Selected quad for the lemma: judgement_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
judgement_n	death_n	sin_n	sting_n	1,797	5	12.9319	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A11115	Heavens glory, seeke it. Earts [sic] vanitie, flye it. Hells horror, fere it	Rowlands, Samuel, 1570?-1630?; Sparke, Michael, d. 1653, attributed name.	1628 (1628)	STC 21383; ESTC S112117	58,519	284

יהוה HEAVENS GLORY SEEKE IT EARTS VANITIE FLYE IT HELLS HORROR FERE IT LONDON printed for Michaell Sparke A o. 1628. To the Reader THE present carelesse security of all men in generall is like vnto our first Parents neglect of Gods sacred commandement in Paradice when the seducing Serpent no sooner p●rswaded euill but it was inctantly put in practise You shall dye said God was heard but you shall not dye said the Diuell was beleeued Our eares are daily acquainted with the threatnings of Gods denounced against sinners and yet that sinne that broad way-path and highway to hell is attempted with a delectation and pleasure so craftie and subtill are the baits and lures of the deceiuer and so void of spirituall wisedome is the soule-murdering sinner But if due consideration were had of the wages of sinne and the reward of vnrighteousnesse and to what bitternesse it will turne in the end it would make vs lesse bold to sinne and more fearefull to offend if we would take into our company for a daily consort the pale memory of death and whereto he summoneth vs after this life Death it selfe is very fearefull but much more terrible in regard of the iudgement it warneth vs vnto Imagine to see a sinner lye on his departing bed burdened and tyred with the grieuous and heauie load of all his former trespasses goared with the sting and pricke of a festered conscience feeling the crampe of death wresting at his heart strings ready to make the ruthfull diuorce betweene soule and body panting for breath and swimming in a cold and fatall sweat wearied with strugling against the deadly pangs Oh how much would he giue for an houre of repentance at what rate would he value a daies contrition Then worlds would be worthlesse in respect of a little respite a short truce would seeme more precious than the treasures of Empires nothing would be so much esteemed as a moment of time which non by moneths and yeeres is lauishly spent How inconsolable were his case his friends being fled his sences frighted his thoughts amazed his memorie decaied his whole minde agast and no part able to performe that it should but onely his guiltie conscience pestered with sinne continually vpbraiding him with bitter accusations what would hee thinke then stripped out of this mortall weed and turned both out of the seruice and house roome of this world hee must passe before a most seuere Iudge carrying in his owne conscience his enditement written and a perfect register of all his misdeeds when hee should see the Iudge prepared to passe the sentence against him and the same to be his Vmpire whom by so many offences he hath made his enemie When not onely the deuils but euen the Angels should plead against him and himselfe maugre his will bee his owne sharpest appeacher What were to be done in these dreadfull exigents When hee saw that gastly dungeon and huge gulfe of hell breaking out with fearefull flames the weeping houling and gnashing of teeth the rage of all those hellish monsters the horrour of the place the rigour of the paine the terrour of the company and the eternitie of all those punishments Would you thinke them wise that would daily in so weighty matters and idlely play away the time allotted them to preuent these intollerable calamities Would you then account it secure to nurse in your bosome so many vgly Serpents as sinnes are or to foster in your soule so many malicious accusers as mortall faults are Would you not then thinke one life too little to repent for so many iniquities euerie one whereof were enough to cast you into those euerlasting and vnspeakeable torments Why then doe we not at the least deuote that small remnant of these our latter dayes to the making an attonement with God that our consciences may be free from this eternall danger Who would relie the euerlasting affaires of the life to come vpon the gliding slipperinesse and running streame of our vncertaine life It is a preposterous pollicie in any wise conceit to fight against God till our weapons be blunted our forces consumed our limmes impotent and our breath spent and then when we fall for faintnesse and haue fought our selues almost dead to presume on his mercy It were a strange peece of Art and a very exorbitant course while the Ship is sound the Pylot well the Marriners strong the gale fauourable and the Sea calme to lye idle at rode and when the Ship leakes the Pylot were sicke the Marriners faint the stormes boysterous and the Sea turmoyled with surges to launch forth for a voyage into a farre Country yet such is the skill of our euening repenters who though in the soundnesse of health and in the perfect vse of reason they cannot resolue to weigh the ankers that withhold them from God neuerthelesse feed themselues with a strong perswasion that when their sences are astonied their wits distracted their vnderstanding dusked and both body and minde racked and tormented with the throbs and gripes of a mortall sicknesse then will they thnke of the weightiest matters and become Saints when they are scarse able to behaue themselues like reasonable creatures being then presumed to be lesse then men for how can he that is assaulted with an vnsetled conscience distrained with the wringing fits of his dying flesh maimed in all his abilities and circled in with so many encombrances be thought of due discretion to dispose of his chiefest iewell which is his soule No no they that will loyter in seed time and begin then to sowe when others begin to reape they that will riot out their health and cast their accounts when they can scarsely speake they that will slumber out the day and enter their iourney when the light doth faile them let them blame their owne folly if they dye in debt and eternall beggerie and fall headlong into the lapse of endlesse perdition Great cause haue wee then to haue an hourely watchfull care ouer our soule being so dangerous assaulted and enuironed most instantly entreating the diuine Maiesty to be our assured defence and let vs passe the day in mourning the night in watching and weeping and our whole time in plainfull lamenting falling downe vpon the ground humbled in sackcloath and ashes hauing lost the garment of Christ that hee may receiue what the persecuting enemy would haue spoyled euery short sigh will not be sufficient satisfaction nor euery knocke a warrant to get in Many shall cry Lord Lord and shall not be accepted the foolish Virgins did knocke but were not admitted Iudas had some sorrow and yet died desperate Foreslow not saith the holy Ghost to be conuerted vnto God and make not a daily lingering of thy repaire vnto him for thou shalt finde the suddennesse of his wrath and reuenge not slacke to destroy sinners For which cause let no man soiourne long in sinfull securitie or post ouer his repentance vntill feare enforce him to it but let vs

will in any one thing neither from carnall pleasures not from backbiting and slandering thy neighbours nor yet from fulfilling thine inordinate lusts and desires in case thine ability serued thee thereunto Oh what doth the worme of thy conscience say vnto thee whiles thou art in such a fond securitie and confidence continuing in such a dissolute and wicked life as thou doest Where is now become the vnderstanding iudgement and reason which thou hast of a man Why art thou not afraid of so horrible so certaine and so assured perils and dangers If there were a dish of meat set before thee some man albeit he were a lyer should say vnto thee refraine to touch and eat thereof for it is poysoned durst thou once aduenture to stretch out thy hand to take a taste thereof though the meat were neuer so sauorie and delicate and he neuer so great a lyer that should beare thee thus in hand If then the Prophets if the Apostles if the Euangelists yea if Almighty God himselfe doe cry out vnto thee and say Take heede thou miserable man for death is in that kind of meat and death doth lye lurking in that gluttonous morsell which the diuell hath set before thee How darest thou reach for euerlasting death with thine owne hands and drinke thine owne damnation Where is the applying of thy wits thy iudgement and the discourse and reason which thou l●●st of a spirituall man Where is their light where is their force Sith that none of them do● bridle thee any whit from thy common vsuall vices Oh thou wretched and carelesse creature bewitched by the common enemy Satan adi●dged to euerlasting darknesse both inward and outward and so doest goe from one darknesse to the other Thou art blinde to see thine owne misery insensible to vnderstand thine owne perdition and harder than any Adamant to feele the hammer of Gods word Oh a thousand times most miserable thou art worthy to be l●mented with none other teares than with those whe● with thy damnation was lamented when it was said Luke 19. Oh that thou knewest this day the peace quietnesse and treasures which Al mighty God hath offered vnto thee that doe now lye hidden from thine eyes Oh miserable is the day of thy natiuitie and much more miserable the day of thy death forsomuch as that shall be the beginning of thine euerlasting damnation Oh how much better had it beene for thee neuer to haue beene born if thou shalt be damned in the horrible pit of hell for euer where the torments are perpetually durable How much better had it beene for thee neuer to haue beene baptised not yet to haue receiued the Christian faith if through the abusing thereof by thy wicked life thy damnation shall thereby be the greater For if the light of reason onely sufficeth to make the Heathen Phylosophers inexcuseable because they knowing God in some degree did not glorisie him nor serue him as the Apostle saith in the first to the Romans how much lesse shall hee be excused that hath receiued the light of faith and the water of Baptisme yea and the holy Sacrament of the body and bloud of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ hearing daily the doctrine of the Gospell if hee doe nothing more than those P●gan Phylosophers haue done Now what other thing may we inferre of the premisses but briefly to conclude That there is none other vnderstanding none other wisedome none other counsell in the world but that setting aside all the impediments and combersome dangerous wayes of this life wee follow that onely true and certaine way where by true peace and euerlasting life is obtained Hereunto are we called by reason by wisedome by law by heauen by earth by hell and by the life death iustice and mercy of Almighty God Hereunto are we also very nota●ly i●uited by the holy Ghost peaking by the mouth of Ecclesiasticus in the sixt chapter in this 〈…〉 My sonne harken ●o instruction euen from the first yeares of thy youth and in thy latter dayes thou shalt enioy the sweet fruit of wisdome Approach vnto it as one that p●●we●h and soweth and with patience expect the fruitful ●ncrease which it shall yeeld vnto thee The paines that thou sh●lt take shall be but little and the benefits that thou shalt speedily enioy shall be great My sonne hearken to my words and neglect not this my counsell which I shall giue thee put thy feet willingly into her fetters and thy necke into her chaines bow downe thy shoulders and carry her vpon thee and be not displeased with her bonds approach neere vnto her with all thy heart and follow her wayes with all thy strength seeke for her with all thy diligence and she will make her selfe knowne vnto thee and after that thou hast found her neuer forsake her for by her shalt thou finde rest in thy latter dayes and that which before did seeme so painfull vnto thee will afterwards become very pleasant Her fetters shall be a defence of thy strength and a foundation of vertue and her chaine shall be a robe of glory for in her is the beauty of life and her bonds are the bonds of health Hetherto Ecclesiasticus Whereby thou maiest vnderstand in some degree how great the beauty the delights the liberty and riches of true wisdome are which is vertue it selfe and the knowledge of Almighty God wherof we doe intreat But if all this be insufficient to mollifie our stony hearts lift vp thine eyes and fix thy thoughts constantly to behold our omnipotent God in his mercy and loue towards sinners vpon his dying crosse where he made full satisfaction for thy sinnes There shalt thou behold him in this for●e his feet nailed fast looking for thee his ●rmes spread abroad to receiue thee and his head bowing downe to giue th●e as to ●no●●er prodigall sonne n●w k●ss● of p●ace and att●●●ment From thence hee calleth thee if thou wouldest ●eare with so many callings and cries as there be wounds in his whole body Hearken thou therefore vnto these voyces and consider well with thy s●lfe that if his prayer he not heard that hearkeneth not vnto the cries of the poore how much lesse shall he be hea●d that maketh himselfe deafe to such cries as these being the most mercifull cryings of our louing sauiour and intended for our soules saluation Who is he that hath not cause to resolue himselfe who●ly into teares to weepe and bew●ile his manifold offences Who is he that can lament and will not lament at this vnlesse he be such a one as seeth not nor careth not what great shipwracke waste and hauocke he maketh of all the riches and treasures of his soule FINIS GODLY PRAYERS NECESSARY AND VSEFVLL for Christian Families vpon seuerall occasions Therefore I say vnto you What things soeuer yee desire when yee pray beleeue that ye receiue them and ye shall haue them Printed at London for M. S. 1628. Godly Christian PRAYERS A