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	sin_n	wage_n	10,905	5	10.9508	5	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

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

Ghost useth to describe the Death of the Righteous It is a sleeping in Jesus 1 Thessalon 4. A resting in hope Psalm 16. A putting off an earthly tabernacle 2 Pet. 1.14 A falling of a corn of Wheat into the ground that it may spring up more glorious a sowing in God's Acre Joh. 12.24 It is a gathering of them to their Fathers 1. Of their Bodies from a place of care and labour o● trouble and pain to a place of easerest and security They shall enter into peace rest in their beds Vers 2. 2. Of their Souls from the Body to God to Abraham's Bosom from an Earthly Tabernacle and House of Clay to an House not made with Hands Eternal in the Heavens from Men to Angels from Sinners to Saints perfectly righteous from Enemies to their best Friends from the Vale of the shadow of Death to the Land of the Living from the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant from Earth to Heaven whither they are gathered as the Apostle teacheth at large Heb. 12.22 23 24. to Mount Sion the City of the Living God the Heavenly Jerusalem to an innumerable company of Angels to God the Judge of all and the Spirits of just Men made perfect to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant 2. This will yet evidently appear if we consider two things 1. The Evils from which the Righteous are freed by Death 2. The Good which comes unto them in Death the Blessed Estate they shall then enter into and so continue to all Eternity For the first they shall be freed 1. From all Evils corporal and temporal Sicknesses Diseases Aches Pains Griefs Toyl Labour Crosses and Losses Troubles and Persecutions which God's Children as long as they live here are subject unto The Disciple of Christ must take up his Cross Through much tribulation we must enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Act 14.22 We must look for Afflictions so long as Life lasteth but Death makes an end of them all Life and Trouble are Twins which were born together Job 5.7 Man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward and must dye together as John heard it by a Voice from Heaven Revelat 14. Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord for they rest from their labours All labour in their Actions and dolour in their Passions are ended then shall God wipe away all tears from their eyes Revelat. 21.4 Again they are often taken away to prevent some extraordinary Evils to come as in the Text So Josiah 2 King 22. was put in his Grave in peace that he might not see the evil that God did bring upon his Land So Luther was taken away not long before that miserable Calamity which the Lord brought upon Germany for their contempt of the Gospel Augustine died before the taking of Hippo Paraeus before ●he taking of Heydelberg happy is he who dieth before his Country i. e. before the ruine and desolation of his Country Virgil. Faelix Nepotianus qui haec non videt saith Jerom of his Friend Nepotianus Jerom lived in a calamitous time and he counted his Friend happy that he died before he saw those Calamities 2. The Righteous by death are freed from Spiritual Evils as 1. From the Assaults of the Devil our Life here is a continual Warfare the Church is Militant and we must fight as the Lord's Souldiers and that not against Flesh and Blood for then one Man's Sword would be as long as anothers and one Man's Skin as thick as anothers but against Principalities Powers Rulers of the darkness of this World Spiritual Wickednesses Lambs against roaring Lions Men against Devils and not for a Natural or Temporal but for a Spiritual and Eternal Life not for an Earthly but for a Heavenly Crown and Kingdom And in this War there is no time of Truce if the Devil be overcome one time he will suddenly and none knows how soon give a fresh Assault but Death ends the Battel not as among Earthly Warriours when the one dieth in the Fight the other getteth the upper hand but in this Fight the Devil hath not the Victory by the death of the Faithful but the Faithful at the end get a full and final Conquest and ascend into Heaven there to triumph the Devil cannot assault them there he may compass the Earth but he cannot enter within the Lists of Heaven he never came thither to assault any since he was cast out though he tempted Adam in the Earthly Paradise and got him to be thrust out yet can he not tempt any in the Heavenly Paradise 2. It is no small evil to the Righteous to live and converse among the Wicked to see the Land dishonour God as just Lot was vexed with the filthy conversation of the Wicked Dwelling among them in seeing and hearing he vexed his righteous soul from day to day at their unlawful deeds 2 Pet. 2.7 8. He which is truly grieved for Sin in himself will be also grieved for Sin in others so David Psal 119.136 Rivers of waters run down mine eyes becaus● men keep not thy law and Psal 120.5 Wo is m● that I am constrained to dwell in Mesech and in the tents of Kedar barbarous and profane People that did neither know God nor fear nor love nor serve him Now this World is full of scandalous Sinners that if a Man would not keep any converse with such he must go out ●f the World as St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 5.10 But Death frees the Righteous from this evil for it taketh them out of the World that they shall not behold either the Sins which Men commit against God or the evils which God doth bring upon them yea Death doth carry them into Heaven to the Society of the Holy Angels and the Spirits of Just Men made perfect which sin not at all but do the Will of God in all perfection 3. Another Evil from which the Righteous are freed in Death is the practice of Sin here as Solomon saith There is not a just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not Eccles 7.20 In many things we sin all Jam. 3.2 As the Wicked sin in all things so the Righteous yea all the Righteous sin in many things and nothing is so grievous to the true Christian as Sin it is as the Thorn 2 Cor. 12. or barbed head of an Arrow in the tender Flesh a Splinter under the Nail it woundeth in the piercing in and woundeth in the taking out he will cry with St. Paul O wretched man that I am c. Rom. 7. But Death destroyeth Sin this is a Mystery of Grace Sin brought in Death and Death drives out Sin After Death the Righteous shall be perfectly sanctified and made like the Angels to do the Will of the Lord readily willingly chearfully delightfully and constantly At first Death was inflicted as a punishment for Sin but now it is used as 〈◊〉 means to stop the course of Sin Tunc dictum est homini morieris si peccaveris

nunc dicitur morer● ne pecces Then it was said to Man If thou sin thou shalt dye now it is said to the Righteous Man Dye that thou mayst not sin Sin is the Mother and Death is the Daughter and the Daughter shall become the destroyer of her own Mother Unto the Christian Death is a perfect mortification of all his earthly members and the destruction of the whole Body of Sin 2. The Good which Death brings to the Righteous Man is manifold 1. It brings him into the presence of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost our Father Redeemer and Comforter an immediate communion and fellowship with the Sacred Trinity 2. The Beatifical Vision of God To see his face Rev. 22.4 To see him as he is 1 Joh. 3.2 3. Union with God 4. Fruition of God and that for the manner immediately all means ceasing for the measure fully enjoy God in all and all in God for time eternally for ever with the Lord and reign for ever and ever Revelat. 22.5 for th● place in the third Heaven the Heaven of Heavens the Paradise of God where the Throne of God and of the Lamb is for the company joyned with us the innumerable company of glorious Angels and blessed Saints from this Fruition will arise endless and unspeakable Joy and Pleasure and Glory That far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory 2 Cor. 4.17 Usus 1. In that Death cannot be avoided we should learn to prepare and wait for it to have our Loins girded as the Israelites and our Staves in our Hands ready to take our Journey from Egypt to Canaan as Fowls desirous to fly stretch out their Wings so should we being desirous to be with the Lord stretch out our Affections towards Heaven As Abraham was in the Door of his Tent when the Angel appeared unto him and Elijah in the mouth of the Cave when the Lord appeared unto him so we should be ready to come out of the Cave and Tabernacle of our Body when the Lord appeareth unto us by his Messenger Death Let our Lamps be trimmed our Lights burning and always watching as our Lord commandeth Matth. 24.42 Watch therefore for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come And holy Job practised Job 14. All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come Look to your Faith that it be unfeigned the Faith of God's Elect to Conscience that it be pure undefiled void of offence towards God and Man to Conversation that it be such as becometh the Gospel that is holy and in Heaven a good Life will sit us for a comfortable Death and a comfortable Death will assure us of a joyful Resurrection Usus 2. Death to the Righteous is not hurtful therefore not to be feared but is beneficial therefore to be desired Unto the gracious Christian whose Conscience is purged from dead Works Death shall neither be fearful nor bitter Acerbitas non mortis sed culpae The bitterness is not in Death but in Sin as a Serpent wanting a Sting may hiss but cannot hurt a Man may take it in Hand and put it in his Bosom so the Righteous Man may welcome and embrace Death and be sure it will never hurt him it is not the death of the Man but of Sin in the Man it is not the destruction but the absolution of the Christian the dissolution of the Body is the absolution of the Soul So then not Death it self but the Opinion of Death is terrible for since it translates us from this present evil Wo●●d and Va●e of Misery and the shadow of Death into everlasting Life into the Land of the Living How can it be called Death said one of the Ancients being nomine magis quam re formidabilis formidable rather in name than indeed The separation of the Soul from God that is Death but the separation of the Soul from the Body is only the shadow of Death Therefore such as are dead not in Soul but in the Flesh are not said to be properly dead but to be covered with the shadow of Death The Righteous Man who is Evangelically Righteous hath no cause to fear Death but with St. Paul desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Let him only fear Death who is unwilling to go to Christ It is true which Solomon saith that The day of a mans death that is a Righteous Man's death is better than the day of his birth Eccles 7.3 The day of a Godly Man's Birth is the beginning of his Misery but the day of his Death is the end of his Misery and an entrance into endless Glory and Bliss Usus 3. Consolation as to the Death of our Righteous Friends It cannot be denied but that we ought in a special manner to consider and lay to Heart the Death of our Righteous Friends that are near and dear unto us of whom we have good grounds to be perswaded that they sleep in Jesus and dye in the Lord for it may be they were taken from us because we were not worthy of them and the Mercies we received from God in and by them and were not thankful unto God for them or that we gloried were proud of them and trusted too much in them made Flesh our Arm. We must consider whether God hath deprived us of them as a punishment of our Sins and Unthankfulness as the Widow of Sarepta said unto the Prophet O man of God! art thou come to call my sins to remembrance 1 King 17.18 In this respect we have cause to mourn and lay to Heart the Death of our Righteous Friends We of this Place have cause indeed to mourn droop hang down our Heads like Bulrushes to weep yea to weep if it were possible Rivers of Tears till we can weep no more with David because our Honourable dearest Lord and best Friend to all of us is not But that this may be guided with Wisdom and that we be not swallowed up of Sorrow let us rightly understand where he is not He is not in a Prison but in a Palace of freedom and enlargement he is not in the Sea tossed with Waves exposed to Storms but arrived safely in the Haven he is not in Bondage of Corruption but in the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God he is not in the Way and upon his Journey travelling and toyling but in his Country and at home in his own Mansion in his Father's House he is not in the hope of Heaven but in the actual possession of it And look how far Heaven doth excel the Earth eternal Good things momentary and perishing Vanities the true Joys of the Saints of God the false Delights of the Sons of Men So much is his Condition better than ours is or his was when with us Oh then Pereat contristatio ubi est tanta consolatio Forget we our Sadness in the midst of such Joys and let these Consolations allay the bitterness of our Grief and dry up in