Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	good_a	work_n	work_v	6,969	5	7.2984	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50876	A sermon at the funeral of Mrs. Elizabeth Fisher, sister to the Honourable Sir William Dawes, Bar. D.D. and wife to the Reverend Dr. Peter Fisher preach'd at Bennington in Hertfordshire, June the 2d, 1698 / by William Milner ...	Milner, William, Vicar of Shephall in Hertfordshire.	1698 (1698)	Wing M2084; ESTC R15588	15,425	28

least to make them neither afraid nor unwilling to die And 3. Lastly I add That whatsoever we know concerning this matter is principally if not wholly owing to Revelation and therefore it becomes none of us to pretend to be wise above what is written We should not exercise our selves with curious perplex'd and useless inquiries but rest contented with what we find plainly deliver'd in Holy Scripture striving always so to order our whole Conversations as that we may be found worthy to be receiv'd when we depart hence into those Mansions our Blessed Lord is gone before to prepare for us These things being thus premis'd let us proceed to consider wherein the Text has plac'd the Blessedness of departed Holy Spirits Now this it tells us lies in these two things They are Blessed 1. Because they rest from their Labours 2. Because their works follow or accompany them into their future State 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The meaning and importance of which things must be the subject of the following Discourse 1. They are Blessed in that they rest from their Labours i. e. They are compleatly deliver'd from all the Troubles and Sorrows all the Evils and Calamities Infirmities and Miseries of this frail Mortal State I say all which either have their Foundation in the very texture and constitution of the Human Body or proceed from the Folly and Frenzie the Envy or Malice of Others In this Vale of Tears and Misery Good Men as well as others are liable to Pain and Sickness to Difficulties and Dangers to Poverty Reproach and Persecution and all the sad effects of their own infirm crazie Bodies and the inordinate Appetites and Passions of others Nay the Sons of Violence too often make them the Marks of their Displeasure and Vengeance for no other reason but because their Works are Righteous And is it not a blessed thing to be deliver'd from such a deplorable and wretched State Why this is the happy state of such who die in the Lord. They are safe out of the reach of all these their Enemies No Smart or Anguish can afflict them No Wrath or Malice overtake them To allude to that of Moses concerning the Egyptians Exod. 14.13 when good Men shall have once past through this Red-Sea they may stand still upon the Shore and look back with Pleasure and Triumph upon all these their Enemies saying we shall see them again no more for ever As Job has it Chap. 3. v. 18.19 In the grave the Wicked cease from troubling and there the weary are at rest There the Prisoners rest together they hear not the voice of the Oppressor the small and great are there upon the same level none greater than other and the servant is free from his master So that the words of Solomon if understood with reference to departed Saints are strictly true That the day of a mans death is better than the day of his birth Eccles 7.1 The day of his Birth being the beginning of a life attended with continual Care and Sorrow the day of his Death being his Birth-day into a Blessed Immortal Life of uninterrupted Peace and Pleasure This for the First 2. The Second thing wherein the Text places the Blessedness of those who die in the Lord is this They are blessed because their Works accompany or follow them By which we are to understand these Two things I. The Grateful and Pleasant Remembrance II. The Glorious and happy Fruits and Effects or the Reward of their Good Works follows them 1. The Grateful Remembrance of their good Works follows them Now that this is a real Foundation and Ground of Peace and Blessedness to Holy Spirits in their state of separation from their Bodies may be reasonably inferr'd from the Consideration of our selves how it is with us here in our state of Discipline and Trial. For if good Men reflecting upon the course of their past Lives and finding that they have behav'd themselves piously with regard to God and Inoffensively and Charitably towards Men do from this Testimony of their Consciences receive a very sensible and inward Pleasure a Pleasure greater than the World can give which none can comprehend but such as have felt it What an Unspeakable Transporting Inconceiveable Pleasure may we reasonably suppose will spring up in departed Holy Souls when all the good Works of their whole Lives shall be had in remembrance and set in order before them and represented at one view with greater force and advantage than we can suppose they are in this Earthly State How will such Blessed Spirits upon such recollection even melt away and be dissolv'd and swallow'd up in the greatest Transports and highest Extasies of Complacency and Delight 2. The Fruits and Effects or Reward of their good Works accompanies or follows them into their future State But Blessed God! What Tongue can describe what Heart conceive the good things which thou hast prepared for all those who Die in thy Fear and Favour 'T is impossible for us fully to represent the Happiness and Glory of the Saints in their future State yet to excite our Love to God and to quicken our desires after the Enjoyment of Him it can neither be useless nor unseasonable to point at some few things which are the happy Effects and Reward of the Good Works of Holy Men in the other Life And therefore 1. Good Men are compleatly deliver'd from Sin as well as Sorrow and Trouble They are no longer liable to Temptation or Danger from any of the Enemies of God's Glory and their own Salvation Whil'st they are here upon Earth the Devil and his Agents lie in wait to Ensnare them and even their own Flesh which encompasses them about sollicits them to a multitude of Sins and Follies They daily find a Law in their Members warring against the Law of their Minds the Flesh lusting against the Spirit the Animal and Carnal strugling with the Rational and Spiritual Powers which Conflict is the ground and occasion of much Dejection and Disquietness of Soul filling even good Men with many Misgivings and Fears and Perplexities concerning their present Sincerity and future Happiness How in the bitterness of their Souls do they lament their evil Propensities and Inclinations their Slips and Failings their Mistakes and sometimes more notorious Transgressions They find no rest by reason of their Spiritual Enemies and their Hearts too often fail them But it is not thus with the Dead with them who Die in the Lord. He that is once entred into his Rest Heb. 4.10 Rom. 6.7 ceases from his own Works the works of Sin and the Flesh He that is dead is freed from Sin from the fear and danger and possibility of offending God No subtile malicious Serpent can insinuate himself into the Paradise of Holy Souls this Earth is the Scene of Satans Temptation and the place of Tryal Or if we may suppose that the Evil Spirit should creep in amongst them yet he will find nothing

A SERMON AT THE FUNERAL OF Mrs. ELIZABETH FISHER Sister to the Honourable Sir WILLIAM DAWES Bar. D. D. And Wife to the Reverend Dr. PETER FISHER Preach'd at Bennington in Hertfordshire June the 2d 1698. By WILLIAM MILNER Vicar of Shephall in Hertfordshire LONDON Printed for Thomas Speed at the Three Crowns near the Royal-Exchange in Corn-hill MDCLXXXXVIII To the Honourable the Lady ELIZABETH BENET WIFE OF Sir Richard Benet Bar. Of Babram in Cambridgshire Madam THE honest Plainness and Truth of the following Discourse found such acceptance with the Relations and Friends of that Excellent Person whose immature and much lamented Death was the sad Occasion of it That They have prevail'd with me to make it more publick than I at first intended Believing it would be as acceptable to your Ladyship in the Reading as it was to them when they heard it I was the more willing to comply with their Desire not only that it might be a publick acknowledment of my g●eat Obligation to Your Family and to Your Ladyship in particular for Your many great and lasting Favours towards me but because I am sensible the Subject is such as will recommend it to Your Favour Your Ladyship was a Witness and a Lover of the many great Vertues of Your Dear and Excellent Friend Her affectionate care and concern for Your Good the Sincerity of her Friendship the Piety and Prudence of her Counsels the great Vsefulness and Advantage of her Example at such a time when you stood most in need of it by the otherwise irreparable loss of Your truly Pious and most tenderly Affectionate Mother had deservedly endear'd her to You and I perswade my self just Allowances being made for the difference of Your respective Condition and Circumstances You will always imitate whatsoever was Excellent Amiable and Praise-worthy in Her This will recommend You to the esteem of such as are Wise and Good Hereby You will be an Ornament to Your Own Family and add a Lustre to That into which by the successful Care and Endeavours of Your Dear deceased Friend You are so happily transplanted If what I now offer may contribute any thing towards so great and good an End it will be the greatest accession to all the other Favours You have shewn to Madam Your Ladyships Most Obliged and Obedient Servant W. MILNER A SERMON AT THE FUNERAL OF Mrs. ELIZABETH FISHER Rev. 14.13 I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are 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 VVHosoever shall consider these words in their more immediate Connexion with the foregoing parts of the Chapter will see great reason to conclude that in their Original and Primary intention they were deliver'd by the Blessed Spirit and by him commanded to be written for the support and comfort of the Church under that severe Persecution which should befall it But since the Wisdom and Piety of our own Church has thought fit ●o insert the Words into her Office for the Burial of the Dead I shall at this time consider them in a greater Lati●ude as of general use to the Church of God in all Ages ●nd under all circumstances holding forth this great and comfortable Truth Viz. That all Good Christians immediately upon their dissolution or departure out of this Life are in a blessed or happy condition A Truth which deserves our more serious and attentive ●egard and meditation because deliver'd by an audible Voice from Heaven expressly commanded to be written and confirm'd by the solemn asseveration of the Spirit And therefore for the more distinct and proffitable handling of the Words give me leave to exercise your Meditation and Patience upon these following things 1. Let me inquire what it is to die in the Lord 2. In what respect or upon what accounts such as die in the Lord are pronounc'd Blessed 3. Let me touch at the time from whence their Blessedness commences And then I shall apply the whole for the directing our Practice and in particular to temper and alleviate our grief upon the Mournful occasion of our present meeting together And 1. Let me inquire what it is to die in the Lord And this will be dispatch'd in a few words Now tho' this Phrase to die in the Lord if consider'd with respect to the particular occasion of the Words may signifie only to die for the Lord i. e. for his sake and in his cause and so may relate to the case of such who suffer Martyrdom for the sake of Christ Yet I doubt not but in the more general and ultimate sense of the Words to die in the Lord is the same as to die in the Faith and Fear and Favour of God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent To die Christians Christians both in Faith and Practice adhering to God through Jesus Christ by an Uniform and Constant Obedience to his Will and a stedfast Faith and Hope of Redemption and Salvation by him For i● to be in Christ and to be alive to God through Jesus Christ and to live to him who died for us and rose again are forms of Speech denoting the sincere Belief and Practice of Christianity and the Participation of the Grace and Priviledges of the Gospel in consequence of such Faith and Practice I think their can be no reason to doubt but that these Phrases of Sleeping in Christ and Dying in the Lord must likewise be understood in the same sense so as to imply our Perseverance in such Belief and Practice to our lives end And Blessed are they who thus die in the Lord continuing stedfast without wavering even to the end in all holy Faith and Obedience Which leads me to the Second thing I am to account for Viz. 2. To inquire in what respect and upon what accounts they who die in the Lord are pronounc'd Blessed Or in other words to point at the Nature of that Blessedness which Holy Souls enjoy in their state of Separation from their Bodies But before I enter upon this permit me to premise a few things 1. That as yet we are very much in the dark as to our future State I do not mean as to the certainty of such a State for Life and Immortality is brought to light thro' the Gospel But we are left to uncertainties as to the distinct nature and compleat degrees and measures of its Happiness And 2. We have just reason to believe that the Blessedness of departed Holy Spirits in their State of Separation is less perfect in Quality and Degree than it will be at the Resurrection when their Souls and Bodies shall be reunited by the most intimate Vital Union But nevertheless there is enough reveal'd concerning their present Happiness to convince us that 't is very great far beyond any of the transitory mixt perishing Pleasures of this Life enough to engage good Men to aspire and pant after it at

Can a good Man readily go to a worse place Can he lose by the change of his Habitation No certiainly He will be an infinite gainer by it Death removes him far above from the wrath of Man and the strife of Tongues above the Waves and Winds the Storms and Tempests the Tossings and Instabilities of these Lower Regions out of the reach either of Envy or Malice Force or Subtilty It delivers from all the tumult disorder and fury and evil effects either of our own or other Mens Unreasonable Appetites or Passions Or if it should be said That Death do's deprive us of some things which it must be confest in a qualifi'd sense and in their due place are valuable Blessings things truly amiable and pleasant Yet at the same time it puts us into the Possession of greater Good Things Pleasures more Manly and Substantial Pure Unmixt Durable Satisfying Pleasures suitable to our Natures and commensurate to the Capacities of our Souls It transmits us to the Society of Saints and Angels God and Christ who are Friends indeed Faithful and never failing Friends fills us with clear and constant Impressions of God's Love to us and our Love to God which is the highest pitch of Felicity Why then do we fear Death which puts us into the Possession of so many so great and inestimable Priviledges Why do we not rather with submission aspire after this Happy State A natural fear of Death 't is true there will be this is hardly ever totally extirpated in the best But I am sure the Consideration of that great Blessedness which the Saints enjoy in their future State immediately upon the Dissolution of Soul and Body is sufficient to arm and fortifie good Men against the unreasonable and immoderate fears of it and that is the thing I aim at 3. Lastly What has been said is of great force and singular use to temper and mitigate our Sorrow upon the Death of our Christian Friends To have little or no concern upon us upon such sad Occasions is Unatural and more than Bruitish Stupidity But to be over concern'd and excessive in our Grief is indecent a thing unbecoming true Christians It becomes us it is our Duty to Mourn but then we must Mourn as those which have Hope Hope that our Friends are gone to their Rest and that we our selves when our appointed time comes shall rest together with them in a full assurance of a Glorious Resurrection to an Immortal Crown at the Last Day Which brings me to the particular Application of what has been said to allay and mitigate the Sorrow which this grave and mournful Solemnity excites in us 'T is true we have reason to weep for our selves in that we are depriv'd of so bright and noble a Pattern of unaffect'd Piety and true Goodness which our Deceas'd Sister set before us But our Loss is her Gain There 's no reason to weep upon her account She is enter'd into her Rest Her Sorrows are at an end and her Joys begun Joys which are satisfying and will be Eternal This I say we have great reason to believe as will appear when I have laid something of her true Character before you It pleas'd Almighty God the Wise Author of our Beings to bless her with an admirable Sagacity and quickness of Apprehension a discerning Mind and a strong Memory which together with a serious and composed frame and temper of Spirit made her capable of receiving and retaining the wisest and best Instructions and fitted Her for an unaffected and rational Devotion and those great Excellencies and Perfections our Holy Religion was design'd to Inspire and Work in us Which advantages of nature were very early and happily improv'd by the pious Care of her tender Mother a Lady of singular I had almost said inimitable Vertues and the joint endeavours of those Incomparable Ladies the Lady Nottingham and her Sister the Lady Mary whose Memory is Honourable and Precious amongst all those who had the Honour and Happiness to be acquainted with them These Excellent Ladies from her Childhood Train'd her up in the Way she should go and in her riper years she did not depart from it Their First and Principal Care as it ought to be was to sow in her Heart the Seeds of an early and sincere Piety and Devotion towards God to teach her the true knowledge of God through Jesus Christ and her Duty to Him to Inspire her with an Awful Regard to her Great Creator and Merciful Redeemer and her Infinite Obligations to them both and this before she could receive or imbibe any Prejudices which might occasion any aversness or dislike to Religious Meditations and Exercise Which being done no Care was wanting to let her soon into the Art of Civility and all the Decencies of a Graceful and Genteel Behaviour without any mixture of those Impertinencies and Follies which too often disguise and shelter themselves under that Amiable Name The good Effects of which Pious Care and Pains appear'd in her whole Conversation As for her Devotion towards God nothing could be more Regular Uniform and Constant both as to her Closet Retirements and Publick Worship Neither Pleasure nor Business could hinder it because to Serve God was always her Chief Pleasure and Greatest Business Of her due Attendance upon the Publick Worship this is a Remarkable Instance that she was never known to omit any fit opportunity of receiving the Holy Sacrament from the sixteenth Year of her Age and would not go out of the World without this Viaticum or as the Ancients sometimes stile it her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Medicine of Immortality which she received from the Hands of her truly Honourable Brother with all becoming Seriousness Devotion and Thankfulness Her Devotion was not made up of sudden Heats and Raptures Intermissions and Pauses but was Steady Judicious and Rational and Well Govern'd free from Ostentation Superstition and any affected Singularities Which as it shew'd the Soundness of her Judgment so it contribut'd to the Ease and Comfort of her Life by delivering her from those Vexatious Doubts and Fears and Scruples which so often disquiet and torment weaker Minds None who knew her but must be sensible of the Native Sincerity great Openness and Honest Plainness of her Heart which made her always speak as she thought which taught her to despise the Dissimulation and Flatteries of others and to abhor the thoughts of Dissembling with or Flattering any with whom she Convers'd Her Gratitude was Great and Exemplary towards all who had shewn any kindness to her Especially towards those who had charg'd themselves with the Care of her Education She was so sensible of the great Advantages she had receiv'd by it that whenever she mention'd their Names which she often did she did it in such Terms and Expressions as imply'd the highest Respect Honour and Love to their Memory What an Admirable Instance was she of a Self-denying Temper There was no present