Selected quad for the lemma: rest_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
rest_n	call_v	day_n	rest_v	3,348	5	9.4726	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A58046	Practical discourses concerning death and Heaven discovering the great necessity of a speedy preparation for death : with the danger of neglecting or delaying such preparations : also the excellency, glory, and happiness of Heaven opened and explained as the portion of all true believers after death / by Nathanael Ranew.	Ranew, Nathanael, 1602?-1678.	1694 (1694)	Wing R247; ESTC R26914	143,487	222

speaks of Death as that which he was daily familiar with being in Deaths often frequently thinking thereof for said he I die daily Thoughts of Death was that which he accustomed himself unto and that was one Cause why he was so willing to embrace it And thus it should be with all of us were our hearts rightly affected and we so familiarly acquainted with death as we ought Those of us who have the most lively Faith would not only not be afraid of death but we should even court it as that which is better than life But I would not here discourage any weak Believer for I dare not say that they are no true Believers who are not come up to this frame of Soul Though it is true Grace is the same in all Believers one Believer hath the same that another Believer hath yet all that are Believers do not attain to the same degrees of Grace There are some and it is their sin and ought to be their Humiliation that Death and they are little acquainted they seldom descend into the Grave by frequent Meditations of their Mortality they look not into the Pit out of which at first they were taken and into which they are shortly to return now their comfort in the thoughts of death is little if any at all because death and they are such Strangers to one another These may be true Believers but they are weak and faulty But now others there are who are so advanced in Grace above their Brethren that by a constant Familiarity with death are so composed in their Spirits that they fear it not nay they rejoice in the thoughts of it not because they think they shall not taste of death for they know that death will overtake them as well as others they are sensible that the time of their departure draws nearer and nearer daily These things they believe but they do not afflict themselves therewith so well are they acquainted with death both in the Nature and in the Effects of it And were they to die presently this would not much trouble them for they know the bitterness of death is past though death it self be not the Gall and the Wormwood is taken out Christ hath been there before them and therefore the sting of death which is sin is gone the dangers yea and the difficulties also in dying are removed out of the way This they believe and therefore they are not afraid though by death they descend through the Grave into Heaven for their Jesus their Saviour is there and they know that till they die where he is they cannot be wherefore they say though we die nay therefore will we die that we may see him Wouldst thou therefore O weak Believer attain unto this sweet frame of Spirit accustom thy self then to a holy familiarity with death conceive of it under the fairest and easiest Notions this is that the Spirit of God in Scripture delights in when it speaks of death with respect to the People of God it always makes use of the most comfortable Expressions to represent it to them by So sweetly is death enamell'd and so richly is it cloathed in the holy Language that it seems to have a kind of Lustre and Beauty upon it to draw the Hearts and Affections of Believers to be desirous of it Look a little therefore O Believer into the Sacred Oracles and see how the Spirit of God teacheth us to cloath Death with delightful Expressions sometimes it is called an undressing or uncloathing And what Man that hath worn a Suit of Cloaths till it is become filthy and nasty would not be glad to put off his old filthy Garments that he might put on Change of Raiment And why should not a Christian be willing to lay down the Earthly House of his Tabernacle though it be in the Dust of the Grave that he may be cloathed upon with his House which is from Heaven Sometimes Death is compared to Rest they shall rest in their Beds says the Prophet and Job speaking of the state of Man in death tells us there the weary are at rest Now when a Man hath wrought hard and taken great pains and labour all the Day how desirous is he to go to Bed and take his Rest And is not Death the same to thee O Christian Doth not the Spirit of God call it so Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours And surely there is no rest like to that rest that a Christian obtains after his spiritual labours and conflicts with Sin Satan the World and his own evil Heart when the Soul is set free from the Body and takes its flight at once from all these into the Bosom of God that place of Rest and Happiness which remains for the People of God As there is no Yoke like unto the Yoke of Christ when a Christian suffers for him for it is a Yoke lined with Love My Yoke says he is easie and my Burthen is light So there is no Rest and Happiness like that which is with Christ for the same Happiness that he enjoys his Children and Servants enjoy also Sometimes death is called a Sleep so says our Lord our Friend Lazarus sleepeth it is spoken of his death now who of us when the day is spent and the night hath overtaken us is afraid to go to bed and sleep And why then should a Christian when his Days are finished and the Night of Sickness is come upon him be afraid to fall asleep though he sleep the sleep of Death By such Considerations as these and the like that the Scripture holds forth to us Christians should endeavour to allay the bitterness beautifie the deformity blunt the edge and take out the sting of death that all hard thoughts of it might be buried and instead thereof there might grow up a sweet Familiarity and Acquaintance between them and death Oh how would this facilitate the work of dying and cause holy Souls to exult with joy and rejoicing when death is approaching towards them And here I cannot but make a little Digression to reason the Case with some weak Believers whose unwillingness to die is very great because their fears of death are so many But why should the fears of Death so amaze and terrifie thee O weak Believer Hast thou not the same Grace in thee with others Hast thou not the same Faith the same Hope the same Love acting and working in thee Dost thou not serve the same Lord Hast thou not the same God for thy Father the same Jesus for thy Saviour the same Spirit of Consolation for thy Comforter Art thou not going to the same Heaven nay art thou not going to the same Heaven in the same way that all the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles and Saints of God in all Ages have gone before thee Death was the Gate through which they all entred into Heaven and why then shouldst thou be so unwilling to go to Heaven