Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A51223
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Of religious melancholy a sermon preach'd before the Queen at White-Hall March the 6th, 1691/2 / by the Right Reverend Father in God John, Lord Bishop of Norwich.
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Moore, John, 1646-1714.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing M2547; ESTC R9401
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15,050
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33
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astray from his Ways to quicken our Returns to our Duty So that when Fear doth prevail upon a man to amend his bad life he puts his Passion to the very use for which he received it from God And having thus applied it to the end for which it was made an Essential Ingredient of his Nature we have no cause to question but God will own him and graciously allow his Obedience 2. We may observe That God hath enforced all the Laws he hath given to the Children of Men by Threatnings as well as by Promises But as promises are to work upon our Love so Threats are to excite our Fears God having made the Motives to our Obedience to answer the different Passions with which he hath endued our Souls Wherefore there cannot be the least reason to conceive that God should threaten Punishments against the disobedient which naturally act upon the fears of men and yet not be pleased with the Service which these Fears raised by the Penalties annext to his own Laws do bring forth No God therefore doth set Life and Death before Men that the fear of Death may make them chuse Life and he threatneth them with Everlasting Punishments that the Amazement and Horrour which the serious and due Consideration of them will cause in their Souls may powerfully engage them with all Speed and Care to labour to fit themselves to partake of the Divine Mercies 3. Our Blessed Saviour first and his Disciples after him in their Sermons do address themselves not only to the Passion of Love but also to that of Fear which they never would have done had they been conscious that the Sacrifices of Fear would not have ascended up to Heaven with a grateful Savour He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned Doth not Christ here intend to bring Men to a belief of his Gospel and to yield Obedience to the Laws thereof as well by the fears of Damnation as the hopes of Salvation And when he had cured the man who had been afflicted with an Infirmity Thirty eight Years he bids him sin no more lest a worse thing come unto him The Argument our Lord used to engage the poor impotent man to live innocently was directed to the Passion of his Fear taken from the Danger of a Calamity greater than the very long Infirmity of which he now was cured that would befal him if he did still continue in his sins Knowing the terror of the Lord saith St. Paul we perswade men The Apostle well knew that the greatness of these Terrors exprest in the foregoing Verse That we must all appear before the Judgment seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad if fully and maturely weighed would be of irresistible force to recover Men from a lewd and prophane Conversation They must be brought to a state of extream Obstinacy or Desparation upon whom an Argument of such wonderful power and efficacy can make no Impression 2. I come to a second Case often complained of by some serious Christians which is a want of Inclination to holy things and a coldness in their Devotions They do not come to God's House nor address themselves to their Prayers with such an appetite as they do to the Business of the World but want earnest and fervent Desires for the success of the Petitions they put up to their Father in Heaven they cannot warmly engage their hearts in the Cause of their Salvation but find a listlesness to Spiritual Exercises which they apprehend to be a full proof of their Hypocrisie and that God will refuse their Prayers and Thanksgivings as vain and insincere Oblations Now before I proceed in the best and clearest Method I can to relieve Persons in this unhappy Condition I desire it may be first observed that why many have no more Zeal and Life in God's Service is their own fault for which they are greatly to be blamed Because this Dulness of Spirit that attends their Religious Exercises does come from their own Negligence and want of Consideration They take Care to make an Appearance in the Congregation but no care about what their Souls are there imployed They have not considered of what Infinite Importance it will be to them to serve God in the most acceptable manner nor how they should render their Service acceptable neither by what cause their Devotions have decay'd nor by what means they may revive and increase them Now if they neither consider where they are nor for what end they came it is no wonder that their minds should be flat and unactive all the time they stand before the Lord and very little concern'd for the prosperous Issue of the Prayers that are offered up by the Congregation As therefore it is high Presumption for such careless Persons to hope for any benefit by that part they bear in the Publick-Worship so they may cure their Malady by retiring from their Business and their Pleasures and by reflecting in good earnest upon the terrible Dangers whereunto they do every hour expose their immortal Souls But these are not the Men to whose Case I would speak at this time but I direct my Discourse to those who have frequently striven to remove this coldness from their Souls when they did approach the Heavenly Throne and yet have failed in their Attempt Now in abatement of their Trouble give me leave to lay the following Observations before them 1. That the difference of Degrees of Affections with which Men serve God does often depend upon the difference of their Tempers and Constitutions Some have such heavy Constitutions that it must be a great matter that will work upon their Hopes or Fears and it will require some time to make them very sensible either of their gain or loss But others have such a tenderness in their Natures and such quickness of Sense that the least things do much affect them A little Prosperity makes all their Spirits to mount and they are overflow'd with Joy and as small a Cross sinks them down and causes them to have sad and melancholy Perswasions of their Condition Now People of such various Dispositions notwithstanding they have equally endeavour'd to prepare themselves cannot serve God with equal affections but yet he may be alike pleased with what they both do Because he will measure their Obedience by the sincerity of their minds that lies in their own power and not by the difference of their Constitutions which was not made by themselves The Constitutions of some men being much warmer than those of others they easier take fire whether they are paying homage to God or doing business among Men. Where therefore Men have more heat in their natural Temper it is no wonder they should have more zeal in their Devotions But God will not reject any man because he is of a cold Complexion