Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	sin_n	soul_n	spiritual_a	8,699	5	7.0020	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49384	The Christian race a sermon preach'd before the Queen at Kensington on Sunday the 31th of July, 1692 / by Richard Lucas ...	Lucas, Richard, 1648-1715.	1692 (1692)	Wing L3394; ESTC R13000	14,824	32

as in it lies dethrones God disturbs and embroyls Human Society depraves Nature perverts the true ends of Life and for all these Reasons will one day bring down all the Storms of Eternal Vengeance upon the Guilty and Impenitent Soul This is a true Notion of Sin in general and let nothing ever tempt us to softer Thoughts of our beloved Sin The same baseness gives it being and though its Effects may not be so injurious as those of some other Sins either to the Honour of Religion or the Interest of Man yet they will be no less fatal to thee This Sin is like some Diseases which though they seem contemptible in themselves are always deadly to some Families and Constitutions But can that be a little Sin which creates us the greatest Trouble Threatens us with the greatest Danger and Intangles us in the greatest Difficulties Is that a little Sin which has so often overthrown our Solemn Vows and Resolutions robbed us of our Peace and Hopes and fill'd our Souls with Remorse and Shame Is that a Sin to be despised which the weightiest Reasons the clearest Convictions and warmest Impressions of the Spirit do often fail to conquer Is that finally a Sin to be shelter'd and excused which bewailed condemned renounced detested baffled broken routed often r'allies and renews the fight and recovers for a time its former Dignity and Authority Certainly did we Morning and Evening seriously reflect upon the strength and mischief of this our favourite Sin of which each Man ought to have a Catalogue by him we should whenever tempted to it tremble and grow pale at the Temptation and fly back with the horrour of Joseph How shall I do this great wickedness and sin against God But after we have done all this we must take as much pains to preserve as we did to imprint this Notion in our Souls we must not suffer our Reason to vary with our Pulse and our Resolutions to change with our Company Fortune Temper Humour otherwise we shall soon pull down in an Hour of Gaiety what we built up in many sober ones and a fit of Pleasure and Jollity will deprive us in a moment of the Fruit of many Prayers Reflections and Meditations And because we are very liable to this therefore Secondly We must frequently renew our Resolutions against it And these Resolutions must first be levelled not only against this Sin but all Appearances of and Approaches to it What is Cruelty in Princes is Piety in Penitents the Expression of our Displeasure must light not only on the Criminal it self but on all its Friends and Relatives We must deal with this Sin as Israel was obliged to do with Idols not only reduce the Idol it self to Ashes and bury it in a Stream of Repentant Tears but cut down its Groves dig up his Altars slay its Priests and deface whatever might tend to preserve or revive the memory of it Secondly These Resolutions must be as well fitted to all Occasions and Circumstances as possible we can we must consider what Arts what Arms this Sin is wont to make use of where our Nature or our Vertue is weakest or most exposed to the Assaults of the Enemy we must in one word neither be ignorant of any Frailty of our own nor any wile of the Devil and then our Resolutions must be so formed as to obviate each Is my Temper Rash and Precipitate Light and Inconstant I must resolve to correct it by the Awe of the Divince Presence by Meditations on Death and Judgment Is it slow heavy and unapprehensive I must resolve to awaken it by Retirement and Prayer by entring often into an impartial view of my own state by Conversation if I can find that it hath warmth and spirit in it by the most pathetick portions of Holy Writ and by a frequent Recollection of all those Truths which have Edge and Point in them or at least have so to me Is this Sin wont to dart its Infection through the Eye Is it wont to wound or defile us by the Ear we must block up these Avenues of Death and Damnation we must guard the Soul as God did Paradise with the flaming Sword of an Angel with that awful Vertue and inflamed Zeal that Temptations may fly from before us Thus must we in a word oppose Art against Art and Force against Force and in our Spiritual Warfare imitate the Wisdom of the Children of this World who count it unpardonable Errour to be often imposed on by the same Artifice or betrayed by the same Methods After all you must bind these Resolutions on your Souls by Prayer and Sacraments and this one particular Consideration Thirdly That nothing less than the Conquest of this darling Sin can gain a Christian true Peace and Liberty While we retain a Sin that Rivals God in our Affection neither our Obedience nor Assurance can be sincere or constant we can have no pleasure in our Reflection on our selves nor confidence in our Addresses to God No Man is so wicked as to be inclined to all sins nor so foolish as to quit none 't is therefore the quitting the predominant Sin which is the best proof of our Integrity with others we part as with Civil Acquaintances when the Visit is done but with these as with Confidents and Friends or in the Language of our Saviour with our right Hands or our right Eyes But when this is done our Freedom and Pleasure will compensate our Trouble and Hope and Joy reward our Mortification But then we must take care that we finish as well as we begin and compleat that Christian Race in Patience which we began in Mortification Which brings me to my third Rule That we must run with Patience This Rule will contain two or three Things 1. A Supposition or Insinuation that such as stand may fall that such as run may faint and grow weary and so forfeit their Crown All the Promises which God makes his People of his Presence and Protection in their Dangers and Trials are designed to minister Incouragement to the Humble and the Watchful and must not be perverted to nourish Confidence and Security or to defeat that Humility Vigilance and Circumspection which the Spirit of God in Scripture endeavours by repeated Exhortations to beget in every Christian Our Saviour indeed when he tells his Disciples Matth. 24.24 That there shall arise false Christs and false Prophets and then adds That they shall shew great signs and wonders insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive the very Elect seems plainly to imply that it was not possible but then without flying to the distinction between the Faithful and Elect made use of indeed by St. Austin and some others of the Fathers whether sufficiently founded in Scripture or no I determine not without flying I say to this distinction this Text may easily be reconciled with those which suppose the possibility of a Righteous Man's Revolt from Vertue for it is very