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
A14757	VVoe to drunkards A sermon by Samuel Ward preacher of Ipswich.	Ward, Samuel, 1577-1640.	1622 (1622)	STC 25055; ESTC S111607	15,586	56

WOE TO DRVNKARDS A Sermon by SAMVEL WARD Preacher of Ipswich LONDON Printed by A. Math for Iohn Marriott and Iohn Grismand and are to be sold at their Shops in St. Dunstons Church-yard and in Pauls Alley at the Signe of the Gunne 1622. PROV 23. vers 29.32 To whom is Woe to whom is Sorrow to whom is Strife c. In the end it will bite like a Serpent and sting like a Cockatrice SEer art thou also blind Watch-man art thou also drunk or asleep Or hath a Spirit of slumber put out thine eyes Vp to thy Watch-Tower what descriest thou Ah Lord what end or number is there of the vanities which mine eyes are weary of beholding But what feest thou I see men walking like the topps of trees shaken with the Winde like Masts of Ships reeling on the tempestuous Seas Drunkennesse I meane that hatefull Night-bird which was wont to waite for the twilight to seeke nookes and corners to auoide the houting and wonderment of Boyes and Girles Now as if it were some Eglet to dare the Sun-light to flie abroad at high noone in euery streete in open Markets and Faires without feare or shame without controule or punishment to the disgrace of the Nation the outfacing of Magistracy and Ministry the vtter vndoing without timely preuention of health and wealth Piety and Vertue Towne and Country Church and Commonwealth And doest thou like a dumbe dogge hold thy peace at these things doest thou with Salomons sluggard fould thine hands in thy bosome and giue thy selfe to ease and drousinesse while the enuious man causeth the noysomest and basest of weeds to ouer-runne the choysest Eden of God Vp and Arise lift vp thy voyce spare not and cry aloud What shall I crie Crie woe and woe againe vnto the Crowne of pride the Drunkards of Ephraim Take vp a parable and tell them how it stingeth like the Cockatrice declare vnto them the deadly poyson of this odious sinne Shew them also the soueraigne Antidote and Cure of it in the cup that was drunke off by him that was able to ouercome it Cause them to behold the brasen Serpent and bee healed And what though some of these deafe Adders will not bee charmed not cured yea though few or none of this swinish heard of habituall drunkards accustomed to wallow in their mire yea deepely and irrecouerably plunged by legions of Diuels into the dead sea of their filthinesse what if not one of them will be washed and made cleane but turne againe to their vomit and trample the pearles of all admonition vnder feete yea turne againe and rend their reprouers with scoffes and scornes making iests and songs on their Alebench Yet may some young ones bee deterred and some nouices reclaimed some parents and Magistrates awakened to preuent and suppresse the spreading of this gangrene and God haue his worke in such as belong to his grace And what is impossible to the worke of his grace Goe to them now ye Drunkards listen not what I or any ordinary hedge-priest as you stile vs but that most Wise and experienced royall Preacher hath to say vnto you And because you are a dull and thick-eared generation hee first deales with you by way of question a figure of force and impression To whom is woe c. You vse to say Woe be to hypocrites It 's true woe be to such and all other witting willing sinners but there are no kind of offenders on whom woe doth so palpably ineuitably attend as to you drunkards You promise your selues mirth pleasure and iollity in your Cups but for one drop of your mad mirth bee sure of gallons and tunnes of woe gall wormewood and bitternesse here and hereafter Other sinners shall tast of the Cup but you shall drinke of the dregs of Gods wrath and displeasure To whom is strife You talke of good fellowship friendship but wine is a rager and tumultuous make-bate and serts you a quarrelling medling When wit 's out of the head and strength out of the body it thrustes euen Cowards and dastards vnfenced and vnarmed into needles frayes and combats And then to whom are wounds broken heads blue eyes maymed limmes You haue a drunken by-word Drunkards take no harme but how many are the mishaps and vntimely misfortunes that betyde such which though they feele not in drinke they carrie as markes and brands to their graue You pretend you drinke healthes and for health but to whom are all kind of diseases infirmities deformities pearled faces palsies dropsies headaches If not to drunkards Vpon these premises he forcibly inferrs his sober serious aduice Looke vpon these woefull effects and euils of drunkennes and looke not vpon the Wine looke vpon the blew wounds vpon the red eyes it causeth and looke not on the red colour when it sparkleth in the cup. If there were no worse then these yet would no wise man be ouertaken with Wine as if he should say What see you in the Cup or drink that counteruaileth these dregges that lie in the bottome Behold this is the Sugar you are to looke for and the tang it leaues behind Woe and alas sorrow and strife shame pouertie and diseases these are enough to make it odious but that which followeth withall will make it hideous and fearefull For Salomon duely considering that he speakes to men past shame and grace senselesse of blowes and therefore much more of reasons and words insisteth not vpon these petty woes which they bewitched and besotted with the loue of Wine will easily ouer-see and ouerleape but sets before their eies the direfull end and fruite the blacke and poysonfull taile of this sin In the end it stingeth like the Serpent it biteth like the Cockatrice or Adder saith our new Translation All Interpretors agree that hee meanes some most virulent Serpent whose poyson is present and deadly All the Woes hee hath mentioned before were but as the sting of some Emmet Waspe or Nettle in comparison of this Cockatrice which is euen vnto death death speedy death painefull and wofull death and that as naturally and ineuitably as Opium procureth sleepe as Ellebore purgeth or any Poyson killeth Three forked is this sting and threefold is the death it procureth to all that are stung therewith The first is the death of grace the second is of the body the third is of soule and body eternall All sin is the poyson wherewithall the old Serpent and Red Dragon enuenoms the soule of man but no sin except it bee that which is vnto death so mortall as this which though not euer vnpardonably yet for the most part is also irrecouerably and ineuitably vnto death Seest thou one bittē with any other Snake there is hope help As the Father said of his son when he had information of his gaming of his prodigalitie yea of his whoring but when hee heard that hee was poysoned with drunkennesse hee gaue him for dead his case

for desperate and forlorne Age and experience often cures the other but this encrcaseth with yeares and parteth not till death Whoring is a deepe Ditch yet some few shall a man see returne lay hold on the wayes of life one of a thousād but scarse one Drunkard of ten thousand One Ambrose mentions and one haue I knowne and but one of all that euer I knew or heard of Often haue I been asked and often haue I enquired but neuer could meete with an instance saue one or two at the most I speake of Drunkards not of one drunken of such who rarely casually haue Noah-like been surprised ouer-taken at vnawares But if once a Custome euer necessity Wine takes away the heart and spoyles the braine ouerthrowes the faculties and Organes of repentance and resolution And is it not iust with God that hee who will put out his naturall light should haue his spirituall extinguished He that will depriue himselfe of reason should loose also the Guide and Pilot of reason Gods Spirit and Grace hee that will wittingly and willingly make himselfe an habitation of vncleane spirits should not dispossesse them at his owne pleasure Most aptly therefore is it translated by Tremelius Haemorrhois which Gesner confounds with the Dipsas or thirstie Serpent whose poyson breedeth such thirst drought and inflamation like that of Rats-bane that they neuer leaue drinking till they burst and die withall Would it not grieue and pitie any Christian soule to see a towardly hopefull young man well natured well nurtured stung with this Cockatrice bewailing his owne case crying out against the basenesse of the sinne inueighing against company melting vnder the perswasions of friends yea protesting against all entisements vow couenant and seriously indent with himselfe and his friends for the relinquishing of it and yet if he meete with a companion that holds but vp his finger he followes him as a foole to the stocks and as an Oxe to the slaughter-house hauing no power to withstand the temptation but in hee goes with him to the tipling house not considering that the Chambers are the Chambers of death and the guesse the guests of death and there hee continues as one bewitched or coniured in a spell out of which hee returnes not til he hath emptied his purse of money his head of reason his heart of all his former seeming grace There his eyes behold the strange woman his heart speaketh peruerse things becomming heartles as one saith Salomon in the heart of the sea resoluing to continue and returne to his vomit what euer it cost him to make it his daily worke I was sicke and knewe it not I was strucke and felt it not when I awake I will seeke it yet still And why indeed without a miracle should any expect that one stung with this viper should shake it off and euer recouer of it againe Yea so farre are they from recouering themselues that they infect and become contagious and pestilent to all they come neare The Dragon infusing his venom assimulating his elses to himselfe in no sin so much as in this that it becomes as good as meate and drinke to them to spend their wit mony to compasse alehouse after alehouse yea towne after towne to transforme others with their Circean Cups till they haue made them bruits and swine worse then themselues The Adulterer and Vsurer desire to enjoy their sinne alone but the chiefest pastime of a drunkard is to heat and ouercome others with wine that hee may discouer their nakednesse and glory in their foyle and folly In a word excesse of wine and the spirit of Grace are opposites the former expelles the latter out of the heart as smoke doth Bees out the Hiue and makes the man a mere slaue and prey to Satan and his snares when by this poyson he hath put out his eyes and spoyled him of his strength he vseth him as the Philistims did Sampson leads him on a string whither hee pleaseth like a very drudge scorne and makesport to himselfe and his Impes makes him grinde in the mill of all kind of sinnes and vices And that I take to bee the reason why Drunkennesse is not specially prohibited in any one of the tenne Commandements because it is not the single breach of any one but in effect the violation of all and euery one it is no one sinne but all sinnes because it is the Inlet and sluce to all other sinnes The Diuell hauing moystened and steeped him in his liquor shapes him like soft clay into what mould hee pleaseth hauing shaken off his rudder and Pilot dashes his soule vpon what rocks sands and Syrts he listeth and that with as much ease as a man may push downe his body with the least thrust of his hand or finger Hee that in his right wits and sober moode seemes religious modest chast courteous secret in his drunken fitts sweares blasphemes rages strikes talkes talkes filthily blab s all secrets commits folly knowes no difference of persons or sexes becomes wholly at Satans command as a dead organ to be enacted at his will and pleasure Oh that God would be pleased to open the eyes of some drunkard to see what a dunghill and carrion his soule becoms how loathsom effects follow vpon this spirituall death and sting of this Cockatrise which is the fountaine of the other two following temporal and eternall death And well may it bee that some such as are altogether fearelesse and carelesse of the former death will yet tremble and bee moued with that which I shall in the second place tell them Among all other sinnes that are none brings forth bodily death so frequently as this none so ordinarily slaies in the Act of sinne as this And what can bee more horrible then to dye in the acte of a sinne without the acte of repentance I pronounce no definitiue sentence of damnation vpon any particular so dying but what dore of hope or comfort is left to their friends behind of their saluation The whoremaster hee hopes to haue a space and time to repent in age though sometimes it pleaseth God that death strikes Cosby and Zimry napping as the deuill is sayd to slay one of the Popes in the instant of his adultery and carry him quicke to hell The swearer and blasphemer hath commonly space though seldome grace to repent and amend and some rare examples stories afford of some taken with oathes and blasphemies in their mouthes The theefe and oppressor may liue and repent and make restriction as Zacheus though I haue seene one slayne right out with the timber he stole halfe an houre before and heard of one that hauing stolne a sheepe and laying it downe vpon a stone to rest him was gran'd and hang'd with the strugling of it about his neck But these are extraordinary rare cases God sometimes practising Marshall law and doing present execution lest fooles shall say in