Selected quad for the lemma: saint_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
saint_n	body_n	member_n	mystical_a	1,656	5	10.4255	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42143	A sermon preached at Alderly in the country of Gloucester, January IV, 1676/7 at the funeral of Sir Matthew Hale, kt, late Chief Justice of His Majestie's court of the King's bench / by E.G. ...	Griffith, Evan, A.M., Minister of Alderly.	1677 (1677)	Wing G1995; ESTC R2788	11,865	34

IMPRIMATUR GUIL SILL R. P. D. HEN. Episc Lond. à Sac. Dom. Feb. 23. 1676 7. A SERMON PREACHED At Alderly in the County of Gloucester January IV. 1676 7 AT THE FUNERAL OF Sir MATTHEW HALE K t. Late Chief Justice of His MAJESTIE's Court of the KING'S BENCH By E. G. A. M. Minister of Alderly LONDON Printed by W. G. for William Shrowsbury at the Sign of the Bible in Duke-lane 1677. A SERMON Preached at the Funeral of Sir MATTHEW HALE K t. At Alderly Jan. 4. 1676 7. Isa 57.1 The Righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart and merciful men are taken away none considering that the Righteous is taken away from the evil to come IN the ninth Verse of the former Chapter the Holy Prophet threatneth a fearful Judgment that was like to fall on the Jews he calls for the wild Beasts of the Field and the Forest to come and devour meaning the Gentiles which should be Executioners of the Lord's Judgments and because the Lord is Righteous in all his Ways and Holy in all his Works he shews what Causes would provoke the Lord to inflict such a heavy Judgment upon his People as to give them up to be devoured by the Beasts of the Field and the Forest such savage Enemies The First Cause is set down at large in the rest of the Verse to the end of the Chapter Even the Blindness Idleness Covetousness and Security of their Watchmen who should have taught the Fear of the Lord the neglect of their Duty being a special Occasion of the Peoples Sin is alledged as the First Cause of God's Judgments threatned The Second Cause was in the Common People set down in the first Verse of this Chapter Even their careless neglect in not regarding nor considering the Death of the Righteous when many of them were taken away to warn them of some strange Judgement to come yet they laid it not to Heart nor considered but continued and proceeded in their Sins drinking and filling themselves with Wine and strong Drink and Merriment promising themselves happy Days as it is the manner of the Wicked to be most secure when Judgment is nearest unto them as we have Example in Belshazzar Dan. 5. he was among his Concubines and his Cups when the Hand wrote his Doom over against the Candlestick Mene mene tekel upharsin The Righteous perisheth These are the Words of the Holy and Evangelical Prophet lamenting the Spiritual Security of the Jews chiding and reproving them for their great Stupidity and Spiritual Lethargy Wherein we have First The Persons that dyed who are described by two excellent Properties 1. Righteous before God 2. Merciful towards Men. Secondly The Manner of their Death set forth by two Terms perisheth are taken away The Sin of careless People by two Phrases not laying to heart nor considering the death of the Righteous Fourthly the final Cause or special End for which they dye and are taken away and that is to prevent future Evils Concerning the Persons here are two great Problems to be resolved hard Questions Quest I. How can any Man be Righteous The Scripture saith There is none Righteous no not one II. How do the Righteous perish The Lord knoweth the way of the Righteous the way of the Ungodly shall perish Answ I. There is a Legal Righteousness so Adam was righteous in the state of Innocency being created after God's Image This Righteousness is forfeited and lost so by nature all are corrupt and unrighteous There is none Righteous II. There is an Evangelical Righteousness and this is twofold 1. The Righteousness of Imputation when the Righteousness of Christ is imputed to the Believer and received of him by Faith Christ is made of God to be unto us Righteousness 1 Cor. 1. Jehova tsidkenu Jer. 23.6 He was made Sin for us that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5. ult As Christ was made Sin for us not by the infusion of Sin into his Person but by imputation of our Sins unto him So we are made righteous before God not by any Righteousness inherent in us but by the Righteousness of Christ imputed unto us 2. Believers are righteous by Sanctification when by the Spirit of Christ the Mind is enlightned the Heart is mollified the Will is rectified the Affections sanctified and the whole course of their Life is reformed the habits of Grace planted in them they are partakers of the Divine Nature so that as before they liked loved and lived in Sin now they abhor and avoid Sin and all the occasions of it He that doth righteousness is righteous 1 Joh. 3.7 This doth not make us perfectly Righteous but imperfectly not before God but before Men. Jam. 2.24 3. They that are Righteous thus by Justification and Sanctification are also merciful passively and actively Passively that is first in nature and order such as Gad received into Mercy and Favour hence they are called Vessels of Mercy prepared unto Glory Rom. 9.23 they are truly Righteous before God whom he hath received into Mercy in forgiving their Sins Rom. 4.6 7. Actively for such as shew mercy unto others these two are always found together in the same Persons as our Saviour Matth. 5.7 Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy They have obtained pardoning Mercy and shall obtain crowning mercy He which receiveth mercy of the Lord will shew mercy unto Men. Quest II. How doth the Righteous perish Answ Not in Soul for that is immortal and cannot perish by any means but doth live out of the Body as well or more truly than in the Body This Solomon taught Ecclesiast 12.7 The spirit returns to God that gave it this St. Paul desireth To be dissolved and to be with Christ Phil. 1.23 and Lazarus enjoyed at his Death being carried by the Angels into Abraham's Bosom Luke 16. and this John saw in a Vision Revelat. 6.9 performed to the Saints he saw the Souls under the Altar Neither doth he perish in Body for the Body of a Righteous Man hath still a Being in the sight of God and remains a Member of Christ's Mystical Body This Union betwixt Christ and the Faithful is not of Souls only but also of Bodies the Bodies of Saints do not finally and totally perish their Dust in the Grave is precious in God's sight they only sleep in Jesus and by the power of Jesus shall be raised again glorious Bodies Phil. 3. ult Nothing perisheth of a Righteous Man in Death finally and totally but Sin They perish in appearance according to the Opinion of the World and the Judgment of Flesh and Blood The proper meaning of this Expression is They dye depart hence and are no more seen their place knoweth them no more or as the other Word is added exegetically they are taken away or gathered to God and his Christ to Angels and Saints Observation The Righteous and Godly Man must dye as well as others but the Death of

Ghost useth to describe the Death of the Righteous It is a sleeping in Jesus 1 Thessalon 4. A resting in hope Psalm 16. A putting off an earthly tabernacle 2 Pet. 1.14 A falling of a corn of Wheat into the ground that it may spring up more glorious a sowing in God's Acre Joh. 12.24 It is a gathering of them to their Fathers 1. Of their Bodies from a place of care and labour o● trouble and pain to a place of easerest and security They shall enter into peace rest in their beds Vers 2. 2. Of their Souls from the Body to God to Abraham's Bosom from an Earthly Tabernacle and House of Clay to an House not made with Hands Eternal in the Heavens from Men to Angels from Sinners to Saints perfectly righteous from Enemies to their best Friends from the Vale of the shadow of Death to the Land of the Living from the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant from Earth to Heaven whither they are gathered as the Apostle teacheth at large Heb. 12.22 23 24. to Mount Sion the City of the Living God the Heavenly Jerusalem to an innumerable company of Angels to God the Judge of all and the Spirits of just Men made perfect to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant 2. This will yet evidently appear if we consider two things 1. The Evils from which the Righteous are freed by Death 2. The Good which comes unto them in Death the Blessed Estate they shall then enter into and so continue to all Eternity For the first they shall be freed 1. From all Evils corporal and temporal Sicknesses Diseases Aches Pains Griefs Toyl Labour Crosses and Losses Troubles and Persecutions which God's Children as long as they live here are subject unto The Disciple of Christ must take up his Cross Through much tribulation we must enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Act 14.22 We must look for Afflictions so long as Life lasteth but Death makes an end of them all Life and Trouble are Twins which were born together Job 5.7 Man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward and must dye together as John heard it by a Voice from Heaven Revelat 14. Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord for they rest from their labours All labour in their Actions and dolour in their Passions are ended then shall God wipe away all tears from their eyes Revelat. 21.4 Again they are often taken away to prevent some extraordinary Evils to come as in the Text So Josiah 2 King 22. was put in his Grave in peace that he might not see the evil that God did bring upon his Land So Luther was taken away not long before that miserable Calamity which the Lord brought upon Germany for their contempt of the Gospel Augustine died before the taking of Hippo Paraeus before ●he taking of Heydelberg happy is he who dieth before his Country i. e. before the ruine and desolation of his Country Virgil. Faelix Nepotianus qui haec non videt saith Jerom of his Friend Nepotianus Jerom lived in a calamitous time and he counted his Friend happy that he died before he saw those Calamities 2. The Righteous by death are freed from Spiritual Evils as 1. From the Assaults of the Devil our Life here is a continual Warfare the Church is Militant and we must fight as the Lord's Souldiers and that not against Flesh and Blood for then one Man's Sword would be as long as anothers and one Man's Skin as thick as anothers but against Principalities Powers Rulers of the darkness of this World Spiritual Wickednesses Lambs against roaring Lions Men against Devils and not for a Natural or Temporal but for a Spiritual and Eternal Life not for an Earthly but for a Heavenly Crown and Kingdom And in this War there is no time of Truce if the Devil be overcome one time he will suddenly and none knows how soon give a fresh Assault but Death ends the Battel not as among Earthly Warriours when the one dieth in the Fight the other getteth the upper hand but in this Fight the Devil hath not the Victory by the death of the Faithful but the Faithful at the end get a full and final Conquest and ascend into Heaven there to triumph the Devil cannot assault them there he may compass the Earth but he cannot enter within the Lists of Heaven he never came thither to assault any since he was cast out though he tempted Adam in the Earthly Paradise and got him to be thrust out yet can he not tempt any in the Heavenly Paradise 2. It is no small evil to the Righteous to live and converse among the Wicked to see the Land dishonour God as just Lot was vexed with the filthy conversation of the Wicked Dwelling among them in seeing and hearing he vexed his righteous soul from day to day at their unlawful deeds 2 Pet. 2.7 8. He which is truly grieved for Sin in himself will be also grieved for Sin in others so David Psal 119.136 Rivers of waters run down mine eyes becaus● men keep not thy law and Psal 120.5 Wo is m● that I am constrained to dwell in Mesech and in the tents of Kedar barbarous and profane People that did neither know God nor fear nor love nor serve him Now this World is full of scandalous Sinners that if a Man would not keep any converse with such he must go out ●f the World as St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 5.10 But Death frees the Righteous from this evil for it taketh them out of the World that they shall not behold either the Sins which Men commit against God or the evils which God doth bring upon them yea Death doth carry them into Heaven to the Society of the Holy Angels and the Spirits of Just Men made perfect which sin not at all but do the Will of God in all perfection 3. Another Evil from which the Righteous are freed in Death is the practice of Sin here as Solomon saith There is not a just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not Eccles 7.20 In many things we sin all Jam. 3.2 As the Wicked sin in all things so the Righteous yea all the Righteous sin in many things and nothing is so grievous to the true Christian as Sin it is as the Thorn 2 Cor. 12. or barbed head of an Arrow in the tender Flesh a Splinter under the Nail it woundeth in the piercing in and woundeth in the taking out he will cry with St. Paul O wretched man that I am c. Rom. 7. But Death destroyeth Sin this is a Mystery of Grace Sin brought in Death and Death drives out Sin After Death the Righteous shall be perfectly sanctified and made like the Angels to do the Will of the Lord readily willingly chearfully delightfully and constantly At first Death was inflicted as a punishment for Sin but now it is used as 〈◊〉 means to stop the course of Sin Tunc dictum est homini morieris si peccaveris