Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	ghost_n	holy_a	lord_n	23,094	5	4.0162	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29157	A sermon preached at the funeral of Thomas Shadwell, Esq. late Poet-Laureat, and Historiographer-Royal, who was interred at Chelsea, November 24, 1692 by Nicholas Brady ...	Brady, Nicholas, 1659-1726.	1693 (1693)	Wing B4176; ESTC R19587	9,404	30

Blessedness of those dead which die in the Lord. 2. And this leads me to the Consideration of my second General namely to prove the thing affirmed in my Text that Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. Death is to be considered under a double Notion either as it is a Passage out of this World or as it is an Entrance into another and under each of them it appears to the unwary Examiner a matter of Terrour and of Trouble To leave all the engaging Entertainments all the agreeable Societies and Diversions to which we have been accustomed and familiar from our Cradles and to pass into a place that we never yet frequented to go into a Land that we never before travelled and to enter upon a condition that we never yet experienced these Reflections I say to such as only dwell upon superficial Appearances and never pry into the Bottom of Affairs are strangely frightful and discouraging but if we will give our selves the useful Labour of considering Matters more strictly and deliberately we shall find that let us take it which way we will to such as die in the Lord death is a Blessing First Then let us consider Death as a Passage out of this World and in relation to that Notion of Death we shall find That blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. A considerable Instance of their Blessedness or that wherein as to this particular it especially consists is assigned by the Holy Ghost in the Words immediately consequent to my Text And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth Yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours For the Life of a good Christian is a Life of Labour he is born to it as the Sparks fly upwards he is every where beset with Difficulties and with many Enemies must he encounter the World hates him because he is not of it God often tries him with Temptations and Afflictions and his Conscience is always keeping him to his Task of working out his salvation with fear and trembling he is obliged to be constantly upon the Watch to bear the Shocks of Satan and the Contradictions of Sinners so that if in this life only he had hopes he were of all men the most miserable But how joyfully does he welcome the Approaches of his End by which he shall be freed from the forementioned Troubles Death appears to him as pleasing and desirable as Health after a dangerous and troublesome Distemper as Rest after a toilsome and laborious Journey as Sleep after a tedious and uneasie Watching as the Port after a stormy and tempestuous Voyage He had no such intimate Engagements with the World as may render it unsupportable to part with it he has nothing of Earth to hang heavy upon his Soul to clog its flight or weigh it downwards to this dull Centre of Corruption it is long since that the World and he took leave of one another he has a long time been dead to that having mortified his Members which were upon the Earth he can have no Regret for parting with that of which he never entertain'd any tolerable good Opinion all whose Advantages he has found to be but Vanity and all its Entertainments Vexation of Spirit Nay further he reflects upon what he is to leave with Comfort and Satisfaction he parts with nothing but an inveterate Enemy who has all his life long been endeavouring to destroy him has still put stumbling Blocks in his Way to Heaven and Happiness and been misleading him from the Paths of everlasting Felicity Those few good Men which he leaves behind and to whom his Soul is chiefly linked on this side Heaven 〈◊〉 hopes to see again with ineffable Delight and is but going as a Harbinger to prepare then Way No Ties of Nature or of Blood can biass him since they are all swallowed up in the Love of his Creator and in the near expectation of the Fruition of him Thus the World and the Flesh hang loose about him his active Soul is just upon the Wing and he parts from hence as an industrious Traveller from a sorry Inn where the ill Accommodation made his Stay uneasie and the opportunity of leaving it welcom and agreeable Blessed therefore are the dead which die in the Lord if we look upon Death as a Passage out of this World for they rest from their labors But since the Word which is here render'd to rest does more properly signifie to ease or to refresh and consequently this Resting does not mean a bare and unactive Cessation from Labour but a State of perfect Complacency and Satisfaction I therefore proceed to consider Death Secondly As the entrance into another World and in relation to that Notion of Death we shall find that Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. A considerable Instance of their Blessedness or that wherein as to this particular it especially consists is given us by the same Holy Spirit in the last Words of this Verse whereof my Text is part And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them According to the Works which we have done in the Body so shall we be dealt with in the World which is to come then shall we receive a suitable Retribution according to our Actions whether good or evil The Judge of all the Earth will then do Right and be justified in all his Doings and his Sayings Indeed the ordinary Dispensations of Providence are here so unaccountable that they scarcely suffice to justifie the Ways of God to Man common Blessings are dispensed indifferently and his Sun shines upon the Just and the Vnjust nay sometimes and generally the Ungodly prosper and the Men that work Rightcousness are miserable and oppressed But in that World which is to come eternal Happiness will be entail'd upon the Righteous and everlasting Tribulation shall be the Portion of the Wicked Then shall God's Justice appear to act regularly and either stop the Mouths of all Gainsayers or open them to confess That verily there is a reward for the righteous Doubtless there is a God that judgeth the Earth Certainly all the Blandishments and Flatteries of this World can have nothing so delightful in them nothing that can so truly affect a rational Soul as the Prospect of those Joys which are laid up for them which die in the Lord and the Sound of those Words ringing in their dying Ears Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Then shall their Saviour enumerate their good Actions and set before their Eyes those works which follow them laying them down as the Reasons of their blessed Entertainment For I was an hungred and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye

inconsiderate as to have no prospect of the Misery that attends him yet at best he sees nothing before him but Darkness and Confusion a Land of Silence where all things are forgotten It is therefore absolutely necessary that we live here as Probationers for Heaven and Happiness if we expect hereafter to be partakers of that Blessedness which is the Portion of those dead who die in the Lord. You have been told already that to die in the Lord is to die in his Fear and in his Favour But how shall he die in the Fear of the Lord whose Days have been consumed in the Contempt of his Commandments Or how shall he die in the Favour of the Lord whose Life has been full of rebellious Provocations He may die indeed under the Terrours of the Lord but not in his Fear or perhaps flatter'd by his own deceitful Heart but not favour'd by the Almighty In deed could we all know our End and the Number of our Days and were every one of us certified how long he has to live it might seem tolerably safe to devote some part of our Life to Sin and Folly reserving at the same time a considerable Portion for the After-Exercises of Piety and Devotion we might then for some years indulge our sinful Appetites and set by so many more for the working out our Salvation But alas we know not how soon Death may seize upon us his Arrest may be sudden surprizing and unlooked for we ought therefore to live in the constant expectation and be conversant perpetually in our Preparations for it Watch ye therefore says our Saviour for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh And what will become of us if our Lord when he comes shall find us sleeping It will then be in vain to ask when he will be no more entreated in vain to seek him when be will not be found in vain to knock when the Gate is shut against us then if we cry never so much Lord Lord open unto us we shall receive no other Answer but a positive Denial Verily I say unto you I know you not Depart from me ye workers of iniquity This Life is the Day wherein we must work the Night of Death is drawing on apace wherein no Man can work and besides the great Danger of being surprized by that how madly does he proceed that squanders away the Morning and the Noon of Life and sets not about his Days work until the Evening How comfortless every night must that Man lie down to his necessary Repose that knows not but he may wake in another World and yet finds himself to be unprepared for it Can any Man be secure of dying in the Lord that takes no care to go to Bed in his Favour and yet cannot tell but he may die before he rises He that would make sure of so blessed a Condition should live every Day as if it were his last be always disintangled from the Cares of this World as if he were then upon taking his leave of it have his thoughts still fixed upon a Blessed Eternity as if he were just launching out into it for our Lord may come in a day when we look not for him and in an hour that we are not aware of and therefore the only sure Way not to be taken unprovided is to be every hour prepared as if that were it It is an easie thing to say I will repent to morrow I will consider my ways and fit my self for my end but are we sure that to-morrow is our own And may not our Case be like the rich Man 's in the Gospel whose Soul was required of him that very night The Disappointment in this Case is so very dreadful being not only the loss of a few hours which we proposed to our selves here but of a joyful Eternity in the World which is to come that it will highly concern every reasonable Man timely to provide against so dismal a Misfortune and this can be done no better a way than by a stedfast Faith and an uniform Obedience 1. Then a stedfast Faith is an excellent Preparative to qualifie us at all times for dying in the Lord. Faith says the Apostle is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen by this we depend upon the Promises of God and settle to our selves a firm assurance of them this discloses to us the Secrets of the invisible World and makes us familiar with that Land of Spirits it sets Heaven and Happiness before our Eyes it lifts up the Heads of those eternal Gates and sets wide open the everlasting Doors it gives us a Relish and Antepast of that Glory which shall one day be revealed and makes us taste and see how good the Lord is By this Stephen saw the Glory of God and Jesus standing on the Right Hand of the Almighty by this St. Paul was rap'd into the third Heaven and heard and saw such things as were unspeakable through this he desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ this made all the Sufferings of Martyrs and Confessors easie to them and delightful this supports the Faithful in the Agonies of Death and makes up in a very great measure the Blessedness of those dead which die in the Lord. But 2. An uniform Obedience is an excellent Preparative to qualifie us at all times for dying in the Lord. This secures to us those precious Advantages which Faith but reveals and entitles us to the Treasures which that only discloses this fits us for the Enjoyment of a Blessed Immortality and applies to us the Promises of eternal Felicity that indeed shews us what Heaven is but this assures us that it is ours that gives us a View of everlasting Happiness this puts us actually in possession of it For Christianity my Brethren is not a bare Speculation it is defined to be a Practical Science and the main intent of it is to regulate our Actions It is true indeed in order to that it must inform our Understandings but if it operates upon us no farther it only enhances the Heinousness of our Transgressions by making every offence become a sin against Knowledge And therefore we find the Holy Apostle when he compares together the three great Christian Graces giving the Preference to that which is Practical to the prejudice of the others which are chiefly Contemplative Now remain says he Faith Hope Charity these three but the greatest of these is Charity He then who is always conversant in the Duties of his Profession always employed in the Exercises of Devotion and keeps a Conscience void of offence towards God and towards man he is the Man who let Death come when it will is never found dejected or unprovided Blessed is that wise and faithful servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing he takes the surest and most infallible way to secure to himself whenever he shall die the