Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	life_n	lord_n	word_n	9,286	5	4.0695	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53093	A sermon preached at the funerals of the reverend and faithful servant of Jesus Christ in the work of the Gospel, Mr. Samuel Collins, Pastor of the Church of Christ at Braintree in Essex, who exchanged this life for immortality in the 77th year of his age, in the 46 year of his ministry there, in the year of our Lord, 1657 preached by Matthew Newcomen ...	Newcomen, Matthew, 1610?-1669.	1658 (1658)	Wing N912; ESTC R3229	24,615	65

another so in the first of Matthew there are reckoned from Abraham to Christ two and forty Generations that is Successions of children standing up in their fathers rooms Secondly Sometimes it signifies All the men that live together at the same time so Gen. 6.9 it is said of Noah That he was a Just man and perfect in his Generations that is among the men of that Age wherein he lived Thirdly It signifies men of a like quality and disposition though they live in several ages and periods of time as Psal 14.5 God is in the Generation of the righteous And Psal 24.6 This is the Generation of them that seek thee Fourthly Sometimes it signifies a family or nation so Mat. 24.34 Verily I say unto you this Generation shall not passe till all these things be fulfilled Which words cannot be understood of that particular Race of the Jews which were living upon the earth in our Saviours dayes for they are passed away long agoe but must be understood of the people and nation of the Jews in all their decurrent successions And the meaning of the words must be this That whatever devastations and desolations should come upon Jerusalem according to the Predictions of that Chapter the Jews should yet remain a People a Nation distinct from all other Nations though scattered among them all the world over even to the coming of Christ in Judgment That whereas other Nations living among strangers become incorporate with them in a few Generations only the Jews wherever they live still remain a Nation distinct from all other Nations And this is the sense of the word Generation in that place So Matth. Flacius Clavis Script part 1. ad verbum De sensu buj●… Loci qui plur●… velit Consulat Commentario●… in primi Gerhardi continu●…tion em Harm●…niae In this place it is to be taken in the second sense David served his own Generation that is that company of men with whom he was Contemporaneous who lived all the same time that he himself lived Unlesse you will adde a Fifth sense of the word whereby it signifies the age or terme of life which sense some contend for in that forementioned place Matth. 24.34 and so the meaning is David served his own Generati that is David was an useful serviceable man all the dayes of his life even to his dying day for David after he had served his own Generation by the will of God fell on sleep By the will of God or by the counsel of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Incisum or branch of the Verse is variously pointed in several Coppies some cut it off from the foregoing words and affix it to the word following and making a Comma at the foregoing word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they read it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By the will of God he fell on sleep So Arias Montauus in his Interlineary And so some other Coppies and this Punctation Erasmus followed in his Latine Translation But Beza rejects this pointing wholy and saith Haec distinctio neque in vetustis codicibus reperitur neque ullâ ratione nititur Neither doth Stephanus take any notice of it in his Variae Lectiones upon the New Testament Therefore the more true and right reading of the Text seems to be that which our Translation follows wherein that Phrase By the will of God is annexed to the words foregoing and the Text thus read For David after he had served his own Generation by the will of God fell on sleep And yet even so read the words as Camerarius hath observed have ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quandam a kind of Ambiguity although so far from being hurtful that it is profitable for that phrase by the will of God may be referred either to the Generation and so the meaning is David served that Generation which it was the will and counsel of God to cast him upon Or else it may be referred to the service that David did to his Generation and so the meaning is David served his own Generation not after his own will or fancy or humor or the humours fancies or wils of other men but after the will of God For David after he had served his generation by the will of God fell on sleep Fell on sleep That 's a Phrase often used in Scripture to signifie death especially of the Righteous it 's usually said of them as of David here he fell on sleep And was laid to his Fathers That phrase is often also used in Scripture of the Burial and Interment of the Saints he was laid to his Fathers And saw Corruption That is his body rotted in the grave Videre significat sentire aut experiri aliquid The words like Joseph are a fruitfull Branch Deductio Doctrinarum from whence mïght be gathered many comfortable and profitable doctrines as namely 1. First In the general from the mention which the Holy Ghost here makes of David which you see here as in other places of Scripture is altogether honourable here is no mention of any dis-service David did his generation Not one word of his being the occasion of the death of 85 of the Lords Priests in one day they their wives and their children Not a word of his defiling Bathsheba or murthering Uriah or Numbring the people which cost the lives of seventy thousand in three dayes Not a word of any of this but only what an useful serviceable man he was Thence observe in the first place That God values those that are in Christ and have repented of their sins not according to the evil but the good that hath been in them Secondly and more particularly That several particular persons have their several particular generations to serve in David here in the Text served his generation so Noah his so Moses his so Paul his The service that Noah did would not have been proper nor suitable in Moses his generation nor Moses in Davids nor any of them in Pauls Several persons have their several particular generations to serve in Thirdly That particular generation which every person is to serve in is allotted him by the counsel and will of God For David after he had served his own generation by the will of God it is not by chance that men are cast upon the generation they live in men are not thrown into the world by God as we cast Counters out of a bag neither knowing nor regarding which comes first which last No God who doth all things in number weight and measure he from Eternity hath appointed and allotted unto every man the Age and Generation he shall serve in Act. 17.26 He hath made of One blood all Nations to dwell upon the face of the earth and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitations Fourthly It is a great honour to the greatest man upon earth to be serviceable to and in his own generation David though a King yet this is spoken of him

Town with blood and establisheth a City by iniquity c. Hab. 2.11 3. Again Others in stead of serving the generation wherein they live they are the shame the burthen the reproach Ulcus et Carcinôma the scab the plague of the generation they live in Such are all profane ungodly persons drunkards swearers adulterers and the like How do these serve the generation they live in or what do these serve for but only to poison and infect the Age in which they live with their vitious conversations to fill up the measure of its iniquities and make it run over and to hasten the wrath and vengeance of God upon themselves and the Age they live in But I had rather spend that little time that remaineth in a second Use 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that is to exhort every one of you seeing the greatest honour that the greatest upon earth can have is to serve his generation O be exhorted to lay out your selves your utmost your all for the service of your generation Whatever God hath blessed you with devote it all to his service and the service of your generation Hath God blessed you with able parts Lay out them for the service of your generation so did David the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost which he had received Hath God blessed you with able purses grudg not them to the service of your generation David did not but prepared with all his might silver and gold c. for the building of the Temple Hath God given you Power Interest Authority in your generation Improve that for the service of your generation so did David his serve your generation in your Private and Personal Capacities every one of you And such as God hath set in publick places serve your generations in your Publick Capacities First Serve your generation in your Private and Personal Capacities First By bewailing the sins of the generation you live in that you may all do and that you should all do and never did any generation call for tears more then ours Secondly Serve your generation by standing in the gap by pleading with God to turn away his wrath from this generation Never more need then now never fitter opportunities then now Thirdly Serve your generation by the example of an Holy and Gospel-becoming Conversation Never was that more needful then now when the woful miscarriages of many Professors of the Gospel hath made the very Name of the Gospel and the Reformed Religion to stink in the nostrils of the Nations that are round about us and hath hardened the hearts of many amongst our selves O now labour to shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation Especially those of you whom God hath set in Publick and Eminent places in the Magistracy and in the Ministry set you as Lights in a Candlestick Stars in an higher Orb O how should you willingly with the Apostle spend and be spent in the service of your generation 2 Cor. 12.15 One of the German Princes took for his Device a Candle burning in a Candlestick with this Motto Ernestus dux Lunebergensis ex Phillipti locis Manlionis A. S. M. C. hoc est Aliis Servio Meipsam Consumo I Serve Others and Spend my Self So should every one whom God hath set in publick place say and do Even spend himself in serving his generation To move you to this consider First It will be an Honour to you in Life in Death and after Death yea it will be a comfort to you at the day of Judgment and when you come in heaven that you did not spend your dayes in vanity that you did not live telluris inutile pondus but served your generation Secondly Consider you have but a Little Time to serve your generation in It is but a Span but an Inch of time that you have to do service in Thirdly Consider there are but few that seriously and conscienciously attend this work We may take up the complaint of the Apostle Phil. 2.21 All seek their own or that of Rabbi Simmeon Nathanielis F. Dies brevis opus multum operarii pauci Drufiii Apophthegmata Ebraorum es merces multa Paterfamilias urget The Time is short the Work is great the Labourers few the Wages ample the Master urgent therefore Dum vires annique siunt c. while time and strength serves serve your generation Fourthly Consider the number of those who serve their generation diminisheth and decreaseth daily God hath lately taken away not only in other parts of the Nation but here in Essex many excellent and serviceable ones in the Magistracy and in the Ministry Men that were publick Blessings And now last of all his faithful servant the Reverend Pastor of this place Transitio ad Celebrationem Defuncti Mr. Samuel Collins whose exceeding eminent serviceableness to and in his generation I think envy it self cannot deny I say it again Envy it self cannot deny but that he was A man exceeding serviceable in his generation if any should the stones of this place yea the stones of your streets and the walls of your houses would confute them For who was the instrument under God of laying the foundations of Religion and godliness among you was it not Mr. Collins Who was the means of directing you into some kind of order and forme as it were of civil government in this Towne and thereby into a way of more vigorous suppressing disorders and more comfortable providing for your poor then is almost to be found again in any town in the County Who laid the platform of these things amongst you was it not Mr. Collins Who was the occasion of building many houses and as I have been informed some whole streets in your Town by increasing the number of your Inhabitants was it not Mr. Collins the sweet sound and savour of whose Ministry invited many from other places to come and seek a habitation among you so that whatever he were to others yet it cannot be denyed but he was to you a man serviceable in his generation Nor can it be denyed but he was serviceable to others also His usefulness was not confined to one but diffused it self into many places Not to speak of the good he did by his own Sermons preached abroad how many Congregations have cause to blesse God for him on the behalf of those faithful and godly Ministers which he procured to be sent to them by the interest he had in those persons of worth honor to whom by present Laws the Jus Patronatus did belong Yea how many have cause to blesse God for the Ministers that were brought up in his family under his Eye Care and Tuition who have since proved eminent and worthy instruments in the Church of Christ I think scarce any man now living in England was more serviceable or more happy in this kind then he And I could have wished had it been the good

his only Love O that none of you had ever given him cause to complain with the Apostle The more abundantly I love the lesse I am beloved In reference to this holy man and what befel him in this Congregation I have often thought upon that in Exodus where it is said There rose up another generation which knew not Joseph O Sirs if you had all known as some of you did what service he had done for this poor Town what a state when he came first hither he found Braintree in and what a state and degree of eminency in profession and outward prosperity he or rather God by his means and Ministry had advanced it to I am confident you would all have pai'd him the just Tribute of Love and Reverence in his Life and Honour at his Death which many of you did and do I go unto the next particular and that is Faith Thou hast fully known my Doctrine manner of Life Purpose Faith He was none of those Qui frigide Jejune de fide disserant that do discourse of Faith unto others coldly and overly Tanquam de terrâ incognitâ But as Tertullian speaks of the Prayers of the Primitive Christians so it is true of his Preachings They were tanquam de Pectore His Sermons came from the Heart he was a Preacher that could say with the Apostle John 1 Epist 1.1 That which we have seen with our eyes and have lookt upon and our hands have handled of the Word of Life declare we unto you The next thing the Apostle instanceth in is Long-suffering Now the Long-suffering of this Holy man if it were not sufficiently tryed in the time of his Health if the forty six years time of his Ministry in this place and the variety of tryals he met with in that time from men of several tempers and spirits if that were not tryal enough of his Long-suffering yet the many weeks of his sore and tedious affliction was For many weeks was the hand of God heavy upon him in a sore Quartane Ague And in all that time he never uttered one unbecoming word but lay quiet contented chearful in the frame of his Spirit all the time of his sickness till it pleased God to put an end to his dayes Here was Long-suffering For his Charity though I say nothing I am sure there are enough who will proclaim it I believe there is scarce a poor man or woman in all your Town but will acknowledg that in him they have lost one of their best Friends one of their most ready chearful tenderhearted Relievers of their necessities that they had in all the world There is one thing more in these Ministerial Perfections summed up by the Apostle and I know that some of you watch to hear what I will say of that and that is Patience And may I speak the truth I never heard any thing laid to the charge of this holy man in all my dayes but some defect in this particular some want of Patience Now suppose that this charge were true why may not the want of this one particular Grace be over-lookt where there is such a full confluence of other Graces What Man what Saint is there living upon the face of this earth that wants nothing This Holy man of God say some wanted patience and are there not other men that want the wisdom he had the gravity that he had the sobriety that he had in the use of meats and drinks and apparrel the charity that he had the modesty and humility that he had And yet all these can be over-lookt in them only this one want of patience must be objected against him But I beseech you tell me some of you what was this want of patience and in what cases For there are cases wherein to want patience is not a fault but a duty there are cases in which good men holy men may not be patient cannot be patient ought not to be patient Even Moses himself the pattern of patience the miracle of patience having to do with a froward and gainsaying people hath much ado sometimes to keep the bounds of patience yea meets with some occasions in which he dares not but shew some impatience If the people in his absence set up a golden calf and worship it patience can hold no longer then how impatient would Moses have been if this had been done in his presence and before his face If the people despise and loath the Manna of the Lord if Cora Dathan and Abiram will rebel against the Lord by taking to themselves an Office about the Holy things to which the Lord hath not called them and so make a Schism a Sedition among the people Moses cannot must not be patient in these cases Now I beseech you what were the cases in which this servant of the Lord shewed any Impatience at any time were they properly his own concernments when people withheld his Maintenance from him was he impatient then Did he molest any Did he hale them before the Judge When people despised him opened their mouths in scornful reproachful manner against him as many delight to do against all the Ministers of Christ Jesus was his impatience then Being reviled did he revile again Surely no but if when he saw people slighting the precious Manna of the Word setting up the Idols of their own brain in stead of Gods Ordinances sowing Schism and division among the people committed to his charge if upon such occasions as these his Spirit was stirred in him shall this be imputed as a fault to him Nam quis Iniqua Tam Patient Gentis tam ferreus ut teneat se This leads me to the last thing Persecutions and Afflictions which he suffered Not from the hand of Publick Power from that his own Integrity and Prudence and principally that hand which upholds the Stars in his Church preserved him all his dayes under all that variety of changes that hath passed over us But I mean Persecutions and Afflictions from private hands Not at Listra Iconium and Antioch not among Heathens and Jews but at But I will draw a Curtain here The Lord hath now delivered him out of them all and I will not make these wounds recrudescere The Lord look upon this poor Town in Mercy and overlook all the failings and miscarriages of his people in it and send a man among you if it be his good pleasure that may continue as long with you as this holy man did And may do as much good among you as he in his Generation that though he find you divided may unite you and may restore you to your pristine state of Beauty and Unity wherewith God had sometimes dignified you Amen Amen FINIS