Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	covenant_n	law_n	sin_n	4,869	5	5.4906	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13271	Sermons by Humph. Sydenham late fellow of Wadham Colledge in Oxford; Sermons. Selected sermons	Sydenham, Humphrey, 1591-1650?	1630 (1630)	STC 23572; ESTC S118102	72,609	144

And as thou hast established the clouds and strengthned the fountaines of the deepe bound vp the flouds from ouerflowing and giuen them thy command that they shall not passe but placed the sand as a wall about them by a perpetuall Decree and though the waues thereof toss themselues Ier. 5.22 yet can they not preuaile though they roare yet can they not swell ouer so all those tossing and swellings of flesh and bloud the surges and billowes rising in the tempests of our life Iob. 38.10 11. haue their cliffes and shoares strict limits and God hath done to them as to the great deepe brake vp for them his decreed place and set baries and doores and said hither you shall come no further here shall your proud waues stay for tu posuisti dies thou hast made our dayes and those dayes but a span-long tu constituisti terminos thou hast appointed our bounds and those bounds wee shall not passe Pineda in cap. 14. Iob. And therefore the afflicted man seeme's to complaine of the Almightie that hee had inuironed him terminis suis with his bounds that is praeceptis suis statutis with his precepts and his statute such orecep saud statutes as he cannot abrogate so in the eight of the Prouerbs 29. the Wiseman speaking of the mightie prouidence of God in ruling and ordering the vast deepe sayes Iegem ponebat aquis hee gaue the waters a law or a decree that they should not passe his command and yet the singer of Israel call's this very law a bound thou hast set a bound that they cannot passe Psal 104 9 so that that terminus or bound was a law to them and this lex or decree a bound to vs and neither this bound nor law to be ouer-past and therefore we find it once againe spoken of in the 148. Psalme and there is a non praeteribit to it it shall not passe away passe away No not one iot or tittle of it Heauen and earth shall first passe away before one iot or tittle either of Gods Word or Law his posuit or his constituit his bound or his span-long which are a law to him a law irreuocable both in matters of life and death And therefore this necessitie of fate Saint Paul expresseth by the name of a law with a statutum est and a semel statutum est it is appointed to man to die and it is once appointed Statutum est there is the law or the decree and the semel once sayes that this law is firme constant inviolable for God speake's once and he speake's but once Pinedain cap. Iob. vt iterato pracepto opus non sit saith Pineda that we should not expect any iteration or doubling of his command And therefore in the seuenteenth of the Acts we haue though not this statutum est the law punctually set downe yet wee haue the statuta tempora the times prefixt for the execution of that law so the text God hath made of one bloud all the nations of men and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation which they cannot passe the six and twentieth verse of that Chapter And least we should thinke times determined to be no law our death which is a thing determined and to a time determined is call'd a Testament or a Law Remember that death will not bee long in comming and that the Couenant or Law of the graue is not shewed vnto thee Ecclus 14.12 So that this businesse of death and the graue is a law certaine and prefixt both for the time and manner and that beyond all possibilitie of alteration and therefore whether we stile it a decree or a statute or a law or a testament or a bound Pin. ibid. or this span-long Semper dicis aliquid quod praeteriri non poterit sayes the Iesuite there is something inuolu'd that is both constant and inuiolable whose rampiers and walls and bulwarkes thou shalt neuer scale nor digge through for 't is the Almighties Citadell and strong fort so garrison'd and intrencht by his eternall power and wisdome the doores and gates of it so barrocade'd and blockt-vp against all inuasions of flesh and bloud that no earthly stratagem no temporall assault no humane policie shall euer raze or demolish but it stand's vnshooke against all tempests firme against all batteries solid against all vnderminings so that if the flouds rise and the windes blow and the waues beat they shall neuer stagger it Seeing then there is a Statutum est past vpon all mankinde that it must once die and that statute is not rough though it be sometimes vnpleasing to die once so wee die no more for a double death is our due though not our pay and knowing that there are precise bounds and limits and span-longs to flesh and bloud beyond which it cannot passe and these bounds and spans and limits haue the Inscription of Gods vnalterable Decree with the authoritie of his stampe and seale his posuit and his constituit let vs take vp the prayer here of our Psalmist Aug. in Psal 38. Lord make me to know mine end and the number of my dayes what it is the number what it is est non est saith Saint Augustine The measure of our dayes you haue had in an exact proportion in this span-long but the number of them Aug ibid. is both secret and vncertaine it is and it is not truly Nec esse possumus dicere quod nòn stat nèc nòn esse quod venit transit saye's the father we cannot properly say that that is which remaynes not nor that is not which comes and goes Dayes past and future are as no dayes Yesterday was and to morrow will be and so now are not and of such things as are not there is no number to-day only is man's and this not long his neither for it is going or if it did not goe it is but one day and of that there is no number neither so that the totall here aut nòn est aut quasi est is either no number at all or Aug. vt supra as it were a number Summe vp all the minutes and houres thou canst and those truly and thine owne thou shalt make vp but one day and that day wholly not thine owne neither Let 's begin from the first dawne or houre of it where is that houre saith the father 't is gone where is the second then perchance thou wilt say that 's gone too but the third doubtlesse thou enioy'st that 's thine owne Aug. ibid. be it so and yet si tertiam dabis non diem sed horam dabis Doest thou talke then of number that hast but a day or of a day that hast but one houre an houre not that neither not that very houre thou think'st thou enioy'st for if some part of it bee now past and another as yet remayning and of that which is past thou

he will not so much as enioyne his Philemon but labours with an Obsecro when he might haue vs'd a Mando Though I might be much bold in Christ to enioyne thee yet for loue 's sake I rather beseech thee Phil. 7.8 So that where Loue is there is still an Obsecro where it is not there is commonly a Damno Hence 't is that the Pulpit is so often the Mount of Terror and of Vengeance the Throne of personall eiaculations the Altar where some belch nothing but fire and brimstone vomit the Ite maledicti too vncharitably and which is worst too particularly who scare and terrifie when they should entreat and in stead of Beseeching fall to Reuiling Rom. 12.11 who vnder a pretence of feruency of the Spirit and seruing the Lord sincerely ransacke God's dreadfull Artillery and call out all his Instruments of Iustice to assist them his furbisht sword and glittering speare his bowe of steele and sharpe-set arrowes his horse with warre-like trappings neighing for the battell his smoaking iealousie and deuouring pestilence his flaming meteors and horrid earth-quakes his storme his whirle-wind and his tempest flouds and billones and boylings of the deepe his cuppe of displeasure and vials of indignation his dregs of fury and besome of destruction his haile stones and his lightnings his coales of Iuniper and hot thunder-boles Thus in fearefull harnesse hauing muster'd vp all God's Iudgements in a sull volly they at once discharge them against the pretended corruptions of particular men whom their virulence labours rather to traduce then their Deuotions to reforme And this is but a spirituall-distraction a deuout phrenzy a holy madnesse through which like the Lunaticke in the Gospell they fall sometimes into the water Marke 9.22 sometimes into the fire Nothing will satisfie them but flouds and flames flouds to o'er-whelme the sinner or flames to martyr him But Quis furor ô ciues quae tanta dementia Publicke reproofes when they are cloath'd with Terror not onely disparage but dis-hearten They breake the bruizedreede Esay 42.3 and quench the smoaking flaxe run many on the shelues of despaire where they make an vnhappy shipwracke of their faith and not of their faith onely but of their body also exposing it to poyson or the knife to strangling or to the floud to the wilfull precipitation of some Towre or Cliffe or the vnnaturall butchery of their owne hands and so tormenting the body for the soule by a temporall death at length they feele the torments both of soule and body by an eternall death Thus if Incisions bee made too deepe in the vlcers of the Soule and the spirituall wound search'd too roughly it more relishes of cruelty then of Loue and he that doth it rather preaches his owne sinne then endeuours to cure anothers Qui delinquente superbo vel odioso animo corrigit Jsid lib. 3. de summo Bono cap. 91. non emendat sed percutit Rebukes which taste of enuie or superciliousnesse do not reforme but wound and in stead of lenifying and making more tractable indifferent dispositions they stubborne them knowing that reproofes too tartly season'd are the seruices of Spleene and not of Zeale 't is call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zeale from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the seething and boyling of a pot Now a pot you know not temperatly fir'd boyles ouer and certainely if Moderation sometimes blow not the Cole but wee make virulence the bellowes of our zeale it not onely seeths and rises to passion and distemper but boyles ouer to Enuy and Vncharitablenesse And therefore our Apostle deuiding the properties of true Charity from a false zeale makes this one Symptome of that great vertue Charitas non aemulatur Estius in 1. Cor. cap. 13.3 Cyp. lib. de zelo Linore 1 Cor. 13.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Originall non zelat That is as Cyprian reades non inuidet enuies not for zeale in her perfection and as it leanes to vertue is but emulation but screw'd vp to vice 't is enuy Enuy Nay 't is fury Isid lib. 3. de summo Bono cap. 91. Quicquid proteruus vel indignans animus protulerit obiurgantis furor est non dilectio corrigentis saith the Father what in way of Admonishment passion produces is Reuiling and not admonishment and doth not touch so properly on sincerity as malice And therefore Enuies and Euill-speakings are link'd with Guile and Hypocrisie By Saint Peter Lay aside all guile Hypocrisies and Enuies and euill-speakings 1 Pet. 2.1 A temperate reproofe will mould and worke vs to reformation when an Inuectiue fires vs In cap. 5. Luae Illa pudorem incutit Haec indignationem mouet saith Ambrose That touches vs with remorce and slumbers and becalmes all passion This kindles our Indignation and with that our stubbournesse For certainely harsh speeches doe not so properly moue as startle vs and are like sharpe sawces to the stomacke which though they sometimes stirre the appetite yet they gnaw And for this Error some haue censur'd Saint Chrysostome himselfe That if He could haue moderated his zeale and temper'd his reproofes with a little mildnesse especially to the Empresse Eudoxia He might haue done more seruice to his Church and rescued his honour from the staine both of Imprisonment and Exile I presse not this so farre Beloued to fat and pamper vice or rocke and lull men in a carelesse sensuality Though I doe Beseech yet I would not fawne This were to kill our young with colling them and with the Iuie barren and dead that tree which we embrace I know a Boanerges is sometimes as well requir'd as a Barnabas a sonne of Thunder as of Consolation But these haue their vicissitudes and seasons There is an vncircumcised heart and there is a Broken Spirit There is a deafe Adder that will not be charm'd and there are good Sheepe that will heare Christ's voyce For these there is the spirit of Meekenesse for the other loud and sharpe Reproofes If Nabal's heart be stony the Word is call'd a Hammer let that batter it If Israel haue a heart that is contrite and wounded Gilead hath Balme in it and there is oyle of comfort for hïm that mournes in Sion Thus as our Infirmities are diuers so are the cures of the Spirit sometimes it terrifies sometimes it Commands sometimes it Beseeches But let not vs terrifie when we should but Command nor Command when wee should Beseech lest wee make this Liberty a Cloake for our Maliciousnesse 1. Pet. 2.16 In all exhortations first make vse of the still voyce and if that preuaile not Cry alowd vnto the Trumpet and if that be not shrill enough raise the Thunder-clap Aug. lib. 2. de sermone Domini in monte se●m 1. But this latter Rarò magnâ necessitate saith Augustine seldome and vpon great necessity Ità tamèn vt in ipsis etiam obiu● gatienibus non nobis sed Deo seruiatur intestinus If we must needs