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	sin_n	spirit_n	19,754	5	5.4357	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09971	Grace to the humble· As preparations to receive the Sacrament. Preached by the late famous preacher Iohn Preston, Doctor of Divinity, and chaplen in ordinary to his Mtie. Master of Immanuel Colledge, and sometimes preacher in Lincolnes-Inne.	Preston, John, 1587-1628.	1639 (1639)	STC 20228; ESTC S106423	39,427	175

because if wee doe not deny our selves wee destroy our selves because when we yeeld to our selves wee yeeld to the disease and when wee yeeld to the disease wee destroy our selves this disease is the flesh every man is aeger inter morbum medicum now which is better for a a man to hearken to the Spirit the Phisitian or to the flesh the disease This reason is taken out of the sixt of the Galatians he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reape corruption but hee that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reape life everlasting He that yeeds to his flesh doth destroy himselfe for all the wayes of sinne leade downe to the chambers of death that is they bring death at the latter end that is the fruit and wages of it at the last but he that doth deny himselfe doth best provide for himselfe for he hath not onely the generall promise but also the particular promise there is noe man that hath left house or brethren c. Both in regard of our selves and in regard of God there is equity for it nothing is hard to a reasonable man when hee sees a reason that it is best for him to doe it hee is easily perswaded to it besides it is the greatest folly in the world to goe about to joyne God and our selves together God and sinne God and other respects for you loose both by this for God hates such an one and you finde no content in minde neither can you serve your selves perfectly if you joyne your selves with God and therefore you can have no absolute content and there will bee a reluctancy which way so ever you turne Againe suppose they should both bee joyned yet the more you gaine in the flesh the more you loose of God and the Spirit Now hee that hath any union desires more union with God and this cannot bee unlesse you have lesse union with the flesh Againe it is needelesse to joyne God and your selves together you may have enough in God you adde but a candle to the Sunne and water to the Ocean and then you goe about an impossible thing for you cannot serve two masters all your labour will be lost Amaziah walked in the wayes of God but hee lost all his labour because his heart was not perfect with the Lord. But now it will bee objected how is it possible that a man should deny himselfe In shunning sin may he not have an eye unto hell and in walking the wayes of God may he have an eye to heaven To this I answer that we deny not but that a man may love himselfe for its impossible that he should do otherwise for i●s impossible but that the will should bee carried to that which is good or apprehended to be good and it is a sinne for a man to hurt himselfe it is a sinne for a man to kill himselfe and every hurt is a degree to that and God would not command that which is sinfull and againe useth those as motives to seeke salvation Repent for the kingdome of God is at hand If you will come in behold here is a kingdome for you feare not him that killeth the body c. The wayes of wisedome are wayes of pleasure And lastly it is a plant that God himselfe hath planted in the hearts of men and such plants as our heavenly father hath planted no man ought to plucke up This is the worke of nature and that which is opus naturae est opus authoris naturae And grace doth not take away nature gratia non tollit naturam sed attollit it doth not take it away but it reformes it it doth not extinguish it but sets it in order it doth not dry up this streame but turnes it into the right channell it doth not extirpate these plants but as the horse rider takes not away the nature frō the horse but doth guide him so it takes not the desire of nature away but guides it aright and if wee doe it in all desires of nature wee must needs doe it in the chiefest desire in the desire of salvation but we would have a man to deny himselfe no further then the want thereof doth hurt him Now the way to hurt your selves is to make your selves the end but the way for a man to doe good to himselfe is not to follow his owne will nor to seeke himselfe but to seeke God when his will comes in opposition with any command of Gods for that is the difference betweene a regenerate and an unregenerate man the unregenerate man thinkes his best way to get comfort is to rely on himselfe and the creatures not to seeke it from God but the regenerate man seeing the vanitie of the creature and the fulnesse of God rejects these things and onely followes God and serves with a willing heart and minde Both seeke their owne good but a diverse way Is it so then that none can have interest in Christ without selfe-denyall then first wee make this use of this Hence wee see that both cannot stand together seeking a mans selfe and following Iesus Christ. Hee that will follow mee must deny himselfe there is an necessitie chuse you which you will have if you will follow mee you must you must deny your selves and if you will follow your selves you must not have me the words are put in a necessary disjunction therefore deceive not your selves in this to thinke you may follow your selves and yet follow Christ. To deny a mans selfe is if there bee any thing pleasing to him to part with it for Christ if there bee any thing pleasing if a man be not willing to part with it for Christ hee cannot have Christ and salvation If any thing bee evill and hurtfull which hee most shunnes and avoydes if hee cannot undergoe it he must goe without Christ. But if you aske what neede there shall bee of so generall denyall I answer these very words to deny a mans selfe shewes us so much for to deny himselfe is to deny the whole body of himselfe wee must not deny some part of our selves as pleasure and profit which are but some branches but we must deny all And therefore you see in Peter that was the profession that hee made Lord wee have forsaken all and followed thee If wee hold any thing betweene our teeth wee must let goe our hold of Christ. Hee that will seeke praise and credit among men must not have interest in Christ. How can yee beleeve which seeke honour of one another and seeke not the honour that commeth from God onely it will make him st●ll bee out of the way when any such thing comes in competition So the rich man in the Gospell because hee had set his heart upon his wealth Christ told him that time that he could not follow him The light of the body is the eye if the eye be single

not serve God for the price that hee had received Therefore let this move you to serve Christ. But you will say I see there is reason and necessitie for this but I will not doe it yet I will doe it hereafter But consider Christ hath payd the price for you and hee hath bought all your life not some one part and as a man hired for a day doth not begin it til noone hee doth the man wrong that hired him So every man that doth not serve God in his youth wrongs God let us not therefore deferre it but doe it as sodainly as we can It is good for a man to deny himselfe for his life is more preserved in God then in himselfe for else there were no reason for that commandement love me more then thy selfe and againe the perfection of every thing is in the end every thing is then perfect when it attaines its end now God is that end of every thing and therefore of man and man is to serve him though it bee with the losse of goods and losse of life yea of life eternall for yet mans happinesse consists in the attaining of God his end and so those places of Moses and Paul are to be expounded If thou willt not forgive them blot mee out of the booke of life so it may bee to Gods glory So Paul I could wish that my selfe were accursed from Christ for my brethren my kinsmen in the flesh so long as any advantage would come to God they cared not what became of themselves and besides if a man should seeke his good in himselfe he could not get it for there is no bottome And againe besides th●se reasons the Scripture is plaine for it if a man would loose his life for me he shall finde it This is the best way to provide for himselfe the best way for a man to doe good to himselfe is by way of reflection to serve God and man with his fatnes so he shall have a full recompence a measure pressed downe and running over so that if a man would thinke with himselfe what shall I doe now to get happinesse in this world the way is not to get honour and riches but to learne to deny my selfe and how I may honour God and how I may spend my life for his glory and his service this is the wisest way to make our selves happy labour therefore to bee perswaded of this and you will easily be perswaded to doe it Consider the emptinesse of these things that draw us out of the way that sue to us and are the byasses of our life that carry us wrong the sight of their emptinesse is a great helpe to us to deny our selves for a man should consider what hee seekes and that is happinesse and where it is to be found certainly not in our selves for how many thousand are there who are still seeking to other creatures and if wee finde nothing in our selves then surely in nothing below our selves as riches pleasures and honours therefore wee must seeke something above ourselves and that is God those things are called vanitie and emptie things that seeme to promise something and performe nothing as those things are sayd to bee emptie which promise some satisfaction but deceive us as an empty well and empty clouds that seeme to promise raine but there comes none so it is with the creatures all the world looke for some thing from the creatures but that which wee seeke for is not in them and God calls them empty So the multitudes of them will shew that there can bee no perfection in them for if they had any perfection they neede not be so many and though they would have contentment in them yet they are but brittle as glasse holding some comfort in them which is quickly broken and then our comfort falls like water upon the ground which cannot bee gathered up againe Now if wee would bring our hearts to be perswaded of the emptinesse of these things then surely we should doe it with ease it was easie with Salomon to deny himselfe in repenting for hee saw the vanitie of all things no argument will make us doe this but onely the Spirit of God when we are convinced by it and then wee shall doe it with ease By denying your selves you shall weaken the flesh and strengthen the Spirit that is the more you yeeld to the flesh the more you strengthen it and the more you resist it the weaker it growes and the more the Spirit is strengthned that is the renewed qualitie that is in you I but what motive is this what though the flesh doe get the superioritie and the Spirit decay O but if you had eyes of judgement to see the excellency of grace and renewed nature and the basenesse of the flesh it would bee a very good argument Paul thought he had said enough to enforce the Galatians when hee had told them that the workes of the flesh were adultery fornication uncleannesse wantonnesse Idolatry c. This is enough to make a man strive against the flesh for the workes of it are vile not worth a man but the worke of the Spirit it is love joy peace c. Some men seeke excellency in health wealth earthly wisedome but yours lies in the Spirit the more you enlarge the health of your soule and the more you deny your flesh the more you weaken your disease for the flesh is but a disease and therefore Christ is sayd to come and heale the sicke and the word of God is called balme now where there is mention made of a Phisitian and a remedy there must bee a disease and that disease is this flesh And the more you begin to deny this flesh the more you escape that which you most abhorre and are ashamed of namely death and sinne first sinne what fruite have you then of those things whereof you are ashamed for the end of those things is death Shame indeede is the correllative of sin and where sinne is there is shame and no where else the second is death and sicknesse and death and trouble and all steps and degrees thereto but if you walke in the Spirit you have glory and life eternall and all the comforts of this life as steps and degrees thereto to conclude all therefore resolve to deny your flesh and all his requests And know thus much that it is a very difficult thing for the flesh is very neare and deare to us It s hard to deny a stranger or a friend harder to deny a childe or a wife and therefore much more hard to deny our selves Againe the flesh is importunate comes with a bribe in his hand as ease or profit or pleasure or such like our hearts are quickly drawne to such as Iron to the loadstone againe it s cunningly helped by the slight pollicy of the divell and therefore it is that S. Iames calleth sensuall wisedome