Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	bring_v	lust_n	sin_n	9,234	5	6.5125	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59550	The government of the thoughts a sermon preach'd before the King and Queen at White-Hall, the 4th of March, being the 2d Sunday in Lent, 1693/4 / by ... John, Lord Arch-bishop of York.	Sharp, John, 1645-1714.	1694 (1694)	Wing S2977A; ESTC R17053	14,261	18

should rather be advised to look after their Bodies and by the help of good Prescriptions to get rid of those Fumes and Vapours which occasion these Fancies When the Cause is removed the Effect will soon cease I do not in the least doubt whatever these People may think of their own Case but that this is as properly a bodily Disease as a Feaver or fits of the Falling-sickness In the mean time while they are in this Condition whatever Rules are proper to be given to other Persons for the Government of the Thoughts of all People living those Rules do the least concern them For those Thoughts which they complain of do not at all fall under Regulation or Government because they are suggested to their Minds whether they will or no. And for my part I think it a great deal more advisable if it could be to neglect and despise them than to be perpetually struggling and disputing with them and vexing themselves about them But you will say If Men be such Slaves to their Thoughts and are thus necessarily passive under them where is the Freedom of Thoughts To this I answer In the Fourth Place out of these Three Cases I before-mentioned we have Liberty of Thinking and may chuse our own Thoughts And that Liberty and Freedom we have in Thinking doth to my apprehension mainly consist in this viz That all of us who are not in the Circumstances I have been hitherto speaking of can if we please apply our Minds more vigorously to one sort of thing than to another and accordingly as we do thus apply our Minds so will the most of our Thoughts be It is in our power among the multitude of Objects which present themselves to our Mind as for Instance GOD Vertue Holiness Heaven Wealth Power Greatness Preferments Fine-cloaths Splendid-equipage Sensual-pleasures Recreations Divertisements Knowledge Learning Arts and the like I say that among all this Multitude of Objects that present themselves to our Minds it is in our power to determine our which of them we will dwell upon and make a Business of And accordingly when at any time we have pitched upon any of them as a Business it is in our power to mind that Business either more or less diligently And if it be such a one as that we mean in good earnest to concern our about it it will then so fill our Minds as that by attending to that we shall either prevent in a great measure other Thoughts from coming into our Heads or if they do come in they will not long stay there but will very speedily give place to that which is our main Business at that time And the Reason of this is plain Because our Natures are of that make that two things at once cannot well possess our Minds and therefore if we be intent about one thing we cannot have much room or leisure for Thoughts of another Nature But then Fifthly and lastly Though this that I have said be the true Nature of that Power we have over our Thoughts as to the directing them to a particular Object Yet there is another power we have over them that ought here more especially to be consider'd because in it are laid the very Foundations of Vertue and Vice and upon account of it all our Thoughts become either morally good or evil That which I mean is this Tho' we cannot in many Cases think always of what we would nay tho' we cannot hinder abundance of Thoughts from coming into our Minds against our will yet it is always in our power to assent to our Thoughts or to deny our consent to them And here it is that the Morality of our Thoughts begins According as we Assent or Dissent to the motion that are made in our Mind so will our Thoughts have the Notion of vertuous or sinful Thoughts When any Temptations are presented to us from without we cannot perhaps as I said before avoid the Feeling an irregular Passion or Motion or Inclination stirring within us upon occasion thereof But yet at that very time it is in our power whether we will comply with those Passions and Inclinations or not whether we will consent to them or not whether we will pursue them further or not Now if we do not consent to them but endeavour to stop and stifle and resist them as soon as we are aware of them there is yet no harm done Our Thoughts how undecent or irregular soever they were are rather to be accounted the Infirmities of our Corrupt Nature than our Sins properly so called And thus it is likewise as to our Wandering Thoughts in our Prayers If we strive against them and endeavour to keep our Minds in a Devout composed Temper and attend as well as we can to the Duty we are about I say if we do this I hope those Distractions and Wanderings will never rise up in Judgment against us And as for the frightful Blasphemous Fancies which as I told you some even Pious Persons are tormented with As to them I say they of all other irregular Thoughts have the least danger of Sin in them tho' they be not so solemnly and formally disputed with and contested against Because indeed they are so terrible in their own Nature that no Man in his Wits and that hath any sense of GOD or Goodness can be supposed to consent to them They are indeed great Infelicities but by no means any in any farther than we approve of them and to approve of them for any tolerably good Man is impossible But then on the other side If we consent to any wicked motion or Inclination that we feel in our let it come in how it will never so suddenly never so unexpectedly if we close with any Thought that prompts us to Evil so as to be pleased with it to delight in it to think of pursuing it till it be brought into Action in that Case we are no longer to plead our Original Corruption for in that very instant we become Actual Sinners Actual Transgressors of the Law of GOD the Obligation of which reaches to our very Hearts and Thoughts as well as our Actions Tho' yet we are not so great Transgressors so long as our Sin is only in thought or desire or purpose as if it had proceeded to outward Action All this is taught us for true Divinity by no less an Author than St. James in the first Chapter of his Epistle Ver. 13 14 15. Let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God tempteth no man But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed Then when lust hath conceived it bringing forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death Which Passage of the Apostle doth plainly contain these Three Propositions First That no Man is drawn to commit Sin by any State or Condition that GOD hath put him into no not by any Temptation either outward or inward that

is presented to him It is not a Sin to be tempted no nor to feel that we are tempted by some disorderly Inclination that arises in our Minds thereupon But Secondly Then our Sin begins when we yield to the Temptation when we are drawn away by our own Lusts and enticed when they get the Victory over us and we do consent to them Then Lust hath conceived and bringeth forth Sin But Thirdly Tho' the very consent of our Wills to a Temptation be a Sin in us yet that Sin is not so great as it will be afterwards if it be brought to Action Sin in the Desire or Purpose is but an Embryo it is but the first Rudimen●s of Sin but when it comes to be acted it is then a Sin in its full Dimentions and the Consequents of it may be fatal without Repentance Sin when it is finished bringeth forth Death Having thus given some Account how far our Hearts and Thoughts do fall under Government I now come to my Second Point that is to treat of the Art of Governing them or to lay down the necessary Rules and Directions which are to be observed in order thereunto And we shall not need to go far for these Rulles for they will all naturally flow from the Principles I have already laid down And I think they may conveniently enough be reduced likewise to these Five followng First From what hath been said it appears That the First and great Point to be done by us if we would keep our Hearts in a good Frame and order our Thoughts to good Purposes is that we rightly pitch our main Designs that we chuse that for the great Business of our Lives that really ought to be so Now what that is can bear no Dispute with any Man that will fai●ly use his Reason For certainly that which is our greatest Concernment in the World ought to be our greatest Business and Design in the World And it is evident to every one that believes he hath a Soul to save that his greatest Concerment of all is to approve himself to that GOD who made him and disposes of all his Affairs and who accordingly as we sincerely endeavour or not endeavour to serve Him will make us either very Happy or very Miserable both in this Life and the other So that there can as I said be no dispute about what ought to to be the great Business and Design of our whole Lives and to which all other Businesses must yield Now if we be so wise as really to propose this as our main End and resolve to mind it and follow it as such I say if we be so wise as to do this we have made a very great step towards the obtaining a Security to our that the greatest part of our Thoughts and Desires and Affections will be such as they should be such as will be acceptable to GOD and satisfactory to our For as I told you before whatever is our main Business be it what it will it will in a great measure draw all our Thoughts to it Our Natures are so contrived that we must always be thinking of some thing or other But then they are so contrived likewise that we think most of that which is most in our Eye most in our Esteem most in our Pursuit And this is that which our Saviour tell us Where you Treasure is there will your Heart be also Whatever it be that you place your Happiness in upon that will your Thought run upon that will your Desires your Inclinations your Affections be fixed We have a world of Instances of the truth of this every day before our Eyes If a Man hath set his Heart on Money and proposeth it to himself as the Business of his Life to be Rich Why I dare say such a one will own to you that most of his Thoughts are upon that Project and that he finds it so far from being difficult to keep his Mind close and steady to his Main Interest as he calls it that it is rather difficult to him to think of any other matters If a Man be given up to Pleasure and thinks nothing worthy his living for but Wine and Women and good Eating and good Company is it not natural to such an one to bend all his Thoughts that way Or doth he put any force or violence upon himself in thinking and contriving all the day long how to bring to pass the gratification of his Lusts or his Appetites Why my Brethren if we did all of us in good Earnest make the Service of GOD and the purchasing Heaven and Happiness to our as much our Business our End our Design as these Men make Wealth or Pleasure to be theirs we should certainly be thus affected The common Course of our Thoughts would naturally and easily without the least constraint run upon those Objects And we should take as great delight in thinking of our Treasure and contriving for the obtaining of it as they do in thinking and Projecting for theirs I say Thus it would be with us For I cannot for my Life apprehend what Charms there can be in Worldly or Sensual Things to attract a Man's Mind what Fetters there can be in them to bind his Thoughts and tye them to themselves but that there are the same or greater in Vertue and Goodness in the Love and Favour of GOD in a pure Conscience here and Eternal Glory hereafter Always provided that they are as much made the Objects of our Choice and Pursuit as the other And therefore I cannot but suspect where we see Men so very cold and backward to Spiritual Things and so apt to spend all their Thoughts upon trifling vain or worldly Matters that it is with a great deal of Pains and Reluctancy that they can bring themselves to think of their Everlasting Concernments I say I cannot but suspect that these Persons have not yet laid up their Treasure in Heaven as our Saviour expresseth it they have not yet so wholly devoted themselves to the Service of GOD as to make it their Main Business When once they have done that I dare assure them they will find it so far from being a force upon them to think of good things that will be natural to them and they will find the greatest pleasure in the World in so doing Secondly Whoever would keep his Heart always in a good Frame and be able to give a good Account of his Thoughts to GOD must have an especial care to avoid Two Things viz. Idleness and loose Company For both of these do stangely unhinge a Man's Mind and disarm it of that Severity which is its best guard and defence against Evil Thoughts and make it become an easy prey to every Temptation that will attack it A wise Man should never be at such a pass as to say I have nothing to do I do not know how to spend my next hour But should so order the Course of his Life that all