Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A84372
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Christianity in short or The way to be a good Christian· Recommended to the use of such as want either time or capacity for reading longer and learneder discourses. By C. Ellis author of the Gentile-sinner.
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Ellis, Clement, 1630-1700.
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1682
(1682)
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Wing E552aA; ESTC R229363
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19,559
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74
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what he is the same for ever God is Almighty able to do all things Omniscient knowing all things infinitely Wise in ordering all things God is Infinitely good and the Fountain of all goodness Holy and Just and Merciful God is self-sufficient perfectly blessed and happy in himself alone needing nothing but Infinite in all perfections The Father begetting the Son the Son begotten of the Father the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son are Three Persons but one uncompounded undivided GOD blessed for ever God is the Maker or Creator of all things the Preserver and Vpholder of all things God is the absolute Owner and Lord of all things God is our Soveraign King Supream Law-giver and Righteous Judge God is our chief good and loving Father and bountiful Benefactor All Life and Power and Wisdom come from God and our final rest and perfect happiness is in Him alone God is a most free Agent and doth what and when and how he will In the Beginning by his Word of his own good pleasure he made the World and all things in six dayes when before there was nothing but Himself All that God made was very good God by his Providence preserveth ruleth and ordereth all things great and small There is no goodness in any thing but what God giveth nothing can come to pass but as God permitteth it God may justly do what he will with every thing he can do no wrong to any thing he ordereth the whole course of the World wisely and for the best God made an innumerable company of Angels or pure Spirits A great multitude of these Angels continue holy and happy in loving praising and enjoying God doing his Commandments and serving him in such Ministries as he pleaseth to employ them in for the good of his people Many of the Angels did sin and were cast down to Hell into Everlasting torments These are Devils under Beelzebub the Prince of Devils the Old Serpent and Satan The Devil is the Spirit that worketh in the children of Disobedience the Father of Evil-doers going about like a roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devour God made Adam the first man of the Dust of the Earth and the first woman Eve of a Rib of Adam Man hath two parts a Body of Flesh and Bones and a Soul which is a Spirit God made Man after his own Image he gave him an Immortal soul endued with understanding a free will and a power to do good and authority to rule and use the creatures for such ends as God designed them God made not man a Lawless creature to live as it should list him but God made him for himself and to serve him in Holy Love and perfect Obedience Man understood God's Will and that Will understood was the Law in his heart whereby he was to live Knowing God to be his Owner and Governour and chief good he was bound to resign himself to his disposal submit himself to his command and to delight himself in him above all If Man had done thus he should never have dyed but have lived for ever happy in the love and enjoyment of God God having placed man in the garden of Eden gave him free leave to eat of all the Trees thereof only excepting the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil which upon pain of death he charged him not to eat of But the Devil in a Serpent Tempted Eve and by her he tempted Adam to eat thereof and so sin against God in breaking his command By breaking God's Law they lost their Holiness and became Mortal under the curse of Death hearkening to the Devil they fell under his power loving their own pleasure more than God they lost their Happiness Thus they who were made Wise and Powerful and Happy made themselves foolish and weak and miserable We are all the children of sinful Adam and of unholy Parents are born unholy ignorant of God our duty and our happiness dead to goodness forward to evil easily conquered by the temptations of the Devil the World and the Flesh and if left to our selves must perish Everlastingly If God had punished Adam according to his sin with death He had cut off Mankind from the Earth But he was graciously pleased to shew mercy God suffered man to live for a time upon Earth but so as he might be sensible of the great evil he had brought upon himself by breaking God's Commandment The creatures are accursed to bring forth for him vanity and trouble and vexation hard labour pains and sicknesses come upon his body he becomes ashamed of himself and is filled with terrors of Conscience and having struggled through many evils and difficulties must at last dye and return to dust Yet God opened unto him a new way to Eternal happiness after death in such a way as to magnifie his Love and Mercy to Mankind and manifest his hatred of sin and Zeal for the keeping of his Laws that he might at once shew grace to the Offender and secure the honour of his just government God did graciously promise that a man should be born of a woman who should conquer the Devil and deliver man from his Tyranny and give such satisfaction unto God's Justice that for his sake all they should be Eternally happy that would accept of him for their Saviour Accordingly God so loved the world that he gave his only Begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have Everlasting Life God the Son took to himself our humane nature Soul and Body and was made truly man yet ceased not to be truly God but is both God and Man in one Person God manifested in the Flesh He was wonderfully made Man by being Born without all stain of sin of a pure Virgin called Mary who conceived him by the Divine power of the Holy Ghost when she had never known man An Angel from Heaven revealed his conception to the Blessed Virgin and commanded his name to be called Jesus because he was to save his people from their sins Being Born and Circumcised according to the Law he lived many years upon earth in an humble and low condition gave us an example to imitate in his Life doing the whole will of God and conquering all the temptations of the Devil and the World This is that Messia whom many Prophets had foretold the very CHRIST or anointed of the Lord to be a Prophet a Priest and a King and in this Threefold Office the Mediator of a New Covenant between God and Men. As a Prophet he hath in his Gospel and by his Apostles made known unto us all his Fathers will concerning our salvation and the way to it As a Priest he was Crucified and dyed under Pontius Pilate so offering himself once for all a perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins in consideration whereof God hath granted pardon and Life to all true Believers Being dead he was buried and wentiamong the dead
Father our prevailing advocate making intercession for us and thee I comfortably expect to be our Judge at the last day Thou O Glorious Jesus hast Established an Everlasting Covenant of peace and sealed it with thy blood and with all my Soul I praise thee for this thine inestimable love not doubting keeping of that pardon and grace and glory which thou therein hast assured unto us if I unfeignedly accept of thy mercy and enter in this Holy Covenant O JESUS CHRIST in all sincerity of heart and with all thankful love and joy I do accept of thee my only Saviour I do most humbly submit my self to be taught by thee and will make thy Gospel my dayly study I trust in thy merits only and give my self to be governed by thy Laws and denying my self I am ready to take up thy Cross and bid open War to all thine enemies and take thy easie Yoke and light burden upon me Lord the unfeigned desire of my Soul is that thou mayest be formed in me and take full possession of me that I may henceforth live by the Faith of thee the Son of God I resolve thy will shall be my will thy life my pattern thy Law my Rule I will set my self to resist the temptations of the devil despise the vanities of the world and mortifie the carnal desires of my flesh all afflictions shall seem light to me and death it self better than life that I may obey thee and live with thee I consecrate my self unto thee to dye daily unto sin to Crucifie the flesh to rise again unto Righteousness to have my Conversation in Heaven my heart and affections with thee my only treasure My confidence is in thy merits my Prayers sent to God in thy name and intercession my practice to be conformable to thy example the longings of my Soul to be with thee for ever I will do my endeavour that my thoughts words and actions may be such as thou wilt approve of in the day of Judgment I will not envy the present happiness of the wicked nor be dis-heartned by my suffering but referr all to thy Righteous Judgment I will watch over my heart and life and daily examine my Conscience and keep it tender and good and labour that the accuser may have nothing to lay to my charge before thy Judgment Seat I do heartily accept of thee O Holy Spirit of the Father and the Son for my Sanctifier my Guide and Comforter I embrace the Holy Scriptures given by thy inspiration as the infallible truth of God I own the Ministry as thine Ordinance and every good motion of my heart as thy work To thee O Holy Spirit do I give up my self in a constant attendance on the Word and Ordinances and secret workings longing to be quickned enlightned renewed and cleansed strengthned against all temptations carried on towards perfection confirmed in the hopes of Eternal Life and sealed unto the day of Redemption I look upon my self as a member of the common body of all Christians and own thee O Blessed Jesus the only head of this thy Body the Church I acknowledge it my Eternal Interest and Duty in the Holy Communion of all Believers to Worship thee O Glorious God in the Assemblies of thy Saints I look upon all Christians and my self amongst them as men separated from the wicked world enlivened by one Spirit professing one Faith of the Holy Trinity all Covenanted together with God in one Baptism bound to hold the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace loving God above all and each other as our selves with a fellow feeling of one another's sufferings a free Communicating to one another's necessities Temporal and Spiritual and a mutual rejoycing in one another's happiness Continuing in this Holy Society whereinto I have been graciously called by thy Word and Holy Spirit I will endeavour to solace and comfort my self in a joyful sense of the blessed priviledges thou therein affordest us Especially in the pardon of my sins by thy free mercy through the merits of Christ my Saviour and Sanctification of thy Holy Spirit tendered unto me in the Ministry of thy word and sealed in the Sacraments I should deserve a thousand Hells should I go on any longer in sin under so much mercy I resolve therefore to attend on the Ministry of reconciliation all the daies of my life and to strive against all sin for ever To this end my death shall be much in my thoughts and my life a continual preparation for it I will look upon every day as if it were my last and every day renew my Covenant So shall I be ready with joy when thou callest O Lord to bid farewel to all below and come to thee I doubt not but my body shall at the last day be raised again a glorious body no longer a burden or temptation to my Soul I will no longer wast my time in immoderate caring for it feeding adorning and pampering of that which must shortly be loathsome rottenness Stench and Worms meat which now loads and tempts my Soul to sin and hinders its Ascensions towards God but I will mortifie it and keep it low that thou mayest exalt it to glory O thy wonderful goodness who hast provided for us poor sinners a Life Everlasting who deserve not one single moment of this Life Lord grant me grace to be pure as thou art pure that I may see thee and rejoyce in thee for ever in thy Heavenly Kingdom O when shall I come and appear before God Lord it is certain that a worldly carnal heart unconverted unrenewed is not capable of taking any pleasure or delight in thee nor can it find any happiness in Heaven it self nor any relish in those Heavenly pleasures which are at thy Right-hand for evermore Cleanse me O Lord and renew me daily by thy Spirit then shall I cheerfully bid adieu to a vain world empty pleasures frail life and a 〈◊〉 self and feed only on the hopes of Eternal Life and enjoying loving praising thee my God my All for evermore This O Lord thou hast promised in thy word this thou hast assured us of and sealed unto us in the blood of thy Son This thou confirmest unto all the Sanctified Members of thy Church by thy Holy Spirit To all this I here most heartily say Amen Come Lord Jesus come quickly Amen FINIS