Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	flesh_n	life_n	sin_n	9,447	5	4.7537	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A37568	A sermon preach'd at the funeral of John Melford ... who dyed (aged eighteen years) the 21st day of June, through the sad occasion of a fall from a horse, and was buried ... the 27th day of the same month, 1692 / by Tho. Easton ...	Easton, Thomas, b. 1661 or 2.	1692 (1692)	Wing E107; ESTC R19705	19,674	31

sutable to his excellent nature The best of all worldly enjoyments if they exceed the Limit of Prudence and Sobriety may be pleasing for a time 't is true as long as men are bereaved of their sences through the height of Excess which is just as distracted persons reckon Fetters and Chains an Ornament But alas as soon as they return to themselves they find nothing but shame or sickness an aching Head or a weak Stomach or rotten Bones The transporting Pleasures of a Frolick all vanish in a night and all that remains is a fear that others will remember the indecencies of which they were lately guilty and have themselves forgotten Therefore I say considering those things are so truly vanity that they are all transitory which perish in the using that they are but imaginary Apparitions and at best no further grateful than they are fancied to be so it will follow that they should not be too eagerly courted nor should we spend too much time in their purchase Thirdly Inf. 3. Since our time here is so short and withal so uncertain we ought to make timely preparation for our removal hence Mans days are but as Grass consume in a moment our days are swifter than a Post our time is but like a writing upon a sand and of this every one must needs be sensible that ever looks abroad in the world and yet there are not many that lay this to heart as they ought nor do they consider their own frailty when they see others drop into their Graves It may be on a Funeral day or on the news of such a terrible mischance and fatal accident as this was men may have some natural suggestion that mortality is certain and death amazing But the next merriment wears off the sense of it and men follow their accustomed sports or business with as much eagerness as if they should never dye and lay Scenes for strange projects as if they were immortal and till they find themselves arrested by the Messenger of Death a grievous sickness they fancy it will always stand at a vast distance from them But this should not be so we know we must remove off from this stage and for ought we know the time is nearer than we are aware This Gentleman was as likely to live as any person here now present and yet within one hour that I saw him lively and well I heard the sad news of that accident which drew on death irresistably against all our good wishes to the ruine of our hopes and the grief of all Spectators Nay the change was so sudden and withal so violent that Art and Medicines were useless and the ready offices of all his Friends were utterly unserviceable but in a word he was stupid in a moment and continued so till he died which was shortly afterward And methinks this single instance is enough to add weight to the Argument and enforce the inference viz. that all men should provide in season for a removal hence For who can tell but the same or a like misfortune may befal either of us tho yet I say considering the circumstances they appear so amazing that I heartily do and every one may pray from such a death good Lord deliver us But yet allowing only that a sudden death is but barely possible yet who in his wits would run the hazzard of a following Eternity meerly for the Love of a fading perishing transitory uncertain world We must subsist after our souls and bodies are separated and therefore we ought so to spend our time in the body that it may turn to some account for our souls after our bodies are turned to dust which I express by making a timely preparation for our removal There is no one thing in which men are so contentedly cheated as in the notions of living and dying nay worse those who will not allow others to impose upon them tho but to the damage of a penny will yet impose upon themselves in this case which is a matter of infinite importance and many times hug their error so long that it proves irrecoverably damnable i. e. men drop into Hell while they caress themselves with the fond hopes of a following Heaven And this is a madness which possesses the generality of all mankind they put death and the other world at a great distance and then think themselves safe in all their extravagancies there they revel their senses indulge to Luxury make provision for the Flesh court the world and make but a sport of damnation And yet all this while are confident that they shall have time enough to reverse all this and meet Death long enough e're it call for them And that after a life of sin and vanity they shall dye very devout Saints and partake of their Blessedness Unaccountable stupidity What is this that so bewitcheth men What Circaean Cup should have power sufficient so to intoxicate them And so utterly to divest them of their Sense and Reason Nay what Amulet is that which can so powerfully resist the Force and Charms of the principles of Religion and make them so regardless of another world to which yet they may be transported for ought they know in the space of one hour There are many who have served this World with the same zeal coveted wealth with as much greediness indulged themselves with as much liberty carried themselves upon their appendant ornaments with as much state in a world that sinned as boldly and yet with the comfort of the same security in former days that men do now And yet many of us can tell how short they fell in their expectations that they died in the habit of sin where there have been no appearances of any colour of repentance and some in the very act where Charity it self can hardly suppose it at least I 'm sure Reason will not allow it In a word we have known some that have died in such a condition as considering the circumstances and with reference to the next world I 'm sure no man present would be content to dye in the same condition for ten thousand worlds Well Allow this but consider if we use such practices why may not we fear the some end In such a case fear is beneficial and foresight is greatly advantageous and therefore we should prepare in season for our removal hence 'T is a fatal delusion to reserve the practice of piety to the latter part of our lives 'T is an affront to God that we should sin away our Youth our Strength and our Vigour and at last bring him the lame offering of a decrepit old age which is rendred useless to our selves thrô the frequent debaucheries of Youth which no arguments could prevent Briefly Nothing can be said to justify those who believe a future state and yet all the time which they live here make no provision for it For I reckon future resolutions to be nothing but a trick to silence their consciences in this

demand from their Children in point of practice must be severe i. e. admit of no diminutions There must be no Commutation in the exercise of tender vertue for that will by degrees tempt Children to believe that 't is only indifferent But now when Parents keep a severe hand and a watchful Eye over their Children and will allow no abatements of their duty but encourage and reward them for doing well and render Vertue amiable from the consideration of that credit that attends it and Lastly when they recommend Religion to their choice from the consideration 1. That Gods Honor is concerned in it ☜ 2. That their own eternal Happiness depends on it then Parents have done their duty for their Children Secondly And then there is no doubt that those who have begun thus well will ever fall back those who are so forward in their way to Heaven can't fail of arriving thither with ease and comfort as well as be received with joy and glory He that hath been accustomed to do well will not admit of any temptation to biass him but his whole conversation will be heavenly his discourse alway grave as if seasoned with Salt ministring Grace to the Hearers his thoughts alway limited his desires bounded and his actions will be so innocent and withal his temper so obliging and his society so acceptable and withal so beneficial that all that know him must commend him And which is a comfort to himself he is alway in readiness for the coming of the Bridegroom Preparation for death includes more than a Death-bed-repentance or a faint Lord have mercy upon me He properly and he only prepares for death aright who lives every day with that care and watchfulness as if he were to dye ere the night i. e. not to fall wilfully into any notorious sin nor to allow little ones but every night confesses the Errors and Miscarriages of the day past and endeavours what he can to avoid the same in after times In a word 'T is an Early beginning to live well that can be truly accounted a timely preparation for our removal hence N. B. Fourthly Inf. 4. We should moderate our sorrow for the loss of any Friend how near or hopeful soever The days of man are but as grass says the text All Flesh is grass saith the Prophet I say 40. 6. and all the glory of it but like a Flower well then Are you discontented that your grass withereth Or are you perplexed that a flower fadeth No. This doth not disturb you for you know 't is natural Be it so mans days are no more but his removal hence is necessary and will you will you it lies not in your power to prevent that sate for that 's a war in which there 's no discharge And therefore to be angry that our Friends dye is to blame the wisdom of God who made them mortal or to be discontented that we can keep them no longer is to pretend to tell God what season is proper for him to do what we would have done which is to put our selves above him In a word we have no more solid reason to be grieved that our Friends dye I mean grief to excess than that a Stone descends or Water is moist or the Sun giveth light or Fire burns for all are alike natural But it may be said if ever grief be allowed when our Friends dye as Nature prompts it and there are not many who can conquer their passion so as to suppress it then in extraordinary cases it will follow that there should be extraordinary grief allowed will it not may be a Question I answer no or I ask to what purpose will your Friend be the more easy after he is dead if you tear your Hair or rent your Cloths or break your Rest or forbear your Meat and pine your self into a Consumption If you you can think so spare no Labour but rather take incentives to heighten a disconsolate passion to any degree this side your own expiration But if you can't suppose that the deceased Person for whom you so lament and whom you so passionately bewail is at all benefited thereby pray then to what purpose is it Or why make ye this ado I am sure it can be no comfort or ease to indulge those phlegmatick passions reason doth not require them nor religion tolerate them Or if no other argument can convince men how unserviceable excessive grief is in such a case I say that others shall shortly lament us as we now do our late dear Friend In a word therefore in all the circumstances of Life let our grief be moderate Summ. Appl. in all our concerns of Eternity let us be very vigilant Let it be our care to have Oyl alway in our Lamps We are but as Flowers we know not how soon we may be gathered hence let us be careful that we be not found unprovided If God should think fit to call us off suddenly are we now provided I know many don't care to put this question much to themselves but they would rather enquire after others that died in this manner but that is not any mans duty for any one to mind more than himself for himself But this I know and forwarn and testify viz. that where God continues the means of grace and makes all men a free offer of glory if they will but labour after it If men will prefer a Lust to Eternal Life Value Vanity beyond a Crown of Glory prize a Bubble before an Inheritance which fadeth not away if they slight the Threatnings of God and contemn his Judgments and despise his Mercies he will speedily execute Vengeance on those that so affront him And thô their time in general be but short yet God will cut off such in the midst of their days hasten their Destruction and send them quick into Hell and then they shall too late perceive their Folly which now they would not suspect On the other hand If from the consideration of the uncertainty of our continuance here we provide our selves for a removal and make it our business to look out that City which hath Foundations whose builder and maker is God Heb. 11. 10. If from the thoughts of a speedy death weare perswaded to mortify sin in our members presently if from the remembrance of leaving this world we are induced to fix our thoughts upon Heaven If the thoughts of leaving behind us all our Friends engage us to make Friends with the Mammon of Vnrighteousness If the leaving our wealth prevails upon us to lay up a treasure In Heaven Then have we lived long enough how little while soever we have lived then death shall never be sudden how unexpected soever it may seize us Lastly then our bounty our honour and splendor which are so many Flowers on us in Life of which death deprives us shall be all abundantly recompenced by a Crown of Righteousness which shall be a lasting ornament to our head to a never ending Eternity FINIS