Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	womb_n	world_n	year_n	65	3	4.3768	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27053	A treatise of self-denial. By Richard Baxter, pastor of the church at Kederminster	Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.	1675 (1675)	Wing B1431; ESTC R218685	325,551	530

communication and secondarily in the Body But contrarily sin made its entrance first by the Body and hath its Root and Seat first in order of nature in the body it is so communicated to the soul Thus sin comes in at the back-door even at the wrong end and by the baser part But Grace comes in the right way by the Nobler part sin hath its Root in the viler part but Christ hath his seat first in the better part And yet I must add 1. That sin is not ripe till it reach the will though it enter by the flesh and senses it is not formed nor to be called sin till it reach the will and as there it is scituated but yet the thing it self is first in and by the flesh 2. And the will is truly the seat of Original sin it self as well as the sensitive part but not the first Root of the corruption Though sin be Worst in the Rational part because the corruption of the best is the worst yet it is not first there But Holiness is first also in the soul and so communicated to the body And so also Glory it self will be And therefore take notice of the wise and gracious providence of God that taketh the soul to heaven before-hand that it may be first Glorified and so may be fit to communicate glory to the body And so as the Natural Soul dignified the Natural Body and the Sanctified Soul did Sanctifie the body so the Glorified Soul by reunion with the body shall communicate its Nature to the body at the Resurrection and so it will be made spiritual immortal and incorruptible by the soul and soul and body are made such by Christ So that by this time you may see that there is more Reason for the Resurrection for all the body is turned to earth than there is Reason that a Candle that 's gone out should be lighted again by another or than there is Reason that I should put on my cloaths in the morning which I put off at night It 's true those cloaths have no power to put on themselves nor is there any natural necessitating cause of it but yet there is a Free cause in me that will infallibly if I live and be able produce it For nature disposeth me to abhor nakedness and desire my cloaths and therefore in the morning I will put them on And so nature teacheth the separated soul to desire a reunion with its body and therefore when the Resurrection morning comes it will gladly take the word from Christ and give that vital touch to the body that shall revive it and so put on its ancient garment but wonderfully changed from fleshly to spiritual from dishonourable into glorious And now I hope you see that you may put off these cloths with patience and submission and that it is no wrong to the flesh it self to be put off but tendeth to its highest advancement at the last Though the first cause of sin and the nest of sin shall be so broken first that it shall first be seen what sin hath done before it be seen what Grace will do and the fruit of our own wayes must first be tasted before we shall fully feed and live upon the blessed fruit of the grace of Christ 11. Moreover as there is a Resurrection for the body it self and that to a more perfect estate than it can here attain so the whole nature shall be perfected beyond our present comprehension This life was not intended to be the place of our perfection but the preparation for it As the fruit is far from ripeness in the first appearance or the flower while it is but in the husk or bud or the Oak when it is but an acorn or any plant when it is but in the seed no more is the very nature of man on earth As the Infant is not perfect in the Womb nor the Chicken in the shell no more are our natures perfect in this world Methinks for the sake of the body it self much more of the soul if we are believers we should submit contentedly to death While you are here you know that creatures will fail you enemies will hate you friends will grieve you neighbours will wrong you Satan will tempt you and molest you the world is changeable and will deceive you all your comforts are mixed with discomforts the body carrieth about with it calamities enough of its own to weary it What daily pains must it be at for the sustentation of its self in its present state and yet what grief and sorrow must it undergo Every member hath either its disease or a disposition thereto What abundance of passages can pain and sickness find to enter at and how many rooms that are ready to receive them As every member hath its use so every one is capable of sorrow and the sorrow of one is at least as much communicated to the whole as the usefulness is The pain of the simplest member even of a tooth can make the whole body a weary of it self What is the daily condition of our flesh but weakness and suffering with care and labour to prevent much worse which yet we know cannot long be avoided The sorrow of many a mans life hath made him wish he had never been born and why then should he not wish as much to die which doth ten thousand fold more for him if he be a Christian than to be unborn would have done Not a Relation so comfortable but hath its discomforts Not a friend so suitable but hath some discordancy nor any so amiable and sweet but hath somewhat loathsome troublesome and bitter Not a place so pleasant and commodious but hath its unfitness discommodities Not a Society so good and regular but hath its corruptions and irregularities And should we be so loth to leave whether naturally or violently such a life as this When the fruit is ripe should it not be gathered When the corn is ripe would you have it grow there and not be cut When the spirit hath hatched us for heaven should we be so loth to leave the shell or nest When we are begotten again to the hopes of immortality should we be so desirous to stay in the womb O Sirs it is another kind of life that we shall have with God They are purer comforts that stay for us above But if you will not have the Grapes to be gathered and prest how can you expect to have the Wine Me thinks our fle●h should have enough e're this time of sickness and pain and want and crosses and should be content to lie down in hope of the day when these shall be no more Little would an unbeliever think what a Body God will make of this that now is corruptible flesh and blood It shall then be loathsome and troublesome no more It shall be hungry or thirsty or weary or cold or pained no more As the stars of heaven do differ from a clod of

greatness doth Experience telleth us that most men are best in a low estate insomuch that a bad man in sickness will speak better and seem more penitent and mortified than many better men in health It 's a wonderful hard thing to live like a Christian in a full prosperity and to be above this world and have lively apprehensions of the invisible things and live a heavenly conversation in Health and Wealth when our flesh hath so much provision at hand to accommodate and please it Prosperity doth powerfully corrupt the mind It breedeth many dangerous errors and vices and it maketh useless that knowledge which men have so that though such men can speak the same words as another about the matters of the life to come it is but dreamingly and without life Their Knowledge hath but little power on their hearts and lives The world is so Great with them which is as nothing that God and everlasting life are as nothing to them which are All. They are so full of the creature that they have no room for Christ and so busie about Earth that they have but little time for Heaven and taste so much sweetness in their present pomp that they cannot relish the true and durable delights They know their Morals as they know some Astronomical or Geometrical verities by an opinion or uneffectual Knowledge so that indeed they Know not what they Know Pausanias in his prosperity desiring to hear some secrets of Philosophy had no more from Simonides but Remember that thou art a man He contemned this at the present as a ridiculous Memento of that which no man could forget But when he was reduced to an extremity he then remembred the Philosophers Lesson and perceived there was more in it than he understood when he contemned it How little is there in a prosperous state that should seem desirable in a wise mans eyes why is it that great Travellers and Statesmen and all that have most tryed the world desire to withdraw from it toward the evening of their Age and to retire themselves into a private life that they may there look towards eternal things and cry out of the Vanity and Vexation which they have here found Must we not conceive them wiser after much experience than before and therefore wiser in their recess than in their aspirings and therefore that it's folly to be ambitious and wisdom to contemn the world why else do dying men most contemn it Dear friend you 'l think of these things more understandingly and more feelingly one of these dayes when you come to die than you can do now I would not for all the world have been without the advantages of looking death so often in the face as I have done since you first knew me If I have been but a while without this sight and have but conceited that yet I have many years to live alas how it hath enervated my Knowledge and my Meditations So that twenty times thinking the same holy thoughts will not do so much as once will do when I seem to be nearer my everlasting state And what doth worldly greatness add to your real worth in the eyes of God or of wise men Magistracy as a thing Divine I honour But James hath taught me not to be partial to the rich as rich and call up the man with the Gold Ring and gay attire and say to the poor Sit there at my footstool As to be proud of fine cloaths is a childish or womanish piece of folly below a man so to be proud of Victories and Dignities and wealth and worldly honours is the vanity of an Infidel or Atheist and below a Christian that hath the hopes of heaven If a man be holy he is above his worldly greatness and beareth it as his burden and feareth it as his snare And if he be Carnal he is the faster in his misery and golden fetters are stronger than any others A pebble-stone on the top of Atlas is but a pebble and a Pearl is a Pearl in the bottom of the Sea A nettle on the top of a mountain is but a nettle and a Cedar in the lowest valley is a Cedar If God dwell with the contrite and have respect to him that is poor and humble and trembleth at his word it seems they are most to be respected and are the most honourable if God can put more honour upon us by his approbation than man God will not ask us where we have grown in order to our Justification but what fruit we have born nor whether we were Rich or poor but whether we were Holy or unholy nor what was our station but How we behaved our selves in it Prosperity usually breedeth a tenderness and sickly frame of soul so that we can scarce look out of door but our affections take cold and can scarce feed on the most wholsome food but we receive it with some loathing or turn it to the matter of some disease But to worldly vanities it br●●ds a Canine appetite so that ambitious wretches are like Dogs that greedily swallow the morsel that you cast them and presently gape for more But wholesome poverty hardeneth us against such tenderness and infirmities and breedeth not such diseases in the soul A poor mans rod when thou dost ride is both a weapon and a guide saith our serious Poet. I sleep most sweetly when I have travelled in the cold frost and snow are friends to the seed though they are enemies to the flower Adversity indeed is contrary to Glory but it befriendeth Grace Plutarch tells us that when Caesar past by a smoaky nasty Village at the foot of the Alpes some of his Commanders merrily askt him Whether there was such a stir for Commands and Dignities and Honours among those Cottages as there was at Rome The answer 's easie Do you think that an Antony a Mark a Hierom or such other of the antient retired Christians were not wiser and happier men than a Nero or a Caligula yea or a Julius or Augustus Caesar Is it a desirable thing to be a Lord or Ruler before we turn to common earth and as Marius that was one day made Emperour and reigned the next and was slain by a Souldier the next so to be worshipped to day and laid in the dust if not in Hell to morrow It was the saying of the Emperour Severus Omnia sui sed nihil expedit And of King David I have seen an end of all perfection O value these things but as they deserve Speak impartially Are not those that are striving to get up the Ladder foolish and ridiculous when those that are at the top have attained but danger trouble and envy and those that fall down are accounted miserable Sed nulla aconita bibuntur Fictilibus Juven There are more draughts of poyson given in Golden than in earthen Vessels saith the Poet. The Scythian therefore was no fool that when the Emperour Mich. Paleologus sent him precious Ornaments and