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	misery_n	sin_n	6,420	5	4.5542	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A48732	A sermon at the funeral of the Right Honourable the Lady Jane eldest daughter to His Grace, William, Duke of Newcastle, and wife to the Honourable Charles Cheyne, Esq, at Chelsey, Novemb. I, being All-Saints day by Adam Littleton ...	Littleton, Adam, 1627-1694.; Person of quality and neighbor in Chelsey.	1669 (1669)	Wing L2568; ESTC R21390	19,451	62

Father of the Faithful hath his Bosom thus daily Inlarg'd for New Comers Whether the Heirs of the Kingdom are at their first Admission Instated into a full Possession of all their Glory and kept to that Stint I think may be a Doubt For if the Faculty be perfected by the Object about which 't is Conversant then the Faculties of those Blessed Ones being continually Imploy'd upon an Infinite Object must needs be Infinitely Perficible and Capable still of being more and more Inlarg'd and consequently of receiving still new and further Additions of Glory Nor only so This is in Heaven but even the Influence of that Example they leave behind them on Earth drawing still more and more Souls after them to God will also add to those Improvements to the End of the World and bring in a Revenue of Accessory Ioys And would it not be Unjust in us then to deny them those Glorious Advantages which our Commemoration and Imitation may and ought to give them 2. In a due Acknowledgment of Gods Gifts and Graces The Praise of his Servants redounds to his Glory as Water rises to the same height it had in its Well-spring The Father of Lights gives order that Our Light which he communicates to us may so shine that men may see our good Works and Glorifie Him nor has he only annexed to our Temporal Services an Eternal weight of Glory hereafter but even here in this World is content we should go Shares with him and be made Partakers of that Glory we bring into his Infinite Stock The Servant was justly condemn'd that put his Master's Talent in a Napkin and buried it under ground nor would our Ingratitude be less Inexcusable should we in silence bury those Gifts he has bestowed upon any his Eminent Servants that have by his Grace well Imploy'd them and wrap up the Memories of his Saints in the same Shrowd with their Bodies Lastly For the Benefit of the Living and that two Ways for their Instruction and for their Comfort For the Instruction of all that are to come After 't is fit the lives of those that have gone Before should be Remembred 'T is not enough to have a Map of the Country we are Travelling to unless we have experience'd Guids whose Conduct and Directions we may safely follow Our way to Heaven does not lye so ready and plain that we cannot Miss it and here 't is dangerous to trust to our own Judgment and which was one kind of ancient Superstition to resolve our selves as our Staff falls but our surest Course will be to observe the Track of others Footsteps and walk in their Faith and go on in the beaten Road of Holy Examples for fear of being either led aside into the untrodden By-paths of Schism and Separation or carried along in the broad High-way of Prophaneness with the mistaking Multitude As in a Voyage by Sea the skilful Pilot though he consult his Card and steer by his Compass yet he neglects not the Discoveries other Navigators have made that have sayl'd those Seas and given notice of Rocks and Shelves and describ'd the Coastings and Rhumbs of the whole Course Example gives life to a Rule makes it Intelligible and Practicable God's bare Commanding us to do any thing is a sufficient Obligation to Obedience but when by Others he shews us How 't is to be done this as it renders it more Easie to Obey so it puts our Disobedience past all Excuse For the Comfort of Survivers that stay behind the Vertues and Praises of their Deceased friends are to be Recounted that they may not Mourn and hang down the Head with Despondence as having no Hope It was the Custom of some Barbarous Nations upon the very consideration of the Troubles of this Life from which Death sets us Free to attend their Dead with solemn Shouts and Expressions of Joy but We who have better Assurances when any of our Relations are delivered from the Sins and Miseries of a Wicked and Wretched World have much greater reason to Rejoyce in their behalf if by the Testimony of a good Life they have confirm'd those blessed Expectations Upon which the Hinge of all Religion turns For in that we Grieve 't is for our Own sakes not for Theirs 'T is Our loss we Lament They are infinitely Advantaged by the Change Why then should we repine at their Advancement with them back to their Hurt and be discontented for the want of their Company who as St. Paul says in another case are therefore Departed for a season that we may Receive them for ever if We by following their good Example be found worthy to be Admitted to Them If it be a Kindness to Them that our Hearts are touch'd with we should rather according to the Apostle's Rule Rejoyce with them that Rejoyce and not Weep over them since all Tears are now wiped away from their Eyes 'T is usual in great transports of Joy for Tears to burst out and such should be our Tears over Those that by Living well Learnt and Practis'd to Dye Well to flow from Joy as well as Sorrow and our Ioy that they are in Heaven should far exceed the Grief we show for their leaving Earth I have read of Parents that when their Sons have return'd Conquerers from the Olympick Games could not master their Resentments but have dyed with excessive Joy Now in a Christian sense to have fought a good Fight and with a Victorious Faith to overcome the World how much more considerable a Conquest is it and how does it deserve our most concern'd Joys That in any Friend's case that Dyes thus it would become us to say what S. Thomas did when word was brought of Lazarus his death Come let us go and Dye with him It was Kindly said and perhaps not Fondly neither For certainly the most exquisite Felicities of Life are not Comparable to the Advantage of a Holy Death Let us then upon such Occasions as we use when any Friend alters his Condition to the Better to Wish him Ioy Gratulate those that Dye thus in the Lord not consider what We have Lost but what they have Gain'd and joyn with Them in singing Hallelujahs Praising them and Praising God for them and Praising God with them Praise is a Chearful Exercise wherefore let me Entreat that those Noble Friends and Relations who have any Share in this day's Loss whilst I practically Apply to the Duty of the Text in Praising this Honourable Vertuous Woman before us would lay aside their own Concerns and be Comforted as they do mean heartily to Joyn with me in the Acknowledgment of her Praises I would not detain you long I need not All that has been or may be said of the Vertuous Woman belongs to Her To say all that might be said would not be the Business of an Hour but of Days and Weeks The bare Relation of her Life would make the best Panegyrick I shall gather it up as close as I can

that it may be both Brief and Useful and That according to our former Method where we treated of the Fear of God which is here given as Her Character First as to Principle the Candour of Her Disposition the Sweetness of her Nature and the Evenness of her Temper whereof throughout her whole Life she gave Innumerable Demonstrations And certainly Good Nature however some Ill-natur'd People who would pass for the most strictly Religious may declaim against It and all Morality is the best Seed-plot for Piety and all Vertue to thrive in the Kindliest Soil for the Fruits of the Spirit Meekness Ioy Patience Gentleness Long-suffering Loving kindness c. which were abundantly seen in all the Instances of her Conversation Now because much of This may seem to be Extracted from the Parents and by Lineal Descent to be derived from the Family For Fortes creantur Fortibus Boni Bonis Vertues and good Qualities likely run in a Blood I must so far mention Her Pedigree as to give the True Blazonry of her Vertues She was Eldest Daughter to His Grace the Duke of Newcastle a Person of no less Excellence in His Merit and in His Nature then he is in his Title One that has been the most Illustrious Example in all the three Nations of an Acting and Suffering Loyalty To him besides His other vast Deserts the World ow'd this Excellent Lady who being powerfully inclin'd by Instinct and Duty and Choice to be like Her Noble Father did so Naturally Resemble Him and so Affectionately Imitate Him that She represented the lively Characters of his Soul as well as Feature Nor must I omit her Pious Mother a Lady of most Exemplary Charities from whom She received the first Elements of her Vertuous Education and Her Noble Grand-Mother the Lady Ogle whose Daring she was who to this Lady IANE did in her life and at her death give particular Testimonies of an extraordinary Affection which were often gratefully remembred and repeated by Her From these Advantages of Birth that Natural Principle of Goodness flow'd which being Inlarged by the Moral accessions of Noble Breeding and Impregnated with Holy Exercises and the Influences of God's good Spirit stream'd into all the Faculties of her Soul by which she became the Absolute Governess of Her own Mind She had that Command of Her Passions that it might be questioned whether she had Any Anger and She were so utter Strangers that the very Expressions of Dislike from Her were Obliging Greatness and Goodness of Mind kept her Soul always in an equal Poise so that she could never fancy an Injury or an Ill meaning from any one or be upon any Provocation Exceptious She knew her self so Innocent and Good that she deserv'd no Ill and therefore suspected none and withal She was of so Generous and Great a Spirit that unkindnesses if intended could not reach Her So that as on the one hand no body she believ'd would wrong Her if they could so on the other she resolv'd they should not if they would Her soft yielding Compliance back'd with Magnanimity was like polish'd Marble smooth and strong She was seated above the clouded Atmosphere of Worldly Joys and Troubles even while she was Here and had wrought Her self to a perfect Indifference and Vnconcernedness in all things but Her Service of God and Kindness to her Friends She had no Value for the World nor Over-value for Her self who was one of the Best Parts of it For as Her Worth had set Her Even with the Greatest so Her Humility plac'd Her familiarly with the Meanest and yet this attended with so natural a Becomingness that her very Humility exalted her and her Condescensions made her the more Venerable and Highly Esteemed Where the Passions are kept in this Aw and Order the Superiour Faculties being clear and undisturb'd must needs exercise all their Functions aright She took when Young special delight in her Father's Excellent Composures And she hath left in Writing a considerable Stock of Excellent ones of Her own ever spending the time that best pleased Her with her Pen. Above all Reading of good Discourses and making of Pious Meditations were Her chief and daily Imployment to which and to Her Devotions she was so Constant that as she hath fill'd some Volumes with the One so for the Other from her Youth to her late Death-bed she fail'd not of Prayer as I am Informed thrice a day and if Morning or Noon hapned to be omitted She would make amends at Night and then to be sure even that Account Herein lay her solid Satisfaction in Conversing thus with God that She lookt upon all Occasions that Interrupted That as Impertinent and Uneasie and if She had any Quarrel to this Place 't was this the Multitude of Formal Visits which she could not avoid receiving from London and returning that took off her time from these Spiritual Exercises This as to her Principle Then as to the Emanations of It to the Eye and Observation of the World for we have as yet been but in the Closet In her Maiden-state Of her Infant-years which were spent at Welbeck a place that bears the Proportion and Resemblance of a Court under the Tuition of her Father and Mother we have already spoken We shall now treat of her more Adult Vertues What Courage and Loyalty as the right Daughter of a General as the Valiant Woman here spoken of did she shew in keeping the Garrison'd House of her Father where she was left with One of her Noble Sisters as a Sharer in her Vertues and the Misfortunes of Ill times the Other being before that Time Happily bestow'd amongst the Horrid Circumstances of War till taken by the Enemy and there made their Prisoners What Gallantry of Charity at the Retaking it by the King's Forces when She became Petitioner to save her Iaylor's life whose Treatments though not Barbarous yet had been much short of such Civilities as to Persons of their Age Tenderness and Quality were due What Patience and Magnanimity in all the Disasters of Her Loyal Family Her Mother's Death the Loss of my Lord's Army his leaving England His and her Brothers Banishment after and Proscription and the Seizure of all their Fortunes beside Her own Personal Sufferings and Unsettlements What Duty and Piety when after the Fifths were procur'd She was inabled to become Sollicitor for her Father and Brothers when Loyalty was so Criminal that nothing less would serve then to Except them from Life when with all Her early Diligences and Attendances and Petitionings how humbly and closely soever prosecuted She could not prevail for Her Father Her Brothers only with much difficulty had Pardon for Life And then when things were grown to that Extremity that All that could be had from an Enemy was too scant a Support for Her Banisht Father I have it from an Excellent Hand that with great Obligingness gives this Account in Print She converted Her own Peculium of Jewels and

Plate which her Father and Grand-Mother had given Her into Monies and sent it over a Token of Affectionate Duty Nor stopt Her Duty here but She continued it together with her Obedience to her Married state having resolv'd without his Leave and Consent not to change her Condition nor so neither without a Liberty from her Intended Husband out of that Fortune Her Father's Nobleness had design'd Her to make him a considerable Present so I find it Nobly Acknowledg'd by the same Excellent Authoress of which His Grace I understand soon after his Restauration no less obligingly with greatest Kindness of all generous and indearing Expressions Ordered a liberal Return And then with what Condescending Prudence and Iudicious Moderation did She make her Choice when having through the Iniquity of the Times observ'd the Desolation made in the Greatest Families and the little Choice then amongst those Few left of the Higher Nobility for She resolved to match with no Family which had ill-treated her King and Father how advantageous soever She suiting her Judgment to her Inclination accepted a Gentleman yet One besides His othet Accomplishments and the Merit of his most Affectionate Respects of an Ancient Family and a very Noble Descent with whose Principles and Fortune She perswaded her self of Content And she found That perswasion did not deceive Her having here in Chelsey lived these 14 years and few Months as Well to Her own as to the great Satisfaction and Joy of every Body else that knew Her How willing She ever was to Oblige all persons how Ready to all good Offices how Meek and Humble and Charitable and Familiarly Courteous to Neighbours and all others let Fame let Envy it self speak Of her Charity to this Place I question not but we shall see in a short Time some fair Testimonies erected Her Devotions she lov'd particularly to make out in Observing the Fasts of the Church as much and as oft as the tenderness of Her Constitution could well permit Next to Reading and Writing she delighted much in her Needle and hath left great quantities of Work to her Children This in short the account of her Life in its Healthful time We come at last to the sad Scene of her Sickness and Death wherein it pleas'd a good God in some measure to answer her desires who had always a tender Apprehension for Pain that though the Fits to sorrowful By-standers seem'd not to be without Pang and Agony yet were graciously Alleviated to Her by a Surprize of her Senses for the time and That so Gentle too as never to cause any Disorder or Indecency Nor after the Fits at the return of Spirits sufficient to give Her liberty of Speech did She ever except two of her four last days complain of Pain which was then violent in her Head but even then and at all other times of her Sickness while She had Speech She used it most in Devotion and in many gentle chearful and obliging Expressions to her Husband Children Doctors and other her mournful Assistants Particularly in the Three weeks Interval She had when there were very good hopes of her Recovery She used often to say That though she resigned up Her self wholly to the wise disposal of a good God yet She being in expectation of being call'd away in her first Fits look'd upon her Recovery as a gracious kind of Disappointment they were Her own Words by God Almighty This She did She said not out of Discontent at her Sickness which she thankfully acknowledged tolerable Easie but as having conquered this World and being now in her Passage to a Better out of her intuition of a glorious Crown that She trusted awaited her in Heaven Now now was the Time when all the Powers of Her Soul all Her Vertues and Graces were Summon'd together with united force to make up the Complin of her Devotions wherein she Profess'd to the Equal Comfort and Grief of Those that heard Her her Confidence in God her patient Submission to Him her Holy Resignation her Indifference to Life and her Preparedness to Dye Of which amongst many others there were two Remarkable Instances One to a Reverend Father of our Church whom she told with great Unconcernedness as he was discoursing piously to Her That she was not afraid to Dye not that she had or fear'd any Trouble or Discontent here but that she might Injoy the Blessings of that Better World The Other to Her sad and afflicted Husband whom as He was at her Bed-side praying to God that he would restore Her again to Health that she might Live and Glorifie him when those that went down into the Pit could not Praise him she stopt Him in his Prayer and with a comfortable Look and strong Voice though a great difficulty of Speech had some time before possest Her said She would Glorifie God whether she lived or dyed and then recommended her Children to His Care Who as He did in all her sickness out of a strong Sympathy of Love suitable to His constant Tenderness and Her great Merit entertain all her Ills with quicker and deeper Resentments if we may consider Those as Two who were so nearly One then if they had been His Own that those Epileptick and Convulsive Fits which seiz'd Her Brain did at the same time seize His Heart so after Her Dissolution and the Departure of His Better Soul He finds no Reason to live no Joy in life but This to look after those living Remains of his Dear and Pious Deceased and to be Paying on that Love which was Due to Her in the Indulgent Care of Her Children These dear Children of Hers as She had often in her Health so she did now more frequently in her Sickness Instruct charging them to apply themselves much to Reading especially to be diligent in constant Prayers to God to be Observant to their Dear Father and transferring that Obedience they had to Her self upon Him to pay Him now a double Duty and to be intirely Loving to One another Then and not else they might assure themselves of all good things from God and their Father Further injoying them to be Respectful to those that had the charge of them and ever to give ear to their just and vertuous Advices and carefully to decline the Company of vain and impertinent Persons As it was Her only Trouble in all her Sickness that her Indisposition made Her uncapable of giving that Attendance to the Offices of Religion Praying Meditating Reading as she used to do So in the Close it was the great Affliction of All about Her and that which of any thing She her self shew'd most Sense of that her Speech Fail'd her upon the Loss of which she had no other means of Expressing those pious Ejaculations She in her last Sickness Incessantly poured forth but by Sighs and Eyes and Hands lifted up to Heaven whither She is gone Bless Soul to increase the number of Saints whom the Church this day Commemorates and