Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	body_n	put_v	sin_n	4,748	5	4.7703	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77703	Repentance and prayer or, the two fundamental pillars of the nation. Being the substance of four sermons preached at St. Peters Poor, London. By that famous and reverend divine Ralph Brownrigge, formerly vice-chancelour of Cambridge, and lately Lord Bishop of Exeter.	Brownrig, Ralph, 1592-1659.	1660 (1660)	Wing B5208; ESTC R229484	54,943	157

too 't is not the body of sin that 's mortified but the body of nature that is infeebled put not thy conversion then upon hazardous adventures stay not till he come to slay thee by death 't is an infamous 't is an uncertain 't is a suspitious repentance thou maist be mistaken in it Come we to a third defect of their repentance that 's falsenesse and dissembling it was a flattering unsound hypocriticall repentance Neverthelesse they did flatter him with their mouths and they lyed unto him with their tongues all their conversion and turning unto God 't was but flattery and falsehood and this flattery and falshood will appeare First in their professions Secondly in their promises flattering professions and false promises First Flattery is seen in profession first a flatterer will professe a great esteem of goodnesse and worth in the person whom he applyes himselfe to ready to ascribe much unto him so did these hollow converts in their affliction they acknowledged God was their rock and strength and the high God their redeemer thus the Herodians flattered Christ Mat. 12.16 Master we know that thou art true and teachest the way of God in truth and regards no mans person Christ discovers them why tempt ye me ye Hypocrites such are the soothings of unsound repentance when afflictions presses us O then we will acknowledge God and his goodness as Benadad did with the King of Israel oh the Kings of Israel are mercifull Kings but yet false and trecherous for all their profession Secondly Flattery is seen in profession of great love and affections Judah's his kisse a profession of great love as if Christ were dear to him such professions Hypocriticall repentance will make under affliction such love Ziba shewes to David professed great love and loyalty to him the Jewes had such blandishments to Gods word Esa 29.13 That they drew nere him with their mouth and with their lips did honour him in our extremities who but God and Christ are in our mouthes then we seeme much to affect them Thirdly Flattery is seen in profession of sorrow for any offence a dissembler to escape his due deserts will confesse all and professe great sorrow for former offences thus did railing Shimei to David 2 Sam. 19.18 Oh who so sorry for his offences who so submisse in confessing it and such professions an Hypocrite under the lash will make to God the Israelites when thunder and lightning were about their ears 1 Sam. 12.19 Oh we have sined in asking a King besides all our other sins these are there flattering professions Secondly as they flattered in their professions so they were false in their promises repentance will make vowes and promises and so will this false and counterfeit repentance abound in promises aske Pharaoh if God spare thee this time wilt thou let Israel goe O yes no longer stay an Hypocrite will bribe God with promises spare me this one time yet all false here observe a double falsenesse false in intention say what he never meanes his tongue contradicts his head Secondly false in performances he never makes good what he says David calls it lying fained obedience Psalm 63.3 Through the greatnesse of thy power shall thine enemies yeild fained obedience to these false and counterfeit So then in that these Jews were thus false and fraudulent in their repentance it will discover to us the dangerous condition of this sin of hypocrisie First see the guilt of Hypocrisie rather then faile it will counterfeite and act any duty though never so unacceptable as repentance is no duty in religion goes downe so hard with hypocrisy as repentance repentance is a shameing duty a Penitent must confesse and acknowledge he hath sinned take shame and confession to himselfe cry out with the Leper I am uncleane now Hypocrites are animalia gloriae all for their credit and reputation in matter of opinion they are in no error quod volumus sanctum est Joh. 9.40 what are we ignorant and blind also in matter of conversation they are without spot or wrinckle you are they which justifie your selves before men Luke 16.14 'T is hard to bring them to acknowledge either errour or fault but yet if it stand for their turn they will even act a penitents part and confesse and recant and seem to be sorry for sin so did Simon Magus and King Saul Secondly See the pertinacy and obstinacy of hypocrisie 't will act and counterfeit and never give over no not in the greatest affliction cum occideret when Gods hand is in slaying them yet then they will counterfeit neither mercies not miracles nor chastisements nor plagues will alter or change them Isaiah 26.10 Let favour be shewed to him yet he will not learn righteousnesse nay let Gods hand be lifted up yet they will not see it of all other sins the hypocrite is the most hopelesse and incorrigible afflictions have brought home prophane sinners but an Hypocrite will stand to that too either accuse God for afflicting him or dissemblingly accuse himself like some desperate cutpurse that will steal and pilfer in the Sessions house or at the Gallows Thirdly See the bruitish and stupid sottishnesse of hypocrisie 't will not onely undertake to deceive men but God also think to mock him with flatteries and lies as Ahaz how did he cover his infidelity Oh he would not tempt God what saith Isaiah Chap. 7.13 Is it a small thing to weary men but will you weary my God also an Hypocrite will not onely faulter with men seek to delude the world but they are lying children to God Isaiah 30.9 Thus Peter chargeth Ananias and Saphira that they lyed not to men but to the Holy Ghost Acts 5.4 Thus Isaiah brings in the Hypocrites of his time boasting even to God of their hypocriticall service and devotion Wherefore have we fasted and thou seest it not wherefore have we afflicted our souls and thou takest no knowledge Isaiah 58.3 Indeed ●ypocrites are in truth secret Atheists they turn the glory of God into an Idoll so hoping to put him off with vizards and counterfeits worse then Jacob towards Isaac God can neither see nor feele nor find out their mockeries that 's the third the falsenesse of their repentance Come we to the fourth defect of their repentance and conversion it was momentary and unconstant their hearts were not right with him verse 37. Neither were they stedfast in his covenant and this clause comes in as proofe of the former t is a conviction of their unsound and Hypocriticall repentance and here is a double conviction by which an Hypocrite may judge of himselfe their repentance was false and fained First because t was not hearty true repentance is hearty repentance if the heart be wanting t is counterfeit and hypocriticall their heart was not right with him Secondly Because 't was not lasting and durable they were not stedfast in his covenant First T was hypocriticall because t was not cordiall and hearty how was

a friend c. v. 5. Kind importunity admits no denyal I have made you my friends saith Christ to his Disciples This is a strong argument and yet a doubting Faith objects that friendship may be broke love may grow cold I but Christ argues from the similitude of a Father friends may prove unkind yet a Father will not grow unnatural to his Childe God is our Father O the bowells of a loving Father that 's far beyond the bosome of a friend What can Infidelity object against this Observe in this discourse three particulars First the proof of the Argument set down in the similitude If ye then being evill know how to give good gifts unto your Children Secondly the Conclusion drawn from the Argument Shall give the holy Spirit to them that ask him Thirdly the Illation or strength of the Argument how much more shall your c. So there are three things to be considered First the proposition of the Similitude Secondly the Conclusion Thirdly the proportion how it holds how much more Let 's come to the Similitude it self and consider first the matter of it secondly the use that Christ makes of this Similitude The Similitude it self lies upon these words Ye that are evill men know how to give good gifts unto your Children Here are three truths supposed by our Saviour First Ye all the sort of you this is your state and condition Ye are evill and sinful The second is this Ye that are evill have some principals of good in you some truths remain in you you know how to doe some things right and good Thirdly you that are evill and sinfull have this principle preserv'd in you you know how to give good gifts to your Children how to love and seek the welfare and good of your Children First you that are evill and sinfull This Tincture of evill Christ objects against them It points not at the most godless profanest sinners sinners of the first magnitude as murthering Cain traitorous Judas wicked Absolom we yield these to be wicked men and yet this title reacheth to them also they are not free from this imputation But further the men that Christ speaks too here they are his own Disciples such as put themselves under his Doctrine and Discipline nay more they were men regenerate such as might call God Father as St. Austin saith such as God accounts and ownes to be his owne Children and they owne him their Father nay more men that had made a great progress in Religion men given to Devotion and Prayer Lord teach us how to pray Notwithstanding their dignity of Apostleship the priviledge of their Son-ship their piety and devotion Christ tells them they are evill and sinfull this should put all even the very best to blush and cry out with the Leper in the Law I am unclean I am unclean We are all unclean it should make us take up John's confession If we say that we have no sin there is no truth in us this is not only a strain of humility but a true confession of verity we are all sinners But how far may these men be said to be evill men and sinners First it was not by their natural estate and condition that they were evil as the Manichees unfold this Text for God made all good and very good we came unspotted out of his hands also Original sin was much abated in them and new principles of grace infused so they could not be said to be wicked men he accepts his for Saints and they are washed and cleansed in his sight then how far may the Saints of God be said to be evil men First the best and holiest men may be said to be evil and wicked as in the very best of men are the reliques of much foul Corruption which makes them evil and sinful Original sin though perfectly pardoned yet imperfectly purged purg'd from the death of sin but not from the disease the best of us all have the swadling Clouts of our first Conception in which we were wrapt the defilements of original sin stick close by Adam's fall We were not cast onely into a puddle of mire but upon a heap of stones having so bruised us that this is subject to the very best of us to be styl'd evil and sinful Secondly the best of Gods Saints are lyable to this imputation of evil and sinfull the good that 's wrought in us by regeneration is so weak and feeble by our Corruption the Conflicts that the grace of God finds in us makes all the graces of God imperfect as St. Austin saith of Civil war There are those contrary principles in us that the best of us are liable to this imputation as Da●id saith O Lord thine eyes see thee feeble imperfections of grace thy eyes behold the weak beginnings of grace thy eye-lids try the Children of men not when he looks with the eye of Justice but with the eye-lids of his Mercy whereby he connives and winks at us that he may find us unblameable the best of all Gods Saints have those imperfections that makes them cry out We are evil and sinful Thirdly they are evil and sinful our Saviour puts them in Compare with God the very best of Gods Saints are nothing but Corruption if we have sanctification it is by participation from him the stars with-draw their light when his glory appears the view of which made the Saints of God to tremble Woe unto me saith the Prophet Isaiah I am undone And Job saith I have seen the Lord. Thus you have the first truth verified Ye are evil and sinful I come now to the second though by nature ye are sinful and evil and tainted with Corruption yet there are some impressions of equity some principles of common honesty still preserved not onely those that are comparatively but those that are totally evil those that are unsanctified have some rules of honesty engraven upon them some impressions of the image of God that image not wholly defaced concerning truths and rules of morality which nature hath still preserved Nature it self starts back at some abominations in an unregenerate man the Conscience of an unregenerate man checks it self at some horrible impiety In a spiritual sense all moral vertues are but vices as St. Jerom saith all sacred truths are not to be known but by revelation natural endowments are beneficial as one benefit of the remainder of nature is that they which cross not the rules of morality live more innocent For were it not that those principles bare sway in most mens lives common honesty and justice could not be maintained Secondly by nature we can never attain to grace and so by those vertues we cannot prevail with God for Salvation Yet they may for a temporal reward as in the Romans God rewarded moral vertue with victory and prosperity The third benefit it gets they that observe the rules of nature their accompt at the last day shall be far more easie indeed the

they were pricked to the heart one Sermon of Saint Peters reclaimed them presently in the audience One look of Christ took Peter the Ministery of the word is the great sanctified instrument to work us to Repentance 't is a great aggravation to our impenitency to live unconverted under that Ordinance Fourthly yet there were other importunities that in all reason they should have to repent though they slighted the former that 's quando castigavit when he did visite their sins with more moderate and fatherly chastisements we know God had his ferulaes and rods and fatherly corrections with which he did visite them Deut. 8.2.3 He humbled thee with hunger and drought want of bread and water the wildernesse in which he led them was a School of afflictions and therefore in allusion to that afflictions ate called a carrying into the wildernesse I will bring her into the wildernesse and speak comfortably into her Hosea 2.14 'T is the usuall way that God takes with us when his word alone will do us no good to write our lessons on our back with his rod prosperity makes us wanton afflictions many times hunt us in and bring us before him sicknesse and poverty and losses and other uncomfortable events they are usuall means to reclaim ' us Hosea compares afflictions to an hedge of thorns Behold I will hedge up thy way with thorns Hosea 2.6 So that we shall have little list to break out thus was Manasses converted captivity and imprisonment wrought him to Repentance 2. Chron. 33.12 VVhen he was in affliction he sought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers 't was Luthers speech Schola Crucis 't is Schola Lucis and it is the great aggravation of wicked King Ahaz in the time of his distresse that he did trespasse yet more against the Lord this is that King Ahaz that 's his brand as if should say here is a sinner that afflictions will not tame 't is to great purpose that Solomon advises us Prov. ● 11 my Son despise not the chastiseing of the Lord gentle corrections must not be despised nor slighted and David his Father counted it an happy thing to get good by such chastisiings Psalm 94.12 Blessed is the Man whom thou chastenest O Lord and teachest him out of thy Law He shewes it will prevent this same accident vers 13. That thou mayest give him rest from the dayes of adversity untill th● Pit be digged for the wicked Happy chastisement that prevents slaying to doe a● Isay speakes Isay 26.16 Lord in trouble have they visited thee they poured out 〈◊〉 prayer when thy chastening was upon them No this wrought not with them quan●● castigauit So then here is the unworthy servile basenesse of their repentance no time would serve but quando occidet when he slew them never till their heads were o● the block yea this is Pharaoh's repentance he stood out many a stroak bu● when it came to a destruction then 〈◊〉 seekes to Moses Oh I have sinned sa●● me from this death only We condem● it in Pharaoh and wonder at it here in th● Israelites and yet upon due examination we shall find it the case of many of us take it first either more collectively an● largely for our nationall repentance Or Secondly more privatly and pe●sonally for each Man 's particular First Let us look abroad not to censu●● and descant upon other Mens estates but yet we may soberly consider the sins of the times and lay them to heart have we not passed all the former quandos the seasons of repentance with small amendment First Not when we sinned God knows many sins stand upon the score uncanceld Secondly Not when he blessed us with deliverances with peace plenty and freedome from annoyances yet small fruits upon it Edentibus beneficiis ingrate Thirdly Not when he hath by his word invited to repentance nay that Manna comes out at our nostrills we begin to loath it yee begin to question whether God speakes by us Fourthly Not when he hath chast'ned us in measure shot off warning peeces rather then murthering Cannons commotions and plagues and unnaturall discontents we despise those chastisements Fifthly When he comes to slay us then we will bethink our selves when the kingdome is in a light fire and invasions of enemies or intestine rebellions begin to destroy us then t is to be hoped we will repent Secondly Let us take it more privately and personally and then asks your hearts what time you set for your repentance t is cum occidet when we are on our death beds and no hope of life when God sends his last executioner to cut us off from the Land of the living then we resolve to repent well t is possible you may do so depoenitentia non desperandum quem patientia Dei sinit vivere Yet consider first T is infamia penitentiae here is a brand set upon it by the holy Ghost Secondly T is incerta dubia there is small incouragment the scripture gives to it rather rejects it see what entertainment such seekers are promised to find at Gods hand Prov. ● 24 Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded it verse 26. I will also laugh at your calamity I will mock when your feare comes when distresse and anguish comes upon you verse 28. Then they shall call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me see what incouragement such seekers have Thirdly 't is suspiciosa penitentia there is great cause to suspect the good of such repentance which is forc'd from us cum occideret when the feare of death surprises us First Because that lust that reigned in him is imp't and forc'd back by his afflictions 't is like the sap of a Tree in winter weather all shrunk to the root sorrow and sicknesse and any great affliction 't is like Winter weather it imps the branches hinders our corruption from sprouting and so we think 't is dead but the root holds life and sap warm weather prosperity will make it spring again like Jobs trees chap. 14.8 9. through the heate of the weather they will bud Secondly in the feare of death or any sore affliction we may take our selves to be mortified because afflictions will justle out temptations a Man laid on his sick Bed will have little list then to entertain the temptations of sinfull pleasure he hath lost his rellish of them for a time as sick men can finde no sweetnesse in meats which otherwise they delight in because their tast is for a time imbittered let them recover health and they will fall to againe Thirdly in sicknesse many take themselves mortified not because sin is weakned in them but nature is infeebled that withdraws her strength by which sin was active recover nature and sin will recover as a graft in a Tree let the Tree spring and that will spring