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
A93740	The great, useful and blessed duty of a contentment, willingness and desire to die set forth upon true and assured grounds, in several discourses on these following scriptures. By Richard Stafford, A servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Recommended as more proper and beneficial to be given at funerals than gloves or rings.	Stafford, Richard, 1663-1703.	1700 (1700)	Wing S5119A; ESTC R223444	53,707	69

done the Work and Will and Business of his Creatour according as it was expected from him and consequently the Creature can then return with more Comfortable Expectation unto him And now come I to thee We cannot better and more willingly surrender back our Spirits to the God who gave them then when they have faithfully performed that very same thing for which God sent these Spirits into these Bodies for to do And now O thou invisible Creator the invisible part of us which was by thee Created comes to thee From what hath been afore written it appears that there are three things especially which upon good and true grounds can make any one contented willing and desirous to Dye First When one hath seen the Salvation of God Secondly When the Lord God of truth hath Redeemed us Thirdly When one hath Glorified God on Earth and finisbed the Work which he gave us to do It was Revealed unto Simeon by the Holy Ghost that he should not see Death until he had seen the Lord's Christ And he came by the Spirit into the Temple and when his Parents brought in the Child Jesus to do for him after the Custom of the Law then took he him in his Arms and Blessed God and said mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation So that Simeon his seeing the Salvation of God was seeing Jesus Christ in the Flesh But since the fullness of time is over and past we cannot now see him in the Flesh here on Earth yet we may see him in his Grace and Revelation But chiefly to see Christ the Salvation of God the Power of God and the Wisdom of God is with the Eyes of our Understanding being enlightened and turned inwards to see Christ within us Little Children of whom I travail in Birth till Christ be formed in ye And so to have Christ formed in us this is to see the Salvation of God Now this is a work of time and succession as it is of forming the Infant in the Womb. To have or see Christ formed within us is the Business and Work of our whole Life here on Earth which the Preaching and Ministry of the word doth help unto And when once Christ is throughly formed within us and we see the Salvation of God then we may be well contented willing and Desirous to dye for this Reason For as when the Chick sees the Kite or Hawk which would devour it if she can run under the Hens wings then she is safe For as the Hen was at first Instrumental to give it Life and Being so it will still preserve it Even so by seeing the Lord 's Christ who is the Prince of Life and the Salvation of God the faithful Soul who is in Covenant with him runs and makes unto Christ who promises and performs it also He shall cover thee with his Feathers and under his Wings shalt thou trust Psal 91. 3. and gathereth his Children together even as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings Here let Death and the Devil come and destroy that Soul if they can Christ is greater in power and might Forsamuch then as the Children were partakers of Flesh and Blood he also himself took part of the same that he through Death might Destroy him that had the Power of Death that is the Devil And destroy them who through fear of Death were all their life time Subject to Bondage If we are first saved from Sin and Guilt then w● are also saved from the wrath to come And then w● may be contented and willing to dye for therefore People are afraid to dye Because they are afraid to fall under the wrath of God Now if they are sure and safe from that then Death is without any sting at all which is Sin And then also we shall be safe saved and preserved from all the Evils Plagues and Punishment● of the World to come So that after all the Miseries and Irksomness of this present Life for as there is a satiety of all things so at length there is a satiety even of Life it self after all the toyl and wearisomness and labour thereof God our Creator will comfort us for this same toil and the times of Refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord Blessed be his Name for it He doth here in this valley of Tears and place of Weeping afford us some good and Comfortable things yet seeing that he hath appointed our time on Earth as the days of an Hireling we may willingly and contentedly give up our Breath and commit our Spirits into his hand saying with old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation Because we shall have yet better and more Satisfactory things when we depart hence To be patient to Live and willing to Dye is the temper and disposition of Soul which I desire and would endeavour at And this my willingness to dye should not proceed out of a Melancholy temper Like Jonah in an Angry Mood who would have the Lord to take his Life from him For it was better for him to Dye than to Live only forsooth because he was displeased at the time that the Lord did not destroy Nineveh according to the word which he had Preached But this was only a pettish humour of his And so others at this day upon a sudden Affliction and Vexation are forthwith weary of the world and call to Death to come and ease them of the present Burthen Trouble Grief or Uneasiness But give me the mind that is willing to dye upon the same Reason as the Apostle was Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Phil. 1. 23. Then the best condition here on Earth when also it can truly be said To me to dye is gain For by Death I shall gain or get more Good more Satisfaction more Comfort more Happiness and Blessedness then ever I had on this Earth Then only Death is gain when to live is Christ when we lay out our selves and live only for Christ that is in his service and to get Christ formed within us then truly Death is gain But if on the other hand People live to themselves or for themselves as in the service of Mam mon and for Pleasure and they are wanton on the Earth the consequence thereof is they have nourished their heart as in the day of Slaughter or against the day of Slaughte● to such to dye is not Gain but Loss for thereby they los● their Pleasure they lose their Mammon and they receive n●… good instead thereof but only Punishment and wrath Blessed are the Dead which dye in the Lord. But 't is only those who live unto the Lord that is in his service and Obedience that Dye in the Lord. If we mean to gain by ou● Death that is to get and obtain more good thereby tha● we had here we must do somewhat for it whilst we are in Life

deser●… Herein also the Plowman Artificer and day Labour●… will give up unto God a better account of spending th●… time and the days of their life then idle Gentry a●… Rich People Who have lived in pleasure on the Earth a●… have been wanton and have nourished their hearts as in 〈◊〉 day of slaughter Who sit down to eat and to drink and rise up to play Here again it is to be desired that peop●… would willingly as out of duty and obedience to th●… primitive Commandment and ordinance of God su 〈…〉 mit themselves to labour and pains and not do it so mu●… out of necessity to get a livelihood and that they wou 〈…〉 submit themselves to the same labour and pains in t 〈…〉 immediate service of God and in doing good and 〈…〉 all this purely for God's sake and not as an hireling 〈◊〉 hire or reward For God more approves of such se 〈…〉 vice and obedience as we may gather from what written The Kings came and fought then fought the Kin 〈…〉 of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo they 〈◊〉 no gain of mony Judges 5. 19. And from the example Nehemiah who saith Moreover from the time I was appoin●… to be their Governour in the land of Judah that is twe 〈…〉 years I and my Brethren have not eaten the bread of 〈◊〉 Governour but the former Governours that had been befo●… me were chargeable unto the people and had taken of them Bre 〈…〉 and Wine beside forty shekels of Silver yea even their serva●… bare Rule over the People But so did not I because of 〈◊〉 fear of God Neh. 5. 14 15. These things are recorded to for ensamples and they are written for our admon 〈…〉 tion yea and imitation also upon whom the ends 〈◊〉 the world are come The God of Israel said He th●… Ruleth over Men must be just Ruling in the fear of G 〈…〉 2 Sam. 23. 3. Such should not be chargeable unto the peop 〈…〉 For whereas the former Governours had been chargeab●… unto the people Nehemiah would not because of the fear God But to return again from whence I have seemed to dig●… e●… As bodily labour doth by use and exercise become mo 〈…〉 Habitual and easy so in the service of and obedience to God it would be work and labour well bestowed to somewhat remove and take off that Irksomness and Wearisomness that is in the same which is done by beginning and then continuing in this good kind of life Hereby it comes to pass that when people in their unregenerate state say of the Worship and service of God Behold what a weariness is it Mal 1. 13. Saying when will the new Moon be gone that we may sell Corn and the Sabbath that we may set forth Wheat Amos 8. 5. They come ●o be so changed and renewed and altered in their mind that they call the Sabbath a delight not doing their own ways nor find their own pleasure nor speak their own words but they delight themselves in the Lord and take delight in approaching unto God Which heretofore was unpleasant ●o them and they were backward and hard to be brought unto it this is a change indeed Formerly they grudged at every hour of time which was not spent in pleasure and now they grudge at every hour which is not spent in the service of God and doing good to their immortal Souls All other things perish and nothing else remains ●n a Man or avails any thing The Grass withereth the Flower fadeth but the word of our God shall stand for ever There must be work and labour and succession of time before the Soul comes to be thus Born again and renewed in the Spirit of her mind after that she hath been depraved by the Body and by our corrupt sinful and sinning Nature There must be a great deal of hard work and labour before we can put off and be delivered from this Body of Sin and Death which we carry continually about us O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Intimating thereby that no Mortal Creature could do it yet the grace of Jesus Christ could and also would do it for this purges out the old leaven and sinful and corrupt Nature until it becomes whole and healthful and than it will grow up to Blessed immortality There must be work and labour to lay aside every weight for can any weight be laid aside without some labour in no wise And the sin which doth so easily beset us and to resist unto Blood striving against sin T 〈…〉 last requires the utmost labour and hardship To go 〈…〉 farther and lay the Ax to the Root of the Tree th●… must be work and labour to get rid off and free fr 〈…〉 the motions of Sin and the inclinations to Evil wh 〈…〉 are in our members For when we were in the flesh 〈…〉 motions of sin which were by the law did work in our me 〈…〉 ers to bring forth fruit unto Death This is the mis 〈…〉 evous effect of those motions of sins in our members 〈…〉 bring forth fruit unto Death It may be of edificati 〈…〉 and benefit to narrowly consider the Nature of th● which also will not be altogether going aside from 〈…〉 intended matter for to get clear from those motions sins is one part of finishing that work which God ga 〈…〉 us to do They are called the motions of sins So that they a 〈…〉 not properly actual sins but the motions of sins that 〈…〉 a motion or inclination unto sin like to the first sprin 〈…〉 ing forth of a Bud or as in the breaking forth into a S 〈…〉 or Sore The matter and root and cause thereof from within So here the Law of God is perfect convert 〈…〉 the Soul and in order to that it would prevent the ve 〈…〉 first rise and beginnings of sin or the motions of sins in 〈◊〉 members For it doth not only provide against the outwa 〈…〉 breaking forth of actual transgression but also it wou 〈…〉 suppress and stifle and hinder the motions of sins in o 〈…〉 members If these little ones that is the motions 〈◊〉 sins in our members are dashed against the stones as hap 〈…〉 py is he that doth so Then they can never grow in●… Presumptuous sins or into the great transgression And 〈◊〉 if these motions of sins are suppressed and stifled whi 〈…〉 they are but yet working in our members than it 〈◊〉 impossible that ever they should come forth into actua●… sins Truly this to do is very hard work and labou● yet still there should be a pressing and endeavour afte●… it This is the difference between the sins of the regenerate and unregenerate between the spot of thy Children and which is indeed Corrupting of themselves Deut 32. 5 Such as are the Children of God have only some little motions and inclinations to the same sins