Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A65767
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The reward of Christian patience as it was discover'd in a sermon preached at the funeral of Mr. Tho. Badland, a nonconforming minister at Kedderminster / by R. White ...
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White, Richard, b. 1636.
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1693
(1693)
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Wing W1803; ESTC R38599
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12,178
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32
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matter that 1. As there is scarce any Person so there is scarce any thing but may be made use of as an Instrument by Satan to draw men into sin All things that are grateful to our Appetite he can make use of as Bates to allure men to Sin in order to the obtaining of them All things that are adverse and grievous to us he can make use of as means to fright us from Obedience to Gods Will and Commandments yea sometimes he makes use of the very Gifts and Graces with which men may be Endowed to become a Snare and an occasion of Pride and Security unto them and so as Lime Twigs whereby to draw and allure them to sin But yet 2. Persecutions and Afflictions and such things as are grievous to our Tender Natures are those things which the Apostle here especially means by Temptations as being especially those things whereby men are wont to be tried whether or no they will persist in a course of Obedience to the will of God to the end and whereby Satan particularly designs to draw men into Sin that Afflictions and Persecutions are here especially to be understood by Temptations is evident because of the Expression of enduring them which as you will hear more by and by denotes something of Patience and Christian Fortitude which are the Graces and Vertues that are conversant about and wont to be exercised by Afflictions and Persecutions and this may serve for the explaining of the first Particular propounded which was what is here to be understood by Temptations 2. I proceed now to shew what it is for a Man to endure Temptations in Answer to which you may take these following Particulars 1. This enduring of Temptations doth signifie a Willingness and Readiness to suffer Afflictions and Persecutions yea an Actual Suffering of them and that even to the Death rather then for the avoiding of them to be guilty of the Commission of any known Sin 'T is true Afflictions and Persecutions are not things Eligible and Desirable in Themselves 'T is Lawful yea our Duty to endeavour to avoid them and get rid of them by all honest and lawful ways and methods 't is plain from hence because they are Temptations and as we are to Pray unto God not to lead us into Temptation so we are by all honest and lawful means to endeavour to avoid and get rid of Persecutions and Afflictions as being those things which are great Trials of our Constancy may if we have not the greater Care be occasions of Sin unto us Affliction and Persecution are never to be chosen and embraced but when they stand in competition with Sin and then indeed they are to be chosen when it comes to this Point that we must either choose Sin or Suffering the Case is plain Suffering is to be chosen rather than Sin according to that Rule E malis minimum of two Evils the least is to be chosen Now that Suffering even the greatest Suffering is a less Evil than Sin even the least Sin is plain hence that Sin is the procuring and deserving cause of all Suffering if there had been no sin there would have been no Suffering All the Calamities Woes and Miseries that any where appear in the World yea and Death it self came in at the back-door of Sin By one man sin entred into the World and Death by sin and so Death past over all men for that all have sinned as the Apostle saith Rom 5.12 so that it must needs be that since Sin is a greater Evil then Suffering when these come in Competition together so that we must either choose Sin on the one hand or Suffering on the other in this Case Suffering is to be chosen and submitted to and thus to choose and submit to Suffering for the avoidance of Sin is one great Instance wherein doth consist this enduring of Temptation here mentioned But 2. It denotes further something of the manner of our submitting to and enduring Afflictions and Persecutions that Patience and quiet Submission to the Divine Will ought to be exercised therein It becomes not Christians when at any time they are under Afflictions in any kind to be Tumultuous and Unquiet both to themselves and others about them like a Wild-bull in a Net but to remember that a State of Affliction is a special Season wherein we are called upon to Exercise the Grace of Patience and to fortify our selves therein from all those Considerations that are apt to Conduce thereunto as particularly 1. From a believing Consideration of this that Afflictions arise not out of the Dust but are directed to men by a special Providence he that believes a Providence in general can't doubt of this Is there any evil in the City saith God and the Lord hath not done it 2. From a believing consideration of this further that God doth not delight in Mens Afflictions meerly for themselves that he doth not Afflict willingly nor grieve the Sons of Men He takes no more delight in Afflicting Men especially his own People then the Father in Correcting his Child or the Surgeon in Cutting and Lancing his Patient that he intends all Afflictions to be Medicines whereby to Purge away our Sins and to bring us to Repentance and Humiliation for them and that 't is in very Faithfulness and Love that he Afflicteth his People and that there is some need of it one way or other whenever he lays his Rod upon them according to those words of the Apostle if need be Ye are in heaviness through manifold Temptations 1 Pet. 1.6 3. From a believing Consideration of this further that God will continue the Affliction no longer then there is need of it but that in due time he will quite remove the Rod from us or us from it and that He knows how to cause all things to work together for good to them that love God to them that are called according to his purpose These Truths and such as these are things which being really believed and duely considered are apt to quiet and compose the Spirits of Men under Afflictions and to make them of a patient submissive frame of Spirit these are the things which must enable the Soul in a State of Affliction to say heartily with Job Shall we receive good at the hands of God and shall we not receive evil and to bless God and persevere in the praising of him even when we are under a State of Affliction as well as when we are compast about with Prosperity saying again with Job The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the Name of the Lord. This patient and quiet Submission to the afflicting hand of God as it doth arise from the Exercise of Faith is likewise included in this enduring Affliction here spoken of so that by this time you may conclude who it is that is the Man that endureth Temptation he is one that chooseth Suffering rather then known Sin when he 's under
more than 't is possible for Death to become Life Hence 't is suitably called an Inheritance Incorruptible Vndefiled that Fadeth not away 1. Pet. 1.4 Those that shall possess this Crown are Immortal in their Souls and shall be made Immortal in their Bodies that God whose enjoyment makes Heaven is the God who is yesterday and to day and the same for ever who only hath Immortality and there shall be an everlasting Union between God who is to be enjoyed and the Souls that are once admitted to the enjoyment of him in Heaven from whence it must needs follow that the Happiness to be enjoyed by the Saints in Heaven is indeed a Crown of Life an Everlasting Crown an Inheritance that never fadeth away But 2. We have in these Words further the reason the Apostle gives why so it is That they that endure Temptation shall enjoy the Crown of Life and that consists in the last words 't is no other then what God hath promised to them that Love Him If they that Love God above all and take him for their Portion and Everlasting Resting Place shall enjoy this Crown of Life if God who is true to his Word and faithful to his Promise hath promised this Crown to all such then certainly it will follow that they who endure Temptation shall enjoy this Crown for they that endure Temptation that is that choose Suffering and Persecution yea Death it self rather then wilful Sin and that do eye God by Faith and Patience and quietly submit to the Divine Will in all their Sufferings these must needs be Persons who do truly Love God above all and have chosen him for their everlasting Portion and Blessedness and therefore they must needs be the Persons that shall enjoy the Crown of Life But 3. And lastly We have further in these Words the limitation of Time when such Persons shall come to the enjoyment of this Crown of Life after they are tried for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of Life After that his Faithfulness hath been tried and approved by Afflictions and Persecutions and Temptations after it hath been made appear that his Trials and Temptations could not prevail with him to forsake God and Apostatize from him then he shall receive the Crown of Life This is the usual way and method of God even that way which he appointed for his own Son to make the Cross to be the way to the Crown to try his Servants first by Afflictions and Sufferings and then to receive them to Glory and give them the Crown of Life but when this is done when he hath sufficiently tried and exercised his Servants and he alone knows when this is sufficiently done then they shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him which is the last Consideration whence it doth appear that such Persons as do thus endure Afflictions and Temptations are happy and blessed Persons Now lastly For the Use and Improvement of what hath been spoken 1. It teacheth us how to behave our selves with relation to Afflictions and Persecutions which we may meet with in the course of our Lives on the one hand we should not court them or run our selves wilfully into them that 's unwarrantable because at best they are Trials and Temptations apt to shake our Constancy and to hurry us into some measure of Sin against God On the other hand we should not be over much prejudic'd against them but rather choose Afflictions and Persecutions then a course of known and wilful Sin and when we are under Afflictions behave ourselves with that Patience and quiet Submission to the Will of God which becomes Persons that live by Faith and not by Sense meerly the reason of all this is plain because that Afflictions when thus chosen and endured do but prepare and fit the Soul for eternal Happiness and Blessedness he is the blessed Man that thus endureth Temptation for when he hath been tried he shall receive the Crown of Life We may hence comfort our selves with relation to the death and departure of such Friends who having it may be been exercised with great Afflictions and Temptations yet have endured them have submitted with any good measure of Patience to the Will of God in them and this from a Principle of Repentance and Faith in the Mercy of God thro' Christ concerning such we have much reason to comfort our selves with hopes that by their death they are entred into a State of Blessedness that God having sufficiently tried them and purified them in the Furnace of Affliction hath suitably by Death received them to that Place and State wherein they enjoy the Crown of Life which the Lord hath promised to them that Love Him More particularly there seems to be in the Words a clear representation of the Case of our deceased Friend as will appear more fully in these following particulars 1. He was one that hath for many Years been Tutored by God in the School of Affliction it hath been his Portion to be exercised with many Trials and Temptations besides several Afflictions that are more ordinary he hath for several Years been exercised and of late more frequently than in former times by those two severe Diseases the Stone and the Gout of which we may say that whereas Diseases are wont to be distinguisht ordinarily into such as are Acute such as are Sharp in the pains that attend them but not of any long continuance and such as are Cronical of long continuance but not attended with such Sharp pains yet these Diseases may be esteemed to be both Acute and Cronical too Sharp in their pains and long in their duration and continuance His last Fit of the Stone that which brought on that weakness which ended in Death was such as had both the forementioned Circumstances in it being long even extended to the length of about Eleven days together and very Acute too being full of Sharp Pains and Dolours and at least as some have thought his other Disease the Gout did at last take its turn as it was usual formerly and as 't is supposed by peircing into his Bowels put an end to all his Pains and Dolours by putting an end to his Life But 2. Let us consider for our own Edification as well as for his Honour his Behaviour under all those Afflictions which he laboured under 1. As for his Behaviour under those great pains which he was frequently visited with besides the known and exemplary Holiness and regularity of his Life for many Years in this place of which all of you are sufficient Witnesses and his constant attendance upon his Ministry when at any time free from those forementioned Distempers yea and sometimes even when under the sense and feeling of those pains in some lesser degree That which I would especially recommend to your consideration and imitation is his signal Patience under all his great dolours and his biting them in as it were