Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	decay_n	young_a	youth_n	18	3	7.5044	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A94071	XXXI. select sermons, preached on special occasions; the titles and several texts, on which they were preached, follow. / By William Strong, that godly, able and faithful minister of Christ, lately of the Abby at Westminster. None of them being before made publique.	Strong, William, d. 1654.	1656 (1656)	Wing S6007_pt2; Thomason E875_1; ESTC R203660	179,143	303

Oh how it damps lust brings down strong holds of sin overcomes all their reasonings and unsettles a mans former sinful peace that the bed is too short and the covering too narrow the man cannot lie down as formerly under a refuge of lies his sweet morsels now are not sweet to him but his mouth is filled with gravel As to have seen the River Iordan to run backward in its own channel and to see the Sun to go back in its own orb it was a mighty word that must do this to see that the fire could not burn in the furnace of Babylon and yet their natures with their natural properties still to be continued even so mighty a work there is upon the souls of unregenerate men but for a Law to come forth from the Lord and that very word to be written upon the heart and to be put in there as an indelible character never to be blotted out though indeed sin may soyl it and blur it yet it can never be blotted out nor obliterate 2 Cor. 3.2,3 that the conscience shall stand in awe of it that a man shall not dare do any thing that is contrary to it as Psal 119. My heart stands in awe of thy word that though he had never so great an inclination within and never so violent temptations without that he cannot get the authority of it off from his spirit and not only to do this by force but willingly and cheerfully thy Commandments are my delight that he loves the Law of God and delights in it according unto the inward man if a man should come and speak to a Marble and with his voice thereby words should be written so that they could never be blotted out again we would say this were a mighty voice there is the same power put forth when the Lord Jesus is in the middle of his people giving Laws unto their consciences as the King upon his Throne when the Law comes from Christ upon his throne it puts a kind of moral impossbility upon the man that he saies How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God! we can do nothing against the truth but for the truth we cannot but speak the things that we have heard and seen there is an inward impulse of spirit that a man cannot do otherwise as it is in the Law of sin it doth so command the man that the man cannot do otherwise because there is a Law within him and that hath the commanding power over the man that though sometimes they would strive or give any thing it were otherwise yet they cannot resist it there is amoral impotency he is not able to resist the doing of evil Thirdly it is a Throne of grace and therefore it is commonly so called Heb. 10.22 Let us come with boldness unto the throne of grace a King upon his throne doth pronounce pardon and give gifts and therefore when the Lord Jesus did enter into his glory and take possession of his Kingdom thed he did shed abroad his Spirit abundantly but it did come from the King upon his throne then he doth delight to give gifts as a King and to shew mercy as a King First sitting on his throne he doth dispence the greatest gifts from it it is from his presence in his Ordinances that he doth dispence the spirit Rev. 4.5.14 the seven spirits are before the throne it is not spoken of the person of the Spirit for that is but one but of the gifts of the spirit which because they are many therefore for their variety their multiplicity and their perfection are said to be seven spirits therefore there they are to be dispenced by Christ at his pleasure but it is as he sits upon the throne that he doth it Rev. 2.21 The River of the water of life clear as Chrystal proceeded out of the Throne of God and of the Lamb By this all light is meant for Doctrine is compared unto water as corrupt doctrine to a flood Rev. 12. and also all grace is compared unto water Rev. 4.6 there was before the throne a Sea of glass clear as Chrystal so now it is cleared again those Doctrines that had been mudded and darkned under Popery and by all the smoak that arises out of the bottomless pit now they begin to clear again and there is no mudd in them c. the spirit is given by the hearing of faith Gal. 3.2 that is by the preaching of the doctrine of faith for faith is there put for the doctrine of faith as also that place contend earnestly for the faith that was once given to the Saints it is therefore in vain for men to expect spiritual gifts and graces anywhere else for it is only from the King upon his throne and the seven spirits are only to be found before the throne if a man had gone into any other Pool then Bethesda and expected the moving of the water it had been no wonder if he had returned ashamed and if the Israelites will go out to gather manna upon the Sabboth day when the Lord told them it should not fall it is no wonder if they found none and so it is with all that will go out of Gods way and Christs way and yet will expect the influences of the spirit and that the Angel should move the waters and that they shall find manna though the Lord hath told them the contrary c. they shall but sow the wind and reap the whirlwind Secondly it is upon a throne that he doth grant pardon Zech. 6.13 he shall be a Priest upon his throne both the offices of a King and Priest shall meet in one person and they shall both concur unto the same eminent and glorious ends which shall be peace both the making of peace and the speaking of peace as the Priest under the Law was to offer the sacrifice to procure peace and as King he doth speak peace he sends a Messenger one of a thousand to declare to a man his righteousness if a man had a pardon from a thousand subjects it would do him no good but when the King sitting upon his throne shall give him a pardon then he saith that his soul is delivered from going down into the pit when a man comes into the presence of Christ and sees his glory and hath a discovery made to him and he sees his name written in the heart of Christ though Christ come as a Judge sitting upon his throne and his soul is set before him either to be accused or condemned and Christ saith be of good cheer thy sins be forgiven eat thy meat and drink thy wine with a merry heart for God accepts thy works let his soul be delivered from death for I have found a ransom hereupon the man revives and his flesh comes again as the flesh of a young child and he doth return unto the dayes of his youth and walks no more drooping under his own darkness that made his strength

decay and made him grow old in his youth now he grows young when he is old renews his strength as the Eagle and Rev. 16.17 the voice from the throne saies It is done Fourthly it is a Throne of Judgement for out of the throne comes thunderings and lightenings and voices Rev. 4.5 there do not only mercies and graces ascend upon the Saints but there are also very terrible things against the enemies of Christ and these Judgements are either temporal or spiritual either upon the enemies of Christ or upon the Saints First upon the enemies of Christ there are great Judgements that proceed out of the throne he did deliver Iudas unto Satan in an Ordinance when he stood upon his throne and so he doth bind men over unto wrath for his sitting on this throne of Iudgement is but a praeludium to the Iudgement that he shall pronounce against his enemies in the great day Isa 6.10 Go make the hearts of this people fat and make their ears heavy of all Iudgements none are like spiritual Iudgements And also great temporal Iudgements Rev. 8.3,5 there was a golden Altar before the throne and from the incense offered upon that Altar there came forth thunderings and lightenings and voices and earth-quakes c. this is all the Trumpets of Iudgement that sounded against the Churches enemies they did all come forth of the throne though the prayers of the Saints did procure them and all the ruines and over-throws that ever have befalen the enemies of Christ and the Gospel have proceeded from this throne when God is exalted amongst his people and let us comfort our selves with this the Lord raigns for ever he doth still sit upon the same throne of Iudgement and therefore so long as he sits upon his throne he will scatter away every evil thing as it is said Prov. 20.8 A King that sitteth on his throne of Iudgement seatters away all evil with his eyes c. let what enemies there will arise they shall fall by the thundring and lightning and voices that come from this throne Secondly against Gods own people for his throne is established by righteousness and therefore he will not spare his own people when he is in the middle of them but as he doth delight himself in their graces and therefore loves to be in the middle of them so he will punish their corruptions also and there are some spiritual Iudgements for them also Rev. 2.4,5 Yet I have something against thee because thou hast lost thy first love and I will come against thee quickly except thou repent and will remove thy Candlestick from thee which is the greatest spiritual Iudgement that can befall a people that though they that were godly should continue godly still and they could never be cast out of the number of the invisible Church yet they shall be looked upon as a visible Church unto Christ no more but he will take away the Ordinances and will depart from them and they shall fade away in their iniquities and so for temporal Iudgements also as sickness yea and temporal death it is a sentence that the Lord Iesus doth pronounce from his Throne 1 Cor. 11.30 For this cause many of you are sick and weak many of you fall afleep yet they are therein chastised of the Lord that they might not be condemned with the world it is done in mercy and not in wrath in much compassion unto their souls doth the Lord lay affliction upon their bodies yea even unto death it self for they that are embraced with everlasting loving kindness may sometimes dye under a temporal displeasure as it seems Iosiah did and so have many other Saints Vse First be exhorted to see Christ as present upon the throne for without this you come not to him but unto the duty he doth call unto you behold me behold me that worship that is terminated in any thing below him is a false worship and that faith also that doth not raise the soul up to him is a feigned faith but what are the signs of his presence how should a man know whether he be present or no these three things being premised you may try whether you have ever found him thus present c. First the Lord is present unto no unregenerat men in their duties they that live without God do pray without God and they fast without God therefore they must first desire his presence unto their conversion for as I have often told you an unregenerate mans services are no more accepted by God then when he swears or lyes c. for his services proceed from the same principle that his sins do c. Secondly God is not alwaies present unto the Saints but he doth sometimes withdraw himself as the Spouse complains My beloved hath withdrawn himself they seek him but they find him not he doth hide his face and he doth cover himself with a cloud that though they seek the Lord yet he is a stranger unto them if they walk in the waies of sin c. Thirdly even when he is present to the Saints yet he is not present to all of them in the same measure some have a fuller presence of God and a clearer discovery as some have a clearer Revelation of his mind so some have a clearer discovery of his presence then others in this life and it is so with the Saints even in glory that they behold his face continually yet they have divers degrees of glory some have a more full and perfect discovery of God then others have When God is present to the Saints here First the heart will be over-awed there is nothing will over awe the heart but Gods presence how dreadful is this place saies Iacob he had a discovery of God to him as present with him and it made the very place fearful to him the heart of man is very fearless of God naturally when a man doth come into the presence of God without Consideration and goes out of his presence without fear it is a sign that God was not present Secondly if God be present thy heart will be carried out to loath thy self for he that sees God in his glory will surely abhor himself in dust and ashes Iob 42.5,6 and will see himself undone there is no soul that ever enjoyed the presence of God but it makes him nothing of himself and so do the glorious Angels in heaven God is all in all unto them and they are in themselves nothing Thirdly if the Lord be present with thee thy heart will fall in love with him and thou wilt be carried out in admiration of him when a man sees the beauty of God and his glory in the Sanctuary a man would dwel there for ever he would dwel in the house of the Lord all the dayes of his life conversing with God and he would not be weary but it is wearisom to converse with duties only Moses was not weary when he was in the Mount