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death_n eternal_a sin_n world_n 6,625 5 4.7198 4 false
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A43704 A sermon preached before the Queen, at White-Hall, on Sunday, Octob. 2, 1692 by Charles Hickman ... Hickman, Charles, 1648-1713. 1692 (1692) Wing H1901; ESTC R18595 11,711 33

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is has told us upon what terms we must live and prosper See I have set before you life and good and if after this we will venture upon Evil we our selves are answerable for the Event and 't is but just that God should take the forfeiture Death and Evil we know must go together unless we can separate them by our Repentance which it self is a death unto sin and a greater evil than we know how to bear 'T is sufficient that we see our way before us that we ly no longer under any dark uncertainties any dismal suspense but our work is laid open to our hands and our reward is ready for us Our work itself is very good and our reward is exceeding glorious but if we resist these gracious offers and still persist in a senseless provokeing course of Life we deserve the severest punishment not only for our sin but for our obstinate folly too These are the things which the Law of God daily sets before us and if the charms of goodness cannot draw us yet one would think the terrours of Evil should drive us into Vertue What would we not do to purchase Eternal Life What would we not suffer to escape Eternal Death What should we do but renounce our Sins what should we suffer but this reasonable Divorce and then the thing is done and what does God require of us but those very things which our own reason requires of us too things that are most suitable to our nature and most likely to promote our happiness in this World though we had no expectation of a World to come when it is so easy a thing to prosper who would take such pains to be undone when it is in our own choice to live Why will ye dy O house of Israel The reason is plain we are deeply engaged Body and Soul in another interest our Lusts by a long familiarity have so endeared themselves unto us that we know not how to part We are so ty'd and bound with the Chain of our Sins that when God calls us to Repentance we are not able to move a step Not able That is indeed we are not willing to advance we have such a load of iniquity upon us that we think it more easy to ly down and dy than to shake off our deadly weight and live But if we seriously consider'd what it was to dy we should quickly be of another mind When Death with his cold frozen hands lays hold upon us and is dragging us out of a soft sinful Bed into an uncomfortable Dungeon a noisome Grave then all our heats will be abated and we shall repent indeed and wish that we had repented sooner before 't was too late to be reform'd Let us consider this in time now that it is fairly set before us and 't is in our power to make our choice And if we see that wicked men find it so difficult to dis-engage themselves that the prospect of Death it self with all its terrours cannot affright them from their Sins let us beware of the dreadful Example let us beware how we admit a Guest into our Bosom who is like to stick so fast upon us and brings after him such a deadly train Let us keep him at a religious distance and superstitiously avoid his sight Let us enter into no Parly or Combination with him but maintain the integrity of our Soul as we would do our Soul it self and stand in aw of Sin as much as Death If we have unfortunately let him in and the Enemy has already got some advantage of us let us redeem our selves in time and use all diligence to dispossess him though he has ty'd and bound us never so fast yet one vigorous resolution may break the Chain it is but resolving to be free and then by the help of our Redeemer we shall be so And have we no sense of Life and Liberty and Happiness shall one vain foolish Lust weigh down all the considerations of Eternity surely there is some Witchcraft in this Sin and we are not so much perswaded by it as possess'd but in the name of God we will cast it out We will set before us Death and Evil as God himself has set them both together and then there is no danger that we should be impos'd upon for Sin cannot possibly be so much our delight but Death is much more our aversion The very thoughts of it if we can but think at all will take off the relish of our vicious enjoyments and make all our head-strong Passions give way and our empty airy pleasures will fly before it Now that Sin has conceiv'd in the World 't is our Happiness that it has brought forth so deform'd a thing as Death that though the Mother may disguise her self and delude us with false Colours and flattering words yet the foulness of her Off-spring cannot be conceal'd and in the Face of Death we may read the natural deformity of Sin Let us consider this and then let us entertain it if we dare nay let us embrace it if we can for how temptingly soever Sin may look upon us yet Death is a powerful Antidote 't is enough to damp our Spirits and chill our blood and to change not only the inclinations but the very constitution of our Flesh Knowing these terrors of the Lord surely we shall be perswaded considering the sad consequences of sin one would think there should be little or no temptation in it to a thinking Man indeed there is none at all and 't is a wonder that any Man can so far lay his thoughts aside as to hug a slavish gilded Chain to fall in love with a fulsome painted Sepulchre and doze himself in poisonous Wine only because he sees it sparkling in the glass All these are but imaginary Pleasures at the best and yet these are all the Pleasures that a Sinner has and what are all these in comparison of that real substantial eternal Joy which we part with for these trifles sake after such an exchange as this we must never pretend to Judgement or Discretion more We that are so circumspect and wise in the little inferior concerns of Life where is our wisdom in our great Affair where is our circumspection when our whole Happiness is at stake To get a poor livelihood upon earth we can labour and toil hunger and thirst and sweat and starve and applaud our selves for doing so but here we can be content to stand all the day idle and have our thoughts otherwise employ'd and are so far from labouring for life that we will not be at the trouble so much as to look before us Nay for the most part we make it our business to look the quite contrary way What indefatigable pains do we take to gratifie our foolish Lusts when with half the pains we might learn to live much happier without them What violence do we use upon our selves to lay our Souls and Consciences asleep for fear the