Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A59883
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A sermon preached before the Queen at White-hall, June 26, 1692 by William Sherlock ...
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Sherlock, William, 1641?-1707.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing S3354; ESTC R11058
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9,582
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34
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a Hell and that Hell were to be their Portion and then let them tell me how they can bear such a Thought This is sufficient to satisfie us how unsupportable a wound Spirit is but to give us a deeper and more lasting Sense of it I shall further observe that a wounded Spirit has no refuge or retreat has nothing left to support it self with The Spirit of a Man can bear his Infirmities but when the Spirit it self is wounded there is nothing to support that this wounds our Courage our Reason makes all external Comforts tastless and deprives us of all the Comforts of Religion For 1st What Courage can any Man have against Himself against the Wounds and Disorders of his own Mind Courage is nothing else but a firmness of Mind to govern its own Resentments and Passions to suffer Pain and Reproach and other Evils without immoderate Grief and to encounter dangers without an amazing fear but when the Mind it self is oppressed with Grief and Fears and Cares the Disease which Courage should prevent has already seized the Spirits Courage fortifies us against external Evils to keep them at a distance from wounding our Spirits but the Disorders of our own Passions are inward Wounds which we must feel and languish under When our own Consciences reproach chide and threaten us the good Opinion and Courtships of the World cannot defend us from our selves we cannot stop our ears against it we cannot harden our selves against its Terrors it is a domestick Fury which when it is provoked and awakened will be heard and will make us tremble will make us judge and condemn our selves and begin our own Torments in frightful Horrors and Agonies of Mind 2dly Whereas reason can fortifie the Mind against all external Calamities when our Spirits are wounded that little Reason we have left proves our Tormentor When we are under the Transports of violent and disorderly Passions Reason can't be heard or is bribed by Passion to justifie its own Excesses Wise Counsels are lost on such men as much as a Lecture of Philosophy would be in the Noise and Distraction of an Alarm or Battel What a sullen and obstinate thing is Grief how does it pore on its own Misfortune nourish its Disease and despise all Arts of Diversion that it is commonly above the cure of any thing but Time which weakens the Impression or tires men with their own Complaints When our Consciences are wounded with Guilt this arms all the Reason we have against us for Reason in such Cases can never be on our side then Reason discovers our Shame and Danger aggravates our Sins and many times drives such awaken'd Sinners into the very Horrors of Dispair disputes against the possibility of their Pardon and blots their Names out of all the Promises of the Gospel how large and universal soever they be The Guides of Souls who are always consulted upon such Occasions how much soever they are despised at other times could tell a great many sad Stories of this kind enow to convince Sinners that even Wit and Reason is a very dangerous Enemy when a guilty Conscience turns the edge of it against our selves 3dly When there is no Ease and Comfort within there is no other Remedy but to seek for Support and Comfort from abroad and there are a great many pretty Diversions in the World to entertain Men who are at leisure to attend them but these are no Entertainments to a wounded Spirit When men are galled by their own Passions by Fear Emulation Jealousie Discontent in the very midst of laughter the heart is sorrowful As great as Haman was all his Riches and Power availed him nothing while he saw Mordecai the Jew sitting at the Kings Gate 5 Esth. 13. The good things of this World are very considerable when there is an easie and cheerful mind to enjoy them but they cannot make a man easie and happy whose Mind is disturbed they may entertain an easie Mind but cannot quiet the Tumults and Disorders of Passions nor give any Ease to a wounded Spirit Much less can external things appease the Horrors of a guilty Conscience Away all ye vain Delights will such a man say what have I to do with Pleasure when Torments everlasting Torments must be my Portion Why do ye tell me of Riches and Honours when the great God is my Enemy when I am despised and abhorred of my Maker and am thought worthy of no better Portion than Eternal Flames I am not at leisure to attend the Flattering Courtships of this World my Thoughts are taken up with a more dreadful Prospect of things to come O Eternity Eternity the never-dying Worm the never-dying Death 4thly Nor can a wounded Spirit find any Support from the Considerations of Religion unless it find its Cure there If the Belief of a Divine Providence and another World can cure our Love to present things it will give us quiet and easie Passions too but without this a wounded and distemper'd Spirit will reproach God as well as Men and rage against Heaven it self like that wicked King This evil is of the Lord why should I wait on the Lord any longer As Solomon observes The foolishness of Man perverteth his ways and his heart fretteth against the Lord. If the Fear of God and of those Punishments He has threatned against Sin makes us true and sincere Penitents conquers our vicious Habits and reforms our Lives this is such a wounded Spirit as God will bind up again such a broken and contrite Heart as God will not despise but the Thoughts of God and of a future Judgment are very terrible to Impenitent Sinners It is a dreadful Prospect to look into the other World and to see those Lakes of Fire and Brimstone prepared for the Devil and his Angels And this is all that Bad men can see in the next World Thus we see how supportable all External Evils and Calamities are how insupportable a wounded Spirit is and the comparing these two Cases will suggest some very useful Thoughts to us As First This is a great Vindication of the Providence of God with respect to those Evils and Calamities that are in the World Sufferings are very necessary in this corrupt and degenerate State of Mankind but though God sees it necessary to punish Sinners yet he has made abundant Provision to support us under all external Sufferings He inflicts nothing on us but what the Spirit of a Man can sustain and support it self under but our greatest Sufferings are owing to our selves and no more chargeable on the Providence of God than our Sins are Nothing that is external can hurt us while our minds are sound and healthful but it is only a disordered or guilty mind which gives a Sting to Afflictions God corrects in measure as we are able to bear but we our selves tye the Knots or add the Scorpions to the Scourge Secondly This greatly recommends the Divine Wisdom in that Provision God has