Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	law_n	sin_n	sting_n	14,375	5	12.1860	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A74852	The Christians desire, shewing, how and for what causes a man may desire death. / By William Houghton, preacher at Bicknor in Kent.	Houghton, William, preacher at Bicknor in Kent.	1650 (1650)	Thomason E602_4; ESTC R206406	20,817	23

cannot thy name fly over this Caucasus nor swim over this Ganges Thou seest how small a thing the earth is and that sea pointing to the Atlantick which ye call the great sea and the main ocean which though it have so great a name thou seest how small a thing it is This was but a Philosophers dream yet 'c is pleasant to consider how far those men went Let us that are Christians seriously consider the excellency of heaven and vanity of earthly things let us mount aloft upon the wings of divine contemplation and our mindes being there all things here below will be as nothing to us Seek those things saith the Apostle that are above or on high What where the Orbs and Planets are No higher then so Col. 3.2 where Angels and Arch-angels are No higher yet where Christ sits on the right hand of God Oh if the soul of any here present were with Paul rapt up into the third heavens to be there but one hour to see what he saw how would he be ready to trample these things under his feet as vile and despicable he would count them trash in comparison of Jesus Christ as dung to that pearl It may be said all this is but matter of speculation therefore in the second place Give thy self to the practise of mortification desire to have all things mortified unto thee then thou wilt not care so much for them Offer what yee will to a dead man he regards it not So let us labour to get our affections whether covetous or pleasurable mortified and we shall not care for these things Mortifie therefore your members which are upon earth fornication uncleannesse inordinate affection evil concupiscence and covetousnesse Col. 3.5 Indeed this mortification of all evil affections is a hard work for as it is with men that have strong bodies and suffer violent deaths you see what a lamentable conflict there is what strugling between life and death and when you think the man quite dead a good while after he gives a great sigh or groan nature then gathering all her strength to withstand death flying as it were in the very face of death either to vanquish or to be overcome Even thus it is if we go about to take away the life of our dearest lusts they will gather all the forces they can either make of themselves or the devil and the world can supply them withall to stand before them and defend them that we may not come at them but if for all that we break through and smite them so that we give them their deaths-wound yet they will gather strength again and rise up to hurt us and do us a mischief afterwards Oh 't is hard 't is hard and many a Christian is forced even with tears in his eyes to cry out to heaven for help when he is at this work yet this yee see is that we are * Gal. 5.24 Rom. 6.6.8.13 calld to that which every regenerate man and woman sets himself to and he who hath in good earnest set himself to it and endeavoured the mortifying of his sins will not be afraid of death but rather see great cause why he should desire it whatsoever pains it brings he is provided for it and may say thus Oh death I regard not any sting thou canst sting my body withall for sin thy worst sting wherewith thou wouldest sting my soul to death is in some measure mortified and subdued by the power of Gods Spirit that conflict thou art now about to bring upon my body will be but short to that I have endured in my soul these so many years Oh welcome death come do thine office I have been endeavouring a long time the death of my sins and something through the power and mercy of God I have done though not so much as I would come lend me thy hand to finish this work I have oft smote my sins thinking to lay them in the dust yet they have risen again one stroke now of thy hand will cause them to dye that they shall never rise up any more Thirdly let us think oft and consider what our condition is while we are here subject to sin and misery do what we can we cannot so mortifie sin that it shall not be in us Non hîc sumus sine peccato fed exibimus sine peccato Aug. its true the old man hath received his deaths wound in every regenerate man and is bleeding out his life by degrees and at death shall quite expire and bleed his last but not till then Paul saith of himself I find a law in my members warring against the law of my mind who shall deliver me from this body of death Rom. 7.23 24. or oh that I were delivered from it There will be a body of sin and death in us so long as we carry this body of earth and flesh about us this is plain then as long as we live here we shall sin and what Christian desires to live to sin and to offend God! Oh ye that love the Lord hate sin saith the Psalmist hate that which is evil We should therefore desire it for this cause Psal 97.10 Fourthly let us oft look at death Plato said that the life of a Philosopher should be nothing else but a meditation of death much more the life of a Christian It was a custome amongst the Greek Emperours a Stone-cutter came to the Emperour on the day of his Coronation presented divers stones before him and desired to know of him which of those stones he would have for his Sepulchre And I have read of a people who at their feasts were wont to drink to one another out of dead-mens skuls to mind them of death Joseph of Arimathea who brought the Gospel hither into England he had his sepulchre hewn out of a rock Joh. 19.41 standing ready for him in his garden So let us when the world seems to crown us with its chiefest delights then remember death when we eat and drink think we see death on our tables when we are in our private Gardens then also let us take a turn with death and let us act death before it comes As a man that would fain fall asleep shuts his eyes draws the curtains layes his head to the pillow and so composeth himself to sleep so do thou oft think with thy self in what manner death will surprise thee look at it before it comes and it will be the easier when it comes And lastly as we must look at it so we must also look beyond it indeed it is a terrible thing to look at death but cast thine eye now beyond it and there will be no terrour in it Think of Paul's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how it will be far better with us then then now in regard of Place Company our Bodies and our Soules But indeed as I noted to you before that glory is unspeakable As the Queen of Sheba said of Solomons glory She heard a great deal yet not half of it was told her the same may we say of eternall happinesse that we cannot declare half of it unto you meditate we may and ought of that glory yet this we must know that we come exceeding far short This therefore should make us go with as great desire to the grave as they use to go to a marriage because then we shall be married to Christ Jesus And as Travellers when the day is well spent and the Sun grows low come chearfully into their Inns at night so should we to this common Inne of Death FINIS

THE CHRISTIANS DESIRE SHEWING How and for what Causes a man may desire Death By WILLIAM HOUGHTON Preacher at Bicknor in Kent Vt prima desideria sanctorum antiquae legis in primo Christi terminabantur adventu sic quoque modo desideria sanctorum novae legis in secundo Christi adventu qui perfectam nobis beatitudinem conferet desinent August HINC LVCEM ET POCVLA SACRA ALMA MATER CANTA BRIGIA LONDON Printed by Roger Daniel for Samuel Cartwright at the Signe of the Bible in Duck-lane 1650. TO The Right VVorshipfull Sir EDWARD WORTLEY and his Religious Lady my honoured Friends Right Worshipfull DEsires are the truest effigies of the mind If a man be Heavenly he hath heavenly desires if outward things terminate his desires he hath but an earthly mind and no more then what Paul calls the spirit of the world 1 Cor. 2 12● Such mens desires the Psalmist speaks of when he saith Who will shew us any good that is matter of gain and profit Isa 26.8 But the godly mans desire is thus set forth Psal 73.23 The desire of our soul is towards thy name and to the remembrance of thee There is none that I desire upon earth besides thee The worldlings desire is to live many dayes and years upon earth the godly mans desire that Christ may be in him while he is here Luk. 12.29 and that he may be with Christ when he departs hence and these as Paul himself determines are the best desires Worldly desires at last give no satisfying content to a mans soul but these are satisfying desires those are oft frustrated and come to nothing but of these it is said God will fulfill the desire of them that fear him When a whole Kingdome is in a shaking condition the desires of many must needs fail 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 12.28 but the Christians desire is upon a Kingdome that cannot be shaken My end and aim in sending abroad this Sermon is to 01 increase these holy desires in as many as shall read it It is but a plain and unpolisht piece such as it is I present it to your hands as a small return of thankfullnesse for those many favours I have received from you hoping it will find the better acceptance because I have known you many years and that your desires are set on the best things Praying for your prosperity and for all that have relation to you I rest Yours in the Lord Jesus William Houghton Philip. 1.23 Desiring to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all PAul as you may see in this Chapter stands at a certain doubt with himself whether he should live or die live he would that he might glorifie God die to be with Christ The words contain in them two things 1. Paul's desire to be with Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Having a desire c. 2. The reason of it because it is best of all The Greek is most emphaticall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which is farre better or as if one should English it Much more better Luke 2.29 Simeon desired to die because he had seen the Lords Christ Paul here that he might see Christ and be for ever with him Simeon's word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paul's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is no materiall difference between them Vid. Sculter Exercit. 156. The former according to the mind of the learned signifies a dimission to be fairly dismist and suffered to depart the latter to be let loose as mariners when they let loose and lanch forth Or it may signifie to return as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 12.36 When he will return from the wedding The first sense may imply thus much that the body is the souls prison wherein it is kept till it be sent forth and suffered to depart The second addes chains or coards wherein it is held till it be let loose The third that this life is a place of exile and the soul herein a pilgrim till it return to God that gave it But not to stand straining of metaphors when he saith He desired to depart or be dissolved it is as much as if he had said That he desired to die Now consider who it was that thus desired death Paul a most zealous man the Spirit of God calls him an elect vessel Chrysostome an heavenly man or if ye will saith he an earthly Angel yet he seeks death he desires to be dissolved We see then Act. 9.15 Doct. That all must die the best that are the greatest and holiest must taste of death young men die as well as old we see short graves as well as long rich men die as well as poore It is said in the Gospel that the beggar died and presently it is added the rich man also dyed Luk. 16.22 And wise men die as well as the foolish nay Psal 49 10. holy men too Adam is called the son of God Abraham the friend of God Luc. 3.38 Moses the man of God the Virgin Mary the mother of God Jam. 2.23 David was a man after Gods own heart John Baptist Psal 93. tit a burning and shining light yet they are all dead and gone Luc. 1.43 and descended into the slimy pit as the Prophet calls it so that howsoever there may be a difference here amongst men yet then Abierunt obierunt all shall be alike Reason 1 For first thus hath God decreed Statutum est saith the Apostle It is a statute-Statute-law a thing decreed in the high Court of Heaven Heb. 9.27 and must needs stand fast what is there determined Reason 2 Secondly God doth fufter this even the best and holyest to taste of death because he will have them conformable to their head even Jesus Christ who died for us Reason 3 Thirdly because of the mortality of men and the nature of their condition here on earth all men are of one matter the godly are not made of one matter and the wicked of another but all of one common matter the dust of the earth according to that Dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return though while we live here one be higher then another yet then there is an equality as it is in casting account one counter stands for a thousand another for an hundred but put them together into the bag and one is no better then another or as it is in a play one bears the person of a King another of a Knight another of a Beggar and very busie they are but when the play is done every man goes to his own place Thus it is with men one may stand here in a higher room then another but death makes him equall with the meanest and if yee look into the same grave after twenty or thirty years you shall find no difference between the dust of a King and a beggar Reason 4 Lastly this comes to passe because of

sin the proper cause of death this poysons our natures and continually cleaves to us as it was with Gehazi this was his sentence That the Leprosie should cleave to him and to his posterity for ever So sin cleaves close to us till the day of our death And as the Ivy sticks so close to the wall that you cannot get it out unlesse you pull the wall it self down so sin will not be had out of us till the earthly house of this Tabernacle be dissolved Object But what difference then is there between the death of the godly and the wicked Answ Magnum discrimen a great difference For God hath ordained that death to wicked men shall be a passage to misery but it is altered to the godly to them it is a passage to happinesse for to them the sting of it is taken away therefore they need not to fear it it can do them no hurt Even as when you see a snake or serpent its sting being drawn out you may play with it put it in your bosome it cannot hurt you so may we entertain death the sting being taken away Even as through the same gate the condemned person is led out to execution but the honest Citizen walks out for his pleasure and recreation so through the same gate of Death wicked men passe to the torments of hell but the godly to the paradise of heaven As it is with one that goes over a bridge to a fair medow so death is as it were a bridge to bring the saints to heaven As Moses from the top of mount Pisgah had a sight of Canaan before he died Deut 34.1 so when the Saints and servants of God are ready to dye they can see heaven before they depart this world or as the Israelites having travelld fourty years in the wildernesse being now come to Jordan they could look over it and see the land of Canaan they had no more to do but to passe over the foard and they were in the Land which flowed with milk and honey so the people of God when they have lived fourty or three-score years in the wildernesse of this world and are come to die they are onely to passe over the foard of death and then they are in the land of promise Thus you see that howsoever all die yet the death of all is not alike Num. 23.10 Oh let me dye the death of the righteous said that wizard Balaam and let my last end be like his shewing plainly that the death of righteous and wicked men in regard of their future estate do exceedingly differ alike they may be in their death but they shall be unlike to each other after death Vse Now for the use of this Is it so must all dye Let us then assure our selves of this and not onely say we are mortall as all men will say so but seriously think of it think that God may take us away this day this hour this may be the last word I may speak the last word that ye may hear therefore let us think of it seriously that so we may apply our hearts to wisdome let us live every day as if it were our last day The life of man how long soever is but a life of seven dayes which are multiplyed and run in a course Now as a man that hath seven servants to serve him if he be told that one of those seven will kill him narrowly observes every one of them when they come by course to serve him so man whose life runs upon seven dayes in the week which serve him by course since one of them will certainly make an end of him he should therefore watch every day saying to it as John to Christ Art thou he that should come or do I yet look for another sicknesse must come and death must come nothing so sure how are we provided for their coming When sicknesse is upon us we can do nothing for extremity of pain and therefore now when the marrow is in our bones and blood in our veins let us think of it and earnestly prepare our selves for death Now for the main Doctrine I desire saith he to be dissolved c. Doct. A Christian may lawfully desire death It s lawfull nay necessary sometimes to desire death Now when I say that a man may desire it it is a great height this and all attain not thereunto for death saith the Philosopher is the most terrible of terribles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Job 18.14 the King of fears as Job calls it when a man shall seriously take to heart and consider that his soul must be separated from his body those two old friends part and go assunder some doubting and fear will arise through our frailty and the best may have temptations in that kind we know this that when a man is to change his dwelling it puts him to trouble if it be but into the next Shire or the next town every remove is troublesome when therefore the soul shall depart as far from the tabernacle of the body as heaven from earth there may be some trouble at this great remove yet there is something overcomes this trouble whereby the Saints are willing to embrace death and desirous of a dissolution Would you see examples for it Paul here in my Text comes in with his cupio dissolvi and Simeon with his Nunc dimittis the old man had long waited for Jesus Christ and now when he had seen him Lord saith he let thy servant depart in peace Luk. 2.29 he had seen salvation beheld Christ with a spirituall as well as with his corporal eyes held him in the arms of his faith as well as with the arms of his body and now the world would no longer away with him Let me depart saith he let me be gone But before I come to shew what should move us to desire death I will speak a few things by way of caution and to prevent mistakes Cautions The first is this That this desire must alwayes be with submission to the will of God we must say as Christ Let this cup passe or come as thy will and pleasure is not my will but thy will be done If it be the will of Christ that Peter go Mat. 26.39 and John tarry still Joh. 2 1.22 they must both submit to it So must we for the time and manner of our death submit our selves to God our wills are never right but when they are conformable to the will of God That 's the first the rest will follow upon it As in the second place That it is no good desire to desire death merely to be rid of anguish and pain For what if it be the will of God to hold us long under the rod we must learn to kisse his holy hand that smites us he doth it for the tryall of our faith and other graces and therefore we ought to bear it patiently Thus much we may learn from