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	resurrection_n	sin_n	7,555	5	4.9414	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10018	Sermons preached before his Maiestie; and vpon other speciall occasions viz. 1 The pillar and ground of truth. 2 The new life. 3 A sensible demonstration of the Deity. 4 Exact walking. 5 Samuels support of sorrowfull sinners. By the late faithfull and worthy minister of Iesus Christ, Iohn Preston Dr. in Diuinity, chaplaine in ordinary to his Maiesty, master of Emmanuel College in Cambridge, and sometimes preacher of Lincolnes Inne.	Preston, John, 1587-1628.; Goodwin, Thomas, 1600-1680.; Ball, Thomas, 1589 or 90-1659.	1630 (1630)	STC 20270; ESTC S120145	80,456	162

learning but never come to the knowledge of the truth that is to the saving knowledge of it But now for the last propertie of life as it is the propertie of every life not only to draw to it selfe things sutable but to expell and oppugne whatsoever is contrary and hurtful to it so he that is a living man in Christ Iesus though hee hath the reliques and the wefts and the remainders of sinne still in him yet he is sicke of them hee fights against them hee resists them continually as health resists sicknesse or as a living fountaine refists the mud that fals into it it workes it out and doth not rest till it bee cleare againe whereas another man works out those good things those good thoughts and motions that are injected and kindled in him for some good moods and good fits they may have I say they reject them and are sick of them and weary of them and of the meanes that should increase them and they are not well till they have gotten themselves into another element but for the sinnes which are suteable to them either by disposition or by education or by custome those they suffer to lye continually unexpelled and unresisted as mud in ponds and dead waters And this Beloved is a great signe of death for I will be bold to say this that if we lie in any knowne sinne that is if there bee a continued tract of any sinne that wee know to bee a sinne that is drawne as a thread through our whole conversation bee it fornication or adultery or swearing or drunkennesse or malice and envie or anie other I say it is verie dangerous yea deadly if it have dominion if we lie in it as you know a prevailing disease killeth and one disease will doe it as well as a hundred as a swine that passeth by a thousand dirty puddles and yet wallowes but in one if shee lie in one it is enough to make her unclean and filthy all over as if she had done it in more The Scripture is plaine in this case 2. Cor. 5. 17. Whosoever is in Christ is a new creature and old things are passed away all things are become new Gal. 5. 24. Whosoever is in Christ hath crucified the flesh with the affections of it So that if there bee one living lust in a man if there be one lust perfectly living it is an argument that the whole bodie of death is alive in us and if it bee so we are yet in a state of death and are not translated to the glorious libertie of the Sons of God And so I haue shewed you that every man by nature is dead in trespasses and sinnes and how you shall know it and that if wee continue in that condition and are not partakers of the first resurrection wee shall never partake of the second resurrection Now we come to the second namely that there is a life that is contrary to this death that you may understand what it is you must know that every man by nature is in a dead sleep and therfore he sees not this death nor feels it nor regards it for as a dead man feeles not that he is dead so hee that wants this spirituall life he is not sensible of it for the soule in the worse condition it is the lesse it feeles it though it be not so with the bodie And therefore the first thing that must bee done to bring a man out of this miserable condition of death is to waken him to open his eyes to see that hee is a childe of wrath and to see what extreame neede hee stands in of Iesus Christ and to seeke and to long after him as a condemned man longs after his pardon and as hee that was pursued by the avenger of bloud in the old law came to the citie of refuge for safetie and for shelter I say after that manner we must first be awakened This you shall see Eph 5. Awake thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead That wakening therefore is the first worke And so Rom. 7. 9. it is an excellent expression saith hee I was once alive without the Law but wen the Law came sinne revived and I dyed the meaning of it is this before when I was ignorant of the Law I thought my selfe a living man in as good an estate as the best but when the Law came that is when I was enlightened when I saw the true meaning of the Law that I saw my selfe and saw sinne in a right glasse then sinne was alive and I died that is I found my selfe to be no better than a dead man So that is the first worke that God doth to a man whom hee meanes to save to waken him out of this dead sleepe to charge sinne upon his conscience and to set it upon him to pursue him as the avenger of bloud wee spake of before When that is done once then a man will flie to the citie of refuge that is hee flies to Christ as Ioab did to the hornes of the altar he cries and cals earnestly for the pardon of his sinnes even as Sampson cried for water Give me water or I die And when a man comes thus to Christ thus humbled then Christ accepts him and then hee breathes this breath of life into him as God breathed the breath of life into Adam and so is made a liuing man according to that Ioh. 5. 29. The time shall come when the dead shall heare the voice of the Sonne of God and they that heare it shall live that is those that are spiritually dead shall heare the voice of the Sonne of God and those that heare it shall live for when a man toucheth Christ by faith as the woman touched the hemme of his garment there goes a certain vertue out from him that heales the soule as that vertue healed her bloudy issue And this is a thing much to be marked that even as you see when the iron comes neare the loadstone there goes a vertue from the loadstone that drawes the iron to it so though Christ be in heaven and we are on the earth there goes a certaine vertue from him that drawes us to him and not so onely but it changeth us and reformes us and quickeneth us by this infusion of a new life by this transmission of a certaine power and vertue that comes from him You will say But this is somewhat obscure what kinde of vertue is this what kinde of infusion and transmission is it My beloved it is true it is the great mysterie of life and regeneration but as farre as it is expressable we will explaine unto you It is done after this manner Euen as you see an artificer when he goes about any worke of art there goes a certaine influence from the skill that is seated in his minde that passeth upon the work as he moulds and fashions it and sets a stampe upon it according to that Idea

have given rest to his Churches and not onely so but that wee doe our parts that which is within our compasse especially as any have greater power and opportunitie of doing good let them consider that excellent speech of Mordecay to Hester Hest. 4. 24. If then hold thy tongue at this time deliverance shall appeare to the lewes from another place but thou and thy house shall perish The meaning is this then there was an opportunitie of doing good to the Church as you know then in what extremitie the Iewes were therefore saith he if thou doe not doe it thou and thy house shall perish For if any be an impediment nay if any doe not doe their best I pronounce this in the Name of the most true God that shall make it good sooner or later they and their houses shal perish and be as the straw that we spake of that oppresseth the coale of fire But on the other side if they seeke to deliver the Churches from his and their enemies there is this great advantage in it it will move God to deliver them from their enemies againe or make their enemies to bee at peace with them as Salomon saith When a mans wayes please the Lord hee will make his enemies at peace with him Thirdly and lastly let us be exhorted to live this life of grace that is to doe the duties of obedience wherewith this life is nourished and maintained for so the Lord saith He that keepes my Commandements shall live in them even as the flame lives in the oyle or as the creature lives by its food so a man lives by keeping the Commandements of God that is this spirituall life this life of grace it is maintained by doing the Commandements whereas on the other side everie motion out of the wayes of Gods Commandements and into sinne is like the motion of the fish out of the water everie motion is a motion to death And O that wee could thinke of sinne of everie sinne as a motion to death and of every good action as a putting on towards life that wee could thinke this life of grace to bee farre more excellent than the life of nature or the life of sinfull lusts and pleasures and delights for so it is Surely that life which God and Angels live must needs bee the most excellent and the fullest of joy and this life they live To incourage us to it let us but consider how God interlaceth this life of grace with the life of joy and of peace and outward prosperitie as you see in diuerse examples Gideon as long as he did the actions of this life you know how hee prospered but when hee set up a golden Ephod after which the people went awhoring it was the destruction of him and his house Salomon how glorious was his rising as a bright morning without clouds and so hee continued to the evening of his life but then when hee began to suffer rebellions in his Kingdome against God in matters of Religon as it is said he set up Ashtaroth the abomination of the Zydonians and Milcom the abomination of the Antorites c. then God stirred up rebellions against him then it is said that Hadad Rhesin and Ieroboam his own servant lift up his hand against him for saith the Text he stirred them up for that cause So that as long as Salomon did the actions of this life God prospered him continually in a high degree and when he fell from it hee fell from that peace which hee had so God interlaceth this life of grace with the life of joy and peace and outward prosperitie The like you see in his some Rehobeam for three yeeres when hee sought the Lord saith the Text and did the actions of this life 2 Chron. 11. so long he prospered things went well with him and in Ierusalem but after three yeeres hee forsooke the Lord and suffered the people to make them high places then it is said in the Text in the fifth yeare of his Reigne God gave him two yeeres space he poured out his wrath upon him and upon Ierusalem by the hands of Shishack the King of Egypt Where it is to bee observed that this evill fell upon him not because Shishack was angry but because the Lord was angry with him for it is not said that it was Shishacks wrath but the Lords wrath hee was but the viall but the instrument through which Gods wrath was poured upon him But an example you shall finde of this most cleere in Vzziah 2 Chron. 25. 6. it is said that Vzziah sought the Lord all the dayes of Zechariah the Prophet and as long as he sought the Lord he prospered so long as he did the actions of this life the life of ioy and prosperitie and peace ranne along with it but after verse 10. when the Lord had helped him that he grew mightie then saith the text his heart was lift up to his destruction So that even as you see blazing comets though they bee but comets yet as long as they keepe aloft they shine bright but when they begin to decline from their pitch and fall to the earth they vanish so when men for sake the Lord and minde earthly things then they lose their light and are dissipated and come to destruction whereas you see on the other side all holy and good Kings that lived this life of grace constantly they shined in the darke world as stars in a dark night neither losing their light nor falling from their place And this you shall finde in all the stories of the Kings of Israel and Iudah that either their suffering of Idolatrie and superstition at home or their resting vpon Ashar and Egypt abroad was the cause of all their miserie for when they were in distresse they sought to those nations that proved as broaken reedes that did not onely deceive them but did runne into their hands On the other side you shall observe that those that lived this life of grace perfectly whose hearts were perfect with God that emptied out all the old leaven of Idolatrie and superstition at home and in all their distresses and wants trusted vpon God you shall finde I say proportionably as they did this more or lesse so they prospered As you see in Asa it is the Prophets owne speech to him that was sent to him from the Lord 2. Chr. 16. saith he Asa when there came a mightie army against thee of Lubyms and Ethiopians that were as it is in the Chapter before as the sands on the sea for multitude yet because thou restedst on the Lord he gave thee the victory over them afterward a smal army escaped his hands And why Because he rested on the King of Aram. So likewise Iehosaphat we see when he came backe from helping Achab at the battell of Ramoth-Gilead the Prophet Iehu meetes him 2. Chr 9. 19. 2. and saith thus to him Oh Iehosaphat wilt thou helpe the wicked wilt thou love

iudgement as those things we apprehend to be euill them we feare too much and therefore labour to haue it enlightened Q. If you aske me how we shall doe that A. Bring it to the Word and see what that saies for the Word is as a glasse which represents things as they are I cannot stand to giue instances out of the Word how to direct euery affection as now take Pouerty which thou fearest so much the Word makes it nothing Reu. 2. 9. I know thy pouerty but thou art rich as if he had said it is a matter of nothing So likewise for your feare of men Feare not him that can kill the body but feare him that can cast both body and soule into hell fire first the Scriptures make nothing fearefull but Gods wrath and sinne and therefore now sticke to the Word and whatsoeuer thy phantasie is yet say sure I am thus God said and therefore I am sure it is so and this will rectifie the iudgement say it is but my fancy howsoeuer it may be greater or lesser yet the thing is the same as the Word said it As the garment may bee greater or lesser yet the body the same so take any thing else as the losse of credit or the like we thinke these something and feare them but the fault is in our phantasie men doe therefore well by fitting their hearts to what the Word saith to stay themselues Secondly againe if this will not preuaile then let vs pray our selues sober for inordinate affections make as much difference betweene a man and himselfe out of it as is betweene a drunken and a sober man Now Prayer composeth the heart much for it bringeth thee into Gods presence And as the Sun casts downe the mists and dispels them so Prayer doth an inordinate affection Againe thirdly adde to this communion of Saints and that is a good meanes for we are in such fits as men in a feauer whose mouthes being out of taste we should suffer our selues to be ruled by the iudgement and taste of others Fourthly after all this beseech God to conuince thy iudgement to perswade thy vnderstanding fully for that none can fully doe but hee The second Doctrine is that The greatnesse of our sinne is no impediment to forgiuenesse It is true saith Samuel yee haue done this great sinne I will not goe about to diminish it but the Lord will forgiue you not withstanding I will deliuer it in these termes because we are apt not to thinke so and when we haue sinned against the light of conscience relapsed often wee are afraid to come into Gods presence as we see it by experience and therefore now if any man hath committed any great sinne let him apply it to himselfe It is true I haue done such a great wickednesse why yet bee of good comfort humble your selfe continue to follow the Lord you shall finde God the same to you that here he was to this people Now the reason of this is First because the pardon of the Gospell which we preach makes no exception of any sinne Christ came to saue sinners to take away the sinnes of the world this is spoken indefinitely Secondly not of any person preach the Gospell to euery creature there is not any exception of any rebell or rebellion Thirdly besides the price that was paid answers for the greatest sinnes as well as the least he is ready to forgiue a thousand pound vpon satisfaction as well as ten groats and therefore if thou hast Christ for thy ransome it is no matter what thy sinnes haue beene great or small for the same price may as well stand for the one as for the other Againe fourthly the God which wee haue to deale with is a mighty God euen in this euen in pardoning Michah 7. 18. Who is like vnto our God that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of his heritage hee will subdue them and cast them all into the depth of the Sea that is herein the infinitenesse of God appeares in forgiuing transgressions he sheweth his might in it and being mercifull as God and not as man and therefore hee vseth that metaphor of casting their sinnes into the depth of the Sea that as the Sea drowneth mountaines as well as mole hils if they be cast into it so his Attributes are infinite and so are his mercies and therefore hee takes delight to forgiue great sins because we know him to be God and not man thereby because hee forgiues moe than a man is able or willing to forgiue But because examples are more preualent in this case I will giue you a few Adam was the cause of murthering the whole world he made all men not onely guilty of the first death but also of the second besides other aggrauations of his sinne beleeuing the Deuill rather than God c. yet we see that God found out a remedy and receiued him into mercy for he himselfe preached the Gospell to him and therefore not without profit So likewise Manasses sinnes exceeded so as indeed wee know not how a man should commit more almost yet when he humbled himselfe greatly for he had great sinnes God receiued him to mercy and restored him to his Kingdome so as when we read of his sinnes how he filled Ierusalem with bloud c. one of vs would haue beene ready to haue said What Lord wilt thou forgiue this man and set him in his Kingdome as if he had done nothing against thee To name no more than that in the 1 Cor. 6. 9. those monstrous and hainous sins there mentioned as greater there cannot be mentioned yet some of them that were guilty of them were receiued to mercy such were some of you but now are yee washed and iustified c. The vse shall be that you would take heed how you limit the holy One in regard of his mercy that he will goe so farre in pardoning and no further I dare boldly tell you it is as great a sinne to limit God in his mercy as in his power as that was the sinne of the Israelites when as they were to goe into the land of Canaan they limited God and thought hee could not bring them in because of so great walls and great Gyants c. and so take you heed lest you limit his mercy as that when your sinnes are such sinnes of so hainous a nature as that he will not forgiue you How did Dauid when he had committed the great sin with Bathseba c. and so Peter that stood in the same termes with Christ that hee did before and if you cannot bring your hearts to thinke this then goe beyond your owne iudgement by faith for this is it that hindreth vs from beleeuing that wee draw a scantling of the Lord by our owne phantasies whereas he sayes That his thoughts are aboue our thoughts in pardoning Isaiah 55. Another point that I will deliuer from

these words is this that The way to haue a sinne forgiuen is to aggrauate it not to extenuate it Samuel here you see when hee goes about to comfort the people he aggrauates the sinne but withall aggrauates Gods mercies and so comforteth them so that the best way to haue a sinne forgiuen is to confesse it to the vtmost First it puts a man into such a disposition as God hath promised forgiuenesse vnto for then we come to see the vilenesse of our selues that wee cannot stand vpon our owne bottome but are empty of all and without God must perish and so are drawne from our selues and all in vs to rest no more vpon our selues but vpon God alone Secondly besides the more particularly sinne is confessed the more glory ariseth to God and shame to our selues And againe it strengthneth vs against sinne another time a full confession of any sinne is a great preseruatiue against it when a man hath looked round about any sinne and considered all the particulars of it it shuts vp all waies to the sinne whereas otherwise when men confesse by halues they liue in some way of sinning The vse is to teach you not to extenuate your sins but to confesse them to the vtmost and this you had need bee exhorted vnto for I doe not know a duty more hard than this though you may thinke it easie men are loth to confesse their sinnes because men are loth to leaue their sinnes till they meane to leaue it they extenuate it if men will keepe any reseruation and are not willing perfectly to forgoe all they will not confesse them fully Againe men want light to see sin fully for we see sin in the circumstances of it no further than wee haue light lent vs from the Holy Ghost as the light is brighter and brighter in the house the more clearely doe we discerne the lest motes so here Againe thirdly there is a selfe-loue in euery one and therefore while we looke on sinne as our owne we are ready to fauour it as Iuda whilest hee looked on the adultery as in his daughter he iudged it worthy of death hee would haue her burnt but when it came to be his owne sinne then the case was altered so Dauid would haue had the man put to death that tooke his neighbours sheepe but when it came and proued to be his owne case God was faine to take a great deale of paines to humble him and to make him confesse it and therefore aggrauate your sinnes in your confessions saying I haue had these and these meanes I haue sinned against the great light againe and againe and brake the couenant that I haue made with God and know that this way you cannot exceed If our hearts condemne vs God is greater than our hearts let vs take a man that apprehends his sinne most fully yet God conceiues more fully of it so as we in our thoughts cannot reach to what hee seeth sinne to bee and herein you had need take paines and search diligently for many sinnes that are great sinnes will appeare at the first to be but small ones as this sinne of theirs they thought it but a small matter at the first it was but chusing of a King that was not any where forbidden and yet Samuel tels them that therein they had first cast away the Lord secondly they cast away Samuel and the Lord in him thirdly they had put trust in Kings And so Dauids numbring of the people seemes to be but a small thing a thing not in it selfe vnlawfull for a King to see what strength hee hath to encounter an enemy but Dauid hee knew his owne heart he knew his owne ends then he cries out he had done exceeding foolishly know this therefore that this yee ought to doe and that the more ye see sinne abound the more ye will see grace abound and so you will loue the more and prize Christ the more and bee more humble and content with any condition Againe obserue One sinne makes much way for another This sinne of theirs had well nigh drawne them to a departing from the Lord now were they in the high way to slip from the Lord quite away The reasons are first because euery act intends the habit of sinne as when any thing is acted it increaseth the habit with which it is acted as euery act of grace strengtheneth the habit of grace so sinne makes the flesh to rise aboue the spirit to get it vnder and so at last to get the victory Because euery sinne weakneth that grace which should resist it as in a disease there is not onely a thing contrary with which health is to wrastle but something also which weakneth the strength by which health should resist and so doth sinne especially great sins seaze vpon the strength takes away the rectitude of iudgement by which we should resist if it be a great sinne it workes as a great disease which seazeth vpon the principal part and therefore is often little felt a small sinne is as a small wound which wee may easily feele because all else is in health but a great sinne is as a blow vpon the head which amazeth vs. Againe committing a great sinne discourageth us from comming to God for pardon and makes vs bold to goe on and seeing wee are ouer shooes we are willing to goe on and be ouer boots too Aster commission of a great sinne God giueth Satanleaue to take possession of a man as Satan got possession of Saul by his enuy at Dauid an euill spirit as is said fell vpon him and he would haue killed Dauid and so Iudas after his resolution to betray his Master the Deuill entred into him and would not suffer him to continue there but to hang himselfe and therefore take heed of falling into sinne for then ye are tanquam in pracipitio so as you cannot stay your selues as in a quicke-sand you sinke deeper and deeper and therefore deale with sinne as you would deale with poison which a man will not let alone to lye long in his body but he will take an antidote against it as soone as he can Another point we may obserue is this that Discouragement and too much feare are great meanes of our departure from God Feare not turne not aside from following the Lord c. There are many things which keepe vs off from comming to God first our strong lusts not willing to giue ouer all nor yet to doe all Secondly our deferring of repentance we can doe it as well hereafter but the greatest hinderance of all other is that which wee haue now named Many will say indeed to enioy the fauour of God is a comfortable thing and to haue assurance of our sinnes being forgiuen but I haue little hope of this I haue such a nature and I haue fallen often and haue so much hardnesse of heart as God will neuer receiue mee