Linguistic DNA - Concept Modelling Demonstrator

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	die_v	fire_n	worm_n	1,088	5	9.7140	5	false

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A16314	The carnall professor Discovering the wofull slavery of a man guided by the flesh. Distinguishing a true spirituall Christian that walkes close with God, from all formalists in religion, rotten hearted hypocrites, and empty powerlesse professors whatsoever. By that faithfull servant of Christ, Robert Bolton B.D. late preacher in Northampton Shire.	Bolton, Robert, 1572-1631, attributed name.; I. T., fl. 1634.	1634 (1634)	STC 3225; ESTC S111236	58,877	294

the benefit of the law in a case not sufficiently proved against us But at this time the skirts of thy pollution shall be discovered before the sun and though thou wipest thy mouth like the harlot which Solomon describeth yet thy sinne shall be written in great Characters in thy forhead so as hee that runnes may read thy chambering and wantonnesse thy whoredome and uncleannesse thy theevery and oppression yea all thy cradle sinnes which never yet were set on foot thy wicked and abominable thoughts I meane which lye lurking in thy heart as in a denne not daring to come abroad for feare of losing thy credit Oh the fearefull reproach ensuing hereupon when many a sober man and vertuous matron so falsely esteemed of in the world shall have their vizzards pluckt downe from their faces the ulcer of their hearts launced and all the buried corruptions of their childhood of their youth and riper age plainely before men and Angels Saints and blessed Spirits devills and reprobates laid open to their eternall shame Imagine that thou being a man of great credit and esteeme shouldest have all the vanities of thy heart whereunto thy conscience giveth testimony and all the night practises of thy youth commeÌ„ced against thee even in the high Court of Parliament before thy Prince and nobles how couldst thou shew thy face Now thou pluckest thy garment about thee to cover thy shame but then thou shalt bee stript naked and unclothed to the reproach of thy selfe and thy whole family now thou shelterest thy iniquity in a closset or secret chamber from the eyes of him that cannot pierce the walls then shalt thou stand before the face of the heavens in the presence of him whose eyes are as a flaming fire knowing the secrets of thy parlour and polluted bed thy words thy thoughts the place time and every circumstance of thy sinne Now thou overlayest the drosse of thy heart with a guilded outside of joy and meriment but then the Lord shall blow upon the paint of thy face thy withered deformity shall then bee espyed now like Ieroboams wife thou disguisest thy selfe with pretended holinesse but at that time the Lord shall defeate thee and display thy hypocrisie To conclude what causeth a man having one foote on the earth and another in the grave halfe dead and halfe alive to acknowledge some capitall sinne which in his health hee would not for all the world The Lord will make thine owne conscience impeach thy selfe and discover thy transgressions Thou thinkest not so so thought Iudas but as then with him so also with thee the case will cleane be altered The third appendix of their death is their society with the devill and his angells Mat. 25. we account it a fearefull thing to see a Spectrum or diabolicall delusion and so it is to our weake nature but to be really present with Sathan world without end a companion in torment what earthly man can abide it To bee in a prison full of Murtherers it is horrible but in that bottomelesse pit with thousands of condemned spirits abject and forlorne creatures a heavy heareing The theefe before he bee attached and caryed to the gaole perhaps he frequenteth the house of many a worthy person It is not thy stocke and kindred thy pompe and outward bravery that will serve thy turne when thou art arrested with death all the world will not be of sufficient credit to baile thee Thinke seriously of this and lay it to heart To bee taken out of the fields of pleasure and to bee throwne into the dungeon of hell there to bee guided with that cursed crew is no jesting-matter Oh that all carnall livers of our age would coÌ„sider hereof no doubt it would somewhat restraine them in their wilfull course and gash their hearts amidst their pleasures O that that the curious and nice women that cannot abide the noise of a canon or the sudden flashing of fire could ponder the misery whereunto they are born namely to dwell in darknesse with those blasphemous spirits world without end In the night season or in a darke place thou art ready to runne away at the sight of a shadow or at the reciprocall imagination of thy owne thought upon the noise of a Scritch owle or the like and thinkest thou that thou canst abide the sight nay the company and continuall familiarity of that hellish Cave The Lord give thee a heart to consider of this fearefull horror before it betide thee and to goe out of thy selfe to behold the strange change which is wrought by the grave and sepulchre The fourth is the incredible horror and distresse of conscieÌ„ce which the carnall liver sustaineth by the sense and feeling of the whole wrath of God powred upon him for ever They shall goe forth and looke upon the carkases of men which have transgressed against me for their worme shall not die neither shall their fire bee quenched and they shall be an abhorring to all flesh In respect whereof the punishment of the damned is likened in holy Scripture to fire to a Worme to gnashing of teeth to utter darknesse and the like Not as if these were sufficient to describe it for what can declare the depth of that which hath no bottome but onely by these most fearefull creatures in a superficiall manner to proportion that which nothing favoureth For as the joyes of heaven are unspeakable So are also the torments of hell and therfore why doth my barbarous tongue endeavour to decipher them Deare Christian esteeme of my words not as the full size of the thing it selfe but as a slight picture or a briefe draught of that unutterable volumne of all misery I am not able possibly herein to shew the mystery of this wonderfull worke made by the Lord of purpose to set forth his glory in justice Yet to helpe thy consideration which is nothing serious in regard of the thing I speake it also to the shame of my selfe I would faine imprint some conceit hereof in my heart that might make way to a second thought Wee esteeme horror of Conscience a matter of great importance because the most of us in these fearefull times are possessed with secure hearts and benummed spirits But when conscience shall once be throughly wakened like a wilde beast it will then shew his fiery eyes and take thee by the throat No torment of tenne thousand tyrants like unto it Doe but remember in what feare and dread sometimes thou seemest to be when in a sleepe or vision a glimpse of hell flashings are presented unto thee oh how thou strivest and strugglest how thou cryest and ravest with paine Nay how glad art thou thou awakest and findest it to bee but a dreame how thou tellest thy friend as much as thou canst but alas nothing in respect of what thou feltest what thinkest thou this to be Certainely the groveling of the Conscience stirred up by Sathan of purpose to overwhelme the godly to solicite to

which being once done is inseparably attended with the infinite hatred of so great a God for which the paines of hell must of necessity be suffered bee suffered either by the party himselfe or his surety Sinne is the most filthy thing in the world even fowler than the foulest fiend in hell or the devill himselfe for sinne made him a devill and sunke him into hell and whatsoever maketh a thing evill is it selfe much more evill the Sunne lightens all other bodies is it selfe much more light Hence it is that in Scripture it is compared to the filthyest myre in which a sow lyes downe and wallowes to the pollutions and impurities of the world singularly so called sinne being indeed the transcendent filth of the whole world How are the bodies and soules of men stained and defiled with this gangreene It is likewise very infectious corrupting every thing comes neere it The first sinne that ever the Sunne saw was so pregnant with soule-killing poyson that it polluted all the sonnes and daughters of Adam that ever were since At the first breaking out thereof it suddenly blasted as it were both heaven and earth staining the beauty of the one and the brightnesse of the other so as from that houre the whole creation hath groaned under the same If but one sinne be doted upon and delighted in like a lumpe of leaven it sowres all the soule Yea it is the greatest ill that can befal the creature greater than damnation it selfe A man would thinke it a lesser ill to tell a lye than to lye in hell But what saith a Father though wee thinke hell to be the forest of all evills yet I thinke it is farre bitterer and more grievous to offend Christ then to bee tormented with the torments of hell Who would for a space of pleasure here deprive himself of eternal blisse hereafter of the unknowne pleasures of an appeased conscience a Iewell of such infinite value as that all humane glory is but as dust in the ballance to it In the day of tryall the comfort of a good conscience will bee worth ten thousand worlds never was any sound joy or sanctified peace without this Who art thou that liftest up thy proud heart against the Almighty a base unworthy worm the vilest creature that ever God made next unto the devill who when thy breath is gone which may fall out many times in a moment thou turnest to dust rottennesse and filth Oh let the consideration of the immortality and dearnesse of that precious soule that lyes in thy bosome curbe thy corruptions and make thee startle at sinne Onely sinne wounds the soule filling it with the pangs of death though it never dye and with paine not onely above all patience but all resistance Consider the infinite and inestimable price that was paid for sinne I meane the heart blood of Jesus Christ blessed for ever and when ever thou art tempted to doe wickedly suppose thou seeest thy Saviour comming towards thee besmeared with goare blood and speaking thus unto thee Oh goe not forward upon any termes commit not this sinne by any meanes it was that which drew me downe from the fountaine of all blisse to put on this corruptible and miserable flesh to drinke off the dregs of the bitter cup of my Fathers wrath to wrastle with all the forces of infernall powers to lay downe my life at the gates of hell with intolerable paine what an heart hast thou if thou darest goe on against the sweet intreaty of so sweet a Saviour in every sinne thou committest thou layest as it were the blood of Christ in one scale and some worldly preferment or sensuall vanity in the other and shall these things out-weigh that Moreover labour for a tender and wakefull conscience which may bee sensible of the least offence and apprehensive of Gods wrath attending the same what hope is there of his repentance whose conscience is seared and yet how busie are many to increase their owne woe by putting sinne out of their remembrance Certainely a lively conscience that shall faithfully present us with an exact view of our estates is a great blessing if it were not so why should God threaten the Israelites to smite them with blindnesse and with a stony heart meaning that hee would inflict such a kinde of brawny and insensible dulnesse upon them that in doing evill they should bee utterly without any apprehension of their misdoing well is hee that hath a conscience stirring him upon the least sinne that will awake at the least blow and performe its office David could have no peace till he had made his peace with God hee did but cut off the lappe of Sauls garment and his heart smote him and brought him upon his knees and made him cry Lord I have sinned exceedingly take away the trespasse of thy servaÌ„t for I have done very foolishly Had his conscience beene dull and hard what security would have crept upon him what carelessenesse to become a petitioner to God for mercy Never therefore turne thine eyes froÌ„ beholding that which conscience offers to thy view Alas conscience doth nothing of it selfe but by speciall authority and commissioÌ„ from God whose deputy it is Yet it is possible to turne that which of it self is a blessing into a curse It is a blessing to live under a faithfull Ministery yet if a man bee not a doer of the word but a hearer onely he may increase his owne judgement thereby When men come to the Ordinance their consciences are many times wrought upon more strongly than they would now it is good simply for the conscience thus to run and it is a token of Gods great love unto man to furnish his minde with such a reflecting faculty upon himselfe But here lyes the mischiefe many deale with their consciences as rich men doe with an earnest beggar or as great men with an importunate petitioner whom they will make as if they did not heare and passe along by without regard when their heart smites they will not answere when it brings sinne to their sight they turne their heads aside and will not behold it If they find by experience that when they are alone their conscience use to encounter them they furnish themselves with vain and wretched company such as wil be sure to give conscience no leisure to speak If the word of God any whit awakens them and stirres up conscience to doe its office they thrust it from their remembrance by worldly thoughts and cares or sleepe it out that they may not be disquieted The poore conscience must bee conscience off till another time as Paul was when hee disputed with Faelix such variety of trickes doth the devill teach to decline and shun the workings of conscience upon sinfull persons By which meanes that which in it selfe is a great blessing becomes a wonderfull curse unto them the using of conscience in this unkinde manner is the next way to

move the Lord to silence it for ever Look as God dealeth with whole societies of men in taking away the benefit of a powerfull Ministery from them when it is not hearkened unto So dealeth hee with particular persons in striking a dumbenesse upon their consciences when the voice thereof is not regarded Listen therefore to its secret checkes and smitings though men will not bee brought to repetition of sermons in their families yet they have a repeater in their bosomes that will be at private repetition with the in spite of their teeths and tell them This is not according to that you have beene taught you have beene reproved and convinced of this sin in the publike Ministery why doe you not leave it for shame reforme this pride hypocrisie lying swearing formality if religious courses will bring true peace at last use them to purpose rest not in outside shewes without the power and life of godlinesse How many times doth conscience presse us to repentance and better obedience How often doth it startle us in our postings to hell and call upon us to settle to ameÌ„d our lives Conscience speakes to us as the Lord to Ionah doest thou well to be angry Dost thou wel to be thus carnall and earthly thus eager upon the world thus cold and indifferent in holy duties conscience gives privy nips and secret checks It 1. points with the finger and gives direction if it be neglected it smites with the fist and gives correction Therefore if ever thou desirest that sinne should dye and grace flourish in thy heart despise not conscience when it speaketh doth it presse thee to any workes of piety reformation of abuses selfe-deniall c. in any case embrace his counsels Hearken to this preacher whom thou canst not suspect of partiality or ill will conscience cannot be suspected to be set on by others Doth it chide and reproch thee of thy waies doth it punctually arrest thee of thy particular beloved sinnes doe not extenuate much lesse defend thy crime but accuse thy selfe as fast as that accuses acknowledge thy folly abase thy spirit and covenant with thy conscience a full and speedy reformation If this were done how soone would Sathans kingdome be demolished and all corruption weakned in us But alas how few regard the voice of conscience or once hearken to it the very want of this sets open a floodgate of wickednesse in the world If men cannot stop consciences mouth they will at least stoppe their own eares If Conscience offer to be talking with them they shuffle it off till their better leisure Alas poore soule God will one day strippe thee of all thy imployments and turne thee loose to thy conscience and it shall have liberty to baite thee and bite thee at pleasure How much better is it to be willing to hearken to the voice of conscience here than bee forced to heare it in hell hereafter Hearken to the reproofes and admonitions of it now and thou shalt not heare the dolefull clamours of it then Further set faith a work to conquer your corruptions that wil doe wonders if wee apply the victory which Christ hath made for us though we be cowards he was not and what ever he did it was for us Hee stood in our place beat SathaÌ„ to our hands What if Sathan beat mee may a Christian say since Christ in my stead hath beaten him all to peeces I have long agoe overcome Sathan in my head In Christ my Captaine hee is a vanquished enemy faith makes his victory ours and sets him against every tentation we are not so weake in the hands of Sathan as Sathan is in the hands of Christ therefore is faith said to bee our victory because it makes Christ ours who is our victory A Christian is never safe except he can by faith lay fast hold on Christ and set up him and his power against the gates of hell and powers of darknesse Faith must have one to side with it against Sathan who hath absolute command over Sathan If Christ doe but say the word the Devil is soone said and his temptations die To him then who is our refuge and strength let us repaire in all perplexities by applying him to our selves by a lively faith and making him our sword and bucklar Say I of my selfe am weake as water not able to vanquish the least temptation or subdue any fleshly lust or corruption whatsoever but in Christ made mine by faith I am strong and can doe all things The promise is that if wee resist Sathan stedfast in the faith he shall flye Beleeve then that thou shalt overcome and thou shalt overcome war against sin and sinne shall die faith is our victory and nothing else because that alone apprehends applyes the promise Reason can doe no good because the temptation is spirituall and reason carnall a naturall thing hath neither stroke nor force against that which is spirituall beside Reason is a secret friend to Sathan and takes part with him against our selves Can a man conquer the devill with a wisedome that is divellish that hath him for its damme downe with flesh and bloud then away with our owne wit let faith doe all else it will doe nothing Faith never workes so well as when it works alone it is no more but beleeve the promise and Sathan is gone If Christians bee not perswaded that God will mortifie their corruptions they will very much at their manifold slips be off and on and coldly imbrace religious courses Alas our owne strength is too weake for the work of holinesse to represse and vanquish the lusts of our rebellious hearts which are by nature and custome so deepely polluted with sinne If wee have not faith to beleeve that God will aide and blesse our endeavours and doe the whole worke for us what courage can we have to goe about it What shameful foyles and repulses shall we sustaine in it Hee will manfully fight against his lust that is assured of victory from God in the end It is a great heartning to resist evill or to doe any good duty when wee beleeve God will be with us and helpe us therein Faith acquaints a man with his emptinesse of grace how unable hee is to crucifie his inordinate affections or to repaire the decayed image of God in him and that he is in a wofull case unlesse the Lord put to his helping What profits pardon of sinne to one that lyes under the power and dominion of sinne Therefore a true beleever fights couragiously against his corruptions and cryeth instantly to the Lord for helpe though the combate be never so hot hee will not yeelde because hee apprehends victory for grace doth flow from Christ into our hearts more or lesse as our faith is weaker or stronger though we have no grace of our selves yet if wee cleave to him wee shall want none Doth the streaming fountaine deny water to the thirsty traveller No more doth Christ to

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