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	time_n	year_n	9,015	5	4.8371	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A48839	A sermon preached at the funeral of the Right Reverend Father in God John late Lord Bishop of Chester, at the Guildhal Chappel London, on Thursday the 12 of December, 1672 by William Lloyd ...	Lloyd, William, 1627-1717.	1672 (1672)	Wing L2703; ESTC R20363	15,451	37

Adversaries and as vehemently denied by the Christians of those times By those of Smyrna in the undoubted acts of Polycarpus We cannot say they worship any other than Christ We love the Martyrs as being followers of Christ We celebrate the days of their passions with Ioy We do it both in remembrance of those Champions of God and to train up and prepare others for the like conflicts Besides this which was peculiar to the Martyrs they had a lower degree of remembrance for Bishops and Confessors and all other eminent persons departed this life whom they not only praised in Orations at their Funerals but writ their names in their Diptychs or two-leaved Records which contained in one page all the names of the Living in the other the Dead that were of note in the Church All these were recited in the Communion Service Where as the Living for themselves so far the Dead came their Friends and gave Oblations and Alms Which before they were distributed among the poor were first offered up to God in a prayer like that which we use for the Church Militant here on Earth These Doles were their only Sacrifices for the dead Only Alms to the poor with which sacrifices God is well pleased And their prayers were not for any deliverance from pains unless the Patriarchs and Prophets and the Apostles and Virgin Mother of Christ were in the same pains too and needed the same Deliverance For they were all mentioned alike and together as it is to be seen in the ancientest Liturgies Among all these Innocent Offices and Rites of the Primitive Christians was there any thing of prayer for souls in Purgatory Was there any thing of prayer to Saints departed this life Was there any foundation for those superstitious Observances Of adoring their Relics of Prostration to their Images of Pilgrimage to their Shrines of making Vows of saying Masses of offering to them and the like The Papists say there was they plead the practice of the Church for it they wrest places of Scripture to their Purpose Nay the Rhemists and others alledge this very Text without which I should not have mention'd them at this time But as the Learnedst men among themselves have been so just not to charge this upon my Text and some of them confess they have no ground for these things in any one Text of Canonical Scripture So they would do us but right to acknowledge that none of these things was practis'd for some hundreds of years after Christianity came into the world In those Primitive times all their Offices for the Dead were either to give Testimony of that Faith in which they died and that death had not dissolv'd their Communion with the Living or they were to bless God for their holy Life and happy Death or to Pray to him not for their deliverance from Purgatory of which there was no Faith in those times but for the Increase of that Good which they believ'd them to be possest of already or for the Atteinment of that farther good which they thought they were sure of namely for their speedy and happy Resurrection for their perfect discharge at the day of Judgement for the Consummation of their bliss with their own in the Kingdom of Glory Not to say how the Fathers differ among themselves in these particulars or how many of these particulars are omitted in the Roman Church as well as ours it is enough that here is nothing makes for them but much against those their Errors and Corruptions All that is agreed on all hands or that we find in the Practise of the first Ages being sufficiently contein'd in those Offices of our Church in the prayer for the Church Militant in the Collect on All-Saints day and in the Office for the burial of the Dead where we pray That it would please God of his gracious goodness shortly to accomplish the number of his Elect and to hasten his Kingdom that we with all those that are departed in the true faith of his holy Name may have our perfect consummation and bliss both in body and soul in his everlasting glory Lastly Remembrance in Action is the other duty enjoyn'd in my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Imitate their Faith that is their Christian profession and practise their whole Life and Conversation according to their own belief of that word which they have spoken The Reason of this duty is plain for it is our business in this world to recover the image of God in which he created us to be like him here in Righteousness and Holiness that we may be like him hereafter in Glory and Happiness To this End God has given us those Lineaments of himself which are written sufficiently in our Nature but more fully and distinctly in Scripture In which Scripture he so oft and so vehemently requires us Be ye Holy as I am Holy be ye Iust as I am Iust be ye Merciful as I am Merciful be ye Pure as I am Pure be ye Perfect as your heavenly Father is Perfect This good word of God which was given by the Prophets and Apostles is still inculcated on us by them that speak to us the word of God Which Office being primarily of Bishops as appears in my Text They are first and above all others to conform themselves to it to shew others how possible and how practicable it is Our Apostle suppos'd this in those Primitive Bishops in my Text. God requires it of all that succeed them in the Church So of Timothy though he were young in Age yet being in that Place Be thou an Example to believers in word in Conversation in Spirit in faith in truth 1 Tim. 4 12. and in the last Verse Take heed to thy Self and to thy Doctrine Do this constantly and Continually and so thou shalt save both thy self and them that hear thee Whether they do this or no they are our Teachers and Rulers therefore in the 17 Verse of this Chapter while they live we must obey their word and submit to their Government When they are dead both for what they are and were we may do well to say no ill of them and since we can say no good e'en Forget them and leave them to God But if they are such as they ought which the Apostle supposes in my Text if they live as men that believe themselves what they say 'T is our duty not only to submit and obey them while they live but also to Remember them when they are dead Remember them in our thoughts with that honour they deserve In our Affections with a due sense of our loss and their gain Remember them in words with the just praise of their actions and lives In our prayers to God with due thankfulness for their graces and gifts in this life and for the glory they receive after death Lastly remember to follow them in that holy way which leads to so happy an end In our Apostles words follow their Faith considering

in his conversation His discourse was commonly of Useful things it never caused trouble or weariness to the Hearer Yet he would venture to displease one for his good and indeed he was the man that ever I knew for that most needful and least practised point of Friendship He would not spare to give seasonable reproof and wholesome advice when he saw occasion I never knew any that would do it so freely and that knew how to manage that freedom of speech so inoffensively It was his way of Friendship not so much to Oblige men as to do them good He did this not slightly and superficially but like one that made it his Business He durst do for his friend any thing that was Honest and no more He would undertake nothing but what well became him and then he was unwearied till he had effected it As he concerned himself for his friend in all other respects so especially in that which went nearest to him of all earthly concernments He would not suffer any blot to be thrown or to ly upon his friends good name or his Memory And that Office I am obliged to Requite in giving some account of that which has been spoken by some to his disadvantage I shall neglect for he did so any frivolous reports but that which seems to have any weight in it as far as I have observed is that he had not that zeal for the Church that they would seem to have that object this He seemed to look upon the Dissenters with too much favour to their persons and ways As to the persons No doubt that goodness of Nature that true Christian principle which made him willing to think well of all men and to do good or at least no hurt to any might and ought to extend it self to them among others But besides he was inclined to it by his education under his Grandfather Mr. Dod a truly pious learned man who yet was a Dissenter himself in some things Not that he had any delight in contradiction or could find in his heart to disturb the peace of the Church for those matters He was so far from it that as I have frequently heard from this his Grandchild and others when some thought their dissents ground enough for a War he declared himself against it and confirmed others in their Allegiance he profest to the last a just hatred of that Horrid Rebellion Now his Relation to this man and conversation with those of his Principles might incline him to hope the like of others of that way And when he found them farther off from the unity of the Church he might possibly overdo through the vehemence of his desire to bring them off of their Prejudices and to reduce them to the Unity of the Church in which his Grandfather lived and dyed Why might he not hope the same of other Dissenters As for himself he was so far from Approving their ways that in the worst of times when one here present bewailed to him the Calamities of the Church and declared his Obedience even then to the Laws of it He incouraged him in it he desired his friendship and protected both him and many others by an interest that he had gained and made use of chiefly for such purposes How he demeaned himself then is known in both Universities where he governed with praise and left a very grateful Remembrance behind him How in the next times since I cannot speak in a better Place And when I have named this City and the two Universities I think he could not be placed in a better light in this Nation There were enough that could judge and he did not use to disguise himself I appeal to you that conversed with him in those days What zeal he hath exprest for the Faith and for the unity of the Church How he stood up in defence of the Order and Government How he hath asserted the Liturgy and the Rites of it He conformed himself to every thing that was commanded Beyond which for any man to be vehement in little and unnecessary things whether for or against them he could not but dislike and as his free manner was he hath oft been heard to call it Fanaticalness How this might be misrepresented I know not or how his design of comprehension might be understood Sure I am that since he came into the Government of the Church to which he was called in his Absence He so well became the Order that it out-did the expectation of all that did not very well know him He filled his place with a Goodness answerable to the rest of his life and with a Prudence above it considering the two extreams which were no where so much as in his Diocess Though he was as before very tender to those that differed from him yet he was as before exactly conformable himself and brought others to Conformity some Eminent men in his Diocese He endeavoured to bring in all that came within his reach and might have had great success if God had pleased to continue him But having given full proof of his Intentions and desires it pleased God to reserve the fruit for other hands from which we have great cause to expect much good to the Church He was in perfect Health in all other respects when a known Infirmity from an unknown cause that had been easier to cure than it was to discover stole upon him and soon became Incurable He was for many days in a prospect of Death which he saw as it approached and felt it come on by degrees Some days before he died he found within himself as he often said a Sentence of Death In all this time first of Pain then of dreadful Apprehension At last in the presence of Death Who ever saw him dismaid Who ever found him surprized or head a word from him unbecoming a wise man and a true Christian It was my Infelilicity to be so engaged that I could not duly attend him and so deceived with vain hopes that I believed him not dying till he was dead But at the times I was with him I saw great cause to admire his Faith towards God his zeal for his Church his Constancy of mind his Contempt of the World and his Chearful hopes of Eternity I have heard much more upon these heads from those that were with him Some of you may have heard other things from other men It hath been the way of our Adversaries to entitle themselves to dying men even those whose whole life was a Testimony against them Thus after the Death of our Famous Jewel the Papists were pleased to say he dyed of their Religion Militiere hath ventured to Insinuate the same of our late King of blessed glorious memory Mens tongues and pens are their own But lest they should abuse them and you and the Memory of this worthy Prelate as they have abus'd others Though nothing needs to be said to such Groundless Calumnies I declare and that upon most certain grounds That he died in the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Communion of the Church of England as it is by Law established He died only too soon for the Church and for his Friends But for Himself he had lived long enough He has liv'd long enough that dies well For whatsoever he wants of that which we call time it is added though it adds nothing to Eternity As for us that are now to try how we can bear the want of those many blessings we enjoyed in him What shall we say We must submit to the Will of God Our Comfort is that we shall follow and come together again in due Time Till when Farewel pious and virtuous Soul Farewel great and excellent man Farewel worthy Prelate and faithful Friend We have thy Memory and Example Thou hast our Praises and our Tears While thy Memory lives in our Breasts may thy Example be fruitful in our Lives That our Meeting again may be in Joy unspeakable when God shall have wiped away all Tears from our eyes FINIS