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	sin_n	world_n	8,924	5	4.9560	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B12376	Heauens ioy, for a sinners repentance A sermon preached at VVhite-Hall the 4. of March, 1623. By Iohn Denison, Doctor of Diuinity, one of his Maiesties chaplaines.	Denison, John, d. 1629.	1623 (1623)	STC 6590; ESTC S109579	71,485	186

be crownd with glory happinesse in the highest heauens In regard wherof Justus dum per mortem e vita tollitur non exciditur sed in vberius solum transfertur Fran. Luc. Brugiens in locum whē by Death he is taken out of this life he cannot be said to be hewen down but rather transplanted into a more fruitful soile On the other side the vngodly man that bringeth not forth good fruit but is barren in all goodnesse and only fruitfull in the dānable works of darknes he shal die but a death far different frō that of the righteous for being besotted with the pleasures of sinne and hauing his affections fast glewed to the things of this world when Death arresteth his Body his Soule wil depart out of it like sawdust grated out of the belly of an hard Oke with much labour and striuing so vnwilling and loth it will be to breake vp house and bid farewell vnto the world Yea for as much as he neuer endeuoured to keep a good Conscience toward God and man therefore his guiltie Conscience like the euill Spirit which vexed Saul 1 Sam. 16.14 shall most fearefully wracke and torture him and a wounded spirit who can beare Prou. 18.14 saith the Prouerbialist and thus in the anguish and bitternesse of his Soule he shal be broken like a tree Iob 24.20 the Axe of Death shall cleaue rent his soule and body asunder with all violence and terror he shall bee hewen downe saith my Text. But is this all shall this Tree thus fell'd there lie and rest and rot where it falleth I meane shall his soule and body thus parted so perish as that he shall cease euer to haue a being any more and consequently a feeling of any further misery Certainly though sinful man be like vnto the beasts that perish yet he doth not perish like the beasts whose bodies are turned into ashes and their spirits vanish as soft ayre and are no more No his soule is an immortall substance and his body though in the eye of a carnall Sadducee it seemeth so to perish as that it shall neuer haue a being any more yet it shall at the last day by the power of God be restored to its iust proportion for after Death there must come a Iudgment particular of the Soule when it departeth from the body generall of Soule and body at the generall resurrection So that this fearfull hewing downe is but as the Prologue to a more tragicall feareful Scene it is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the beginning of sorrowes the forerunner of more fearefull torments For after the axe of Death hath with all violence cleft and rent his Soule and Body in sunder after that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee is thus hewen downe it followeth in the next place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bee is cast into the fire hee is throwen headlong into the flames of Hell And this second penaltie his exastion The second p●naltie an Exastion is indeed principally that which causeth his dissolution to be so comfortles full of terrour For when the hand of God lyeth heauy vpon him to hew him downe by death it is not the separation of his soule body that doth so much trouble him nor the leauing his beloued world that doth so much afflict him no nor the cruel gnawings of his guilty conscience that doe so wrack torture him otherwise then ioyned with the present apprehension of being cast into this fire which he then foreseeth will most certainly befal him af●er his dissolution And no maruell if the apprehension thereof strike such a dread terror into his departing soule Et hic ● c. 9. for what Aristotle that heathen oracle of learning said of the naturall death of the Body as one who saw no farther then the twilight of Nature would giue him leane may more truel● be auerred of this second penalty that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most terrible of terribles As Zeuxis that excellēt painter desiring to draw Junocs picture exactly viewed al the Agrigentine Virgins with a curious eye pickt out fiue of the choycest Pieces Nature did afford amongst them out of which for the composition of her picture he abstracted and expressed with his pencill what he apprehended more accurate and excellent either for proportion or beauty So the liueliest resemblance can be framed of this fearfull penalty is by presenting vnto our fantasie all the torments that euer seized vpon the sons of Adam in this vally of misery and out of them to make choice of such as are most exquisite acrimonious and intolerable and out of these if it were possible to extract a Quintessence and to inflict this quintessence of tormēt vpon one man and yet when we haue done all this this all is as nothing we sha●l haue framed but a dull a weake Idea of this penalty For the Eie hath not seen the Eare heard nor hath it entred into the Heart of Man 1 Cor. 2.9 as what ioyes God hath prepar'd for those that loue him so what sorrowes he hath laid vp for those that leaue him And therfore as the Painter presenting the sorrow of the father of Iphigenia when she was to be sacrificed drew him with his face couered as confessing his Art insufficient to expresse in his visage a griefe of that degree so being at this time according to my propounded Method to present so terrible fearfull a penaltie as to be cast into hell fire my best course I cōfesse were to cast ouer it the vaile of silence as being best cōscious of my own insufficiency for a task of such transcendēcy Yet vnwilling my particular weaknes should frustrate the generall expectation of so Honourable an Audience And fearing my silence in a point of such importance may occasion some to sleight their owne ruine and neglect their speedy reformation For such is naturally our slauish disposition that notwithstanding all the grac●ous and glorious promises of the Gospell vnlesse the terrors of the Law be punctually propounded vnto the vnderstanding and so reflect and beate vpon the Conscience wee walke without either feare or wit in the wayes of vngod●inesse and as if wee had taken a liberall Dosis of Opium are cast into a Spirituall Lethargie and fall into Hell before we so much as dreame of Damnation Therefore a word or two more particularly for the description of the fearefulnesse of this particular penaltie For I intend not though the case might iustly require it to entertaine you with a particular discourse of the seuerall punishments wherein all the powers and parts of each damned Wretch to his greater terror shall haue their share as those Positiue of intollerable cold the Worme that neuer dyeth palpable darkenesse the horrid aspect of the Deuils and infinite moe the least of all which is most horrible Pectori generoso non tam molestū est rerum angugustia premi quam

and choisest fruit he bringeth forth for euen our best actions were they narrowly scanned in some thing or other Carnis putredinem sapiunt Lib instit de Justif fidei Cap. 10. as Caluin noteth doe sauour and relish of the Corruption of the Flesh happely they haue leaned to some sinister respect or haue not beene performed with such sincerity and alacrity as God requireth 5. To make our workes meritorious there must be a Paritie there must bee some proportion and equalitie betweene that Good we doe and the reward wee receiue for it Now what Parity what Proportion betweene our workes which are but temporall and finite and the reward which is eternall and infinite The Naturall Phylosopher and any one that is not a mere naturall will tell vs that Finiti ad Infinitum nulla est proportio there is no proportion betweene that which is finite and that which is infinite Therefore our choicest fruits our best workes being defectiue in euery one of these fiue particulars which ought necessarily to concurre for the making of them meritorious it is strange there should liue in this great light of the Gospell any that dare attempt such a worke of darkenesse as to stampe mans workes with the Character of Merit Sure I am in the Word of God we cannot so much as finde the Word Merit Indeed God doth very frequently in the Sacred Scripture promise a reward to the godly and hence they fondly collect that the godly doe merit by the holinesse of their liues as if between reward and merit there were a mutuall relation that no reward is giuen but vpon a presupposed merit For answer whereunto I may tell them as our Sauiour the Sadduces Matth. 22.19 That they erre not knowing the Scriptures for as the Learned haue obserued that which by Saint Mathew is termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Reward Math. 5 46. Luc 6. 32. is by Saint Luke termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace fauour or thankes to signifie vnto vs that when God rewardeth the righteousnesse of men the reward is not to be ascribed to any worth or dignity in the Creature but wholly to the benignitie of the Creator not to any desert or merit in Man but vnto the meere grace and mercy of his Maker For as Saint Paul 2 Ephes 8.9 2 Ephes 8.9 a place worth the noting By Grace we are saued through Faith and that not of our selues it is the gift of God not of workes lest any man should boast himselfe The Case being so cleare we may be bold to affirme that most blasphemous is the practise of the Papists who both in Pulpit and Presse so stiffely contend to enthronize the imperfect impure workes of sinnefull man in the Chaire of Merit in which nothing by right but the holy and perfect obedience of the Sonne of God can sit My beloued I dare confidently affirme it for trueth and you may boldly take it vpon that terme that no Mortall by building him vp a Babel of his merits can euer reach Heauen Heauen being a transcendent too high for the short reach of humane merit The sairest face hath some Mole or Freckle the soundest Pomegranate some rotten Kernell Corruption is a great part of the best yea the best euen from their conception are wholly ouer-runne with corruption from which they can neuer be throughly purged till the soule and the body by death be parted and put asunder by reason whereof euen our best actions are stained our best fruits wee bring forth are foulely blemished and wil not endure the Iust eye of heauen to behold them as they are in themselues the serious consideration of this made the Prophet Dauid thus pray vnto God Enter not into iudgement with thy seruant Psal 143 2. for no flesh is righteous in thy sight Therefore my beloued instead of standing like Proud Pharises vpon the tiptoes of of our owne goodnesse let vs with the Penitent Publican truely humble our selues before the throne of his Sacred Maiestie for our manifold transgressions which bring vs vnder the curse of the Law for the manifold sinfull imperfections and blemishes euen in the best fruits that euer wee brought forth for which we stand guiltie before him Let vs reiect the menstruous and rotten ragges of our owne righteousnesse Esa 64.6 wholly relying vpon the louing mercies of our heauenly Father which hee hath set forth vnto vs in his Sonne Iesus Christ who himselfe alone by his most perfect and all-sufficient obedience hath merited our redemptiō from the wrath to come and purchased for vs a Kingdome that cannot be mooued Heb. 12.28 This hath he done for vs but how vnder condition of our new obedience of putting off the olde Ma● and putting on the new of forsaking the crooked paths of Sinne and following the straight way of Righteousnesse So that being redeemed and bought with the price of the Lambe wee must not thinke we may liue according to the lusts of our owne hearts and whatsoeuer seemeth good in our owne eyes for this is nothng else but a trampling of the blood of Christ vnder our feet a turning of the grace of God into wantonnesse the onely way to make our selues vncapable of that inestimable bounty of our blessed Redeemer No no such as are Iustified by the blood of Christ and haue any sauing portion in his bitter death and passion are also sanctified by his blessed Spirit vnto all holy obedience to bring forth good fruite the fruit of good liuing This is the true Character and cognisance of such as are of the houshold of Faith For as the tree is knowne by the fruit Iames 2.18 so is Faith made manifest by the workes of righteousnesse The bringing foorth of good fruite is via Regia the Kings yea euery Christians high-way wherein he must walke if he make any account to attaine vnto that Spirituall Caanaan to be a free Denizon of the holy Ierusalem that city aboue the mother of the elect For as among the Antique Romanes the two Temples of Vertue and Honour were so contriued that none could haue accesse vnto the latter vnlesse hee did take the former in his way So it is with vs God in his eternall decree hath set downe this resolution which like the Lawes of the Medes and Persians will admit of no alteration that none shall obtaine the life of Glory but such as liue in the state of Grace The penny is paid onely to such as labour in Gods vineyard Matth. 20.2 The Crowne of righteousnesse is laid vp only for those that fight a good fight 2. Tim. 1.6 7. and finish vp the course of their liues in the faith of Iesus Christ Hence that of the Prophet Dauid Psal 37 27. Eschew euill and doe good and liue for euer To draw vp all in a word though we can neuer bee saued for bringing forth good fruit yet we can neuer be saued without it such is the necessitie