Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	eternal_a	life_n	soul_n	14,602	5	5.1897	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20540	Three godlie and fruitful sermons; the two first preached by Maister Iohn Dod: the last by Maister Robert Cleauer. Whereunto are annexed, fiue propositions, or points of doctrine, comprehended in three other sermons, by the same author	Dod, John, 1549?-1645.; Cleaver, Robert, 1561 or 2-ca. 1625. aut	1610 (1610)	STC 6950; ESTC S117481	100,240	192

vpon the tree but that they themselues brought him thither and were the procurers of that his bitter passion Christ Ioh. 10. 11. layd downe his life but for whom euen for his sheepe He was cursed that they might be blessed he was wounded that they might be healed he Isa 53. suffered disgrace that they might be brought to glory and endured in a sort the torments of hell that they might partake of the ioyes of heauen the sound meditation thereof cannot but wound the hearts of such as haue any sparke of grace in them When it was told Dauid that Abner was slaine by Ioab though he had formerly bene a rebell and was now newly reconciled vnto him yet he mourned for him till the euening because hee was a worthy man albeit he himselfe was altogether guiltlesse of his death Oh then how much more should the Saints of God lament ouer Christ Iesus who was not a worthy man but infinitely more worthy then all both men and Angels and not murdered by the treachery of another but killed by the sinnes of their soules the sins of their lips and the sinnes of their hands and if he had not bene so killed they had bene euerlastingly damned Put case that a man had one onely sonne which was to be the heire of the family and he of a sudden should find him starke dead would it not inwardly touch him and strike cold vnto his heart especially if he himselfe had vnwittingly bene the cause thereof yes certainly it would go through his heart euen like a sword and such will bee the griefe of those who through their transgressions haue slaine their blessed Sauiour as this very text witnesseth when they by the eye of faith do see him heauy vnto the death crying vnto his Father in the bitternesse of his griefe being full of torment in his body and fuller of anguish in his soule that for their sakes euen for their sins they cannot but bee excedingly moued hereat And a little to presse the other comparison vsed in this text if the people of God did so bewaile the death of their worthy king Iosiah who yet died vnwillingly not without any intent to benefite them thereby how much more bitterly should we lament the death of our blessed redeemer who was a farre greater and excellenter king then Iosiah was and yet willingly and freely laid downe his life for our sakes that hee might free vs from eternall death and destruction both of our bodies and soules Questionlesse if we haue any spirituall life and sense in vs this will make vs loath our sinnes that brought our deare Sauiour so much woe and misery and cause vs heartily to mourne for the same euen as a man would doe at the sight of a knife or sword or some such like instrument whereby at vnawares he hath slaine his child or wife or any that was neare and deare vnto him Especially if we consider that God out of his meere loue gaue his onely Sonne vnto vs when Ioh. 3. 14. we deserued nothing at his hands but his heauy curse and vengeance to be executed vpon vs and that the Sonne of God was content from the aboundance of his loue to be so abased and vilified so afflicted and tormented for our offences this must needs worke vpon our soules if we haue but the least drop of goodnesse in vs. Obiect But here some man may obiect and say Indeed if all this had bene done for me alone you say wel if my heart were not altogether flinty and vtterly hardened I could not but relent at the consideration hereof but al Gods elect were the cause hereof as well as I. Ans This doth nothing diminish the loue of God and of Christ toward you and therefore it should no whit lessen your good affection towards him for your Sauiour suffered as much for your iniquities as if he had suffered for no mans else for your sinnes alone required an infinite satisfaction Obiect Againe it may be asked how the consideration of Christ his death can make vs mourne sith it is the happiest thing that euer fell out since the foundations of the world were laid and therefore may seeme to bring with it greater matter of ioy then of sorrow Ans The answere hereunto is easie because ioy and sorrow may very well stand together as may plainly appeare in this similitude If any of vs had committed some notable offence and were therevpon apprehended and condemned and now going to the place of execution there to endure whatsoeuer torture the wit or malice of men could inflict vpon vs and at this instant some deare friend of ours in singular compassion toward vs should intreate that the execution might be stayed that we might be set at liberty and he come in our steed to suffer whatsoeuer our ill deeds haue deserued we could not but be glad that we speede so well in being freed from so much miserie and yet withall if we had but naturall kindnesse and common humanity in vs it could not but grieue our soules that so good a friend of ours should be put to such exquisite torments for our sakes Or if a suerty should be content to sell his lands and goods for the discharge of our debts we had iust cause to reioyce thereat and yet reason requires that we should be touched with inward griefe for that we had bene such bankroutes and prouided so ill for the estate of our suerty Euen so the case standeth betwixt Christ and vs he did vndergo those punishments which were to be inflicted vpon vs and discharged those debts which otherwise should haue bene charged vpon vs in regard of our freedome we ought to take comfort and in regard of that which our Sauiour did and suffered for vs wee must bee humbled and grieued Vse 1 Which serueth for the great terrour of sundry gracelesse persons who being rebuked for their sinnes will confesse that indeede they haue their faultes and infirmities but did not the Sonne of God die say they to redeeme vs from the same He did so indeed if you belong vnto him and will you crucifie him againe by your wretched and sinfull behauiour Did Christ weepe and cry and sweate droppes of bloud for sinne and will you make no better vse thereof then to turne the grace of God into wantonnesse and to take your swinge in sinning because Christ hath made himselfe an offering for the same You proclaime vnto all the world that you are not ledde by the Spirit of grace and that you haue not a liuely faith in the merites of the Sonne of God for if you were a true beleeuer you would be so farre from continuing in sinne because Christ hath redeemed you by his bloud that you would therefore abhorre it and eschue it because it cost him so deere Euen as one that hath any sparkle of ciuilitie in him if his friend haue endured great tortures to free him from the imputation of

bee readie to supplie our necessities whatsoeuer they be and to grant vs aboue that that we can aske or thinke And as for our owne priuate cases so for the publike state of the Church and Common-wealth if wee would haue the pestilence or famine or any other iudgement remoued the way to procure this is to repaire thither where wee shall meete with many of the faithfull that will be ready to ioyne with vs in praier and to wrestle with the Lord by feruent and earnest supplications for the remouing of his deserued strokes And this should much incourage vs and adde life vnto our prayers as often as wee haue occasion to aske any thing in publike that God will vouchsafe vnto vs his gratious presence and shew by good effect that hee is in the generation of the righteous Vers 6. Ye haue made a mock of the counsell of the poore In that the holy Prophet doth lay this vnto wicked mens charge as a hainous crime and as the cause of his strokes that were to bee inflicted vpon them this Doctrine offereth it selfe for our learning that Doct. 3 Iesting and scoffing at Gods children is a grieuous kinde of persecution and such as the Lord Mockers are grieuous persecutors Heb. 11. takes speciall notice of In which regard the Apostle Heb. 11. 36. speaking of the wonderfull great trials which sundrie of the Saints did by faith vndergoe reckoneth vp this as none of the least of them that they had been tried by mockings In like sort when the holy Ghost yeeldeth a reason of the vtter ouerthrow of the kingdome of Iudah and of their long and wofull captiuitie he setteth downe this to be one of the principall causes thereof viz. That they mocked 2. Chro. 36. 26. the messengers of God and despised his words and misused his Prophets vntill the wrath of the Lord arose against his people and till there was no remedie This kinde of persecution Ismael vsed against Gal. 4. 29. Isaac as the Apostle witnesseth for which hee Gen. 21. 9. was cast out of the Church of God And this was one of the meritorious sufferings of our Lord Iesus Christ that they spit vpon him and nodded Mat. 26. 27. Psal 22. their heads at him and vsed taunting and disgracefull speeches vnto him and put as it were a fooles coate vpon him to disguise him and called him in mockage the King of the Iewes c. This I say was not the least part of his bitter passion through which hee purchased eternall saluation for all his elect namely that hee endured much contempt and reproch both in the course of his life and at the time of his death Now the reason why Satan maketh choice of this weapon aboue others therewith to fight against Gods seruants is Reasons First because mans nature is subiect greatly to abhorre contempt and therefore cannot easily endure to bee vilified and disgraced by scoffing and reprochfull speeches and gestures Secondly the diuell knoweth that he can get many souldiers to be imployed this way Euery Note limme of his cannot imprison nor spoile Christians of their goods or of their liues but there are few or none but they can frame scoffes and iests against the members of Christ Iesus Euery boy can quickly grow skilfull at this as we see in Ismael and in the two and fortie children that 2. King 2. were torne in pieces of two beares for their mocking of the Prophet Elisha the very scumme of the people the vagabonds and rogues that run vp and downe the countrie can doe their master the diuell good seruice this way those that were the children of fooles and the children of villaines Iob 30. 8. 9. as Iob speaketh who were more vile then the earth it selfe could make Iob their song and their talke and in like sort did the drunkards and Psal 69. 12. Psal 35. pot-companions deale with Dauid and the thiefe vpon the crosse with our Sauiour euen at that time Matth. 27. 44. when the fierce wrath of God was manifested vpon his bodie hanging on the crosse for that he had been a notorious and hainous malefactor Vse 1 First this doctrine must teach vs to beware of deriding and taunting at good men for taking of good waies lest by so doing we become persecuters and bee proceeded against as enemies vnto God and his people It is not so safe for vs as many take it to be to exercise our selues in such kind of scoffing he is commonly held to be a sillie fellow that cannot gird at a Minister and at such as vsually resort vnto Sermons But let vs take heed of such nipping and biting speeches as tend to the defaming of any of Gods seruants or seruices lest we be cast out from hauing any communion and fellowship with God as scoffing Ismael was and be exposed to such plagues and punishments as the wicked Iewes were who mocked the messengers of God and reuiled our blessed Sauiour in such an opprobrious and disgracefull manner as the Scriptures doe record Vse 2 Secondly for as much as contemptuous and reprochfull scoffes and girds are such weapons as Satan putteth into the hands of his instruments let vs prepare for them and arme our selues against them Christs Disciples must not looke to be aboue their master if wicked sinners reuiled and derided him we must not imagine to escape their virulent and venemous tongues and therefore the Apostle exhorteth vs that seeing he hath Heb. 13. 12. 13. borne our reproch wee should beare his and for the ioy that is laid before vs endure the crosse Heb. 12. 2. and despise the shame and so at length wee shall receiue the crowne of glorie which is prepared for all those that in patience doe waite for his glorious appearing Now that wee may be better inabled to beare How we may be inabled to beare contēpt these taunts and reproches let vs take this direction following 1. First labour against that inbred pride that Labour against pride is naturally in euery one of our hearts which maketh vs vtterly vnable to vndergoe disgrace therefore was it that though many of the chiefe rulers of the Iewes beleeued in Christ yet they durst not confesse him because of the Pharisies who would haue excommunicated them and disgraced them to the vtmost and the reason is rendred in that place viz. That they loued the John 12. 43. praise of men more then the praise of God they stood vpon their carnall credite and reputation among their neighbours and countriemen more then vpon that true credite and estimation which they might haue had with the Lord and his children and therefore was it that they were so loath to expose themselues for Christ his sake vnto the shame of the world whereas if they had had humble and lowlie hearts they would haue denied themselues in their estimation among men and haue taken vp the reproch of Christ as an honorable

after and you shall finde it settled againe Therefore Christians should not be discouraged though they finde a passion of feare and vnbeliefe now and then if so be ordinarily they send foorth pure water for there is a great difference betwixt them and hypocrites who are filthy puddles hauing a little faire water running on the toppe but if they be stirred and raked into they will appeare to be most loathsome neither will they be easily settled againe And it fell by and by and the fall of that house was great Carnall men make it a small matter for one to forsake the profession of the truth But the Lord esteemeth that a great fall yea greater then if the Sunne and the starres fell from heauen so that the point is that of all fals the fall from religion is the most woefull Doct. 4 Nebuchadnezzars fal was great when he was stript Apostacy is a most grieuous sinne of his Empire and in steed of ruling men was turned into the wildernesse to liue amongst beasts to eate and drinke with the wilde asses and that for seauen yeares together this was a marueilous great fall yet not comparable to theirs that of professours become profane persons For whereas Nebuchadnezzar went from men to beasts they go from godly men to wicked Atheists that are worse then beasts yea to the company of diuels and of all the damned spirits And whereas Nebucadnezzar had a stumpe left in the ground which after seauen yeares should sproute foorth againe and so he should returne to a better estate then he enioyed before those that are reuolts and backesliders haue no stumpe at all left in the ground but are vnrecouerable For if we sinne willingly Heb. 10. 26. 27. after we haue receiued the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sinne but a fearefull looking for of iudgement of a violent fire which shal deuoure the aduersaries Nothing doth so prouoke the vengeance of God against men as this wretched apostacie doth For a man to fall from riches to pouertie from promotion to debasement c. it is a matter of nothing God loues him neuer the worse but to fall from profession to prophanenesse from God to the Diuell from heauen to hell from life to death this is a lamentable thing indeede Dauid did not sustaine the fall of his house but had onely some tiles and a part of the roofe blowne off yet was that a greater losse than if he had bene depriued of his kingdome neither would that haue so rent his soule and crusht Psal 51. his bones and grownd his heart to powder as the committing of those offensiue euils did nay if he had bene set vpon a steepe rocke with a milstone about his necke and from thence had bene cast headlong into the sea it had bene but a trifle in comparison of the other Oh then how fearefull must their case be that do vtterly forsake the liuing God If his deadnesse and hardnesse of heart and inabilitie to do duties to God and men were more bitter then the most violent death vnto him if I say the very decay in grace did bring with it such torture what must they expect either in this world or in that which is to come or both who do not onely in part but wholly lose that taste of good things which once they had and do not onely in a passion as Peter did deny Christ but quite and cleane forsake him Reasons Now the reasons to proue that this fall is the greatest are these 1. Because the things which they lose are most precious being spirituall things 2 The ruine is in the soule which is the more excellent part And furthermore the effects will proue as much which are 1. Monstrous shame for when any one fals from profession all the world sees he was but an hypocrite at best and then prophane persons will insult and triumph These are your professors these are they that will heare Sermons they are as badde people as any liuing I will trust none of them all for such a ones sake and thus they purchase infamy and disgrace vnto themselues as Achitophel and Iudas did 2 And not onely so but also euerlasting paines as we see in Iudas who did not onely dye a base kinde of death being his owne executioner and hauing his filthy bowels that had bene so full of couetousnesse and cruelty gushing out but also seeking to exempt himselfe from the paines and gripings of an ill conscience hee cast himselfe into the torments of hell which are easlesse and endlesse Vse 1 For instruction that we should labour to set sure in the thinges of God for better is it to haue any decay then a decay in the conscience and to haue any losse and hurt then those which are in the soule Now if we would not haue a great and shamefull fall let vs take the direction of Iude which Iude 20. he giues as a preseruatiue against apostacie But yee beloued saith he edifie your selues in your most holy faith That is the first thing that we must still bee building vp of our selues and striue to be better and better for we are like a boate that goes against the streame if we labour not with might and maine to rowe vpward we shall be carried violently downeward A second thing is that we must pray in the holy Ghost Many will bragge that they say their praiers morning and night but do they pray their praiers A parrot may say a praier but Christians must pray in the holy Ghost that is with such petitions as the Spirit warranteth and with sighes and groanes which it worketh in the heart These two things whosoeuer can practise namely to build vp himselfe daily and offer vp faithfull prayers vnto God he shall be sure to stand fast and firme Vse 2 Secondly this is for comfort to those on whom the Lord hath bestowed his good Spirit for if it be the greatest fall to fall from religion then it is the greatest rising to rise vnto grace and if they be cursed that fall away then blessed are those that draw neare vnto God and with full purpose of heart cleaue vnto him growing daily in humility and in contempt of the world in conscience towards God and in care to leade a good and holy life before men This is indeed the greatest promotion and therefore Iames saith Let the Iames 1. 9. brother that is of low degree reioyce in that he is exalted Exalted might some say what exaltation is that when they are as poore as euer they were A marueilous great exaltation it is for they are made Christians and so consequently kings both in respect of grace and glory Caine and Nimrod Reuel 1. 6. and many other reprobates went beyond ten thousand of vs for outward things but all that aduancement was to their greater shame and confusion For earthly promotion is nothing else but an high stage and if one be an