Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	hell_n	life_n	soul_n	7,851	5	4.9047	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60406	A Christian's work and time of working In a sermon preached on the death of Mr. John Sorrel the younger, of Hyde-Hall in Great Waltham in the county of Essex. By Benjamin Smith, vicar there.	Smith, Benjamin, 1642 or 3-1714.	1675 (1675)	Wing S4021A; ESTC R220555	39,208	48

since they cannot there put us upon work their effects can be nothing but Eternal desperation Let us then be wise in time let us remember that there is no work in death and withall remember that the night cometh and let this excite us to diligence in our duty and hasten us to work the works of him that sent us while it is day 2. VVork may be emplyed in mending what is done ill or amiss And in this sense too there is no man can work when the night comes It will be too late then to review our works with hopes to repair their defects Alas the time for these things is at an end and 't is now too late as well to mend as to make Repentance and Amendment are the works of this life single repentance is part of the misery of the next Hell is full of Penitents for there is none that comes into that place but does soon repent him of his former negligence and that he improved his time no better that he minded no more the grand Concern and made no better provision for his eternal state but this sorrow cannot end in joy nor this repentance be to salvation for 't is a repentance without a reformation and a sorrow for sin when 't is too late to forsake it As Death is inexorable and will not be deferred by entreaties so is the judgment too and will not be altered by fruitless tears and vain promises of amendment Let St. Augustin read us our doom in this case Venturum est judicium crit tunc poenitentia sed infructuosa The judgment is coming and then men will repent but it will be fruitless It will be so in respect of the product of fruits meet for repentance the forsaking of sin and leading a new life and therefore it will be fruitless too as to the ends of repentance or as to the promises that attend upon our repentance here the blotting out of our sins and a remembring our transgressions no more VVhat we do must be done here there is no returning from the dead to reform nor is there room for repentance and reformation in the grave Let the Papist talk of their Purgatory as a middle state after death where souls make satisfaction for their neglects in this life and being purified by fire pass from thence to heaven The Scripture tells us of no middle state after death between heaven and hell and of no satisfaction but what Christ made by his obedience and sufferings When we die we are determined to one of the two and all souls pass either to eternal bliss from whence is no fear of falling or to everlasting wo from whence is no hopes of returning And what satisfaction soever can be made to divine justice for sin it must either be obtained by saith in Christ and that 's onely attainable here or else 't is made by our sufferings after death and there no sufferings of ours can suffice that are not eternal So that what-ever can conduce to our eternal welfare is onely to be done and obtained here while we live there is hope if death once seize us our state is determined our work is at an end it's necessary then that we work the works of him that sent us while it is day and that because the night cometh when no man can work Let the use of all then be to perswade us to remember and practice our duty now in time to improve the present season and to use the day while it lasts and since we have heard that there is in death no doing the work that we left undone nor any mending that which was done ill let all serve to stir us up to diligence both at and in our work 1. To diligence at our work That is Constantly to employ our selves in the works of him that sent us to let pass no opportunity of serving God either in the duties of his worship or in doing good in our generations Our work is great our time is short we had need make haste and ply it hard Death is coming and the period of our dayes is at hand where it will be too late to set about our business let us then now work the works of him that sent us and happy is he whom when his Lord comes he shall find so doing 2. Let it stir us up to diligence in our work To do well what we do for there is no amendment in the grave Let us not think that any thing will serve the turn or that God will be put off with our work slightly done As we must do the works that God hath appointed so must they be done as he requires or else we may perish for failing in the manner of our duties as well as for neglecting them as to their matter Death will be sad to the unbeliever and the lewd and prosane may well dread that day but it will be as sad with the hypocrite as with them for the hypocrite and unbeliever shall have their portion together For he that has done his work onely to be seen of men or barely to stop the mouth of conscience he that works onely for by ends and employs himself though in the works that are required yet for other ends than God appointed serves himself and not God and becomes a slave to himself and his own interest and has not done the works of him that sent him because he did his works for other ends than God allows The judgment is at hand and as we shall be judged according to our works so shall our works be call'd into judgment too and be severely scann'd what they are and happy is he and onely he whose work will abide the trial And now to shut up all in the words of the Preacher Eccles 12. 13 14. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole duty of man For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil And thus I have done with my Text but the occasion upon which it was chosen administers farther matter of discourse still As I have spoken thus much to you from these words so I suppose 't is expected I should speak something more concerning the person whose Decease gave occasion to this Sermon You are not ignorant that my usuall Custom heretofore in this Case has been either to be silent altogether or to say but little For I confess my self too little a friend to that common usage to give a fair Encomium of a person whom I knew not very well meerly because it has been a custom to praise Folks when they are dead and to conclude a Funeral Sermon with a Commendation But I know you expect that I should break both my Custom and my Silence here and this I am the rather inclin'd to do because my acquaintance with him while he liv'd makes me able to speak truth

said of it is that it cometh this makes the thing certain but there is no determination when it comes and this leaves the time of it uncertain as to us 'T is true it may be coming and yet may be a great way off and it is as true it may be at hand and just now at the door And this is a thing so daily made good to us by Experience that it justly becomes matter of great wonder that men regard and lay it to heart no more we see daily men likely to live long on a sudden cut down and their days are come to an end when we thought they had been scarcely arrived at the middle of them And we have now another fresh instance of it set before us and here is one gone to his long-home who according to the course of Nature had lived but half the Age of a man And this still adds more force to the Reason To be mindful of our business and to hasten our Work for we know not how so on we may dye Instances of sudden and unexpected Mortality are not rare which makes it the more to be admired that those that remain will flatter themselves with the hopes of a longer time here when they see so great experiences to the contrary How mad are we then that put off the doing of that Work which is so necessary to be done to that time which it is absolutely uncertain whether we shall ever have or no. That our Work be done is necessary that if we neglect the present time we shall have another to do it in is uncertain so that we venture our Souls upon a Contingency and hang our Eternal Happiness upon that which may very possibly fail us A piece of Imprudence that were ridiculous in our Worldly affairs and yet men are not ashamed thus to act in a case that concerns Eternity The Plow-man will take his Season and the Marriner his Wind and Tide the Trades man will not let slip his Market and every man thinks it wisdom to take a good Offer while we may have it for fear we should miss of the like again and yet in things of far greater Concern than these we are not aware that we egregiously play the fool's in turning off our business till hereafter and in letting slip the fair proffers and opporrunities of the present season So sad and miserable a thing it is to be blind in Spiritual things and to be habituated to Evil. An ordinary prudence would teach us to act more like men and to be more diligent in our Work in the time we have since we are not sure of any more for the night cometh and death is sure but the time is uncertain and no man knows how soon it may come And thus the consideration of Death is and ought to be a Motive to us to improve our time and work while we may for we must dye and that ere-long and who knows how soon but then we have to enquire into the reason or strength of this Motive which makes the consideration of death to come an Argument for our present diligence and that lies in these words When no man can Work 2. This is then the Second and strongest part of the Reason When the night is come no Work can be done in it We had need be diligent in our Work while we have time for if death comes it will be too late to do it or to set about it we must work now in this life or not at all Psalm 6. 5. In death says the Psalmist there is no remembrance of thee All our VVorks there cease death puts an end to every contrivance and design and whatsoever remains to do when we come to die remains undone to all Eternity for the state of death is an unalterable state As the Tree falls so it lies and as death leaves us so judgment finds us what we are then such we continue for ever for the night being once come no man can work Now our working may be considered as it is employed either 1. In doing what was never done before or 2. In mending what was ill done and in both Cases the night comes when no man can work our state is fixt by death and our works are at an end both wayes and then we can neither begin any work nor pollish nor finish what was before begun 1. VVe work in doing what was never before done but no man can work thus in death If we have not begun to serve God in this life it will be too late to set to that VVork when we are dead for that state and time is all appointed for reward and nothing at all for Work it will be too late then to begin to love or serve God for then it will be only enquired what we have already done and not what we would now do This is the time that is given us in order to Eternity and upon the improvement of this the determination of that Eternity whether it be to happiness or misery do's depend After death succeeds the Judgment and every man shall be judged according to his Works Our VVorks then are done when we die and after death nothing more remains but to receive our judgment according to them This is the time of our VVork that the time of our VVages here is our Seed time there is our Harvest Gal. 6. 7 8. And whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap for he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting This then strongly enforces upon us the duty of working while it is day for if we dye and leave our VVork undone there is no finishing of it in the Grave Let us weigh them and consider how sad their state how miserable their condition must needs be who are prevented by death and die and their work is undone VVho can lie down in Everlasting burnings and who can stand before an incensed God for our God is a consuming fire How sad would it be to see a Soul rouling in endless flames and too late cursing its own negligence and folly how sad would it be to hear him wishing in vain for the time that was idled away and mispent and to see the anguish of his Soul because his work is undone and now remains no time to do it And let us suppose this to be our case for if we are not wise betimes it will certainly be so Let us suppose our Souls in such a state as this is that we may awaken our selves betimes and while we have yet a day upon Earth may be wise to employ and lay it out for God For happy are they that see their folly betimes and are betimes convinc'd that that their work is yet to do while the time yet lasts in which it may be done Sad and unspeakably miserable are those convictions which are first found in Hell for