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	year_n	8,514	5	5.2901	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A15106	A godlie sermon preached the xxj. day of Iune, 1586. at Pensehurst in Kent, at the buriall of the late right honourable Sir Henrie Sidney Knight of the noble order of the Garter, Lord President of Wales, and of her Maiesties most honourable priuie councell, By Thomas White professor in diuinitie.	White, Thomas, ca. 1550-1624.	1586 (1586)	STC 25404; ESTC S101855	15,728	42

can I conueniently discourse of the godly whose condition is not better but rather worse than the rest For how so euer it goeth they are certayne of bitternesse in this life if they hée euill God wilbe vpon them if they bee good the euill will both hate and hunt and persecute them they are sure to bée exposed to the tyrants of the time the proude persons of the worlde and to all the sonnes of the Deuill If any spéede well in this life by all likelyhoode it is the Rich for they are the men of this worlde the day and time is theirs they rule and strike the stroke they liue and take their pleasure as they list and therefore is the world set in their heartes for where the treasure is there the heart will bee But yet notwithstanding if a man shall duely waigh the continuall vexations of spirit the sodaine reciprocations and chaungings as often as of the Moone the ircksomnes of pleasures themselues together with the vncertainty and shortnes of their breath which is as it were a hooke of God set in the nostrells of all the sonnes of men to restraine them with all he will soone gene his consent that the states and starres of this worlde are miserable for all their riches if not the more miserable which is most certaine For the greatest part of riche men they are miserable because whatsoeuer they enioy it is but as a dreame but as a shadowe whatsoeuer they followe after it is all vncertayne vnconstant yea as the Ship doth swiftly trace the Seas y e Birde with quicke winge doth fly in the Skies or as an Arrowe shot strongly at a marke so hasteth and passeth pleasure fast away and riches with Eagles winges doe often take the morning flight Wée see that great rentes and reuenewes doe not alwaies keepe vs company in our life and in death they are sure to depart they are but as the Aples of Sodom which if you touch them they turne to dust or as the Goord of Ionas which withered in a moment neither doe they redéeme the life from y e graue They cannot wisedome is not able to do it because time as a tiraunt casteth all downe and laieth all a longe yea being the appointed line and measure of euery thing it weareth out the very heauens as a garment and being swift in all other thinges it is both swift short in the life of man Wherfore the prophet saith our life is but a span long 49. Psalm You haue heard the difference that Isay gaue betweene the grasse the flower The flower is more orient but not more permanent yea sooner fadeth the flower than the grasse and though in corruption there be no difference yet to corruption there is greater spéede in the one than in the other as y e Sunne the eye of the worlde can testifie And as soone as soddayne as often and as miserably dieth the Riche and honourable person as the poore and naked soule which thing this presēt spectacle can demonstrate The reason is because all the grace and glory of the fleshe it is but as the grasse or flower of the field I haue said you are Gods but you shall die like men Psalm 82. 6. Wherefore if a man coulde possibly bee as glorious as y e sunne yea though he were y e crowned king or second to the king his son or as one of the Princes fellowes so that for his excellency and beauty he might well bee compared to that glittering Image in the Prophet Dan. 2 31. whose head was of golde his breast and armes of siluer his belly and thyghes of brasse and legges of Iron yet his féete are alwaies parted with brickle clay This is the foote of all fleshe claye and this is their only way into the earth in the which way wée are all caried with continuall motion And as all the Riuers doe runne into the Sea from whence they sprange so by a decree hasteth Adam into the earth from whence hee came and stayeth no where from the byrth vnto the graue For as we all increase wée doe decrease and in vaine doth a man expect his death to come a great part whereof is past to him that hath liued many or any yeares Singular therefore is the Metaphor of the flower to florish out the nature of the great ones of the earth who in scripture are vnder these termes otherwise commended to them selues as by vapoures shaddowes blastes of winde bladders of water not onely vanitye but vanitie of vanities so quickly in the turninge of a hande nay in the twinckling of an eye commeth man to naught And as the great worlde in the closing vp and conclusion of nature shall at once euen in a moment receaue a chaunge so in an instant Adam y e litle worlde falleth and commeth to his end for too day a man too morrow none nay now a king and now a piece of clay Wherefore if the dayes of man vppon earth were as the dayes of an Duke if his height were as one of the Cedars of Lybanus so y e his excellency might mount vp to the heauens his heade reach vnto the cloudes if hée were alwaies as gréene and fresh as the Lawrell or fat as y e Olyue if all y e daies of his yeares were euery one as longe as the day of Iosuah when the sunne stoode still in the middest of Heauen yet it must bee night at last Our fathers lyued longe yet sawe the graue at length many of them continued nine hundred and odde yeres but none no not Methusaleth reached out the thousande yeare Gen. 5. The poore man laboureth for his liuinge and the riche man for his life and whose cōdition is better iudge you for both are resolued quickly into ashes and doe loose their bones euen the pillers of their bodies in the dust Nowe if the greatest parte of our life past may iustly séeme vnto man to bee but yesterday so soone it is spent and gone why shall not the least parte remaining appeare but as too morowe especially séeing it may be consumed this very day or houre For besides the shortnes of our spirites the vncertainety is woonderfull when there are a thousand waies and meanes to geue a man his ende and to cutte the corde or thred the very line of life But men are for the most part carelesse and secure in life and too too timorous fearefull in their death and so Adam is alwaies in extremes therefore after the prouerbe many had rather choose to bee lyuing dogges than to be dead Lyons I doe not speake this as if it were not lawfull to feare that which Christ himselfe hath feared And if a beaste made for the slaughter doth yet abhorre to dye howe much more shall man doe it vpon whom this euill cōdition came after he was made to liue but spirituall fortitude doth alwaies become a christian man both in his life

the similitude of the starres vsed in the same cause 1. Cor. 15. howe much more shall the naturall sonne of God excell in glorie because he is the head And if the beautie of the militant Church restored is said to be such as if the Moone should shine as the Sunne and the Sunne should excéede himself seuen times Isay 30. 26. how much more shall it be in the Church Triumphant in the heauenly Jerusalem where Christ himselfe is the light and glorie of all the saints The forme of which citie and the riches excéeding all golde or precious stone is yet by such things described as it could Reue. 21. And here the resurrection is moste euidently affirmed and assured albeit that order aske the head before the other parts and we know that Christes is first and past So surely shall they that are Christes be next at his comming and then commeth the iudgement it shalbe sodaine in a moment but in a wonderful order If any doubt hereof because it is to come as a foole he is reproued by the naturall euidence of a séede dying and quickening againe whereby the resurrection is more than shadowed out vnto our faith 1. Cor. 15. It shalbe with the same bodie and the same skin and with the same eyes and no other shall I sée my Redéemer faith the moste patient Iob. 19. 27. that is the substance of the body remaining the same the qualitie shalbe cleane altered which is no monstrous paradox as that of Poperie the accidents remaining the substance being taken away which in reason is absurd most monstrous against nature her selfe The glorious chaunge is noted 1. Cor. 15. for mortalitie immortalitie for corruption incorruptiō and glorie c. There is nothing that can more comfort vs in or against death than the resurrection from the dead by the hope whereof our bones doe liue in the graue and our flesh doth rest because he shal not leaue our soules in hell nor suffer his holy ones to see corruption Psal. 16. In the olde time this matter was plainly signified by the translation of Henoch and Elias but nowe it is more fully sealed and assured by the resurrection of Jesus Christ whose resurrection and ascension is ours in as much as he is ours appointed to be our head and we his body The second is that though the time when all this shalbe be not here nor else where particularly assigned in the Scriptures yet it is most certaine When hee shall appeare The day is dated and most certainly determined with God but otherwise vnknowen to men and Angelles nay hidden from the eyes of the Sonne of man him selfe in as much as he is man They are therefore the more bolde or blinde coniecturers who doe thrust them selues most fearefully into the secretes of God dare appoint a day which he hath kept alone vnto himself Faith thorough hope doth expect the very instant but yet knoweth not the day and therefore thorough patience doth quiet her selfe and resteth within vs no lesse vntil the time than the Coarse doeth tarrie in the graue Christ did rise the third day perhaps to day or to morowe the dead shal arise but when soeuer it shalbe it shalbe as to morowe to all that are a sléepe in the earth albeit they haue lyen in the dust fiue thousande yéeres before because there is no time to them and both the bodies of the good and bad fare all alike in the graue but yet there is a difference of their soules now and shall be of their bodies then when the voyce of God shall rayse them out of the pitte neither shall it be necessarie for the soules that are separated from the bodies to spend time in returning from heauen or hell againe when as the Scriptures do teach vs that in the twinckling of an eie and in the least and last moment not without wonderfull and fearefull miracle both the resurrection and the iudgement by the power of God shal be begun and finished The third thing is the certaintie of our saluation and as it were the anker holde in this that he saith We know we shalbe like vnto him which maketh mightely against the Papistes who do holde that for a chiefe point of their faith which we knowe to be a great infirmitie of our fleshe that is to doubt or to distrust and they call it presumption to say we knowe which yet is the doctrine of God that cannot presume The certaintie of faith is greater than of any sense because of the promise from the which faith may no more be parted than the house may be separated from his foundation and stand And the reason that causeth all the faithful to be so bold is because that that which might alter the case cannot fall in the nature of God with whome is no chaunge nor shadow of chaunge neyther in will nor power both which are as firme and constant as himselfe and therefore he that will distrust the Lorde let him beléeue nothing In this pickle they stand or rather in this puddle they sinke who wickedly trust vnto their workes and foolishly beléeue that there are thrée sortes of places for resorte of soules after death namely Heauen Hell and Purgatorie and to which of these the soule doeth passe Poperie cannot tel which is a warme comfort to a soule departing As if a man were cast into the Sea and comming to the land were returned backe againe perhaps he might sinke and perhaps he might swimme But we thanke the Lorde and his Christe we are better dealt with all than so We know we shall liue if we beléeue because he hath said it and we know that they that do not beléeue are so sure of death as that they are iudged already Iohn 3. 18. Wherfore in the meane season hope serueth to nourishe our faith and patience to possesse our soules which were but séely and simple meanes to relieue the heart if that faith were not out of al doubt in the promise of the word Last of all is the reason to confirme vs in the expectation of our glorie For we shal see him as he is which words do send vs vnto Christ as he now sitteth at the right hande of God his father and as he shall most gloriously appeare in the cloudes with all his Angelles armed with fire and power for reuenge He is now ascended from the Center of the earth vnto the very heigth of heauen We must not therefore basely thinke of Christ as apish Papistes dreame because he is full glorified in himselfe He was born in a manger he did liue poorely vpon earth hee died miserably on the crosse hee was crowned but with thornes mocked and scorned in all the anxietie of his soule and in the anguish of his death he was forced to yéelde forth strong cries in the dayes of his flesh My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee It was so because it became Christ so to suffer but

and death As I trust I may both freely and faithfully speake vnto you of this late right Honorable person to the laying vp of whose bodie in the treasury of the earth you are this day assembled who doe yet liue and florish in the worlde in great wisedome honour and dignity That hee was a stemme of a noble house which himselfe hath honored with many and principall vertues but especially with faithfull seruice alwaies to his king vnto whom both younge and olde hee was euer in great trust either in warre a valiant Captaine or in Peace a worthy Counsellor besides many honourable Embassages As in the time of king Edwarde that swéete and fragrant flower who was cut downe in his springe and died in his armes hee was sent into Fraunce since her Maiesties most excellent raigne both into Fraunce and Scotland diuers times being of the most noble order of the Garter and of her Highnes right honourable priuy Counsell foure times Lord Justice three times Lord Deputy in the Irish parts and also Lord chiefe President of the Countrey of Wales in which place he gouerned with great honor 26. yeres being visited of God in a good age of 57. yeres he deceased in Worcester What should I stand to play the Orator or the painter in this place I know it is not looked for at my handes but yet to tel the trueth it shall geue glory vnto God And séeing hée hath sowed the fruite of his wisdome in peace it shall yéelde vnto himselfe a worthy Fame and to his Seede a certaine print or marke of their fathers steps who was a treasure of the common wealth and a common good of his countrey And surely the land hath lost a mightie man and as it were a starre is fallen which sometimes shined in his place but nowe beholde he lieth in the dust and so doeth the righteous person and no man regardeth the euils that are to come Isay 57. If the wisedome of a man do make his face to shine and if without light the sonne be nothing worth surely his name deserues with vs a pillar of gold which had and held so many offices so great nay which bare them so long and weilded them so wel who truely as a candle consumed himselfe in yelding light to other men Besides his special gift of affabilitie to poore and simple men the very grace of all his greatnes It is no hard matter for a man to be humble in low estate but to be lowly in greatnes is not a common gift and if pride her selfe be often forced to dissemble humilitie because lowlinesse maketh a simple man to be highly commended how much more doeth it excell when it shall in deede appeare in persons of value renoune Wherfore if any man wil builde his house high let him lay his foundation very lowe forenuie shootes at high marks and pride goeth before a fal But the greatest praise that I cā giue or he receiue either in this world or in the world to come is of his constant perseuerance in that faith which he had long professed and of his patience and ioy in his last end Of al which being credibly certified I doubt not in Gods behalfe to pronounce him moste happy And here I intended to haue spoken in fewe wordes to his noble issue but it shal nowe suffice that I pray for him that hee which must succeed him in his family may if it be possible excéede him in his vertues or at the least imitate them that God may gyrd him with his fathers gyrdle fasten the naile of his tent in a sure place that he may be the glorie of his fathers house and a father to many inhabitants of Iuda which y e Lord promised to Eliachim his seruant whom he made steward vnto king Ezekias because he loued well the faithfull Isay 22. And because there can not be a readier way to cut the throte of the cōmon wealth than by exalting of the wicked and vnworthy the Lord blesse our Magistrates and rulers with true religion wisedome fortitude and humilitie and all wayes free our countrey from tyrantes and proud persons who as Nymrods doe but wound by oppression the poore people and neuer heale them by counsel And as this day especially requireth let vs beséech the Lorde to maintaine our peace at home and his warres abroade together with the excellent and honorable persons imployed that wayes that all the enemy Papists may knowe that there is a God of Israel which is able to giue the victorie to his own name when they are broken and confounded But I haue dwelt too long on these things I wil returne and make maruelous haste in the rest In the meane time the Question remaineth strong all the honour in the worlde notwithstanding how mortall men inuironed with a thousand euils closed vp and concluded with so many kinds of miseries may be saide to be the sonnes of God especially considering howe they are sodenly taken away by death as if they had not béene or as if they should neuer be againe The Apostle answereth effectually It appeareth not what we shal be For we might as well except against Christe with the Jewes waying his birth in a maunger his life loaden with miseries of all sortes his death most accursed that he was not y e sonne of God but in his resurrection hée begun to appeare and more clearely hee shewed himselfe in his ascension but in his second comming it shalbe most manifest vnto all the world And when he which is our glorie shal appeare thē we shal also appeare with him in glorie A thing that is hid cannot be seene our life is hid with Christ in God and therfore he saith it doth not appeare c. Foure thinges I must needes obserue vnto you by the occasion of the words following the first is how that all the excellencie of the sonnes of God lieth in these words We shalbe like vnto him which in truth excéedeth all declaration and therefore after certaine similitudes of a crown and kingdome wherby the Scriptures do speake vnto our capacitie they conclude the glorie to be such as no eye hath seene no eare hath heard and no heart can conceaue 1. Cor. 2. 9. For we must not thinke that onely vulgar and common persons but the kings and princes of the earth shal feele in themselues an admirable brightnesse when they shall taste of this glorie in such sort that they shal confesse that they were nothing before For if Salomon the most glorious king that euer was yet in all his Royaltie was not like a lillie of the fielde what shal we iudge of them that shall be like vnto the Sonne of God And when he saith like he maketh vs not equall and fellowelike for in all things Christ the head of Angelles must haue the preheminence because he is the Sonne and if the Saintes shal differ from themselues in glorie which séemeth by