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
A65610	The redemption of time, or, A sermon containing very good remedies for them that have mis-spent their time shewing how they should redeem it comfortably / by William Whately ... ; now published for general good by Richard Baxter.	Whately, William, 1583-1639.; Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.	1673 (1673)	Wing W1590; ESTC R38583	45,467	132

preparation for another world and because we may serve God in Patience and Heavenly desires and Hope when we cannot serve him by an active life But Christians and Heathens will proclaim those persons to be the shame of Nature who wilfully make thems●lves unprofitable and live in their hea●●h a● if they were d●s●bled by sickness and are condemned by their se●suality to a prison or a grave so that their Epitaph may be written on their door HERE LYETH SUCH A ONE rather than it can be said that Here he liveth O what a rock is a ha●dened heart How can you chuse but tremble when you think how you spend your dai●s and how all this time must be accounted for That those that have a death and judgement to prepare for a Heaven to get a Hell to scape and souls ro save can waste the day in careless idleness as if they had no business in the world and yet their consciences never tell them what they do and how all this must be reviewed Compare together the life of a Christian and of a fleshly bruit and you will see the difference Suppose then both Ladies and Gentlewomen of the same rank The one riseth as early as is consistent with her health with thoughts of thankfulness and love her heart a●so awaketh and rise●h up to him that night and day preserveth her she quickly dispatcheth the dressing of her body as intending no more but serviceable warm●h and modest decency and then she betaketh her self to her closet where she poureth out her soul in confession supplication thanksgiving and praise to God her Creator Redeemer and Sanctifier And as one that delighteth in the Law of the Lord she reverently openeth the sacred Scriptures and readeth over some part of it with some approved Commenta●y at hand in which she may see the sense of that which of her self she could not understand What is plain she taketh in digesteth and layeth up for practice And that which is too hard for her as a humble learner she waiteth in patience till by her Teachers help in time she can come to understand it As she hath leisure she readeth such holy Books as interpret and apply the Scriptures to inlighten her mind and resolve her will and quicken her affections and direct her practice And as she liveth in an outward Calling or course of Labour in which her Body as well as her Mind may have employment she next addresseth her ●elf to that she looketh with prudence and carefulness to her family she taketh care of her servants labours and their manners Neither suffering any to live in idleness nor yet so over-labouring them as to deny them some time to read the Scriptures and call upon God and mind their souls She endureth no prophane despisers of Piety or vicious persons in her house She taketh fit seasons to speak to her servants such sober words of holy counsel as tend to instruct and save their souls She causeth them to learn the principles of Religion in some Catechism and to read such good Books as are most suitable to their capacity In her affairs she avoideth both so●bid parsimony and wastful prod●gality and is thrifty and sparing not in covetousness but that she may do the more good to them that want She indulgeth no excess or riotousness in her house though the vices of the times should make it seem need●ul to her honour If she want recreation or have leisure for more work she steps out to her poor Tenants and neighbours houses and seeth how they live and what they want and speaketh to them some sober words of counsel about the state of their immortal souls and stirreth them up to a holy ●ife She caus●th the sou●s of the poor to bless her and is an example of piety to all about her But h●r special care and labour is in the education of her children if she have any She watcheth over them lest the company and example and language of ungod●y persons should infect them She causeth them to read the Scriptures and other holy Books and to learn the princip●es of Rel●gion and tea●heth them how to call upon God and give him thanks for all his mercies She acquainteth them with the sins of their depraved natures and laboureth to humble them in the sense th●reof She opene●h to them the Doctrine of mans salvation by Christ and the necessity of a new birth and of a heavenly nature She disgraceth all sin to them especially the radical master-sins even ignorance unbelief selfishness pride sensuality and voluptuousness the love of this world and unholiness of heart and life She sweetly and seriously insinuateeth into them the love and liking of faith and holiness and frequently enlargeth her spèech to them of the Greatness Wisdom and Goodness of God and what he is to man and how absolute●y we owe him a●l the service obedience and love that our faculties can possibly perform She sweetneth their thoughts of God and Godliness by telling them what God hath done for man and what he will be to his own for ever and by acquainting them with the reasons of a holy life and the folly of ungodly men and what a beastly thing it is to be sensual and to pamper and please this flesh which must shortly turn to dust and to neglect a soul which must live for ever She remembreth them oft that th●y must die and telleth them how great a cha●ge death makes and how the charge of Regeneration must prepare us for it She op●●●eth to ●hem the blessedness of holy souls that shall be for ever with the Lord and the misery of the damned who cast away themselves by the wilful neglect of the tim● of their visitation In a word it is her dai●y care and calli●g to prepare her children for the service of God and to be blessings to the world in their generation and to be happy themselves for evermore and to destroy and prevent that sin and wickedness which would make them a plague and curse in their generation Her meals are not lxurious nor long nor her feastings unnecessary to the wasting of estate or precious time but seasonable frugal charitable and pious intended to promote some greater good She keepeth up the constant performance of religious duties in her family not m●●king God with formal complement but wo●sh●pping him in reverence and serious devotion reading the holy Scriptures and seriously calling upon God and singing to him Psalms of praise If her mind need recreation she hath some profitab●e history or other fruitful books to read and variety of good works and a seasonable diversion to the affairs of her family instead of Cards and D●ce and the abused fooleries of the sensual world When she is alone her thoughts are f●uit●ul to her self either examining her heart and life or looking seriously into eternity or rejoycing her soul in the remembrance of Gods mercies or in the foresight of endless blessedness with him or in stirring

up some of his graces in her soul. When she is with others her words are savoury sober seasonable as the oracles of God for piety and truth tending to edification and to administer instruction and grace to the hearers and rebuking the idle ta●k or filthy scurrility ●r backbiting of any that would corrupt the company and discourse At evening she again returneth to the more solemn worshipping of God and goeth to rest as one that still waiteth when she is called to rest with Christ and is never totally unready for that call Thus doth she spend her daies and accordingly doth she end them being conveyed by Angels into the presence of her Lord and leaving a precious memorial to the living the poor lamenting the loss of her charity and all about lamenting the removal of a pattern of piety and righteousness and loving holiness the b●tter ●or the perfume of such a heavenly and amiable an example On the other side how d●fferent is the life of the sensual Ladies and Gentlewomen to whom I am now writing When they have indulged their sloth in unnecessary sleep till the precious morning hours are past they arise with thoughts as fruitless as their dreams Their talk and time till almost half the day is gone is taken up only about their childish trifling ornaments so long are they dressing themselves that by that time they can but say over or joyn in a few formal words which go for prayer it is dinner time for an Image of Religion some of them must have lest conscience should torment them before the time And when they 〈◊〉 sate out an hour or two at dinner in gratifying their appetites and in id●e talk they must spend the next hour in talk which is as idle A savoury word of the life to come must not trouble them nor interrupt their fleshly converse Perhaps they must next go to Cards or Dice and it may be to a Play house or at least on some uprofitable visitation or some worthless visitors that come to them must take up the rest of the afternoon in frothy talk which all set together comes to nothing but vanisheth as smoak And they chuse such company and such a course of life as shall make all this seem unavoidable and unnnecessary and that it would run them into contempt and great inconveniences if they did otherwise If they look after their affa●●s it is meerly through covetousness But more usually they leave that care to others that they may do nothing that is good for soul or body They use their servants as they do their beast● for their service only and converse with them as if they had no souls to save or lose They teach them by their example to speak vainly and live sensually and to forget the life to come Their children they love but as the bruits do their young They teach them how to bow and dance and carry themselves decently in the sight of men but never labour to heal their souls of ignorance unbelief and pride nor open to them the matters of everlasting consequence But rather perswade them that serious holiness is but hypocrisie and the obedience of Gods Laws is a needless thing They teach them by their example to curse and swear and lye and rail and to deride Religion or at least to neglect God and life eternal and mind only the transitory vanities of this life They leave them to Satan to wicked company and counsel and to their fleshly lusts and pride and when they have done take care only to get them suffi●ient maintenance to feed this sensual fire while they live They train them up for the service of sin and Satan that at age they may have Igno●ance and Vi●e s●fficient to make them the plagues and misery of their Country and to engage them in enmity against that Gospel and Ministry which is against their lusts that rebelling against Christ they may have at last the reward of Rebels instead of salvation In a word they do more against their poor childrens souls than all their enemies i● the world if not more than the Devil himself could do at least they most eff●ctually serve him for their childrens damnation Thus do they spend their daies and at night conclud● them as carelesly as they begun them And at death without a true conversion shall end them as miserably as they spent them sinfully And while they are pampering their flesh and saying I have enough I will eat d●ink and be merry they suddainly hear Thou fool this night shall thy soul be required and then whose shall all this be which thou possessest Luke 12.19 20. And when they have a while been cloathed in Purple and Silks and fared s●mptuosly every day th●y must hear at last Remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented And when the Time which they now despise is g●ne O what would they give for one other year or hour of such time to do the work which they now neglected Luk. 16.24 25 26. Matth. 25.8 9 10 11 12. Is there not a great difference now between these two sorts of persons in the expence of Time And is it any wonder if there be a difference in their rewards In Matth. 25.30 It is not on●y cast the whoremonger the drunkard the perjured the persecutor but cast the unprofitable servant into outer ●arkness there shall be weeping a●d gnashing of t●eth Compare I beseech you the Time which you spend 1. In idleness 2. In excessive sleep 3. In adorning you 4. In feasting and long meals 5. In curiosity and pomp employing most of your servants time in impertinences as well as your● own 6 In excessive wordly cares 7. In vain company and idle talk 8. In vain thoughts 9. In sensual recreations in cards dice huntings hawkings playes Romances fruitless books c. I say compare this Time with the Time which you spend in examining your hearts and lives and trying your title to eternal life in bewailing sin and begging mercy of God and returning thanks and praise to your great Benefactor in instructing your children and servants in visiting the sick relieving the poor exhorting one another in meditating on Eternity and the way thereto in learning the word and will of God and in the sanctified labours of your outward calling and let your consciences tell you which of these hath the larger share And whether those things which should have none and those which should have little have not almost all And whether God have not only the leavings of your flesh Gentlemen and Ladies I envy not your pleasures I have my self a body with its proper appetites which would be gratified as well as you And I have not wanted opportunity to grat●fie it If I thought that this were the most manly life and agreeable to reason and that we had no greater things to mind I could thus play away my

or reprehension too precise or strict grant me but this resonable request and I have my end Live in the World but with a soul that is awake that soberly considereth what haste Time maketh and how quickly thy glass will be run out how fast death is coming and how soon it will be with thee What a work it is to get a carnal unprepared soul to be renewed and made holy and fitted for another world What a terrible thing it will be to lie on a death-bed with a guilty Conscience unready to die and utterly uncertain whither thou must next go and where thou must abide for ever Foresee but what use of thy present times will be most pleasing or displeasing to thy thoughts at last and spend it now but as thou wilt wish thou hadst spent it and value it but as it is valued by all when it is gone Use it but as true Reason telleth thee will make most to thy endless happiness and as is most agreeable to the ends of thy Creation and Redemption and as beseemeth that man who soberly and often thinketh what it is to be either in Heaven or Hell for ever and to have no more but this present short uncertain life to decide that question which must be thy lot and to make all the preparation that ever must be made for an endless life I say do but thus lay out thy Ti●e as Reason should command a Reasonable creature and I desire no more I have warned thee in the words of truth and faithfulness The Lord give thee a heart to take this warning Thy compassionate Monitor Rich. Baxter Sept. 23. 1667. THE REDEMPTION OF TIME Ephes. 5.16 Redeem the Time because the dayes are evil WHilest I bethought my self of a portion of holy Writ to treat upon that might hold some agreement with the present season this short sentence offered it self unto my mind At the first I rejected it as impertinent but after a second and more serious view methought it was the most fit Scripture that I could make choice of on this occasion for howbeit it hath pleased the common sort of men to stile these festival dayes with the name of good times yet by reason of the gross abusage to which the corruption of men hath made them subject they may very well receive an alteration of their title and in a quite contrary phrase be termed evil dayes yea and that in the highest degree of all the worst of dayes Now in this time wherein time is so lavishly mis-spent I hope it cannot seem unconvenient or untimely to give a brief exhortation concerning the right use of Time These words which I have read lead us into that path being part of an exhortation begun in the former verse There in general he had exhorted them to be most strictly carefull of their wayes and to direct their course of life in such respective sort as they might deserve the name of wise not unwise men commending herein unto them and us that very strictness and preciseness wherewith the world hath now long since pickt a quarrel and fallen out And because this was but a general rule he seconds it with some particulars by which we may be led on to the like instances in other matters The first of these specials is placed in the well disposing o● Time in this verse Where having set down the duty of Christians in this behalf he backs it with a reason which in it self and to a spiritual understanding is most sound and firm but to the carnal judgement of a carnal man is void of all soundness and reason The duty is to buy out the Time to traffique with it as men do with wares and when it is in other mens hands as I may say to give something yea any thing that we may get it into our own hands for good uses He means that we should use our greatest care and diligence even that which we would employ in matters most nearly concerning us to win all the time we possibly can for the duties of Religion and Godliness His argument to confirm this exhortation is taken from the contrary if we look on it with a carnal eye it will seem inconsequent halting and not able to bear up the Conclusion it is because the days are evil that is the customs and manners of the greatest part of men that live are wicked and lewd Now because the number and rout of the world is so strongly bent to all manner of ungodliness as that they have even tainted the time itself and corrupted the very dayes the Apostle would therefore have the Ephesians and all other Christians so much the more industrious to take all seasons and occasions for the bettering of themselves Because other men are naught and stark naught therefore ought faithful Christians to be good and very good and to turn all opportunities to this end and use that they may be furtherances to make them good The world would have framed a more crooked conclusion from this ground and have said Because men are so generally and extremely bad for that is noted in saying the days are evil we must therefore needs strain courtesie a little and not be too strict lest we should be over much different from other men and incur the by-name of Singularists But the Apostle telleth us that because the waves of men are excessively disordered and full of naughtiness we should bestow so much the more pains that we might not be carried down the violent stream and deluge o● unsanctified living and unto this intent should earnestly watch and diligently take all good occasions of getting and doing good You see in part the meaning of this short sentence which containeth a few words indeed but is stuft full of worthy matter which according as my weakness can attain I shall strive to spread before your eyes unfolding it in such manner as that you may perceive the things that lay therein closely wrapped up before Doct. The point which the words offer to our consideration at the first sight is this That all Christians ought to be very good husbands for their time Good hours and opportunities are merchandize of the highest rate price and whosoever will have his soul thrive must not suffer any of these bargains of Time to pass him but must buy up and buy out all the minutes thereof No man of trade can be more careful to chaffer and deal in the most gainful things that pertain to his occupation than we should be to deal in this ware of Time wherein every Christian is or should be a well taught and practised dealer As such kind of men if they can either make mony themselves or borrow it of their friends yea or else such is the greediness of men take it up of the Usurer will not let slip any commodity wherein they have skill and are perswaded that it will bring in large profit within a short time of return so should every good