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	sting_n	5,285	5	11.5055	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29681	An arke for all Gods Noahs in a gloomy stormy day, or, The best wine reserved till last, or, The transcendent excellency of a believers portion above all earthly portions whatsoever discovered in several sermons ... / by Thomas Brooks ...	Brooks, Thomas, 1608-1680.	1662 (1662)	Wing B4929; ESTC R6208	184,660	523

fruit was sweet unto my taste He brought me to the Banqueting-house and his Banner over me was love Stay me with flagons comfort me with apples for I am sick of love His left hand is under my head and his right hand doth imbrace me And Chap. 7.5 The King is held in the galleries The Spouse had a clear sight and a deep sense of her interest and propriety in Christ and O how high how close how full how sweet is she in her communion and fellowship with Christ 't is the sight and sense of propriety and interest that heightens and sweetens that communion that is between husband and wife father and child brother and sister and friend and friend so 't is the sight and sense of a mans propriety and interest in God that heightens and sweetens his communion and fellowship with God A clear sight of a mans interest and propriety in God will exceedingly sweeten every thought of God Psal 139.17 18. and every appearance of God and every taste of God and every smile of God and every communication of God and every ordinance of God and every work of God and every way of God yea it will sweeten every rod that is in the hand of God and every wrinkle that is in the face of God a man that sees his interest in God will hang upon him and trust in him though he should write never such bitter things against him and though he should deal never so severely with him yea though he should slay him as you may see in Job 13.15 He hit it who said A man whose soul is conversant with God shall finde more pleasure in the Desart and in death than in the Palace of a Prince Adam in vit Regii p. 78. Vrbanus Regius having one dayes converse with Luther said It was one of the sweetest dayes that ever he had in all his life But if one dayes communion with Luther was so sweet O how sweet must one dayes communion with God be and therefore as ever you would have high and full and sweet communion with God keep up a clear sight a blessed sense of your interest and propriety in God But Sixthly A clear personal evidence that God is a mans portion is a mans all in all O Sirs this is the life of your lives and the life of your prayers and the life of your praises and the life of your confidences and the life of your mercies and the life of your comforts and the life of your hopes c. A clear sight of your propriety in God is the very life of promises the life of Ordinances the life of Providences the life of experiences and the life of your gracious evidences it is a pearl of price it is your Paradise it is Manna in a wildernesse it is water out of a Rock it is a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night it is Jacobs ladder it is a salve for every sore it is physick for every disease it is a remedy against every malady it is an anchor at Sea and a shield on shore it is a star to guide you a staff to support you a sword to defend you a Pavilion to hide you a fire to warm you a banquet to refresh you a City of refuge to secure you and a Cordial to cheer you and what would you have more But Seventhly and lastly A clear personal evidence that God is a mans portion will exceedingly sweeten the thoughts of death and all the approaches of death and all the warnings and forerunners of death unto him it will make a man look upon his last day as his best day Eccles 7.1 Job 18.14 it will make a man look upon the King of terrours as the King of desires it will make a man laugh at the shaking of the spear at the sounding of the trumpet at the confused noise of the battel at garments rowled in blood at the sighs and groans of the wounded and at the heaps of the slain 'T was the Martyrs clear sight of their interest and propriety in God that made them complement with lions and dare their persecutors and to kisse the stake and to sing and clap their hands in the midst of the flames and to tread upon hot burning coals as upon beds of roses and divinely to triumph over their tormenters 't was this that made the primitive Christians ambitious of Martyrdome and that made them willingly and cheerfully lay down their lives that they might Eliah-like mount to heaven in fiery Chariots A man that sees his propriety in God knowes that death shall be the Funeral of all his sins sorrows afflictions temptations desertions oppositions vexations oppressions and persecutions and he knows that death shall be the resurrection of his hopes joyes delights comforts and contentments and that it shall bring him to a more clear full perfect and constant enjoyment of God and this makes him sweetly and triumphingly to sing it out O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory 1 Cor. 15.35 36 37. and O that these seven Considerations might prevail with all your souls to be restlesse till you have in your own bosomes clear and full satisfaction that God is your portion Now this last Inference leads me by the hand to an use of trial and examination O Sirs if God be the Saints portion the believers portion how highly doth it concern every one that looks upon himself as a Saint or as a believer to search try and examine whether God be his portion or no But you will say Quest how shall we know whether God be our portion or no O were all the world a lump of gold and in our hands to dispose of we would give it to know that God is our portion O the knowledge of this would be as life from the dead it would create an heaven in our hearts on this side heaven it would presently put us into a paradise of pleasure and delight but still the question is how shall we know it 't is an easie thing to say that God is our portion but how shall we come in fallibly to know that God is our portion Now to give clear and full satisfaction to this great and weighty Question I shall give in these following Answers by which you may certainly and undoubtedly know whether God be your portion or no. First If God be thy portion then thou hast very sweet Lord saith Austine the more I meditate on thee the sweeter thou art unto me Hierome calls meditation his paradise And Theophylact calls it the very gate and portal by which we enter into glory To think is to live saith Cicero precious high and honourable thoughts of God then thy thoughts will still be running out after God and thy meditations of him will be sweet a man that hath God for his portion is alwayes best when his thoughts and meditations are running out most after God Psal 104.34 My meditation of

acted exercised strengthened and increased yea and the more your evidences for heaven will be cleared your gracious experiences multiplied your communion with God raised your way to glory facilitated and all your sufferings sweetned therefore never let noble precious thoughts of God die in your souls Though he frown upon thee O Christian yet say he is thy portion and though he chides thee yet say he is thy portion and though he corrects thee yet say he is thy portion and though he deserts thee and carries it strangely towards thee yet say he is thy portion and though he snatches many a mercy from thee yet say he is thy portion and though he multiplies thy burthens upon thee yet say he is thy portion and though he writes bitter things against thee yet say he is thy portion yea though he should passe a sentence of death upon thee yet still say he is thy portion O Christians this would still raise an heaven in your hearts if under all dispensations ' you would still look upon God as your portion and live upon God as your portion But Thirteenthly If God be a believers portion then never let a believer be afraid to die or unwilling to die See twenty Arguments in my String of Pearls to move you to be willing to die from pag. 169. to pag. 212. let them be afraid to die that have onely the world for their portion here and hell for their portion hereafter but let not a Saint be afraid of death that hath for his portion the Lord of life A man that hath God for his portion should rather court death than tremble at it he should rather sweetly welcome it than turn his back upon it for death to such an one is but the way to paradise the way to all heavenly delights the way to those everlasting springs of pleasure that are at Gods right hand Psal 16. ult the way to life immortality and glory and the way to a clear full constant and eternal fruition of God Bernard saith that he heard his brother Gorard when just in dying rejoyce and triumphingly say Jam mors mihi non stimulus sed jubilus Angustine upon those words Exod. 33.20 21. Thou canst not see my face and live makes this short but sweet reply Then Lord let me die that I may see thy face Death is a bridge that leads to the paradise of God all the hurt that it can do is to bring a believer to a full enjoyment of his portion When Modestus the Emperours Lieutenant threatned to kill Bazil he answered If that be all I fear not yea your Master cannot more pleasure me than in sending me unto my heavenly Father to whom I now live and to whom I desire to hasten Old Alderman Jordan used to say That Death would be the best friend he had in the world and that he would willingly go forth to meet it or rather say with holy Paul O Death where is thy sting triumphing over it What is a drop of vinegar put into an Ocean of wine what is it for one to have a rainy day who is going to take possession of a Kingdome Acts Mon. 813. A Dutch Martyr feeling the flame to come to his beard Ah said he what a small pain is this to be compared to the glory to come Lactantius boasts of the bravenesse of that spirit that was upon the Martyrs in his time our children and women not to speak of men saith he do in silence overcome their tormenters and the fire cannot so much as fetch a sigh from them John Noyes took up a fagot at the fire and kissed it saying Blessed be the time that ever I was born to come to this preferment Never did Neckarchief become me so well as this chain said Alice Driver when they fastened her to the stake to be burnt Mr. Bradford put off his cap and thanked God when the Keepers Wfie brought him word that he was to be burn't on the morrow Mr. Taylor fetcht a frisk when he was come neer the place where he was to suffer Henry and John two Augustine Monks being the first that were burnt in Germany and Mr. Rogers the first that was burnt in Queen Maries dayes did all sing in the flames and be of good cheer said the woman-martyr to her husband that was to suffer with her for though we have but an ill dinner on earth we shall sup with Christ in heaven and what said Justine Martyr to his murtherers in behalf of himself and his fellow-martyrs You may kill us but you can never hurt us Ah Christians how can you read over these choice instances and not blush and not be ashamed to consider what a readiness what a forwardnesse and what a noble willingness there was in these brave Worthies to die and go to heaven and to be fully possest of their God of their portion whil'st you shrug at the very thoughts of death and frequently put that day farre from you and had rather with Peter fall upon building of Tabernacles Mat. 17.4 Phil. 1.23 then with Paul desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ O Christians how justly may that father be angry with his child that is unwilling to come home and how justly may that husband be displeased with his wife who is unwilling to ride to him in a rainy day or to crosse the Sea to enjoy his company and is not this your case is not this just your case who have God for your portion and yet are unwilling to die that you may come to a full enjoyment of your portion But Fourteenthly and lastly If God be the Saints portion then let all the Saints give all diligence to make this clearly and fully out to their own souls 2 Pet. 1.5 6 7 8. that God is their portion Next to a mans having God for his portion 't is the greattest mercy in this world for a man to know that God is his portion and to be able groundedly to say with the Church The Lord is my portion saith my soul Now this is a work that may be done I suppose there is never a believer on earth but may attain unto this personal evidence and certainty of knowledge that God is his portion Heb. 10.37 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Here are two Diminutives in the Greek a little little while to note that God will not in the least delay his coming to his people express promises speaks out such a thing as this is Zech. 13.9 They shall call upon my Name and I will hear them I will say it is my people and they shall say it is my God so Ezek. 34.30 Thus shall they know that I the Lord their God am with them and that they even the house of Israel are my people saith the Lord Psal 9.18 For the patient abiding of the meek shall not be forgotten for ever God will as soon put the faith of reliance and the

death to wit the favour of God reconciliation redemption and the remission of sins Now how can it possibly be imagined that so glorious an Ordinance should be instituted to so great and so glorious an end as to assure believers of their interest and propriety in God and yet this end should never be effected in them all their dayes for whose sake the Ordinance was instituted and appointed Certainly God never appointed any Ordinance to accomplish any end Isa 55.10 11. Ch. 45.23 but first or last that Ordinance did accomplish that end for which it was appointed and instituted Cy. l. 4. Ep. 6. The same Augustine reports Aug. in Joh Tract 27. Cyprian shews how the Martyrs in the primitive Church when they were to appear before the cruel persecuting Tyrants were wont to receive the Lords Supper and thereby they were so assured of their interest and propriety in God and so fired with zeal and fervour and fill'd with faith and fortitude c. that they made nothing of the greatest torments that those bloody Tyrants could inflict upon them And saith Chrysostome by the Sacrament of the Lords Supper we are so armed against Satans temptations that he fleeth from us as if we were so many Lions that spet fire The Jews in the celebration of the Passeover did sing the 113. Psalm with the five following Psalms which they called the great Hallelujah and it was always after that cup of wine which they called The cup of praise and thus it should be with the Saints at all times upon all occasions in all places they should sing Hallelujahs to God O but when they are at the Lords Supper then they should sing the great Hallelujah but how they will be ever able to sing this great Hallelujah except first or last more or lesse God gives them some assurance of their interest and propriety in himself I cannot for my life discern But Fifthly There is in all believers the choice and precious springs of assurance as 1. Union and communion with the Father and the Son 1 John 1.3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ Now that union that is between the foundation and the building the head and the members the husband and the wife the father and the child the subject and the Prince the body and the soul is nothing so neer an union as that which is between a believer and God Besides 1 Cor. 6.16 17. that union that a Christian hath with God is an honourable union and it is an inseparable union it is an invincible union and it is an everlasting union Now how it is possible for a man to have such a neer and such a glorious union and fellowship with God from the day of his conversion to the day of his desolution and yet never come to any assurance of his interest and propriety in God is a thing not easily imaginable 2. Precious faith is another spring of assurance 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom having not seen ye love in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Now this spring is in all the Saints 2 Pet. 1.1 The faith of expectance will in time rise up into a faith of reliance and the faith of reliance will in time advance it self into a faith of assurance 3. Hope is another spring of assurance Coloss 1.27 Christ in you the hope of glory Heb. 6.19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul both sure and stedfast and which entreth into that within the vail 4. A good conscience is another spring of assurance 2 Cor. 1.12 5. Real love to the Saints is another spring of assurance 1 Joh. 3.14 6. And lastly the Spirit of God is another spring of assurance Rom. 8. Now that a Christian should have all these choice springs of assurance in his soul from his new birth to the day of his death and yet in all that time never come to assurance of his interest and propriety in God is a thing I had almost said beyond all belief But Sixthly There is nothing in all the world that the hearts of the Saints are more frequently more fervently and more abundantly carried out after in all their prayers and supplications than this Psa 4.6 7. That God would tell them that he is their portion and that he would clear up their interest and propriety in himself the constant language of their souls is this Lord do but tell us that thou art our portion and then bestow earthly portions upon whom thou pleasest do but clear up our interest and propriety in thy self Psal 16.5 6. and then we shall say Our lot is fallen in a pleasant place and verily we have a goodly heritage Believers know that assurance that God is their portion and that they have an interest and propriety in him will ease them of all their sinful cares fears terrours horrours jealousies suspitions and sad apprehensions which makes their lives a very hell They know that assurance of their interest and propriety in God will make every bitter sweet and every sweet more sweet it will turn a Wildernesse into a Paradise an Egypt into a Canaan They know that assurance that God is theirs will raise the truest comforts the purest comforts the greatest comforts the surest comforts Isa 40.1 2. the strongest comforts the rarest comforts the sweetest comforts and the most lasting comforts in their souls They know that assurance of their interest in God will fit them for the highest duties in Christianity and for the hardest duties in Christianity and for the costliest duties in Christianity for the most neglected scorned and despised duties in Christianity They know that assurance of their propriety in God will most quicken their graces and act their graces and raise their graces and strengthen their graces and brighten their graces and put a lustre and a beauty upon their graces They know that assurance of their interest in God will wonderfully weaken sin and effectually crucifie their hearts to the world and sweetly moderate their affections to their neerest and dearest relations and powerfully arm them both against the worlds oppositions Satans temptations To conclude They know that assurance of their propriety in God will make death more desirable than terrible yea it will make the thoughts of death sweet and the approaches of death easie and all the warnings of death pleasant to their souls and therefore they follow God hard day and night with strong cries prayers tears sighs and groans that he would make it evident to them that he is their portion and that he would clear up their interest and propriety in him Now how can any man that is in his wits imagine that God should alwayes turn a deaf ear to the prayers of his people in this thing