A92849:78
Christos kai kerdos. = Christ the life, and death the gain, of every true…
Christos kai kerdos. = Christ the life, and death the gain, of every true believer: or, The life of a saint resolved into Christ, and His death into gain. Held forth clearly in a sermon preached at the late sad and solemn funeral of the right worshipful Rowland Wilson, Esq; a Member of the Parliament of England, and of the honourable Council of State; and one of the aldermen and sheriffs of the city of London. By Obadiah Sedgwick, B.D. and minister of the Gospel at Covent-Garden. Together with an epistle dedicatory: wherein is an exact account given upon some years more then ordinary experience of the superlative worth of this eminent servant of Christ, and of the Common-wealth. By George Cokayn, an unworthy teacher of the Gospel at Pancras Supper lane, London.Christos kai kerdos. = Christ the life, and death the gain, of every true beleever: or, The life of a saint resolved into Christ, and His death into gain. Held forth clearly in a sermon preached at the late sad and solemn funeral of the right worshipful Rowland Wilson, Esq; a Member of the Parliament of England, and of the honorable Councel of State; and one of the aldermen and sheriffs of the city of London. By Obadiah Sedgvvick, B.D. and minister of the Gospel at Covent-Garden. Together with an epistle dedicatory: wherein is an exact account given upon some years more then ordinary experience of the superlative worth of this eminent servant of Christ, and of the Common-wealth. By George Cokayn, an unworthy teacher of the Gospel at Pancras Soper lane, London.
London: printed by J. Macock for Thomas Brewster and Gregory Moul, 1650
Title page typeset from the transcription.
PHILIPPIANS 1. 21. To Me to Live, is Christ; and to Dye, is Gain.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
I have Read of Alexander the Great, that he did once ask a Philosopher, How long a Man should desire to live, who answered, Until he thinks it better to dye, then to live. Is it Not Better to dye, and to be rid of All Sin, to dye, and be rid of All Temptations, to dye, and be rid of All Miseries, then to live, and carry about us a Body of Sin, which so often darkens our Light, grieves our God, and troubles our Consciences?
I have Read of Alexander the Great, that he did once ask a Philosopher, How long a Man should de•ire to live, who answered, Until he thinks it better to dye, then to live. Is it Not Better to dye, and to be rid of All Sin, to dye, and be rid of All Temptations, to dye, and be rid of All Miseries, then to live, and carry about us a Body of Sin, which so often darkens our Light, grieves our God, and troubles our Consciences?
Secondly, The Christian hath this Gain by Death, Not only that he hath the Better of the contrary Estates, but also that by Death he p•sseth from an Imperfect Good Estate, unto a Perfect Good Estate: He Now comes to be of Full Age, and to be a Full Possessor. One says, That This 1Life, This Present Life, is Not Vita, sed Via ad Vitam, It is Not Life, but a Motion, a Journey towards Life. He speaks it of the Natural Life, but we may raise it even to the Spiritual Life of a Christian: His Spiritual Life (comparatively considered) is rather Via, then Vita; a step towards Life, then Life. Compare All which you are possessed of, as Believing Christians, in this Life, with All that of which you shall be possessed in that other Life, you may speak of them what Paul spake of the Two Ministrations, Even that which was made Glorious had No Glory in this respect, by reason of the Glory that excelleth, 2 Cor. 3. 10. And therefore the same Apostle, comparing the Present ⟨p. 21⟩