Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	great_a	life_n	world_n	9,869	5	4.4022	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A55642	A sermon preached at Rolesbye in Norfolk, on Wednesday the 12th of January 1680/81, at the funeral of Madam Anna Gleane, the late wife of Thomas Gleane, Esq., the only son of Sir Peter Gleane of Hardwick in Norfolk, Baronet by Robert Prattant ...	Prattant, Robert, 1654 or 5-1683.	1682 (1682)	Wing P3185A; ESTC R8944	9,315	17

early acquaintance with that he was taught to expect Death with Patience and Resolution and to welcome its approach not only with Courage but with Delight and Satisfaction of mind And alas How hopeless how far short of this true Wisdom and Philosophy comes all the sublimest discourses of the most refined Heathens Christ being raised from the dead d●eth no more and becomes the first fruits of them that slept gives us a clearer Evidence and account of the Resurrection and Future State of the Soul then ever any the most Labour'd Discourse of the most searching Philosopher was able to do They were so far from giving a satisfactory Account of the Future State of the Soul such as others might rely on and found their belief upon and be encourag'd to undergo the the worst of Evils and Disapointments here and with Content and Patience to sustain the unwelcome addresses of Death they were so far I say from satisfying others herein that they could not maintain themselves upon such aiery food or be induc'd to quit the Enjoyments of this Life for the hopes of a better Their utmost Essayes this way amounted no farther then to a bare or possibility seeming probability of the Resurrection of the Body and Immortality of the Soul And here too they were entangled and overcome with great Perplexities Sometimes they Contradicted themselves and at other times deliver'd themselves very suspenslly and doubting about it and that too even immediately before their deaths To instance in one or two of the most eminent of them Socrates the fam'd Introducer of Morality who was worthily follow'd and admir'd be the better part of the Gentile World and whose Case herein is very notorious had strange Misgivings as to what should be his State in another World and whether his Soul should Survive or no he durst not determine only tells those that were about him just as he was about to suffer Death that he should shortly experience the Certainty of it but was not if it did so kind that we read of to return back to inform them And Tully though in his Cato Major in his somnio Scipionis and in other places he speaks powerfully and well of the Immortality of the Soul and expresses a wounderful joyful Resentment of the day of Death feelingly Crying out O praeclarum diem cum ad illud Divinorum animorum Concilium Coetumque proficiscar c. Rejoycing above all that thereby he should be admitted into the Society and presence of his beloved and admir'd Cato besides those other excellent personages that he had before mention'd who had some time since expir'd yet after all I remember that in some other places of his Writings he propounds Annihilation with a great deal of Indifferency and seems to be Content to allow that as well as the post-existence of the Soul and leaves it in equal doubt and debate And we read in his Life that when the fatal Executioner came to apprehend him and that he found that he was discover'd that he presented himself as it were already half-ghosted with fear and by the last Circumstances we may guess that he tamely yielded himself more out of design and an hasty desire to get free of the troubles of this Life then out of any Confidence he had of entering into a better State hereafter And Cyrus in his famous Speech or Oration made immediately before his Death to his Sons and Persian Nobles if that were really his which we find at large in Zenophon and some part of it as to what Concerns the Immortality and Future State of the Soul translated by Cicero in the latter part of his Cato Major forequoted though there he largely and freely discourses the Future Subsistence of the Soul and the reasons he had to incline him to the belief of it and that after the most manly rate Yet I take notice that in the latter part of that his dying Speech he takes his leave of the by-Standers in expressions equally granting the Existence or Future Reduction and Annihilation of the Soul For these are his Words As Zenophon there makes him to speak Whether I shall be with the Divine Nature with the Pure and Eternal Essenses or vapour into Air and be reduc'd to nothing Yet upon either of those Accounts let those that accompany me to the Sepulcher congratulate my Excit and happy deliverance from the Body being not Capable any longer of suffering any Grief or Evil. Now all this that I have instanced in is only to show is how unable the Learnedst and Wisest of the Heathen Philosophers were only by the light of Nature without any higher revelation to demonstrate and make good the reasonableness of the post-existence of the Soul of Man and to make appear from what an higher discovery it was that the inspir'd Author of these Words was not only induc'd to wish for Death and that in some sudden Fit or Passion but likewise taught to expect it with the most strictness and resolution All the days of my c. He went upon far higher Principles than ever any the most Celebrated Pagan essay'd to do and it was not only from a Contempt of this World and the slighting Afflictions of it but also from the grounded Revelation he had of entering into an immortal State after this Life was ended and that to be attended with the most constant and uninterrupted Joy And this latter Consideration it was that put him upon his Constant Watch and Guard resolving not to omit for the least moment or interval of time All the days of my c. But we may very well suppose that it was the shortness of this Life that had a powerful influence over Job and dispos'd him to this Lesson of diligent Attendance and patiently to expect that happy Change that blessed moment that should give him his Quiet from all the Afflicting Discontents and from the throng of Sorrows of this Life and gain him an happy freedom into those Regions where no Storms can ruffle or disturb the Soul of Man And indeed my Brethren the sorrowful si Conderations of the dividing Cares and Troubles that are inseparable attendments even of the most happy and prosperous here in this World together with the undoubted Certainty and Experience of the shortness of Mans Life should be sufficient for every one of us to be upon our Guard that we may not through a drowzy and careless neglect be excluded from the mansions of Happiness hereafter Alas what is more Obvious and Evident to us than that the Tyrant Death dogs us and overtakes us every where in variety of Accidents and Circumstances We can flee no where from his diligent persuit He Commits daily rapes upon some or other of the Mortal off-spring and calls us oft-times home to be eye-witnesses of his Conquests gain'd over some or other of our near Accquaintance and Relations As at this time we are of his Conquest over this Lady who lays the silent Trophy of his

A SERMON PREACHED At Rolesbye in Norfolk on Wednesday the 12th of January 1680 81. AT THE FUNERAL OF Madam ANNA GLEANE The Late WIFE of THOMAS GLEANE Esq The only Son of Sir Peter Gleane of Hardwick in Norfolk Baronet By ROBERT PRATTANT M. A. and Rector of Thrigbye in Norfolk LONDON Printed for Joanna Brome at the Gun at the West-end of St. Paul's Church-yard 1682. JOB 14.14 If a Man dye shall he live again All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come WE had the sad Occasion this day of meeting at the house of Mourning to assist at the Funeral Solemnity a young Lady lately deceasd of whom I think my self bound to speak more hereafter and are at length come to perform the last Rights of Parentation and to leave her body in the silent Dormitory of a Grave in the sure hopes and Expectation of a Glorious and Joyful Resurrection But before we come to that last Office of Humanity and Christian Kindness to the dead it may not be disadvantageous to us the Melancholy Surviving who must shortly follow and make our bed with her in the dust to make some suitable Use and Improvement from the Solemn Occasion now before us and which I have reason to believe was the main and only intent of this Person when living if at any time she spake of a Sermon to be preached at her Funeral No doubt but it was but of Charity to the living when as to my knowledge she was a Person of that Judgment and singular Modesty that as she was assur'd that no Circumstance or Action of ours could concern her so neither did she Affect any vain Praises or bigg Elogies when dead who stood so little in need of any artificial dawbing or flattering Commendation whilst living And according to this Caution and having bespoke your Candor on this behalf I shall without offering any Apology for my self betake me to the Office that is at present assign'd me and to the part which is allotted me at this sad Solemnity And certainly the occasion it self is a prompt and speaking one and gives you a fuller and plainer Funeral Sermon a nearer Prospect of Mortality and of the Instability and uncertainty of humane Life then all the labour'd Art of the most exquisite Preacher is able to do For if we Consider and make Remarques as we ought if we Apply this instance home to our selves we shall be sufficiently Convinc'd of the tottering Condition of Man here in this World and that even in his best Estate he is altogether subject to Vanity For would you be satisfi'd of the Lastingness and Perpetuity of these things which are by most own'd to Aggrandize the Fortunes and Conditions of Men here in this World to make them to be looked upon and admir'd by their fellow Mortals and you shall find that the most Considerable though not all of them have had their termination and fatal period some little time since in the Person here before us and who was not arrived to the Age of two and thirty If you enquire after Beauty Affability and Candor of mind the most native Sweetness and Obligingness the most innocent Freedom and unsuspected Mirth which was not often neither whether you Consider the advantages of the Body or inward Graces and Beauties of the mind you will find that all of them have had their fatal period in this Person whose early Funerals we now Celebrate and whom we have reason to believe is remov'd into the peaceable Regions of Eternal Rest They are all ceas'd and vanished as to us ghastlines takes up the room of Beauty and all that was once Lovely and Charming is withdrawn and shrouded under a dark Cloud cast over her Body by the indispensible Law of Mortality But that I may the better Assist your Meditations and direct you to the Use that ought to be made of this and all such like Occasions I shall betake my self to a Consideration of the Pious and stedfast Resolution of Holy Job here all the days c Now that which put him and ought to put all Wise and Considering Men into this devout Frame and Posture of mind of a Constant and Serious Watching against the day of Change and Desolution was the Consideration of the misery and shortness of Life here and the firm belief of a State hereafter He Learnt this Wisdom from his Faith and from a Consideration of the Afflictions that he himself had undergone and at present Labours under with which he had been thick surrounded having liv'd formerly in the greatest Prosperity and from a deep sense of the misery and shortness of Life and Certainty of Death he resolv'd to Continue in a Constant and setled Preparation for it and patiently to wait that happy Change and alteration which should set him free and disengage him from all the Miseries and Distractions of this Life He lays down the shortness and withal the certain Miseries of Mans Life Vers 1. Man that is born of a Woman c And forasmuch as he is assur'd how that time once past is never to be recall'd and that there is no returning to Life here again therefore he resolves to live in a Constant expectation of that happy Change that should set him free from the Tedders and gross Bonds of the Body and gain him an happy Liberty and Freedom 'T is true soles occidere redire possint the Sun that sets to us may reneuw its Circling Course and visit our Horizon again and plants as Job here Philosophically argues may nay oftimes do revive and sprout again but 't is not so with Man when his Sun sets it will be a Constant gloomy night with him and when his Trunk be once cut down it it will lye sapless and wither and not take root and flourish again while the Restitution of all things and that the Heavens shall be no more If a Man dy shall c. Yea doubtless he shall live again but not here and it was in Expectation of that that the Author of these Words an eminent Instance of humane Misery and Sorrows resolv'd patiently to wait till such time as that happy Change should be for he assures us elsewhere with the most Heroick and Illustrious Faith I know that my Redeemer liveth c. It was from this Principle that he not only waited for but even Courted the Approach of death and long'd for the Grave more then some Men do for deep hid Treasures It was not out of any false or mistaken Principle not like to any doubtful Platonick Hypothesis or out of any sullen Passion or Discontent though he lay under strong Temptations to it from afflicting Circumstances he was in But it was from the true Theory of the Divine Nature and Attributes and from thence an Assurance fetch'd of an After-State wherein he should receive the reward of all his sufferings and hard Measure here I was from the true Religion that he had an

Victory But yet she speaks to us from the bed of Dust shortly to expect the same Change that she has so lately undergone and to provide for it And sure it is but reasonable that we should be warn'd from such a Memento when a Person not yet arriv'd to the prime of her years of still blooming youth of the greatest Innocency and Modesty and of the most universal Kindness and Obligingness amongst all she Convers'd has sometime since had her fatal summons and is at present withdrawn to the Chambers of Death Besides we ought to think our selves the more nearly Concern'd in this accident and that if it had happened to any Body as of late it has done to a Considerable and Known number here amongst us Death being usually the more apprehended and regarded by us when we observe him to be advanced into the neighbourhood and that we know not how soon he may Call at our own houses and visit our particular beds And from this Consideration let me briefly recommend to you all that at present I design'd from this Subject and from this Occasion that you live in a Constant and fixed preparation of mind of welcoming Death when or wheresoever he Comes to you that you put not off your Conversion and Repentance while a more Convenient season Knowing that it will be too late for that when we once Come into the State into which the Person now before us is entered when that the faint Tapers are lighted and that Blacks and Cyprus adorn our Funerals Let us duely wait for our Change all the days of c before the night approaches wherein no Man can Work before we be invelop'd with darkness and a sable Cloud and overtaken with the Shadow of Death and we find our selves possess'd of the Land where all are things forgotten I have now finished what I intended to the living but I have some reason to fear that I shall not be just to the memory of the dead If I premise not some particulars touching this Excellent and Vertuous Personage And here I shall not detain this Audience by tracing up things and viewing her innocent Behaviour and Carriage from her Infancy and Cradle which I had not the power or opportunity of knowing and therefore am not fit to declare them to others nor shall I mix any thing that is in the least to me doubtful or uncertain but shall only present you with a just and impartial Account of some of the most Considerable particulars which I took notice of during the time I liv'd in the family of which She was one of the nearest Relations And which upon being an Eye-witnest and upon my own Observation I know and therefore dare publish to be true As for her Birth and Extraction which was more than ordinary for her grateful Comeliness and Behaviour as She her self did not desire they should be taken notice of whilst living nor valu'd her self upon the score of them so neither shall I now She is dead Call them over to your Remembrance Knowing that we are beholden to others for those and such like Advantages and therefore do not deserve to reap any unjust Commendations from them they having never been in our power I shall therefore Consider her in the Capacity of a Christian and as to her natural disposition which doubtless She had much improv'd from the Rules of her Holy Religion She was very Constant as to the Exercises and Offices of Religion very exemplary as to her Piety and Devotion and would not willingly omit any Opportunity of attending at Gods Sanctuary She would oft utter her dislike of the Dissenting Parties from the Church of England and had all such been of her happy Temper of so great Humility and Self-denyal of such Condescension and Dove-like Simplicity the Jars and Struglings that are amongst us had long since Ceased and we had remained an happy People United in Charity and Discipline as well as in Faith Nor did her Religion set loosely by her like that of too many who shew it self only in outward forms in external Pomp and Gaudiness but it was Solid and Real and if any of late have been endow'd with the Ornaments of a meek and humble Spirit She was One. Nor was her Devotion only to be taken notice of when in the public Temple and in the view of a great Number but it was remarkable at home and my self have taken notice Ministring the Office of Prayer in the Family that if at any time She had escap'd the Opportunity of joyning in that Holy Duty which was very rarely and then too through a mistake of the time or some other Occasion that was not her fault She would put on the greatest seeming anger and displeasure that I have observ'd in her at any time which discover'd how that She looked upon it to be a more grievous Disapointment to be absent from their Company at that time when they were about that Solemn and Religious Exercise than at any other Nor were her more retired and Closet Devotions less Constant and Frequent and I have sometimes taken notice that she hath privately withdrawn when their company have been that otherwise She approv'd of which could be for no other Reason then that in solitude She might enjoy far better Company by fervent Prayer and Meditation maintaining an humble Familiarity and Converse with Heaven which I ever look'd upon to be a rare Instance in one of her years and fortune Nor was her Duty only towards God remarkable but likewise as the effects of that towards her natural Parents which I have heard them oft-times express with the most Joyful and Concern'd Resentments Nor do I Remember that ever I heard her taxt for Disobedience by them in any particular but always applauded for her Constant Affection and Duty which was as Early as She was Capable of Understanding what Obligations She lay under to them and sometime before that And though She did not experience that Reward promis'd to Obedience under the Old Law of having her days lengthned out here on Earth yet we need not question but that will be made good to her by vast Immortality in a far better State What shall I say more for neither the Time nor yet my Temper or Capacity will allow me at present to enter into the Common places of Rhetorick or to Expatiate on her just praises She was the most Obsequious and Respective Wise her Love to her Husband was wonderful surpassing the Love of most Women And his to her's equal so that I dare here declare the Lovingest Couple I knew are here parted And as a farther Argument of her Love to him the Care and Indulgence to her Children as many as Providence was pleased to let live with her was extraordinary and giving place to none To sum up all in this short Character of her She was of the most Bountiful Liberal and Courteous Temper of a Generous Obliging Nature She never willingly Disobliged any nor