Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	heaven_n	hell_n	worm_n	1,015	5	11.0094	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25250	Ultima, = the last things in reference to the first and middle things: or certain meditations on life, death, judgement, hell, right purgatory, and heaven: delivered by Isaac Ambrose, minister of the Gospel at Preston in Amoundernes in Lancashire.; Prima, media, & ultima. Ultima.	Ambrose, Isaac, 1604-1664.	1650 (1650)	Wing A2970; ESTC R27187	201,728	236

with their flaming tongues usurers with talent hands drunkards with scorched throats all these tares like fiery faggots burning together in hell flames this is the first punishment all the tares must meet they are bundled together Observ 2 Secondly as the tares must together so they must together by themselves thus are they bundled and severed bundled all together but from the wheat all asunder Quia damni poenam infert Basil Ascer in c. 2. p. 255. Chrysost in Matth. Hom. 24. Bern. de inter domo cap. 38. Hell is called damnation Because it brings Heavens losse and this by consent of most Divines is the more horrible part of hell so Basil To be alienated or separated from the presence of God his Saints and Angels is farre more grievous then the pains of hell So Chrysostome The pain of hell is intolerable indeed yet a thousand hels are nothing to the losse of that most glorious kingdome So Bernard It is a pain far surpassing all the tortures in hel not to see God and those joyes immortall which are prepared for his children O then what hels are in hell when besides the pains of sense there is a pain of losse the losse of God losse of Saints losse of Angels losse of Heaven losse of that beatificall vision of the most Sovereigne Good our ever-blessed Maker Consider with your selves if at the parting of the soul and body there be such pangs and gripes and stings and sorrows what grief then will it be to be severed for ever from the Highest and supreamest Good Suppose your bodies as some Martyrs have been used should be torn in sunder and that wild horses driven contrary wayes should rack and pul your arms and legs and heart and bowels one piece frō another what an horrible kind of death would this be think you and yet a thousand rentings of this member from that or of the soul from the body are infinitely lesse then this one separation of the soul from God When Jacob got rhe blessing from his brother Esau Gen. 27.31 it is said in the Text that he roared with a great cry and bitter saying to his father Hast thou not reserved one blessing for me also Imagine then when the wheat must have the blessing how will the tares figured in Esau roar and crie and yell and howl again and yet notwithstanding this unspeakable rage all the tears of hell shall never be sufficient to bewail the losse of heaven Hence breeds that worm that is alwayes gnawing at the conscience a wor●● saith our Saviour that dies not Mark 9.44 Mark 9.44 It shall lie day and night biting and gnawing and feeding upon the bowels of the damned persons O the stings of this worm no sooner shall the damned consider the cause of their miserie to wit the mis-spending of their time the greatnesse of their sinne the many oportunities lost when they might have gotten Heaven for a tear or a sigh or groan from a penitent heart but this worm or remorse shall at every consideration give them a deadly bite and then shall they roar it out Miserable wretch what have I done I had a time to have wrought out the salvation of my soul many a powerfull searching Sermon have I heard any one passage whereof had I not wickedly and wilfully forsook mine own mercie might have been unto me the beginning of the new birth but those golden dayes are gone and for want of a little sorrow a little repentance a little faith now am I burning in hell fire O precious time O dayes moneths years how are ye vanished that you will never come again And have I thus miserably undone my self Come Furies tear me into as many pieces as there are moats in the Sun rip up my breast dig into my bowels pull out my heart leave me not an hair on my head but let all burn in these flames till I moulder into nothing O madnesse of men that never think on this all the dayes of your visitation and then when the bottomlesse pit hath shut her self upon you thus will this worm gnaw your hearts with unconceivable griefs Be amazed O ye Heavens tremble thou Earth let all creatures stand astonished whilst the Tares are thus sentenced Bundle them and burn them Thus farre of the word in generall but if we look on it with a more narrow eye it gives to our hands this speciall observation The tares must have chains proportionable to their sinns Observ Bind them in bundles saith my Text not in one but in many faggots an Adulterer with an Adulteresse a Drunkard with a Drunkard a Traytor with a Traytor as there be severall sins so severall Bundles all are punished in the same fire but all are not punished in the same degree some have heavier chains and some have lighter but all in just weight and measure The Proud shall be trod under foot the Glutton suffer inestimable hunger the Drunkard feel a burning thirst the Covetous pine in wants the Adulterer lie with Serpents Dragons Scorpions Give me leave to bind these in bundles and so leave them for the fire they are first bundled then burned Where is Lady Pride and her followers see them piled for the furnace Esay 3. you that jet it with your bals and bracelets tyres and tablets rings and jewels and changeable suits think but what a change will come when all you like birds of a feather must together to be bound in bundles What then will your pride avail or your riches profit or your gold do good or your treasures help Job 20.26 when you must be constrained to vomit up again your riches the increase of your house departing away and a fire not blown utterly consuming you and them The rich man in the Gospel could for a time go richly fare sumptuously and that not onely on Sabbaths or Holy-dayes but as the text every day yet no sooner had death seized on his body but he was fain to alter both his suit and diet hear him how he begs for water that had plentie of wines and see him that was cloathed in purple now apparrelled in another suit yet of the same colour too even in purple flames O that his delicate morsels must want a drop of water and that his fine apparrell must cost him so dear as the high price of his soul why rich man is it come to this the time was that purple and fine linnen was thy usuall apparrell that banquets of sumptuous dishes were thy ordinarie fare but now not the poorest beggar even Lazarus himself that would change estate with thee Change said I marrie no Remember saith old Abraham that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented Luke 16.25 Luke 16.25 But there are other Bundles where is Gluttonie and her surfetters Do we not see how the earth is plowed the sea furrowed and all to

every corn of your field neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of the harvest How not reap it not gather it what then why Thou shalt leave them for the poor and for the stranger I am the Lord your God Levit. 19.9 Lev. 19.9 10. When Ruth came to glean in the fields of Boaz that good Master commands his servants Ruth 2.15 Let her gather among the sheaves and do not rebuke her Had this Worldling been so pitifull to the poor his barns might have stood himself might have lived his soul have been saved But now what a strange lot happens on him his Halls Houses Barns Buildings all runne round in a dance of Death before his eyes Fourthly his house and friends both left him when death came The Parable is common Ex Damasceno A man hath three friends two whereof he loved most entirely the third he made no account of this man being sent for to come before his King he desires his first friend to go with him but he could not onely he would give him something for his journey He desires his second friend to go with him but he would not onely he would bring him a little piece of his way When both these forsook him he goes to the last which before he esteemed least and this friend was the party that went with him to the King and answered for him in all his causes This is the case of every man dying the King our Judge sends death his Serjeant to summon you to your judgement Come to your first friends I mean your riches alas they cannot go with you but give you a sheet as necessary for your journey Come to your second friends I mean your acquaintance alas they wil not go with you but bring you to your graves and there leave you to your selves Come to your last friends which you now least think of I mean your Consciences and you shall find that is the truest friend that will go with you to the Judge answer for you to the King and either acquit you or condemn you bring you to the gates of heaven or deliver you to the goal of hell Have a care of your Consciences if you mean to speed well at this day how blessed a man had this Worldling been if onely a good conscience had accompanied him to the Judge of heaven but now when death summons him there is no friend to solicite no Advocate to plead no man to speak one word in his souls behalf it is his bad conscience keeps him company and though all others leave him he can devise no means to shake this from him Fifthly there is a jewell irrevocable of which this sudden death robs him I mean his time and what a losse was this all his goods grounds barns buildings were they more worth then the world it self yet were they not able to restore one minute of his time if this could be purchased what a rate would he give for a little respite nothing is now so precious as a piece of time which before by moneths and years he lavishly mis-spent they that passe away time with mirth and pastime shall one day see to their grief what a losse they have now we revell it out dally it away use all means and occasions to make it short enough but when this golden showre is gone and those opportunities of salvation lost by negligence then we may wish and wish again Oh had we a little time a little space to repent Imagine that this worldling whom now you must suppose to lie frying in hel flames were dispenced with for a little time to live here again on earth amongst us would but the Lord vouchsafe him one hour of a new triall a minute season of a gracious visitation oh how highly would he prize how eagerly would he apprehend with what infinite watching praying fasting would he improve that short time that he might repent him I know not how effectually this may work an your hearts but I am fully perswaded if any damned creature had but the happinesse to hear this Sermon you should see how his very heart would bleed vvithin him bleed said I nay break and fall asunder in his breast like drops of vvater Oh vvith vvhat inflamed attention vvould he hear and listen vvith vvhat insatiable grasping vvould he lay hold on Christ vvith vvhat streaming tears vvould he vvater his cheeks as if he vvould melt himself like Niobe into a fountain Blessed God! hovv fond are foolish men that never think of this till their time be lost vve that are alive have onely this benefit of opportunity and if vve neglect it a day vvill come vve knovv not hovv soon that vve shall be past it and cannot recover it no not one houre if vve vvould give a thousand ten thousand vvorlds for it What can I say reflect on your selves you that have souls to save you have yet a little time and the time present is that time vvhat then but so use it novv as vvhen you are gone you need not vvith grief vvish you here again Sixthly yet more losse and that is the losse of losses the losse of his soul his riches lands houses friends time and all were nothing to his soul This is that Paragon Peere Rose and Spouse of our well-beloved Christ How many a teare shed he to save it what grones cryes prayers teares and bloud poured he before God that he might redeem it from the jawes of Satan and is this lost notwithstanding all this labour O sweet Jesu what a losse is this thou wast born lived died and that a shamefull death the death of the cross and all this suffering was to save poor souls yet see a soul here lost and the bloud of God though able not effectuall to redeem it Whose heart would not melt into bloud that but knew this misery Suppose you could see the soul of this wretched worldling no sooner had it left the body but immediately was it seized on by infernall fiends now lies it on a bed of fire tortured tormented scourged and scorched in those furious flames there his conscience stings him his sorrow gripes him his pain so handles him that he cryes and roares Woe woe and alas evermore Who now for shadows of short pleasures would incur these sorrows of eternall pains In this world we can weep and wail for a losse of trifles an house a field an Oxe took from us is enough to cruciate us but how shall we bewail the losse of a soul which no sooner plunged into that pit of horrour but it shall feel a punishment without pity misery without mercy sorrow without succour crying without comfort torment without ease a world of mischiefe without all measure or redress Such is the losse of this mans silly soul whilest he was cheering it with an home-bred solace Soul thou hast much goods layd up for many years God whispers in his eares and tells him other newes What of his soul

3.2 For as the Sunne by his beams and brightnesse illightens the eye and the air that we may see not onely all other things but also his own glorious face so God blessed for ever in whose presence ten thousand of our suns would vanish away as a darksome mote doth by the light of his Majestie so irradiate the minds of all the blessed that they behold in him not onely the beautie of all his Creatures but of himself and thus shall we see and know that glorious mystery of the Trinitie the goodnesse of the Father the wisdome of the Sonne the love and comfortable fellowship of the holy Spirit nothing that can be known but in him we shall know it in most ample manner Secondly the will is for ever satisfied with a perfect inward and eternall communion with God himself Christ that is God and man by his Man-hood assumed uniteth us unto God and by his God-head assuming uniteth God unto us so that by this secret and sacred communion we are made partakers and as it were possessours of God himself O bottomlesse depth and dearest confluence of joyes and pleasures everlasting here is the perfection of all good things the Crown of glory the very life of Life everlasting And well may it be so for what can the soul desire God will not be unto her It is he that is eminently in himself beauty to our eyes musick to our ears honey to our mouthes perfume to our nostrils light to our understanding delight to our will continuation of eternitie to our memorie in him shall we enjoy all the varieties of times all the beautie of creatures all the pleasures of Paradise Blessed Thief what a glory was this to be admitted to the societie of Christ in his Deitie thou shalt be with me how then should he be but happie Where could he be ill with him Vbi malè poterat esse cum illo ubi bene poterat esse sine illo Aug. Psal 16.11 where could he be well without him In thy presence there is fulnesse of joy and at thy right hand there are pleasures evermore joy and fulnesse of joy pleasures and everlasting pleasures Blessed are all they that live in thy house O Lord for they shall praise thee eternally world without end Psal 84.4 Psal 84.4 You see now Heavens societie they are Saints and Angels and Christ and God blessed for ever and ever Vse 1 Who then would not forsake Father and Mother the dearest fellowship of this world to be with Christ in his Kingdome You that love one another in the deepest bonds who cannot part out of this life but with the survivours grief and hearts break tell me what a merry day will that be when you shall not onely meet again never more to part asunder but when Christ our Saviour shall gladly welcome you every one of you into his societie thou shalt be with me and let me speak to the joy of us all I mean all broken-hearted Christians as for you that are profane ones you have your portion here therefore stand you by and let the Children come to their share a day will come I trust in the Lord when I shall meet you and you me in the Kingdome of heaven a day will come I trust in the Lord when you and I shall be all admitted into the societie of God and of Christ and of his Saints and of the Aagels a day will come I trust in the Lord when with these eyes we shall behold our Redeemer together with that Thief that was crucified with him a day will come I trust in the Lord when we shall meet again with all the Saints that are gone afore us and is not this a comfort what shall we say when we see our Saviour in his Throne waited on with Mary his Mother and Magdalen and Martha and Lazarus and Paul and Peter and all the Apostles and Disciples of our Lord and Saviour yea when this Thief shall be presented to our view the wounds in his hands and his feet shining like Starres and Pearls and Rubies all his body glittering in glory and his soul magnifying the Lord for his conversion and salvation world without end Vse 2 But stay least we be lead too forward there is no such thing for us if now we are not in the Covenant of grace heaven is both happie and holy and if we would enjoy heaven then we must fit our selves to that estate to which God hath preserved us to this purpose saith the Apostle Our conversation is in heaven from whence we look for the Saviour Phil. 3.20 Phil. 3.20 He was assured of heaven and therefore he conversed as a Citizen of heaven before he came there every way he ●●rried himself as much as earth would suffer him like them that live in heaven and thus must we if ever we go to heaven become like to those that are in that place Deceive not your selves neither Whoremongers no Adulterers nor Extortioners nor the like shall enter into the Kingdome of God 1 Cor. 6.9 1 Cor. 6.9 Do men who live in these sinnes without all remorse or repentance ever think to go to heaven is it possible that ever any flesh should go out of the puddle into Paradise Matt. 25.41 no no Away ye workers of iniquitie I know you not saith our Saviour let no man cherish presumptions of an heavenly Kingdome except he abstain from all sinnes against Conscience What then but so live we here as becomes his servants and thus when we part it is but for better companie we lose a few friends but we shall find him that welcomes all his with this heavenly harmonie thou shalt be with whom with me in Paradise Hitherto of the Society The last thing considerable is the place or Vbi where his soul arrived but of that hereafter as the Lord shall inable me God give us all grace ●o to live here that howsoever we go hence one after another yet at last we may all meet together with our Lord and Saviour in his heavenly Paradise In Paradise ANd where was that our Adversaries say in Limbus and yet to give them their due Bellarmine so means not as that Limbus was Paradise Illa enim verè Paradisus deliciarum est non corporalis aut localis sed spiritualis coelestis Bellar. de 7. verbis Domini l. 1. cap. 4. but that in Limbus this thief had his Paradise to wit the vision of God The vision of God saith Bellarmine is a true Paradise indeed not locall but spirituall But with Bellarmines leave we have no such sense of Paradise in any part of holy Writ In the old Testament we read of an earthly Paradise wherein Adam lived in the new Testament we read of an Heavenly Paradise whither Paul was caught yet both these were locall for the one saith Moses was a garden Eastward in Eden Gen 2.8 Gen. 2.8 and the other saith Paul was in heaven