Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	good_a	life_n	see_v	9,943	5	3.4753	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A23681	The desire of all men a sermon preach'd at Daventry in Northamptonshire, March 5, 1694/5, (being the day of the interment of our late Most Gracious Queen), before the bayliff and burgesses of the said corporation of Daventry and other gentlemen of the country, and published at their request / by Charles Allestree ...	Allestree, Charles, 1653 or 4-1707.	1665 (1665)	Wing A1080; ESTC R8239	11,013	30

The Desire of all Men. A SERMON Preach'd at DAVENTRY IN Northamptonshire March 5. 1694 5. Being the Day of the Interment of our Late Most Gracious QUEEN Before the Bayliff and Burgesses of the said Corporation of Daventry and other Gentlemen of the County and published at their Request By Charles Allestree M. A. Minister at Daventry LONDON Printed for Thomas Bernet at the Half Moon in St. Paul's Church-yard London and Obediah Smith Bookseller in Daventry 1694 5. To the Bayliff and Burgesses of the Corporation of DAVENTRY Gentlemen YOV having testified the inward Honour and Esteem which you bore to the Virtues of our Late QUEEN by ordering the Desk and Pulpit to be hung in Mourning and desiring me to Preach upon the Solemnity of her Funeral I chearfully obey'd your Request in Preaching and now in Publishing the Discourse I knew my own inabilities too well to think that I could be just to my Subject or be able to reach her Character but I know I have justly said so much of her Moral and Intellectual Accomplishments as must make us despair of those Attainments and I have no other design in the Publication of this Sermon but only to propose Her as a Pattern to the Imitation of all those Good Women that shall hereafter desire to excel in Virtue I am Your Most Obliged Friend and Servant C. ALLESTREE March 7th 1694 5. Numbers 23.10 Let me die the Death of the Righteous and let my last End be like his THis is the Comprehensive Desire of all Mankind in the World both Good and Bad for though few Men are careful enough of imitating the Lives of the Righteous yet even the worst of People by a natural impulse are desirous of following them in their Deaths Now this Desire takes place to the heigth and occurrs irresistibly to the Mind when we see a departing Soul upon the Wing just ready to take seizure of Heaven and of all the Glories that are the promis'd Reward of Virtue and Innocence And to urge us effectually to this pious Ejaculation of praying to die the Death of the Righteous we have the brightest Example before us that ever shin'd in our English Sphere both for the eminency of her Goodness as well as Station in the Interment of our Glorious QUEEN and in her happy Translation into another World We commemorate this Day an instance of the most exalted Virtue and the most Heroick Piety that possibly either this Age or any preceding Time was ever able to produce whose Death by the benignity of Heaven attracted the Desires of all Men It was suitable to the Integrity of her Life and correspondent to the course of her Living here It was an Effect and Demonstration of the Holiness of her Conversation and will powerfully recommend the practise of Righteousness to all Mankind that shall advert to it from the Patience and Resignation that was conspicuous in our Departed QUEEN and from the assurance she enjoy'd of an everlasting Rest in Heaven She had been initiated early into the Principles of Religion and remember'd her Creator in the Days of her Youth so that when God in Mercy thought fit to take Her to himself and to exchange her Corruptible Crown for an Immarcessible one in Glory He was pleas'd not to leave himself without a Witness of his Government but in the terrible day of Trial to demonstrate to the World that Goodness and Virtue are Substantial Blessings that they will bring a Man peace at the last that they are able to fortifie the Mind with patience under the severest pressures and by opening a view of Heaven above to yield comfort to the most languishing Soul under any worldly Calamities or Afflictions When therefore an instance of such Goodness and such a Glorious Departure is present to our Thoughts how forcibly must Mankind be excited to wish from the very bottom of their Souls to die the death of the Righteous and that their last end may be like his Now in prosecuting this matter though I shall have no necessity to piece the Text either with the foregoing or following Verses yet I find my self constrain'd to beg this supposition that as the most proper and suitable season the Words may be imagin'd to be utter'd upon the view of a Righteous Person 's going off to Eternity And then the Motives that render his Death desirable may be reduc'd to these three Heads which I shall severally apply at the end of this Discourse to our Late QUEEN and to the sad Occasion of this Days Solemnity I. First To the consideration of the innocency of the Righteous Man's Life in the whole course and tenor of his Actions II. Secondly To his peaceable Carriage and Deportment in his Sickness or upon his Death-Bed III. And lastly To the assurance he has of enjoying Heaven hereafter and securing himself of Happiness to all Eternity Now though all these Qualifications are not always the ingredients of a Righteous Man's Life or do necessarily denominate or constitute him such but God is pleas'd sometimes without any visible or previous course of Piety before to make use of his Prerogative and pardon a Sinner at the last upon Repentance yet as this is a Case which very rarely happens and no Man at that Season can be morally secur'd of the Sincerity of his Intentions so the Person that dies in these Circumstances wants the Comfort of a Good Reflexion Whereas the Just Man that needs no Repentance as the Scripture stiles him Luke 15.7 has the advantage of seeing Heaven before him and his Good Works behind for his Consolation he looks upon Heaven through the best end of the Perspective and upon his Good Works through the Reverse but both yield him a delightful Prospect Now all these Marks of a Righteous Person were eminently united and center'd in the Character of our Late Gracious QUEEN She was from her Infancy from the dawn of Life to the setting thereof a constant uniform Pattern of all Virtue and Obedience the most remarkable Creature for Patience under the afflicting Hand of God in her Sickness and what endued her with this composedness of Spirit had a Plerophory and inward hope and a certain assurance of her Reward in Heaven I. I begin with the first That the Consideration of the innocence of the Righteous Man's Life is a main Motive and Inducement for us to covet to die his Death It is observable in the Rise and Beginnings of Sickness when Diseases make their Approaches and gradually seize upon the Vitals if they do not come in such an astonishing manner as to stupifie the Senses and benumb the Faculties of the Soul there are but two things at that time which generally the thoughts of Men are conversant and employ themselves about that is in reflecting either upon their Good or Bad Actions For all those indifferent Actions of our Lives which neither carry any malignity or essential Goodness in their Nature are so far from being the

Subject of our Contemplation at that time that there is not the least room left for a Cursory Reflexion upon them And the reason why the Mind of Man in all the Operations it can exert is solely limited and apply'd to this Object is because it is wholly employ'd with recollecting and preparing things for the Trial of the Great Day for the coming of the LORD And these indifferent Actions of Life neither serving one way nor the other neither to justifie nor condemn us in the other World it is unconceivable and almost impossible that any thing which does not tend to one of these Ends either to acquit or condemn us at God's Tribunal should find any entertainment in our Thoughts I know sometimes the necessary management of our Domestick Affairs does interpose and hinder this intention of Mind and a Man's Thoughts are frequently call'd back from their application to the things of another World to a due regard to the settlement of the Affairs of this But it ought to be remember'd that Matters of this nature God commanded Hezekiah to do 2 Kings 20.1 To set his House in order And it is a Duty which he requires of all Mankind so that if this care is any interruption to us and hinders us from calling our Moral and Virtuous Actions to remembrance it is only a little exchange of our Office for the better it only diverts us from meditating upon that which was Good to fasten and engage us to that Work which we actually know to be our Duty and commanded to be done Now though it is a great Comfort even in the midst of Health before there are any Disturbances in Nature to feed upon the Repast of a Good Conscience and to enjoy that serenity of Mind which naturally flows from the Remembrance of a well-spent Life yet it is a more unspeakable pleasure to enjoy this Conscience and Reflexion of things at the last Hour and Article of Death because that time being the Conclusion of our Lives the Horizon betwixt Us and Eternity we are remov'd from the danger of relapsing and from the Fears of forfeiting the Reward of our Innocence by any actual Sin or open Transgression of the Laws of God Whereas he that in the midst of his Days looks back and is able to comfort himself with the Virtuousness of his Former Life has it is true the satisfaction of a Good Reflexion but not so lasting an impression of Joy upon his Spirits because ‖ 1 C●p. 〈…〉 him then stand having he fall ● 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phal Epist 〈◊〉 he may justly be afraid lest through the deceitfulness of his Heart and the insinuation of Sin he should hereafter upon surprise give way to Temptations and by one gross Sin cancel the memory of all his former Virtue But this is the security of a Dying Man that has spent his Life in a constant course of Piety before that his Reflection shall be as lasting as Eternity and himself out of danger of committing any thing that may embitter his Remembrance It was Tully's Observation that amongst other things which recommended the practise of Virtue to us this was none of the least That it was acconstant Comforter to us in all the Distresses and Ex●gencies of Humane Life that nothing could solace a Man's Mind or buoy it up in Affliction but the Reflexion of a Virtuous Life and the good Actions we have done here All other things may give some diversion or pleasure in the time of doing them but when they are past they cannot be remember'd with any Complacency but what is worse they commonly leave a sting behind them Nay he carries the supposition higher and though says he we are long in the contrivance of a Delight have the pleasure of seeing it at a distance and anticipating it before-hand in our Imagination nay when the Delight is at hand and we are long in the enjoyment of it yet since there must be an end this one Consideration is enough to embitter it to us Quid enim est illud ipsum Diu quod cum venerit omnis voluptas praeterita pro nihilo est And surely if Cicero from the Light of Nature and mere natural Reason was able to decide the Case and determine so Divine a Truth we may give our Assent to it whom the Light of the Gospel and the Day-spring from on High hath visited All the little insignificant Pleasures with which we busie and entertain our senses here will be forgotten upon the Death-Bed and nothing but the Remembrance of our Charity and Well-doing will be able to comfort or support us in that Condition and Extremity Our Historians relate this sad and disconsolate saying of Cardinal Woolsey when he was fallen in Disgrace with his Prince whom he had sincerely serv'd in most of the Great Offices of State Had I serv'd my God with half that Zeal and Affection as I have paid my King He would not have left me in such Distress And we may observe that in pursuance of taking of our reliance upon Earthly Creatures the Scripture puts the Case and supposes the utmost that Men's Pride or Ambition can possibly arrive at and declares that the whole World is not a valuable Consideration nor a full Compensation for the loss of a Soul And yet Men frequently hazard this immortal Part for the gain of a small parcel of it to extend their Lands or their Estates a little further Now let us compare this passage of Holy Writ and this Instance together This Great States-Man whom I mention'd was griev'd in Mind for paying more Observance and truer Service to his Temporal Prince than to God for robbing God of his Honour and transplanting it but a degree lower even to his Vicegerent here Though he enjoy'd all that the World calls Great and was advanc'd as high almost as a Subject could be promoted yet his Favour with his Earthly King could not recompence the dread of his Heavenly Monarch nor his Temporal Felicities make amends for his Fears of being depriv'd of Eternal Happiness And yet there is a vast disproportion and difference betwixt his Case and Ours for so egregious is our Folly that it is not for the highest Preferments and Dignities of State that we sacrifice our Eternal Concerns to but for small broken and interrupted Pleasures And we may justly be afraid lest it should be the Complaint of many of us in the last Hour that had we pursued the Works of Righteousness with half that eagerness and intention of Mind that we follow'd after Vanity they would not have been so unkind as to have fled the Memory but would have staid to comfort us at the last Gasp and Article of Death They would have made us bore our Sickness with Pleasure and Resignation have given us patience under our Afflictions and even sanctified the Disease it self which is the second Consideration that makes the Death of the Righteous desirable II. Namely His peaceable Carriage