Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	life_n	lord_n	power_n	8,674	5	4.5803	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62017	Sō ̃ma thanatou, the body of death: or, a discourse concerning the saints failings & infirmities Wherein this position, viz. that absolute freedome from sinne is not attainable in this life, is both proved and improved, in three sermons preached in St Edmunds church in the city of New-Sarum; the first upon Wednesday Novemb 24. 1658. being the weekly lecture day; the two last upon August 14, 1659. being the Lords day. By Joseph Swaffeild minister of the gospel at Odstocke in the county of Wilts.	Swaffield, Joseph, ca. 1625-1681.	1661 (1661)	Wing S6231; ESTC R222442	50,170	146

Lust will never compound but to your infinite disadvantage if not to your destruction The snares of sin and Sathan will in the end prove chaines of darkenesse Fourthly It remaines therefore that it is your best way to make resistance As yeelding and compounding is the way to ruine so resisting is the way to overcome If you make a vigorous resistance Christ will help you to put your feet upon the necks of those lusts that warre against your souls and you shall be more than conquerours through him that loved you and gave himself for you Now in resisting the risings of of sin let me advise you to follow these rules First Resist speedily Don't stay too long before you begin the fight Many times men stay so long before they begin that they are vanquished before they fight Therefore resist the first appearances of corruption give no place to the least temptation oppose sin in the birth crush the Cockatrice in the egge It is easier to keep an enemy out of a Countrey than to beat him out when once he is gotten in so it is easier to keep out sin than to beat it out Dangerous diseases may be stopped in time which will afterwards prove incurable d Principiis obsta serò medicina paratur Cum mala per longas invalueremoras Ovid. Sin if it be timely resisted may probably prove no more dangerous to us than the Viper proved to Paules hand when he shook it off into the fire and it did him no harme e Act. 28.5 But if we give way to it and doe not resist it in the first motion it will be hard for us to suppresse it afterwards Doe you therefore to your sins as Pharoah gave command to be done to the Israelites male-children he would not stay till the children were grown up to years but commanded the Midwives to slay them as soon as they were born This was a cruell act in him but thus to deal with your sins will be a mercifull act in you to your souls What therefore Pharaoh did cruelly against those poor children doe you prudently against your sins kill them when they are in the birth That 's the first rule Secondly Let your resistance be universall you must resist all sin every false way You must combate with all though you can conquer none as you should and would True hatred is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against the whole kinde You should not therefore while you frown upon one sin smile upon another and while you thrust some out of doors hug others in your bosome Thirdly Enter not into a parly or treaty withsin but maintain the conflict Sin is such an enemy that you must either kill or be killed This conflict is of such a nature that there should not be a treaty of peace nor a cessation of armes all your life long f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lastly Resist in the strength of Christ Goe not forth in your own strength but in the strength of the Lord and the power of his mights g Ephes 6.10 Fetch in divin strength and assistance act faith upon the death of Christ for the killing of sin in you and by prayer call in divine helpe So much for the fifth direction observe the first rising and stirrings of corruption and resist them Sixtly Direct 6 Possesse your hearts alwayes with apprehensions of Gods Presence and set the Lord alwayes before you and walke as in his sight It was the grave advice of a Philosopher to his friend h Seneca to his friend Lucilius that he should alwayes imagine some severe Cato or some other person eminent for vertue to be alwayes present with him as overseer and censurers of all his actions that hereby he might be keept within compasse and restrained from vice And indeed there is much in the eyes of men to keep men from breaking forth into sin yea the satyrist tells us i Juvenal that Maxima debetur pueris reverentia a man would not commit a grosse sin in the presence of a child Is not then the pierceing and all-seeing eye of a sin-revenging God much more sufficient to lay a restraint upon your spirits and to cause you to stand in awe and not to sin Certainly this would be a notable meanes to preserve you from breaking forth into sinfull practises did you but seriously consider that all sins are committed in the presence of a sin-revenging God who is able to look the soul of a sinner into Hell with the rebuke of his countenance k Psal 80.16 Seventhly Direct 7 Labour to possesse your hearts alwayes with the feare of God I mean not a servile but a filial feare of God This hath a wonderfull influence upon the heart to preserve it from backsliding as may be gathered from Jer. 32.4 where you have a promise in these words I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me Hence that precept Psal 4.4 Stand in awe and sin not Indeed this holy fear of God is as a golden bridle to the soul when it would runne out to any evill It is like banks to the sea which keepeth in therageing waves of corruption when they would overflow all And therefore in scripture you have these two put together fearing God and eschewing evill Job 1.1 8. Yea you shall finde that Eschewing evil is not only put as an effect of the fear of God but it is put into the definition it selfe of the fear of God the fear of the Lord is to hate evill Pr. 8.13 Lastly Direct 8 Look up to Jesus Christ with faith flameing out in prayer His eye is wakefull enough and his arme powerfull enough to preserve you There is a spring of strengthening grace in Jesus Christ Therefore when you have the greatest strength of grace in your selves yet look beyond your selves unto Christ and say still as Jehosaphat did when he had that great strength of men viz. an army 500000 strong Lord we know not what to doe onely our eyes are unto thee 2 Chron. 20.12 And then be your temptations never so violent your corruptions never so strong yet remember what the Lord said to Paul 2 Cor. 12.9 My grace is sufficient for thee sufficient to subdue thy corruptions sufficient to secure thy heart against the volence of Sathans temptations Therefore look up to Christ commit your way unto him and watch and pray that you enter not into temptation l Mat. 26.41 So much for the use of Caution Thirdly Vse 3 I come now to an use of exhortation Exhor Is this so that the best of men are not so freed from sin in this life but that in many things they offend all then suffer a few words of exhortation First Blesse God that you are delivered from a sinfull state Never look back upon Sodom but with detestation and blesse God that you are escaped and be thankfull to the Lord who hath given you counsell in your

If a writing be but blured a little and somewhat blotted it may be read but if it be blotted out it is no more legible But the sinnes of Gods justified ones are not onely blotted but blotted out and that by God himself who alone hath the power of life and death of condeming and absolving Though an inferiour Officer should blot out an inditement that perhaps may stand a malefactor in no steed but when the King doth it who is the cheife Judg then the indictement cannot returne Now it is the Lord himself doth blot out sin I even I am he that blottes out thy transgression Our sinners are as it were fairly written as an evidence and record against us and our iniquities testify against us till a pardon blotteth them out Sometimes also it is called blotting them out as a cloud Esa 44.22 I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions and as a cloud thy sinnes Our unpardoned iniquities as a thick cloud eclipse the light of Gods countenance from shineing upon us till the beames of Gods free Grace and pordoning mercy scatter this cloud Sometimes it is called a casting them into the hottom of the sea where they shall be so buried as never to rise againe Mic. 7.19 Thou wilt cast all their sinnes into the depths of the sea If a thing were cavt into a river which might be fadomed it might be brought up again or if it were cast upon the sea onely it might be discerned and taken up again but when it is in the depth cast into the depths into the bottom of the sea it cannot be fadomed up again By which Metaphore the Lord expresseth as one observes (i) Mr. Obadiah Sedgewick in his doubting Beleiver p. 251.252 the powerfull energie of pardoning mercy that sinnes shall rise no more against us He will clear them so that being once forgiven they shall come upon the account no more He will drown their guilt that it shall not come up against them before him the second time Some think that it is an allusion to Gods great judgment on Tharaoh and the Aegyptian Host who when they pursued Israel were drowned in the bottomof the red sea (k) Mr. Loves Penitent pardoned p. 44. God will deal with sin as he dealt with Pharaoh and his Host To shew how irrecoverably they perished it is said they sank as lead in the mighty waters Exodus 15.10 when God pardoneth sin sin lyeth like lead in the bottom of the sea the guilt thereof shall never rise against a pardoned sinner Sometimes it is called a covering sin Psal 32.1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered Now you know quod tegitur non videtur (l) Hieron Si voluit segere noluit videre c. Aug. in Psa 32. c. that which is covered is not seen the glorious robe of Christ righteousness covereth all the spots of Gods justified people as a garment covereth all the moles and blemishes and imperfections in the body of man so that the Lord seeth no iniquity in Jacob nor transgression in Israel Numb 23.21 The meaning of which Text is not that there is no sin in them which God takes notice of but that although God doe see sin in them with the eye of his knowledg and omniscience yet he doth not see sin in them with the eye of justice so as to lay it to their charge Their sinnes are covered saith one Not simply and absolutely so as that God cannot see them this would argue impotency and imperfection in God but secundum quid so covered as that God will not impute them (m) Mr. Newman in his Sermon before the house of Comons Dec. 30. 1646. on Heb. 4.13 p. 21. And moreover the Sctipture holds forth that the sinnes of Gods people are so putt away that if God should come afterwards and make inquisition for sin in them it shall not be found Jer. 50.20 In those dayes and in that time saith the Lord the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none and the sinnes of Judah and they shall not be found The meaning is not that there can no sins be found in the Saints but that they shall not be found so as to have the guilt of them charged upon them Why what hinders the finding of them Or where shall they be hid The last words of the verse will tell you where they shall be hid viz. in the pardoning mercies of God I the Lord will pardon thove whom I reserve The Lord will give such a full and free pardon of sin that what search and inquiry soever should be made after it there shoud not be so much as any scar or mark not so much as any print or stain left to be a witness of their sin or a plea for their condemnation Which leads me to the third particular Thirdly Beleevers are freed from sin in respect of the condemning power thereof Quoad vim damnandi So that now ther is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 Though there be matter of condemnation yet their is not condemnation it selfe Sin shall never bring those under condemnation that have an interest in Jesus Christ for that were derogatory to Gods justice to receive full payment of our debt at the hand of Christ and yet to require it of us too The great Judge of Heaven and earth will not doe so unrighteously as to expect that from us which Christ hath paid for us to the uttermost farthing Thus you have heard how beleevers are free from sinn this life Secondly My next work is to shew you how beleevers are not freed from sin in this life And this also I shall lay open in three particulars First Non quoad actum inhaerendi Beleevers are not freed from sin in respect of its inherence Hence we read of the indwelling of sin It is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me Rom. 7.17 20. Sin doth not onely lodge with us for a night but it dwelleth in us like a rebellious Tenant that will keep possession in despite of the owner till the house be pulled down over his head (n) Mr. Brinsly in his Treat of misticall Implantation p. 120. The best Saint alive is troubled with Inmates Though he forsake his sins yet his sins will not forsake him Sin is by Epiphanius compared to Ivy in the wall (o) Epiphan Haeres l. 2. H. 64. cited by Dr. Ed. Reynolds in his Treatise concerning the sinfullness of sin Though you cut off the body and the stump and the boughs and the branches yet the root remaining fastened in the wall it will sprout out again till the wall be pulled down By others it is compared to the fretting Leprosy spoken of Levit. 14.45 scrapeing will not serve the turn to remove it but still it spreads till the house the stones and the timber thereof c. be

removeing discouragements and imbondageing thoughts of fear out of the hearts of weake Christians and also for the preventing and removing of carnall confidence which may possibly arise in the hearts of others from what hath been delivered For my beloved the sins and the falls of Saints doe usually very much disturb the peace of their own consciences and they are as frequently a snare to carnall hearts to encourage them to sin and therefore it will be worth the while to resolve this question viz. What is the difference between the Godly and the wicked in their sinning between the infirmities of Saints and the falls of wicked men Godly men sin and wicked men sin and yet there is a vast disparity and a manyfold difference between the sinning of the one and the other and what that difference is I shall now discover to you First Differ 1 A Godly man doth not make a trade of sin he is not a customary sinner Though possibly he may sometimes sin over the same sin and renew the same transgression yet the soul putteh in its plea and complaint against it as the Apostle doth Rom. 7.24 where he cryes out Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death It is here as in civill matters if we make our challenge or demand a custome is at an end though possibly such may be the power of the opposite party that the acts may be renewed So a Godly man putteth in his plea against sin and although possibly through his own weakness and the violence of Sathans temptations he may be once and againe overtaken with it yet he resolveth against it and prayes against it and complaineth to God of the strength of his corruptions and doth not allow himself in the least sin David professeth that he had chosen the way of truth Psal 119.30 and yet he slipt with his tongue more than once as when he answered Ahimelech the Priest the King hath commanded me a business and he hath said unto me let not any man know any thing of the business whereabout I send thee and what I have commanded thee and I have appointed my servant to such a place 1 Sam. 21.2 and faulters again with his tongue and speaketh either falsely or doubtfully when the King of the Philistims asked him whether have ye made a rode to day And David said Against the south of Judah and against the south of the Jerahmeelites and against the south of the Kenites 1 Sam. 27.10 When as his invasion was against other countreyes verse 8. Nevertheless David did not make a trade of lying for he had chosen the way of truth Psal 119.30 and he professeth afterwards in the same Psalm that he hated every false way verse 104. And this is the meaning of that place 1 John 3.9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he doth not trade in sin and make it his work and his business But wicked men drive a trade of sin they devise plot and contrive sin which acts denominate them workers of iniquity They are so far from putting in a plea against sin that they will as I shall shew you afterwards rather plead for their sins and they will labour more to make excuses for them than to get the conquest over them They are so far from makeing preparation to resist the lusts of the flesh that they make provision for the flesh to fullfill the lust thereof Rom. 13.14 Wicked men by makeing a trade of sin contract upon themselves a kind of cursed necessity of sinning Sin by custom becometh as it were another nature to them d Consutudo quasi secunda quasi affabricata natura Aug. lib. 6. de music so that they can almost as soon cease to be as cease to sin Secondly Differ 2 A Godly man doth not sin with a full consent of his will he doth not yeeld a willing subjection to the commands of sin He doth not yeeld a ready and free obedience to it as to a naturall Lord but onely a forced and involuntary obedience as to a tyrant Sin cannot say of beleevers as the Centurion of his servants I say to this man go and he goeth and to another come and he cometh and to my servant doe this and doeth it Mat. 8.9 For a Saints heart riseth against the imperius commands of sin and the soul complaineth and cryeth to God for helpe against it A Godly man sinneth with much reluctancy e non voluntate plenâ sed semiplenâ his heart never cometh up heartly to the commands of sin but the evill which he would not doe that be doeth Rom. 7.19 There may be indeed a kind of negative consent in a Godly man as to some particular acts of sin into which he may perhaps be carryed forth without any open resistance as when a thing is put to the question a man that is silent may be said to give some kind of consent when he doth suspend his own vote and not openly declare his consent nor yet directly enter his dissent But yet beloved though a Godly man may be over-born sometimes and hurryed into some particular acts of sin yet he doth not directly or determinately consent thereunto It is the sad complaint and the mournfull voice of grace the evill which I would not that I doe But I doe sin and I will sin I doe work iniquity and I will work it that 's the stubborn voice of a sinfull nature Even then when a Godly man through violence of temptation is drawn to the acting of sin yet there remaineth in the will a principle of opposition against it As Jacob and Esau struggled together in Rebeccahs womb so there is constantly a spirituall struggling betwen the flesh and the spirit in a beleeving soul The flesh lusteth after the spirit and the spirit against the flesh Gal. 5.17 Now where there is this lusting and struggling against corruption there cannot be a full consent or compliance of the will with corruption I told you before that sin acteth the part of a Tyrant in a Godly man Now you know all the service that is don to a Tyrant is out of of violence not out of obedience A Tyrant hath onely a coactive power over the persons but a King besides that hath a sweet power over the wills and affections of his Subjects f His duobus differt justum regimen à Tyrannide Regi legitimo subditi libenter obediunt quicquid praeceperit Tyranno inviti obtemperant c. Pareus in Rom. 6. they love his person and delight in his service which rule though it be not alwayes true in civill governments for the unwillingness of some to obey their Soveraigne may arise from their own rebellion and not from his Tyranny yet it is most generall and certain in the state of sin which is never a King over rebellious subjects who reject its yoke and government Sin may play the