Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	know_v	life_n	love_v	8,582	5	6.6638	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10018	Sermons preached before his Maiestie; and vpon other speciall occasions viz. 1 The pillar and ground of truth. 2 The new life. 3 A sensible demonstration of the Deity. 4 Exact walking. 5 Samuels support of sorrowfull sinners. By the late faithfull and worthy minister of Iesus Christ, Iohn Preston Dr. in Diuinity, chaplaine in ordinary to his Maiesty, master of Emmanuel College in Cambridge, and sometimes preacher of Lincolnes Inne.	Preston, John, 1587-1628.; Goodwin, Thomas, 1600-1680.; Ball, Thomas, 1589 or 90-1659.	1630 (1630)	STC 20270; ESTC S120145	80,456	162

must beleeve it And this is the first vse that wee are to make of this to beleeve that there is such a life Secondly if hee that hath not this life is not in Christ why then my beloved it concernes us to see that wee have the fruits and effects of this spirituall life in us that that change bee wrought in us that wee spake of that we have those motions and those actions that proceede from an inward principle of life that wee have that attractive disposition and that expulsive disposition which may empty our hearts of all known sinne which is also an effect of this life And this further we must chiefly look to that we love the brethren which for ought I see the holy Ghost points at above all other signs of this spiritual life you have it 1 Ioh. 3. 14. We know by this that we are passed frō death to life because we love the brethren You know a dead member hath no sympathie with the rest but a living member hath a fellow feeling yea a quicke and exquisite sense within when anie of the members are pained or hazzarded Therefore let us labour to find this character of life in our selves by being affected to our neighbours and brethren the Churches abroad by having bowels of cōpassion in us to melt over their condition to desire their safty as our own For why should we not are they not the same Church of God as we are are they not bought with the same price are they not as dear to God and certainly if we shew love to any Church because it is a Church we would do it to one as well as to another Again we have reason to commiserate them for our owne sakes For we cannot stand alone and God hath so ordered it in his providence Luke 6. 38. that looke what measure we mete to others in their distresse men shal measure the same to us in our necessitie and how soone the fire may take here also we know not But this you shall finde in the prophefie of Ieremiah when the nations dranke of the cup of Gods wrath we see there the cup went round everie nation dranke of it some more some lesse But if men doe not doe it yet certainely God will recompence us with good if we doe it with ill if wee omit it For though he seeme angrie with his Churches for a time as David was with Absalom yet as Ioab never did David so acceptable a turne in all his life as when he sought to bring home Absalom his banished sonne though hee were angrie with him because his inward affection was toward him all the while so wee cannot doe God a more acceptable turne than to helpe his Churches though for the present they seeme to bee under the cloud of his anger And doubtlesse the Lord would take it exceeding ill if we should neglect our duety to them as I hope we doe not and shall not as you see Iud. 5. 23. We see there how the Lord is affected in such a case as this Curse ye Meroz saith the Angel of the Lord yea curse the inhabitants of Meroz bitterly because they came not to helpe the Lord to helpe the Lord against the mighty Marke hee doth not say because they did them any wrong but because they came not out but sate still and you know the rule that hee that keepes not off an iniurie when he may he doth it Againe marke the ground why they came not out because it was to helpe the Lord against the mightie When the enemies were mightie they had respect to their owne safetie and sate still and that phrase is to bee observed chiefly they came not to helpe the Lord it was not to helpe the Lord but to helpe the Churches at that time and yet the Lord takes it as done to himselfe But now on the other side as the Lord would take it ill if wee doe it not so certainely if we doe it he will take it exceeding well at our hands This worke hath meate in the mouth of it it brings a sure reward Even as the Arke when it was harboured by Obed-Edom and others it brought a blessing to them so certainly the Church brings a blessing to those that defend it whereas on the other side when the Arke was violate and ill used by the Philistines the men of Bethshemesh you know how many thousands were slaine for it Whence I gather If God would doe so much for that which had but a typical holinesse that was but a dead Temple where he dwelt but for a time what will he doe if his living Temple be destroied For the people of God are his living Temple Ier. 2. 3. it is said Israel is a hallowed thing to the Lord my first fruits and therefore hee that devours it shall offend and evill shall come to him saith the Lord. And therefore in helping the Church of God from being devoured by strangers wee helpea hallowed people for wee see the Lord reckoned Israel so though they were subject to manie failings Let this therefore stirre us up to doe it with all diligence We may fall out and in at home and the vicessitude of fair weather and foule within our owne hemisphere may passe away and blow over as I hope it will and I pray God it may yet in the meane time if any of the Churches shall be swallowed up you know that is a thing that cannot be recalled Therefore let us resolve to doe our best and to doe it in time And this I will be bold to say for our encouragement they are the Churches of God and there is a God in heaven that tendreth them and hee is a God that delights to bee seene in the mounts even when things are past hope and though their enemies bee exceeding great and mightie yet when they goe about to oppose the Church they are as a heape of straw that goes about to oppresse a cole of fire that will consume them or as one that devoures a cup of poison that will proove his death or as one that goes about to overthrow a great stone that fals backe againe and bruiseth him to powder they are all the Scriptures expressions as you shall finde Zach. 12. So I say the Lord will deale with the enemies of his Churehes and will preserve them therefore let this hope encourage us to doe it the rather For your Maiestie wee are perswaded as your profession is so your desires and intentions are most reall and firme and when wee say wee are so perswaded as Paul speakes in another case we speake the truth and lie not for pulpets are not for flatterie but we speake as from God in the sight of God and a message from God may comfort and encourage and confirme you in it For us that are subjects let us be exhorted to doe our parts to contend and wrastle with God by praier and not to let him rest till hee

well as the best In a word they are ignorant what belongs to this life saith the Apostle and therefore they are strangers to it Partly againe they are strangers because of the hardnesse of their hearts that is either because they are so distracted and possessed with worldly businesse that they cannot attend it or they are so soaked and surfetted with pleasures and delights that they are not sensible of the things that belong to this life and therefore they are strangers to it that is they are not able to judge of it whether they have this life of grace or not You will say vnto mee How shall we know it I answer from those properties of life and death that wee take from the similitude of the naturall life and death First a man may know whether hee remaine in the state of Nature whether hee be a dead man by considering whether hee have anie change wrought in him For as it is said of Christ he was dead and is alive so it is true of everie man that is in Christ he was dead and is alive and this implies a great change There are manie changes in a man age makes a change place and companie make a change education and custome and experience make a change but when a man is translated from death to life it is another kind of change it is such a change as if another soule dwelt in the same bodie that a man thus changed can say Ego non sum Ego When his old lusts his old acquaintance his old temptations shall come he is able to answer them and to say hee is not the same man though they knocke at the same doore yet there is another inhabitant come into the house and they finde not him they looke for Even as you see when a graft is put into a Crab-tree-stocke it changeth all the sap and the fruit and the leaves and all are of another fashion so it is when the life of grace is put into the heart of a naturall man it changeth the inward man and the outward it changeth the whole frame of the soule For my Beloved this is not a light alteration but as the old stampe must bee obliterate before the new can be imprinted as the old building must be pulled downe before you can set up a new so this old nature of ours in a great measure must bee broken in pieces new moulded before a man can be made a living man which is done by the infusion of the supernaturall qualities of grace and holinesse I say supernaturall for even as the earth may bring forth grasse and common wilde flowers of it selfe but it must be plowed and sown before anie choise plants can grow there even so these common natures which we all have may bring out things that are morally good but before they can bring forth fruits of true righteousnesse they must be plowed and sowne Plowed that is a man must be broken in heart with an apprehension of his sinne and of Gods eternal wrath he must see himselfe but a dead man and hee must be pricked and wounded in heart with the sense of it as those in Act. 2. after the sermon of Peter who were pricked in their hearts and cried out Men and brethren what shall wee doe to be saved For this is the plowing the breaking of the heart And againe they must be sowne too that is there must bee an implanting of spirituall graces which change and renew vs according to that which you shall find Rom. 12. 2. Fashion your selves no more after this world but be ye changed or metamorphosed by the renewing of your minde and this is one way by which you may discerne whether you bee dead or alive Secondly when there is no action when there is no motion in a man you say he is dead when a man acts nothing when hee stirres not himselfe we reckon him a dead man now this is the case of every naturall man he is not able to move hand nor foot in the waies of true godlinesse If you say I but they are able to doe something they are able to pray to heare the Word to receive the Sacrament they are able to doe many excellent dueties of justice and righteousnesse amongst men I answer it is very true but yet the Scripture speakes of certaine dead works as Heb. 9. 14. The bloud of Christ is said there to purge our consciences from dead workes that is all these may bee done by naturall men and they are good works in themselves having all the lineaments of works truely good as you know a dead bodie hath of a living but yet indeede they are but dead workes that is they may have a golden out-side and bee verie beautifull in the sight of the doer and likewise in the sight of men but yet as Christs speakes be abominable in the sight of God A naturall man you see therefore may pay a certaine debt of duetie and obedience to God but hee paies it in counterfeit coine that hath the stampe and colour and similitude of true coine yet it consists if you looke to the inwards but of base mettall I remember a storie that Remigius tels who was a Iudge in Loraine under whose iudgement many hundreds of witches were condemned vpon their owne confession saith he the devill did bring them many boxes that had currant coine in them to the appearance of the witches but when they came to use them they proved nothing but withered leaves I say after the same manner Satan couseneth natural men in things of greater moment hee suffers them to thinke well of the good workes and of the dueties that they do to make them thinke they are currant coine but when they come to make use of this treasure at the day of death in the time of extremity at the day of judgement they finde them to bee but withered leaves such as God will not accept The Apostle speakes 1. Tim. 3. of certaine men which had a forme of godliness but denied the power thereof that is that had a formall customary performance of good works and of good duties with which the conscience is satisfied because it is ignorant and is not able to judge Satan doth with men in this case as we are wont to do with children we take from them true gold and silver and when they fall a crying stop their mouthes with counters So I say Sathan labours to keep men from the lively and through performance of good workes and of holy dueties and then satisfies their consciences with that which hath but a forme of godlinesse without the power of it But you will say How shall a man discerne it whether those good works that are good in themselves be good indeede whether they be good in such a manner as they are wrought by him I answer you may know it by these two things First it is certaine that except they be vitall actions

that is except they proceede from an inward principle of life within they are not good actions they are such as the Lord regards not Now you know there are motions as the motions of clockes and watches that proceede not from life but from art so it is in this matter of religion many good actions may be done many good motions in the waies of godlinesse which yet may not proceede from life from the life of grace but from outward respects to men from feare of hell from feare of judgements in sickenesse from the apprehension of death and calamity in such cases wee may be stirred vp to doe them and then even as the wheeles that are set a going by a spring when the spring is downe you know they cease their motion so commonly it is in these good fits in these good moodes of godlinesse when that which sets them a worke is removed there is an end of it and therefore if you would know whether the workes that you doe bee right or no such as God will accept at the last day consider if they proceede from an inward principle from a principle of life within Secondly you shall know them by their coldnesse for coldnesse you know is a symptome of death These good workes when they are done by a naturall man yet there is no life in them there is no warmth no vivacity and quicknesse in them whereas you know it is said Iam. 5. Praier if it be fervent prevailes much and Rom. 12. Be yee burning in spirit serning the Lord that is all those dueties that have not heate in them that haue not fire in them God regards them not the reason is this because if no heate bee there then is none of his spirit there and then you know our praiers are but the voyce of our owne spirits the workes that we doe are but dead workes because they are but the fruits and effects of dead flesh if there be none of the holy Ghost there Now if there bee no heate there I say there is none of the spirit for the spirit is as fire Whence you know it is that our Sauiour saith I will baptize you with the holy Ghost and with fire that is I will baptize you with the holy Ghost which is as fire And therefore you shall finde that holy men have been usually described by the similitude of fire as Chrysostome saith that Peter was like a man made all of fire walking among stubble and to one that desired to know what kind of man Basil was it is said there was presented in a dreame a pillar of fire with this motto Talis est Basilius Such a one was Basil and old Latimer when he was asked the reason why there was so much preaching and so little practising hee gave this reason Deest ignis fire is wanting the same wee may say in this case there may bee a performance much performance of many good dueties of praier of hearing of receiving the Sacrament of worshipping God c. but consider whether there bee fire consider whether they bee not done without that livelinesse and that fervency that the Spirit of God requires whether they are either done without heate or but halfe baked as Hosea's cake was and if so they be but dead workes whereas true praying in secret betweene God and us it is such as warmes and quickens the heart it is such as brings the heart into a good frame of grace and sets it right before God and right hearing is such as kindles a fire in us that in a great measure burnes up the drosse of sinnefull lusts and corrupt affections So that is the next means the second meanes by which wee may know whether we are alive to righteousnes or dead in sin to consider whether we have any motions and of what kinde those motions and actions are Againe you shall know it by considering what you contend for most for life is sweete and every Creature would maintaine his life and will part with any thing rather than with that So a man that hath this life of grace in him hee will suffer any thing hee will lose his life his goods his libertie and all rather than hee will wound his conscience and violate his inward peace and communion with God because that is as sweet and as deare to him as life whereas another man he contends as much for his lusts for his profit for his credit for his pleasures nay for his sins and will rather suffer the losse of a good conscience will rather suffer any unevennesse in his wayes towards God and men suffer any sinne rather than hee will be prejudiced in these things because in this is his life being dead to Christ and alive to sin Againe such as the food is such is the life If it be the life of sinne that a man lives which the Scripture calls death then the secret thoughts and the inward affections feed on carnall delights eyther past present or to come that is either hee solaceth himselfe with the contemplation of what he hath had or he feeds on that which is present or hee cheares up himselfe with the thoughts and projects of those carnall delights which are future whereas a man that lives the life of grace the contrarie is most acceptable to him for everie life drawes to it selfe that which is most sutable and most agreeable to it that is the food wherewith it is maintained and that wherein it delights Pleasure voluptas being nothing else indeed but the application of that which is convenient and agreeable to us And if you say now But naturall men may occupie themselves in hearing in reading in praying and such like holy exercises I answer that they may and it is well these things are very good and commendable and not to bee omitted but yet there is something must be added for this is not enough except we bee nourished by these dueties and grow by them as you know it is said 1 Peter 2. Desire the sincere milke of the word that you may grow thereby and as your common saying is Shew me not the meat but the man For Christ the great Shepheard of the sheepe is affected in this case as shepheards are wont to be that say not to the sheepe shew me the hay that I have given you but shew me the lac lanam the woole and the milke that is shew me the fruits and the effects of all your hearing and praying for a man may bee conversant in all these dueties and yet for want of life and for want of a digestive facultie within that is not turning them to bloud and spirits hee may not be nourished hee may not grow and be strengthened by them but be as a man in an atrophie that cates verie much and yet is as leane and meager as if he had eate nothing Of such the Scripture saith They have a name to live but are dead And they are alway

learning but never come to the knowledge of the truth that is to the saving knowledge of it But now for the last propertie of life as it is the propertie of every life not only to draw to it selfe things sutable but to expell and oppugne whatsoever is contrary and hurtful to it so he that is a living man in Christ Iesus though hee hath the reliques and the wefts and the remainders of sinne still in him yet he is sicke of them hee fights against them hee resists them continually as health resists sicknesse or as a living fountaine refists the mud that fals into it it workes it out and doth not rest till it bee cleare againe whereas another man works out those good things those good thoughts and motions that are injected and kindled in him for some good moods and good fits they may have I say they reject them and are sick of them and weary of them and of the meanes that should increase them and they are not well till they have gotten themselves into another element but for the sinnes which are suteable to them either by disposition or by education or by custome those they suffer to lye continually unexpelled and unresisted as mud in ponds and dead waters And this Beloved is a great signe of death for I will be bold to say this that if we lie in any knowne sinne that is if there bee a continued tract of any sinne that wee know to bee a sinne that is drawne as a thread through our whole conversation bee it fornication or adultery or swearing or drunkennesse or malice and envie or anie other I say it is verie dangerous yea deadly if it have dominion if we lie in it as you know a prevailing disease killeth and one disease will doe it as well as a hundred as a swine that passeth by a thousand dirty puddles and yet wallowes but in one if shee lie in one it is enough to make her unclean and filthy all over as if she had done it in more The Scripture is plaine in this case 2. Cor. 5. 17. Whosoever is in Christ is a new creature and old things are passed away all things are become new Gal. 5. 24. Whosoever is in Christ hath crucified the flesh with the affections of it So that if there bee one living lust in a man if there be one lust perfectly living it is an argument that the whole bodie of death is alive in us and if it bee so we are yet in a state of death and are not translated to the glorious libertie of the Sons of God And so I haue shewed you that every man by nature is dead in trespasses and sinnes and how you shall know it and that if wee continue in that condition and are not partakers of the first resurrection wee shall never partake of the second resurrection Now we come to the second namely that there is a life that is contrary to this death that you may understand what it is you must know that every man by nature is in a dead sleep and therfore he sees not this death nor feels it nor regards it for as a dead man feeles not that he is dead so hee that wants this spirituall life he is not sensible of it for the soule in the worse condition it is the lesse it feeles it though it be not so with the bodie And therefore the first thing that must bee done to bring a man out of this miserable condition of death is to waken him to open his eyes to see that hee is a childe of wrath and to see what extreame neede hee stands in of Iesus Christ and to seeke and to long after him as a condemned man longs after his pardon and as hee that was pursued by the avenger of bloud in the old law came to the citie of refuge for safetie and for shelter I say after that manner we must first be awakened This you shall see Eph 5. Awake thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead That wakening therefore is the first worke And so Rom. 7. 9. it is an excellent expression saith hee I was once alive without the Law but wen the Law came sinne revived and I dyed the meaning of it is this before when I was ignorant of the Law I thought my selfe a living man in as good an estate as the best but when the Law came that is when I was enlightened when I saw the true meaning of the Law that I saw my selfe and saw sinne in a right glasse then sinne was alive and I died that is I found my selfe to be no better than a dead man So that is the first worke that God doth to a man whom hee meanes to save to waken him out of this dead sleepe to charge sinne upon his conscience and to set it upon him to pursue him as the avenger of bloud wee spake of before When that is done once then a man will flie to the citie of refuge that is hee flies to Christ as Ioab did to the hornes of the altar he cries and cals earnestly for the pardon of his sinnes even as Sampson cried for water Give me water or I die And when a man comes thus to Christ thus humbled then Christ accepts him and then hee breathes this breath of life into him as God breathed the breath of life into Adam and so is made a liuing man according to that Ioh. 5. 29. The time shall come when the dead shall heare the voice of the Sonne of God and they that heare it shall live that is those that are spiritually dead shall heare the voice of the Sonne of God and those that heare it shall live for when a man toucheth Christ by faith as the woman touched the hemme of his garment there goes a certain vertue out from him that heales the soule as that vertue healed her bloudy issue And this is a thing much to be marked that even as you see when the iron comes neare the loadstone there goes a vertue from the loadstone that drawes the iron to it so though Christ be in heaven and we are on the earth there goes a certaine vertue from him that drawes us to him and not so onely but it changeth us and reformes us and quickeneth us by this infusion of a new life by this transmission of a certaine power and vertue that comes from him You will say But this is somewhat obscure what kinde of vertue is this what kinde of infusion and transmission is it My beloved it is true it is the great mysterie of life and regeneration but as farre as it is expressable we will explaine unto you It is done after this manner Euen as you see an artificer when he goes about any worke of art there goes a certaine influence from the skill that is seated in his minde that passeth upon the work as he moulds and fashions it and sets a stampe upon it according to that Idea

and Common-wealth It is a true rule when the evill day commeth its time of spending and not of gathering it must be done before it is too late to fetch the oyle when we should use it to go and buy when the Bridegroome commeth therefore they are called foolish Virgins because folly is improvident it stands in the valley and sees not the evil afore it bee upon us wisedome stands upon a hill and descryes the danger and the evils that are afar off before they approach It s certaine give me leave to speake for wee are the watchmen which stand upon the watch-tower and should see more than those that stand below and must give warning that we may deliver our owne soules left your blood be required at our hands I say its certaine that evill is intended against us and will come upon us except something be done to prevent it For there is a covenant betweene God and us and breach of covenant causeth a quarrell the quarrell of God shal not go unrevenged he saith to the Israelites Levit. 26. 25. I will send a sword upon you which shall avenge the quarrell of my covenant As if he should say There is a covenant and you have broke that covenant therefore I have a quarrell and I will send a sword to avenge my quarrell Now the quarrels of God are not rash and passionate as mens are therfore he wil not lay them aside without some true real satisfaction If we will not beleeve his word yet shall we not beleeve his actions hath he not begunne are we infatuate and see nothing doe wee not see the whole bodie of those that professe the truth are besieged round about through Christendome at this time are not present enemies not only stirred up but united together and we dis-joyned to resist them are not our Allies wasted are not many branches of the Church cut off already more in hazzard In a word have not our enterprizes beene blasted and withered under our hands for the most part have not things been long going down the hill and are even now hastening to a period and do not wee say now that such an accident and such a miscarriage of such a businesse and such men are the causes But who is the cause of these causes is it not he without whose providence a Sparrow fals not to the ground are not these crackes to give warning before the fall of the house are not these the gray haires which Hosea speakes of that are here and there upon us and we discerne them not Gray haires you know are a signe of old age and approach unto death And are not all these things arguments enow that God hath begunne with us will he leave his worke in the middle No certainly you shall see what himselfe saith 1. Sam. 3. 12. When I begin I 'le make an end Samuel had threatned fearfull judgments against the house of Eli but because they lived long in peace were not suddenly executed they were ready to think the words of the Prophet were but wind therfore God tels them that it was true he was patiēt long before he begun but notwithstāding when hee began hee would also make an end wherfore I beseech you for our own sakes and for the sake of the Churches let us well and seriously consider this doubtlesse there is somewhat for which God is offended and if there be certainely till that be taken away the Lord will not returne unto us and cause us to prosper in the things we put our hands unto When Iosua saw the people fall before their enemies hee wondred at it and enquired the cause and except that had bin removed though it had beene for many yeares yet he should never have had successe nor brought the children of Israel to the Land of Canaan though God had promised it for Gods promises are as his threatnings to bee understood with a condition But a most remarkable example you shall finde 2. Sam. 21. 1. When there fell out a famine in the daies of David he knew the naturall cause was the drought but hee enquired after the supernaturall cause as wise men should doe as Iacob when hee saw the Angels ascended and descended hee enquired who stood on the top of the ladder and sent them to and fro Ezakiel enquires who stands on the top of the wheele but fooles looke onely who stands on the next staire or step whereas wee should enquire as David what was the cause of the famine and it was answered him it was Saul and his bloudy house because he had broken his oath with the Gibeonites which was done many yeares before I say so wee should doe in all the calamities afflictions and extremities that befall either the Church in generall or any particular person search what the cause is I finde the phrase used in 2. Chron. 12. 7. saith the Lord there I will not at this time poure out my wrath upon Ierusalem by the hands of Shishack where observe that though Shishack was the immediate instrument yet it was not Shishack his wrath Shishack was but the viall through which his wrath was powred out Where you may observe this connexion that when any affliction befalleth a State or Church or a particular person it is because God is agrie and hee is never angrie but for sinne and till sinne bee removed his anger is never laid aside time wears it not out as it doth the anger and passions of men And therefore it is good for us to compound with the Lord and to take up this suite before it come to execution and judgement and not to doe as ill-husbands and prodigals doe that suffer a suite to run on and charges to grow from Terme to Terme lest we be inforced to pay not onely the maine debt but the arrerages also that is the time of that patience and long-suffering of God and not in this world onely but in that which is to come It is apparent that God is about a great worke yea to make a great change in the world except we do as it were hold his hand by seeking and turning unto him and by removing the things that provoke him he doth not lay all these stones and move all these wheeles for nothing yet who knowes what it is he is about till it bee brought forth such a metaphor I finde Prov. 27. 1. Who knowes what a day may bring forth its a metaphor taken from a wombe there is no man knowes what is in the wombe of tomorrow or what evil tomorrow may bring forth Saul little thought that the next day travelled of such a birth as the overthrow of the armies of Israel and the death of himselfe and his sonnes Iob little thought that the next day had in the wombe thereof the fall of the house and the slaying of his children If you observe the Scripture you shall finde that there are certain seasons wherein as the Angell