Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	jesus_n	sin_n	sting_n	6,936	5	11.4570	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61624	A sermon preached before the Queen at White-Hall, March the 13th, 1691/2 by the Right Reverend Father in God, Edward, Lord Bishop of Worcester.	Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699.	1692 (1692)	Wing S5664; ESTC R8160	16,936	42

A SERMON Preached before the QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL March the 13 th 1691 2. By the Right Reverend Father in GOD EDWARD Lord Bishop of Worcester Published by Her Majesty's Special Command LONDON Printed by J. H. for Henry Mortlock at the Phoenix in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1692. Romans VIII 6. For to be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace IN these Words is imply'd a Distribution of Mankind into those who are carnally and spiritually minded which Distinction is so Large and Comprehensive as to take in all sorts and conditions of Men and of so great Moment and Importance that their Life or Death Happiness or Misery depend upon it But considering the Mixture of Good and Evil in Mankind it is not an easie matter to set the Bounds of the carnal and spiritual Mind and considering the frequent Impunity and Security of bad Men and the Fears and Troubles which the best are not exempted from it seems next to impossible to make out at least as to this Life that to be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace Yet our Apostle doth not seem to confine the Consequences here mention'd to another World although the full Accomplishment of them be only there to be expected but if we attend to his Scope and Design in the end of the foregoing Chapter and the Beginning of this we shall find that even in this Life the Result of a carnal Mind is a sort of Spiritual Death and of a Spiritual Mind is Life and Peace For when S. Paul in the 7th Chapter had Represented himself as Carnal and sold under Sin although there were great Strugglings between the Convictions of his Conscience and the Strength of Carnal Inclinations yet as long as the latter prevailed so that he could not do the things that his Mind and Reason told him he ought to do but did those things which he was convinced he ought not to have done The more he Reflected upon himself the more Sad and Miserable he found his Condition to be as appears by that Emphatical Expression which follow'd upon it O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death But he no sooner finds hopes of Delivery and Escape out of that Estate but he breaks forth into a Transport of Joy and inward Satisfaction Thanks be to God who hath given us the Victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Not meerly a Victory over Death but over Sin too And so he begins this Chapter after a triumphant manner There is therefore no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit For the Lord of the Spirit of Life which was in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death He that groaned under his Captivity before to the Law of Sin doth now rejoyce in his Deliverance from it by the Grace of the Gospel For what could not be done by Natural Freedom by the Power of the Law and the Force of Reason is brought to pass by the Assistance of Divine Grace given to the Souls of Men by Jesus Christ. For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh What was that which the Law could not do It could Awaken Convince Terrifie and Confound the Consciences of Sinners under the Sense and Apprehension of their Sins but it could neither Satisfie the Justice of God nor the Minds of Men it could not Remove the Guilt nor take away the Force and Power of Sin But God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinfull Flesh and for sin condemned sin in the Flesh i. e. Jesus Christ becoming an Expiatory Sacrifice for Sin took off the damning Power of Sin and by the prevailing Efficacy of his Grace subdued the Strength and Force of it to such a degree That the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit How could this be if S. Paul still considered himself in the same Condition he did in the foregoing Chapter For if he were still in Captivity to the Law of Sin in his Members how was it possible that the Righteousness of the Law should be fulfilled in him How could he walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit if the Good which he would he did not and the Evil which he would not that he did For these things are so repugnant to each other that when they are spoken of the same Person it must be under different Considerations the one of him as meerly under the Power of the Law the other as under the Grace and Influence of the Gospel The one was like Rough and a Churlish sort of Physick which searches into every Part and puts all the ill Humours of the Body into Motion and makes a general Disturbance and Uneasiness within but yet lets them remain where they were the other is like a gentle but more Effectual Remedy which carries off the Strength and Power of inward Corruptions and alters the Habit and Temper and puts quite another Disposition into us which produces very different Effects upon us For instead of Horrour and Despair and inward Anguish and Confusion there will follow a New Life of Joy and Peace here and Eternal Happiness hereafter And this is what the Apostle means in the Words of the Text To be carnally minded c. Wherein are two things which very much deserve our Consideration I. The different Tempers of Mens Minds some are Carnally and others Spiritually minded II. The different Consequences which follow them To be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace I. The different Tempers of Mens Minds The different Denominations are taken from the Flesh and the Spirit which are here represented as two Principles so different from each other that the same Person cannot be supposed to be acted by both of them For as the Apostle saith in the foregoing Words They that are after the Flesh do mind the things of the Flesh but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit Where the Flesh in a Moral Sense takes in all our Sensual Inclinations which are Sinfull either in their Nature or Degree The Spirit is that Divine Principle which possesses the Mind with the Love and Esteem of Spiritual things and keeps our Natural Inclinations within the Compass of God's Law To be carnally minded is to be under the Influence of Carnal things so as to make the Pursuit of them our Chief Design To be spiritually minded is to have so deep and just a Sense of God and his Law upon our Minds as to make it our business to Please him and therefore to Subdue all such Inclinations which are repugnant to his Will But here lies the main Difficulty how to Judge concerning this matter so as to be able to

of Severity II. I am now to consider the different Consequences of these two To be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace which in short is that the Advantage is far greater which comes to Mankind by one than by the other And that will appear by comparing them together 1. As under Equal Circumstances 2. As under unequal Circumstances 1. As under Equal Circumstances And here we have two sorts of Persons to consider 1. Those who have Convictions of Conscience going along with a Carnal Mind Such who look on the Conditions of Men in this World at a Distance and judge only by Appearance would be apt to think that those who do allow themselves all the Liberties which a Carnal Mind doth incline them to have very much the Advantage of those who are under the Restraints of a Spiritual Mind for they are bound to severe Rules of Vertue and Mortification to deny all Vngodliness and Worldly lusts and to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present World and these are thought to be very hard things whereas such who are not under these Difficulties seem to lead the most pleasant and easie Lives enjoying themselves and being full of Noise and Confidence and appear to be all Mirth and Good Humour But there is another Account to be taken of these things If Men could look within and see all the secret Misgivings the inward Horrours of Conscience the Impatience and Dissatisfaction they have when they seriously Reflect on their evil Courses it would quite alter their Apprehensions of these things and make them conclude with the Roman Orator That one Day spent according to the Rules of Vertue were to be preferr'd before everlasting Debaucheries And he was no Fool no Pedant no mean and contemptible Person who said this but a Man of Wit and Sense of Quality and Experience who had Opportunities and Means enough to have pursued the most Sensual and Voluptuous Course of Life which yet we see out of Judgment and Choice he despised and preferr'd a far shorter life according to the Rules of Vertue before a Vicious Immortality And yet how short were the Incouragements to a Good Life and the Dissuasives from Sin among the best of them in Comparison of what we all know now by the Gospel of Christ They went no farther than meer Natural Reason and the Common Sense of Mankind carried them but we profess to believe the Wrath of God revealed from Heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of Men and that there will be a great and terrible day wherein men must receive according to their Works whether they be Good or Evil. And will not this dreadfull Consideration awaken the Drowsie and Secure Sinner and make him look about him betimes while there is yet any hopes of Mercy Will he not become so wise at least as to enter into the Consideration of his Ways and to look back on the former Course of his Life to examin and compare that with the Law of God by which he must be judged And if we have but Patience to do this he will have no farther Patience with himself for being guilty of such unspeakable Folly He will abhorr himself for all his sensual and sinfull Delights which will turn into the greatest Bitterness and Anguish to his Soul He will lament his Folly and Wickedness with the deepest sorrow and take up sincere and firm Resolutions to return no more to the Practise of them And if this be the Result as it ought to be of all the distinguishing sinfull Pleasures of a carnal Mind I leave it to the most impartial Mind to Resolve whether there will be the least Advantage by pursuing them 2. But we have too great Reason to suppose that Men may harden themselves to such a degree of Wickedness as to be Insensible of the Folly of it and to mock at those who go about to reprove them for it Such as these are at Ease because they have no Sense of their Condition but so are those in a Lethargy Is their Case therefore to be envied or compared with those in Health although more sensible of Pain and Danger Who seem to be better pleased at sometimes and transported with their own Imaginations than Men in a Frenzy and yet no Man thinks their Condition happier for it There is a sort of Moral Frenzy which possesses some part of Mankind who are not only Extravagant in their Actions but Assume such a Degree of Confidence in Committing them as though the Wise Men of all Ages had been the only remarkable Fools in it But it is no such easie matter to Run down the Principles of Vertue and Religion they have stood the Shock of all the Sarcasms and Reproaches of former Times and there is still nothing at the Bottom of all the Scorn and Contempt that is cast upon them but a Carnal and Profane Temper of Mind which may bear them up for a while but it will be sure to End in Everlasting Confusion and then they will find what they were so unwilling to believe That to be Carnally minded is Death Not a meer State of Insensibility but the worst kind of Death A Death of perpetual Horrour and Torment A Death without the Power of Dying and yet with a perpetual Desire of it A Death whose Sting can never be taken out and whose Terror is said to be as everlasting as the Joys of Heaven And shall not the Apprehension of such a Death as this so dreadfull so unavoidable so insupportable make the greatest Sinners to Tremble and be Confounded at the Apprehension of it And if once such Thoughts break into their Minds farewell then to all the Imaginary Pleasure and Satisfaction of a Carnal Mind for it must sink it into the Confusion if not the Despair of Hell 2. But I have hitherto represented the Disadvantages of one side but are there not such on the other too Some are too apt to think a Spiritual Mind to be nothing but a disorder'd Fancy and Melancholy Imaginations of invisible things If this were all it were so far from being Life and Peace that there could be no real Satisfaction about it But a Spiritual Mind is truly the most desirable thing we are capable of in this World For it is the best Improvement of our Minds which are Spiritual It is the purging and refining them from the Dross and Corruption which debased them It is the Advancing them towards the Divine Nature by a gradual Participation of it It is the Raising them above the Carnal Delights and the sollicitous Cares and Perplexing Fears of this World and fitting them for a perpetual Conversation with Divine and Spiritual Objects And what then can be more agreeable to the best Part of our Selves here than to have a Mind so disengaged from this World and so fit for a better So that we may be content to take a View