Selected quad for the lemma: work_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
work_n	conscience_n	dead_a	purge_v	5,027	5	9.3264	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A90706	The fountain of life, or life in its derivation from Christ. In a sermon preached at the funeral of that honoured lady, the Lady Jane Reade, the relict of Sir John Reade, (sometimes whil'st he lived) of Sorangle in Lincolnshire, knight. By Edmund Pinchbeck, B.D.	[Pinchbeck, Edmund].	1652 (1652)	Wing P2244; Thomason E679_10; ESTC R206749	30,152	41

service Art thou base and contemptible in the eyes of the world it matters not thou mayest be a vessel of honour an h●ire of life as well as the greatest Emperour or Monarch in the world yea in seeking the Lord Jesus Christ this uncreated wisdome of God thou as well as any other mayest finde him and in him Life It 's intayled to none but left for all seekers in general Whoso findeth me findeth life And thus I have done with my text Courteous Reader TO satisfie the desires of some that requested the same I have not without some reluctant backwardnesse annexed this ensuing exhortation delivered at the enterrement of the deceased Lady whose death occasioned this Sermon The Hebrew word for a grave or sepulchre is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to ask require or expect to intimate peradventure how the grave with its open inhiant mouth seems to invite passengers to its entertainment True it is we cannot long withstand its summons not long frustrate its expectation all of us how soon we know not must take up our lodgings there and make our beds in the dark and therefore in all holy foresight of the same it behooves us to fit and prepare our selves for such a change to this purpose if these short directions may any way availe thee howsoever I hazard my selfe upon thy censure I shall not repent the tender of them to thy view There is no estate nor condition of men or women whatsoever or howsoever qualified that can secure themselves from the power of death no be they what they will be sooner or later they must be going they must all to their long home This is a theame that the Prophet Isaiah must proclame yea because mortality 〈◊〉 ● dull of hearing he must crie it out as you see Isaiah 40.6 All flesh is grasse and the grace c. as if he should say Art thou strong and lusty as an Eagle Are thy breasts full of milk as Job speaks thy bones full of marrow let thy flesh be what it will it is but grasse and must wither Hast thou all the endowments of nature all the ornaments of education dexterity of wit solidity of judgement strength of memory readinesse of expression or the like together with the abundance of these outward blessings why all this is but a flower and must fade this we may demonstrate from all the generations that in the several ages of the world have been before us what is become of them all what ●s become of the Giants before the flood of Abraham Isaac Ja●ob and the blessed Patriarchs before the law of all those mul●itudes and many thousands that came out of Egypt of all those innumerable millions that have lived since their dayes as the Prophet Zachary propounds the quere Zaob 1.6 Your fathers where are they and do the Prophets live for ever No they do not no there is a statute law against us all Statutum est It is appointed for all men once to die Heb. 9.27 Let Solomon be wise Sampson strong Absolom beautifull all availes not An instance hereof to this purpose we have in this present spectacle of mortality what variety of blessings in a most plentifull and liberal measure did God bestow upon her here was Bona corporis a firme and healthful constitution of body Bona animae all intellectual abilities and endowments Bona fortunae estate and meanes answerable to her ranck and quality And together with all these how did God blesse her in such an husband that all honoured Sir John Read in such a kinred and aliance in such an off-spring such children and children children how did God exalt her in making her such a mother such a Grand mother to affoard her such branches from her selfe so lovely so faire and flourishing to have such an issue so accomplisht so demean'd so ordered both towar●s God and man what a comfort she felt in this particular verifying that of Solomon Prov. 10.1 she lately in her sicknesse acknowledged and that with all thankfulnesse To these I might adde the splendor of her vertues which with an humble reverent silence I chuse rather to leave to the ingenuous approbation of others judgments then by the scant and imperfect expressions of my weak Rhetorick to impaire What a sweet and gratefull influence these diffusive vertues had upon you according to you several occasions and wants I need not tell you what mean these sad looks these dejected countenances these overflowing eyes the crowded presse of this present auditory every one to speak in the phrase of Job having his harp turned into mourning and his Organ into the voice of them that weep In all these you shew how you prized her how precious she was unto you what an estimate you set upon her deserts but now in the approach of death all these sweet mercies all these faire and rich enjoyments all her acceptance and grace in the world could not purchase for her beyond her appointed time the least minute to her further abode True it is this is a common point a granted truth there is none so foolish as to deny it but as known and common as it is let me aske you who ponders it who considers it in his heart who fits and prepares himself accordingly It was said of Ephraim that he had gray haires here and there and knew not of them Hos 7.9 Is it not so with our selves let the signes and symptoms of mortality be apparent are we not utterly heedlesse and forgetful of them true it is whilest the sound of a passing bell is in our eares whilest the mourners are abroad in the streets whilest we are within the audience of a funeral sermon oh then we are touched with some passionate meditations and thoughts such as these oh the sting of death oh the severity of Gods tribunal the strictnesse of the accompt oh the depth of hell oh that I could make my peace with God that it might go well with me in my latter end But when these visible signes these sensible objects are no sooner removed but we are still the same we were before just like the doves and daws in the steeple in the beginning of a peale they seem in a kind of an affright to betake themselves to their wings and fly aloft but presently the bells are no sooner ceased but they return again to their holes and are as secure as ever they were before But oh that Gods people were wise that they would consider their latter end It is the saying of Augustine Vtinam in quovis loco de gehenna diceretur in gehenuam prohiberet incidisse I would men were ever talking of hell it would be a meanes to keep them from it so for death the more serious we are in the thoughts of it the more safe from the danger of it and therefore with Joseph of Arimathea let us make our sepulchres in our gardens be imployed in the meditations of death at all times even amongst our ch●efest delights And that we may prosper in the thoughts of it let me commend unto you these particulars First dispatch and hasten thy repentance Non bonum est in eo statu vivere in quo non est tutum mori Dost thou live in a state of sinne uncleannesse wantonnesse prophanenesse c why think with thy selfe wouldst thou dye in such a condition hath not the Lord denounced it that the unrighteous shall never enter the kingdome of heaven why then if thou wouldst fit thy selfe for death thou must purge thy conscience from dead works crucifie the flesh with the corruptions and lusts of it Secondly thou must set thy selfe about the performance of all holy daties thou must do that good which may be for good to thy soul for the future The time of my departure is at hand faies the Apostle what then doth not the Apostle tremble no the consideration of his life past supports him I have faught the good fight c. Thirdly thou must study to be built up in him who is The Lord our righteousnesse dost thou rest upon inferiour things thou shalt be as the heath in the wildernesse and shalt not see when good comes but if thou rest upon Christ as the maine foundation-stone thou shalt not be confounded Isaiah 28 16. Lastly go unto God in prayer that he would help thee and further thee in this thy preparation O teach us to number our dayes c. we cannot number them rightly except God help us and therefore in the title of that Psalme you have it stiled by the name of a prayer A prayer of Moses the man of God to shew how we should be affected in thoughts as likewise that it is God only that enables us in the the same And herein we must take heed to set upon these and the like preparations speedily and without delay Hoc momentum est unde pendet aeternitas the time of this life is but a moment but such a moment as hath all eternity depending upon it It is related of Caesar Borgia that he spoke it upon his death bed that he had studied to prevent all inconveniences that might betide him but death but as for that he did not think it had been so neer him let not his case be thine but rather let thy resolution conspire with Jobs to waite all the dayes of thine appointed time till thy change come I conclude all with that of St. John Revel 20.6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection on such the second death hath no power FINIS