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
A62646	Two discourses The first, of evil-speaking: by His Grace, John, late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury. The second, of the government of the thoughts: by His Grace, John, Lord Archbishop of York. Both preach'd before Their Majesties, 1694.	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.; Sharp, John, 1645-1714. Sermon about the government of the thoughts. aut	1698 (1698)	Wing T1270B; ESTC R219325	32,275	64

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 considered 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 Though we cannot in many Cases think always of what we would nay though 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 Motions that are made in our Minds so will our Thoughts have the Notion of Vertuous or Sinful Thoughts VVhen 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 though 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 Infeticities but by no means any Sin 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 selves 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 v. 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 bringeth 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 nor 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 second 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 Though 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 Rudiments of Sin but when it comes to be acted it is then a Sin in its full dimensions 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 or 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 Rules 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 following 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 fairly 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 Concernment 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 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