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
A31401	Christian tranquility, or, The government of the passions of joy and grief in a sermon preached at Shenton in Leicestershire, upon the occasion of the much lamented death of that hopeful young gentleman, Mr. Francis Wollatson ... / by John Cave ...	Cave, John, d. 1690.	1685 (1685)	Wing C1580; ESTC R36287	20,948	37

upon the power of God to support and succour us in our most dejected and disconsolate Estate He is my strength and my defence therefore I shall not greatly be moved Psal 37.24 said David We must trust and hope that he can and will bring light out of the thickest darkness Give beauty for ashes the oyl of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness That he hath not only the goodness of a Father but the ability yea the Alsufficiency of a heavenly Father and is able to do more abundantly for us than we are able to conceive or hope This was our Apostle's stay and comfort in his most acute trouble He said unto me my grace is sufficient for thee 1 Cor 12.8 9 for my power is made perfect through weakness therefore instead of sinking under my infirmities very gladly will I rejoyce in them that the power of Christ may rest upon me But 3. This inordinacy of Trouble is considerable in its consequents or effects as 1. When it makes us impatient and fretful under our Afflictions as it did Jehoram Behold this evil is of the Lord why then should I wait on the Lord any longer 2 Kings 6.33 Hieremy and Jonah tho good men for the main and holy Prophets yet were very much to blame in this particular It was part of Jabez his Prayer and we would do well to put it into ours 1. Chron. 4.10 Lord keep me from evil that it may not grieve me i. e. that I may not be fretful under it or offensive by it that it may not so grieve me as to occasion my grieving of thee of thy holy and good Spirit 2. When it makes us insensible of and unthankful for those mercies which God is pleased to continue to us Our sorrow must not draw such a thick veil over our Hearts and Faces that we cannot see through it to contemplate or take notice of Gods manifold blessings which we still enjoy They are froward Children who if they may not have what they would throw away what they have and this often provokes their Parents to renew and sharpen their Corrections that they may cry for somewhat indeed If our behaviour be such towards our heavenly Father we provoke him to add to our present Afflictions the removal of our remaining Mercies Wherefore amongst a great deal of excellent consolatory advice which Photius the renowned Patriarch of Constantinople gave Patritius upon the Death of his beloved Daughter we find this agreeable to our occasion Photii Ep. 234. The Almighty Creator hath taken to himself a piece of his own work but he hath given or left more than he took and I pray God they may long be left and live to their Parent 's encreasing joy ' You are grieved for what you have lost take comfort in those that are still with you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Let us give thanks to God for what he hath taken from us that we may have a more sure hold of those he continues to us and that they may daily prove greater blessings and comforts 3. Our Sorrow hath an inordinate effect when it makes us unuseful in the Duties of our general and particular Callings when it renders us unserviceable to God to the King the Church to our Country and our Families But I must content my self as I hope by Gods Grace I have in some measure satisfied you to shew you only thus briefly when the tide of our Sorrow swells and rises too high either in the measure the manner or the effects thereof I shall only add a few words more in this dying part of my Discourse And I hope you will most regard what I say last to allay or abate your Trouble and that by perswading you 1. To the exercise of some proper Graces 2. To the practice of some seasonable Duties 1. To the exercise of some proper suitable Graces such as these following 1. Meekness and Humility a Sense of your own Unworthiness of your own if not ill yet undeservings Meekness meets an Affliction half way and Humility stoops as it were to take up the burden 2. Faith or dependance upon God This is a setling and a quieting Grace I had fainted unless I had believed said David Psal 27.13 Wait on the Lord and he shall strengthen thy heart Nothing gives such ease and relief under the Afflictions of this Life as a firm belief of the Joys of another A belief of Consolations hereafter proportionable to our patient Sufferings here 3. Repentance If we turn our Sorrow upon our Sins which most justly deserve it Godly sorrow will wash the wound clean and eat out the Venome and malignity of worldly grief as spiritual joy corrects the flatulency of carnal mirth 4. Charity Which as it covers Sin so it cures Sorrow the work of Righteousness which frequently in Holy Scripture is but another word for Charity or Bounty is peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever Isa 32.17 He that soweth righteousness shall reap a sure reward tho he sow in tears he shall reap in joy Tho we cannot profit the dead as some have imagined we may by our Alms and Oblations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Damascen de defunctis yet we may much benefit and comfort our selves thereby When we come to die the remembrance of our bounty and charity the good deeds we have done for the house and the servants of our God will minister more comfort to our minds than all the Treasures we leave behind us upon Earth These are the Graces which especially I would advise you to exercise 2. The Duties I would recommend to you in short are 1. A diligent reading and hearing of the Word of God 2. Serious and seasonable Meditation 3. Fervent and devout Prayer 1. A diligent Attention to the Word read or preached This is my comfort in my affliction said David Psal 119.5 the King thy word hath quickned me And again Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage Scripturarum lectio Vita est saith St. Ambrose There is comfort nay Life in reading the holy Scriptures Wherefore St. Basil stiles them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the common Refectory or Apothecaries Shop for fainting sick Souls There is a Salve for every Wound a Cure for every Malady And particularly the great Athanasius counselled his Friend when any sore Trouble seized him to betake himself to the reading of the 42d Psalm 2. Serious Religious Meditation is an excellent help to digest trouble And in such trouble as ours it concerns us especially to meditate upon the shortness of life and upon the certainty and unavoidableness of death or rather because I have spoke of this already of the shortness of death and the certainty of Resurrection That the dead bodies of our dear Relations are not lost but lodged in the grave That it will not be long before that which is sown in corruption shall be raised in incorruption and that part which is sown in dishonour shall be raised in glory When we stick our Herses with flowers and go forth to the grave with Rosemary it naturally suggests this meditation That the bones of our friends shall flourish again like an herb in the Prophet Isaiah's comparison In this sense Sunt sua fata sepulchris Death it self dies and Mortality is swallowed up of Life 3. The last duty and instrument of peace and comfort which I shall recommend to you is fervent and devout prayer and it is the Apostle James his Recipe Is any man afflicted let him pray as if this alone would effect the cure To be sure it is the most magisterial and soveraign Remedy it vents the tumor and breaths out the anguish of a throbbing Malady Pray then and pray again that God would sanctifie your Affliction so unto you that you may serve him chearfully here and that in his good time you may be happily gathered to your son and you to your brother as he is already gathered to his fathers and yours that when you rest stom your labour you may rest from your cares and vexations from all the sad accidents of short time from pain and sickness sorrow and sympathy weeping for your selves weeping with and for your beloved Friends that you may get above the Clouds and the Rain above the changeable Regions and enter into pure and eternal Joys that when you leave your Estates and Honours here you may be made partakers of a glorious inheritance with the Saints in light and sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and the rest of the spirits of just men made perfect in the kingdom of heaven That when you see this Sun no more which sets as well as riseth you may behold everlasting day That you may enjoy a clear and an uninterrupted Tranquility a Rest not only without sorrow but without sleeping too without so much as a still interruption of your waking active delights If you thus cry to God out of your Bochim your Valley your depths of Tears and Trouble this and the other parts of holy devotion if they do not set you upon dry ground will keep your heads above water yea Comfort shall come riding to you upon the wings of your Clouds your loss shall be your gain and this lamented death your living and lasting advantage If you bury your worldly Affections with your dear deceased and blow up a fire of heavenly desire out of his ashes you your selves rise to a new life and do in a sense put off Mortality on this side the grave You have a part in the first Resurrection and shall have in the second Death that black that bloody King of terrors shall not have dominion over you The sting of death is sin the strength of sin is the Law But thanks be to God who hath given us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost one immortal and only wise God be all Honour and Glory Power and Praise now and for ever Amen Blessed Lord who hast caused all holy Scripture to be written for our learning grant we may in such wise hear them read mark and inwardly digest them that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ Amen FINIS

their Objects Haec quidem philosophia nemini non est in ore sed paucorum animis vere serioque insidet as one observes upon the place Every one is ready to Preach this Philosophy but very few feel the true effects of it in their minds or express them in their Practices Tho the Heathen Orators Poets and Philosophers spake many excellent and acute Things of this kind and perswaded to Moderation and Patience from the mutability of Fortune the shortness and uncertainty of humane life Yet our great Apostle saw it needful to press Christians with the same consideration to be their serious Remembrancers to put them in mind of what they knew before to reconcile to their Affections a Truth which their understandings had already admitted and to incline their practice to follow their Judgments In imitation of this Divine author I am about to exhort beseech perswade you to consider well and lay to heart what you know to yield to the Authority of your own reason to do that which you cannot but be partly convinced is best to be done and which it is your Duty to do viz. to be moderate in your Enjoyments and your Sufferings not to murmure or repine at your losses nor to set your hearts too much upon your remaining Comforts Wife Children Houses Lands c. Because how dear and delight some soever they are to you they are at best but Treasures in earthen Vessels subject to a thousand Casualties If there were nothing else to abate their worth this alone doth it Their time is short In my Text we are advised First to asswage our Grief in occasions of trouble and then to temper and bound our joy when our Affairs succeed best But in my Discourse I shall alter the method and because I design to say least of the Affection of Joy I shall speak of it first and in a way introductory to what I have to say upon the mournful Subject And they that rejoyce as tho they rejoiced not The Fathers have made this observation on these words that the Joys of this World are but Quasi as if they were Joys not such indeed but rather Shadows or Images As when a hungry man eateth in his dream but when he awaketh Isa 29.8 his soul is empty The Pomps and Profits of the World are but Vanities to a Christian and when they appeared to our Saviour in the best Attire and Representation the Devil could give them he despised them all We are allowed a delight and comfort in temporal blessings but with such Qualifications and Restraints as rather becalm than advance our Affections rather wipe away our Tears and prevent Sighing than cheer our minds or maintain Mirth It was a seasonable hint that of Caenus the Macedonian to the conquering Alexander that nothing did better become him than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arrian Moderation of mind in his glorious Success and Prosperity Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom nor the mighty man glory in his might nor the rich man glory in his riches He may be pleased with them and the like blessings and take comfort of them but he must not glory in them he must not be too much conceited of them or vainly puft up with them He must not promise himself too much from them as if they were substantial lasting and abiding Goods Solomon the wisest of men adviseth us to cease from our own Wisdom not to lay too much stress upon our worldly Policies Prov. 23.4 for it will otherwise cease from us There is no knowledg nor wisdom in the grave whither we are all going Eccles 9.10 Again 1 Sam. 2.9 by strength shall no man prevail long and Riches will fail us when we most need them Prov. 11.4 They profit not in the day of wrath If these things and others of the like Nature wherein we are most apt to over-joy to glory and pride our selves do not in a short time fail us it will not be long before we leave them They and we are of a sickly kind declining and decaying daily Accipimus peritura perituri Our fairest and sweetest earthly delights are but a withering Posie in a dying mans hand How then in Reason can we be over-fond of them Why should we set our hearts and affections upon things which are not upon things which perish in the enjoyment which are passing away from us and from which we are passing daily If any thing here could justifie a transport of joy one would think it should be an agreeable yoke-fellow an indulgent husband or a complaisant wife or else hopeful children in whom we behold our fading drooping Age as it were budding and blossoming a-new from whom we promise an Heir to our Estate to our Family a strong support when we fail and to our selves a surviving Name and a lasting Memory But our Apostle puts in his Caveat here especially because here we most need it Let them that are married be as if they were not married because death will soon make a divorce between us and our beloved companions And our children are often laid to bed before us in the grave Therefore St. Chrysostom to season our Nuptial and Child-birth Festivities minds us how death runs through the Marriage-books If I die first or you or the child of us both how it is woven into every line and closeth up every Period to put a quasi non even into those rejoicings a bitter tho a medicinal infusion into our most pleasant enjoyments and expectations Our time and theirs is short This consideration That all our comforts here are but temporary and must die with if not before us methinks should if any thing moderate and sanctifie our Affections to them Frequent serious thoughts That all we have or can desire here will last us but to the grave should make us look upon them effectually but as the two sticks which the Widow of Zarephath gathered to dress an handful of meal and a little oyl that we may eat it and die But because we are unwilling and averse to think of any thing which should interrupt our present delights therefore our Apostle frequently inculcates Sobriety and Moderation in yea Mortification to our outward good things Let your moderation be known unto all men Phil. 4.5 Col. 3.2 the Lord is at hand Set your affections on things above for they are eternal not on things of the earth for they are mortal and perishing And in this St. Peter differs not from his beloved brother Paul 1 Pet. 4.7 The end of all things is at hand be ye therefore sober take heed of inebriating or making your selves drunk with the things of this World Suffer not your hearts to run out too much after them or to be affected inordinately with them lest the day of the Lord overtake you unawares And there is a great deal of need of these counsels and cautions one upon another because as the Heathen Historian observes