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
A67173	The mourners memorial in two sermons on the death of the truly pious Mris. Susanna Soame, late wife of Bartholomew Soame of Thurlow, Esq., who deceased Febru. 14, 1691/2 : with some account of her death / by Timothy Wright, Robert Fleming.	Wright, Timothy.; Fleming, Robert, 1660?-1716.	1695 (1695)	Wing W3712; ESTC R25216	54,544	137

of happiness a fulness of Glory both subjective and objective glory shining in them and glory shining upon and round about yea into them transfusing its bright beams through them a fulness of honour infinitely transcending all those fading Titles which advance one man so high above another in this lower World and a fulness of joy satisfaction and delight even those pure refined pleasures that are at Gods right Psal 16. v. 11. hand for evermore All this and a great deal more that neither our words nor thoughts can reach is summarily comprehended in that Eternal Life which all they shall certainly attain at the end of their course who by patient continuance in well-doing do seek for glory and honour and immortality Which will more plainly appear to us by considering that which follows in the next place in order namely III. That which remains in the last place to be spoken to is the connection between the qualifications imported in the foregoing Character and that glorious felicity unto which all that bear it shall at last be advanced between a Christians course and his crown between his seeking for glory and honour and immortality in the way here described and that eternal life in which he shall finally enjoy all that he sought for That there is a connection between them is sufficiently evident inasmuch as the one is attainable no other way but by the other And of what kind this connection is I am now to shew And in short It is easie forus to apprehend that this connection is not natural and necessary but ordinate not such as doth necessarily result from the nature of the things themselves that are here connected but such as hath its foundation in the gracious ordination and appointment of God For it is sufficiently evident to any one that doth attentively and seriously consider it That there is no just and adequate proportion between the most diligent and industrious Christians present service and his future eternal reward And so it is no less obvious for us to conceive that the connection that is between them is not founded in Merit but in Free Grace For when we have done all we must say we Luk. 17. v. 10. are unprofitable Servants we have done only that which was our duty to do And it is most absurd for any one to think to merit any thing by the payment of a just Debt And therefore the Scripture speaks of eternal life under the notion of a Gift as obtained only by the free donation of God and not as a possession accruing to us by any desert of our own whereas on the other hand that eternal death which is the just punishment of Sin is called Wages as being no more than what it doth most iustly deserve Rom. 6. 23. For the Wages of Sin is death But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And so the Reward of the eternal inheritance is several times in Scripture under the Title of Mercy As the Apostle prayed for Onesiphorus 2 Tim. 1. 18. The Lord grant unto him that he may find Mercy of the Lord at that day And so we are exhorted to keep our selves in the love of God looking for the Mercy of our Jude v. 21. Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life And therefore it is manifest that the connection that is between the Christians service and reward his Course and his Crown is not founded in merit but in the free Grace and undeserved Love of God in Christ to which alone that gracious Promise or Covenant is intirely owing whereby he hath been pleased to establish an immutable order between them so as that the one shall be infallibly consequent upon the other But the connection is never the less firm or certain for being so founded as it is but rather the more so For the Covenant of Grace which is the more immediate ground and foundation of it is an everlasting Covenant a covenant not 2 Sam. 23 v. 5. only ordered in all things but also sure Forasmuch as the divine eternal veracity is engaged to make good every Article of it to as many as have regularly laid hold upon it and by an hearty compliance with its conditions come to have a real interest in it For altho' God was unlimitedly free before he made the promise and established his Gracious Covenant with us yet that being once done he is obliged for the honour of his Truth and Righteousness to make it good And so though in strictness he can owe nothing to us he is a Debter to his own Promise And at the last day he will be glorified not only as the free and magnificent Donor of all the Treasures of Heaven but also as the God of Truth in fulfilling all the exceeding great and precious Promises that he 2 Pet. 1. v. 4. hath made unto his faithful Servants And therefore Vnto them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality he will not fail to render eternal Life And having thus with as much brevity as the Subject could well admit finished what I proposed to speak doctrinally from this Text of Scripture All that now remains is to make some application of what hath been said unto our selves And 1. From hence we learn with what magnanimity and nobleness of Spirit true living Christianity doth inspire those in whom it takes place elevating and raising their minds and hearts above this perishing World and all its fading transitory enjoyments Steadily inclining them to seek those things that are above Col. 3. v. 1. insomuch that nothing lower than heavenly glory and immortal honour can now content them or compose their Desires into a complacential Rest and satisfaction While others that are acted by the forbid abject and base Spirit of this World lie groveling in the dust of this earth drudging and toyling for what is only accommodate unto their mortal part the living Christian being made alive to God through Rom. 6. v. 11. Jesus Christ his Lord and having received not the Spirit of this World but the Spirit that is from God is continually 1 Cor. 2. v. 12. aspiring upwards in heavenly thoughts desires and aims ever seeking for glory and honour and immortality till he comes to the actual fruition of all in eternal life 2. What hath been said may serve also to discover to us the preposterous folly of their presumptuous hopes who think at last to obtain eternal life tho' they take no care to seek it in that way which the Gospel doth prescribe and in which only it is to be found even by a patient continuance in well-doing Heaven and eternal happiness are promised to none as an absolute irrespective Gift but as a Reward consequent upon service And therefore whosoever are careless and unconcerned about the duty and service of the present state will be sure to sall short of the glory and felicity of the future

we here converse with are also Or 2. If the carnal Rationalist and Philosopher further object and argue against this Doctrine from the consideration of Deaths being the Destruction of nature I Answer 1. that to speak properly there is no such destruction of nature by Death as many imagine For the Soul is not destroyed by it but acts and lives more nobly than before Neither is the Body properly destroyed but only reduced into its first Principles in order to be new moulded and more gloriously re-edified than before And therefore since the two Essential constituent parts of man remain in being man can't be said to be destroyed For tho' the immediate Tye between Soul and Body be loosed yet it is for a time only and in the mean time the relation they stand in to one another continues even when the actual union is suspended And besides all this it being the Soul that is principally the Man we are therefore to reckon that the man is in being still even when unbodied But 2. let it be considered that Death is not preferred to Birth or Life meerly as it is the dissolution of nature as now existing but the formal Reason of this is upon the account of the excellency of the future Life which death is the passage into For upon this account only is it that the Apostle prefers death to life 2 Cor. 5. 4. Not for that we would be unclothed says he but clothed upon that Mortality may be swallowed up of Life But 3. as to what many poor sincere-Christians are apt to object against this Point from the expressions that sometimes Death goes under in Scripture of its being as the punishment of sin our enemy and to be destroyed 1 Cor. 15. 26. I would for Answer propose to them besides what hath been already said this one consideration That tho' Death be indeed our enemy as it is inflicted as a punishment of sin since the fall Yet it has now altered its nature and end with respect to Saints since Christs death especially Christ having slain death and him that had the power thereof Indeed Death passeth still upon all men but in very different respects For to the wicked death is still continued as a grim Messenger and King of Terrours But as for the Saints Death is now become Christs servant to convey home the Souls of his own to himself Therefore as Christ is said to have abolished death 2 Tim. 1. 10. So he is said also Rev. 1. 18. To have taken into his custody and keeping the Keys of Hell and Death Upon which accounts we may perceive what little reason we have to fear Death when he acts only in commission under our dear Lord and Saviour and when also so blessed a Guide as he leads the way And 4. As to the Objection which the vulgar sort of groveling Mortals are apt to make against Death that it robbs them of and separates them from all their comforts friends possessions enjoyments and hopes I Answer that where the case is thus with any I must needs grant they have reason to prefer life to death If thou hast all thy portion in this life I shall not wonder to see thee prefer earth to heaven and dust to gold But O poor wretch art thou not ashamed of such an objection which militates indeed against thee but not against this Doctrine For the Saints of whom we here speak will tell thee that whereas death separates thee from all thy comforts it is in that way alone that they expect to reap the full harvest of all joy and comfort for at the right hand of God there is fulness of joy and in his presence there are pleasures for evermore 3. Infer We may see hence also the folly and ignorance of the generality of men as to their notions and conceptions of Life and Death Who seem to think that all comforts are to be found only in this Life and therefore give way to strange and melancholly apprehensions of death and what follows it As there are many poor Creatures in the world living in mean celles and cottages in some obscure corner whose low minds having never travelled from the smell of their native thatch and turff represent the world to themselves no otherwise than according to the ideas which a barren spot of earth of a few miles circumference hath afforded them So the generality of mankind seem to be so pre-occupied with the prejudices of sense and custom as never to have suitably reflected on those things which right Reason may not obscurely conclude from Scripture Premises concerning the glory and excellency of the future state of the spirits of just men made perfect For if our thoughts were more inured to such Divine Meditations we would dispise the vanities of a fading life more since we converse here but with imaginary comforts and joys tho' with too real griefs and miseries 2d The Regulation of our Practise As Practise is the end of Knowledge so my design in all that hath been said was to bring you to a sincere conscientious Performance of those Duties that the Doctrine handled doth call for from you And therefore suffer me to lay them impartially before you at this time And in doing this since not only the Doctrine in it self but the present Occasion of this Discourse calls for a particular and becoming Consideration this way I shall therefore endeavour with what succinctness is convenient to do these two things here viz. 1. to Improve the Doctrine Practically with respect to that Duty that is incumbent upon all from hence as to the good of our Souls 2. to Improve it also specially with respect to the sad occasion of this present meeting and concourse And 1 I shall endeavour to Improve the Doctrine in the General so as may be of use to all of you And what I have thus to say to you I will comprise and summ up in these three Directions or Rules 1. Direct Take heed how you carry with respect to your Spiritual state and Interest in God thorow Christ Which Advice I will take up in these three Parts which I am sure you are all concerned seriously to mind 1. Examine and Try your selves if God be your Portion and Christ your Saviour What are you secure whilst you remain at uncertainties as to this matter What ground have you to believe that Christ is yours Have you renounced Sin Satan the world and sinful self Have you accepted Christ wholly in all his offices and have you laid hold on him as your alone Saviour Be careful my friends that you found not your hopes on a mistake and thus build on the sand Religion is more than a name and Conversion more than a notion Therefore Judge your selves impartially as to this matter lest you be judged to condemnation by God for your neglect to do so 2. Be sure what ever you do to lay the whole weight and stress of your Salvation in the