Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	flesh_n	life_n	sin_n	9,447	5	4.7537	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A76021	Unum necessarium, or, The great duty of a Christian in two tracts : the one, Of adhering to God, written in Latin, by Albertus Magnus, the other, Of the love of God, written in high- Dutch, by John Staupitz / both faithfully translated into English for the promoting of primitive Christianity.; De adhaerendo Deo. English. 1692	Albertus, Magnus, Saint, 1193?-1280.; Johannes von Kastl, 15th cent.; Staupitz, Johann von, d. 1524.	1692 (1692)	Wing A878; ESTC R42992	62,774	183

any other Source or Spring save only the Benigne Kind and Merciful Will of God even that very self subsisting Essential Love which is God himself Accordingly our hope is not in any degree founded on the Love we have to God nor on the Duties or Services we perform to God or for his sake but is only grounded on the Love which God bears to us and the Works that he himself operates in us This the Apostle St. Paul plainly and openly declares from the High Spirit he had received of God for after that he had spoke to the Romans concerning the comfort of Hope he immediately declares to them from whence the same proceeds saying And hope maketh not ashamed because the Love of God is shed abroad in our Hearts Rom. 5. v. 5. through the Holy Ghost which is given unto us This is the saving Comfort and highest Consolation of Man that out of the inexpressible Love of God the Holy Ghost is given unto him though the Merit of Christ not of his desert as it is written Rom. 5.8 9 10. But God Commendeth his Love towards us in that he died for us whilest we were yet Sinners Forasmuch then as he hath so highly loved us whilst we were yet Sinners as to reconcile us to his Heavenly Father when we did not desire in the least any such thing of him how can it be then that being now reconciled through him to the Father we should not be saved yet not in our own but in his Life For most sure it is that all Life must proceed from one Life as all Death 's proceeded at first from one Death From all which it follows that they are not our own works that can give us comfort so as that from them we should be able to conceive a true and lively hope towards God but they afford us only a comfortable conjecture that this true hope is in us in the very same manner as each fruit points us to the tree upon which it grew It is in this Sense St. Peter tells us 2 Pet. 1.10 that we must be diligent to make our Calling and Election to Eternal Salvation sure by the good Works we do When the Holy Ghost is in any Soul her condition may be compared to water springing out of a Rock Now in this case first there must be water in the Rock for otherwise none could ever spring thence in the next place those hidden springing waters must make a Well before that ever any streams can proceed from them Wherefore as the streams or rivulets lead us to the Well or Spring and the Spring to the hidden Water in like manner do good Works lead us to the Fountain wherein Faith Hope and Love do first spring and these three again lead us to the inward hidden Water even to the Holy Ghost who is the self-subsisting Essential Love of God By this very comparison or Similitude God leads the Samaritan Woman from the Water she drew out of Jacob's Well to that Water which is God himself which through Faith Hope and Love becomes a Well springing up into Eternal Life and flowing forth in the streams of all good Vertues and Graces For the Holy Ghost is the hidden Water Faith Hope and Love are the Spring that make the Well or Fountain and good Works are the Streams or Rivulets Thus you see for a conclusion that no good Work can be in us except the Holy Ghost be there before as hath been already mentioned Now when he dwells in us then is he himself in us that Living Water which becomes in us a Well springing up into Eternal Life through Faith Hope and Love Here thou mayst understand how and in what manner Faith Hope and Love are poured forth or conveighed into our Souls why because the Holy Ghost who is the true Living Water sheds himself abroad in our hearts and so causeth them to flow forth which afterwards farther diffuse themselves into manifold other Vertues and Graces first to those that have them and afterwards also to others that see their Works And lastly as the stream is not the Original of the Spring nor the Spring or Fountain the Original of the hidden Water so neither can our Works be the Original of Faith Hope and Charity nor Faith Hope and Charity be the Original or Cause of the Indwelling of the Holy Ghost CHAP. X. The Love to God that is in us is begotten and born of the Revelation of God's Love towards us NOthing can be conceived more proper and efficacious to beget Love than Love therefore 't is that God then and there only appears most amiable and lovely unto us when his unutterable Love towards us his surpassing Benefits and the Merits of Christ are pourtrayed and imprinted on the heart when in his Light we discover how our Heavenly Father when we were as yet his Enemies gave his only begotten Son to come down into Flesh into this mortal Life yea into the bitterest Suffering and Death for us But now this Revelation Manifestation and Impression on the heart cannot be performed by any one but by God alone who has the hearts of all in his own hand and inclines the Will according to his own pleasure Our dear Lord Christ is that flinty Rock that strikes Fire but yet doth not give it forth except it be forc'd from him with the strong Iron Christ also is the Rock that gives forth Water yet not till it be smitten with Moses's Rod. His Holy Life his Suffering and Death give forth no kindling no inflaming fire except they be stir'd and struck with the eternal unchangeable constant strong Love of God in which he immutably and without repentance has elected those who shall be the Inheritors of his Eternal Joy for no striking helps nor kindles any fire except it fall into the true catching Tinder of those Souls whom God from Eternity hath determined to favour with his Grace to sanctifie and save them For else strike who will the Rock never gives fire and consequently neither doth the Tinder catch it But when God strikes the Rock in the heart of his chosen then it presently gives forth fire then the dead Coals become live Coals the black Tinder looks glorious like the burnish'd Gold and the cold fire becomes shining and flaming in that Love which is kindled by God's Love Thus Love proceeds and springs from Love that is from the Love of God to us proceeds our reciprocal Love to him So likewise neither doth this Rock give forth Water except it be struck with the Rod of Moses ever flowing streams of Grace do not flow from Christ neither doth he appear in the highest degree lovely and amiable friendly and kind in that he was scourged crown'd with Thorns mocked and crucifyed but because the merciful Lord God the true Moses the Great Law-giver of the Law of Love out of pure Love to us or as the Prophet Isaiah chap. 53.5 8. saith for our sakes hath

discharge of which Exercise and Duty will follow the Remission of our Sins the Expulsion of all Bitterness the Collation of Sweetness Peace and Security the infusion of Grace and Mercy the attraction and strengthening of Familiarity and Communion with most abundant Comfort in him and firm cleaving to and Union with him But by no means let us be willing to imitate those who through Hypocrisie and Pharisaical Pride make it their Endeavour to be seen esteemed and to appear more Holy outwardly before Men than the Truth within them bears Witness to which certainly is a piece of the extremest Folly and Madness to desire and long for Humane Praise and Glory from ones self or others when at the same time we are inwardly full of the flickering inticements of this World and most Grievous Sins And certainly whoever pursues these most vain things the foresaid Goods will fly from him and he will fall into Shame and Disgrace Wherefore have thou always before thine Eyes thy manifold Sins and Wickedness and thy unfitness for any thing that is good and endeavour to know thy self that thou mayst be Humbled and don't refuse or be afraid to be esteemed and judged by all as the vilest unworthiest and most abject Off-scouring and Filth because of thy most Grievous Sins and great Iniquities Do thou therefore repute thy self amongst others as Dross amongst Gold as Tares amongst Wheat as Chaff amongst Corn as a Wolf amongst Sheep and as Satan amongst the Sons of God Neither do thou in the least desire to be Reverenc'd or Honour'd by Men or to be preferr'd before others but rather with thy whole Heart and Spirit flee from the Infections of this Pestilence the Poyson of Praise and the Pride of Boasting and Ostentation Psal 10.3 lest the Wicked should be Praised in the desire of his Heart and so be in the condition of those of whom the Prophet faith Isa 3.12 O my People they which call thee Blessed cause thee to erre and overturn the way of thy going or fall under that Curse of our Lord Luke 6.26 Wo unto you when all Men shall speak well of you for so did their Fathere to the false Prophets CHAP. XV. How we may arrive to a thorough Contempt of our selves and how profitable it is THE more therefore that any Man knows his own Vileness the more distinct and clear is his View and Vision of the Divine Majesty and the more Base and Vile any one appears in his own Eyes for God Truth and Righteousness the more Precious he is in the Eyes of God Wherefore let us strive with the total Effort of our desire to think our selves the Vilest of all Men and to believe our selves unworthy of every Benefit to displease our selves and to please God alone and be willing to be judged by others the most inconsiderable and despicable Creatures Moreover let us endeavour not to be moved by any Tribulations Afflictions or Injuries nor to be troubled at those that bring them upon us nor to entertain any hard Thoughts or to have indignation against them but with an even and quiet Mind to believe that we do well deserve all Injuries slightings Chastisements and Derelictions For certainly he who truly Mourns and is Penitent according to God he abhorrs to be Honour'd or Belov'd by others and doth not avoid or refuse to be hated trod upon and wholly despis'd to the end that he may be truly humbled and with a Pure Heart may sincerely cleave to his Lord God alone Now that we may arrive to this Loving of the Lord God alone and the abhorring of our selves above all Things and to the desire of being despis'd by othess there is not required any outward Labour or Health and Strength of Body but rather solitude of Body Labour of the Heart and Quiet of the Mind That by Labour of the Heart and Affection of the inmost Mind we may raise our selves above and Bodily withdraw our selves from these inferious Things and so rise and mount up to those that are Heavenly and Divine For doing this we change our selves into God And this is then chiefly done when we choose from our Hearts without any judging Condemning or Contemning of our Neighbour to be esteem'd by all Men as meer Off-scouring Filth and Reproach yea to be abhorred and trampled upon by all as the Dirt in the Streets rather than to abound in Pleasures and Deliciousness or to be Honoured and lifted up by Men or to enjoy any Corporal and Transitory Health or Advantages Or to desire any other Comfort in this present Mortality and Bodily Life but to Mourn Lament and bewail our Offences Faults and Sins without ceasing perfectly to set at naught and Annihilate our selves and to be esteemed daily still Viler and Viler by others and appear daily more unworthy in our own Eyes That we may please God alone Love him only and cleave unto him Being unwilling to be Affected with any thing save only with our Lord Jesus Christ himself not being sollicitous or careful about any thing but him under whose Rule and Providence all things subsist and have their Course Know then that henceforward it is not for thee to delight thy self but to Mourn with thy whole Heart wherefore if so be thou dost not yet Mourn Mourn for that and if thou dost Mourn Mourn and Lament the more for that thou hast brought upon thy self this Cause of Grief and Sorrow because of thy most Griveous Offences and Infinite Sins For as a Malefactor who receives his Sentence of Death is not concern'd about the ranging of the Sherifs Men or the Multitude of the Spectators So he who in good earnest Mourns and Bewails his Sins cannot give his Mind to Pleasures or Anger or vain Glory or Indignation or any other such like And as the Habitations of Citizens and Condemned Malefactors are very different So the State Manner and Behaviour of those that Mourn for being Guilty of Sins that bind them over and make them obnoxious to Punishment ought to be very different from those who are Innocent and not Guilty For otherwise there would be no difference made between a Guilty and Innocent Person by reward and Punishment and Unrighteousness would be more free than Innocence So that all things are to be denied all things are to be Contemned all things are to be cast away and avoided That with full Faith a good and sure Foundation may be laid for the Sorrow of Repentance Wherefore he that Loves Jesus Christ in Truth and that Mourns after him and that bears him in his Heart and in his Body that truly Mourns for his Sins and Offences and earnestly seeks for the Kingdom to come and in true Faith possesseth the Memory of the Torments of Hell and of Eternal Judgement and imprinteth firmly and perfectly in his Heart the Sense and Fear of his own Death such a one will no farther strive care or be sollicitous about any other thing whatsoever

forasmuch as the Divine Love only flows forth from Gods Love revealed and manifested to us it for the most part happens that we through our vehement earnestness and eager pursuit after her hinder our selves from rellishing her sweet Savour which is best tasted and perceived when we are silent and introverted inwardly attentive when we open our Mouths wide expecting the Heavenly Food when we work or do neither Good nor Evil but attend the Working of the Holy Spirit in us In this manner David hearkned and heard what God spake in him and found him speaking Peace He opened his Mouth wide and experienc'd Gods filling it was silent and waited upon God and received Incomes of Spiritual Strength and Power Ps 81.10.40 1.85.8 For the Almighty VVord saith the Wise King Wisd 18.14,15 comes not down from Heaven his Royal Throne nor suffers it self to be heard till all things be in quiet silence Therefore for a conclusion we must above all things labour and endeavour for inward stillness and quiet of Heart and to reduce our Prayer and other outward and inward Exercises to Rest and Silence that so we may hear the Heavenly Voice of God and perceive his Lovely Motions Thus thou seest how our good God permits himself to be overtaken by a soft or slow Pace but never by Running according as we read concerning the Divine Spouse Cant. 3.1 2 4. c. 5.2 3 4 5 6. That when she laid down on her Bed and had no Desire after her Bridegroom but rather seem'd to be troubled at his knocking yet was this the time he took to manifest himself in all Friendliness and Love towards her whereas when she run out after him he hid himself from her CHAP. XVI The Degrees of the Love of God alter and are changed according to the Will and Pleasure of the Self-subsisting Love of God suitable to what he knows to be most Vseful for Men. TO Love God above all things therefore is a perpetual and constant Work always abiding the same as long as the Lover abides in the true Love yet not always at the same Height or in the same Degree but sometimes more and at other times less as God knows it will be most Profitable for the Beloved Person To Paul was given a thorn in the Flesh an Angel of Satan to buffet him that he might not be exalted above measure by reason of the abundance of Revelations vouchsafed unto him 2 Cor. 12.7 And on the other hand we see the Robber was assured of his part in Paradice Luk. 23.43 and had a clear sight given him that he was a Child of Salvation and was favoured with a joyful Death to the end the Depth of his Sins might not overwhelm him At one time Paul crys out Rom. 7.24 O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from this Body of Death And not long after we hear him boasting and triumphing at such a rate as this Rom. 8.38 39. for I am perswaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor Height nor Depth nor any other Creature shall separate me from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This was a perfect Word proceeding from a perfect Love Thus it happens still at this day that God often in an Hours time yea in a much shorter space doth oft alter the degrees of Love in us Sometimes we find in our selves a perfect Elevation of our Minds with entire and total Resignation and soon after experience a frightful and doubting Heart and an unstable Will and many are in the same Moment comforted again with Courageousness and a Peaceful and Joyful Mind which makes them break forth with David Psalm 56.11 In God have I put my Trust and will not fear what all mine Enemies can do unto me So that a Man here upon Earth is not constant in any degree of Love but sometimes is raised above himself and at other times sinks beneath himself according as the Holy Ghost draws him Furthermore we are to know to our great comfort that the Love which God hath towards us doth neither admit of encrease dminution and frequently is doing the very best for us when we least of all perceive or understand it We are also for the most part most sweet and well pleasing to him when he seems most bitter and harsh to us here upon Earth where his Divine Love more exerts its self for our Cross and Suffering than for our Joy Heaven is the place where God continually manifests and displays himself in everlasting Joys not this Earth Forasmuch therefore as there is more advantage and profit in Poverty than in Riches more in Suffering than in enjoyment more in Weeping than in Laughter more in Hunger than in Fulness or Satiety more in Communion of Suffering than in Communion of Comfort it follows that the Love of God manifests it self in a fuller and greater Measure to us when it procures us Lamentation Sorrow Suffering and Misery than when it affords us pleasure and delight Wherefore altho' the feeling of that Quiet and Peace of Heart which is the Portion of those who are Perfect in Love be Sweeter and more delightful yet is the Love of Proficients wherein God manifests himself for the strengthning and encouraging of the Mind more profitable for Advantage and Amendment Besides it is far more profitable and advantagious to our Salvation that we despair of our own Strength than that we confide in our own Works or Labour For which Cause also God of his great Grace doth frequently take away from us the Love of Proficients and drives us into the acknowledgment of our disability and into fearfulness and despairing of our selves to the end that as little helpless Children we might run to him as our only Redeemer accounting our selves nothing and magnifying his Grace and Power alone When it is thus with us then from the great Love of God to us ward the Love of Beginners proves of greatest use and advantage to us and we do experience by so much the more comfort from God by how much the more we despair of our own Power when we do not trust in our Strength nor take upon us to strive and struggle but only six our eye upon the Lifted up Brazen Serpent Numb 21.6 7 8 9. as in the Figure it is very comfortably held forth to us When the Children of Israel were dangerously and mortally hurt by the poysonful stinging of the Fiery Serpents God was pleased to give them a Brazen Serpent lifted up on a Pole even a Serpent without Poyson made of Brass and whosoever did only behold the same became immediately healed and all the Serpents fled away from him without any more ado Which Figure imports thus much that there is no more ready or compendious way for a Man to get rid of the Poyson of Diabolical Temptation than when he despairs of any opposition himself can make

save them and none of them might be lost But why the Father hath foreseen or predetermined one and not another it doth not become us to enquire For this is sufficient comfort and satisfaction to us that we know that they all are Predestinated that believe in Christ CHAP. VI. Concerning the Redemption or Deliverance from Sin NO Man can ever be deliver'd from his Sin save only through Faith in Christ who is the Lamb of God that takes away the Sins of the World Vpon him a●e laid the Sins of us all he is the Scape Goat who carries the Sins of all the World into the Wilderness Without or besides him there is no Redeemer Isa 4.3.11 No Confession no Repentance no human Work is of any avail in this Case We must believe in Christ or else die in our sins Wherefore it is far more necessary for us to exercise our selves in the Faith than in a Confessional at Directory The Faith in Christ never fails the Faith in Christ purifies the heart it justifies us makes us Children of God obtains Grace of God and renews the whole Man Mat. 11.28 29 30. Come hither all ye that labour and are heavy laden with Sin believe in Christ so shall ye be refreshed and find rest to your Souls Joh. 7.37 38. Doth any ene thirst after the Divine Grace let him come hither and drink for he that believes in Christ as the Scripture saith out of his Belly shall flow Rivers of Living Water Faith is the True River of Jordan in which those who are washed obtain the purity and innocence of Children Faith is that Fountain that washeth and purifies from all uncleanness Isa 55.1 2. Come therefore and buy it without Money and without Price you need not give any thing for it for ye are justifyed by Grace alone through the Redemption which is in Christ whom alone God hath set and appointed to be our Saviour and gracious Redeemer only by the Faith in his pretious Blood-shedding for the manifesting and declaring of his Righteousness Rom. 3.24 25. and 5.1 By Faith we are saved without the Works of Love Whence follows that nothing is more needful for us than to exercise our selves in the Faith CHAP. VII Concerning our being set free from Damnable Sins NOtwithstanding that those who believe in Christ do fall into Sin transgress the Laws of God Prov. 24.16 and it may be more frequently than those who do not believe yet they who believe in Christ have the advantage that their Sins shall not be imputed to them to their Condemnation God will not because of them turn away his loving kindness from them but will visit their transgressions with his fatherly Rod and not take his loving kindness quite away from them For so God declares and testifies to David concerning Christ Psalm 89.30 31 32 33. 2 Sam. 7.12 13 14 15. And when thy days be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with the Fathers I will set up thy Seed after thee which shall proceed out of thy bowels and I will establish and confirm the Throne of his Kingdom for ever and will exalt him above all the Kings of the Earth I will be his Father and he shall be my Son If his Children forsake my Law and walk not in my Judgment if they break my Statutes and keep not my Commandments then will I visit their Transgression with the Rod and their Iniquity with Stripes nevertheless my Loving kindness will not I utterly take from them nor break my Covenant made with them nor alter the thing that is gone out of my Lips I will abide true whether they abide so or no. For whatsoever is once born of God shall never sin neither can ever sin unto Death Their sins are always pardonable if they repent because they have been once born of God for that Divine Birth withholds them from sinning not their own Virtue Reason or Strength and presence of mind Forasmuch then as no Man is born of God but he that believes in Jesus Christ it is a consideration above all measure wonderful and terrible to see then so little exercised in or acquainted with the Faith that is in Christ It were good and necessary therefore that the Ministers of Gods Word should continually in season and out of Season faithfully exhort and press people to this Holy Faith And indeed tho there were no other Fruit of the true Faith in Christ but this only yet would all men have sufficient Reason to press after and desire it as being of such absolute necessity to Salvation CHAP. VIII Concerning the Encrease of Merit WE all know that no Man can deserve or Merit any thing of God or do any good thing except that he be planted and engrafted by the Father into Christ Joh. 15.1 2 3. which cannot be by any other way than through the Faith that is in Christ I am the Vine and my Father is the Husband Man Every Branch in me that beareth no Fruit he taketh away and every Branch that beareth Fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more Fruit. As the Branch cannot bear Fruit of it self except it abide in the Vine no more can ye except ye abide in me I am the Vine ye are the Branches He that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much Fruit for without or sever'd from me ye can do nothing He that abideth not in me the same cannot bring forth any good Fruit nor do any good works but his works will be cast into the Fire and be left there It is clear and evident that no man can do any thing that is good except he believe in Christ for otherwise even all his seeming Virtues are no better than Sins rejected and condemned to the Fire of Hell What will then become of the seeming Virtues of the Heathens of the Judgment of right Reason and the counting upon our good meaning without Faith in Christ Since without Christ there is indeed no true Virtue Reason or good meaning And this Doctrine agrees very well with what Jesus declared to the Jews when he bad them labour or work for that Meat which endureth to Eternal life Whereupon when the Jews asked him John 6.27 28. What shall we do that we may work the Works of God Jesus answered them saying this is the Work of God that ye believe in him whom he hath sent Therefore we ought and must employ and exercise our selves in those Works that abide to Eternal Life even such as God himself works in us and that flow forth from the Faith which is in Christ for they only endure for ever unto Eternal Life all the rest will be lost fruitless and in vain CHAP. IX Concerning the certain Hearing of our Prayers IF ye abide in me saith our Saviour and my words abide in you ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you Joh. 15.7 And again Whatsoever ye shall ask in my Name I will do