Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	sin_n	sting_n	victory_n	14,564	5	9.4854	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27364	Abrahams interment, or, The good old-mans buriall in a good old age opened in a sermon at Bartholomews Exchange, July 24, 1655, at the funerall of the worshipfull John Lamotte, Esq., sometimes alderman of the city of London / by Fulk Bellers ... ; unto which is added a short narrative of his life and death.	Bellers, Fulk, b. 1605 or 6.; La Motte, John, 1570?-1655.	1656 (1656)	Wing B1826; ESTC R18215	32,052	49

death viz. sin and that entwisted even with his very Nature As by one man sin entered into the World and death by sin and so death passed upon all c. The holiest may cry out as those Sons of the Prophets O thou man of God death is in the pot death is in the body Bodies of Sin will become bodies of Death because sin is in the Soul as a Canker at the root that will kill the Tree as the Worm that smote Jonahs Gourd that made it wither away this drew out that Emphatical Quere What man is he that liveth and shall not see death Shall he deliver his soul himself from the hand of the grave A question that carries a Negative answer in the bowels of it q. d. no man even the most eminent beleeving or holiest for living can free himself from the tasting of death Vse Look not you now that are Beleevers to be freed from the common fare of all real Christians viz. Death count upon this Dye I must I know not how soon Q. But if my faith exempt me not from death what avails me to be a Beleever Sol. Much every way chiefly because by Beleeving though thou be not freed from the stroke yet sure thou art to be protected from the sting of death so that even in the very jaws of death a Beleever may 1. holily exult O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory the sting of death is sin the strength of sin is the Law but thanks be to God that gives us victory through Christ Jesus our Lord 2. yea sure thou art to be delivered from the Second Death thy faith interesting of thee in the first Resurrection and implanting thee into Christ it frees thee from Condemnation He that beleeveth on the Son hath everlasting life viz. even here someway in possession as well as hereafter fully in reversion Besides thou maist be certain the condition of death is altered to thee it being not now formally the wages of sin but turned into a part of those advantagious chattles that do belong unto thee 1 Cor. 3.23 All is thine even Death as well as other things Death to thee is only the final period to all thy miseries and the ready inlet to thy full and eternal happiness Now God permits his Decree to take hold upon thee for divers gracious ends and purposes viz. 1 To cast out perfectly the remainders of sin that even after our Conversion do still abide within us When the Priest under the Law had been to view the house infected with the Plague of the fretting Leprosie the house was to be broken down stones the timber and all the mortar of it Jesus Christ sees the fretting Leprosie of Sin to be in thee that will not be outed of its Habitation till that earthly Tabernacle of thine be pulled down 2 To put an end to all the perplexing miseries that do befall thee here Whilst Israel was in the Wilderness they were infested with fiery Serpents never totally freed from them till they came to Canaan so whilst thou art in the wilderness of the World thou art lyable to the stingings of many fiery Serpents the fiery Serpents of Sin and Misery Absolute immunity will be obtained by Death from them and not before 3 To be a gate for thy Admission or entrance into Heaven Death indeed to on unbeleever is the door of Hel but to a Beleever it is the entrance of Heaven this in eagered Paul with so much panting to be dissolved and to be with Christ what Jacob spake in another case is true here of the death of a Beleever this is the gate of heaven Vse 2. Yet know this for thy comfort though death be unavoydable dye thou must yet thou maist assure thy self thou shalt dye in peace which leads me to the manner how Abraham shall be gathered unto his Fathers which is the Elixir of the Promise He shall go in peace whence we may observe Doct. That it is a Beleevers transcendent Priviledge to go unto his Fathers or to dye in peace For the profitable handling of this truth 1 I le endeavour to shew you what is meant by going to his Fathers or dying in peace 2 I le study clearly to make it out 1 That it is a priviledge to dye in peace 2 A transcendent priviledge belonging to Beleevers 3 I le cast in something by way of improvement Q. 1. What is meant by going to his Fathers or dying in peace Sol. The Phrase is of different construction in different places of Scripture I finde it sometimes opposed to a violent immature or forcible kind of end Thus to Zedekiah as bad as he was it was promised Thou shalt not dye by the Sword viz. a violent but thou shalt dye in peace i. e. come unto a Natural death Jer. 34.4 5. so David advising Solomon to cut off Joab by a forcible death he useth almost a parallel expression not in a promissory but minatory way Let not his hoary head go down to the grave in peace i. e. let him dye a violent death and be rolled to his grave in bloud But sometimes I finde it opposed to an uncomfortable end and then to dye in peace is to dye in the sense of inward peace or in an estate of reconciliation and this I look upon as the common priviledge of all beleevers Josiah had this in promise though hee dyed of his Wounds yet he dyed in a reconciled condition with God and this is the main of the Promise to Abraham here compared with vers 6. Abraham beleeved in the Lord and he accounted it to him for righteousness being now justified through faith he had peace with God And when he comes to dye he shall dye in peace being sensible of his standing in the grace and favour of God and resting on the invaluable merits of Jesus Christ whose day he saw and upon that account with a placid spirit he resigned up his Soul unto him Q. 2 How it may be made out that to dye in peace is a priviledge belonging to beleevers 1 We call that a Priviledge which is an Immunity granted to some of favour and denied to others of justice Wee all deserve as to dye so to dye with fear terrour and amazement but our God in mercy exempts Beleevers from the common Law of death as it is the King of Terrours and vouchsafeth them this favour to depart in peace when others depart with horror 2 This we say is the Beleevers priviledge for as for 1 Unbeleevers and all wicked men whatsoever there is no peace to the wicked saith my God they are as the troubled Sea when it cannot rest whose waters cast out in re●a●d dirt an elegant Similitude whereby the Prophet setteth forth to the life the restlesness of wicked men though the Sea hath no Winds nor Tempests from without to infest it yet it is restless of its

Jeremy his book of the Lamentations penned upon that dolefull occasion may abundantly declare The death of Jacob and Joseph before the oppressions came on and strange cruelties of the Egyptians made seisure upon their off-spring savoured of mercy and it was a great blessing for Augustine to bee taken away by a naturall death when Genserik had besieged Hippo that hee might not see the cruelties of the Vandalls that were breaking in upon the Church of God and for Pareus that hee should die at Heidelberg before the enemy was Master of it a place that hee so intirely loved Thirdly Is it not a great mercy to bee taken away from the tasting of evills in their own persons that they may not feel the smart of grievous and direfull Judgements he that is omniscient foresees calamities and judgements a coming which we cannot see He took notice of the deluge in his own decree before the Cataracts of Heaven were opened hee therefore snatches away those that he was minded to secure lest they should be in wrapt in the common calamity Our God rich in mercy deals as a prudent rich man when hee sees the fire come near his own habitation hee removes his Jewells or his treasures into another place where they may bee secured from danger or as a carefull Husbandman in catching weather in Harvest when hee sees the Heavens be clouded or a storm up hee will do his utmost to get his Corn into his barn if possible before it bee wet Wee read of the Egyptians when they heard that God would cause it to rain a grievous hail such as had not been in Egypt since the foundation of it to that present hee that feared the word of the Lord amongst the Servants of Pharaoh made his Servants and his Cattel flie into their houses so dealeth our God when hee sees a storm a comming hee driveth in his that as they shared not with others in their sins so neither shall they partake with them in their sufferings yea even that Heathen observed that when God brings on any remarkable destruction or Alteration in a Nation hee first takes away them that are good in it Vse I shall dismiss this Relative observation with this word of improvement Lay to heart the Lords taking away of any godly professors at any time for albeit the dispensation savours of mercy to them yet many times it proves ominous to them that are left behind when Swallows flie away winter is then approaching Their death indeed is a blessing unto themselves for blessed are they that dye in the Lord and not only they that die for him yet mostly it portends evill to survivers however it shall bee well with themselves as is here promised unto Abraham which leadeth mee to the second The Absolute consideration of the words which affords two soul cheering Cordialls 1 Thou shalt go to thy Fathers in Peace 2 And be buried in a good old age A couple of Promises or a couple of Branches of the same Promise that would require a couple of hours for the unfolding of them to view them exactly I must deal as a Travailer that is on his way who may glance his eye here or there but makes no stay till hee comes to his Journyes end no more shall I till through help from my God I shall have spoken something of both these as they lie before you And for the opening of the first we shall inquire Quest. 1 What is meant by his going to his Fathers Was hee to go back to Haran or Ur of the Chaldees in his life or bee carried thither to be interred after death or was hee to go to that place whither their soules went upon the dissolution of their bodies Sol. 1. Abraham was not to go to his Fathers first In Body the place of his locall Interment was to be Macpelah in Canaan and not any other place secondly Nor in Soul that removed to the immediate fruition of God in glory whereas many of his Ancestors were Idolators serving other Gods and doubtlesse many of them died in their Paganish condition 2 But the sense of this expression is Abraham shall die that 's the meaning of the Hebraism thou shalt go to thy Fathers that is corporall death shall arrest thee as well as it did do them Now if you compare these words with verse the sixt where wee read that Abraham beleeved in the Lord and it was counted to him for Righteousness though hee were a beleever in Christ yet hee must go to his Fathers that is hee must die as well as they this may inform us Doct. That albeit faith in Christ doth exempt Beleevers from the second yet it will not free any from the strak of the first death Abraham though a Beleever yea the highest in the forme of Beleevers being the Father of the faithfull yet hee must die and it is no wonder since the Decree is gone forth from God which is farre more irrevocable than the laws of the Medes and Persians It is appointed unto all men Beleevers as well as unbeleevers once to die When the Scripture saith all none is exempted some indeed have had a writ of Privilege from some kinds of death yet none from death in the main Moses was freed from the bitings of fiery Serpents as Magistrates sometimes through mercy are privileg'd from death in times of common mortality yet death surprized them in the end for Moses the servant of the Lord died in the land of Moab Daniel was secured from being devoured by those hungry Lions yet his body became a prey to Death as well as the bodies of other Prophets Elisha was spared from being torn in peeces by the Shee-bears out of the Wood yet Death took him away in the end 2 This Decree hath made seisure in all Ages even where faith hath been in an eminent way as in Moses witness his undertaking that difficult Embassage to Pharaoh to deliver Israel out of Aegypt Faith in the end did eat up all his fears and engaged him in that difficult work yet Death at last did arrest him as was hinted before so in Job a great Practitioner in the life of faith that made him draw up this Resolution Though he slay me yet will I trust in him David a Beleever a man after Gods own heart and yet Death overtook him and Paul who professed I live yet not I but Christ lives in me and the life that I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God c. yet did not death surprise him I might be endless here to shew you how Death attached Beleevers both before as well as under the Law yea even in the time of the Gospel had the debt of Sin been taken off and the Decree rescinded that Pursevant of Death would not go on daily to Arrest Beleevrrs at Gods Sute Thirdly The holiest Beleever hath in his body the Principle of

the God of peace sanctifie you throughout to whom God speaks peace he is always a Sanctifier a purifier of the heart and life from sin Q. It may be some may say how may we get into such an estate that we may be sure to dye in peace S. If thy heart be toucht with what thou sayest 1 Presently fall upon the duty of repentance bewailing sins of Nature of Practice against the light of the Law and Gospel crying mightily for pardon this ushered in true peace to Davids Soul and brought him in ease in the setting of his bones and making him to rejoyce after their breaking So that heart-smitten Publican crys out Lord be merciful to me a sinner and then goes away in a justified condition Till Sin be removed by Repentance what peace can there be What peace so long as the Whoredoms of thy Mother Jezabel and her Witchcrafts are so many What peace so long as iniquities remain unrepented of So long as Wind remains shut up in the bowels of the earth that can get no vent an Earthquake daily is to be feared so here an Heart quake is to be expected until you have repented 2 Labour by faith to take hold of Jesus Christ whose Bloud alone is able to cleanse our Consciences from dead works i. e. from sin when wee look up to him with the eye of faith whom we have peirced and be in heaviness for him as a man is in heaviness for the death of his first born this brings peace Faith devolves all our guilt upon our Suerty Christ and then takes hold of his Meritorious Righteousness which becoming ours by application we are justified in Gods sight and thereby acquitted from sin 3 Walk up unto the Gospel the promise of peace is made alone to them that walk according to this rule not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit this brings peace Mark the perfect man and behold the upright in heart and life for the end of that man is peace 4 Keep a good Conscience this is as a continual Feast not only in Life but when Death stares thee in the face as we see in Hezekiah Remember O Lord now I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight And upon this account Paul was so careful to exercise himself in keeping a good Conscience free from offence both towards God and man A polluted corrupt Conscience will sting a man in the end as we see in Spyra and many Apostates whereas an undefiled Conscience will chear us in the worst of times 5 Dye daily to sin make it thy work every day to drag thy corruptions to the Cross of Jesus Christ never leaving till thou hast fastned them there and gotten them Crucified even thy beloved sins mortified within thee and dye daily unto the World get into Christ by whom the World may bee crucified unto thee and thou unto the World and carry thy self as a Crucified man in respect of it not heeding minding or regarding of it and if thou doest thus thou mayest expect an interest in this common Mercy among all Saints to dye in peace whether ever thou share in the later part of the Promise or no to be buried in a good old age Which leads me now to the second Branch in this Promise Thou shalt be buried in a good old age Whence we may take notice of this last observation Doct. That burial in a good old age is afforded unto some Saints by Gods special indulgence For the prosecution of this truth I shall labour to shew 1 What is meant by Burial 2 What by a good old Age. 3 How it may be made out that for a Saint to bee buried in a good old age is an evidence of Gods indulgence Q. 1. What is meant by Burial Sol. Burial speaks nothing but the covering of the dead body of man with earth or the interring of it Now touching Burial I have nothing to say for any thing that savours of the least of Superstition in it I neither look upon it if denied by cruel men as any badge of Gods Curse to Beleevers though sometimes he gives way to some such stupendious dispensations which was the ground of that sad complaint of old The dead bodies of thy Servants have they given to be meat unto the Fowls of the Heaven and the flesh of thy Saints unto the beasts of the earth their bloud have they shed like water round about Jerusalem and there was none to bury them Men indeed have discovered much inhumanity this way especially Papists against Protestants by prohibiting their Burial or digging up their bones again as they did of Bucer Fagius c. such acts savour of wrath in men but none in God towards them that were in Covenant with him So neither do I construe it if afforded or permitted as any help to heaven because upon the dissolution of the body the Spirit returns to God that gave it the Soul is admitted immediatly into the embraces of God though the body be kept above ground divers daies together yet this I may say upon a Scripture account concerning Burial that the decent interment of the bodies of Saints when death hath divorced those old companions the Soul and Body speaks 1 Mercy in the Interrers which David acknowledged in burying the body the trunck of Saul though we know he was a bad man yet he so farre resented this act of the men of Bethshemesh that he sends unto them this Message and with it this benediction Blessed are yee of the Lord that have shewed this kindness to Saul and have buried him and he adds this prayer for them The Lord shew kindness and truth to you and passed this Promise unto them I also will requite this kindness because yee have done this thing 2 Justice in them that discharge this office when the Soul is returned to God that gave it it is a part of justice that the Body should return to the earth whence it was taken the Earth indeed is the common Mother of all who receives all that came from her as the Mother the Childe into her lap God I know laid this in justice upon man for sin at the first Thou shalt return to the earth for dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return 3 It speaks hope that the interrers have of the happy Resurrection of those bodies which now they commit to the ground they having been Instruments of Righteousness Members of Christ and being still united to him shall certainly be raised by him unto glory and upon these accounts I deem the care of Saints to have been to see their friends decently interr'd as Isaac Abram Joseph his Father Jacob and those devout men that stoned Massacred Martyrd Body of that Proto-martyr Stephen as knowing