Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	work_v	world_n	worldly_a	246	3	8.3198	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25247	Prima the first things, in reference to the middle and last things: or, the doctrine of regeneration, the new birth, the very beginning of a godly life. Delivered by Isaac Ambrose, minister of the Gospel at Preston in Amounderness in Lancashire.; Prima, media, & ultima. Prima.	Ambrose, Isaac, 1604-1664.	1650 (1650)	Wing A2964; ESTC R213988	65,629	80

with illusions and vain forms you know a Beggar may dream he is a King so hope abusing the imagination of the unregenerate fills their souls many a time with vain or empty contentments but the hope of the regenerate both enjoys the right object and right means his eye is fixt on future good and he endeavors to pursue it till he get the possession if in the pursuit he meet with crosses losses griefs disgraces sicknesses or any other calamities his hope is able to sweeten the bitterest misery that can possibly befal him the afflictions of this life bid him look for a better a cross here mindes him of the glory above and howsoever this Hope may have many difficulties and wrastlings in him therefore it is compared to an anchor which holds the ship in a storm Heb. 6.19 yet it holds and sticks so firm in God and his promises that he is confident that after this life an heavenly crown shall be set on his head by the hands of God and his Angels The fourth affection is fear which in the unregenerate is either worldly or servile If it fasten on the world then he fears the loss of his credit or of his profit and because he and the world must part at last he fears this separation above all fears O death saith the wiseman how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that liveth at rest in his possessions unto the man that hath nothing to vex him and that hath prosperity in all things Ecclus. Ecclus. 41.1 41.1 O these thoughts of the grisly forms and ugly face of death of the parting from all worldly pleasures for ever of his rotting in the grave dragging to the Tribunal and Terror of the last day they cannot but make his heart to shrug together for horror and many time to quake and tremble like an Aspine-leaf or if his fear reflect on God then is it a servile fear for as the servant or hireling works not for love of his master but onely for fear of punishment or as the adulterous woman is afraid of her husband not out of love or affection but lest he reward her to her foul demerits so he fears God for fear of punishment due unto him from God It is otherwise with the man that is born again his fear is either initial or filial in pangs of the new birth Weems or in the new born babe it is called initial because then he casts away sin both out of Gods love to which he hath partly attained and out of the woful effects of sin which he hath throughly considered with the right eye he beholds God and with the left eye he beholds punishment so that this fear is a middle as it were betwixt servile and filial fear and as the needle draweth in the threed so this fear draweth in charity and makes way for filial fear to which if by growth in grace he be fully ripened then he fears God out of love to God as the Prophet Isaiah proclaimeth Isa 33.6 The fear of the Lord is his treasure Isa 33.6 Never was treasure more dear to the worldings then is Gods fear to him his love of God his desire to please God and his fear of being separated from God keeps him in such awe that though no punishment no death no hell were at all yet he would not sin wickedly wilfully and maliciously for a world of treasures The fifth affection is joy which in the unregenerate is meerly sensual and bruitish it hath no better objects then gold or greatness or offices or honors or the like and what are all these but a shadow a ship a bird an arrow a post that passeth by or rather as crackling of thorns under a pot as flashes of lightning before everlasting fire But the joy of the regenerate is a spirituall joy and the matter of it is the light of Gods countenance or the robe of Christs righteousness or the promises of Gods word or above all God Almighty blessed evermore Thus David Whom have I in heaven but thee Psal 73.25 and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee Psal 73.25 Why this is that joy which no man can concieve but he that enjoyes it this is that white stone Rev. 2.17 Revel 2.17 whose splendor shines onely upon heavenly hearts this is that glimpse of heavens glory which springing up in a sanctified heart out of the wells of salvation and carried along with addition of fresh comforts from the Word and Sacraments through a fruitful current and course of mans life it is at last entertained into the boundless and bottomless Ocean of the joyes of Heaven I will not say but sometimes it may be assaulted and stopped with some doubts or distrusts or weaknesses of degree yet in respect of its creation or essence Boltons walking with God or blissful issue it is saith one a very glimpse of heaven a pure taste of the rivers of life and first fruits as he calls it of everlasting joyes The sixth affection is sorrow which in the unregenerate is a worldly sorrow and the effects of it are death so the Apostle The sorrow of the world worketh death 2 Cor. 7.10 2 Cor. 7.10 In this kinde how endless are the sorrows of men for their losses or crosses that sometimes may befall them And howsoever some may endeavor to comfort them in Christ they are so dead-hearted that nothing can perswade nothing rellish with them that concerns heaven or salvation But in the regenerate sorrow looks up to Godwards not that the beholding of God in himself can bring sorrow to a man for he is a most comfortable object which made David say The light of thy countenance is gladness to my heart Psal 4.6 7. but the beholding of sin which hindreth from the cleer sight of that object this is it which breeds sorrow and this the Apostle calls godly sorrow working repentance to salvation not to be repented of 2 Cor. 7.10 It is not every sorrow but godly sorrow 2 Cor. 7.10 V. 9. I rejoyce saith the Apostle not that ye were made sorry but that ye sorrowed to repentance And would you know who sorrows to repentance it is he and onely he that groans and sighs under the heavy weight and burthen of his sins that is of a broken and contrite heart that trembles at Gods word that is grieved at his enormities that forsakes all sins and that resigns up himself in all holy obedience to Gods blessed will this sorrow is a blessed sorrow that brings forth joy and immortality Therefore comfort ye comfort ye all that mourn in Sion what though for a night in pangs of the new birth you lye sorrowing and weeping for your sins mark a while and the day will dawn ride on because of the word of truth and a day star will arise in your hearts that will never set nay weep weep again till you can say with David Psal

read in his conscience But above all his darling-delight his beloved sin is writ in greatest characters this he findes to have bewitched him most and to have domineered above all the rest in his wasted conscience this sin in some is worldliness wantonness usury pride revenge or the like in others it is drunkenness gluttony gaming scurril jesting symony or the like whatsoever it is the conscience tells him of it again and again where that he may read it together with his other sins the Spirit of God now opens the eyes of his minde and lets him see the very mud and filth of his soul that lay at the bottom before unseen and undiscerned Thus is the first working of the new life to wit a feeling of the old death of his soul in sins and trespasses and here the axiome is true no generation without corruption a man must first feel this death before he is born again The second step is Sense of divine wrath which begets in him fear Rom. 8.15 so the Apostle The spirit of bondage begets fear Rom. 8.15 and thus it works no sooner hath the man a sight and feeling of his sin but then Gods Spirit now called the spirit of bondage presents to him the armory of Gods flaming wrath and fiery indignation this makes him to feel as if he were pricked with the stroak of an arrow or point of a sword or sting of an Adder that he is a most cursed and damnable creature justly deserving all the miseries of this life and all the fiery torments of hell in that life to come yea this makes him tremble and stand and look as if he were throughly frighted with the angry countenance of God Almighty Would you view him in this case his conscience hath now awaked him out of his dead sensual sleep by the Trumpet of the Law his heart is now scorched with the secret sense of Gods angry face his soul is now full sorely crushed under the most grievous burthen of innumerable sins his thoughts are now full of fear and astonishment as if no less then very hell and horror were ready to seize upon his body and soul I say not what measure of this wrath is poured on all men in their conversion for I suppose some feel more and some have less of it but I verily believe some there are that in these pangs of the new birth have been scorched as it were with the very flames of hell insomuch that they might truly say with David Gods wrath lieth hard upon me Psal 88.7 and he hath afflicted me with all his waves Psal 88.7 And no wonder for this is the time of fear now it is that Satan strives busily to stifle the new man in the womb and therefore he that before diminished his sins and made them appear little or nothing in his eyes when he once sees the man smitten down into the place of dragons and covered with the shadow of death Psal 44.19 then he puts into his minde his innumerable sins and that which immediately follows the curse of the Law and the wrath of God which he yet makes more grisly and fierce with a purpose to plunge him into the bottomless pit of horror and despair By this means he perswaded Cain to cry out when he was in this case My punishment is greater then I can bear or Gen. 4.13 as others translate Mine iniquity is greater then can be forgiven Gen. 4.13 And therefore thus far the unregenerate goes with the man born again both have a sight of sin and sense of wrath but here they part for the man unregenerate either sinks under it or labors to allay it with worldly comforts or some counterfeit calm but the man born again is onely humbled by it and seeks the right way to cure it and at last by the help of Gods Spirit he passeth quite through it I mean through this hell upon earth into the spiritual pleasures of the Kingdom of grace which is to be born again The third step is Sorrow for sin and this is more peculiar to Gods childe there is a sorrow which is a common work of grace which an hypocrite may have and there is a sorrow which is a work of special grace and this likewise precedes the exercise of faith But some object Christ must work this sorrow or it is good for nothing now if Christ be in the soul working sorrow then there is faith therefore faith must go before sorrow I answer although it is true that Christ cannot be in the soul but in the same instant there is the habit of faith yet it follows not that faith is before sorrow for the habits of these graces are both together and at once in the soul or howsoever it follows not that the soul is inabled by an act of faith to apply Christ to it self as soon as Christ is in the soul or as soon as the habit of faith is infused into the soul The question is whether the soul in respect of us who can onely judge of the habit by the act cannot be said to have sorrow or repentance before faith the question is not which the soul hath first in respect of Gods gift but which it acts first for our apprehension Surely to us it first sorrows for sin and then it acts or exerciseth faith by coming to Christ and relying upon Christ for Salvation c. he grieves not onely because he fears he must be damned so Cain and Judas might but because he knows he hath deserved to be damned this is the more especial object of his sorrow in that he is so wicked so sinful so rebellious so contrary to God this sin I say is it wherein he was conceived and born wherein he hath lived and continued that makes him sob and sigh and sorrow and mourn and yet this sorrow is sometimes taken largely for the whole work of conversion sometimes strictly for conviction contrition and humiliation in like maner repentance is taken sometimes largely and sometimes strictly By this distinction it may easily appear how sorrow goes before repentance and how repentance goes before faith Indeed for the latter is the great controversie but some reconcile it thus Repentance hath two parts the aversion of the soul from Sin and the conversion of the soul to God the latter part of it is onely an effect of faith the former part of it viz. the turning of the soul from Sin is also an effect but not onely an effect for it is begun before faith though it be not ended till our life end Some object that God works repentance and faith together But we dispute not how God works them but how the soul acts them not which is in the soul first but which appears out of the soul first neither is it any new thing in Philosophy to say Those causes which produce an effect though they be in time together yet are mutually before one another in order of

these manifold sins O that by these sins I should break so holy a law provoke so good and great a Majesty What shall I do but remembring my evil ways Ezek. 36.31 even loath my self in my own sight yea abhor my self in dust and ashes for my iniquities and my abominations c. For conclusion thou mayst imitate the Publican who not daring to lift up his eyes smote his brest so do thou and sigh Luke 18.13 and say with him O God be merciful to me a sinner CHAP. IV. Sect. 1. The third means to get into the new birth AFter Confession which may well serve thee for another days work the next duty thou must labor for is to seek for true sorrow and mourning for thy sins Seek thou must and never leave seeking till thou feel thy heart melt within thee To this purpose reade some tracts of death of judgement of hell of Christs passion of the joys of heaven Last of all and I take it best of all resolve to set every day some time apart to beg it of the Lord When Daniel set himself to pray the Lord came in to him Dan. 9.3 When Peter had gone apart to pray and when Paul had prayed in the Temple then the Lord came in to them Act. 10.6 and 22.17 And why may not I bid thee pray as well as Peter bid Simon Magus yet being in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity Act. 8.22 23. and at the time appointed fall down on thy knees spread thy Catalogue confess accuse judge condemn thy self again which done beg beg of the Lord to give thee that soft heart he promised Ezek. 36.26 Ezek. 36.26 A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh Say then to thy self Is this the Lords promise O Lord perform it to my heart take away my stony heart give me an heart of flesh a new heart a new spirit c. here make thine own prayer be not careful of words onely let the words be the true voice of thy heart and the more to work softning thou mayest sob and sigh and beat thy brest above all thou must pray and call and cry with vehemency and fervency not to be uttered When thou hast done if the Lord do not yet hear thee pray again the next day and the next day yea put on this resolution that thou wilt never leave praying till the Lord hear thee in mercy till he make thee to feel thy heart melt within thee yea if it may be till thou seest thy * Ut hoc modo confring as capita draconum tuorum in aquis tears trickling down thy cheeks because of thy offences The Lord will perhaps hear thee at the first time or at the second time or if he do not persist thou thy suit is just and importunity will prevail yea I can say thy desire to sorrow being resolute it is a degree of godly sorrow it self and no doubt the Lord will increase it if thou begst hard a while Sect. 2. The first reason for this sorrow THis must be done first because without pangs no birth Quid sunt dolores parturientis nisi dolores poenitentis saith Saint Austin the pangs of a penitent man are as the pangs of a woman Aug. in Psal 48. Now as there can be no birth without pains of travel going before so neither true repentance without some terrors of the law and straits of conscience Rom. 8.15 Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear saith the Apostle to the Romans and what is that but to shew us they once did receive it when but in the very first preparation to conversion then it was that the Spirit of God in the law did so bear witness unto them of their bondage that it made them to fear And certainly thus it is with every man in his first conversion his contrition must be compungent and vehement bruising breaking renting the heart and feeling the throws as a woman laboring of childe before there can be a new birth or the new creature be brought forth Sect. 3. The second reason for this sorrow AGain without contrition no Christ therefore it was that God first opened the eyes of our first parents to make them see and be sensible of their sin and misery Gen. 3.7 15. Chrysost in c. 3 Matth. hom 11. Gen. 3.7 before he promised Christ vers 15. therefore it was that John Baptist saith Chrysostome first throughly frighted the mindes of his hearers with the terror of judgement and expectation of torment and with the name of an axe and their rejection and entertainment of other children and by doubling the punishment to wit of being hewn down and cast into the fire and when he had thus every way tamed and taken down their stubbornness then at length he makes mention of Christ Why then is Christ seasonably revealed saith Musculus when the hearts of men being soundly pierced by preaching repentance Musc in Mat. c. 3. Sect. Tunc accedit Iesus Calvin in Esay 61. are possessed with a desire of his gracious righteousness Or if you will hear Calvin To whom is Christ promised but to them alone who are humbled and confounded with the sense of their own sins Certainly the first thing that draws to Christ is to consider our miserable estate without him No man will come to Christ except he be hungry no man will take Christs yoke upon him till he come to know and feel the weight of Satans yoke to this end therefore must every man be broken with threats and scourges and lashes of conscience that so despairing of himself he may flye unto Christ Sect. 4. The third reason for this sorrow AGain Iam. 4.10 without hearty sorrow no spiritual comfort We must first be humbled before the Lord and then he will lift us up Christ indeed was anointed to preach good tidings but to whom to the poor to the broken-hearted to the captives to them that are bound Esay 61.11 to the bruised Esay 61.11 God pours not the oyl of his mercy save into a broken vessel God never comforts throughly save where he findes humiliation and repentance for sin Forbes on Revel c. 14. The word of God saith one hath three degrees of operation in the hearts of his chosen First it falleth to mens ears as the sound of many waters a mighty great and confused sound and which commonly bringeth neither terror nor joy but yet a wondring and acknowledgement of a strange force and more then humane power this is that effect which many felt hearing Christ when they were astonished at his doctrine as teaching with authority Mar. 1.22 27. Luke 4.32 Iohn 7.46 what maner doctrine is this never man spake like this man The next effect is the voice of thunder which bringeth