Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	curse_n	law_n	sin_n	11,182	5	5.3000	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39386	A sermon preach'd before the societies for reformation of manners in Dublin, October the 4th, 1698 by Tho. Emlyn.	Emlyn, Thomas, 1663-1741.	1698 (1698)	Wing E713; ESTC R29400	18,987	26

a sensible alteration ● mens dialect those Throats that lately were as open Sep● chres sending forth a loathsome stench are now tho' ● painted Sepulchres by assuming any great appearance of Piety yet closed and shut and so do not give that publick offenc● nor are such a common nusance as formerly How great ● Encouragement is this to proceed If we compare these things with the circumstances which as to these matters we were not many years since may tempt us to use Balaam's Expression of Astonishment What hath God wrought What a strange turn is here in 〈◊〉 affairs of our Israel And doubtless if you go on with you● wonted Zeal and especially if the Bulk of serious Christian● who wish you success will promote it by their concurrent ●deavours we may hope for a more general Triumph over th● Kingdom of darkness And can you think of loosing such ● opportunity as this with any peace of mind Verily Sir I tell you many have desired to see these things which yo● see and could not see them many Mourners are gone off th● Stage that would with all their Hearts and Souls have p● their Hands to this blessed Work had there been but suc● Laws such Magistrates and such other encouragements ● you meet with but God did not honour them with su● advantages you are they whom he hath chosen to trust the● choice Talents with should you now after all lose this Se● son as great would be the guilt of neglecting such a price ● your hands so there would remain no hope of ever seei● such another for when once Laws of this nature are l●● asleep by disuse they are seldome awakned to purpose Besides that your Zeal in this City hath this singular a● vantage attending it that it is likely to be influential up●● 〈◊〉 whole Kingdom for as all the Blood in man's body cir 〈◊〉 th●● the heart and is there envigorated so most of ●● Kingdom by turns have recourse to their Metropolis where they who are slack in this work may by your Zeal be provoked to an imitation and they who are I fear too secure from punishment in the Country may meet with it here it may be to their good and Amendment So that upon all accounts you especially are bound at this time to bestir your ●●lves And I may bespeak you as Hezekiah did the Levites in a work of Reformation too My Sons be not you now negligent for you hath the Lord chosen to serve him Secondly We may justly fear that Profaness wou'd be more ●●pant than ever after this little Check given to it I doubt we should find that the short contradiction it hath found from the late Laws will have had but the same effect as Paul says God's Law once had upon him that is only to irritrate their lusts Rom. 7. So that they will not only be as the dog in returning to their Vomit but also as the dog let loose who is much the fiercer for having been chained If once Evil men burst these bonds and defeat these present attempts who can but tremble to think with what improved insolence recovered Wickedness will Triumph and Insult when once it knows the smallness of your strength to oppose it I may therefore allude to that of St. Peter 2 Epist. 2 Ch. 21 v. and adventure to say It had been better for you never to have begun than now to decline better not to have fought than to give Iniquity the advantage of a Victory by an untimely retreat Thirdly Such a declension of your Zeal will betray an unfoundness in the Principles by which you have already been acted You know that some are apt to say your Zeal is not Fire kindled from Heaven but either from some Personal Quarrel or an hypocritical affectation of Esteem or at best but a Childish fondness for a Novel business which lasts while it looks like a Wonder and then it becomes a weariness Now should you indeed desist in your present circumstances it would encrease the presumption I hope that you are acted by the most No●●e Springs from an awful tenderness for the Honour of God grieved because Men keep not his Law and from a compassio●●●● concern both for Sinners personal and the Nations common good which you have the sagacit● to appreh●● approaching ruine of if Iniquity go uncontroll'd But 〈◊〉 have been your reasons they will yet be of force with 〈◊〉 Is not the name of God and the Publick Good as pr●● now as a few Years since or have not such flagicious 〈◊〉 the same hurtful influence and aspect upon both still 〈◊〉 ware that you cast not a reproach upon all that you have 〈◊〉 hitherto by a voluntary desertion of that Cause which 〈◊〉 you seem'd so warm for remember that a right and just Z●● hath this Character that 't is always and not only for a time Fourthly The unconquer'd obstinacy of Wicked men 〈◊〉 shame and reproach you 't was the Glory of Our Lord 〈◊〉 that when He and the Devil had such a stated Conflict im●● Wilderness the Devil after many vain assaults retreated 〈◊〉 Our Saviour kept the Field as Conqueror But it will be 〈◊〉 great Reproach if in the struggle of this day between 〈◊〉 Servants of these two Chieftans you that are on Christ's 〈◊〉 should first faint and flee especially when you have so m●● the advantage every way the Flagicious Sinner hath God 〈◊〉 his own Conscience to contend with as well as with you 〈◊〉 hath both future and present dangers to discourage him 〈◊〉 that upon the whole it will be strange indeed if he think 〈◊〉 Sins will bear his Charges or quit costs through disgra●● and penalties here and through the Horrours of an en●● Night of darkness hereafter But you have all things to 〈◊〉 courage you God and Conscience the Civil Authority 〈◊〉 Joyful Prospects of Eternal Rewards so that greater is y●● assistance greater your encouragement every way greater 〈◊〉 he that is in you than he that is in them and shall they 〈◊〉 out and you languish You have that have every way the 〈◊〉 vantage of them except you should want it in your 〈…〉 solution Fifthly Consider the great danger that will follow if 〈◊〉 your neglect the Work of Reformation should not be acc●● plish'd What a Train of Calamities did Eli's remissness 〈◊〉 punishing his Vile Sons bring upon the Publick and 〈◊〉 on himself and his posterity after him The 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 habitation the Ark taken Captive and Thirty thousand 〈◊〉 Israel slain is the next news we hear concerning the Pub●● Ch. 4. Then Eli himself dies the death of an unredeemed Ass breaks his neck with a fall after that evil tidings had broken ●is heart his Two wicked Sons are slain in the Battel his Daughter in Law expires in her anguish and grief and all his posterity is left under the Curse and Sentence of Rejection which after the Reign of Saul

and David was executed by Solomon the Vengeance of God follows him after death it self in the Generations to come and all this for the Iniquity he knows of for that Emphatical that heavy Sin of not punishing Scandalous Offenders Oh what an awful warning should this be to Magistrates and People that they incur not the Guilt of it That they do not through negligence or sloth or a foolish Tenderness omit to vindicate the Honour of God from the scorn of Profligate Sinners we wou'd hope to see shortly that Universal Restraint of such as shall be both the Safety and Ornament of our Land but if you and others if Magistrates or People have no heart to do so much for God who knows how soon the Glory may depart from us and we be forced to write I-Chabod on all our Comforts when the weight of some Additional Curse also may fall on them who had special advantages for doing their Duty but did it not Nay yours after you may feel it and the Frowns of God be entail'd on your posterity so provoking a Sin is it not to rise up for God against Evil doers when he sounds an Alarm to the Conflict Nay let me tell you this thing further that your own personal Piety in other relations may be no security to you against Temporal Judgments Eli had himself a mighty Reverence for God with what humble submission doth he adore the Justice of his Threatnings 'T is the Lord let him do what seems good in his sight His heart was set upon the Ark of God That Word the Ark of God is taken knock'd him down dead yet for all this God's Anger was not turned away but his hand was stretched out still No far be it from me to let thee or thine continue in Honour on thee shall be all that contempt and shame which thou should'st have poured upon those Lew'd Wretches and because thou hast let them escape thou shalt not Sixthly But then if on the other hand you are 〈◊〉 in these endeavours how sweet and comfortable will the 〈◊〉 of it be at death and for ever 'T is but a poor Inch of 〈◊〉 we have in which to do our God such Service as this in 〈◊〉 ven are no conflicts between Saints and Sinners there is 〈◊〉 Warfare all is Triumph and Peace no tryal of your Co●● and Patient Resolution 't is in this present Life if ever we 〈◊〉 Honour God in this kind and sure when you are going 〈◊〉 the Stage Conscience will enquire what hath been done 〈◊〉 God and his Interest And the more of Self-denyal the m●● pains hazards and discouragements you have gone throug●● to serve his Honour the sweeter will your Reflections on 〈◊〉 be and with greater confidence will you hope and pray fo●● his Salvation Of this you may see an Instance upon Reco●● in David Ps. 26.24 compared with v. 9. I have not sat wi●● vain persons I have hated the Congr egation of Evil doers O ga●● ther not thou my Soul with Sinners c. Qu. d. Thou Lord that art the Omniscient Witness and shortly wilt be the Final Judge of all my ways knowest that I never loved either the● ways or the company of profane Sinners I have always appeared against them I have checked and discountenanced them they have been a grief to me and I have been an awe and restraint upon them now therefore I pray let not me when I dye go with them with whom I could not endure to live we were never delightful Associates in the world O never let me be their sorrowful Companion in the next and how certain accomplishment must such requests so reasonable and so suitable have You shall go not to such as you grieved at and abhorr'd but to such as you have loved where none shall either offend God or grieve you by their Sin and Folly where shall be no more reforming wor● to do because no more Sin or Blemish no more confl ict because no Enemies of God no more danger or hazard in God's Service because none to oppose Where all your difficulties and discouragements shall be left behind to poor mortals that shall follow after you complaining and groaning through these Black Tents of Kedar when you are free from the woes and vexations thereof And then my Brethren then will come the Crowns and Thrones the Robes and Palms of Victory to adorn them who have with greatest zeal and labour striven against Sin and Satan for God and Holiness Oh who would want these comfortable thoughts upon a dying Bed How much better is this than have Conscience chase thee out of this world into Eternity with such upbraiding clamours as Go thou slothful unprofitable Servant thou unsavory Salt thou Cumberer of the ground thou despised Vessel in which thy God had no pleasure to make any use of But then that you may reflect thus comfortably upon your endeavours you must be directed by such Rules as these 1. Beware that none of you be Guilty of wounding the Honour of God your selves while you pretend to repair the Injuries it receives from others let no man think to compound for any Indulged Crimes of his own by being severe upon those of others you have many Observers let it be your care to disappoint them that watch for your halting the wicked Cham's of the Age will be glad to see the Noah's the promoters of Righteousness Drunk remember that they who reprove the Works of Darkness must have no fellowship with them You will much more freely throw the first stone at others when you are without such Sins your selves 2. See that God's Honour be the end directly designed by you go not along with others meerly for company when you think not why that it may not be said of you as of him whom God Ordained to be the Rod of his Anger to a sinful Nation that you indeed have done what greatly honours God howbeit you mean it not so an explicite vigorous intention to serve your Makers glory is an essential part of such more immediate Service 3. Shew your selves satisfy'd with God's honour for your Reward being ●ar from a proud affectation of human applause or any nauseous discovery of Self-esteem would it not be a sad exchange if God should say they have their reward To lose the approbation and favour of Heaven for the mistaken good opinion of poor Worms Let then the most unaffected humility shew that you love not the praise of Men so much as the praise of God Let no man have occasion 〈◊〉 to Interpret your carriage as if the Language of it were like that of vain-glorious Iehu Come see my Zeal for the Lord. 'T is then an happy case indeed when a man's Face shines as Moses's with the lustre of eminent perfections and himself knows it not or ar least covers them with a Vail of Modesty while you endeavour to be as the lights of the World be like the