Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	know_v	life_n	sin_n	13,177	5	4.8375	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29157	A sermon preached at the funeral of Thomas Shadwell, Esq. late Poet-Laureat, and Historiographer-Royal, who was interred at Chelsea, November 24, 1692 by Nicholas Brady ...	Brady, Nicholas, 1659-1726.	1693 (1693)	Wing B4176; ESTC R19587	9,404	30

inconsiderate as to have no prospect of the Misery that attends him yet at best he sees nothing before him but Darkness and Confusion a Land of Silence where all things are forgotten It is therefore absolutely necessary that we live here as Probationers for Heaven and Happiness if we expect hereafter to be partakers of that Blessedness which is the Portion of those dead who die in the Lord. You have been told already that to die in the Lord is to die in his Fear and in his Favour But how shall he die in the Fear of the Lord whose Days have been consumed in the Contempt of his Commandments Or how shall he die in the Favour of the Lord whose Life has been full of rebellious Provocations He may die indeed under the Terrours of the Lord but not in his Fear or perhaps flatter'd by his own deceitful Heart but not favour'd by the Almighty In deed could we all know our End and the Number of our Days and were every one of us certified how long he has to live it might seem tolerably safe to devote some part of our Life to Sin and Folly reserving at the same time a considerable Portion for the After-Exercises of Piety and Devotion we might then for some years indulge our sinful Appetites and set by so many more for the working out our Salvation But alas we know not how soon Death may seize upon us his Arrest may be sudden surprizing and unlooked for we ought therefore to live in the constant expectation and be conversant perpetually in our Preparations for it Watch ye therefore says our Saviour for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh And what will become of us if our Lord when he comes shall find us sleeping It will then be in vain to ask when he will be no more entreated in vain to seek him when be will not be found in vain to knock when the Gate is shut against us then if we cry never so much Lord Lord open unto us we shall receive no other Answer but a positive Denial Verily I say unto you I know you not Depart from me ye workers of iniquity This Life is the Day wherein we must work the Night of Death is drawing on apace wherein no Man can work and besides the great Danger of being surprized by that how madly does he proceed that squanders away the Morning and the Noon of Life and sets not about his Days work until the Evening How comfortless every night must that Man lie down to his necessary Repose that knows not but he may wake in another World and yet finds himself to be unprepared for it Can any Man be secure of dying in the Lord that takes no care to go to Bed in his Favour and yet cannot tell but he may die before he rises He that would make sure of so blessed a Condition should live every Day as if it were his last be always disintangled from the Cares of this World as if he were then upon taking his leave of it have his thoughts still fixed upon a Blessed Eternity as if he were just launching out into it for our Lord may come in a day when we look not for him and in an hour that we are not aware of and therefore the only sure Way not to be taken unprovided is to be every hour prepared as if that were it It is an easie thing to say I will repent to morrow I will consider my ways and fit my self for my end but are we sure that to-morrow is our own And may not our Case be like the rich Man 's in the Gospel whose Soul was required of him that very night The Disappointment in this Case is so very dreadful being not only the loss of a few hours which we proposed to our selves here but of a joyful Eternity in the World which is to come that it will highly concern every reasonable Man timely to provide against so dismal a Misfortune and this can be done no better a way than by a stedfast Faith and an uniform Obedience 1. Then a stedfast Faith is an excellent Preparative to qualifie us at all times for dying in the Lord. Faith says the Apostle is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen by this we depend upon the Promises of God and settle to our selves a firm assurance of them this discloses to us the Secrets of the invisible World and makes us familiar with that Land of Spirits it sets Heaven and Happiness before our Eyes it lifts up the Heads of those eternal Gates and sets wide open the everlasting Doors it gives us a Relish and Antepast of that Glory which shall one day be revealed and makes us taste and see how good the Lord is By this Stephen saw the Glory of God and Jesus standing on the Right Hand of the Almighty by this St. Paul was rap'd into the third Heaven and heard and saw such things as were unspeakable through this he desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ this made all the Sufferings of Martyrs and Confessors easie to them and delightful this supports the Faithful in the Agonies of Death and makes up in a very great measure the Blessedness of those dead which die in the Lord. But 2. An uniform Obedience is an excellent Preparative to qualifie us at all times for dying in the Lord. This secures to us those precious Advantages which Faith but reveals and entitles us to the Treasures which that only discloses this fits us for the Enjoyment of a Blessed Immortality and applies to us the Promises of eternal Felicity that indeed shews us what Heaven is but this assures us that it is ours that gives us a View of everlasting Happiness this puts us actually in possession of it For Christianity my Brethren is not a bare Speculation it is defined to be a Practical Science and the main intent of it is to regulate our Actions It is true indeed in order to that it must inform our Understandings but if it operates upon us no farther it only enhances the Heinousness of our Transgressions by making every offence become a sin against Knowledge And therefore we find the Holy Apostle when he compares together the three great Christian Graces giving the Preference to that which is Practical to the prejudice of the others which are chiefly Contemplative Now remain says he Faith Hope Charity these three but the greatest of these is Charity He then who is always conversant in the Duties of his Profession always employed in the Exercises of Devotion and keeps a Conscience void of offence towards God and towards man he is the Man who let Death come when it will is never found dejected or unprovided Blessed is that wise and faithful servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing he takes the surest and most infallible way to secure to himself whenever he shall die the

Imprimatur Novemb. 28. 1692. Carolus Alston A SERMON PREACHED At the Funeral OF THOMAS SHADWELL Esq LATE Poet-Laureat and Historiographer-Roya● who was Interred at Chelsea November 24. 1692. By Nicholas Brady Minister of St. Catharine Cree-Church and Chaplain to his Grace the Duke of Ormond Published at the Earnest Request of the Friends of the Deceased LONDON Printed for James Knapton at the Crown in St. Paul ' Church-Yard MDCXCIII Mr. BRADY's SERMON PREACHED At the Funeral OF THOMAS SHADWELL Esquire REV. XIV and part of Verse 13. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. The whole Verse runs thus And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labour and their Works do follow them IS Death then a Blessing Is that King of Terrours an Object of Desire Is the common Aversion of human Nature a thing fit to be courted and embraced Can the first Curse of God upon Sin and Disobedience become a just Matter of Interest and Advantage Is Blessedness the Companion of Rottenness and Corruption And does it dwell so meanly and reti●edly How much mistaken then are the Generality of Mankind who seek for it in the noisy Tumults of a busie Court amongst a glittering Collection of Gold and Jewels in the divertive Society of the Witty and the Beautiful when it is only to be found within the silent Chambers of the Grave amongst a ruinous Heap of Dust and Ashes with mouldring Bones and putrifying Carcases This is a Paradox so strange and so surprizing so hard to Flesh and Blood so contrary to the Notions which are generally entertained and so seemingly contradictory in its self that it needed no less than a Divine Authority to usher it in and a Celestial Herald to Proclaim and Recommend it And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead But is there no Distinction in the Grave no sort of Difference between the Godly and the Wicked Is Blessedness the common and indifferent Lot of both In vain then do we wish or endeavour to die the Death of the Righteous and to have our latter end like his Death will most certainly arrive and if this Supposition be true Blessedness will as certainly attend it and the foolish Epicure may be justified in his Saying Let us eat and drink for to morrow we die This is an Opinion too loose to be admitted and draws after it a Train of Consequences too fatal to be allowed and therefore we find a necessary Condition specified and annexed by which the Dead must be qualified for Blessedness Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. To die in the Lord is to die in his Fear and in his Favour to die with the Testimony of a good Conscience in relation to ones self and with a well grounded Confidence in respect of God to have the happy Entertainment when he casts his Eyes backwards of a well-spent Life and the comfortable Prospect when he looks forwards of a Blessed Immortality to have those Words continually ringing in his dying Ears of Well done good and faithful servant as a due Character of his Life past and enter thou into the joy of thy Lord as a happy Draught of that which is to come to fall asleep as it were in the Arms of his Redeemer and to be lulled to his long Repose in the Embraces of his Saviour to lay down his Life with a certain Assurance of taking it up again as knowing that it is hid with Christ in God to go out of this World with a firm Persuasion of entring into a better to have a lively Faith within a dying Body and a Hope that flourishes under the Decays of Nature to have an intire Resignation to the Divine Will and to put his Death as well as Life into the Hands of God This is the full and persect meaning of that short but comprehensive Expression To die in the Lord and since we find Blessedness annexed to that Condition it should forcibly engage us to endeavour its Attainment Blested c. In my following Discourse therefore upon this Solemn Occasion I shall insist upon these two Particulars First I shall lay down the proper Method which we ought to make use of in order to attain to the happy Condition of dying in the Lord. Secondly I shall prove the thing affirmed in my Text that Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. First then I shall lay down the proper Method which we ought to make use of in order to attain to the happy Condition of dying in the Lord. 1. To die in the Lord is a thing so valueable in it self and attended with Circumstances so precious and considerable that we cannot suppose its Purchase to be easie but must allow the Price of such a Blessing to bear some Proportion to the Greatness of its Advantages We cannot therefore promise our selves with any manner of security that it shall be the Reward of a few sick Prayers or a Death-bed Repentance they who would be certain of dying in the Lord must stedfastly resolve to live in him and that whole Life is happily laid out by which we are assured of so blessed a Conclusion Some perhaps may flatter themselves that a happy End is not inconsistent with a wicked Life that the Mercy of God will work out their Salvation even in their own despight that they may enjoy the World here and Heaven hereafter that they may live to the Flesh and yet die in the Lord But let us not thus deceive our own Souls God is not thus mocked his Mercy is truly infinite but so are also his Justice and his Truth nor will he so far be swayed by that tho his beloved his darling Attribute as to forfeit or forego the other two there must be some satisfaction made to these before we can enjoy the Refreshings of the former otherwise this God of Mercy will laugh at our Calamities and mock when our Fear comes He who totally applies himself to the Enjoyments of this Life and manages his time as if there were no other can never expect any Comfort or Satisfaction when he is entring upon a State that he so little thought of he is tied and wedded to the things of this World and it is a tearing him from all that he values or esteems to bring him to that Passage which leads into another To such a Man Death comes arrayed with all his Pomp of Terrour if he looks upon that World which he is about to take leave of he finds that he is parting with his dearest Companion the delight of all his Senses and the Comfort of his Soul if he looks upon that World which he is about to go into he has made no Acquaintances there secured no Interests engaged no Friendships to render his future Abode delightful and agreeable if he is so stupid and