expect Protection Sustenance and Reward from you so do you expect and challenge Obedience and Service from him His Work is yours His Trading is yours His Gaining is yours All the Stock which he employs is your Stock and it is employed for your Advantage The Lord is the End of the Servants Life And so must Jesus Christ who is the Lord of Life and the Lord of your Lives be the End of your Lives For He is Your Lord 2 Pet. 1. 2. And you are Christs Servants 1 Cor. 7. 22. Your whole stock of Life is from his Grace and therefore it is to be layd out for his Glory 3. All the Spiritual Principles of Life which are conferred upon you do encline and enable you to live unto Christ to set up Christ to act for him and to exalt him And they are given for this end that you should be the Servants of his Glory and in their proper sphere do move for this very end to shew forth the Praises of him who hath called you I will instance in a Few of them First Unto you is Given Precious Faith And what is the Natural Labor of Faith but to Set the Crown on the Head of Christ To Glorifie Jesus Christ Faith makes you to Forsake All for Christ and to Bestow All on Christ who Bestows His All on you Secondly Unto you is Given a Superlative Love of Christ Saw ye Him whom my Soul loveth said the Church Cantic 3. 3. Thou Knowest that I love thee said Peter Ioh. 21. 17. O Lord Jesus said Bernard I love thee more then All my Goods Plusquam mea plusquamme●s plusquam me and I love thee more then All my Friends yea I love thee more then All my Self Now you know that Love seeks not her own 1 Cor. 13. 5. All the powers and services of Love are His whom we entirely love His we Are and For Him we Are whom we do love Thirdly Unto you is Given Humble Self-denial And what are Humility and Self-denial but the Footstool of Jesus Christ But your selves in a dark Cloud that Christ above may shine in Glory You in Nothing and Christ in All You in Service and Christ in Praise None but Christ for your Confidence and None but Christ for your End Lastly Unto you is Given Burning Zeal And what is that Zeal but a Flame for his Cause and Glory Whether we be besides our selves it is to God 2 Cor. 5. 13. All the Activities and Enlargements of Zeal are put forth in Services for Jesus Christ 4. Of All People you who are Real Christians have the most forcible and cogent Obligations to resolve your Lives unto Jesus Christ For whatsoever may emphatically engage Any to Respects and Services that takes Abundant hold on you to express these unto Christ O Christians What is not Christ to you What hath not Christ done for you What hath not Christ suffered for you What will not Christ do for you and what is that weight of Glory which you shall have from your Christ after that you have done a little more weak Services for your Christ Christ is Life to you and Love to you and Mercy to you and Peace to you and Righteousness to you and Sanctification to you and Redemption to you and Help to you and Hope to you He is your Friend He is your Saviour He is your Glory He is your Christ to the utmost For All For ever and For ever All that ever he did and All that He is Now doing and All which ever he will do All this hath a special and peculiar Respectiveness and Serviceableness to your Good to your everlasting Good Why then Eye for Eye and Love for Love and Service for Service and Life for Life again Thou hast Redeemed us to God by

thy Blood and hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests And therefore worthy is the Lamb to Receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honor and Glory and Blessing Rev. 5. 9 10 12. Nay let me add one Obligation more which lies upon you and that is this You are the onely People in the world whom Jesus Christ doth intrust with his Glorious Interests He forms you for his Praise he trusts you with All his Honor here below amongst the sons of men And truly as it is your Great Honor to be trusted with the Honor of Christ So are you thereby the more obliged to live and act for his Honor and Glory 5. To direct and act the whole Course of Life for Christ This is the Highest and Noblest Improvement of Life Beloved Our Actions have their denominations partly from their Formal and intrinsecal cause and partly from their Final and extrinsecal cause The Actions of Man are more Noble then those of Irrational Creatures because They do flow from a Cause from a Soul which is more Noble And the Actions of a Christian are more Noble then those of a Man because they do spring from Principles which are divine And as Actions are thus dignified by their Formal Causes so likewise are They by their Final and Extrinsecal Causes The more low and sordid the Ends are the more base are the Actions of Life As when they are unworthy of such a state and condition If a Man should form his course of Life onely for such ends which do bound the Appetites of Brute Beasts in satisfying of himself with Sensual Objects this sordid End makes his Life a most sordid Life And so on the contrary the more excellent the Ends are for which our Lives are improved the more are our Lives raised in the degrees of Beauty and Perfection The more perfect Ends do always grace our Actions with the more perfect Glory The Actions of God himself are therefore the most glorious because they are Levelled at and come up most perfectly to His own Glory which is the chief End of Himself And so it is with the Actions of our Lives when they Rise to Christ and are Terminated in him This is their Dignity and Glory they cannot be Raised unto a more choyce Nature or degree of employment They are Now carried on and lifted up to the highest End As far as Christ and His Glory are above Sinful Lusts and Worldly Lusts above Earthly Pleasures and Earthly Profits and Earthly Honors and above our Selves So Far is a Living unto Christ above and beyond a Living unto Any or All of these And thus have you heard the First Proposition in some measure cleared unto you Namely That the Life of a Christian is Resolved into Christ I Now come to speak of the second Proposition which is this That the Death of a Christian is Resolved into 2 Propo●it Gain To me to live is Christ And to dye is Gain I shall not trouble you with the several considerations of Gain which yet might be aptly applied to the present Subject As Lucrum ex Benevolentia ex Pacto ex Societate ex Re Accepta Gain by Favor by Compact by Society by Matter falling into hand in respect of all which the Christian is a Gainer by Death But I shall briefly clear the Assertion 1. By Scriptures 2. By Arguments 1. By Scriptures Ecclesiastes 7. 1. The day of Death is better then the day of ones Birth If it be Better then it is Gain If you get more by Death then you do by Life surely then Death is a Gain Phil. 1. 23. I have a desire to depart i. e. to dye Death to a Godly man is but a departure from one condition to another and from one place to another and to be with Christ which is far Better To be In E●e Christum cum Paulo magna securitas Esse Paulum cum Christo summa Felicitas Bernard Christ is very Good thus we are whiles we live But to be With Christ this is Best of All and thus we are when we dye For Christ to be with Paul this was a Great Blessing But for Paul to be with Christ this was chiefest Blessedness said Bernard Take one place more Revel 14. 13. Blessed Are the Dead which dye in the Lord they rest from their labors and their works Follow them There is a Proportion of Blessedness which Christians have in this Life But the Full Portion of it is at Death therefore Death is Gain In this Life we are laboring for Blessedness but at Death you shall be Fully possessed of Blessedness Possession is better then Expectation and Blessedness in Hand is better then Blessedness in Hope therefore Death is Gain to Christians 2. By Arguments It cannot be but that Christians must Needs Gain by Death Because thereupon they pass into such an Estate where they do receive a Full Reward and where All the Promises of God are perfectly made Good unto them and where All the Gracious and Eternal Intentions of Love and Happiness towards them are as in their last End Fulfilled and Accomplished And beyond which Estate there is Not in them No Not a possible capacity for the Fruition of a Greater Perfection and Glory But more particularly If the Estate into which the Christian is Translated by Death doth more then Recompence All his Losses by Death and doth transcendently exceed All the Benefits which he hath in Life then Death is Gain or Advantage unto him For herein doth All Gain consist It is a Fuller Recompence or a Larger Addition If you lose a little and for that Receive more this is Gain If you lay out a little and for this Take in much this also is Gain Now consider 1. The Christians Compensations by Death are far greater then any of his Losses by Death You read of the Phoenix that her old Age falling into the Flames of death procures unto her a second Edition or Birth of a New and Fresh Life And hereby Death is an Advantage unto that Creature Much more is it to the Christian concerning whom the Apostle saith in 2 Cor. 5. 4. That Mortality is swallowed up of Life and that Death is but the dissolving of his Earthly house so that he might enjoy An house Not made with Hand Eternal in the Heavens Vers 1. There is Nothing which you can lose by Death but what must be lost and what for the most part may be lost in Life And whatsoever that is which you so lose by Death it is superabundantly made up unto you again You lose a Mortal Life but then you Finde an Immortal Life You lose the Society of Men but then you Finde the Society of Angels You lose the Sight of Friends but then you Finde the Sight of God You lose the Possession of the World but then you Finde the Possession of the Kingdom of Heaven Are Not these Compensations more then Equivalent to your Losses