Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	eternal_a	life_n	lord_n	11,091	5	3.8914	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A69664	Several discourses viz., I. of purity and charity, II. of repentance, III. of seeking first the kingdom of God / by Hezekiah Burton ...; Selections. 1684	Burton, Hezekiah, 1631 or 2-1681.	1684 (1684)	Wing B6179; Wing B6178; ESTC R17728	298,646	615

Saviour says of Judas that betray'd him It were good for him if he had not been born It was far more eligible for him never to have been than to have committed so great a Wickedness And is not this the hapless State of many more So that they who are with and under God the Authors or rather Instruments of Life and Being to any do by this make them liable to great Misery as well as capable of great Happiness And indeed those Parents who have done no more for their Children than to bring them into the World and make provision for the Animal Life only I question whether by this they have not done more to bring them into great Misery than they have contributed toward their Happiness 6. This leads me to another forcible Motive to take care of their Education because if we do not we shall be accessory to all the Evil they both do and suffer It will be Trouble enough to think we have those sprung from us who have been the Authors of great Mischief to others and fall into uttermost Ruine themselves tho our selves had no hand in it That those that came from and are as it were parts of us are most justly sentenced to endless Torments this thought is almost unsupportable to a Parent But what will it then be to make this bitter Reflection All this Ill that my Child has done and all the Misery he endures is the Effect of my Negligence it 's through my faulty Carelesness that he was so sinful and is so wretched If the Happiness of Heaven admit of Allays as it does of Degrees the Remembrance that I did not do my utmost to rescue any of my Acquaintance and Friends from Sin will give a great damp to the Joy of that State But that I should be so grosly negligent of mine own Child as not to do all I could to prevent such unsufferable Woes this must pierce the Soul Lastly then Let all Parents consider what account they will be able to give of themselves to their Judg of the Neglect of their Children When they see them doom'd to everlasting Misery for that Wickedness they fell into for want of timely Instruction When God shall say these my Creatures are lost for ever through your Heedlesness and Unfaithfulness because you neglected the Opportunities you had of principling and exercising them to Vertue and Godliness they fell into a vicious Course of Life and must now eat the bitter Fruits of it eternally What will you then answer to your Judges And with what face will you look upon those your neglected Children when they shall say O had you but call'd on us to remember our Creator in the Days of our Youth we had then been kept from Iniquity and now from unconceivable Misery Had you but watched us at first and been careful to engage us to Goodness we had lived good Lives on Earth and now have been happy in Heaven Consider I beseech you how you will be then affected and let this make you wise to prevent that Astonishment and Confusion of Face which must necessarily accompany such a Guilt as this And that you may be able to know how you will be able to abide the Judgment of God I would desire every one of us to summon our own Souls before themselves and see what account they are able to give themselves of this most grievous Omission What will the guilty Offender say to such Questions as this which his awakened Conscience will put to him 1. Why hast thou been so unnatural as not to desire and endeavour thy Child's best State Or why hast thou been so unwise as to slip the fittest if not only Season thou canst ever have to do him the greatest Good How is it that thou didst not go to the brute Creatures and learn this of them who as soon as ever their young Ones are capable fail not to shew them how they must live 2. Again How foolishly hast thou acted and contradicted thy self in providing carefully a vast Estate for a Swine to wallow in for thou hast taken no care to fit him for it to teach him to use it And how careful hast thou been of thy young Dogs that they be made and of thy Horses that that they be managed But only thy Sons and thy Daughters are not regarded 3. And then was it not most fit and equal that thou who hadst brought thy Children into Being shouldst take all possible Care that they may live well and be happy 4. Thou hast done something for them then thou shouldest either have done more or nothing Better it were for them not to have been than to be miserable They had better never have lived than fall short of the End of Life What Answer canst thou make to such Questions as these which thine own Mind will put if thou givest it leave to think Or how art thou satisfied with thy self when such Thoughts as these arise in thy Mind And if thou canst not stand before thine own Conscience how wilt thou appear before the Tribunal of the Great God I conclude this Exhortation What would you say of a Father and Mother that should expose a new-born Infant in a Wilderness full of Salvage Beasts Would you not call this most unnatural Inhumanity It would be so And it is not less but more Inhumanity to leave the Soul of thy Child untaught undisciplin'd to be a Prey to that roaring Lion In the one the bodily Life is in danger in the other the higher Life of the Soul the Spiritual and Eternal is hazarded Thou who takest no care of thy Child's Education exposest him to Eternal Death and Misery How merciless and unnatural would that Mother be thought who should deny her Breasts to the hungry Child who could see it starve without giving it necessary Food She would deserve to be branded for a Monster And what shall we think of those that starve the better and higher Life That hear the Cries of the little Soul after Knowledg and Goodness but turn a deaf Ear to them and never once take care to nourish them up to Eternal Life but suffer them to faint and die the worst of Deaths that of the Soul And if Murderers of the lower Life shall be punish'd so severely if those that when they have wherewith to do it deny to feed the hungry animal Life shall not be able to stand in Judgment before God how then shall the Murderers of Souls be avenged and where shall they appear that have denied the Bread of Life to their own Children It 's an inhuman thing counted not to shew the Way to an ignorant Traveller but O how monstrously unnatural is it when the Soul of thine own Child is calling to thee by its Inclination and its Necessities cry to thee to shew it its Way of Life when it stands gazing and knows not which way to go that thou shouldest not by thy Counsel and Example say to it This

the Multitude of your Sacrifices to me saith the Lord c. Chap. 58. 6. Is not this the Fast that I have chosen to loose the Bands of Wickedness to undo the heavy Burdens and to let the Oppressed go free c. Mich. 6. 6 7 8. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the high God shall I come before him with Burnt-Offerings c. He has shewed thee O Man what is Good But for our Christian Religion its manifest Design is that we should do Good to all St. James 1. 27. Pure Religion and undefiled before God is this to visit the Fatherless and Widows in their Afflictions 1 Tim. 1. 5. The End of the Commandment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Charity out of a pure Heart and a good Conscience and Faith unfeigned So that God esteems himself most honoured and Men to be religious in the highest degree when they are beneficent More particularly 1. Christianity takes away all separating and dividing Ceremonies that were as Walls of Partition and so intends the proselyting of all Men without Distinction And does not this tend to lay on them the greatest Engagements to an universal Good-will 2. It has taken great care to remove all Obstacles of this and has made it the necessary Condition of being happy We must love all Men and do them good tho they be wicked tho they be our Enemies Love your Enemies c. says our Saviour And if ye forgive not Men their Trespasses neither will your Heavenly Father forgive yours 3. The Representations the Gospel has made of God and our Saviour whom we are instructed and obliged to follow will engage us to do Good universally Our Saviour went about doing Good He loved his Enemies to Death he laid down his Life for them he requited the greatest Malice with the greatest Love God is described as loving the World and that with the greatest truest heartiest Love that can be He does Good unto all his Sun rises upon the Wicked as well as the Good If then it be our Duty our Perfection and Happiness to conform to our Saviour's Example if by this we come to the utmost that our Natures can reach to to be like God whose Mercy extends to all things Let us also love and do Good to Enemies to Strangers to all Men. Were there those among the Heathens that had only the Light of Nature and yet both taught and practised this Duty of Beneficence in so high a degree and shall not we Christians who have the Revelation of the Gospel we who read of the eternal Son of God devesting himself of the Glory he had with God before the World was and taking our frail Nature into Union with himself learn and practise i● much more Are we not told what the Blessed Jesus did and how much he suffered in Life and Death and all this that he might redeem Mankind from Sin and Death and Hell and make us happy Was this the Design and Business of his Life and Death to do the greatest Good to all Men Let us make it appear that we are indeed his Disciples in that we carry on the same Design which he did and follow his Example in doing Good This is so necessary a part of Christianity that if I were to give a Character of a Christian in short it should be this He is one that designs and doth Good unto all Men. Catholick Charity makes a Man a Member of the Catholick Church Holding of the Catholick Faith is not so sure a Mark of a Christian as living in Universal Love whosoever doth so is a Christian he that doth not is none no tho he can repeat his Creed and think he believes every Article of it it is not so material as this universal Inclination of doing Good it is not so material in order to our Acceptance with God what our Opinions are as what our Affections and Lives are This is final and ultimate in Religion that which God design'd to bring Men unto by all the Revelations which he has made and by all his Institutions All true Religion that has ever been in the World has aim'd at this to make Men better wiser and more vertuous And why is this but in order to Action And do we or can we act only about our selves If we be better shall it not be better for other Men Can a Man be good to himself singly and not to Society Or does Religion intend the Good of private Persons and not of Communities Assuredly that which designs to make Men good to themselves designs to make them good to others That Man is most truly Religious who gives most Honour to God and he does that who makes the most true and worthy Representation of him to the World and he does that who is universally good and kind Not he who macerates his Flesh with Fasting or wears out his Knees with long and frequent Praying or spends the greatest part of his time in Hearing or Reading or denies himself the useful and innocent Pleasures of Life and Conversation that turns Recluse or Hermite that goes a long Pilgrimage bare-foot that exposes himself to pinching Cold or sco●●hing Heat that calls for Fire from Heaven upon the wicked Transgressors of the Law Not any of these or others that pass for the only Religious Men in the World make so clear and true and becoming a Representation of God to the World as that poor Man does whose only Design it is to do Good unto all who makes it his great Business to be innocent and useful to every one in the World This Man's Life shall do more to make other Men entertain true and honourable Thoughts of God than all the Devotions and Fervors of them who confine their Religion to such Passions and Exercises Nor can all Faith and Knowledg have such an effect upon others to make them glorify God as the Life of this good Man who does Good Lastly Nothing can make us more sure of and fit for the Happiness of Heaven than this As nothing can make us more like to God and Christ and the good Angels than this Divine Temper of Love to Mankind so nothing more fits us for nor more assures of their Converse in Heaven Indeed this seems not so much a necessary Condition of the Happiness of that State as an essential Ingredient in it and a great part of it The great Change which I apprehend will be in Heaven from what is here on Earth is this That our selfish contracted Love will be enlarged and extended and that there we shall every one love all By what has been hitherto said it may appear sufficiently that nothing better becomes or is more worthy of us either as Men following the Principles of Nature or as Christians enlightned by revealed Religion than to be universally good But I shall argue this further by shewing that 3. To do Good to all Men c. is one of those means which

it as a great Privilege only to have the Word of God read to them 1. Those that cannot read it themselves 2. They who have it not in a known Tongue And hence it was that in the beginning of the Reformation here in England when it was first order'd that the Bible should be read in English in the Congregation that the People flock'd so very much to the Churches Tho this is a thing now despised and Men make no account of coming into Church till after the Chapters as if it was nothing to have the Word of God read by one whose Office it is to proclaim the Divine Counsel But if any will pretend that he can read the Bible as well at home and it is all one to have it read by one of his own Family as by Christ's Minister and Officer I will only say this That the sacred Place and the Time set apart for this thing and the Presence of others may all contribute to his greater attendance to and better observation of it Mirum Judicium oritur ex aliorum praesentia And when I see many others hearkning to the Word read it will excite my Attention and thereby help my Understanding I need not put you in mind that care hath been taken in selecting those Portions of Scripture to be publickly read which are most easy to be understood and most useful and necessary to be remembred and practised But if a Man should persuade himself that no Benefit will come to him by conforming to the Orders of the Church in coming to the publick Assembly to hear the Word of God read yet he ought to do this for the sake of that Society of which he is a Member and for the sakes of the Ignorant who by their attendance on the publick reading of the Word will proclaim to the World that they are the only ignorant Persons if none else will come to hear it And the Shame of this may make them absent themselves too because they would not be look'd upon as so altogether and only without understanding Therefore to encourage and keep them in countenance even such as can themselves read should come to Church to hear the Scriptures read tho there are other Reasons to move them to this But besides the bare reading there is also the Expounding of the Word of God in the Publick Congregations and it is applied to particular Cases For this is the business both of all Catechising and Preaching Where any Text is not at all or so well understood there the Minister doth expound it by some plainer Text or by an Interpretation of the Original and he always shews its agreement with the common Notions and Sense of Mankind And if any be so careless or dull as not to deduce the particular Consequences they might nor make use of it to direct their own Practices they are helped by the Sermon in those matters And thus by hearing the Divine Commands and Promises and Threatnings read and explained and applied Mens Understandings are increased their Memories refreshed their Affections quickned and consequently their Practice is better'd For the Word of God where it is understood and believed where it is entertained and kept it will have this certain Effect to help Men to live holy and vertuous Lives for it is a Spirit of Holiness and Purity that breaths in those Divine Writings and they have this only design to make Men good 3. The last of the Benefits I mentioned which the Christian hath in the publick Assemblies is the Sacraments I have already said something concerning Baptism which is the initial Rite that is used at our first Admission which solemnizes and as it were confirms and ratifies the Engagement which the Proselite to Christianity then takes upon him I might here add that it cannot seem improbable to expect the secret and unseen tho not unfelt Blessing of God to be conveyed upon the Observance of his own Institution and the Prayers which are made by the Church on the behalf of the Party baptized The other Sacrament of the Lord's-Supper if we consider by whom and at what time it was instituted we shall look on it as a mighty Privilege to be admitted to it For our Saviour ordained it and he did this at the time of his Death when he was about to give the greatest Instance of his Love to us that ever the World had If we think how frequently it was used by the Primitive Christians and what an Esteem they had of it we shall by this also be persuaded that it is a very valuable thing But on the other hand if we make an Estimate of it according to the Judgment of our own Times we must then look on it as having either much Evil or very little Good in it for else sure Men could not possibly neglect it as they do But let us not judge of it by any extrinsecal Considerations whatsoever Let us consider the Nature of the Thing it self and the excellent Uses it serves and then we shall better discern the Advantages it brings The thing we are to do is to commemorate the great Performances of our Lord Jesus Christ which were consummated in that painful and ignominious Death he underwent for our sakes This we are commanded to do in eating Bread and drinking Wine Now whilst we do an Action which so well becomes us and that is so honourable to our dearest Lord we receive unto our selves unconceivable Benefits For when we look on Christ crucified for our Sins as the Sacrifice offered for us this shews us the Heinousness of Sin and makes us more sensible of and sorrowful for the Sins we have committed as also more to detest and resolve against all Sin for time to come This also convinceth us of God's Right to challenge our Obedience and to punish us for our Default And he doth by this Instance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shew us what we are to expect if we continue in a sinful Practice Again When we look on the Sacrifice as accepted and esteemed by God this will increase our value of Obedience to the Divine Law and we shall set an higher Price on Holiness for it was this which made our Saviour's Oblation so acceptable unto God This will also encourage our Faith and Hope in God when we consider that a Sacrifice hath been offered and is accepted on our behalf When we take a view of our dying Saviour as our Example and Patern we then learn the most perfect Submission of our Wills the most entire Resignation of our Selves to the Will of God the most unconquerable Patience the greatest Resolution and yet the most of Mildness and above all the most universal and intense Love that can be exprest Love to Enemies to malicious and wicked Persecutors to be desiring heartily and earnestly endeavouring their Welfare whilst they are eagerly seeking our Ruine And when we have had Christ set before us as dying for our Brethren this will