Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	grave_n	sin_n	sting_n	4,163	5	11.3993	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A00510	A sermon preached at Ashby De-la-zouch in the countie of Leicester at the funerall of the truely noble and vertuous lady Elizabeth Stanley one of the daughters and coheires of the Right Honourable Ferdinand late Earle of Derby, and late wife to Henrie Earle of Huntingdon the fifth earle of that familie. The 9. of February. Anno Dom. 1633. By I.F.	I. F., fl. 1633.; Fletcher, Joseph, 1577?-1637, attributed name.	1635 (1635)	STC 10644; ESTC S116875	15,055	48

with him but a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a citie in the cloudes a Castle in the ayre hence was it that the doctrine of the Resurrection amongst the Epicureans Pithagoreans of Athens was receved but as a mater of mockery though the Iudgement seate were in the Arcopagus yet they sate downe in the seate of scorners not as Iudges of Paules Sermon But allowing that the Athenians had some reason to be ignorant as perhaps had they not so much reason they would not have had so litle faith It is not strange that in the first 300. years after Christ divers even in Christ should gainesay this hope of all the world being spoyled through the same vaine Philosophy Many of those ages having not seen any example of a Resurrection but only received it upon relation and reading began to scanne the possibility of such a restoration according to the principles of Nature reason It is well observed of Minutius non minoris est sceleris ignorare quamsaedere These men sinne as highly by denying Gods Power through their ignorance as if by their disobedience they had resisted it Malè Deum norunt qui illum putant non posse quod non putant I may pronounce them ignorant which conceive that God is able to do no more then they are able in reason to conceive But though they though all the world gainsay this hope of all the world yet this is the victory that overcometh all the world even our faith we will not draw all unto reason but leave something for faith Our contemplation of matters of this straine which are above the comprehension of reason and beyond the bounds of experience doth not arrive at knowledge but at wonder which is nothing els but Contemplation broken off or loosing it selfe It was aptly said by one of Platoes schoole the sense of man resembleth the Sunne which openeth and reveileth the Terrestiall Globe but obscureth and concealeth the Celestiall so doeth the sense discover naturall things but darken and shut up those which are beyond the verge of nature for all things proceeding in the Invention of knowledg is by similitude but those things are onely selfe like and have nothing in common with naturall things otherwise then in shadow and trope Give therefore unto faith that which unto faith belongeth for indeed it is more worthy to beleeve then to thinke or know considering that in knowledge the minde suffereth from the impression of inferior natures but in all beliefe the minde suffereth from a spirit which it holdeth superior more authorised thē it selfe Nolumus igitur intelligere ut credamus sed credereut inteligamus we wil not therfore seeke to under stand that we may beleeve but beleve that it may be given us to understand The mystery of the Resurrection was delivered not by Pihlosophers but by simple fishermen and here the most subtill of us must leave to be disputants and learne to be disciples And yet if any list to dispute let me aske as St. Paul did why should it seeme an impossible thing to raise up one that is dead It was well argued by the Iew Pesisa Si quod fuit est ergo quod fuit erit whether is it harder to restore a body mouldred into the dust from whence it was taken then to creat all things out of nothing Is it thought impossible in nature why nature her selfe is a mistrisse able enough to informe us of the contrarie Operibus Resurrectionem perscripsit antequam literis viribus praedicavit antequam vocibus se we not the vicissitudes of night and day the revolutions of winter and summer the riseing and setting of the Starres the wane and increases of the Moone the Quickening of the dead graine under the Clod to beare a lively resemblance of this Restoration The whole Creation which grones for the generall resurrection practiseth a yeerely a monthly yea a daily Resurrection in its severall parts And all this for Man And shall man onely not rise for whom all these things rise in their periods and seasons what should withhold him from being restored The powers of the grave are shaken and disabled Christ himselfe hath broken open the Gates thereof and loosed his Prisoners from the brinkes of the pit death it selfe hath by his last conflict received its deaths wound he had foiled it before by the ministry of his servants by Eliah recalling the Sarephtans son by Elisha recovering the Shunamits son So David foiled his enemies of Ammon by the valour of his servants Ioab and Abisha but himselfe was faine to appeare before Rabbah for the perfecting of the victory and conclusion of the warre so the Sonne of David appeared personally to give his Enemie the last stroke to swallow up death in an utter victory The victory is thus atcheived Death it selfe though he be the King of feare and have as many Provinces of his dominion as there be paines perills and snares of death yet hath no more dominion over us then what our sinne betrayeth us unto The arrowes of death are fledged with the feathers which grow upon our owne wings Now therefore if we conceive man to be without sinne death hath no more dominion over him Death then haveing seized upon our Saviour who was without staine or guilt it was found equall in the Iudgement of God that it should loose all power over us that were sinfull because it exercised a power which it had not over him that was innocent For in regard of the iniury offered unto him and patiently susteined by him God adjudged him all power over him that had the power of death giveing him liberty to restore unto liberty the Prisoners of the Grave And indeed he hath reason thus to restore them for according to that of Bernard Christus solus resurrexit sed non totus Christ alone is risen but all Christ is not risen till all that are of and in Christ be risen likewise Thus though other Graves be the houses of death this of Christ is unto us now the stone is removed from it the Gate of everlasting life Although death be the king of feare yet we see of his kingdome there is an end he raigned indeed under the law but now the Scepter of righteousnesse is transferred unto one of whose kingdome there is no end And observe the procession and Pompe of his Triumph over his vanquished foe Death saith the Prophet shall goe before his face pale and trembling as a Prisoner before his Triumphall chariot He saith no longer now as he did once O Death I will be thy Death It is not seasonable to threaten now death hath already felt his vanquishing armes he spareth not now therefore to reproch him with this glorious insultation O death where is thy Sting O grave where is thy victorie Since thou didst once loose thy sting upon mine innocency I have taken away the sinnes of the world so that now thou canst not fit thy selfe with

any new sting to wound either mee or mine Thus death it selfe is dead and the dead live againe death is swallowed up and the dead are rendered up this is the hope of humaneflesh but he must be more then flesh whosoever attaineth to the end of this hope for flesh and bloud shall never inherit the kingdome of heaven As there is a flesh which shall see the salvation of God so there is a flesh which is as grasse Grasse which groweth to day and tomorow perhaps is to be cast into the fornace there to be tormented in aeterno Dei because it sinned in aeterno suo During the eternall pleasure of God because of its owne eternall pleasure it tooke in displeasing of God As there are some qui rapientur in occursum so there are some qui convertentur retrorsum Those which have turned their backes unto me and not their face those shall be turned backward They shall rise againe but it shall be for their greater depression Their bodies shall be delivered from the first death but it shall be to be delivered up unto the second death their soules and bodies shall be united but both devided from God in such manner that they shall wish the bodie had beene rather extinguished then thus united Sed ad augmentum tormenti ut hic de corpore nolens educitur itidem et illic in corpore tenetur in vitus To aggravate the vengeance as here the soule parted out of the bodie against its will so there it s held in the body against its will Marveile not at it though 〈◊〉 be de suo optomus yet he is de nostro Iustus As he is gracious by the propriety of his nature so he is iust for the necessity of the cause And it is equall and iust that if we taste of the sweetnesse of sinne against the will of God we shall taste of the bitternesse of punishment against our owne will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. It is equall if we be here subiected unto that evill one that we should hereafter be possessed of him saith that excellent Homilist Macarius If we make our bodies Prostibula and not Templa rather Temples of Chemosh and Ashtaroth then Domus patris mei they will become rather blockes of hell-fire then Pillars in the Temple and the Courtes of the house of our God Let us therefore spare our Bodies my beloved and not use them as if they were borrowed garments we must give accompts of things done in them And as the scarrs of wounds so the scarrs of sins will appeare therin after death which will be Characters of evidence plaine enough to testifie their un●●●blenesse of Glorie let us therefore here seeke to take them away by taking the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by being washed by being sanctified here Would we so rise from death that we may not sinke into the second death let us remember that Corpora nostra huic Resurrectioni per Regenerationem Spiritus inaugurantur Our bodies must be here intituled unto the Resurrection of glory by the Resurrection of Grace Nature exposeth us all dead dead in the uncircumcision of the flesh dead in the dead workes of the flesh Man who had not knowne sinne should have felt no power of death in his Bodie by sinne contracted a death even of his soule for as the soule is the life of the bodie so is grace the life of the Soule As then when the soule departeth the bodie dies so Grace having abandoned the soule the spirit it selfe is dead And how many doe we discerne everie where in whom the tokens of this death are sensibly apparent men dead in themselves onely Satan moveth in them Satan walketh in them so that they move but like prodigies like the bodies of those which Satan is said to make use of for the atcheiving of his wicked illusions St. Aug observes three sorts of dead persons whom Christ raised up unto life representing three distinct sorts of his spirituall death first the daughter of the Ruler of the Synagogue which was dead in the house resembling those that are dead-hearted senselesse of the impressions of life grace such as sit as dead in these Assemblies as if we were preaching at their funeralls Secondly The young man which was caryed out of the Gates of Natin resembling those whose hearts and hands are engaged in the outward practise of the dead workes of the flesh Thirdly Lazarus that had layen long putryfying in the grave representing those that have layen from the very wombe overwhelmed with the body of death and over-set with a cloud of ignorance insensiblenes so many dead in all these conditions and degrees do we observe every where that we have reason to wish as Ieremie did oh that our eyes were as Rivers of water that we might weepe for the dead for the slaine of our people now then oh wretched men that we are who shall deliver us from the body of this death If we be raised we must be raised by the voice and vertue of the same Christ which raised up these he that in the Gospel bad the yong man arise must by his Gospel bid the new man arise in us As we are sūmoned unto the second Resurrection by the voice of an Archangel so are we here unto this by the voice of the Angel of the covenant in the mouths of the angels of the churches the ministers here both that voice which sounded from mount Sinai and that which sounded from mount Sion have their part in the action The law startleth the Gospell awaketh quickneth us Christ sent the law by his servant as Elisha sent his staffe by which yet the dead child was not raised up till Elisha himselfe came in persō The terrors of the law quicken in us so much sence as may make us sigh for our restoration the refreshings of the gospel quickē in us so much light life as to make us se and run into the arms of our Restorer The law seemes to remove the stone from the mouth of our hearts as it was removed from the mouth of Lazarus Sepulchre but the voice of Christ in the Gospel sumoneth us to awake arise that he may give us light wherin we may be enabled to know follow him that hath visited us done so great things for us now I would that we had made such an advantage of our Attention to that powerfull voice that I might have occasiont 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after a visible evident Resurrection to loose you as Lazarus was from the bondes of the Grave or to say with the father of the prodigall loe these my sonnes were dead but now they live we were dead saith the Apostle but now we are alive in Iesus Christ now we feele the pulse of spirituall life beate in the Arteries of our faith which assureth us that our life is prepared for us of our hope which