Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	end_n	eternal_a	life_n	7,106	5	4.7492	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47338	A sermon preached at the funeral of Mr. William Allen, August 17, 1686 by Richard Kidder ...	Kidder, Richard, 1633-1703.	1686 (1686)	Wing K413; ESTC R2195	15,443	42

Character given to Pomponius Atticus belongs to him Nullas inimicitias gessit C. Nepos P. Attic. quod neque laedebat quenquam neque siquam injuriam acceperat non malebat ulcisci quam oblivisci He had no quarrels for he did no injury and if any were done to him he rather chose to forget than to revenge There are few men perhaps have passed through the World with less offence to it than this good man hath done His ways pleased God and He so provided that his Enemies if he had any such should be at peace with him But he did not only do no harm but did much good in the World He was not only just to all but merciful to the afflicted to the poor and needy He had a great sense of the miseries of others He was a most compassionate Christian He did not love in word nor in tongue but in deed and in truth The love of God dwelt in him and by this he was constrained and could not shut up his Bowels of Compassion from his Brother He needed no Motives or Arguments 't was enough to name the Objects He stood ready always and prepared and neither wanted Ability or Inclination to help the afflicted Indeed this humble Soul avoided the notice and the praise of men He that in other things was open and free studied concealment here He gave geverally with his own hands and wisely disposed of his Charity to those whom he thought the fittest Objects But yet for all his Care and his Art he could not altogether be concealed I have great reason to believe from what I have the certain knowledge of that he gave great summs and large proportions and that both the prisoners and other distressed persons have lost one of their greatest Friends and for his proportion one of their most generous Benefactors But since it was the pleasure of our dear Brother to bestow in secret out of respect and deference to his memory and his inclination I will not search after the particular instances of his Bounty Certain it is that shewing mercy is a great imitation of God Speaking the truth and doing good offices are the two things which render us like him The Heathen justly shews his indignation against the impudence of those who mention the quarrels and feuds and thefts and villanies of their Gods and adds Plin. Nat. Hist l. 2. c. 7. Deus est mortali juvare mortalem haec ad aeternam gloriam via To help another is to be like God and is the way to immortality 'T is the best of our properties Titulis fascibus olim major habebatur donandi gloria In a word our Dear Brother was a great example to us of modesty and humility of obedience to Superiours of diligence in improving all the portions of his time of fidelity and integrity of kindness and great calmness and prudence if we consider him as an Husband a Father a Neighbour or a Friend His latter end was like his former life 't was even and undisturbed He then shewed his Faith in God and resignation to his will his concern for the Church and his well-grounded hope of eternal life A little before his Death he called for his Family and as became a dying Christian and one that was sensible of his departure hence he exhorted them especially to two things First That they should preserve in their minds a lively sense and make a thankful acknowledgment of the love of Christ who for our sake was content to become a man and to submit to Death even the Death of the Cross He required them to consider that this was for our sakes purely and that Jesus could be induced by no interest to do this but that which was peculiarly and solely ours Secondly That they would be steady and constant in a course of Piety and true Religion well knowing the hazzards and temptations of this mortal life and that we lose our labour if we do not persevere unto the end Having said these things he prayed that God would send them an happy meeting in another and better World Having set his house in order and disposed himself for another World he gave up his Spirit into the hands of his God his merciful Creator which I make no doubt is added to the Spirits of Just Men made perfect Thus did our dear Friend live in the World and thus did he leave it He lived above it and was prepared to leave it He was one of the greatest Patterns of the Christian Life that this age hath produced and did by his life prove the truth and practicableness of the Christian Doctrine and express the lustre and goodliness of Christianity at the same time In him we might see the lovelyness of Religion and how well fitted it is to mend our own tempers and to render us useful to the World In him we might behold great knowledge and the profoundest humility An ability to teach others and the greatest docibility or readiness to learn The courage and resolution of a Confessor and at the same time the humility of a little Child A great Charity without vaunting a great Zeal without faction and a diligent pursuit of truth without dogmatizing or study of Parties In his converse with others he was grave but not morose very gentle and friendly highly civil and obliging His discourse was serious and heavenly not frothy and trifling He spake well of mankind and was very prone to hope the best of all He was not full of discourse but it was always like the good man modest and inoffensive and such as ministred to edifie or instruct He had a great sense of any evil that the Church of God felt and perhaps few men that lived were more concerned than he for the sufferings of his fellow Christians But still he was far from murmuring or diffidence but had a stedfast Faith in God's Providence and did greatly incourage others to hope in God He well considered the usefulness of afflictions and endeavoured to good purpose to awaken men to pray fervently for the Church of Christ and to depend upon God for the fulfilling all those excellent promises which have not as yet received their accomplishment He was for a very considerable part of his life a Man of Trade and worldly Business God blessed his endeavours and the good man plyed his calling but his great care was to labour for the Bread that endureth He was more careful to keep the World out of his heart than to get it into his possession He was not only just and charitable when he traffick'd and dealt in worldly things but heavenly also He did not relinquish the World and then pretend to despise it He overcame the World more generously He kept in it and was abstracted from it He used it but was as if he used it not He was Religious in his Shop Heavenly-minded upon the Exchange innocent and undefiled in the press and crowd of crafty and designing and depraved men For some time before his Death he left off Trading and gave himself to Reading and Devotion to fervent Prayers and Meditations of Heaven and heavenly things to Works of Piety and Charity and the close consideration of his state toward God He wisely considered that it was fit there should be a considerable space of time allowed between the hurries of life and the great work of dying well He knew when he had enough of the World and had learnt the true use of Riches And now he dispensed to others what he had gained in his younger time And he took care to season what he left behind him by Alms and acts of mercy and relief In a word He was a very eminent Example of Christian Vertues greatly esteem'd by all good and wise men who knew him and mean only in his own Eyes And what cause have we who survive to bless God for such an eminent example of Piety and Charity of meekness and humbleness of mind and those other Virtues which rendered him conspicuous I think upon the whole matter I may apply to him what Cicero said upon the Death of Crassus De Orat. l. 3. Non tam ereptam ei vitam à Diis immortalibus sed donatam mortem That God cannot so properly be said to have taken away his life as to have bestowed death upon him as a Boon and great Blessing God of his infinite mercy grant that we may follow the example of our Dear Brother and that we may not be slothful but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promise Heb. 6.12 THE END