Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	work_n	world_n	year_n	277	4	4.3748	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61203	A crown of life, the reward of faithfulnesse being a sermon preached Septemb. 12, 1661 at the funerals of Mr. William Taylor M.A. minister of the Gospel, at Saint Stephens Coleman-street, London / by William Spurstowe ...	Spurstowe, William, 1605?-1666.	1662 (1662)	Wing S5091; ESTC R15508	26,870	48

that they may cleave to his Truth with their hearts and yet dissemble it yea gain-say it with their mouths Hath a Christian more latitude in this respect than any other Religion whatever Do not all people walk every one in the Name of his God Micah 4. 5. And may a Christian walk in the name of any god May he as freely bow in the Temple of Rimmon as in the Temple of Christ and yet be only the servant of Christ What mean then those Scriptures Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness and what concord hath Christ with Belial 2 Cor. 6. 14 15. So again Depart ye depart ye go ye out from thence touch no unclean thing go ye out of the midst of her be ye clean ye that bear the vessels of the Lord I●a 52. 11. Surely these commands of God must be as vacated and repealed Statutes or else they will one day stand as evidences against those who presume to take a liberty which God hath not allowed in being present at Idolatrous Assemblies and then think they can readily clear themselves from guilt by telling others that though they were present in body they were absent in spirit not owning in the least that with their hearts to which they seemed to yield an outward complyance But such shifts which are more thin than a Cobweb are no better than the handkerchief of the adulterous woman with which when she hath eaten she wipeth her mouth and saith I have done no wickedness Prov. 30. 20. I have now finished what I purposed to speak concerning the Duty enjoyned Be thou faithful unto death that which remains is the promise annexed And I will give thee a Crown of life And is it not pity that through straits of time they should be separated in the Sermon which are coupled together in the Text It might haply put an edge upon your affections and excite you to a greater measure of diligence to hear the bounty of Christ unfolded who makes all his servants to be no less than sons for love heirs for birth-right and crowned Kings for dignity and yet when I assay to do it I am methinks as a man standing upon a Rock and fathoming a deep and bottomless Sea who after he hath let fall his sounding lead forthwith calls for more line and when a second and third addition is made still calls more line more line and at last falls from sounding to admiring its unsearchable depth And so must I after I have uttered all the conceptions that men and Angels can furnish me with to express the riches of Christs love call still for more and then end in astonishment and say with the Apostle O the riches of God! yet if you will see somewhat of it I shall in a few particulars shew you his bounty by comparing it with those services which he crowns 1. The reward promised is perfect blessedness it is life that cannot end in death it is not like Adams in innocency who was left free to stand or to fall it is a Crown without and above a Cross it is a Canaan not flowing with milk but with rivers of joy and pleasure which are free from mixture that may debase and from vanity which may make them naufeous But alas how imperfect are all our services which are thus rewarded when laid in the balance they are found too light when tryed by the touch-stone they are of a course alloy If Gospel sincerity did not stand for legal perfection if endeavours and desires did not pass for performances what would become of the best of Saints Is it then not matter of just wonder that such services which the Law would not forgive Christ should reward If they were perfect they were but our Duty and could not deserve the least degree of glory no more than a glow-worm for its shining could challenge to be turned into a star and yet now when spotted they are crowned with life 2. The reward promised is a manifold good In the Proposition it appears as some one particular thing but in the enjoyment it is eminently a manifold yea an infinite good and comprehends blessings more for number as well as greater for worth than the heart of man could wish to it self if it should spend an eternity in nothing else What is it that a Crown of life doth not take in and encircle within its compass It contains all the thoughts of God from everlasting to make his chosen happy it includes all the good which Christ by his blood and death hath purchased and which the Spirit by his Office is to apply and to assure us of But how small is the number of our services when our Omissions exceed our Duties when our ignorance of Gods will is more than our knowledge and our backwardness to do it more than our diligence We cannot say of our acts of obedience as David speaks of the thoughts of Gods love unto us How great is the sum of them If I should count them they are more in number than the sand Psal 139. 17 18. Alas if our prayers tears fastings alms mortifications of sin acts of worship were all summed up their number would be like the few Trees of a Forrest which a child may write Isa 10. 19. like two or three Berries in the top of the uttermost Bough of the Olive-Tree and four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof Isa 17. 6. like a thin Harvest which fills not the arm of the Reaper much less the threshing-floor Is it not then riches of mercy which rewards such persons whose sins are numberless and whose duties are few 3. The promised reward is an endless good Our work hath an end but our wages hath no end the seed-time in which we sowe is short but the harvest which we rep is eternal We are faithful only to death but we are blessed for ever if we lived as many years as Methuselah lived dayes yea as the World hath stood minutes in an exact and perfect doing of the will of God we could never justly have asked that our recompence should be eternal And yet what no creature could ever plead Christ hath freely given unto us for a few years shall I say or a few dayes service Oh how willingly would I expatiate my self in this pleasing Theme to make you and my self sensible of this transcendent goodness and bounty of Christ who rewards services which are for their nature imperfect for their number few and for their continuance short with a Crown of endless glory But I must break off and leave you to admire I come now as it will be expected to speak of our Reverend Brother and servant of Christ whose death hath occasioned this sad meeting and I could have wished that this task might have been managed by some more able hand he being a Subject meet to exercise both the tongue and pen