Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	punishment_n	sin_n	wage_n	4,100	5	11.0461	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

That is spoken only of such as shall be living at the very moment of Christs coming to Judgment all before them shall die and even they shall be changed which is equivalent to death Obj. Enoch was translated that he should not see death and Elijah was wrapt up into heaven and died not Ans There was a special reason why those two were freed from the ordinary way of dying It was a long time between the promise of Christ and the Exhibition of him and therefore to support the faith of believers in a freedom from death by Christ the Lord was pleased to give those two real demonstrations the one before the floud and the other after the floud Besides that one or two extraordinary Instances do not infringe an ordinary Rule especially when it is altered by him who set the Rule Moreover they were both changed which is answerable to death and thereby their robe of mortality was taken off before they were admitted into heaven Our death is a change and their change was as death Wee see by experience that men of all estates and conditions are taken away by death even the righteous perish and mercifull men are taken away No priviledge can exempt men from death Nascimur Morimur and therefore Solomon in his 30th of Prov. joyns the Womb and the Grave together to shew that we are no sooner born but death waits for us Every one that hath his Genesis must have his Exodus One hearing one boast that he could decline any word he told him he could not decline death We eat and we die said the old Stoich Wee put death into our mouths and death on our backs we are all posting on to the grave which is the House of all the living The decree of God in this respect is established and the law of nature in this respect is in violable and universal Wee are all born alike and wee must die alike We came naked into the world and we must go out naked Mors omnes reddit aequales aequat divitibus pauperes et liberis servos Death makes all alike it makes the rich and poor masters and servants alike death puts an end to all civil distinctions Having done with the illustration of this truth I shall now speak to you by way of Application First Instruction Hence wee are informed of the stability of God's decree God's purpose was that if man sinned he should die and God hath made good his word ever since all the posterity of Adam hath been liable to death Indeed God is unchangeable in his Essence his Attributes his Councels and his Word What God saith shall be done what he speaks shall be accomplished whatsoever God wills purposes and speaks shall be brought to pass Numb the 23d verse the 19th Second Instruction Hence we learn the frailty of man's nature There are many dangers and diseases attending us so that wee may say with Saint Paul Wee are in deaths oft Third Instruction By this we see the sad effects of sin There is an evil in sin and that is the violation of God's Law and their is an evil after sin and that is death the punishment of sin Draco the severe Law-giver being asked why when all sins were not equal he appointed death to all he answered he knew all sins were not equal but he knew the least deserved death It was the speech of Heraclitus concerning a Bow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 its work is to kill so the effect of sin is death By one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death over all men for as much as all have sinned Rom. the 5th ver the 12th Indeed the Apostle saith there is a sin not unto death but that is to be understood of the event not the merit The least sin being committed against an infinite Justice deserves death this was a principle impressed upon nature the very Heathens were sensible of it the Apostle speaing of the Heathens Rom. the 1st and the 32d saith thus Knowing that they which commit such things are worthy of death It is plain by the words of the Apostle that the Heathens knew this and the Prophet is positiye in it The soul that sinneth it shall die Ezek. the 18th and the 4th The first Adam had two Sacraments laid before him a Sacrament of life and a Sacrament of death the tree of life was a Sacrament of life by eating of that Tree he was to be upheld in his obedience which was the way to life Had he continued eating of that Tree he had been freed from temporal death after an enjoyment of a temporal happiness in this world he should have been translated to an estate of eternal blessedness in heaven But by eating of the forbidden tree which was a Sacrament of death he was liable to death Now Adam was a representative Person the root of all mankind so that in Adam all sinned and in him all men are liable to death The Fourth Exhortation Make use of your thoughts about man's mortality as a remedy First against pride It was decreed by the Senate of Rome that when the Roman Conqueror was in his Triumphs had so many acclamations and praises and other occasions of pride that one should cry thus Remember that thou art a man that so the consideration of his mortality might keep him from pride They are in no peril of death that is they think themselves to be in no peril and this is the cause that they are so holden with pride Psal 73. If men did mind their latter end if they did consider that in a short time they must be turned into dust surely they would be humble but they think only of this life therefore they are so proud Man who at first was made like unto God is now like the beasts that perish not a brute but brutish in respect of sensuality and mortality He who was created Lord of the Universe must now say to corruption thou art my Father and to the worm thou art my Mother and Sister And this is the fruit of sin and the thought of it should make us low in our own eyes Secondly Make use of the thoughts of man's mortality as a remedy against Covetousness Facile contemnit omnia qui semper se cogitat moriturum That man is easily perswaded to contemn all things who is always mindful of his own death A little money will serve for his expences who is to go but a short journey A little parcel of earth will hold them who now ambitiously seek after the whole world Why should man be inordinatly desirous after great territories and rich clothing who in a short time shall have no more Land than the compass of his grave and no more clothing than those vestiments appointed for his burial The Psalmist accounts this a great piece of vanity surely every man walketh in a vain shew surely they are disquieted in vain He heapeth up riches to himself and knoweth