Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	heart_n	life_n	sin_n	8,563	5	4.4434	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10030	Three sermons vpon the sacrament of the Lords Supper. By the late faithfull and vvorthy minister of Iesus Christ, Iohn Preston, Dr. in Divinity, chaplaine in ordinary to his Majestie, master of Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge, and sometimes preacher of Lincolnes Inne	Preston, John, 1587-1628.	1631 (1631)	STC 20281; ESTC S115171	49,613	90

will give thee all the riches and all the glory in the world if you will part with Christ consider whether thy heart be ready to deny whatsoever hee offers to thee as he will bee sure to offer that which will be most sutable to thy disposition whether thy heart hath taken this resolution to it selfe Christ is my chiefest treasure I will part with all therefore I will part with liberty with life with goods with credit with pleasures with profits with whatsoever is neere and deare unto me rather than I will part with the Lord Iesus If this be thy hearts resolution and minde then Christ is thy chiefe treasure that 's the second thing 3 Thirdly consider what is thy cheife joy and delight what is thy life I put them together for that which is a mans chiefe joy indeed is his life For wee know life is nothing else but that joy that the heart hath whereby it is nourished and fed as it were for life is not to have body and soule joyned together to bee a living man in that sence we usually take life for if that were life then those in hell should not bee said to dye the death for you know in hell there is a conjunction of soule and body and yet men are not said to live there for it is death which is the punishment of sinne and indeed you shall finde that there is something a mans heart cleaves unto wherein hee rejoyceth which is the same with his life Therefore looke as the Soule enlivens the body so the conjunction of the present things which he reckons his joy that is his life enliven his soule he cannot live without them Now if Christ bee thy chiefe joy thou wilt finde this that thou canst not live without him as men are wont to say of their delights Such a man cannot live without such a thing so it is true of every man that hath taken Christ he is not able to live without him This life is no life and therefore if there be but a separation betweene thee and Christ if a mans conscience bee as it were clouded for a time hee findes no rest hee doth as the Spouse in the Canticles She seekes from one place to another and gives her selfe no rest till she finde him and why because it was he whom her soule loved So you shall finde Beloved whatsoever it is that your soules love whatsoever you make your chiefe joy you will take no rest but as farre as you love and enjoy it Therefore for the finding of this whether Christ be thy life and thy chiefe joy consider what it is that thy thoughts feed upon every wicked man every man that is out of Christ there is something that his thoughts feed upon some things there are in contemplation of which the soule so laceth it selfe some pleasures that are past present or to come the very thinking of these are the greatest ioy of his heart he roules them under his tongue even as a Servant that hath got some dainty bit out of his Masters presence and eates it in a corner so the soule of a man hath out of Christ some secret some stolen some unlawfull delights that it feeds upon and delights in Consider therefore well with thy selfe what breakfast thy morning thoughs have that I may so say what breakefast they have every morning what is that Pabulum that food of thy soule wherewith thy thoughts and affections are nourished and refreshed from day to day whether it be some carnall pleasure some reflecting on thy state upon thy wealth upon thy friends or whether it be on Christ. See as David exercised it whether be they thy songs in the night time All carnall men have something past whereby they comfort themselves something present whereby they cheare up their hearts something to come something in hope So every man that is in Christ hee hath the comforts of the spirit the meditation of the priviledges that he hath in Christ the hope of Gods favour These are his appointed food these are the things that his soule feedes on in secret yea the very workes that he doth that seemes to be the hardest part of a Christians life the very workes that hee doth in serving the Lord from day to day even that is his meate and his drinke that is it is as sweet and acceptable to his soule as meate and drinke is to the hunger and thirst of his body Now consider with thy selfe whether it be so with thee whether that which is thy continuall feast without which thou canst not live bee Christ or the assurance thou hast that he is thine and thou art his whether it bee the priviledges thou hast in him and the things that belong to the kingdome of God See whether these be thy life the things without which thou couldst not live or whether it bee some thing else some stollen delights some unlawfull pleasures some thing else that thy soule and affections are set upon This is the next thing by which thou maiest try thy selfe whether thou belong to Christ or no to consider whether he bee thy chiefe joy whether thy soule bee most filled and satisfyed with him And this is the third thing 4 The fourth is to know whether he be thy chiefe Refuge If thou bee one that hath tooke him and received him I say he is thy chiefe refuge For every man hath some refuge some castle or other to which his soule retires in all difficult and doubtfull cases by reason of that indigency that insufficiency to which the nature of man is subject There is something that hee must have to leane vnto marke it for mankinde is like that generation which the Wiseman speakes of You know it is sayd of the Connyes they are a generation not strong and what then and therefore they have their burrowes to hide themselves in I say such is the generation of mankinde he is a weake creature a generation not strong therefore there is something that he must leane to something out of himselfe some sufficiencie besides himselfe some strong hold some refuge every man hath I say every man hath some refuge or other whither he thinkes his soule may goe and there hee may have succour in cases daungerous and in troubles Now consider what is thy refuge whither thy heart runnes in all such cases to what wing to what strong hold In dangerous cases you see every creature hath some refuge or other The Child runnes to his Mother The Chickens runne to the henne The Fox to his earth the Connyes to their burrowes so every creature to their severall corners and receptacles proper to them I say so it is with every man so hath every one of you to whom I speake there is somewhat that is a secret refuge to which your hearts fly Now consider whether that be Christ or somewhat else A covetous man or rather a man of this word he hath wealth for his

strong hold in which his heart comforts it selfe well saith he what change of time soever come yet I have an estate to hold me up and when he is ill spoken of abroad yet hee applaudes himselfe with that hee hath at home The Courtiers they have the Princes favour that is their refuge wherein they comfort themselues Those that are given to Company they haue good fellowes such as they that are their companions and so long as they speake well of them they care not who speake ill of them Some haue a refuge of this kind some of another every man hath his refuge If you will looke into the Scriptures you shall see Davids refuge in any distresse vpon any occasion At Ziglag he comforteth himselfe in the Lord his hart did fly to him as the chickens fly to the henne there he comforted himselfe there he shrowded himselfe there he encouraged himselfe in the Lord. When he fled from his sonne Absolon was not the Lord his refuge Yet saith hee Hee is my buckler and my strong hold Psalm 3 which was made vpon that occasion What was Iacobs refuge when he fled from his brother Esau Did not hee goe to the Lord and seeke to him by Prayer Lord thou hast said thou wilt doe me good now I fly vnto thee I beseech thee performe thy promise thou art my refuge Consider others now what was their refuge Iudas when hee had betrayed his Maister Christ and his conscience was vpon him for it hee goes to the high priests and brings the silver to them why saith he you set me a worke you are the authors of it and I hope to find some comfort from you you see he found little comfort in his mind yet that was his refuge The Kings of Israel and Iudah when they were distressed they fled to Egypt and to Ashur to this or that helpe which the Lord said were broken reeds to them but yet that was their refuge This is the manner of every man being out of Christ of every unregenerate man that is in his naturall estate some refuge he hath friends or wealth or credit or the favour of the Prince something or other it is and if he bee destitute and have no refuge as sometimes it so falls out then his heart is shaken as the leaves of the forrest Their hearts were shaken even for feare of the king of Aram as the leaves are shaken in the forrest and why because they knew not how to defend themselves they had no refuge to fly to So you see it was with Belshazars heart so Achitophel and so Saul when he sees that he must dye the next day and that there was no refuge for him then I say their hearts sanke and dyed within them And now consider how it is with thee what is the refuge to which thy heart flyeth and which thy heart makes most account of for every man thinkes with himselfe change of time may come and what shall bee my comfort what shall be my strong hold at that time Dost thou flye to Iesus Christ is hee thy succour when thy heart is dejected at any time and faints within thee from which fountaine dost thou fetch thy comfort Dost thou fly to Christ to comfort thy selfe in him when thou art in a doubtfull case that concernes thee as much as thy life whither dost thou goe for counsell and direction is it to Christ to beseech him to guide thee and direct thee when thou art pressed hard whither doth thy heart goe for succour and for helpe to keepe thy selfe safe Is it to Christ or to somewhat else My beloved I assure you this that a carnall man that is not in Christ in these times of distresse knowes not whither to goe hee dares not goe to Christ for he feares that it shall be asked him vpon what acquaintance for he hath been a stranger to the Lord he was never acquainted with him but a carnall man that is out of Christ hee goes to his muses he goes to his farmes he goes to his bushes as the hunted hare was wont to doe to goe to the places that she used when she lived quiet thither shee flyes when she knowes not how to escape so in that fashion it is with men looke what things they were wont to which their hearts had recourse in time of prosperitie and what their haunts haue beene to those bushes they fly But alas they are but bushes such as will not defend them But now the Christian on the other side the muse the farme as it were it is but to expresse it to you that his soule is acquainted with the strong hold that hee was wont to fly vnto upon every severall evill upon every ordinary doubt vpon every deiection discouragement and fainting of heart he was wont to fly to Christ and there he was wont to find comfort and thither hee goes in time of greatest difficulty in the day of death and there hee finds comfort Consider if hee bee thy chiefe refuge for if thy heart hath taken him as he is thy chiefe excellency thy chiefe joy thy chiefe treasure so he will be thy chiefest refuge yea when all things else are taken away yet that cover remaines safe suppose thou be in prison suppose thy credit be taken away I meane thy worldly credit for the other credit cannot be taken away from any man that hath Christ suppose thy life be taken away suppose thou bee stript of all that thou hast yet thou hast Christ for thy chiefe refuge and thou thinkest so and thy heart is satisfyed with it As Paul saith when hee was a prisoner when he was naked when he was destitute when he was stript of all yet saith he I know whom I haue trusted As if he should say yet I haue him safe yet my cover is over my head yet I am safe in my castle I haue chosen him I haue him in death yea then Christ he is advantage he is a cover a castle and a refuge 5 Last of all consider whom thou settest up for thy chiefest Commaunder who it is to whom thou givest the chiefe command in thine heart You will say how shall I know that Why my beloved he whom a man feareth most and loveth most that is he whose friendship above all others he would least loose and whose dislike and separation he doth most feare certainly he will bee most obedient to him he will be most observant of him Art thou so to Christ take all the things in the world if thou set vp him as him whom thou most fearest and lovest thou wilt most obey him So againe he whom thou thinkest can doe thee the greatest good and the greatest hurt him thou wilt most obey if thou thinkest in good earnest that Christ is able to doe it certainly then thou wilt most obey him As for example if thou looke to any man in the world a man that is out of Christ he thinkes that