Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A53508
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A sermon preached at St. Michaels, Wood-Street, at the request of some Friends and now published to prevent mistakes / by Titus Oates ...
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Oates, Titus, 1649-1705.
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1679
(1679)
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Wing O54; ESTC R15541
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31,378
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28
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Office of a merciful and faithful high Priest but according to the most exact measureâ and rules sollicite our case before Almighty God and by this means obtain relief for ouâ necessities So verse 18. For that he himself hath suffered being tempted he is able to succour theâ that are tempted For that it is undoubtedly true that the doleful afflictions that ouâ dearest Redeemer underwent do with an high hand make it appear it was Gods desigâ then that his Son should be compassionate by the unparallel'd experience of temptations he should be inclined to relieve and succour all that fall into temptations and afflictions that attend the best of men on this side the grave Estius saith plainly Whereas the holy Apostle saith that he might be a merciful high Priest it was Vt condoleret miseriae nostrae ex eo commiserationis affectu causam nostram fideliter ex animo apud Deum ageret hae enim partes erant Pontificis quas Christus praestare non potuiâ nisi naturae conditionis nostrae particeps esset cum multis aliis c. So that we have not onely the testimony of the Apostle and the Learned of subsequenâ Ages but also reason plainly points at the same viz. that one great reason why Jesuâ Christ did take upon him the seed of Abraham and was therefore stiled the Son of Maâ was that he might succour them that are tempted 2. That he might deliver them from the power and fear of death both of which were the dismal consequences of the transgression of our first Parents But of these in their Orders 1. The powers of death which is apparent from that of the Apostle Heb. 2 14. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood he himself likewise took part of thâ same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the deviââ You may easily call to mind what Adam entailed upon his posterity by his neglect oâ eating of the Tree of life and by eating the forbidden fruit even eternal death under which the generality of Mankind were held till the coming of the Son of Man in the fulness oâ time As in the first Adam all men die so in the second all shall be made alive 1. Cor. 15.21 By the miscarriage of our first parents way was made for a design of our Enemy the Devil to hold us under death Now therefore it is apparent that the end of Christs coming in the flesh and becoming the Son of Man was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to abolish or to take away all force and power and to frustrate the design of the Devil as the phrase ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã doth import and cancel that testament by which upon the account of sin men coming into the world were bound over to death But Christ he being the son of man deliverd mankind from eternal death For although by Christs death temporal death is not taken away yet it is deprived of that reigning power over man as St. Paul elsewhere saith Ro. 5.17 Firsâ if by one mans offence death reigned by one man c. of which reigning power I say death is devested so of its sting victorious progress Hence that of St. Paul 1 Cor. 15.55 56 57. ãâã death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strengthoâ sin is the Law But thanks be to God who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ who got the victory over death for us For it is apparent that Christ overcoming the sharpness of death did rescue man from the power of death so that it is impossible for man to be for ever held under it From all which we may easily gather this that Christians or Believers who are to be brought to Heaven by Christ are here in humane flesh and sufferings And seeing that Brethren or Fellow-children are of like natures Christ therefore who is called our Elder-brother is declared to have part with us in flesh and sufferings to this very end and purpose that he might frustrate and make void the design of him that was our enemy from the beginning which was to keep men under death and its raging power and to rescue man from the grave so that as in Adam all di'd so in him the second Adam all might be made alive 2. From the fear of death When Christ came into the world and did design to establish another Law amongst the sons of men upon which account he could not but expect because of the different nature of this Institution from that which they lived under and the corrupt dispositions that they had contracted by reason of sin that this his Law would be opposed and the professors of this new Law would be persecuted therefore like a great exemplar of true courage he suffers these experiences of temptation and affliction withân his own Soul to this end that he might simpathize with and deliver them who through fear of death were in their life-time subject to bondage And therefore our Apostle St. Paul here layeth it as a foundation of comfort to them that dreaded persecutions because they fear death Now that they might be able to go on in the obedience of faith and act like Champions in their several stations and fight manfully against the opposers of his Gospel viz. the Divel the World and the Flesh the Apostle assures them that Christ hath redeemed them from death O death I will be thy plagues Hos 13.14 O grave I will be thy destruction Therefore if any be under any pressures of spirit upon the account of the profession of Christian Religion though they do not out-live and enjoy the promise of deliverance here in this life they shall rise again to eternal joy felicity through him that loved them gave himself for them is risen again from the dead is become the first fruits of them that slept Therefore the Apostle Heb. 2.15 saith that Christ did take our nature in order to deliver them who through fear of death were all their life-time subject to bondage From which I necessarily conclude that the reason why the Messias was the Son of man was that he might take away the fears of persecution and death it self which makes men so cowardly and keeps them in such awe that is in a most unchristian and servile condition whilst they see no hopes of deliverance Therefore Christians are by the same Apostle Heb. 12.1 2 3. admonished that in those afflictions that so easily beset men they âay aside all worldly love and fear that may incumber them in their Christian race and in order to this to look unto Christ Jesus who hath in himself endured the highest afflictions and will be sure to crown their sufferings with the greatest rewards if they follow him with all perseverance patience therefore let them consider his patience in enduring such notorious contradictions
Verse ââpressed where S. Paul adviseth Timothy all those that were committed to his charge âd care that not only in publick but in private supplications be made for averting all âings that were hurtful either to soul or body secondly Prayer in order to obtaân all âod things that were necessary and thirdly Intercession for others thanksgivings for âercies already received and this not only for themselves but also for all mankind In â 2. verse this Apostle is more particular in his change and wills that the aforegoing Office be made for the Civil Magistrate and what sort of men Civil Magistrates werâ when this epistle was written you may easily judge if you consult the History of the Church yeâ the Church was to perform those good Offices for them And why âo Because ãâã them we owe all our peaceable living in any place in the exercise of Religion a virtuoâ Life and therefore it was then and is now but reason that Prayers and Thanksgiving should be made for them And how is this made good For this is acceptable in the sight ãâã God our Saviour that is this is that which God Almighty under the most Sacred dispensation of his Gospel requires at our hands he having enjoyned us by his Son the ever bleâed Jesus to pray for our Enemies here enjoyns us by the holy Apostle to pray for Magâstrates even for those that persecute his Church whether they be Heathens Jews Turks or ãâã any particular unbelieving that because he gives us his most holy example of desiring thâ salvation of all men and in order to this he hath provided such powerful and effect oâ means to bring them to a Reformation of their Lives though never so wicked and now ãâã entertain the Gospel of his Son and for this he give this reason that there is but oâ God who designs the good of all and one Mediator and Peace-maker between God anâ man even he that hath taken our common nature upon him and in it dyed for all thoâ whose nature he assumed the man Christ Jesus Consider else how weak the Apostles Argument will appear by which he persuadâ Christians to perform those duties for all men if so be that Christ in coming to save thâ which was lost did not design and intend the salvation of all and every man for certaââ it is that it is as lawful for me or any man to pray for the recovery of the fallen Angeââat of their dismal state of darkness as for those men whom God in Christ did never designor intend to save when he came into the World Another Testimony that speaks very plain in vindication of this Proposition is thaâ of St. Paul 2. Cor. 5.14.15 For the love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead that he died for all that they which live should mââââneeforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again The Apostââ here teacheth us that mans love to Jesus Christ is founded on his to us and hath in it aâ obliging power to make us do whatsoever it will have us making this Argument froâ this certain truth of Christs having dyed for all men that then certainly all men were sinners lapsed into a lost state and so without hope that unless some means had been used ãâã recover them they must have perished to eternity Another place worth our serious consideration is that of Heb 2.9 For we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the Angel for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of God should tââ death for every man From all which I gather this undoubted Truth that the great desigââ of Almighty God in the humiliation of the Messias for a while even to the death of thâ Cross was for the Redemption of all and every of the sons and daughters of Adam for we consider rationally the import of this Clause we cannot judge of the atonement made ãâã Christ to be for any fewer than those that lay under the dismal consequences of Adaââ Transgression for the words shew that the Lord Christ though clothed with a boââ of flesh wherein he was capable of dying as well as other men yet did not suffer deaââ simply through the malice of his Enemies but upon an account far superior unto thoââ for the Apostle attributes his death to the grace of God that be through the grace of God thâ is through the love and gracious affections of God not towards some or a sew no nâ yet towards all men collectively taken but towards all men distributively taken that ãâã towards every particular individnal person ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã saith the Holy Ghost for eveâan that is to procure eternal redemption and salvation for every man without the exâusion of any consider 2 Cor. 5.19.1 John 2.2 2 Pet 3.9 2 Pet 2.1 and many oââer places at your leisure I now come to shew what rational Arguments may be used in order to a clear discoâery of the Truth of the Point in hand and of those in their order 1. Because God hath not determined the destruction of any man but desires the salââtion of all and every man for certain it is that man or those men cannot be proâerly said to be lost in the sence of our Lord Christ if so be God had determined their âernal state of misery ab aterno but that I may be plain in the prosecution of this Arâument I will lay it thus If God hath determined the destruction of no man but would ââve all men to be saved then he sent his Son to save all men but God hath determined âe destruction of no man but would have all men to be saved therefore he sent his âon to save all men As to the first Proposition of this Argument it is apparent that all Gods actions are ââtable to his desires and designs especially when spoken of in reference to the Redempââon of man and if so be we can but persuade you to be convinced of this great truth ââat God desires the salvation of all men and determines the destruction of no man then ãâã will follow that God in point of wisdom and honour would appoint a way for the ââdemption and salvation of all men even when his Son came into the World as the âost proper means of mans recovery God then in him would appear actually to shew âercy unto those whose salvation he did thus design As to the second proposition that God determines the destruction of no man but âould have all men to be saved will be made appear by many infallible demonstrations âd those I will offer to you in their place as follows 1. It is inconsistent with the holiness of God to determine any mans destruction withâât respect to sin for it is apparent that if God hath absolutely determin'd the destruction ãâã some men then in it follows