Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	death_n	life_n	world_n	5,607	5	4.5010	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34575	The great necessity of preparation for death and judgment a sermon preached in the parochial chappel of Macclesfield, in the county palatine of Chester, at the funeral of Mr. John Corker, als Cor Cor, of Hurdesfield, on the eleventh day of November, 1693, and since revised and enlarg'd at the request of the relations of the deceased / by Samuel Corker, als Cor Cor ...	Corker, Samuel, 1645 or 6-1713.	1695 (1695)	Wing C6307; ESTC R9062	80,354	95

the most sweet and melodious Voices and all other delightful things as Musical Instruments of all sorts he denied not himself any thing that was pleasing to his Eyes or grateful to his Senses or that his heart desired neither was he hindred from the free and comfortable Enjoyment of all his Labours either by Wars abroad or Tumults at home or personal Afflictions or any outward Calamity or imbittering Occurrents and he had a heart to use and taste the sweetness of all his labours which the eager covetousness of wretched Misers will not suffer them to do who reap no more benefit by their Riches than to look upon them and to say the property thereof is Mine So true is that of the Royal Preacher He that loveth Silver Eccl. 5.10 11. shall not be satisfied with Silver nor he that loveth abundance with increase When Goods increase they are increased that eat them and what good is there to the Owners thereof saving the beholding them with their Eyes Which is a poor benefit indeed unable to make the Worldling compensation for his cares of getting and fears of losing them a Priviledge which is common to all others who may every day see more goodly sights the radiant lustre of the Sun adorned with Light as with a beautiful Garment and smiling upon the Earth with a most pleasant and amiable Countenance the sparkling Glories of the heavenly Bodies in their Constellations the lovely and fragrant Flowers of the Field the Rarities and Treasures of Nature and all the Pomp and Gallantry of Princes and Nobles all which are more pleasing sights to the Beholders But mark what Character he gives of all outward things after that he had taken a serious Review of all his Wealth and Labour and found himself disappointed in them Eccles 2.11 I looked saith he on all the labours that my hands had wrought and on the labour that I had laboured to do and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit a disappointment of all my hopes and desires of satisfaction This was my portion of all my labour Alas all things here below are of too narrow an extent to satisfie the vast and capacious Desires of our Souls which are enlarged with enjoying and therefore the inspired Pen men of the holy Scripture have advis'd us That we labour not to be rich Prov. 23.4 Mat. 6.19 Colos 3.2 nor lay up for our selves Treasures upon Earth but that we set our affections upon things above 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace and Glory and the Inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled and fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for us and not on things on the Earth the Pleasures Honours and Profits of this World which we are prone to desire inordinately and to pursue immoderately tho' we are charged to the contrary Love not the World 1 John 2.15 neither the things that are in the World if any Man love the World the love of the Father is not in him Know ye not that the Friendship of the World is enmity with God James 4.4 whosoever will be a Friend of the World is the Enemy of God in open hostility with him and unfit to see his Face in Death or Judgment therefore our Saviour warned his Disciples to take heed and beware of Covetousness Lake 12.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or an inordinate desire of earthly things a Mans Life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth he may live as easily and comfortably without it Nature is content with little and Grace with less Abundance is not necessary to render our Lives happy the Poor are as merry and chearful as vigorous and healthy as well satisfied and contented with a small pittance as the Wealthy and Opulent with their Superfluity which serves only to administer to Pride and Vanity Prov. 23.11 to make them wise in their own conceit to puff them up with Haughtiness and Arrogancy Insolency and Imperiousness of Spirit and to betray them to sin and solly They that will be rich fall into temptations and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts 1 Tim. 6.9 which drown men in destruction and perdition which take up their time and fill their heads with solicitous Cares and Fears engross their Affections encumber their Lives with toilsome Labours about them expose them to a great many Sorrows which pierce their Souls and render Death and Judgment exceeding formidable to them Therefore since the love of this World is so dangerous a thing let us not with Martha be careful and troubled about many things and leave Mary's Vnum Necessarium wholly unregarded but rather spend our Days and Years in this mortal state in adorning our Souls with Evangelical Graces and Vertues to fit us for Heaven for if we had the Riches of both the Indies we can take nothing away with us when we depart hence Job 1.21 Naked came we out of our Mothers Womb and naked shall we return We must everlastingly part with all that we have when we dye and leave it as Solomon saith to the Man that shall come after us and who knoweth whether he shall be a wise Man or a Fool Ecoles 2.18 19. yet shall he have rule over all our labour and gather all that we have heaped up but works of Righteousness will accompany us into the other World and now is the time for us to be rich in good Works to grow in Grace and Holiness To give all diligence to add to our Faith Vertue to Vertue Knowledge to Knowledge Temperance to Temperance Patience to Patience Godliness and to Godliness Brotherly Kindness and Charity for if these things be in us and abound and our Minds fit loose to the Affairs of this Life we shall be ready and willing to leave them whensoever our Lord shall please to call us hence 3. This Readiness and Preparation for Death and Judgment does confist in making our Peace and Reconciliation with God and Men. 1. With God which is a thing of infinite moment for so long as we continue in enmity with him and maintain a Rebellion against his Crown and Dignity he is engaged for the Vindication of his own Soveraign Power and Justice to be our Enemy and to execute his severe Judgments upon us and we have no Security that he will not do it speedily without giving us farther time to consider our ways and throw down our Arms of Hostility against him For the Psalmist assures us Psal 7.11 12 13 That God is angry with the wicked every day even while his Providence seems to smile upon them and they think themselves most secure and confident If he turn not he will whet his Sword he hath bent his Bow and made it ready he hath prepared for him the Instruments of Death God is loth for the Glory of his Patience and Long suffering forthwith to proceed against us For my Names sake Isa 48.9 will I defer mine

Curious may meet with fuller satisfaction The Astonishment of this dreadful Relation impressed upon the minds of the Disciples struck them with silence till they came from Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives which afforded a curious Prospect of the Holy City about a * Acts 1.12 Sabbath Days Journey distant from it a Mountain famed in Sacred Scripture for the frequent Apparitions of Angels and for being often honoured with the Presence of Christ Luke 22.39 for hither He was wont to retire here He Prayed and from the summit top hereof He Ascended into Heaven but at this time he sate down here either to rest himself for he was of like Infirmities with us or else in imitation of the Jewish Doctors who when they were about to Teach in the Temple sate down testifying by that Gesture their great Authority and the calm composure of their Minds Our Lord by this Posture giving his Followers a fair opportunity of making their Address unto Him St. Peter James and John came and asked him privately Mark 13.3 When shall these things be and what shall be the Sign of thy coming and of the end of the World For 't is probable they did suppose that the Dissolution of the World should immediately follow the Ruin of the City and Temple and Destruction of the Jewish State and therefore they desired some Prognosticks by which they might discern its approaching Funeral Master what Sign shall there be Luke 21.7 when these things shall come to pass Our Lord gave them no certain Sign from whence they might positively conclude the particular time but he gave them many common Signs which should portend the Destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the World which when they and others in their several Generations should see them they might from thence conclude that the time was at hand and from which we also may be assured that they are Fore-runners of the near Approach of the Great Day of Judgment for it is agreed by Divines that the Ruin of Jerusalem was a Type of the Destruction of the World as therefore before the particular Judgment upon the Jews many Deceivers and Seducers did arise such as Theudas who boasted himself to be some body some great Prophet Lib. Antiq. 18. c. 1 6. Judas also of Galilee mentioned by Josephus and Sadoc his Confederate who Laboured to seduce the People and a certain Aegyptian Magician who took upon him to be a Prophet and coming into the Country of Judea gathered a company of deceivable People to him to the Number of * Euseb Eccl. Hist l. 2. c. 21. Acts 8.9 30000 and Simon the Sorcerer whom the Antients called * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Eldest Son of the Devil who gave out that he was some great one and pretended to be that Divine Being who made both the Angelical and Visible World and perswaded all from the least to the greatest to believe that he was that Numen or Divine Person who was under one Name or other Adored and Worshipped in every Nation as the Supream and Sovereign Deity in honour of whom the Emperour Claudius Erected a Statue with this Inscription upon it Simoni Deo Sancto to Simon the Holy God Even so in the last Ages of the World there shall come many Deceivers Evil Men Lying Spirits that would Vent their own Idle Fancies and seduce others from the Truth to their corrupt way The Truth of this needs no Proof in our Days for the time is come when many that live in the Bosom of the Church 2 Tim. 4.3 4. will not as the Apostle saith endure sound Doctrine which tends to promote Holiness to recover the Soul from Sin and teacheth to Order the Life aright But after their own Lusts heap to themselves Teachers having itching Ears disposed to Novelty and Error to be Tossed to and fro like Ships without Ballast and carried about with every wind of Doctrine Eph. 4.14 by the slight of Men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to Deceive Heb. 13.9 Nullum saeculum Religionis feracius nec pietate Sterilius No Age ever made a greater Profession and less practice of Christian Vertue Never was there a more splendid shew of Religion and less sincere Love and serious Piety for if we may without breach of Charity judge of the Tree by its Fruit and of Mens Religion by their Conversation and Actions little remains with some but an outward Form and with too many nothing but the empty Name and Title of being Christians for by their Immoral and Licentious Lives they may rather pass for Turks and Heathens than for the Disciples of Christ so that our Saviours Advice is very seasonable beware look about you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 take heed that ye be not deceived Nay rather look home into your hearts lest the Old Man of Sin the great Impostor deceive you and the Son of Man come at that time when ye are least prepared for his coming In this Chapter Our Blessed Saviour Remarks several other searful Presages of the downfal of the Jewish State Such as great Rumours and Discourses of Wars which would create panick fears civil broils and commotions Seditions and Insurrections both in Judea and other Countries for Nation shall rise against Nation and Kingdom against Kingdom and there shall be great Famines and Pestilences and Dreadful Earthquakes in divers places Persecutions of the Saints who should be delivered to the Synagogues and into Prisons Luke 21.12 and be brought before Kings and Rulers for the Name of Christ and be put to Death So Stephen was Stoned Acts 7.29 Peter and John were called before the Jewish Sanhedrim where the Scribes Elders Ch. 4.26 Annas and Caiphas used to sit in Council Paul was brought before Agrippa and Festus James was killed with the Sword Ch. 16.23 and afterwards as the Doctrine of the Gospel spread it self Ch. 12.2 the Professors of it were Persecuted by the Heathen Powers with the keenest Malice and put to most lingering and tormenting Deaths and by reason of the great sharpness of these Afflictions many would stumble and turn Apostates as Phigellus Demas Hermogenes Hymeneus and Philetas did for Iniquity would abound and the Love of many both Parents and Children Friends and Relations Strangers and others would grow cold and the Gospel should be Preached to all the World these are percursory Tokens of this great Destruction But those which should immediately precede its coming were the Abomination of Desolation set up in the Holy Place the which would be attended with great Tribulation By which Expositors do understand the Roman Armies made up of Idolatrous Souldiers besieging the City of Jerusalem as once God in his Righteous Judgment suffered the Holy Place to be polluted by the abominable Armies of Antiochus which made most horrid devastation And the Sign of the Son of Man in Heaven

life This preparation for death in the day of Sickness and Visitation is not to be then neglected 'T is advised by Jesus the Son of Sirac My Son according to thy ability do good to thy self Ecclus 14.11 12 13. and give the Lord his due offering remember that death will not be long in coming and that the Covenant of the Grave is not shewed unto thee Do good to thy friend before thou dye Put not off to thy Will and Testament but according to thy ability stretch out thy hand and give unto the Poor Thus in the day of health it is most convenient to dispatch this work but in the day of Visitation and the approaches of Death Ecclus 33.23 't is an indispensible duty not to be neglected At the time when thou shalt end thy days and finish thy work distribute thine Inheritance Gen. 48.22 ch 49. 1 K. 2.1 2 3 4 So did Jacob in that prophetical Testament of his And David also when his days drew nigh that he should die he disposed of his Kingdom to his Son Solomon and charged him saying I go the way of all the Earth i. e. I die be thou strong and shew thy self a man of Wisdom Courage and Constancy and keep the charge of the Lord thy God to walk in his ways and to keep his Statutes c. that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest and whithersoever thou turnest thy self that the Lord may confirm his word which he spake concerning me saying If thy Children take heed to their ways to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul There shall not fail thee a man on the Throne of Israel Verse 13. And when David had finished his charge he slept with his Fathers and was buried in the City of David And after him this was expresly commanded by God himself to the good King Hezekiah as a preparation for death In those days was he sick unto death 2 Kings 20.1 and the Prophet Esay said unto him Thus saith the Lord Set thine house in order for thou shalt die and not live i. e Make thy Will and settle the Concerns both of thy Family and thy Kingdom to prevent all Contentions and Quarrels after thy decease for thy Disease is mortal in its kind if God do not by his power prevent it therefore dispose of thy temporal Affairs and as for the spiritual Estate of thy Family imitate the example of David and Abraham advise instruct Gen. 18.19 exhort and admonish them to keep the way of the Lord and to do Justice and Judgment There are some Divines who give this relation of our Lord and Saviour's last Will and Testament that upon the Cross a little before he gave up the Ghost he bequeathed his Soul into the hands of his Father his holy Mother to his beloved Disciple St. John his Body to Joseph of Arimathea Paradise to the penitent Thief that was to die with him and to his Crucifiers his heartiest Prayers and Intercessions Rom. 15.4 Now these things were written for our learning and instruction to teach us to imitate them and to prevent the ill consequences of intestate Estates to settle our minds at ease and free from disturbance and to put our Souls into a prepared frame and disposition for our departure Thus by discharging a good Conscience we may be ready to meet our Lord and freely depart in peace 2. This readiness doth consist in moderating our love 〈◊〉 affection to● this World and not overvaluing any earthly comfort We serve a very liberal and bountiful Master 1 Tim. 6 17. Who gives us richly all things to enjoy and with holdeth no good thing from us but that which would be a temptation and a snare unto us only he hath not allowed us to set our affections upon this world nor any of the enjoyments of it for this is not our place of rest and abode Whilst we are at home in the body 2 Cor. 5.6 we are absent from the Lord may better be rendred Whilst we converse or sojourn in the body So long as we tabernacle in the flesh we are but like the Israelites in the Wilderness Strangers and Sojourners passing to the Heavenly Canaan detained from the blessed Vision and Fruition of God Heb. 13.14 and the possession of that happiness which makes Heaven Here we have no continuing City no settled abiding place This notion the wiser Heathens had of this present World who looked upon it as an Inn not as their home Nature having designed it to us as a Diversory to lodge Commorandi enim natura diversorum nobis non habitandi locum dedit but not to dwell in For it is not a fit place for us nor can our stay in it be very desirable because it is fleeting and vanishing full of vanity and vexation all its splendor and glory depends meerly upon our fancy Our Historians tell us that the Peruvian Mines of Gold and Silver their precious Stones and Pearls were of such low and mean esteem with those barbarous Indians that they preferred our trifling Bawbles before them and made that their valuable Treasure which we make little or no account of In the Reign of the Great and Wise Solomon Silver which is now the adored Idol of the World and for which men venture not only their dearest lives but even pawn their precious Souls to obtain was not at all regarded 2 Chron. 9.20 it was not any thing accounted of it was but as Stones in his days This glorious Prince surpassed all the Kings of the Earth in Riches 1 Kings 4.22 23 26. and Wisdom He had the greatest flow and confluence of this World His Provisions for one day were 30 measures of fine flower 10 fat Oxen and 20 Oxen out of the Pastures besides Harts and Roe Bucks and Fallow Deer and fatted Fowl he had 40000 Stalls of Horses for Chariots and 1200 Horsemen for the Guard and preservation of his Person for the defence of his people and for the grandeur of his Government The yearly income of his Traffick be-besides that which Merchants imported and the Kings of Arabia brought to him was six hundred and threescore and six Talents of Gold 2 Chron. 9.13 many of his Shields and Targets and all his Drinking Vessels were of pure Gold He resolved to gratify himself with delicious Meats and pleasant Wines and if it were possible for him to arrive at satisfaction in this mortal state he made magnificent Works for delight Eccles 2.3 4 5 7 8. and erected stately Houses and planted Vineyards and made Gardens of pleasure and planted Orchards and Trees in them of all kind of Fruits for profit he gathered himself Gold and Silver vast Riches and the peculiar Treasures of Kings and of the Provinces i. e. the most valuable Jewels and Rarities both of other Princes and of his own Dominions he gat him Men singers and Women-singers

anger and for my Praise will I refrain He forbears us because he is slow to anger he knows our frame and propension to evil and remembers the Weakness and Mortality of our Nature that we are but Dust unable to bear the weight of his Indignation and therefore he is pleased to fore-warn us of our danger by some signal Tokens thereof as the whetting of his Sword and the bending of his Bow thereby to awaken in us a serious Consideration of his anger and a great care to prevent it and a very earnest desire and endeavour to be at peace with him the which we may obtain by Repentance and Faith in Christ and by fervent Prayers and Supplications for the Remission of our Sins 1 By cordial and sincere Repentance which is a Divine Remedy the means which God hath appointed us to use for the obtaining of his Favour the Doctrine of Repentance was never taught in the School of Nature neither could be learned from the Writings of the grave Heathens tho' their wise Philosophers in their Works have given us some impersect descriptions of it But as Tertul. de poenit hath observed They were as far from understanding the true Reason of Repentance à ratione ejus tantum absuerunt quantum à rationis autore as from understanding the God of Reason They have given us many excellent Rules for the practice of Moral Vertues but were not able to instruct us in the nature of that Peace and Rest which is Eternal all that they aspired to was Peace and Serenity Tranquility and Composedness of Mind which they called Happiness but was only a Moral Attainment and they that lived most Regularly according to the Dictates * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Right Reason and Directions of Nature found most Ease and Peace in their own Bosoms Certainly Socrates and Plato had not such disturbed and distracted Minds as Cain and Judas neither had Tully and Cato such black and guilty Souls as Cethegus and Cataline neither had Plutarch and Seneca those Gripes and Twinges those Fears and Horrours which Nero and Caligula felt they beheld a Beauty and Comeliness in the face of Vertue Turpitude and Deformity in Vice and Wickedness and discovered that sin was against their Reason and true Interest Nature taught them not to sin à naturâ sequitur ut meliora probantes pejorum poeniteat to renounce and forsake Sin but it never read them Lectures of Repentance God himself made known the first Discoveries of it to the World and published his gracious intentions to accept of a sincere Repentance as the Soveraign Means to reconcile us to Himself He sent his dear and only Son to publish it by his Doctrine and confirm it by his Miracles and to make way for it by his Death and Sacrifice So that if God had not been in serious earnest to have Sinners reconciled to him by Repentance he would never have sent the Son of his love to have obtained Peace for us by the Blood of his Cross Tully and Aristotle were wholly silent in their Writings how so great a Work might be effected but the Gospel hath discovered the Counsels and Purposes of Grace and Mercy agreed upon by all the Persons in the Godhead at the Council-Board of Heaven if I may so say for the Restoring of lost Man by a new and living way which Christ hath consecrated for us and opened unto us that we might have access to God The chief Articles and Conditions whereof are Repentance and Conversion to God and Renovation of Mind which are indispensibly necessary to fit us for the Appearance of Christ and everlasting Happiness which is to be obtained by him and he therefore began his Prophetical Office with a Sermon upon Repentance Mat. 4.17 Repent signifies not only sorrow for Sin but a change of Mind Will and Affections as may be seen at large in the Parable of the Prodigal Son Luke 15. where it is fully described in all the material constitutive and principal lines and parts of it viz. Pensive Thoughtfulness and Consideration a manly and serious application of our Minds to take an impartial Re-view of our selves in which God himself doth place the first signs of our Recovery Ezek. 18.14 28. Serious and deliberate Resolution to amend our ways and doings such as we find in the Penitent King of Israel I thought on my ways Psal 119.59 69. and turned my feet to thy Precepts I made haste and delayed not to keep thy righteous Judgments 'T is dangerous for us to trifle and delay in so momentous and weighty a matter therefore while God waits to be gracious let us not abuse his Goodness and Patience but without delay resolve to mind and prosecute the things which belong to our Peace before they be hid from our Eyes and to the end that we may appease the just Displeasure of our Heavenly Father and be re-instated into his favour it is requisite that we make an ingenious Confession of all our former Transgressions with shame and sorrow of heart and great Contrition accompanied with actual Reformation and Amendment and a sincere desire and endeavour to be universally good and holy to yield an intire Obedience to all God's Commandments If these Ingredients do constitute our Repentance God is faithful and just 1. John 1.9 to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness He will not exact the forfeiture of us but freely and fully pardon us and remember our sins no more When the wicked man turneth away from all his sins Ezek. 18.21 and keepeth my Statutes and doth that which is lawful and right he shall surely live he shall not dye all his transgressions that he hath commited they shall not be mentioned unto him in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live We have Gods gracious Promise Isa 55 7. That when any wicked man whether he be Jew or Gentile doth forsake his ways and thoughts and returns unto the Lord he will have mercy upon him and abundantly pardon him For his Mercies are as the great Mountains firm and stable he will not alter the Word that is gone out of his Mouth Those that repent tho' their Sins are of a scarlet and a crimson dye great and many he will certainly pardon and receive into favour Tho' it be a very difficult thing for a Man to retrieve himself that hath been long accustomed to vicious Habits Jer. 12.23 and hath debauched his Reason gratified his Lusts and Passions debilitated all the Powers of his Soul and cauterized his Conscience through a long continuance in sin tho' it be I say a hard thing for such a one to cast off the Yoke of Custom and to reform himself yet the thing is * Job 14.7 8 9. possible to be effected nay it is absolutely necessary Mat. 18.3 Verily I say unto you Except ye be converted and become as little Children ye cannot