Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	bear_v	sin_n	zion_n	30	3	8.8576	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A00888	The deuills banket described in foure sermons [brace], 1. The banket propounded, begunne, 2. The second seruice, 3. The breaking vp of the feast, 4. The shot or reckoning, [and] The sinners passing-bell, together with Phisicke from heauen / published by Thomas Adams ...	Adams, Thomas, fl. 1612-1653.	1614 (1614)	STC 110.5; ESTC S1413	211,558	358

importunate Widdow to doe her iustice Hee cannot well be rid of her therefore he sets her a day of hearing and when it is come faileth her Shee cries yet lowder for audience and when all his corrupt and bribed affections cannot charme her silence he drownes her complaints at a Tauerne or laughes her out of countenance at a Theater But if the pulse beates not the body is most dangerously sicke if the conscience pricke not there is a dying soule It is a lawlesse Schoole where there is an awlesse Monitor The Citie is easily surprised where the watch cannot ring the alarmes No maruell if numnesse be in the heart when there is drunkennesse in the conscience These are the dead guests Dead to all goodnesse Deafe eares lame feete blinde eyes maimed hands when there is any imployment for them in Gods seruice Eyes full of lust void of compassion Eares deafe to the word open to vanitie Feete swift to shed blood slow to the Temple Hands open to extortion shut to charitie To all religion the heart is a piece of dead flesh No loue no feare no care no paine can penetrate their senselesse and remorselesse hearts I know that according to the speech of the Philosopher Nemo fit repente miser This is no sodaine euill they were borne sick they haue made themselues dead Custome hath inveterated the vlcer rankled the conscience and now sinne flowtes the Physitians cure knowing the soule dead Through many wounds they come to this death At first they sinne and care not now they sinne and know not The often taken Potion neuer works Euen the Physicke of reproofe turnes now to their hardning Oh that our times vvere not full of this deadnesse How many neuer take the maske of Religion but to serue their owne turnes And when pietie becomes their aduantage yet they at once counterfet and contemne it If a wished successe answere the intention of their minds and contention of their hands God is not worthie of the praise either the●r fortune or their wit hath the glory of the deede and thankes for it But if they be crossed God shall be blasphemed vnder the name of destinie and hee shall be blamed for their ill to whom they will not be beholding for their good God is not thought of but in extremitie not spoken of but in blasphemie Oh dead hearts whose funerall we may lament whose reviuing wee may almost not hope But what will this deadnesse neuer be a little wak●ned True it is that God must miraculously raise vp the soule thus dead and put the life of his grace into it or it is d●sperate The conscience I confesse will not euer lye quiet in these dead guests but as they haue iayled vp that for a while in the darknesse of Securitie so when God looseth it it will rage as fast against them and dogge them to their graues For as there is a Heauen on earth so a Hell on earth The dead to sinne are heauen'd in this world the dead in sinne are hell'd here by the tormenting anguish of an vnappeaseable conscience As Bishop Latimer in a Sermon told these guests of a Feast in Hell which wil afford them little mirth where weeping is serued in for the first course gnashing of teeth for the second So after their Feast on Earth which was no better then Numa's where the Table swomme with delicate dishes but they were swimming dishes spectand● non gustandae dapes Let them prepare for another Banket where groanes shall be their bread and teares their drinke sighes and sorrowes all their Iunkets which the Erynnis of conscience and the Megaera of desperation shall serue in and no euerlastingnesse of time shall take away But these spiritually dead guests doe not euermore scape so long sometimes God giues them in this life a draught of that viall of his wrath which they shall after sup off to the bottome The wicked man that had no feare now shall haue too much feare Hee that begun with the wanton Comedie of presumption and profanenesse ends with the Tragedie of horrour and despaire Before he was so a-sleepe that nothing could waken him now hee is so waking that nothing can bring him a-sleepe Neither disport abroad nor quiet at home can possesse him hee cannot possesse himselfe Sinne is not so smooth at setting forth as turbulent at the iourneyes end The wicked haue their day wherein they runne from pleasure to pleasure as Iobs children from banket to banket their ioyes haue changes of varietie little intermission no cessation neither come they faster then their lusts call for them So God hath his day And woe vnto you that desire the day of the Lord to what end is it for you the day of the Lord is darknesse and not light As if a man did flee from a Lyon and a Beare met him or went into the house and leaned his hand on the Wall and a Serpent bit him Such is the vnrest of a conscience brought to fret for his sinnes So August Fugit ab agro in ciuitatem à publico ad domum à domo in cubiculum He runnes from the field into the Citie from the Citie to his house and in his house to the priuatest Chamber but he cannot flie his enemie that cannot flie himselfe At first the Deuils guest pursues pleasure so eagerly that hee would breake downe the barres that shut it from him and quarrell with venture of his blood for his delights nay for the conditions of his owne sorrow and damnation Now pleasure is offered him no it will not downe Musicke stands at his Windore it makes him as mad with discontent as it did once with ioy No ●est can stirre his laughter no companie can waken his vnreasonable and vnseasonable melancholy Now hee that was madder then N●ro in his delights fear● compasseth him on euerie side Hee starts at his owne shaddow and would change firmenesse with an Aspen leafe He thinkes like the Burgundians euery Thistle a Launce euery Tree a man euery man a Deuill They feare where no feare was saith the Psalmist They thinke they see what they doe not see This is the wicked mans alteration time is he will not be warned time comes hee will not be comforted Then he is satisfied with lusts that thought satisfaction impossible Riches wearie him now to keepe them more then they wearied him once to get them and that was enough So I haue read the oppressers will Lego omnia bona mea domino Regi corpus sepulturae animam diabolo I bequeath all my goods to the King my body to the graue my soule to the Deuill He that did wrong to all would now seeme to doe right to some in giuing his coyne to the Prince whom he had deceiued his soule to the Deuill whom hee had se●ued Wherein as he had formerly iniured man now he in●ures both God and himselfe too 3. I haue dwelt the longer on this spirituall deadnesse because the guests at this

without his su●ficient sorrow actiue and passiue mischiefes if the morning wine should not enflame them They that are daily guests at the Deuils table know the fashions of his Court they must be drunke at the entrance It is one of his lawes and a Physicke-bill of hell that they must not wash till they haue drunke These Waters are to be applied inwardly first and once taken downe they are fitted to swallow any morsell of damnation that shall afterwards be presented them Water was the first drinke in the world and Water must be the first drinke at the Deuils Banket There is more in it yet The Deuill shewes a tricke of his wit in this title Water is a good creature and many coelestiall things are shadowed by it 1. It is the element wherein wee were baptised 2. And dignified to figure the grace of the holy Spirit Yet this very ●ame must be giuen to Sinne. Indeede I know the same things are often accepted in diuers senses by the lang●●ge of Heauen Leauen is est-soones taken for hypocri●ie as in the Pharises for Athei●me as in the S●dduces for Prof●nenesse as in the H●rodians And generally for Sinne by Paul 1 Cor. 5. Y●t by Christ for grace Luke 13. God is compared to a Lyon Amos. 3. And Christ is called the Lyon of the Tribe of Iudah Apocal. 5. And the Deuill is called a Lyon A roaring Lyon c. 1. Pet. 5. Christ was figured by a Serpent Ioh. 3. And to a Serpent is Satan compared 2 Cor. 11. Stones are taken in the worst sense Matth. 3. God is able of these stones to raise c. Stones in the best sense 1. Pet. 2. Liuing stones and Christ himselfe the headstone of the corner Psal. 118. Be like children saith Paul and not like children be children in simplicitie not in knowle●ge Graces are called Waters so here vices but the attribute makes the difference Those are liuing Waters these are the Waters of death The Deuill in this playes the Machiauell but I spare to follow this circumstance here because I shall meete it againe in the next branch Bread of secrecies Sinnes may in some sense be likened to waters yea euen to waters in the Cup for to waters in the Sea they are most like The one drownes not more bodies then the other soules They know the danger of the Sea that pro●ecute their businesse in great waters they might know the hazards of Si●ne that saile in the Deuils Barge of luxurie I may say of them both with the Poet. Digitis à morte r●moti quatuor aut septem si sit latissimataeda They are within foure or seauen Inches of death how many soules are thus shipwrackt how many weepe out a De profundis that would not sing the songs of Syon in the Land of the liuing they forgot Ierusalem in their mirth and therefore sit downe and howle by the waters of 〈◊〉 but these here are Festiuall not Marinall wate●s 1. Water is an enemie to digestion so is Sinne clogging the memorie the soules stomach with such crudit●es of vice that no sober instructions can bee digested in it especially Waters hurt digestion in these cold Countries naturally cold in regard of the Climate but spiritually more cold in deuotion Frosen vp in the dregs of Iniquitie Surely many of our Auditours drinke too deepe of these Waters before they come to Iacobs Well our Waters of heauenly doctrine will not downe with them The Waters of sinne so put your mouths out of tast that you cannot rellish the Waters of Life they are Marah to your palates It seemes you haue beene at the Deuils Banket and therefore thirst not after righteousnesse The Cup of the old Temptation hath filled you you scorne the Cup of the New Testament If you had not drunke too hard of these Waters you would aske Christ for his liuing Water but Achan hath drunke cursed Gold when hee should come before Io●uah Geh●●i hath drunke Bribes when hee should come to Elisha No maruell if you sucke no Iuyce from the Waters of God when you are so full and drunken with the Waters of Sathan 2. Water duls the braine and renders the spirits obtuse and heauie It is an enemie to literature saith Horace merrily Who in a Rithme rehearses That w●ter drinkers neuer make good Vearses Wee haue no skill in the himnes of the spirit no alacritie to praise God no wisedome to pray to him why wee haue drunke of these stollen waters The chilling and killing colde of our Indeuotion the morose and raw humours of our vncharitablenesse the foggy dull stupid heauinesse of our inuincible ignorance shew that wee haue beene too busie with these Waters nothing will passe with vs but rare and nouell matters Ieiunus rarò stomachus vulgaria temnit and in these we study to admire the garbe not to admit the profit 3. Wee finde Grace compared to Fire and gracelesnesse to water the Spirit came downe on the Apostles in the likenesse of firie tongues at the day of Pentecost and Iohn Baptist testifies of CHRIST that hee should Baptise with the Holy Ghost and with Fire The spirit of sinne falls on the heart like a cold deaw It is implied Reuel 3.15 that zeale is hote wickednesse colde neutrallitie luke-warme Fire is hot and drie Water is cold and moyst praedominantly and in regard of their habituall qualities so zeale is 1. hote no incendiary no praeter-naturall but a supernaturall heate equally mixed with Loue and Anger such was Elias zeale for the Lord of Hostes he could not be cold in this life that went vp in Fire to Heauen 2. Drie not like Ephraim a Cake baked on the one side but crude and raw on the other no the heate of zeale hath dried vp the moisture of prophanenesse But wickednesse is 1. colde a gelid nature a numnesse in the Conscience that as when the Ayre is hotest the Springs are coldest so when the Sunne of Grace warmes the whole Church is yet shaking of an Ague nay and will not creepe like Simon Peter to the fire 2. Moist not succus sanguinis plenum full of iuyce and sappe but sinne runnes like a colde rheume ouer the Conscience This metaphor followes Saint Paul Quench not the Spirit wherein hee fully iustifies this circumstance forbidding the water of impietie to quench the fire of Grace Here then see the impossibilitie of vniting the two contrary natures in one conscience as of reconciling Fire and Water into the same place time and subiect If sinne keepe court in the Conscience and sit in the Throne of the Heart Grace dares not peepe in at the gates or if it doth with colde entertainement I haue heard report of a generation of men that carry Fire in the one hand and Water in the other whose conuersation mingles Humentia siccis Wet and Drie together like the Syriphian Frogs in Pliny whose challenge

better life is the soule spoiled of when sinne hath taken it captiue The Adultresse will hunt for the precious life She is ambitious and would vsurpe Gods due and claime the heart the soule Hee that doth loue her destroyeth his owne soule Which shee loues not for it selfe but for the destruction of it that all the blossomes of grace may dwindle and shrinke away as bloomes in a nipping Frost and all our comforts runne from vs as flatterers from a falling Greatnesse or as Vermine from an house on fire Nay euen both thy liues are endangered The wicked man go●●h after her as a foole to the correction of the st●ckes till a 〈◊〉 strike through his liuer as a bird hasteth to the snare and knoweth not that it is for his life It is as ineuitably true of the spirituall Harlots mischiefe For the turning away of the simple shall slay them Saue my life and take my goods saith the prostrate and yeelding Traueller to the theefe But there is no mercy with this enemie the life must pay for it She is worse then that inuincible Nauy that threatned to cut the throates of all Men Women Infants but I would to God shee might goe hence againe without her errand as they did and haue as little cause to bragge of her conquests Thus haue wee discribed the Temptresse The Tempted followes who are here called the Dead There be three kindes of death corporall spirituall eternall Corporall when the body leaues this life Spirituall when the soule forsakes and is forsaken of grace Eternall when both shall be throwne into hell 1. is the seperation of the soule from the body 2. is the seperation of body and soule from grace 3. the seperation of them both from euerlasting happinesse Man hath two parts by which hee liues and two places wherein he might liue if hee obayed God Earth for a time Heauen for euer This Harlot Sin depriues either part of man in either place of true life and subiects him both to the first and second death Let vs therefore examine in these particulars first what this death is and secondly how Sathans guests the wicked may be said liable thereunto 1. Corporall death is the departure of the soule from the body whereby the body is left dead without action motion sense For the life of the body is the vnion of the soule with it For which essentiall dependance the soule is often called and taken for the life Peter said vnto him Lord why cannot I follow thee now I will lay downe my soule for thy sake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his soule meaning as it i● translated his life And He that findeth his soule shall loose it but hee that looseth his soule for my sake shall finde it Here the Soule is taken for the Life So that in this death there is the seperation of the soule and body the dissolution of the person the priuation of life the continuance of death for there is no possible regresse from the priuation to the habite except by the supernaturall and miraculous hand of God This is the first but not the worst death which sinn● procureth And though the speciall dea●nesse of the guests here be spirituall yet this which we call naturall may be implied may be applied for when God threatned death to Adams sinne in illo die m●ri●ris in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die yet Adam liued nine hundred and thirtie yeares after There was notwithstanding no delay no delusion of Gods decree for in ipso die in that very day death tooke hold on him and so is the Hebrew phrase dying thou shalt dye fall into a languishing and incurable consumption that shall neuer leaue thee till it bring thee to thy graue So that hee instantly dyed not by present seperation of soule and body but by mortallitie mutabillitie miserie yea by sorrow and paine as the instruments and agents of Death Thus said that Father After a man beginneth to be in this body by reason of his sinne he is euen in death The wicked then are not onely called Dead because the conscience is dead but also in respect of Gods decree whose inviolable substitution of Death to Sinne cannot be euaded auoyded It is the Satute-law decreed in the great Parliament of Heauen Statutum omnibus se●el mori It is appoynted vnto men once to die T●is is one speciall kindnesse that sinne doth vs one kisse of her lippes Shee giues her louers three mortall kisses The first kils the conscience the second the carkase the third body and soule for euer Death passed vpon all men for that all haue sinned So Paul schooles his Corinths For this cause many are wea●e and sicke among you and many sleepe And conclusiuely peccati stipendium mors The wages of sinne is Death This Death is to the wicked death indeed euen as it is in it owne full nature the curse of God the suburbes of Hell Neither is this vniust dealing with God that man should incurre the death of his body that had reiected the life of his soule nisi praecessisset in peccato mors animae numquam corporis mors in supplicio sequer●tur If sinne had not first wounded the body death could not haue killed the soule Hence saith Augustine Men shunne the death of the flesh rather then the death of the spirit that is the punishment rather then the cause of the punishment Indeed Death considered in Christ and ioyned with a good life is to Gods elect an aduantage nothing else but a bridge ouer this tempestuous sea to Paradice Gods mercy made it so saith S. Augustine Not by making death in it selfe good but an instrument of good to his This hee demonstrates by an instance As the Law is not euill when it increaseth the lust of sinners s● death is not good though it augm●nt the glory of su●ferers The wicked vse the law ill though the law be good The good die well though death be euill Hence saith Solomon The day of death is better then the day of ones birth For our death is not obitus sed abitus not a perishing but a parting Non amittitur anima praemittitur tantum The soule is not lost to the body but onely sent before it to ioy Si duriùs seponitur meliùs reponitur If the soule be painfully laid off it is ioyfully laid vp Though euery man that hath his Genesis must haue his Exodus and they that are borne must dye Yet saith Tertullian of the Saints Profectio est quam putas mo●tem Our dying on earth is but the taking our iourney to Heauen Simeon departs and that in peace In pace in pacem Death cannot be euentually hurtfull to the good for it no sooner takes away the temporall life but Christ giues eternall in the roome of it Alas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Corpora cadauera Our graues shall as

Indeede the Law still abides as Christ when hee rose from the graue the graue remained still Pe●er freed from the Prison the Palsey from his Bed the young man from his Coffin the Prison Bed Coffin remaine still the persons are deliuered So the Law abides to mortifie our lustes still more and more but our conscience is freed from the bondage of it Wee are dead vnto it 3. They are dead to the world This Death is double Actiue and Passiue 1. Actiue The world is dead vnto vs. The vanitie of carnall ioyes the varietie of vanities are as bitter to vs as pleasant to the Cosmopolite or worldling And since wee must giue our voyces either to God or Mammon when God asketh as Iehu Who is on my side who We stand out for our God Angustum est stratum pectoris humani et vtrumque operire non potest Mans heart is too narrow a bed to lodge both God and the world in at once Qui vtrumque ambit in vtroque deficiet The Hound that followes two Hares will catch neither Nemo potest duobus Dominis neque dominijs inseruire No man can serve two Masters with true seruice especially when they command contrary things Thus is the world dead to vs For since the world is not so precious as the soule wee leaue the world to keepe our soule since both cannot well be affected at once Therefore we account all things drosse and losse for the excellent knowledge of Christ. 2. Passiue Wee are dead to the world As wee esteeme it drosse it esteemes vs filth Wee are made as the filth of the world and as the off-scowring of all things vnto this day As wee in a holy contempt tread it vnder in our workes and vilefie it in our words so it lookes vpon vs betwixt scorne and anger and offers to set his foote on our neckes But vicimus wee haue conquered Whosoeuer is borne of God ouercommeth the world and this is the victorie that ouercommeth the world euen our faith Let vs reioyce therefore in our Lord Iesus Christ by whom the world is crucified to vs and wee to the world These are good deaths blessed soules that are thus dead Their death is Mortification and like the Phoenix they are no sooner dead but they are new borne Their old mans Autumne is their new mans Spring-tide There are none thus dead at this Feast The dead here haue seared consciences poisoned affections warped withered rott●n soules Twice dead faith Saint Iude and some without hope of growing plucked vp by the rootes Though the Pythegorean error the transanimation or the departure of the soule from man to man was brought to the Basilideon heresie Nay which was more grosse though the Poets fained that the soules of men departed into beasts Orpheus into the Swanne Aiax into the Lyon Agamemnon into the Eagle Polititians into Bees and Ants the luxurious into Hogges tyrants into Wolues which were positions for Machiauell and Articles of Lucians faith Yet they might rather and that more fauourably to their owne credites speaking according to mens liues haue affirmed that the spirits of beasts might rather seeme to haue entred men if at leas● the beasts doe not preserue their nature better then men They liue whiles they liue men are dead euen liuing Impiè viuere est diu mori A wicked life is a continuall death And we may say of an old wicked man not that hee hath liued but that hee hath beene long Deus vita à qua qui distinguitur perit God is the true life without whom we cannot liue The heart of a wicked man thus becommeth dead The Deuill workes by suggesting man by consenting God by forsaking He forsakes thus 1. By suffering a hard heart to grow harder 2. By giuing successe to ill purposes which hee could haue disappointed 3. By not imparting the assistance of his spirit Thus he leaues them in darknesse that would not chuse the light and finding their hearts vndisposed to beleeue deliuers them vp to Infidelitie His not willing to soften is enough to harden his not willing to enlighten is to darken Dei claudare est clausis non aperire God is then said to shut vp when he doth not open to them that are shut vp God is able to soften the hard heart open the blinde eye pierce the deafe eare when hee doth it is mercie when not it is Iustice. Onely our falling is from our selues Oh Israel thou hast destroyed thy selfe but in mee is thy helpe For God is euer formost in loue but last in hate He loued vs before we loued him but wee hate him before hee hates vs. Multi ne laberentur detenti nulli vt laberentur impulsi God preserues many from falling but hee thrusteth none downe By his strength we stand by our owne weakenesse we fall As in the sicknesse of the body so of the soule there are criticall dayes secret to our selues but well knowne to God whereby hee sees our recouerie vnlikely and therefore turnes vs ouer to the danger of our sicknesse That now too late Ierusalem knowes what was offred her in the day of her visitation God blindes the soule blinded before by Satan and hardens againe Pharaohs selfe-hardned heart Et quia non faciunt bona quae cognoscunt non cognoscent mala quae faciunt Because they would not doe the good they knew they shall doe the euill they knew not Thus is the soules death degreed vp Sinne gathers strength by custome and creepes like some contagious disease in the body from ioynt to ioynt and because not timely spied and medicined it threatens vniuersall hazard to the whole It swels like the Sea Vnda leuis maiora volumina sluctus ad coelum An Egge a Cockatrice a Serpent a fierie flying Serpent Custome indeede kills the soule The Curse that the Cretians vsed against their enemies was not fire on their houses nor rottennesse on their beasts nor a sword at their hearts but that which would in time trebble to them all these mischiefes that they might be delighted with an euill custome Temptation assaults the heart consent wounds it it lyes sicke of action it dies by delight in sinne it is buried by custome The Bell hath tolled for it Gods word hath mourned the Church hath prayed for it but quid valeant signa precesi●e What good can signes prayers doe when we voluntarily yeeld our heart to him that violently kils it Thus God leaues the heart and Satan ceaseth on it whose gripes are not gentler then Death Thus the habite of sinne takes away the sense of sinne and the conscience that was at first raw and bleeding as newly wounded is now seared vp with an hote iron The conscience of a wicked man first speakes to him as Peter t● Christ Master looke to thy selfe But he stops her mouth with a violent hand Yet shee would faine speake with him like the