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	sin_n	sin_v	5,307	5	9.1204	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93722	Englands patterne and duty in it's monthly fasts presented in a sermon, preached to both Houses of Parliament assembled, on Friday the 21. of July, An. Dom. 1643. : Being an extraordinary day of publicke humiliation appointed by them throughout London and Westminster. that everyone might bitterly bewaile his owne sinnes and cry mightily vnto God for Christ his sake, to remove his wrath, and heale the land / by William Spurstowe sometimes fellow of Katherine Hall in Chambridg [sic], and now pastor of Hackney near London.	Spurstowe, William, 1605?-1666.	1643 (1643)	Wing S5094; Thomason E64_2	20,339	37

mans judging of himselfe First in accusing himselfe he is to be coelestis et fidelis Dei orator contra seipsum as Parisiensis speakes a heavenly and faithful pleader for God against himselfe he is to set out his sinnes with those particular aggravations that have run into them and doe truly greaten them in Gods sight for as in Greek we doe not vsually pronounce according to to the long or short Syllable but accorditg to the Accent so in sinne God doth not alwayes judg the greatnes from the Fact but from the circumstances with which it is committed or as in matter of Grace God doth not weigh it by the Scale but tries it by the touch-stone so in sinne God doth not weigh it by the bulke but by the ingreadients A sinne of a lesser magnitude committed with light with love stirres vp and provokes God more then a greater sinne with reluctancy passion or surprizall for gravius est peccatum diligere quam committere it is far worse to be in love with sinne then to commit it as Gregorie well saith Secondly In condemning a mans selfe he is to passe a severe Sentence against himself by acknowledging that God may justly let him sinke in the middest of his rebellions without casting forth a new cord of mercie to help or save thus did the humble Prodigall Luke 15. 18. 19. I have sinned against Heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy Sonne Now in the doing of these there is a double good that the sinner gets in the accusing of himselfe he puts Sathan that is the great accuser of the Brethren quite out of office he can lay no more to his charge then he hath already layed to his owne in condemning himselfe he puts God out of office as I may so speake who will not judge them that have judged and sentenced themselves 1. Cor. 11. 31. But to speake more distinctly of this first part of confession viz selfe accusation give me leave to propound three particulars about it Three partic in selfe accusat First the Inditement and charge that a man prefers against himselfe it must be speciall and not generall Confession with many is reckoned to be well enough done when that some few such overlie expressions drop from their lips as that they are sinners God help them and who is not and they are heartily sorry for what they have done but if you descend to particulars run over the whole Law and they plead not guilty Images they defie sweare they do not and for Church they come with the first and goe with the last as for repentance if you aske them wherin it lyes they answer not much vnlike him in Quintilian Quintil. inst l. 2. c. 11. who being demanded what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was replyed truly he could not tell but if it were any thing to the purpose he was sure it was in his Declamation what repentance and sorrow for sinne is they cannot tell but sure they are they have long agoe repented for their sinnes But how wide such acknowledgments are from that exact confession which the Scriptures call for the practice of repenting sinners doth abundantly evince How often is David vpon his knees in confessing his murther his adulterie what an Historie doth Nehemiah make of Israels sinnes in his prayer to God Neh. cap. 9. how particularly doth Paul describe his madnesse against the Church his blasphemies against Christ and all to this end that themselves may be more ashamed and God the more glorified In sinnes indeed of ignorance God is pleased to accept of confession in the generall and in the lumpe but for sinnes of knowledge he lookes that they be brought in as distinct debts and vrged in our confessions as so many new Inditements against our selves Seconly as we are to charge particulars vpon our selves so also among them to single and cull out our principall and cheife sinnes streading them before God with all their aggravations As Phisitions in their Anatomie Lectures though the whole body lye before them yet they read cheifely upon some more noble and Architectonical parts the braine the heart the stomach or the like so in our humiliations though we bring the whole body of sinne and death into Gods presence yet are we to dwell andinsist cheisly vpon those corruptiōs which have a greater transcendency of evill in them above others As for instance vpon our vnbeleife which is a mother sinne and carries a thousand others in the wombe of of it vpon your wordly mindednesse which takes of the strength of all our affections from God and pitcheth it vpon the creature like to an ill spleene that robs the body of it's best norishment to feed it selfe Vpon the breaking of our solemne Covenants made and renewed with God a sinne which above many others hath helped to vnsheath the Sword of God against vs and to let forth that dispeasure and indignation of the Lord which burnes like a fire that will not be quenched Thirdly In Confession we are to charge vpon our selves those powerfull stirrings of lust which spring from the sinfull frame and constitution of our nature and derive a venome to everie action that comes from us sin being in the facultie as poyson in the Fountaine that sheds infection into everie thing that proceedes from it And this is it which begets an indisposition of heart to holy services that in our prayers damps our zeale fervencie humiliation selfe abhorrency that in our meditations makes vs roving and vnsetled driving to no poynt or issue like a ship in a tempest that tosses much and sayles little that in our converse mingles much levitie frowardnesse vnfaithfullnesse in a word that is it which though it doe not make our holy duties sinnes and so hatefull to God as our Adversaries slander vs Bellarm. de justif lib. 4. cap. 10. yet doth contribute such a vitiousnesse as a foule channel doth to cleane water to everie thing that proceeds from vs as that God may justly charge vs for mixing our sin with his grace and throw all our best workes as dung in our faces Great reason is there therefore that we should both accuse our selves for this pravity and deordination of nature and before God condemne and sentence our selves for the cursed fruites that flow from it which is the second branch of true confession that is breifly to be vnfolded This selfe condemnation lyeth in two things First in acknowledgment that the vmost wrath and severitie of God is justly due to such sinnes as we have fallen into for though a justified person by his transgressions doe not de facto become subject to the wrath and vengence of God being a person priviledged and exempted from the maledictions of the law yet they doe de merito make such a person lyable to death for the covenant of grace doth not nullifie the merit of sinne but causeth that sinne shall not

actually condemne and exclude such a person from salvation So that a regenerate man when he hath sinned against God may truly say as the Prodigal did Luke 15. 18. I have sinned against heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy Sonue Yea it is his duty in such a manner to sentence the merit of his sinnes that he may the more abundantly admire the riches and fulnesse of that grace that hath delivered him from so heavie a curse Secondly In selfe condemning we must confesse that the smart and chastisements from God which for sinne at any time we lye vnder are exceeding just and righteous Hath God withdrawen from any of vs the light of his countenance because of our sinnes and turned his smiles into frownes hath he sealed vp our lips straitned our spirit hath he kindled a fire in our bones hath he blastour estate hath he put gall into our contentments and made life it selfe a sore and heavie burthen vnto vs yet must we give glory vnto god and say as the Church did in the height of all it's afflictions the Lord our God is righteous in all his workes for we have not obeyed his veyce Dan. 9. 14 I come now to the manner how the duty of confession is to be performed and that consists of of divers ingredients and qulifications Five Qualific in a true Confession First a genuine confession of sinne must be performed with a great measure of selfe abasing and selfe humbling The Leaper in the Law Lev. 13. 45. was prescribed to have such a carriage and behaviour as might most clearely expresse his shame and sorrow for such sins as had drawn so heavy hand of God vpon him he was to goe with his garments rent that all might see and behold his leaprosie with his head bare to typisie what a servant of servants he had been what a drudge to his lusts and the will of the flesh with his lip covered to expresse as some of the Hebrewes say that he was fit for no companie or friendly salutes but to sit and mo●…e alone to crie vncleane vncleane thereby to proclaime his owne miserie and forwarne others that they approach him not least they be defiled by touching him this deportment of the Leaper some of the Antients have thought to be a lively embleme of a penitent and broken sinner who when he come before God to acknowledge his vilenesse is to vse all meanes and to take all advantages of abasing and shaming himself in his presence Vide Mendoc in lib. 1. Reg. cap. 7. Num. 6. Annot. 25. he is in some measure to afflict his body in the laying aside all ornaments he is to confesse his vassalage to his 〈◊〉 in whose service his hands and his heart have bin so much hardned he is to mourne as one that deserves to have none to be a comforter he is with doubled and loud confessions to crie out before God and man that he is as an vncleane thing and all his righteousnesses are as filthy ragges Isaiah 64. 6. Secondly true confession as it debaseth a sinner so must it exalt and set vp God In this worke God and a sinner are like unto quantitas discreta and quantitas continua the one of which may be infinitely diminished and the other infinitely increased Gods mercy in bearing pardoning healing that may be highned and exalted without bounds and man wretchednesse and basenesse that may be so aggravated as to make him worse then nothing Both these things doth Nehemiah excellently performe in that confession which he makes in the behalfe of the Church which is all interchangeably woven and interstreaked with an holy exalting of Gods goodnesse and a serious acknowledgment of their vilenesse He begins cap. 9. ver 7. to ver 16. with a pithie and sweet abridgment of Gods goodnes to Israel made knowne in eminent deliverances pretious mercies and strange miracles then he subjoynes their ill requitall of this his love from ver 16. to ver 19. then from ver 19. to ver 26. he declares a new how good God was to them when they had been thus evill to him and then againe addes their inflexablenesse and disobedience vnder all his continued goodnesse And thus like checker worke in white and blacke in a narration of Gods mercies and Israels vnthankefulnesse he continues his prayer vnto the end Thirdly a true Confession must be voluntarie Pij non trahuntur ad tribunal dei sed sponte accedunt holy men prevent summons in Gods Court and resolve vp on a voluntarie appearance they are active in this worke and not passive Wicked men when God awakens their consciences in their bosome and makes the smell of the brimstone and the fire of Hell to come up into their nostrils when their soule is sitting upon their lips and ready to take it's flight into an other world will then happily crie out of their sinnes and seeke pardon which in their lives they have dispised but all this is like the howling devotion of some desperate mariner in a storme which is not at all out of aflection but out of feare which will in the end be as farre from peace as it is at the present from trueth it is the voluntarie penitent that finds mercie and not he qui ad delinquendum exporrigit frontem ad confitendum contrahit Tertul. as Fourthly a true confession it must be reall and sinceare It must be a worke of the heart and not of the lips else though we be much in the dutie we shall reape litle of the fruite of it Sinceritie is that which in everie service obtaines the blessing but especiall● in this when an humbled soule lies in the middest of darkenesse as in a dungeon sinceritie in it's prayers in it's confessions is as a chinke to let in some beames of light and hope when as all shewes and pretenses without it in any kind whatsoever are but like windowes fastned vpon a thicke wall that though they contribute beautie to the building and seeme specious to the beholder without doe yet transmit no light to the dweller within Fiftly a true confession must exclude a willing returne to sinne againe Among many names which Parisienses gives to confesion this is one he cals it spiritualis vomitus spirituall vomit whereby the burthened soul doth ease it selfe like an overcharged stomake by getting vp that which lies hard and indigested upon it Now it is the part of a dogge to take up his vomit and not of a man much lesse of a christian Oh therefore take heed what you doe that are exercised in the weighty duties of this Day doe not turne your fastings and confessions into a lye by to morrowes loose living contradict not the words that have gon forth out of your mouthes by a fresh practice of such sinnes which you have now engaged your selves to relinquish let no lust that you have professed this day to be a thorne in your sides be