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	soul_n	8,168	5	4.9147	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41125	The sacrifice of the faithfull, or, A treatise shewing the nature, property, and efficacy of zealous prayer together with some motives to prayer, and helps against discouragements in prayer : to which is added seven profitable sermons / by William Fenner ...	Fenner, William, 1600-1640.	1648 (1648)	Wing F698; ESTC R478	35,874	88

earth no word no commandement no threatning condemnes him But if thy conscience condemne thee and tell thee thou lettest sin lie at the dore rapping at thy conscience day after day and month after month telling thee that yet thou art without Christ that yet thou never hadst any true faith in the Lord Jesus that yet thou hast not truely repented and turned from thy sinnes this will at last drive thy soule into heavie discouragements if not into finall despaire O beloved religion and piety and the power of godlinesse goe downe the winde every where What is the reason of it but because of these discouragements that men live and go in Men pray and pray and their prayers profit them not men run up and downe and come to the Church and heare the Word and receive the Sacraments and use the meanes of grace but to no end they are unprofitable to them they remaine in their sinnes still the ordinances of God bring them not out of their lusts and corruptions hereby they disgrace and discredit the ordinances of God in the eyes and account of the men of the world making them thinke as if there were no more power nor force in the Ordinances of God then these men manifest There is no life in many Christians mens spirits are discouraged these secret discouragements in their hearts take away their spirits in the use of the meanes that though they use the meanes yet it drives them to despaire of reaping good or profit by them Beloved I could here tell you enough to make your hearts ake to heare it First all your complaints they are but winde Job 6. 26. doe you imagine to reprove words and the speeches of one that is desperate which are as winde Jobs friends taking Job to be a man of despaire they accounted all his words but as winde Doest thou nestle any discouragement in thy heart thou maist complaine of sinne as much as thou canst yet all thy complainings are but as winde thou maist cry out against thy corruptions with weeping and teares and pray and fight against them and yet all thy weeping mourning and praying is but as the winde thou maiest beg grace thou maist seeke after God thou maist heare the Word receive the Sacraments and yet all will be to thee as wind all will vanish be unprofitable not regarded Secondly discouragements drive us from the use of the meanes If ever we meane to come out of our sinnes if ever we meane to get grace and faith and assurance and zeale we must constantly use the meanes 1 Sam. 27. 1. David saith there is nothing better for me then that I should speedily escape into the Land of the Philistims and Saul shall despaire of me to seeke me any more David thought in himselfe if I can make him out of hope of finding me certainely he will give over seeking of me So when the soule hath any secret despaire of finding the Lord that soule will quickly be drawne from seeking of the Lord in the use of the meanes What ever you doe then O be not discouraged lest you be driven from the use of the meanes if you be driven from the use of the meanes woe is to you you will never finde God then Be not driven from praier nor driven from holy conference nor driven from the Word nor driven from the Sacrament nor from meditation nor from the diligent and strict examination of thy selfe of thy heart and of all thy waies for these are the waies of finding the Lord If you nourish any thoughts and feares of despaire in you if you be discouraged you will be driven from the use of the meanes which is a lamentable thing therefore be not discouraged Thirdly discouragements will make you stand poaring on your former courses thus I should have done and that I should have done woe is me that I did it not it will make a man stand poaring on his sinnes but never able to get out of them So it was like to be with them in the Ship with Paul Acts 27. 20. In the tempest at Sea they were utterly discouraged from any hope of safety now indeed Paul told them what they should have done if they had been wise Sirs you should have hearkned to me and not have loosed ver. 21. as if he had said you should have done thus and thus but now doe not stand poaring too much on that you should have hearkned to me and not have launched forth c. but that cannot be holpen now therefore I exhort you to be of good cheare c. So beloved when the soule is discouraged upon these thoughts I should have prayed better I should have heard the Word of God better and with more profit I should have repented better I should have performed this and that religious and good dutie better but ah wretch that I am I have sinned thus and thus it is alwaies looking on this sinne and that sinne this imperfection and that failing when now I say the soule is discouraged it will be alwaies poaring upon sinne but it will never come out of its sinne alwaies poaring upon its deadnesse and unprofitablenesse but never able to come out of it O beloved be of good cheare and be not discouraged it is true you should have prayed better you should have heard the Word of God better heretofore you should have been more carefull and circumspect of your wayes then you were but now you cannot helpe it these things and times are gone and cannot be recalled such a one hath been a drunkard a swearer a worldling c. but he cannot helpe it now True he might have helped it and because he did not his heart shall bleed for it if he belong to God but doe not stand poaring too much upon it but consider now what you have to doe now you are to humble your selfe now you are to strive with God in all manner of prayer for more grace and more power of obedience and assurance and be not discouraged Fourthly if the soule be discouraged it will breed nothing but sorrow What is the reason that many Christians are alwaies weeping and mourning and sighing and sobbing from day to day all their life time and will not be comforted because of these discouragements 1 Thes. 4. 13. Sorrow not saith the Apostle as those that have no hope as if he had said sorrow if you will but do not sorrow as they that have no hope How is that it is a sorrow with nothing but sorrow from which they have no hope of inlargement or freedome O then my brethren suppose you have dead hearts suppose you want zeale you want assurance suppose it be so yet labour to attaine these graces sorrow and spare not weepe and mourne and powre out whole buckets of teares for your sinnes if you can but sorrow not with nothing but sorrow be not discouraged suppose that thou hast a dead heart that thou art an hypocrite that thou hast a rotten heart it is a heavie thing and a fearefull case indeed for which thou hast great cause of humiliation and sorrow but yet sorrow not desperately as men without hope be not wholly discouraged but as you sorrow for your sins so also labour with incouragement to get out and be rid of your sins Fifthly discouragements breed and procure a totall perplexity They leave the soule in a maze that it knowes not whether to turne it selfe When men come to be discouraged Oh what shall I doe saith one I am utterly undone saith another I know not what will become of me saith a third Oh I am utterly lost I shall perish one day one day God will discover me and be avenged on me for this and that sin I were as good go to hell at the first as at the last for that will be the end of me I have gon to prayer but that doth not helpe me I have gone to Sacraments but I finde no helpe still my soule lies under the power of sinne still my sinnes are as strong in me as ever Thus the soule is discouraged and cryes out Oh what shall I doe I know not what to doe What shall I doe sayest thou Alas thou hast things enough to doe if thou wert not discouraged Utterly undone No man thou mightest see that thou art not utterly undone but that thou art discouraged Dost thou not know what will become of thee yea poore soule there is mercy grace and peace for thee if thou wilt not be discouraged Sixthly discouragements whisper within a man a sentence of death and an impossibility of escaping As far as the discouragement of life goeth so farre goeth the sentence of death We despaired of life and had the sentence of death in our selves saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 1. 8. 9. he despaired of life in himself and therefore had the sentence of death in himselfe this was good but he did not despaire of life in God for then he should have had likewise the sentence of death from God in his conscience If you despaire in the Lord you have the sentence of death and damnation from God in your conscience take heed of this my beloved be not discouraged in God do not despaire in the Lord that will worke a miserable effect in your soules it will secretly whisper a sentence of damnation in your soules It is strange to consider how many poore soules rub on with these whispering sentences in their bosomes suffering their consciences day by day to tell them that they are rotten to tell them that they were never yet converted to tell them that they are yet in the state of damnation and yet they will not root out these discouragements O goe to the Throne of grace beg for grace and for mercy and for power against sinne and be not discouraged What wilt thou carry thy owne sentence of death in thy brest if thou wilt not rouze up thy soule and pray with more affection and confidence and shake off discouragements take heed lest thou carry the sentence of thy own death and damnation in thy bowels O therefore once more let me beseech you to take heed of these discouragements and now hearken to the voice of God which calleth upon you feare not Thou drewest nigh in the day that I called upon thee thou saidst feare not FINIS Object Answ Use Object Answ Object Answ Object Answ Doct. Quest Answ

To the Christian Reader HAving been informed upon very good grounds that the former Sermons of Mr William Fenner have found good acceptance both in regard of the worthinesse of the Author and also in regard of the usefulnesse of the Sermons I could not but give my approbation to these ensuing Sermons of the same Authour and desire that they may find the like acceptance with all Godly wise Christians and that they may become profitable to the Church of God Imprimatur EDM CALAMY THE SACRIFICE OF THE FAITHFULL OR A TREATISE shewing the nature property and efficacy of Zealous Prayer together with some Motives to Prayer and Helps against discouragements in Prayer To which is added seven profitable Sermons 1. The misery of the Creature by the sinne of man on Rom. 8. 22. 2. The Christians imitation of Christ on 1 Ioh. 2. 6 3. The enmity of the wicked to the light of the Gospel on John 3. 20 4. Gods impartiality on Esay 42. 24. 5. The great Dignity of the Saints on Heb. 11. 28. 6. The time of Gods grace is limited on Gen. 6. 3. 7. A Sermon for spirituall Mortification on Col. 3. 5. By William Fenner Minister of the Gospel Fellow of Pembrok Hall in Cambridge and Lecturer of Rochford in Essex LONDON Printed for John Stafford and are to be sold at his House over against Brides Church in Fleet-Street 1648. The CONTENTS of the first Treatise on Lament. 3. 5. 7. THE opening of the words in which are three properties of effectuall Prayer pag. 1. 1. The unsatiablenesse of it till it be heard 2. The sensiblenesse of it whether it be heard or no 3. The supply it hath against danger and discouragement p. 2. 1. Doct An effectuall prayer is an unsatiable prayer p. 3. Quest Must a man alwayes pray Ans. A man must give over the act of prayer for other duties but he must never give over the suit of Prayer p. 5. Rules to know whether our Prayers be unsatiable or no 1. It is an earnest begging Prayer p. 6. 2. It is constant Prayer p. 8. A godly mans Prayer is not out of his heart till the grace he prayed for be in p. 9. 3. It is a Prayer that is ever a beginning ib. 4. It is a proceeding Prayer it windes up the heart higher and higher ibid. 5. It is a Prayer that purifieth the heart p. 10. It is more and more fervent p. 11. And more and more frequent p. 12. It will take time from lawfull recreations and from the lawfull duties of our calling p. 13. And it will adde humiliation and fasting to Prayer p. 14. Use To condemne those who pray for grace and yet sit downe before grace is obtained p. 15. Such Prayers are 1. Endlesse p. 16. 2. Fruitlesse p. 17. 2. Doct A godly soule is sensible of Gods hearing or not hearing his Prayer p. 19. Quest How can the soule know whether it speed in Prayer or no Answ. 1. When God gives a soule further and further ability to pray it is a signe that God heares it p. 20. But if the soule have no heart to continue its suit it is a signe that God never meanes to heare that mans Prayer p. 21. 2. The preparednesse of the heart to Prayer is a signe that God means to heare p. 21. 3. Gods gracious looke is a signe that he will heare for sometimes God answers his people by a cast of his countenance p. 22. 4. The conscience of a man will answer him whether God heares his Prayer or no p. 26. But a mans conscience may be misinformed p. 27. A wicked man may have a truce though no true peace in his conscience p. 28. 5. The getting of the grace that a man prayes for is a signe that God heares his Prayer p. 29. But God may give many temporall blessings and common graces yet not in love but in wrath ibid. 6. If a man have Faith giuen him to beleive it is a signe that God heares him p. 30. Good works are good signes of Faith but they are but rotten grounds of Faith p. 31. Object Every Promise runs with a condition ibid. Ans. 1. The Promise is the ground of Faith and the way to get the Condition p. 32. 2. Faith is the enabling cause to keep the Condition p. 33. Two things doe much hurt in Prayer 1. Groundlesse incouragement 2. Needlesse discouragement p. 36. 3. Doct. God would not have any Christian soule to be discouraged in Prayer p. 39. A definition of discouragement ibid. 4. Reasons 1. Because discouragement hinders the soule in prayer p. 42. 2. Discouragement takes away the strength of the soule in Prayer p. 43. 3. If we have fearfull apprehensions of our sins so as to thinke they will never be forgiven we can never pray aright p. 45. 4. If we have any secret despaire we can never pray to purpose p. 46. There is a double desperation 1. Of infirmity which draws the soul from God 2. Of extremity which puts life into a mans Prayers and endeavours p. 47. A man never prayes well till he feeles himselfe undone p. 49. We should take heed of discouragements for 1. Discouragements breed melancholinesse in the soule p. 53. 2. They breed hard thoughts of God p. 54. 3. They will cause a man to thinke that God hates him p. 56. 4. They will bring a man to despaire p. 57. Ministers should not preach the pure Law without the Gospel p. 58. Secret discouragements in the heart 1. They take away the Spirit in the use of the meanes p. 62. 2. They drive us from the use of means p. 63. 3 They make a man continually to pore on his sins so as he shall never be able to get out of them p. 64. 4. They breed nothing but sorrow p. 66. 5. They leave the soule in a maze that it knows not whether to turne it selfe p. 67. 6. They whisper into a man a sentence of Death and an impossibility of escaping p. 68. The conclusion of the whole p. 69. The Contents of that Sermon ROM. 8. 22. EVery creature hath a three-fold goodnesse in it 1. A goodnesse of end p. 70. 2. A goodnesse of nature p. 71. 3. A goodnesse of use ibid. There be foure evils under which every Creature groaneth p. 73. 1. The continuall labour that the creature is put unto ibid. 2. The creature sometimes partakes of the plagues of the ungodly ib. 3. The Creature hath an instinctive fellow-feeleing of mans wretchednesse p. 74. 4. Because they are rent and torne from their proper Masters ibid. Doct. Every Creature groaneth under the slavery of sinne p. 75. Not only under the slavery of sinfull men but so far as they minister to the flesh of the Saints they groane under them ibid. Object Did ever any man heare any unreasonable creature groane under sin Answ. It is spoken Hyperbolically to declare the great misery the creatures are into serve sinfull man p. 76. 2. Analogically in regard of a