Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	serpent_n	sin_n	sting_n	4,692	5	12.2188	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01804	The succession of the bishops of England since the first planting of Christian religion in this island together with the historie of their liues and memorable actions faithfully gathered out of the monuments of antiquity. VVhereunto is prefixed a discourse concerning the first conuersion of our Britaine vnto Christian religion. By Francis Godwin now Bishop of Hereford.; Catalogue of the bishops of England	Godwin, Francis, 1562-1633.	1625 (1625)	STC 11939; ESTC S105686	74,779	749

defiles it thus in an instant Take the most glorious Angell in heaven and let one of the least sinnes seaze upon his heart he would in an instant fall downe from heaven stript of all his glory the ugliest creature that ever was beheld you would count that the strongest of all poysons that would poyson in an instant as Nero boiled a poison to that height that it killed Germanicus as soone as he received it now such an one is sinne Thirdly sinne defiles it totally it rests not in one member onely but beginning at the understanding eates into the will and affections soaks through all Those diseases we account strongest which seaze not on a joynt or a member onely but strikes rottennesse through the whole body Fourthly it defiles eternally it being aterna macula a staine which no nitre or sope or any creature can wash out Ier. 2. 21. There was once let in a deluge of water and the world was all overflow'd with it it washed away sinners indeed but not one sinne And the world shall be a fire again at the latter day and all that fire and these flames in hell that follow shall not purge out one sinne Thirdly it hath robbed the soule of the image of God deprived us of the glory of God Rom. 3. 23. the image of Gods holinesse which is his beauty and ours wee were beautifull and all glorious once within which though but an accident is more worth than all mens soules devoid of it it being a likenesse unto God a divine nature without which no man shall see God Though man in Innocency had all perfections united in him via eminentiae that are to be found in other creatures yet this was more worth than all for all the rest made him not like to God as this did without which all Paradise could not make Adam happy which when he had lost he was left naked though those his other perfections remained with him which is profitable for all things as the Apostle sayes The least dramme of which the whole world emballanced with would be found too light without which the glorious Angels would be damned devills the Saints in heaven damned ghosts this it hath robbed man of Fourthly it hath robbed man even of God himselfe Your sinnes separate sayes God betwixt you and me and therefore they are said to live without God in the world and in robbing a man of God it robs him of all things for all things are ours but so farre as God is ours of God whose face makes heaven he is all in all his loving kindnesse is better than life and containeth beauty honours riches all yea they are but a drop to him But its mischiefe hath not staid here but as the Leprosie of the Lepers in the old Law sometimes infected their houses garments so it hath hurld confusion over all the world brought a vanitie on the creature Rom. 8. 23. and a curse and had not Christ undertooke the shattered condition of the world to uphold it it had fallen about Adams cares And though the old walls and ruinous palace of the world stands to this day yet the beauty the glosse and glory of the hangings is soyled and marred with many imperfections cast upon every creature But as the house of the Leper was to be pulled downe and Traitors houses use to be made jakes so the world if Christ had not stept in had shrunke into its first nothing and you will say that is a strong carrion that retaines not onely infection in it selfe but infects all the aire about so this that not the soule the subject of it onely but all the world Lastly it was the first founder of hell and laid the first corner stone thereof sinne alone brought in and filled that bottomlesse gulfe with all the fire and brimstone and treasures of wrath which shall never be burnt and consumed And this crucified and pierced Christ himselfe poured on him his Fathers wrath the enduring of which for sinne was such as that all the Angels in heaven had crackt and sunke under it But yet this estimate is but taken from the effects of it the essence of it which is the cause of all these evills must needs have much more mischiefe in it Shall I speak the least evill I can say of it It conteins all evills als● in it therefore Iames 1. 23. the Apostle calls it filthinesse and abundance of superfluitie or excrement as it were of naughtinesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As if so transcendent that if all evills were to have an excrement a scumme a superfluitie sinne is it as being the abstracted quintessence of all evill An evill which in the nature and essence of it virtually and eminently containes all evills of what kinde soever that are in the world Insomuch as in the Scriptures you shall finde that all the evills in the world serve but to answer for it and to give names to it Hence sinne it is called poyson and sinners serpents sinne is called a vomit sinners dogs sinne the stench of graves and they rotten sepulchres sinne mire sinners sowes and sinne darknesse blindnesse shame nakednesse folly madnesse death whatsoever is filthy defective infective painfull Now as the holy Ghost sayes of Nabal as is his name so is he so may wee say of sinne for if Adam gave names to all things according to their nature much more God who calls things as they are Surely God would not slander sinne though it be his onely enemie And besides there is reason for this for it is the cause of all evills God sowed nothing but good seed in the world He beheld and saw all things were very good It is sinne hath sowne the tares all those evills that have come up sorrowes and diseases both unto men and beasts Now whatsoever is in the effect is via eminentiae in the cause Surely therefore it is to the soule of man the miserable vessell and subject of it all that which poyson death and sicknesse is unto the other creatures and to the body and in that it is all these to the soule it is therefore more than all these to it for corruptio optimi pessima by how much the soule exceeds all other creatures by so much must sinne which is the corruption poyson death and sicknesse of it exceed all other evills But yet this is the least ill that can be said of it There is 2. some further transcendent peculiar mischiefe in it that is not to be found in all other evills as will appeare in many instances For first all other evills God proclaimes himselfe the author of and ownes them all though sinne be the meritorious cause of all yet God the efficient and disposing cause There is no evill in the City but I have done it He onely disclaimeth this Iam. 1. 13. as a bastard of some others breeding for he is the Father of lights ver 17. Secondly the utmost extremity of the evill of punishment

could not enjoy his Paramore All these as they live in their sins here and so are dead whilest they live and so are miserable making the greatest evill their chiefest good so when they come to die as we all must doe one day and how soone and how suddenly we know not wee carry our soules our precious soules as precious water in a brittle glasse soone cracked and then we are spilt like water which none can gather up againe or but as a candle in a paper lanthorne in clay walls full of cranyes often but a little cold comes in and blowes the candle out and then without a through change of heart before wrought from all sinne to all godlinesse they will die in their sinnes And all and the utmost of all miseries is spoken in that one word and therefore Christ when he would summe up all miseries in one expression tells the Pharisees they should die in their sins Iohn 8. 28. Vse 2. ANd let us consider further that if sin be thus above measure sinfull that Hell that followeth death is then likewise above measure fearful And so it is intimated to be a punishment without measure Ier. 30. 11. compared with Isa 27. Punish them as I punish thee sayes God to his owne but I will punish thee in measure And indeed sinne being committed against God the King of Kings it can never be punished enough But as the killing of a King is amongst men a crime so hainous that no tortures can exceed the desert of it we use to say all torments are too little any death too good for such a crime Now peccatum est Dei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as I said before a destroying God as much as in us lies and therefore none but God himselfe can give it a full punishment therefore it is called a falling into Gods hands Heb. 10. 31. which as he sayes there is fearfull For if his breath blowes us to destruction Iob 4. 9. for we are but dust heaps yea his nod he nods to destruction Psal 80. 16. then what is the weight of his hands even of those hands which span the heavens and hold the earth in the hollow of them and if God take it into his hands to punish he will be sure to doe unto the full Sinne is mans worke and punishment is Gods and God will shew himselfe as perfect in his worke as man in his If sinne be malum catholicum as hath been said that containes all evils in it then the punishment God will inflict shall be malum catholicum also containing in it all miseries it is a cup full of mixture so called Psal 75. 8. as into which God hath strained the quintessence of all miseries and the wicked of the earth must drink the dregges of it though it be eternity unto the bottome And if one sin deserves a hell a punishment above measure what will millions of millions doe And we reade that every sinne shall receive a just recompence Heb. 2. 3. oh let us then take heed of dying in our sinnes and therefore of living in them for we shall lie in prison till we have paid the very utmost farthing And therefore if all this that I have said of it wil not engender answerable apprehensions of it in you this being but painting the toad which you can look upon and handle without affrightment I wish that if without danger you could but lay your eares to hell that standing as it were behind the skreene you might heare sinne spoken of in its owne dialect by the oldest sonnes of perdition there to heare what Cain sayes of murthering his brother Abel what Saul of his persecuting David and the Priests of Iehovah what Balaam and Achitophel say of their cursed counsels and policies what Ahab sayes of his oppression of Naboth what Iudas of treason and heare what expressions they have with what horrors yellings groanes distractions the least sin is there spoken of If God should take any mans soule here and as he rapt His into the third heavens where he saw grace in its fullest brightnesse so carry any ones soule into those chambers of death as Solomon calls them and leading him through all from chamber to chamber shew him the visions of darknesse and hee there heare all those bedlames cry out one of this sinne another of that and see sinne as it lookes in hell But there is one aggravation more of the evill and misery sinne brings upon men I have not spoken of yet that it blinds their eyes and hardens their hearts that they doe not see nor lament their misery till they be in hell and then it is too late Vse 3. BUt what doth sin so exceed in sinfulnesse and is the venome of it boyled up to such a height of mischiefe that there should be no name in heaven and earth able to grapple with it and destroy it Is there no antidote no balme in Gilead more soveraigne than it is deadly Surely yes God would never have suffered so potent and malicious an enemy to have set foot in his dominions but that he knew how to conquer it and that not by punishing of it onely in hell but by destroying it onely it is too potent for all the creatures to encounter with This victory is alone reserved for Christ it can die by no other hand that he may have the glory of it which therefore is the top of his glory as mediator and his highest title the memory of which he beares written in his name JESUS for he shall save his people from their sinnes Mat. 1. 21. And therefore the Apostle Paul his chiefest Herauld proclaimes this victory with a world of solemnity and triumph 1 Cor. 15. 36. Oh death where is thy sting oh grave where is thy victory the sting of death is sinne the strength of sinne is the Law but thankes be to God that gives us the victory through our Lord Iesus Christ which yet again addes to the Demonstration of the sinfulnesse of it for the strength of sinne was such that like Goliah it would have defied the whole host of heaven and earth It was not possible the blood of Bulls and goats should take away sinne Heb. 10. 4. nor would the riches of the world or the blood of men have beene a sufficient ransome Will the Lord be pleased with rivers of oyle shall I give my first borne for my transgression No sayes he there is no proportion for thy first borne is but the fruit of thy body and sinne is the sinne of thy soule Mich. 6. 7. it must cost more to redeeme a soule than so Psal 49. 9. No couldest thou bring rivers of teares in stead of rivers of oyle which if any thing were like to pacifie God yet are they but the excrements of thy braines but sinne is the sinne of thy heart yea all the righteousnesse that we could ever do cannot make amends for one sinne for suppose it perfect when as yet it is but