Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	heaven_n	life_n	live_v	8,611	5	5.4859	4	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

them In a word so much of a Piece was she to her self in the Practice of all Christian Virtue and in all the great Lines of her Duty that she gave a Grace and Luster to every Relation wherein she stood A Friend she was to the excess of Bounty and Liberality and her Retributions bore proportion to the Dignity of her Station rather than to the Exigencies of the Persons upon whom they were conferr'd like Alexander she consider'd what was fit for a Princess to give in kindness more than what was decent for a Subject to expect and receive And what may seem a Paradox to some Peoples Ears She was a most Dutiful Daughter to the highest Degree and Example of Obedience and never gave a just cause of Offence to her Father For if People will be descanting upon the exploded Topick of filling the Vacant Throne and make this an exception let them consider in answer to their Objections the necessity of the thing and the call of God for it and withal the Obligations She had of paying Obedience to her Husband in the first place sooner than to her Father But to go on and consider her in the Relation She stood to her Royal Consort a Wife She was precisely observant to oblige and hit the humour of her Royal Husband from the smallest to the greatest things and never was a pair more sutably matcht that more carefully sought their mutual satisfaction or made more equal Returns of Love and Affection Provident and Careful She was in the management of all his Great Concernments and this appear'd in her Wise Administration of the Government when the necessity of our Affairs and the Peace of Europe requir'd the Annual Absence of the King to Head the Confederacy and to put Life and Soul and Vigour into the Hearts of our Allies In short She was such a Wife in whom the Heart of her Husband did safely trust But Death has now dissolv'd the Union of this Royal Pair for so it pleas'd God to order it that whilst this Excellent Lady was preparing her self for the Holy Communion upon Christmas-Day She was seiz'd with that Disease which She was sensible would prove Mortal to her She then dismist all worldly Laws and Thoughts and every thing that might be the least hindrance to her in her Preparation for another World She then arraign'd and judg'd all the Actions of her Life with the strictest Scrutiny and could find nothing to affect her Mind with Grief but only this that She was fearful She had set her Heart too much upon the King So scrupulous was She lest a just natural Affection should become immoderate and prove criminal and her Love to God suffer any diminution by her Fondness to the King Happy Saint that upon her Death-Bed had no other matter to condemn her self for who would not purchase such a Peace at the highest Price whatever Her Hopes of Heaven were so ravishing and delightful that the Temptations of the World could not allure nor Death frighten her For being Righteous She had Hope in Death Prov. 14.32 Thus Liv'd and thus Dy'd this Incomparable Princess as ever Adorn'd the Throne of England in a Calm of Conscience in stedfast Faith in Peace with God in Communion with his Church and in perfect Charity with all the World And though we justly mourn and lament a National Loss in her Death yet let it not be without this Consolation that She certainly died the Death of the Righteous and her last End was like His. FINIS

and Deportment in his Sickness or upon his Death-Bed As the Temperament of the Body has a great influence upon the Operations of the Soul so it happens that there is a kind of Sympathetick Motion betwixt them and when the Soul is in disorder the Body suffers too All the Passions have had their Martyrs and without any Affection or Pain to the Body there have been frequent Instances of Men that have been sacrific'd to the sudden Transports and Eruptions of Joy as well as overwhelm'd with the oppression of Sorrow For the Spirits being not able to contain that excess of Joy or Grief which sometimes arises from the Contingencies of this World are suffocated and depress'd by the Weight and the Soul seems rather to be extinct than the Body Now if the Operations of the Mind when they are only fix'd upon an Earthly Object and excited from a disappointment here are so intense and violent as to change the Constitution and alter the whole Mass of Blood if they do not only help forward a Disease but are sufficient to begin and complete it with success surely when our Grief is rais'd from the Fear of being disappointed of Heaven the Operations of the Mind will be more precipitate and swift the Agonies of the Soul will be more acute Despair will then prey upon the Vitals and encrease the Malady When we have the Scene of all that is dear to us render'd for ever miserable in the most exquisite Torments when we contemplate the Resurrection of the Dead where the Graves are open and return their Trust where all the Particles of Man are reunited and the scatter'd Limbs knit together into Shape and Form and all this to make the Soul and Body that have been Companions in Sin to be so in Woe and Affliction and to roul upon Flames to all Eternity when I say we have all these things in our apprehensions we cannot think that the Soul being entertain'd with such dismal Objects will be at leisure to perform the common Functions or Offices of Life So that this being the Case of all wicked Men upon the prospect of their leaving the World it must be agreed that there is generally such a horrour of Mind upon them at the fearful expectation of these things as will aggravate their Distemper and defeat all the methods and application of Physick for their Remedy or Recovery For the Sins which they have all their Life-time been Slaves to will then turn Vassals and be Obsequious in their Attendance they will then croud the memory but it will be to no other purpose but only to distract it Now though at all times and more especially at the Hour of Death a just survey of the Actions of a Man's Life and a particular Reflexion upon all the Sins we have been guilty of here is very necessary as it tends to Abhorrence to beget Repentance and procure atonement for them yet so it happens that where there is no Provision made against them before-hand and they are not satisfied for by piece-meal they come in a full Body like Flocks of Creditors upon the miscarriage of a Debtor without any appearance of receiving satisfaction there but only to set the Sinner's shame and inability of discharging all their claims before him But the righteous Man who brings all the Actions of the Day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Hierocles expresses it who brings all the Actions of the Day to the Tribunal of Conscience and makes things even betwixt his God and Him as he cannot have such a multitude of Sins to account for when he comes on his Death-Bed so when he falls into any Sickness he has no distracting Thoughts to afflict him neither is his Distemper aggravated by Impatience nor increased by Choler He submits to Death as it is the condition he accepted Life with as he is the Son of Adam he knows he must die but as he is the Son of the Second Adam he knows he must be made alive again And this consideration is the greatest inducement for us to wish to die the Death of the Righteous III. Namely The Certainty he has of a joyful Resurrection and the full assurance of enjoying Heaven and securing himself of Happiness to all Eternity This is the Joy and Hope the Crown and Ornament of a Christian and the Righteous Man that has this Hope is prepared and fortified against all Events He is inwardly assured that Heaven is his Portion and his Lot and design'd for his Inheritance from the Foundation of the World For as it is said that seldom any Man dies but he has some intimations of his approaching End within some secret Presages and Bodings of his final Dissolution in his Mind so certainly there is no Person upon the Confines of Death but either from his own management of himself in this World he can make a Judgment of his Future State or else from some Inspiration and Revelation within he can take a certain measure of it The Holy Ghost will not be wanting in gentle Breathings and Whispers to the Conscience to support the Just Man under all the pressures of Sickness as he did our Glorious QUEEN and to fortifie his well-grounded Expectation of Heaven That Spirit will diligently wait and attend to strengthen the Righteous Man's Hopes of a Resurrection to Glory there will in him be a Calm and certainly and an assurance of Heaven a Glory will incircle his Temples here and the Rays of Divinity will be shining round his Head But the Righteous Man's Death though every one covets it is not attainable barely by a lazie wish or an empty Desire there must be something of action on our parts to go along with it and our vigorous endeavours must be used as a necessary ingredient to attain it This the Saint of this Day knew and practis'd whose constant care it was to work out Her Salvation with Fear and Trembling who past through all the Mortification and Discipline and severity of Religion and by those Austerities which She inflicted upon her Body made her Soul more susceptible of good Impressions and sensible of the Charms of Goodness and by these Holy Exercises at last She arriv'd to the highest Perfection of Virtue that her Nature was capable of for the Eminency of her Piety was such as was sufficient to entail a Happiness to a Nation and leave a Blessing behind her and not all the Libellous Tongues united in one common Mass of Poyson ever had the Impudence to attack her Virtue or blemish her Innocence They had no Fault to object against her Conduct but only this that She durst be so generous with her Royal Partner to undertake the Protection of a Sinking Nation and to vindicate our common Rights Religion and Liberties which were all Invaded and just ready to be swallow'd up in Tyranny for which Act her Name will be for ever blessed amongst all Generations of Men and After-Ages will celebrate her Praises to the