Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	good_a	life_n	see_v	9,943	5	3.4753	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A15341	Large letters Three in number, containing much necessarie matter, for the intruction and comfort of such, as are distressed in conscience by feeling of sinne, and feare of Gods wrath. Written heeretofore by T. W. for some deare friends of his, and now published and printed for the raising vp of such as labor vnder the heauie burthen of an affected spirite.	T. W. (Thomas Wilcox), 1549?-1608.	1589 (1589)	STC 25624; ESTC S103076	55,013	150

effectual pledges vnto vs as of Gods great fauor shed abroad into our harts so of the crowning of those his graces in vs with wonde●ful honour and glorious immortality at the last Lastlie it seemeth vnto me Of sin it self that e●en from sinne it selfe though not in it owne nature for so it is abhominable in the Lords sight o Ha●a● 1.13 whose pure eies cannot s●e euill neither yet in the effects that commonly it bringeth foorth for so is it alwaies bytter making a fearefull p Isaiah 59.2 seperation betweene the Lord and vs hauing for the q Rom. 6 2● wages of it eternal death and damnation yet euen in the heynousnes and heyght thereof being accompanied with gods fauour in the forgiuenes of the same we should may reap an inuincible argument of much consolation and singular comfort For wherein shal or can the mercy of God in this life so much appear towards his people as in pardoning the sinnes of his seruants To whom had they not offended neither could gods mercie that way foorth haue bin declared nor Christ for thē haue bin r 1. Tim. 3.16 God manifested in the flesh who therefore came into the world not to call s Math. 9.13 the righteous but sinners to repentaunce and did therefore appeare amongest men not onely that he might t 1 Ioh. 3.5.8 loose the works of the deuil but also that he might take away our sins Outward tokens of Gods fauour All the outward fauours that wee haue in this life if we should reckon thē vp one by one as for example creation preseruation health wealth c. or binde them all in a bundle together cannot so sensibly set before vs Gods loue because some of them are in some sort commō to other creatures with men reach but to the bodie for the most part this time present onely the wicked many times beeing before Gods saintes in some of the same God also v Ps 17.14 filling their bellies with his hid treasure their children hauing inough and leauing inough of their substance for their children Spiritual graces Nay I will say more many of those spirituall graces that God vouchsaseth vnto his Church as h s worde sacraments praier of which the holy ghost saith he x Psal 147.19 sheweth his word vnto Iacob his statutes and his iudgments vnto Israell and he hath not dealt so with euerie nation doe not so plain●iy ex●r●sse the fauour and loue of the Lorde towardes hys people as the free pardon and full forgiuenesse of their transgressions the reason is because y Math 22.14 manye are called and fewe are chosen and diuers bee in the Churche that bee not of the Church This grace also extending it s●●e not onelye to bodye and soule in says lyfe carrying with it comfort and the peace of a good conscience here but reaching euen vnto the life that is to come eternal saluation and life euerlasting being an inseperable companion to the forgiuenesse of our sinnes And that we might the better be perswaded that this is a verie speciall fauour God himselfe taketh vpon himself as a principall point of his glory this great worke of forgiuing laying z ●saiah 42.25 I euen I am he that putteth away thine iniquities for my owne sake and will not remember thy sinnes And in an other Prophet rehearsing the graces that he will vouchsafe vnto his people in the newe Testament he reckoneth vp this as the last and chiefest a Iere 31 34. I wil forgiue their iniquitie b Rom. 5.20 and remember their sinne no more that beeing true here that the Apostle saieth that where sinne abounded there grace abounded much more To conclude then good Madam out of all that is gone before The co●clusion S●●h in thys poynt of the forgiuenes of sins God who is greater than al is b Rom 8 3 on our side therefore wee neede not care who be agaynst vs Iesus Christ standeth for vs who is c Math 3 17 his dearely beloued sonne in whome onely hee is well pleased and thorow whome he hath d 2 Cor 3 19 reconciled the world vnto himselfe the word generally part●cularly the promises in the same which are in Iesus Christ e 2 Cor 1 20 yea and amen speake comfo●table things vnto vs the holy sacramentes ordeined by God for the strengthning of our weake faith seale vp that great and gracious fauor vnto vs the dis●pline and voyce of the Church which is the f 1 Tim 3 16 piller ground of trueth and as it were Gods owne voyce from heauen confirmeth it the particular examples o● his saintes hauing in former time found it and felt it true doe ratifie and confirme the same the peculiar fauo●s that God hath giuen vs our selues in this life and namely faith g 2 Thess 3 2 which all men haue not with the sound tru●tes thereof doe pledge it vp and that god that maketh the h Psal 76 10 rage of men to turne to his praise and in the beginning comma●nded i 2 Cor. 4 6 the light to shine out of darkenesse now maketh sin to serue for the magnifying and manifesting of his mercie and the comfort and good of his children who is it that can distrust or rather who hath not iust cause with the Apostles and saintes of God to sing and say k 1. Cor. 15.54.55.56.57 death is swallowed vp into victorie O deathe where is thy sting O graue where is thy victorie The sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the lawe But thanks be to God which hath giuen vs victorie thorow our Lord Iesus Christ And againe l Rom. 8 38 39. I am perswaded that neyther death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor thinges present nor thinges to come nor height nor dep●h nor anie other creature shal be able to separate vs frō the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. Thus good Madame I haue as your honour seeth plainely deliuered my poore iudgement in this worthie point touching the comfortable feeling of the forgiuenesse of sinnes and some such assured seales and pledges of the same as by m Deut. 17 18 19 Ioshua 1 8 Psalm 1.2 Iohn 5 39 dayly reading of the holie scriptures and continuall meditation in the same holie duties that I and all other christians of what qualitie or calling so euer are bound vnto by Gods word to performe and woulde to God all did it as may knowe and confesse it the Lorde in much fauor I freely confesse it hath bene pleased in the dayes of my distresse to manifest to me miserable man that I am and that not onely for instruction and comfort vnto my self alone for God neuer bestoweth anie grace vpon vs much lesse such excellent fauors to that ende onely but for the good and consolation of others who being n 2

that euerie sinne and blasphemy shal be forgiuen vnto men yea euē blasphemie against the sonne of God which yet that wee might be the better assured of Paule we haue a comfortable example in Paule who confesseth of himselfe against himselfe for the plaine proofe of the trueth of this point that ouer and besides that he was a 1. Tim. 1 13. a persecutor he was a blasphemer and yet found fauour with the Lord to obteine forgiuenesse To which particular example tending doubtlesse to no small comfort of conscience you may adde for the further not onely inlarging but strengthning of your own ioy that the sinnes that you haue committed or the blasphemie that you haue spoken haue not bene done or sayd with a high hand or of prepensed malice but rather of infirmitie though happily agaynst knowledge and the same proceeding from a passionate and troubled spirite rather than of any wilfulnesse which weakenesse in you Satan by Gods appointment hauing you vppon the racke not to fetche anie thing from you against your selfe but to make your patience constancie and faith playnly known to others effectually felt in your selfe and graciously accepted in hys owne eyes hath vsed as a meane more and more to trouble your heart but yet not to ouerthrowe your hope And euen this consideration of the maner of offending haue Gods saintes obserued in themselues not so much to lessen their transgressions for they knowe that euerie sinne in it owne nature a Rom. 6.23 deserueth death but to comfort their consciences in the dayes of their distresse without which indeede they can hardlie serue God religiouslie or faythfullie discharge anie duetie either publike or priuate And this to be true we may amongest others behold it in Paule who sayth of hymselfe in the height and depth of his grieuous iniquities a 1. Tim. 1.13 that hee was receiued to mercie for that hee did it ignorantly thorow vnbeliefe And if this aforded hym comfort I see no reason why it shoulde not yeeld you consolation speciallie sith your sinnes for anie thing wee knowe are much lesse than his and you haue to deale with the selfe same God who is nowe as then b Psal 103 8. Exod 34.6 slowe to vvrath and of great compassion passing by sins and forgiuing iniquities and restoring mercie vnto thousands of generations Neyther is that of lesse force in my minde An other testimonie to comfort to lessen your sinne and to increase your comfort that either before the offence committed or in the deede doing or after it was performed you had a spirite within you that did not onely tell you it was euill but checked you and controlled you in about the action it selfe wherunto also though you were drawen and did for the time sleepe and delight therein yet would it not g●ue you rest till suche time as it had caused you vnfeignedlie to hate it humbly to confesse it and in a notable measure of b 2. Cor. 7.10 godly sorrow soundly to repent you of the same which thing as the wicked doubtlesse The wicked hate not their sinnes seldome or not at all atteine vnto for they notwi●hstanding the vglinesse of sinne loue it A speciall grace to gods children to hate their sinnes and hide their transgressions continuallie so are they special graces bestowed vpon such penitent sinners as God is pleased thorowe hys mercy in Christ to call vnto himselfe wh●ch as it may appeare by many particular examples of the holy scripture so seemeth it to me to be iustificable by these words of the Apostle c Gal. 5. i7 The flesh lusteth against the spirite and the spirite against the flesh so that you cannot doe the same thinges you would And in another place d Rom. 7.19 what I woulde that doe I not but what I hate that doe I. Pull vp your heart therefore I pray you and be of good comfort An exhortation s●●h that from the sinnes that you haue co●●●tted speciallie in the maner of the doing of them and from your selfe speciallie in the wrestling aff●ctions that you 〈◊〉 in your selfe against sinne God and his word would haue you to reape comfort and consolation And as for your part●●●lar case of a troublous heart and disq●●●●t spirite what is it els I pray you but euen that that hath taken holde of Gods saintes as well as of you doth not Iere●●ah himselfe curse as it were himselfe and the mother that bare him and brought him into the worlde when hee saith e Iere. 1● ●0 Woe is me my mother that thou hast born me a man of contention to all this land And doth not Ionah when God debated with him about the withering of the gourd that God prepared to be a shadowe ouer his head and to shelter him from heate and demaunded of him f Iona. 4.9 whether hee did well to be angrie for the gourd did not hee I saie aunswere and say I doe well to be angrie vnto death And yet these were excellent men and worthie prophetes and such as had receiued rare grace from God no marueile then though men of lesse sauour fall more But moste plainelie shall you see this in Iob of whome I pray you giue me leaue to write largely for your good Hee opened his mouth so wide that he bitterly cursed the night wherin he was conceiued g Iob. 3.1 c. the day wherin he was borne yea he thundred out execrations against many excellent creatures of God which could not bee but blasphemie against the Creator himselfe whose glorye is not onely much ioyned with but greatlie appeareth in the woorke of his owne handes as wee may perceiue by this that Salomon saieth h Pro. 17. 14.31 hee that oppresseth the poore or as it is in an other place mocketh him reprooueth or reprocheth him that made him Yea if wee reade hys Booke with iudgement wee shall see that hee doeth not onelie thus indirectlie as a man woulde say in his wordes oppose himselfe against God while he hudleth out heapes of curses against his workes but proceedeth so farre that hee seemed not eyther affrayde or ashamed to take God euen God himselfe by the face and to accuse him though most faslie of iniustice as maie euidentlie appeare as well by Iobes owne woordes and discourses in many places of his sayde booke as by the Lordes owne voice and answeare out of the whyrlewinde Chapter i Iob. 38. 39. 38.39 And yet notwithstanding this man found fauour with the Lord not onely to bee restored to a farre better estate in worldly respectes than before hee hadde but also to haue the iniquitie of his hart and mouth freely pardoned yea hee himselfe and that by the holie Ghost himselfe to be made a worthie paterne and example to all ages to come as of manie vertues so particularly of patience which you say you lacke for proofe whereof remember what Saint Iames saith of him

our corruption and sometymes agayne the power of oure iniquitie preuayling and alwayes getting the vpper hand the Lord no doubt thereby prouiding for hys glorye whilest wee attribute all the praise of our well doing vnto him to whome indeede alone all praise and honour belongeth and for our good and that in a double respect not onely whilest by this meanes wee are made humble and lowly before him and men and in our owne eyes especiallie hauing speciall recourse vnto him by praier for heauenly strength and comming to our brethren for such spirituall ayd as they haue receiued from him but also whilest we learne on the one side to loth that which is from our selues as corrupt and defiled and on the other side to cherish and foster that which is from him as good and pure according to that rule of the Apostle o 1. Thes 5.19 20. Quench not the spirits despise not prophesie A similitude The Sunne it selfe a verie glorious creature is not no not in the summer time alwaies alike hote and bright but sometimes is couered with cloudes that keepe backe the brightnesse hinder the heate of the same from vs. The like may we saie of another celestial body the moone it self An other which ouer and besides the ordinarie eclipses that it doth indure somtimes ascendeth higher sometimes commeth sower is many times in the winter season Others especially kept from vs by thicke mists and darke fogs Neither neede we for this to looke so high for from terrestriall or earthly bodies may we perceiue the same The trees in the fields and the plants and hearbs in the gardens all winter long not onely want any good fruite but seeme not so muche as to haue a leafe on them yea the verie truncke and stocke it selfe maketh shewe in mans eyes to be dead and to lacke that life that we call vegetatiue And yet there is a sappe or naturall moysture that lyeth hid in the root which when it is refreshed with the heate of the sinne and comforted as it were with the dewe that falleth from heauen will yet notwithstanding in due time proue vnto vs that the tree plant or herbe was neuer dead whatsoeuer we supposed But what neede we to go out of our selues and from our own bodies to viewe this matter we haue as plaine a demonstration as may be Our bodies to daie fresh and lustie and to morrowe wythered and dried vp p Psal 118.83 as a skinne bottle that hangeth in the smoke Another and yet in time raised vp againe to haue naturall moisture and to performe with strength and agilitie as woorthy deedes as before And euen such doubtlesse for a while is the state of the children of God The application of these similitudes who thorow the heynous offences that they haue committed the strength of temptations that they doe indure speecially when they are pressed vpon them by the sting of their own heart or Satans malice and wherein oftentimes thorow the power of naturall corruption they lie sleeping snorting as it were a great while appeare vnto men yea very many thinke and saie so of themselues as persons forsaken of God and remedie lesse in this life and past hope of recouerie for that which is to come It is true that such mens cases are for the time specially before men in thēselues hard and heauie And if wee shoulde say or thinke otherwise wee shoulde contradict Gods truth which telleth vs that g Heb. 12 1● no afflictions much lesse this great one is for the present ioious but grieuous rather and stand vp against common sense and reason which plainly prooueth to our faces their condition to be pitifull And yet for all this it is not as they affirme desperate and vnrecouerable but rather thought not as in respect of it selfe yet as in regard of the consolations that God intermingl●th with it and the good fruites that he bringeth foorth by it very comfortable And therefore how ought you A consolation such as you are to be raised vp I come now to the second point namely consolation vpon whome the Lorde himselfe hath sette such infallible notes of your adoption and election vnto eternall life in Iesus Christ that no cloude that the enemie hath interposed betwixt you and God or no myst that in imagination you haue raysed vp in your selfe to stoppe the comfortable Sunne-shine of Gods fauour vnto you nor no extreame frost or colde of winter howsoeuer it bee harde or sharpe for the tyme and sensibly felt of you can kill the seed that is sowen in your heart by Gods word and spirite or disanull the r 1 Iohn 2.27 annoynting s Ephes 4.30 wherewith you are sealed against the day of Christ so louing so faithfull and powerfull is God in and for his Saintes and that not onelie when they are assaulted with forraigne forces but when they are assayed from within and haue as a man would say the motions of their owne minde and the imaginations of their owne hearts and heades not only to conspire aga●nst them but euen to betraie them into the handes of their most cruell and deadlie enemies Obiections answered Howbeit it may bee that you will saie your selfe thinketh otherwise of of your selfe But be not your owne iudge I pray you as wel because iudgement in the especially belōgeth not to you but vnto god t t. Cor. 4 4 to whō only it appertaineth to pronoūce a right sentence as also because the way is slipperie here and men yea otherwise good men may easilie be deceiued For as in persons that are sicke in the bodie it sundry times falleth out A similitude that of som melancholike conceit in themselues or feare that they haue to die they receiue the sentence of death in thēselues yea and sometimes the Phisitions giue him ouer and they are readye to take their leane of them and yet God the Lord of life saith they shal liue and as a proofe of his power restoreth them from deathes doore so is it many times with Gods children in this spirituall disease and sicknesse of their soule wherein as it is much more easie to bee mis-led than in bodily sicknesse so many times when al haue ●orsaken vs and we haue destituted our selues and failed in our own spirites yet God the v 2. Cor. 1.3 God of all mercie and father of all comfort renueth his vnspekeable fauour vpon vs calleth vs backe againe as if it were from death to life Againe Another as men that in their owne iudgments seeme sick vnto death and are so farre from hoping after health that they can not so much as thinke of it euen with imagination as many times wast and weare awaie a●d bee brought to deathes dore and yet for all that the standers by as learned phisitions and faith●ull friendes for certaine and vndoubted tokens of happie health and good recouerie