Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	law_n	sin_n	sin_v	8,157	5	9.6294	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A58047	Solitude improved by divine meditation, or, A treatise proving the duty and demonstrating the necessity, excellency, usefulness, natures, kinds and requisites of divine meditation first intended for a person of honour, and now published for general use by Nathanael Ranew.	Ranew, Nathanael, 1602?-1678.	1670 (1670)	Wing R248; ESTC R30539	209,120	405

1. Let me first begin with the meritorious cause of it That which Heathens knew not Nature saw not Philosophy and Learning could not find out nor reach only holy Scripture tells me and shews it to be that most black inlet sin Rom. 5.12 Death entred into the world by sin and v. 17. By one mans offence death reigned not only entred but reigned hath mastered and will master all sinners Sin that greatest evil in the world sin the only contrariety to the living God that gave life to man at first and ever since sin that only injury to the blessed God bred and brought death the greatest misery to man here sin that provoked God to pass the sentence sin occasioning the vindictive cause the Justice of God to let in death death with the consequences of it that would follow without a Mediator that Adam knew not of Death so considered is the way of the very deepest revenge a God can take But then this black part of it bodily death without that blacker Train of Hell and Eternity in it is that which must challenge a very great proportion of ponderings 2. Let me look at not only the rise of it and the bare wrath occasioning the inflicting it but that so fixt and irreversible sentence that like the Law of the Medes and Persians cannot be broken Heb. 9.27 It 's appointed for all the universality of sin hath given death an universal sting and the Statute of Heaven hath impowered Death's Extensiveness over all and set a seal of irrevocableness to it as to all men Therefore it is appointed I must think particularly for me whatever I am or do or can in utmost possibility do I must not once think of making an escape from it Yea let me consider as I must die so the very Year Moneth Day Hour and Moment is immutably fixt and can never be altered Job 14.5 the place also where the means whereby the manner how all circumstances about it are unchangeably determined 3. But how material is that particular of the uncertainty of the time and manner to me that 's a reservation and secret kept in the Lord 's own breast not possibly to be exactly known before without it be revealed as Christ of the Great Day of Judgment saith Mat. 24.36 Of that day and hour knoweth no man And Verse 42. Ye know not what hour your Lord will come And 44. In such an hour you think not your Lord comes so the two latter may be applyed to this of death when he calls for an accompt of our Stewardships and Talents and passes particular and personal Judgment 3. Let me pass next to the Meditation serious pondering of the nature of it and that great dreadfulness of that most terrible of terribles that King of terrours Job 18.14 Here that I may duly look on it let me look up for a God to teach me as to number my days Ps 90. so to be wise to consider my latter end to do that hard work overcome that difficulty of looking Death-watd Nature abhors the thinking of it Corruption all it can opposes it but Grace must bring and fix earnestly and often the Eye upon it familiarize death to me let me then Eye my dissolution the parting of the two nearest dearest friends the Soul 's taking its sad farewel of its former dwelling it s going going in an instant out of the Body and then that which Death doth as an Enemy to all former Life concerns and as an entrance upon an Eternal Condition 1. As an Enemy to all enjoyments how sweet soever Pleasures all now quenched Honours now all dasht Riches and Estate now all lost Power now utterly ceast 2. An Enemy to all Relations Friends Acquaintance now must I shake hands with all nearest and dearest the sweetest and most helpful Relations 3. An Enemy to all Imployments necessary or pleasurable no Work no Business no Invention after it 4. An Enemy to all Opportunities and Means of Grace never to read the Bible more never to hear one Sermon more never to receive the Lords Supper more never to make one Prayer the shortest of one of the fewest words more and then also when thou art just launching into the length of vast Eternity But now must be Prayerless and totally helpless yea now thy Souls condition becomes becalmed and thou canst not obtain one gale of the Holy Spirit to blow upon thee and help move thee in any measure 5. It s an Enemy quickly to the curious frame and so exquisite building of thy body with all its parts and members made with such adaptations and sutableness whatever with all the Tempers Qualities Offices Abilities and Actings of it An Enemy likewise to all the senses seeing hearing the two disciplinary with feeling tasting smelling the so likewise necessary 6. It is an Enemy and Destroyer of all comliness and beauty form and shape And all these former by being the Enemy and Destroyer of that thy so sweet and precious life by making that Jewel drop out of the Cabinet of the Body or rather driving forth thy immortal and invaluable soul bringing with it a Writ of forcible entrance coming with an Execution to turn out that old inhabitant of the body securing it from regaining possession making it stand empty and thence exposing the body to rot ruine turn to dust and expose it to Oblivion as if it had never been But then upon thy Souls thus leaving thy Body immediately and instantly it is cast upon a state of Eternity of Misery if thou wert not in Christ or felicity if found and dying in him When Life ends Eternity begins O this all amazing Eternity this so vast and inconceivable Eternity no way to be exprest or set forth no way to be understood or known a Glass that is ever running a Chain that is ever lengthening who can number the Sands of this Glass who can reckon the links of this Chain of Eternity without stop or period bound or end O let me be ever musing of this Ever have it so full in my Eye while I have time this moment of time here that it may wind up and leave me in possession of most happy Eternity But to affect my spirit aright and be wise in the due managing of this Meditation of dreadful Death let me look to and ponder the Scripture Commands for remembring and considering my latter end and the Arguments strongly inducing to it How frequently and earnestly is it urged upon all O let me lay the weight and stress of them close to my heart not suffering it to put by the thoughts of death how awk and averse soever my carnal spirit is towards it Let me therefore not only muse on the sentence the peremptory and irrevocable sentence passed upon all in general and so upon my self in particular but on it as ready to be executed this hour yea this moment for ought I or any in the world can tell Ah let me say to my self the

more When a soul comes to look and search into himself sees what little grace he hath what abundance of corruptions and in what power they shew themselves When he finds how he is assaulted by Satan and ensnared by the world and things of it he sees how necessary it is to consider what in this case he is to do This therefore after assurance in some degree obtained and how to keep and increase it may well be the matter of Meditation Meditate then of thy grace received the weakness and imperfection of it and how to help and strengthen it especially thy Faith that great fundamental Grace that serves as the eye to see Christ the foot to come to him and hand to take him lean upon and to take and receive from him In the case of weakness of grace thy Meditation must be upon that purposely conferred fulness Cor. 1.19 that fountain-fulness which is in Christ 〈◊〉 whom by faith thou art united engraffed into 〈◊〉 to partake of the sweetness of this Vine Joh. 〈◊〉 of the fatness of this Olive 1 Cor. 1. ●● 〈◊〉 made to us wisdom righteousness sanctification 1. Meritoriously so he hath purchased these 2. Efficaciously he imparts and communicates these Joh. 15.5 Without me ye can do nothing without first a real ingraffing into Christ Joh. 15.4 without a vital influence from him and without a new continual acting trust and recumbency on him But Phil. 4.13 I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me Consider thou must that he will help thee If Christ did first help thee when thou wert a stranger and enemy to him now much more will he help thee being reconciled If when thou hadst no union wert no member of his he made thee a member much more being a member will he supply life strength and growth to make thee a perfect member he must make his body in all the members perfect at last They must grow therefore that he may be a head perfected in all his members perfection The way Christ will teach thee seeking to him The work Christ will work for thee trusting in him 2. Then as thy Meditation must be of Christ the Well of living waters and his fulness so because the Well though a living Spring yet it is deep how to come at it how to draw The next Meditation therefore must be of our means vouchsafed us to draw and of particularly that by which all the Saints in all Ages have drawn out of this Well of Salvation and received grace for grace Therefore this Meditation must be of that precious powerful Faith whereby Christ is received initially by our first union and communion with him and received also gradually daily and for our building up to perfection in him Meditation must be as of Faith to fetch supply from Christ 3. So of the way Faith hath to act namely by the precious Promises of Sanctification in which Christ assures thee he will not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoaking flax Matth. 12.20 That the Kingdom of Heaven at first is as a grain of mustard-seed but it becomes as a great tree Matth. 13.31 32. That the good work in any heart God will finish to the day of Christ Phil. 1.6 Thou must repair to the rich Treasury of the Gospel gather up the Pearls of Promises scattered all over it string them up in Meditation and ponder their infallible Truth abundant Goodness and most transcendent Freeness 4. Next thou must meditate duely of the way for the full Breasts of the Promises to give down into thy longing spirit their sweetness and help This is by Christs appointed Ordinances praying and the rest wherein thy Faith must act upon the Promises and by them upon Jesus Christ and so though that Well be deep Faith is thy Bucket the Promises the Chain the Ordinances the Hands to let it down and draw it up filled with living water for thy thirsty soul to drink CHAP. XIII Of Meditation of Corruptions stirring and oft prevailing THis Meditation must proceed upon the Promises of sin-subduing and mortifying Mich. 7.19 He will subdue our iniquities Rom. 6.14 Sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the law but under grace A man under the Law it gives no strength against sin Rom. 3.20 It discovers sin and irritates sin Rom. 7.8 9. but gives no strength to subdue it But being under Gospel-grace that gives power to mortifie sin Those that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts Gal. 5.24 They are dead to sin Rom. 6.2 by Christ purchasing the total mortification and dead by an Initial and begun sanctification that from being implanted into Christs death and his sin-killing grace sin receives its deaths wound and shall bleed to death upon it But this by applying frequently the promises of mortification exercising Faith by them exciting Faith to rest on them Let us therefore as for other cases so for this gather up variety of promises of sin-subduing Let thy eye in Meditation go from promise to promise First set one promise before thee and dwell upon that look to Christ in that and thence draw help from him resting on him for making it good to thy souls case and then go to and dwell upon another ponder that and rest again upon Christ in that promise and so successively upon others Thou hast great varieties of Promises that thy eye in Meditation might be more delighted in walking in this Garden of Christ among these pleasant sweet flowers and that Faith might by the variety feed more to the full upon them In the case of a particular corruption sometimes yea it may be often too hard for thee Thy now Meditation must pass in a more particular manner In great pondering of the sinfulness of this sin as the Scripture in the divers passages of it sets it forth in the kind and nature in the degrees aggravations and abounding sinfulness of it 1. In the terrible threatnings denounced against it which discover Gods not dealing tenderly and handling it as it were gently What David said of Absalom in his rebellion warring against him openly Deal for my sake gently with the young man Absalom 2 Sam. 18.5 that we are ready to do with applying the Threatnings to our corruptions loth to apply him too hot and too home and let these Corrosives continue their time because of their smart and pain But we should both get store of threatnings give them all the edge we can apply them close and let them stick fast and stay their just time to issue in due fear and awakning and make thee more willing to forego thy sin The Threatnings of the Law and Word of Christ are of great necessity and use for godly spirits so God and the Saints in Scripture used them for humblings awaknings and reformings 2. This sins sinfulness in Examples In the Examples of severity recorded both of wicked and godly persons Gods severity to them yea

is to frequently in my thoughts put my self into the condition of a present dying How it must be with me let me look on my self how certainly without flattery I am prepared to dye If I have a Christ in my bosom the Love of God assured and can dye in the Lord 2 Cor. 13.5 dye in Faith and look Death in the face boldly resign up my soul freely into Christs hands these make for this Agony the highest Cordial these furnish me with Armour of proof against this Enemy But let me then look on my self as having no means farther to preserve me all Physick Art and Experiences withdrawing their usual help Friends standing about me pitying lamenting me but not able to evidence more than their kind wishes and I my self perceiving Deaths summons sent me as to King Hezekiah but without expecting any Messenger after to be sent with better News Prayers now and all such means also reversed and proving labours lost I now feeling my decays and hastening away my disquiets and pains encreasing strength failing spirits sinking heat turned into chillness Cramps contractions of Nerves and limbs following breath shortening speech faultring heart pangs and agonies now multiplying the whole frame of the body shaking the Hands snatching Eye-strings as they say breaking and after many deep heavy sighings and groanings the Soul comes forth with gaspings and sitting upon my quivering lips upon the last gasp takes its nimble flight leaves its old habitation to rottenness and corruption and launches forth into an everlasting new condition Lord teach me so to number my days see how frail I am Psal 90.12 Psal 39.1 let me so often realize this dying to my self in most serious Meditation put my self into this condition of Deaths coming and acting his part his utmost on me that I may both familiarize and facilitate this so dreadful and difficult work that I may be greatly desirous to be dissolved and be thereby with Christ which is best of all O that I may perform this last work best which that I may and make that great Enemy my great Friend my Losses greatest Gain let me still mind Christ's healing this bitter water making it sweet making this Deaths-day better than the Births-day let my thoughts be on the Sting's pulling out that it cannot hurt if I am Christ's Death is ours if we are Christ's and for our most high advantages as being the great outlet of all evil and misery I now shall sin no more be tempted and ensnared no more the World shall now be corruptions bait and Satans Hook no more Satan shall never throw at me any fiery dart more God will never desert me hide his face from me more All Miseries Crosses Losses Poverty Shame Pain Sickness Weakness Weariness Faintness Hunger Thirst Cold Nakedness Labour Toil Cares Fears Sorrows and Disquiets and whatsoever of this lifes Evils can be named is at an Eternal end And Death becomes the great inlet of all good to flow in most abundantly a passage to Heaven to be possest of a Crown of Glory to enjoy the innumerable company of Saints and Angels to be with Christ and seeing God face to face and fulness of felicity for evermore CHAP. XIX Of Judgment after death ON the sad parting of those two dearest friends Soul and Body comes instantly the doom and sentence Heb. 9.27 the particular Judgment of the person to pass and be put in execution to an Eternal Estate either of Happiness or Misery immediately as to the immortal Soul and afterward at the General Resurrection of Body and Soul in Conjunction This therefore little foregoing Day of Judgment upon which by the Bodies mortality and necessity of dying and the Souls immortality and necessity of not dying every person comes to be stated in eternal misery or happiness unavoidably is a point of most high consequence to be well considered deeply weighed often dwelt upon in our most prudent improvements of retiredness A very great frequency and repetition of our best thoughts and serious ponderings must be the Tribute of this concern this vertical point this Judgment which casts the scales and makes full weight for misery or felicity for ever For as the tree falls so it lies as Death leaves Judgment this particular Judgment finds us dooms us irreversibly there is no bringing a Writ of Errour no Appeal to be made no pardon now the Judge will give no petition he will receive no stay of proceedings can in the least be granted or lookt for on any ground This to every particulat person in some respect is his great day of Judgment this disposes and dispatches this secures and keeps me for the great general Assize and Judgment this is the Foundation that will be the Superstructure this is secret that is solemn this for a private execution that for one in open view of all But this Judgment particular strikes the first stroke of utter undoing or lends the first hand of help to an eternal saving and without which the great Judgment doth not proceed Ah then well may I afford this Judgment a great frequency largeness seriousness of thoughts which launches the Ship of my Soul into the Ocean of Eternity which lets my Soul either presently to sink into the Bottomless Pit purposely sends it thither casts it into the Lake of Everlasting Fire or sends it into Abrahams bosom into the harbour of eternal happiness and enters this Jewel into the Cabinet of Heaven Ah how unspeakably considerable is this particular Judgment The very moment of my death that is uncertain and the very next moment after death comes certain Judgment irresistably and irrecoverably and determines our state of Eternity CHAP. XX. Of the general Judgment Day BUT then particular Judgment foregoing this is but the foundation and introduction of the following The private and partial execution on the Soul separate from the Body shall have a publick and most solemn both manifestation and consummation with it 1. This day among other ends is reserved for the so great and glorious manifestation of the infinite holiness and righteousness grace and mercy wrath and severity and other Attributes of God never in this world having their so full discovery as now by the intendment and most wise contrivance of a God they shall have before Angels and Saints Devils and wicked men The Judgment-day Rom. 2.5 is called the day of the Revelation of the righteous Judgment of God of that righteousness that so great and glorious Attribute so little understood less considered so much questioned and cavil'd at the highest declaration and fullest Revelation that ever was shall be then made and seen by all So the rest of Gods Attributes shall obtain their meridian height and shine forth in their most perfect resplendencies Therefore it needs must be a very great day when it is so intended purposely to be the greatest day that ever was or can be 2. It is also purposely constituted for the highest glory of Jesus