Selected quad for the lemma: life_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
life_n	book_n	dead_a	open_v	5,415	5	9.9361	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62636	Several discourses upon the attributes of God viz. Concerning the perfection of God. Concerning our imitation of the divine perfections. The happiness of God. The unchangeableness of God. The knowledge of God. The wisdom, glory, and soveraignty of God. The wisdom of God, in the creation of the world. The wisdom of God, in his providence. The wisdom of God, in the redemption of mankind. The justice of God, in the distribution of rewards and punishments. The truth of God. The holiness of God. To which is annexed a spital sermon, of doing good. By the most reverend Dr. John Tillotson, late Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury. Being the sixth volume; published from the originals, by Raph Barker, D.D. chaplain to his grace.	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.; Barker, Ralph, 1648-1708.	1699 (1699)	Wing T1264; ESTC R219315	169,861	473

in the Kingdom of God but the Children of the Kingdom shall be cast out into utter Darkness And however Men may bear up themselves now upon their worldly Greatness and Power certainly there is a time a coming when the greatest Persons in the World those who overturn Kingdoms and lay wast Countries and oppress and ruin Millions of Mankind for the gratifying of their own Lusts and Ambition I say there is a Day coming when even these as much nay more than others shall fear and tremble before the impartial Justice of God Rev. 6.15 And the Kings of the earth and the great Men and the rich Men and the chief Captains and the mighty Men and every Bond-man and every Free-man hid themselves in the Dens and in the Rocks of the Mountains for the great Day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand The impartial Justice of God will treat the greatest and the meanest Persons alike Rev. 20.12 I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works All judged according to their Works I should next proceed to vindicate the Justice of God in the Distribution of Rewards and Punishments from those Objections which seem to impeach it But before I enter upon this it will be convenient to satisfie one question which hath occasioned great disputes in the World and that is how far Justice especially as to the Punishment of Offenders is essential to God And for the clearing of this matter I shall briefly lay down these Propositions First I take this for a certain and undoubted Truth that every Perfection is essential to God and cannot be imagined to be seperated from the Divine Nature because this is the Natural Notion which Men have of God that he is a Being that hath all Perfection Secondly The actual constant exercise of those Divine Perfections the effects whereof are without himself is not essential to God For instance tho' God be essentially powerful and good yet it is not necessary that he should always exercise his Power and Goodness but at such times and in such a manner as seems best to his Wisdom and this is likewise true of his Wisdom and Justice because these are Perfections the effects whereof are terminated upon something without himself Thirdly It is essential to God to love Goodness and hate Sin wherever he sees them It is not necessary there should be a World or reasonable Creatures in it but upon supposition that God makes such Creatures it is agreable to the Divine Nature to give them good and righteous Laws to encourage them in the doing of that which is good and to discourage them from doing that which is evil which cannot be done but by Rewards and Punishments and therefore it is agreable to the Perfection of the Divine Nature to reward Goodness and to punish Sin Fourthly As for those rewards which the Gospel promiseth and the Punishments which it threatens there is some difference to be made between the rewarding and punishing justice of God 1. As for that abundant reward God is pleased to promise to good Men the promise of it is founded in his goodness and the performance of that promise in his justice for it is justice to perform what he promises tho' the promise of so great and abundant a reward was meer goodness 2. As for the punishing justice of God about which hath been the great Question whether that be essential to God or not it seems very plain that it is not necessary that God should inflict those judgments which he threatens because he hath threatned them for there is not the like obligation upon Persons to perform their threatnings that there is to perform their promises because God by his promise becomes a Debtour to those to whom he makes the promise but when he threatens he is the Creditour and we are Debtors to his Justice and as a Creditor he may remit the Punishment which he hath threatned But then if we consider God as loving goodness and hating Sin if we look upon him as Governor of the World and concerned to preserve good Order to encourage Holiness and Righteousness and to discountenance Sin under this consideration it is essential to him to punish Sin at such times and in such manner and circumstances as seems best to his Wisdom And I am not at all moved by that which is urged by some learned Men to the contrary that if punishing justice were essential to God then he must punish the Sinner immediately so soon as he hath offended and to the utmost of his Power because whatever Acts naturally Acts necessarily and to the utmost for I do not suppose such a justice essential to God as Acts necessarily but such a justice which as to the time and manner and circumstances of its Acting is regulated and determined by his Wisdom and there is the same Reason likewise of his goodness I come now to the Objections which are taken partly from the dispensations of God in this World and partly from the punishments of the other First As to the dispensations of God in this World there are these two things Objected against the justice of the Divine Providence I. The inequality of God's dealings with good and bad Men in this World II. The translation of Punishments punishing one Man's Sin upon another as the Sins of the Fathers upon the Children of the Prince upon the People I begin with the I. Objection the inequality of God's dealing with good and bad Men in this World In this life things happen promiscuously there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked if the Wicked suffer and are afflicted so are the Righteous if the Righteous sometimes flourish so do the Wicked and is not this unjust that those who are so unequal as to their Deserts should be equally dealt withal or if there be any inequality it is usually the wrong way the Wicked do many times prosper more in the World and the Righteous are frequently more afflicted This was the great Objection of old against the Providence of God which the Heathen Philosophers took so much pains to answer nay it did often shake the faith of Holy and Good Men in the old Testament Job 12.6 The tabernacles of robbers prosper and they that provoke God are secure into whose hand God bringeth abundantly and chap. 21.7 8 9. he Expostulates the same matter again and David says this was a great stumbling-Block to him Psal 73.2 3. and the like we find in the Prophets Jer. 12.1 and Hab. 1.13 This Objection I have else-where considered I shall now very briefly offer two or three Things which I hope will be sufficient to break the force of it 1. It must be granted that it is not necessary to justice to shew it self immediately

of this Design and the Means how it is accomplisht This is Wisdom to fit Means to Ends and the more difficult the End the greater Wisdom is required to find out suitable and sufficient Means for the accomplishment of the End Now the wisdom of redemption will appear if we consider the case of fallen Man and what fit and proper and suitable Means the Wisdom of God hath devised for our Recovery 1. Let us consider the Case of fallen Man which was very sad both in respect of the Misery and the Difficulty of it 1. In respect of the Misery of it Man who was made Holy and Upright by God having by his voluntary Transgression and wilful Disobedience fall'n from him did presently sink into a corrupt and degenerate into a miserable and cursed Condition of which Heaven and Earth and his own Conscience bore him Witness Man being become a Sinner is not only deprived of the Image of God but is liable to his Justice here was his Misery 2. The difficulty of the Case was this Man could not recover himself and raise himself out of his own ruin no Creature was able to do it so that our help is only in God and indeed he is a merciful God and doth not desire our Ruin nor delight in our Destruction But suppose his Mercy never so willing to save us will not his Holiness and Justice and Truth check those forward Inclinations of his Goodness and hinder all the Designs of his Mercy Is not sin contrary to the Holy Nature of God hath not he declared his Infinite hatred of it hath not he threatned it with heavy and dreadful Punishment and said that the sinner shall die that he will not acquit the guilty nor let sin go unpunish'd Should he now without any satisfaction to his offended Justice pardon the Sinner remit his Punishment and receive him to favour would this be agreeable to his Holiness and Justice and Truth would this become the Wise Governour of the World who loves Righteousness and Order who hates sin and is obliged by the essential rectitude of his Nature to discountenance sin So that here is a conflict of the Attributes and Perfections of God The Mercy of God pities our Misery and would recover us would open Paradise to us but there is a flaming Sword that keeps us out the incensed Justice of God that must be satisfied and if he take vengeance of us we are eternally ruin'd if he spare us how shall Mercy and Justice meet together how shall God at once express his Love to the Sinner and his hatred to sin here is the difficulty of our Case II. Let us now enquire what Means the Wisdom of God useth for our recovery The Wisdom of God hath devised this expedient to accommodate all these Difficulties to reconcile the Mercy and Justice of God The Son of God shall undertake this work and satisfie the offended Justice of God and repair the ruin'd Nature of Man He shall bring God and Man together make up this Gulph and renew the Commerce and Correspondence between God and us which was broken off by Sin The work that God designs is the redemption of Man that is his recovery from a state of Sin and Eternal Death to a state of Holiness and Eternal Life The Son of God is to engage in this Design of our Redemption to satisfie the offended Justice of God toward us so as to purchase our deliverance from the Wrath to come and so as to restore us to the Image and Favour of God that we may be sanctified and be made Heirs of Eternal Life For opening of this we will consider 1. The fitness of the Person designed for this Work 2. The fitness of the Means whereby he was to accomplish it 1. The fitness of the Person design'd for this Work and that was the eternal Son of God who in respect of his Infinite Wisdom and Power the Dignity and Credit of his Person his dearness to his Father and Interest in him was very fit to undertake this Work to mediate a Reconciliation between God and Man 2. The fitness of the Means whereby he was to accomplish it and these I shall refer to two Heads his Humiliation and Exaltation All the Parts of these are very subservient to the Design of our Redemption I. The Humiliation of Christ which consists of three principal Parts his Incarnation his Life and his Death 1. His Incarnation which is set forth in Scripture by several Expressions his being made flesh and dwelling among us John 1.14 His being made of the seed of David according to the flesh Rom. 1.3 His being made of a woman Gal. 4.4 The manifestation of God in the flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 His taking part of flesh and blood Heb. 2.14 His taking on him the seed of Abraham and being made like unto his brethren Heb. 2.16 17. His coming in the flesh 1 John 2.2 All which signifies his taking upon him Humane Nature and being really a Man as well as God The Eternal Son of God in the fulness of time took our Nature that is assumed a real Soul and Body into Union with the Divine Nature Now this Person who was really both God and man was admirably fitted for the Work of our Redemption In general this made him a fit Mediator an equal and middle Person to interpose in this Difference and take up this Quarrel between God and Man Being both God and man he was concerned for both Parties and interested both in the Honour of God and the Happiness of Man and engaged to be tender of both and to procure the one by such ways as might be consistent with the other More particularly his Incarnation did fit him for those two Offices which he was to perform in his Humiliation of Prophet and Priest 1. The Office of Prophet to teach us both by his Doctrine and his Life By his Doctrine His being in the likeness of Man this made him more familiar to us He was a Prophet raised up from among his Brethren as Moses speaks and he makes this an Argument why we should hear him Should God speak to us immediately by himself we could not hear him and live God condescends to us and complies with the weakness of our Nature and raiseth up a Prophet from among our brethren We should hear him And then his being God did add Credit and Authority to what he spake he could confirm the Doctrine which he taught by Miracles Of his teaching us by his Life I shall have occasion to speak presently 2. For the Office of Priest He was fit to be our Priest because he was taken from among Men as the Apostle speaks fit to suffer as being Man having a body prepared as it is Heb. 10.5 and fit to satisfie by his sufferings for the Sins of all Men as being God which put an infinite Dignity and Value upon them the sufferings of an infinite Person being equal to the offences done

to whom by too many among us the most unworthy and unthankful Returns have been made for the unwearied pains he hath undergone and for the desperate hazards he hath expos'd himself to for our sakes that ever were made to so Great and Generous a Benefactour so great a Benefactour I say not only to these Nations but to all Europe in asserting and vindicating their Liberties against the insolent Tyranny and Pride of one of the greatest oppressours of Mankind of whom I may say as Job does of the Leviathan Job 41.33 34. Vpon the earth is not his like he beholdeth all high things and is the King of all the Children of Pride And beyond all this the Blessing of God does descend upon the posterity of those who are eminently Charitable and great Benefactours to Mankind This David observes in his time I have been young says he and now am old yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging Bread and what he means by the righteous Man he explains in the next Words he is ever merciful and lendeth I shall only add upon this Head that the practice of this Virtue will be one of our best comforts at the hour of Death and that we shall then look back upon all the good we have done in our life with the greatest contentment and joy imaginable Xenophon in his Cyrus which he design'd for the perfect Idea of a good Prince represents him in the last minutes of his life addressing himself to God to this purpose Thou knowest that I have been a lover of Mankind and now that I am leaving this World I hope to find that mercy from thee which I have shewed to others These Words that excellent heathen Historian thought fit to come from the mouth of so excellent a Prince as he had describ'd him just as he was leaving the World by which we may see what the Light of Nature thought to be the best comfort of a dying Man This brings me to the Third and last particular which I mentioned the vast and unspeakable Reward which this grace and virtue of Charity will meet with in the other World It will plead for us at the Day of Judgment and procure for us a most glorious recompence at the resurrection of the Just and that proportionable to the degrees of our Charity 2 Cor. 9.6 He which soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly and he which soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully and from this Consideration the Apostle encourageth our Perseverance in Well-doing let us not be weary in well-doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not that is we shall certainly meet with the reward of it if not in this World yet in the other And now that I have declar'd this Duty to you together with the mighty pleasure and advantages and rewards of it I crave leave to present you with some of the best Occasions and Opportunities of the exercise and practice of it And for your encouragement hereto I shall read to you the present State of the chief Hospitals belonging to this great City and of the disposal of their Charity for the last Year And now I have laid before you these great Objects of your Charity and the best Arguments I could think of to incline and stir up your Minds to the exercise of this excellent Grace and Virtue as there is no time left for it I having I am afraid already tir'd your Patience so I hope there is no need to press this Duty any farther upon you since you are so willing and forward of your selves and so very ready to every good Work This great City hath a double Honour due to it of being both the greatest Benefactours in this kind and the most faithful Managers and Disposers of it and I am now in a place most proper for the mention of Christ's Hospital a Protestant Foundation of that most Pious and Excellent Prince Edward VI. Which I believe is one of the best instances of so large and so well manag'd Charity this Day in the World And now to Conclude all if any of you know any better employment than to do good any work that will give truer Pleasure to our Minds that hath greater and better promises made to it the Promises of the life that now is and that which is to come that we shall reflect upon with more comfort when we come to dye and that through the mercies and merits of our Blessed Saviour will stand us in more stead at the Day of Judgment let us mind that work but if we do not let us apply our selves to this business of Charity with all our might and let us not be weary in well-doing because in due season we shall reap if we faint not Now the God of Peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ the great Shepherd of the Sheep through the blood of the everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will through Jesus Christ to whom with thee O Father and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory thanksgiving and praise both now and for ever Amen FINIS BOOKS Printed for Ric. Chiswell WHarton's Anglia Saora in 2 Volumes Fol. D. Cave's Lives of the Primitives Fathers in 2 Vol. Fol. Dr. John Lightfoot's Works in 2 Vol. Fol. Dr. Pet. Allix's Remarks upon the Ecclesiastical History of the ancient Churches of Piedmont and Albigences in 2 Parts 4 to Bishop Burnet's Collection of Tracts relating both to Church and State from 1678. to 1694. in 3 Vol. 4 to Dr. Wake 's 11 Treatises against Popery in 2 Vol. 4 to Dr. Tennison now Lord Archbishop of Canterbury his Account of the Conference with Pulton the Jesuit 4 to His 9 Sermons upon several Occasions 4 to A Discourse of the unreasonableness of Separation on account of the Oaths 4 to A Vindication of the said Discourse 4 to A Vindication of his Majesty's Authority to fill the Sees of the deprived Bishops 4 to Dr. William's Discouse of the lawfulness of worshipping God by the Common-Prayer 4 to His Representation of the absurd and mischievous Principles of the Muggletonians 4 to The secret Consults Negotiations and Intrigues of the Romish Party in Ireland from 1660 to 1689. 4 to An impartial History of the Wars in Ireland in two Parts with Copper Sculptures By Mr. Story present in the same The new Cambridge Dictionary in 5 Alphabets 4 to England's Wants Or some Proposals to the Parliament probably beneficial to England 4 to Dr. Allix's Reflections on the Holy Scripture 8 vo Coles English and Lattin Dictionary 8 vo Tullies Discourse of the Government of the Thoughts 8 vo The Jesuits Memorial for the intended Reformation of England found in K. James's Closet 8 vo Dr. Wak●'s Preparation for Death 8 vo The History of the Troubles and Tryal of Archbishop Laud wrote by himself Published by Hen. Wharton Fol. Remarks on Mr. Hill's Vindication of the Primitive Fathers against Bishop