Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	holy_a	lord_n	world_n	7,078	5	4.3901	3	false

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

gave me drink I was naked and ye cloathed me I was sick and in prison and ye visited me How pleasing and agreeable must the Surprize then be when they find every Instance of Charity and Compassion which they formerly extended to their distressed Brethren accepted and rewarded as fully and effectually as if it had been performed to Christ himself Verily I say unto you in as much as ye have done it to the least of these my Brethren ye have done it unto me Then every Action of Piety and Devotion every Advancement in Godliness and Holiness every Christian Combat and Struggling with Temptations every single Act of Faith and Resignation shall have its due Commendation and particular Regard How delightful and ravishing will the Prospect be when all their Virtues shall be thus ranked in order and attend them jointly to the Throne of Grace and there present themselves in their Favour and Behalf as so many Offerings of a sweet smelling savour Then shall their Redeemer know his own by these their Fruits and confess them before his Father which is in Heaven and they shall see face to face the Holiest of Holies in whose presence is fullness of joy The Scene is so glorious and so transcendently inviting that it needs no ●oil no Painter's Art of Shades and darker Colours to give these brighter ones more Splendor and Vivacity and therefore it needs not to be set off by comparing it with the miserable condition of such unhappy Wretches whose Works are said to go before them unto Judgment Sense cannot reach the Beauty of it nor Imagination figure any Resemblance to it for eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it enter'd into the heart of man to conceive the things which God has prepared for them that love him Blessed therefore are the dead which die in the Lord if we look upon Death as the Entrance into another World For their Works do follow them Into this happy State and Condition I hope our deceased Brother is already enter'd with whom my Acquaintance was so intimate during my short Familiarity with him that it qualified me to know him as well as those who had conversed with him much longer and I cannot but do his Memory that Justice to declare that during the time of my Acquaintance with him I found in him a most zealous Affection to the present Government a great deal of Honesty and Integrity a real Love of Truth and Sincerity an inviolable Fidelity and Strictness to his Word an unalterable Friendship wheresoever he professed it and however the World may be mistaken in him a much deeper Sense of Religion than many others have who pretend to it more openly His natural and acquired Abilities made him sufficiently remarkable to all that he conversed with and cannot be unknown to any here present very few being equal to him in all the becoming Qualities and Accomplishments which adorn and set off a complete Gentleman His very Enemies if he have left any behind him will give him this Character at least if they knew him so throughly as I did and therefore it is but cold Justice in a Friend who received from him during his Life all the Marks of a true Affection which shall make his Memory dear to me when he is nothing else but Dust and Ashes His Doath seized him suddenly but could not unprepared since to my own certain knowledge he never took his Dose of Opium but he solemnly recommended himself to God by Prayer as if he were then about to resign up his Soul into the Hands of his faithful Creator These Considerations give me good Grounds to hope that this dead man is blessed because from thence I have reason to believe that he died in the Lord. I should enlarge farther upon his Character but that he always in his life time disapproved of that Custom upon these Occasions and most especially in relation to himself nor should I thus far have infringed his Will in this particular but that I was willing to inform the World how much some People have erred in their Opinion of him Let us then in the Name God so manage our selves during the Course of this Life that we may be qualified for the Enjoyment of a better that when we shall go hence and be no more seen we may rest from our labours not enter upon greater Miseries and that our works which shall follow us may recommend and not impeach us that so we may have a just Title to that Blessedness which is the portion of those dead which die in the Lord. To which God of his infinite Mercy bring us all through the Merits and Mediation of our Blessed Saviour to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be ascribed all Honour Power Might Majesty and Dominion henceforth and for evermore Amen FINIS Books newly Printed for James Knapton at the Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard THE Design of the Book of Ecclesiastes or the Unreasonableness of Mens Restless Contentions for the present Enjoyments Whereunto is added a Paraphrase with some Notes on part of the Book of Ecclesiastes In Octavo Directions to a Holy Life In Three Parts I. The Benefit of being truly Religious II. The Necessity of Good Works III. The Exercise of the Love of God By a Divine of the Church of England In Octavo A Guide to Eternity Extracted out of the Writings of the Holy Fathers and Ancient Philosophers Written originally in Latin by John Bona and now Done into English by Sir Roger L' Estrange The Third Edition In Twelves An Earnest Invitation to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper By Joseph Glanvill late Rector of Bath and Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty