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	word_n	8,031	5	4.9306	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42143	A sermon preached at Alderly in the country of Gloucester, January IV, 1676/7 at the funeral of Sir Matthew Hale, kt, late Chief Justice of His Majestie's court of the King's bench / by E.G. ...	Griffith, Evan, A.M., Minister of Alderly.	1677 (1677)	Wing G1995; ESTC R2788	11,865	34

IMPRIMATUR GUIL SILL R. P. D. HEN. Episc Lond. à Sac. Dom. Feb. 23. 1676 7. A SERMON PREACHED At Alderly in the County of Gloucester January IV. 1676 7 AT THE FUNERAL OF Sir MATTHEW HALE K t. Late Chief Justice of His MAJESTIE's Court of the KING'S BENCH By E. G. A. M. Minister of Alderly LONDON Printed by W. G. for William Shrowsbury at the Sign of the Bible in Duke-lane 1677. A SERMON Preached at the Funeral of Sir MATTHEW HALE K t. At Alderly Jan. 4. 1676 7. Isa 57.1 The Righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart and merciful men are taken away none considering that the Righteous is taken away from the evil to come IN the ninth Verse of the former Chapter the Holy Prophet threatneth a fearful Judgment that was like to fall on the Jews he calls for the wild Beasts of the Field and the Forest to come and devour meaning the Gentiles which should be Executioners of the Lord's Judgments and because the Lord is Righteous in all his Ways and Holy in all his Works he shews what Causes would provoke the Lord to inflict such a heavy Judgment upon his People as to give them up to be devoured by the Beasts of the Field and the Forest such savage Enemies The First Cause is set down at large in the rest of the Verse to the end of the Chapter Even the Blindness Idleness Covetousness and Security of their Watchmen who should have taught the Fear of the Lord the neglect of their Duty being a special Occasion of the Peoples Sin is alledged as the First Cause of God's Judgments threatned The Second Cause was in the Common People set down in the first Verse of this Chapter Even their careless neglect in not regarding nor considering the Death of the Righteous when many of them were taken away to warn them of some strange Judgement to come yet they laid it not to Heart nor considered but continued and proceeded in their Sins drinking and filling themselves with Wine and strong Drink and Merriment promising themselves happy Days as it is the manner of the Wicked to be most secure when Judgment is nearest unto them as we have Example in Belshazzar Dan. 5. he was among his Concubines and his Cups when the Hand wrote his Doom over against the Candlestick Mene mene tekel upharsin The Righteous perisheth These are the Words of the Holy and Evangelical Prophet lamenting the Spiritual Security of the Jews chiding and reproving them for their great Stupidity and Spiritual Lethargy Wherein we have First The Persons that dyed who are described by two excellent Properties 1. Righteous before God 2. Merciful towards Men. Secondly The Manner of their Death set forth by two Terms perisheth are taken away The Sin of careless People by two Phrases not laying to heart nor considering the death of the Righteous Fourthly the final Cause or special End for which they dye and are taken away and that is to prevent future Evils Concerning the Persons here are two great Problems to be resolved hard Questions Quest I. How can any Man be Righteous The Scripture saith There is none Righteous no not one II. How do the Righteous perish The Lord knoweth the way of the Righteous the way of the Ungodly shall perish Answ I. There is a Legal Righteousness so Adam was righteous in the state of Innocency being created after God's Image This Righteousness is forfeited and lost so by nature all are corrupt and unrighteous There is none Righteous II. There is an Evangelical Righteousness and this is twofold 1. The Righteousness of Imputation when the Righteousness of Christ is imputed to the Believer and received of him by Faith Christ is made of God to be unto us Righteousness 1 Cor. 1. Jehova tsidkenu Jer. 23.6 He was made Sin for us that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5. ult As Christ was made Sin for us not by the infusion of Sin into his Person but by imputation of our Sins unto him So we are made righteous before God not by any Righteousness inherent in us but by the Righteousness of Christ imputed unto us 2. Believers are righteous by Sanctification when by the Spirit of Christ the Mind is enlightned the Heart is mollified the Will is rectified the Affections sanctified and the whole course of their Life is reformed the habits of Grace planted in them they are partakers of the Divine Nature so that as before they liked loved and lived in Sin now they abhor and avoid Sin and all the occasions of it He that doth righteousness is righteous 1 Joh. 3.7 This doth not make us perfectly Righteous but imperfectly not before God but before Men. Jam. 2.24 3. They that are Righteous thus by Justification and Sanctification are also merciful passively and actively Passively that is first in nature and order such as Gad received into Mercy and Favour hence they are called Vessels of Mercy prepared unto Glory Rom. 9.23 they are truly Righteous before God whom he hath received into Mercy in forgiving their Sins Rom. 4.6 7. Actively for such as shew mercy unto others these two are always found together in the same Persons as our Saviour Matth. 5.7 Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy They have obtained pardoning Mercy and shall obtain crowning mercy He which receiveth mercy of the Lord will shew mercy unto Men. Quest II. How doth the Righteous perish Answ Not in Soul for that is immortal and cannot perish by any means but doth live out of the Body as well or more truly than in the Body This Solomon taught Ecclesiast 12.7 The spirit returns to God that gave it this St. Paul desireth To be dissolved and to be with Christ Phil. 1.23 and Lazarus enjoyed at his Death being carried by the Angels into Abraham's Bosom Luke 16. and this John saw in a Vision Revelat. 6.9 performed to the Saints he saw the Souls under the Altar Neither doth he perish in Body for the Body of a Righteous Man hath still a Being in the sight of God and remains a Member of Christ's Mystical Body This Union betwixt Christ and the Faithful is not of Souls only but also of Bodies the Bodies of Saints do not finally and totally perish their Dust in the Grave is precious in God's sight they only sleep in Jesus and by the power of Jesus shall be raised again glorious Bodies Phil. 3. ult Nothing perisheth of a Righteous Man in Death finally and totally but Sin They perish in appearance according to the Opinion of the World and the Judgment of Flesh and Blood The proper meaning of this Expression is They dye depart hence and are no more seen their place knoweth them no more or as the other Word is added exegetically they are taken away or gathered to God and his Christ to Angels and Saints Observation The Righteous and Godly Man must dye as well as others but the Death of

the Righteous is not hurtful but beneficial no loss but great gain and advantage Of this Lesson we see two Branches 1. That the Righteous Man who is Evangelically Righteous as being justified by the Righteousness of Christ and sanctified by his Spirit must dye and go down into the Chambers of Death and Darkness and the House of Rottenness as well as others 2. That the Death of the Righteous is not hurtful but beneficial no loss but gain Of the First Death is the way of all the world Josh 23.14 The way of all the earth saith David 1 King 2.2 It is the end of all Men as Solomon Eccles 7.2 and the Righteous must walk and pass this way and come to this end before they come to their everlasting Home as well as others The wise man dyeth as well as the fool Eccles 2.16 yea in this respect the condition of the Children of Men and the condition of Beasts are alike As the one dyeth so dieth the other Eccles 3.19 No marvel if the condition of all Men be alike High and Low Rich and Poor Wise and Unwise Learned and Ignorant Righteous Unrighteous Godly and Prophane 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mors impudens it fears no colours spares neither great nor good Abel dyed whose Person and Sacrifice God accepted as well as Cain whose Person and Sacrifice God rejected Abraham the Father of all the Faithful and the Friend of God Isaac Jacob Joseph all the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Evangelists and Holy Men of God paid this Tribute and all must pay Heb. 9.27 Statutum est there is the necessity Omnibus there is the Universality of dying there is a Statute Law for both Enacted in the Court of Heaven which no Mortal can Repeal As sure as we are born to live so sure are we born to dye Nasci denasci ordo rerum est I need not travel far for many more Examples or Proofs of this only turn your Eyes to that doleful Object and sad Spectacle of Mortality under that black Vail then conclude of this necessity For if Art and Learned Skill and Industry of Physick could have continued him if Strength of Body could have preserved him if Wisdom and rare Gifts of Mind if Temperance in Diet if Chastness of Life if a concurrence of all excellent Virtues if Piety and the Power of Godliness the Life of Holiness if the Wishes of Men yea of a whole Nation if the Prayers and Tears of the Godly if any thing could have prevailed for him to give him any Priviledge against Deaths Arrest blackness and darkness had not at this time covered that Earthly Tabernacle wherein lately lodged so Heavenly a Mind Quest. Why should this be so hath not Christ died for the Righteous why then should they dye Death is the Wages of Sin hath not Christ suffered for all their Sins wherefore should they dye Answ Christ by his Death and Satisfaction hath freed them from the second Death and all the degrees of it as 1. Spiritual Death in Sin 2. The Damnation of the Soul at her sepaparation from the Body 3. From the Condemnation of the whole ●…lan at the Resurrection Go ye cursed into everl●sting fire This Death Christ by his Death hath abolished and freed the Righteous from but not from the first Death which is the separation of Soul and Body He hath only changed the nature and use of the first Death he hath taken away the sting and venom of it all the evil and hurt of it Of a Punishment for Sin he hath made it a Passage into Heaven of a Curse he hath turned it into a Blessing it did at first deprive Men of good but now it putteth the Righteous into the possession of all good The Righteous must dye Ratio 1. To accomplish the Decree and to prove the truth of God who said In the day thou eatest thereof morte morieris thou shalt surely dye Gen. 2.17 As they who are adjudged and condemned to dye are dead in Law albeit they be kept in Prison and not presently Executed so our first Parents though they did not immediately dye were subject to Death by the desert of Sin and so in them all their Posterity By one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned Rom. 5.12 Now that the Decree of God might be accomplished and his Truth kept inviolate and stand with his Mercy Man yea the Righteous Man must dye the first Death If Man should dye no manner of Death how could the Truth of God appear and if that Death due to Sin had been inflicted on Man how should the Mercy of God have been manifested This Controversie God in his wonderful Wisdom hath reconciled thus Piat mors bona habet utraque quod petit in changing the cursed nature of Death and making that Temporal which was Eternal doth his Mercy appear and in the dissolution of Man's Body into Dust for a time doth his Truth appear Ra. 2. Because all are Dust Our Bodies are Earthly Tabernacles Houses of clay the foundation of them in the dust Job 4.19 All flesh is grass and the glory of man as the flower of the field Isa 40. Great as well as mean ones their Glory fades they wither as the Grass and meet all in the Dust Our life is a vapour Ja. 4.14 The Sea never resteth but is always ebbing or flowing so is it with the Life of Man it never standeth at one stay every Day cutteth off one part of our Life no power can make my Life so long to day as it was yesterday we are nearer our end in the Evening than in the Morning Job 4.20 We are destroyed from morning to evening Even as Rivers run into the Sea so our Life runs into Death This is the Reason which the Lord useth Gen. 3.19 Dust thou art and into dust shalt thou return Ra. 3. Because here is no continuing City for any We are Strangers and Pilgrims and are placed in the World for a season as Men upon a Stage to act our parts and then must be gone to give room for others One generation passeth away and another generation cometh Eccles 1.4 Ra. 4. The Righteous are taken away because the World is not worthy of them Heb. 11 38. They are the means of Blessings to the World 1. By their presence 2. By their Prayers they stand in the gap they stave off Judgments from the World the Angel could do nothing to filthy Sodom until Lot was gone out of it into Zoar Gen. 19.22 3. By their Examples and 4. By their Counsel But the wicked World will neither follow their Example nor take their Counsel Therefore the Lord doth take away the Righteous in Mercy to Them but in Judgment to the World Branch 2. The Death of the Righteous is not hurtful but beneficial no loss but great gain and advantage This will appear 1. By the Phrases which the Holy