Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	mortal_a	sin_n	venial_a	6,152	5	13.8485	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65453	A sermon preached in St. Maries church at Gates-head in the county-Palatine of Durham at the funeral of George Johnson, Gent., deceased, May 29, Anno Dom 1683 / by Richard Werge ... ; whereunto is added, Anelegy by a friend.	Werge, Richard, 1624 or 5-1687.	1683 (1683)	Wing W1366; ESTC R8026	12,157	36

A SERMON PREACHED IN St. MARIES-Church at Gates-head in the County-Palatine of Durham AT THE FUNERAL OF George Johnson GENT. Deceased May 29. Anno Dom. 1683. By RICHARD WERGE A. M. Rector of that Church WHEREUNTO IS ADDED An ELEGY by a Friend Of whom the World was not worthy Heb. 11. 38. LONDON Printed by Henry Clark for Joseph Hall Book-Seller and Book-Binder upon Tyne-Bridge Newcastle upon Tyne and Robert Clavel at the Peacock in St. Pauls Church-Yard 1683. A SERMON PREACHED In St. Mary's-Church of Gateshead in the County-Palatine of Durham at the Funeral of George Johnson Gentleman deceased May the 29th Anno Domini 1683. Heb. IX Part of the 27th Verse It is appointed for men once to die THE first Adam the Protoplast of all mankind was made upright his Righteousness was not the Righteousness of his Person only but it was the righteousness of Humane Nature It was a Connatural Endowment it was given to man with his Nature so that if Adam had continued in that his estate according to his first Creation He had with all his posterity been free from death But being created mutable and yielding to the Temptation of Eve who was inticed by the Devil in the shape of a Serpent He by his transgression fell nay his disobedience remains ours by imputation yea further the sin imputed makes us liable to the punishment to be inflicted and that is death threatened upon sin in those words In the day that thou eatest thou shalt surely die All Saints are mortal though not equal The greatest sins through Christ upon Faith and Repentance are venial and the least sin in its Nature without Faith and Repentance is mortal and makes men liable to death temporal spiritual and eternal Now The death that I shall here speak of is a temporal death the Consequent of sin We see in the Text that it is a statute-Law it is appointed for Men once to die It is a statute-Law that hath been in force in all ages and will be to the end of the world The Law of the Medes and Persians which was not to be altered is not so sure and firm as this Neither riches nor honour nor beauty nor strength nor any outward priviledge can free men from death The Prophets do they live for ever Ministers Magistrates Masters Servants the deformed the beautiful high and low rich and poor they are all subject to death Abraham the Father of the faithful Isaac the Patriarch Aaron the Priest Josiah the Prince these all died All flesh is grass Death is the end of all flesh it is the way of all the Earth When Zerxes upon an hill beheld his great Army both by sea and land he wept considering that within one hundred years there should not be one of that great company left alive The World is a Theatre the earth is as a Stage placed in the midst Here high and low all sorts of people act their parts as in a Tragedy the cryes of new born children are as the Prologue our false hopes our vain joys our fierce distractions are as the Musich that divides the Acts Time holds the glass and when the last sand is fallen death strikes the Epilogue and the Play is done Man's life is like a winters day when the Sun is then strongest it is but weak when it is at the highest it is but low and when it shines longest it is but short Every thing hath its spring growth and decay and all men have their dates however eminent in degree and the shank of their Compass is so set in a Centre that the Circle of their lives is oftentimes abrupt before it be drawn to a full round Some whose bodies have been strong fitted for war have by spears and glittering sword been laid upon the ground purpled with the broken and bloody carcases one of another mixt as in an horible winepress others by the distemperature of diet continually labour contagiousness of air and afflictions by sickness have been weakned and have yielded up the ghost There are some Scriptures affirmative testifying that all men are liable to death There are other Scriptures negative testifying that there are none exempt from death The cause of death is universal and that is sin Sin is the true and proper cause Death entred into the world by sin Rom. 5. 12. Death is the wages of sin now all have sinned and therefore all are liable to death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Death is a propriety inseparable from man said Nazianzen Nothing can bear off fatal blows when Death-strikes with its Ragged-staff When the rich Cardinal of Winchester was struck with an uncurable disease and was told by his Physician that he could not live said he will not Death be hired will money do nothing must I die who have so great riches If the whole Realm would save my life I am able either by policy to get or by riches to buy it but all would not prevail but that he died of the same disease Caesar and Pompey who got such famous victories and were exalted to so great honour Marcellus and Belisarius those succesful Commanders Saladine the Conqueror of the East and Alexander the great who got so many victories and had Ambassadours sent to him from all Countries to congratulate his conquests and to do him homage and bring him presents these all died Though men live a long time yet they die All the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years and he died All the days of Methusalem were nine hundred sixty and nine years and he died Joshua's Sun had a time to set and they who live a long time die at last which way ever you look you may see something that may mind you of mortality When you behold the dust of the Earth you may then remember that you are dust that to dust you must return When you look upon the flowers of the field you may then remember that man comes forth like a flower and is cut down When you look upon the clouds you may then remember that man going to the grave is as a cloud that is consumed and vanisheth away When you behold the fowls of the air you may then consider that Man's days are as the Eagle that hasteth to the prey When you look upon the water you may then remember that man dying is as the fome upon the water and as water spilt upon the ground When you come to Church you see the Sepulchers of others and some of you can scarcely go from the places where you stand but you will tread upon the dormitories of some of your progenitors When you travail abroad you hear of the death of others and when you come home upon your tables you see the carcases of creatures slain for your use All which things should put you in mind of that mortality to which you are all liable Objection The Apostle saith 1. Cor. 15. ver 51. We shall not all sleep Answer

not who shall gather them Psal 39. Why should they accumulate riches and endeavour to grasp the world who in a short time must lay their heads upon a green Turf Our life is like the Macedonian Empire that was in and out like a flash Vita vitrea fumus umbra sumus Our life is like glass we are as smoak and as a shadow and therefore the Apostle exhorts thus 1 Cor. 7. 29 30 31. Brethren the time is short it remaineth that they that have wives be as though they had none and they that weep as if they wept not and they that rejoyce as if they rejoyced not and they that buy as if they possessed not and they that use the world as not abusing it for the fashion of this World passeth away Why should frail man be in ordinately desirous after riches pleasures and honours of the world when he may be so quickly taken from them or they from him The Fifth Exhortation As the thoughts of man's frailty should diswade you from those sins of pride and covetousness so it should perswade you to several practicall duties 1 It should put you upon the study of true wisdom David desired to be instructed how to number his days and that time he had yet to live Psal 39. 5. And Moses learned in all the wisdom of the Aegyptians desired in the behalf of himself and others to be taught to number their daies Psal 90. 12. So teach us to number our daies that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom Neither David nor Moses desired to know in a literal sence what year or what day their life should end but in a spiritual sence how they might live so as that they might end their lives well any day of the year or any hour of the day There is no kind of learning more weighty than this 2. This should move you to repentance Hezekiah did so upon a message of death We cannot promise life to our selves till to morrow and therefore wee should repent to day Whilst a woman is with child none can tell what kind of birth it will be and so time travelleth with God's decrees and in their season brings them forth but little doth any man know what is in the womb of to morrow till God hath signified it by the event and therefore it is fit suddenly to set about repentance before days of darkness come 3. It should perswade you to a reverential fear of God Fear him who is able to kill both body and soul God is a God life and death he kills and makes alive he hath the Keys of death and hell Revel 1. 18. Who would but fear him who hath within him the power of life and death 4. This should perswade us to patience under all adversities and diseases Death will put an end to all such evils Many are the troubles of the righteous a particular instance hereof we have in paul whose sufferings are largly set out 2 Cor. 11. 23 24. If you should meet with the like consider that within a while death will put an end to all such evils and therefore you should bear up your Spirits now 5. Let this move you to desire and to seek after heavenly things There is no good foundation of hope nor any good ground of joy to be found here and therefore the frequent meditation about death should move you to desire after heaven and happiness Our conversation is in heaven saith the Apostle from whence we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like to his glorious body One reading that Scripture that No man hath seen God at any time and lived cryed out thus O then that I might die that I might see him 6. This should perswade you to be willing to die Aliter se habere non potest necessarium said Aristotle That that is necessary cannot be otherwise And therefore be of his resolution who said Cum nequeo mutare aequo animo feram When I cannot turn aside an evil I will bear it patiently There is a necessity of all mens dying The extent and community of this condition sheweth the necessity of it The wise man dieth as the fool Eccles. 2. 16. The beggar died and the rich man died Luke 16. 22. Those who in respect of their office are as Gods upon earth shall die like men The mighty man and the man of war the Judge and the Prophet the Prudent and the Ancient the Captain and the Honourable man the Councellor and the cunning Artificer and the eloquennt orator these who are the stay and staff of a Nation shall be taken away Isai 3. 1 2 3. Therefore since Death cannot be avoided it is fit that men should cheerfully undergo it Thus did Elias he sate under the Juniper tree and desired that he might die and said it is enough Lord now O Lord take my soul for I am not better than my Fathers Thus died faithful Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace Indeed Christians do not desire Death as Death Paul in that respect would not be unclothed And Peter must be carried whither he would not but when Christians consider the decree of heaven the setled purpose of God the unalterable Laws of nature and the benefits they obtain by it then they should be ready to say now farewel world farewell relations and welcom death welcome Christ welcome heaven Queen Elizabeth professed that She preferred her Coffin before her Cradle and her Burial-day before her Birth-day And you should be cheerful in the thoughts of death which cannot be resisted and should account it an happy change to go from night to day from darkness to light from death to life from sorrow to solace from a troublesome world to a resting place in Heaven 7. Let this perswade you to be patient about the death of others When Galienus the Emperor was told of the death of his Father why said he I knew that my Father was mortal When Anaxagoras was told of the death of his son he answered he knew his son was mortal Consider the greatness of Job and the goodness of Job he was the greatest of all the men of the east supposed by some to be the King of the Edomites and as for his goodness he was a perfect and upright man consider the sudden death of his seven Sons three Daughters consider with what contentedness thankfulness he did bear all Job 2. 21. Job in this case will be a worthy pattern of contentment to you in the like case and a strong inforcement to this duty When your Friends die you should not be as men without hope you should consider that their death could not be resisted nor can their life be recalled and that he that hath taken them away can provide for them better than you can do and can make an abundant supply of them to you another way and can be better to