Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A47541
|
A sermon preach'd at the funeral of The Right Honourable the Lady Guilford, Nov. 18, 1699 by John Knight ...
|
Knight, John, 1651-1712.
|
1700
(1700)
|
Wing K689; ESTC R1128
|
17,985
|
40
|
and his Belly infinitely less and inferiour to his God he will scarce fail then if not to believe yet to fear and tremble at the apprehensions of another Life 'T is a prodigious Atheist that can hold out for ever remorseless and unshaken Tho' they say these men have their Dypticks too in which there are enroll'd all the famous instances of unrelenting Atheists which are carefully Preserv'd to encourage the weak and to inspirit those that are in Danger by the infinite arts and methods of the Holy Ghost's operating upon their Souls to revolt back to God And considering the Power of God's wrath we can't well question but these Sinners against their Souls may be delivered up to so Reprobate a sense But however if these wretches have ever any Workings of mind any Snubs of Conscience any Spiritual Terrours any waking Frights or Ghastly Dreams like other men these having often no manner of Relation to nor dependance upon the Body are insuperable convictions that the Soul is an Immaterial Being and that as it can act thus independantly upon the Body so 't is the extreamest absurdity to believe it shall die with it But whatever such Scoffers may believe concerning the Soul's Immortality or the Body's Resurrection sure I am the Persons concern'd in this Solemnity must in all good sense be granted to believe it These expensive Funerals bespeak our Faith that this dead Body shall arise For it was smartly urged by Tertullian against some Heathens that believ'd it not that their cost was vain which with a Ridiculous profuseness they laid out upon their Dead because they had no hopes they should again Live Alas If we thought these poor Remains were never to be us'd more it were more Reasonable we left them with more neglect But since we know they shall be call'd for by the Trump of God and hope they will become Vessels of Immortal Honour 't is now Piety and Duty in us to lay them decently and safely up and our Faith concerning their Resurrection is a solid Argument to justifie our doing so And if any Judas upon observing the Pomp of this Solemnity should ask to what purpose is this waste Our Saviour's answer will be our best reply That what is done is done for the Burial and as a Pious Testimony of our Faith that the Dead Body shall arise Upon the supposition of which I proceed II. Lastly To shew for what singular Reasons the last end of the Righteous is incomparably most desireable so that it will be our Wisdom not only to wish it may be our own but in the mean time seriously to endeavour it may be so Precious says the Psalmist Ps 116.15 in the sight of the Lord is the Death of his Saints and in all Senses of the Words they having more Interpretations than one 't is true that good Men are very dear to God and with a peculiar distinction from the wicked and prophane 't is evident at the Death of both For 1. Death to the Righteous comes stript of all its Spiritual Horrors Tho' it may assault his fleshly Nature with Swoons and Agonies every step it advances yet the Tranquility of his mind is still the same and the consolations of his Spirit do often appear Superior in the conflict tho' the anguish of the Body be never so extream But turn now your eyes upon a poor Creature that has been brought up delicately and by the uninterrupted enjoyment of sensual pleasures has rockt his conscience 'till this moment dead asleep when the Harbingers of Death of a sudden draw back the curtains and she awakes with what distraction does it view it self But then to look upwards and behold his God whom he wish'd an Idol appearing in all the terrible Array of an Omnipotent Avenger when the amaz'd wretch that would never believe it was a God that dyed to save him begins to apprehend himself was the Murderer that spilt his Blood we need not wonder at the fright He is in upon such a prospect and sure he can tell you there is a vast difference in the last end between the Righteous and the Wicked For 2. When the Righteous dye there is a full end of all their Troubles Death is their last Enemy and he disarmed that he can sting no more But to wicked and Impenitent Sinners except the Truth of God can fail for ever this Death will begin their endless miseries The present Life is to the most faithful Servants of Christ for the most part a state of hardship for 't is a perpetual warfare They have innumerable Enemies and these for the most part in ambuscade The snares that are laid for them often give them falls and then the Bruise is long a Curing and the Operation of the Medicine painful and afflictive And St. Cyprian makes such a moving description of this matter that he wonders how any pious Soul can forbear longing for Death or refrain running into Martyrdom And St. Jerome in an Epistle to the Roman Lady Paulina comforting her for the Death of her Daughter tells her this World is only a troubled Sea yea tho' it were never so calm yet the breadth and length of the Waters on which we float here is frightful so that Solus exitus est securitatis portus we must quit the Stage if ever we would be free from the Apprehensions of the Tragedy Accordingly Death does certainly put a Period to all these Troubles and more it translates all good Men to such a state of pure unmingled Joys where there are no sorrows to embitter no melancholy to Eclipse nor any Temptation can come to molest them in or deceive them of their Joys And 3. Lastly There is no comparison between the end of these two sorts of Men in another Respect still viz. of that honourable memory that is preserved after Death of the one whilst Stench not Perfume gives the other a Remembrance who would immediately be forgotten were it not for what is registred to their Infamy and disgrace Whereas a good Man's Character like a true Medal acquires value and veneration by its Age. His name has the Influence of a Law upon those that come after him and his Example is a Rule which all Wise Men will obey and imitate Yea those that will not do so will yet pay a deference to it and wish they could and I believe there are few in the world as corrupt as 't is but will own when they are in earnest that they had rather be Job upon the Dunghil than Alexander the Great So that if we consider the confidence wherewith Holy Men are encouraged to expect Death or the Alacrity wherewith they undergo it or the Happiness they are let into by passing through it or the Honour and Veneration wherewith their names are embalm'd after it we see sufficient reason to justifie Balaam's wish and to prompt us to the utmost endeavour in preparing to dye the death of the Righteous and that our last