Selected quad for the lemma: knowledge_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
knowledge_n	law_n	sin_n	transgression_n	3,416	5	11.8881	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A15013	Prototypes, or, The primarie precedent presidents out of the booke of Genesis shewing, the [brace] good and bad things [brace] they did and had practically applied to our information and reformation / by that faithfull and painefull preacher of Gods word William Whately ... ; together with Mr. Whatelyes life and death ; published by Mr. Edward Leigh and Mr. Henry Scudder, who were appointed by the authour to peruse his manuscripts, and printed by his owne coppy.	Whately, William, 1583-1639.; Leigh, Edward, 1602-1671.; Scudder, Henry, d. 1659?	1640 (1640)	STC 25317.5; ESTC S4965	513,587	514

and of all that die in the Faith of our Lord Jesus to whom bee ascribed all Might Majestie Dominion and Glorie both now and for ever more Amen This Man of God and faithfull Minister of Christ departed this life upon Friday the 10. of May Anno Domini 1639. neare the end of the six and fiftieth yeare of his age Feb. 25. 1639. Imprimatur THOMAS WYKES Banburies Funerall teares powred forth upon the Death of her late pious and painefull Pastour Mr. William Whately deciphered in this Sympathizing Elogy I am that Orbin which of late did shine An heav'n enlightned starre with raies divine Which did arise within mee and dispence Light life heate Heav'n-infusing influence And went before me steering right mine Eye Vnto the very place where CHRIST did lye He was a Cynosura in my motion To Heaven's bright haven on this worlds vast Ocean Or as the Aegyptian Pharos to descrie The rockes of sinne and errour to mine Eye Hee was my Glorie Beautie Consolation My very soule I but the Corporation I would goe on with bleedings to recite His and mine owne sad fall but I can't write Throbs shake mine hand and griefe my sight destroyes And when I speake ah teares doe drowne my voice Yet will I sigh and give my sorrowes pent Within my breast by mournefull breathings vent Come then speake sighs write teares and sadly storie The dark Ecclipse that hath befell my glorie My Starre is falne and Heavens did so dispose That there he fell where he at first arose The Starres above us thus their races runne Returning thither whence they first begunne But did I say hee 's fallen Stay me there He is translated to an higher spheare Where though to th' world he is obscur'd he may Shine forth unvailed in a purer ray Fixt to an endlesse rest in heavens bright throne Above all starry Constellation But ah alas Death hath dispos'd it so That his rise prooves my fall his weale my woe His weale my woe strange what a change is this My welfare was but now in wrapt in his But thus Death innovates and did he not Tell me that he Commission hath got And warrant for his fact from heavens great King I would have brought him into questioning Ah death what hast thou done Dost thou not care To make a breach which ages can't repaire So rare a Frame in peeces for to take VVhich Heav'n and nature did combine to make A Master-peece For who did ere behold So sound a spirit in so strong a mold Heaven's treasure which within his breast abode VVas by his liberall tongue disperst abroad All Graces gave a meeting in him even To make his breast a little map of Heav'n His lips distilled Manna and he stood Not so for Church-goods as the Churches good His voice it was a trump whose sound was made VVith breath divine which it from Heaven had His life a dayly Sermon which alas Methinkes was measur'd by too short a glasse Ah Death though Painters give thee holes for eyes Yet thou canst see to take the richest prize To hit the fairest mark yet I suspect It was my sinne which did thine hand direct My light had I improov'd it well for gaine VVould have remaind els lights sha'nt burn in vain Yet sure he is not dead for why I find Him still surviving in my breast enshrin'd And who can say that he 's of life bereaven That lives in 's works inpious hearts in Heaven He 's but a sleepe by death undrest not dead Or hath but changd his dresse for he in stead Of these sin-staind ragges of mortality VVeares a pure robe whose length's eternity M. B. EXAMPLE I. OF Adam and Eve AS all other knowledges are conveniently taught by Precepts and Examples so is that best of knowledges the art of living holily Hence it is that as I have instructed you to my poore ability in the Law and the precepts of good life so I doe now intend to set before your eyes the Examples recorded in Scripture of Men both good and bad that by observing the swervings of the one and the right walking of others you may better keepe your owne feete in the streightest paths Onely concerning Examples you must know this thing in generall that no Example at all hath the force of a precept either to binde the consciences of men to any thing as a duty or to restraine from any thing as a sinne because the knowledge of sinne is from the Law and where there is no Law there is no transgression and our care must be to walke in Gods waies not in the waies of any man whatsoever But Example prevaileth alone to perswade the will as a fit argument of Exhortation or Dehortation not as an argument to proove a thing needfull or sinfull Seeing then my duty is to perswade you to all goodnesse and to disswade you from all evill and the Examples of Scripture are undoubted and certaine and they offer themselves as it were unto the sences and so more worke on the will to allure or deterre I thinke it a convenient meanes of helping you in all righteousnesse and against the contrary to make a collection of those Examples of good or bad things which are left us upon record by a divine pen and I will range these Examples according to the order of time wherein they lived so farre as I can informe my selfe thereof by the Word of God And I will begin with Adam and Eve and put them both together because their good and evill was put togeher in practise thereof The Method I intend to take in each person is this I will consider his Birth Life and Death and in his Life I will looke to his carriage and behaviour in respect of the deeds he did good bad indifferent and doubtfull and the things that befell him either prosperously or adversely in benefits or afflictions Now for Adam and Eve because they were the first fountaines of mankind and therefore could not be borne in the same manner as others be for he that is borne must have a Parent and he that hath a Parent was not the first man or woman because his Parent was before him therefore I cannot tell you any thing of their Birth but of their entring into the world by another way which was to them the same in effect that our begetting and birth is to us I will informe you according to the Scriptures for it much concernes us to understand our originall and to know certainely how mankinde came into the world Know then in summe That God made Man of the dust of the earth and breathed into him the breath of life and man became a living soule Here is in briefe the Creation of Adam now Adam signifieth red Earth because his body was made of such kinde of Earth and concerning Woman it is noted that God caused a deepe sleepe to fall upon Adam and then tooke one of his ribbes

your owne strength and of boasting that you will never commit such and such a sinne for if these two in their innocency could not escape when they neglected to sue to God for strength O how much more shall not we stand if we adventure to bragg and boast and promise much of our selves but when sinne begins to gather upon you and Satan to tempt then flie to prayers and to requests and to the threats and Commandements and apply those threats and pray God to inable you to keep the Commandements then shall you doe so well as you can wish else large promises will bring forth nothing but sorry performances Thus should Eve have done and then shee should have had her prayers granted and her faith stablished and escaped the fault And as I thinke the first of all the faults of Evah was that shee was led away by the wary speeches of the Serpent by which he sought by step and step to descend to this solicitation that then shee did not revive in her mind the consideration of Gods presence and of her dependance upon him and of his readinesse to give her helpe on her seeking it and of her owne imbecillity as being a creature to stand without continuall support from him For sure the Morrall Law lay upon Adam and Evah as well as upon us and they ought thus to have behaved themselves in temptation here therefore I say was her first failing For we must not thinke that there was no sinne precedent to the actuall eating of the forbidden fruit yea her being enticed and drawne away to distrust Gods Truth to deny his threats to affect knowledge against Gods allowance and to be bold to sinne when shee conceived that no danger would grow from it but much benefit all these were faults and preparations to the great actuall fault Indeed it is probable that if shee had taken her selfe in these slips and set her selfe and graces on worke to have resisted them before they had come to such an head that then shee should not have beene corrupted by them so as to fall into sinfullnesse and mortality because the Lord had limited the threat of death to actuall eating but howsoever these things were faults in Eve and now wee must learne therefore not to presume any thing of our selves but to confesse that if wee doe not seeke to God for his sustentation and so obtaine the same from him we shall surely be overcome to commit any sinne though never so grievous But againe wee must be incouraged to repent of sinne and to crave pardon of it any greatnesse of it notwithstanding for even this sinne of our first Parents is to them pardoned This first and grand sinne the sinne of sinnes that did inwrap in it all the blasphemies and Idolatries c. of all after-times and was as I may so speake in power all sinne even this sinne is forgiven Adam which cast all into sinne out of Paradise and out of Heaven what in him lay even this Adam is in Heaven himselfe yea Eve that drew Adam to it and perswaded her husband to the committing of so monstrous a Trespasse to the poysoning of him and all his shee is pardoned shee is in Heaven As God set forth the riches of his Mercy in pardoning so vile and capitall a sinner as Paul was that in him he might shew an example of all long-suffering so hath he set forth the abundance of his Grace in Christ by remitting the fault and saving the soules of these and these sinners which did not what they did in false zeale as Paul but in wilfull unbeleefe and rebellion Wherefore let no man doubt of obtaining pardon by the grace of God in Christ because of the greatnesse of his sin For if by the offence of one many be dead much more shall the grace of gift and the gift by grace abound unto mercy and if in Adam all die that is be made subject to death so in Christ much more shall all be made alive if they trust in him and turne if death raigned by the first Adam much more shall grace raigne by the second Adam If by one mans disobedience many were made sinners much more by one mans obedience shall many be made righteous It is an extreame dis-valuing of Christs righteousnesse and under-prizing of Gods mercies in Christ if any greatnesse of sinne hinder us from seeking to God for pardon and trusting to finde it If we should be appointed to deserve remission of our owne sinnes every man for himselfe then a man might hope to get out of little sinnes but not out of great and so greatnesse of sinne might dishearten him but seeing it is Christ the Sonne of God as well as Man that hath satisfied at once for the sinnes of all by being a Propitiation for the sinnes of the whole world now it is too too great a weakenesse and too too palpable an ignorance of Christ and disparagement to him to doubt of pardon because of the greatnesse of sinne and that wee may assure our selves loe Adam and Eve saved a couple that let in the floud-gares to all sinne and that in committing so great a disobedience did commit at once all the sinnes of all the world There cannot be thought any offence greater for the time place persons sinning occasions of sinning helpes against sinne Commandement transgressed no nor the matter of the sinne neither For though the thing materially considered were but eating an apple a plum or whatsoever fruit it might be yet that apple was as it were a Sacrament a visible profession of their care to forbeare all sinne by forbearing it and so the taking of that was a worse sinne then if it had beene very actuall adultery or murder as if a man should take the Sacramentall bread and give it to a dogg or cast it into the fire or trample it under feet knowing it to be the Sacrament sure he were as vile and farre more vile an offender then if he should lie in waite at his neighbours doore to defloure his wife or to murder himselfe or any of his household Now therefore take heart to runne to God penitently for pardon in Christ and be sure of successe And if greatnesse and multitude of sin offer it selfe to discourage you and to dampe your hopes referre your selves to Adam and Eve and say their one sinne was more in badnesse then all my sinnes and yet they were pardoned upon their repentance and so shall I and then even violently breaking thorough all objections give over thy selfe to sorowfull confessions and supplications and thou shalt be pardoned If any say my sinne was worse then Adams for I have sinned against the Holy Ghost I answer if thou hast sinned against the Holy Ghost repent and thou shalt be pardoned for the cause why that sinne cannot be forgiven is not want of mercy in God or merits in Christ but such abundance of hardnesse in them that they will not

of the earth He was rich prosperous mighty a conquerour had many children yet he could never inherite the spirituall blessing though he would faine have had his Father to have repented Cain Ishmael Nimrod Esau had temporall blessings boast not of these things thinke not your selves better than men for these things His miseries except his losse of the birth right he had few temporall crosses Heb. 12.17 Take heed of carrying your selves so that it goe not ill with your soules that God plague you not with spirituall plagues For his death the Scripture speakes nothing of it herein Ishmael is preferred before Esau * ⁎ * THE EIGHTEENTH EXAMPLE OF ABIMELECH And the men of GERAR IN the service of Isaac the holy Ghost maketh mention by the way of some other persons with whom Isaac had occasion to converse And first he telleth of some passages betweene him and Abimelech King of Gerar then of the men of Gerar. Wee will therefore consider of those things which are written concerning them First then of Abimelech King of the Philistins Gen. 26.1 Whether this were the same man with whom Abraham sojourned or some son or successour of his it is not certaine But in him let us see what is commendable and fit for our imitation for the Story telleth not of much sin in him But we have some vertues of his mentioned and one thing that is likely to be a fault His vertues are these First he did not take Rebekkah from Isaac though he for feare affirmed her to be his sister when the men of the place asked him of her but he left her alone with Isaac perhaps to make triall yet farther whether she were his wife or not it may be remembring what had been done before to Abraham and with what successe That is praiseworthy in him and we must learne to be wary in our proceedings and not presently to do such things as may be doubtfull whether they be faults or not but to take time to look thoroughly into matters before we adventure But next when he saw Isaac sporting with Rebekkah in a very familiar manner he did not misconstrue this deed of theirs to the worst sence condemning him of wantonnesse and incest as if he had been so naught as to carry himselfe over-familiarly to his sister but conceived rather that she was his wife and that he would not have taken liberty to carry himselfe in that manner towards her if she had not been his wife He did well to take things in the best sence as he did for when he saw such behaviours passe betweene these two as were not convenient betwixt any any other but man and wife he concludes sure she is his wife else he would not have sported with her in that fashion and then goes and tels him what he conceiveth so must we judge the best of the doubtfull things we see done by good men Had he been of a suspitious and uncharitable disposition he would have passed a bitter sentence both upon Isaac and Rebekkah and thought this without doubt this woman is a light woman and this man a libidinous and incestuous man that shews such gestures to his sister who did also entertaine him but be thinketh rather surely the man is so good a man that he would never have been bold to beare himselfe so amorously towards his sister and therefore though hee said she was his sister for feare or other considerations yet verily she is his wife We must be as charitable in our censures of men as was this Abimelech and not take leave to thinke the worst of any mans actions but favourably interpret them and make the fairest construction of them that may be But to be harsh in our cēsures of any man think he is naught he meaneth wickedly this is a testimony of a heart guilty of as bad sins in himselfe and of one desirous to hide his owne eyes from his owne badnesse by measuring others by himselfe For he that is himselfe ready to doe evill is prone to conclude that others are as bad as himselfe and therefore when he sees them doe such a thing as may possibly be meant to an evill purpose he concludeth presently that so it is For he will not thinke better of others than himselfe and therefore will resolve that they have done as ill as he findes that himselfe would have done in like case Take heed that you betray not your owne naughtinesse in being forward and hasty to blame others Another good thing in this Abimelech is that so soone as he perceived that Isaac was Rebekkahs husband and she his wife he goes to him presently and tels him saying Sure she is thy wife why then saidst thou she is my sister for one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife and thou shouldst have brought upon us guiltinesse This is a good thing and agreeable to the commandement of the Law to tell our brother plainly of his sin If any man shall do some unlawfull thing to our knowledge we must goe and enquire why they did so and even rebuke them for it by shewing them how hurtfull or mischievous it was or might have proved So did another Abimelech or this same to Abraham before they therefore have not walked rightly that if they know any fault by their brother keep the matter to themselves and entertaine hard conceits of them but speake no word of reproofe or admonition to them So did Absalom behave himselfe towards his brother Amnon when he had sinned in forcing his sister This proveth that they doe not desire their brothers amending and that they are more displeased with the person than the sin and if it be a wrong with the injury done against themselves than with the offence done against God If any of you have thus stored up the faults of another in his breast to breed alienation of heart and evill conceits against them he must humble himselfe for such uncharitablenesse And now you must learne to be bold and free in this behalfe as Abimelech Indeed you see him not bitter nor violent but he is plaine and duly round with him so must we learne to forbeare distempered speeches and gestures but a plaine laying open of the fault before the offendor is necessary to bring him to the sight of his fault and to a free confession and at least to an outward reformation Looke that you carry your selves thus hereafter to your offending brethren and if they repent not at the first doe it againe and againe till you have brought them to an end or proved them incorrigible Further Abimelech shews in his words evidently both that he knew adultery to be a grievous sin even though a man did not perfectly know the woman to be married with whom he committed it and also beleeveth that God will severely punish it in the committer and so he was not a wilfull liver in that sin nor would

that hee was forcibly driven out of Gods Inheritance and wished nothing more then that he might have liberty to dwell in Gods Tabernacles Let us if we have banished our selves from such habitations be carefull to returne with speed from our voluntary wandring Secondly Iudah shewes himselfe somewhat humbled for his sinne with Tamar for seeing the tokens he had left with her and knowing his fault hee confesseth his fault and saith shee is more righteous then I. For Shelah was growne up and was not given unto her So must wee doe if wee have sinned and beene an occasion of others sinnes let us justifie them above our selves and condemne our selves more then them and not bee possessed so with the partiality of selfe-love as still to stand in our owne light denying the fault or laying the blame upon another True repentance will be ready to blame it selfe but an impenitent heart is witty to cast the blame still from it selfe upon another Againe it is said hee knew Tamar no more afterwards and wee reade not of any other wife or childe he had afterwards so that he forbare her because shee was his daughter in Law and forbare to take another wife voluntarily it is like in humiliation for this unbridled fact he had committed If any have sinned in unlawfull deeds of this kinde his care must be with Iudah to offend so no more and to be so humbled with his former offence that the consideration of it may make him temper himselfe for the future Further Iudah carried himselfe well towards his Father for hee was earnest to get him send Benjamin with them to the Governour in Egypt and at last prevailed by interposing his faithfull promise to bring him backe againe as you reade in the Story It is a good thing in an Inferiour to turne away his Superiour from stiffenesse in an indiscreet purpose and he hath performed a worthy office that hath so farre prevailed with his superiour for the good of himselfe and of others wherefore doe this good deed with humblenesse and discretion as occasion serveth The last good deed of Iudah and most commendable was his faithfull keeping of his promise with Iacob in offering himselfe to be a bondslave in Benjamins roome whose absence he knew would even kill his old Father so that hee was content to take the punishment of anothers fault upon himselfe rather then falsify his word of presenting the Lad againe unto his Father How was love and faithfullnesse joyned both in one act We must learne to practise even so to love a Parent so as if it be possible to prevent his griefe with our owne so great a misery as perpetuall bondage during life How much are they to blame that occasion their Parents misery by their wilfull sinnes and can well enough be content to see their Parents goe mourning to the grave even for their incorrigible naughtinesse Sure the affection of good children is farre otherwise And now children have a loving pittie to your Parents and frame your selves rather to suffer any misery then the sight of your Parents pining away in griefe especially then the procuring of it by your owne misdemeanours Againe he shewed here great fidelity for having given his Word to his Father that he would bring Benjamin againe to him he preferres the performing of his promise before his owne liberty and would rather keepe his promise with his Father then live at home with him in freedome Let us learne to shew the like care in keeping our promises even to doe what wee have said chiefely in matters of weight though wee cannot doe it without great inconveniences to our selves let us keepe promise though it be to our hurt Againe Iudah makes a most pithy and rhetoricall speech to Ioseph for affection will make a reasonable wit to doe the office of a good Orator This was a commendable thing in Iudah to beare so sudden and terrible an accident with so much strength of minde that he could apply himselfe to take that course which was fit and behoofefull notwithstanding his griefes Let us labour to be of so well compact a spirit that extremity of sudden blowes may not disable us from carrying our selves discreetely even in such unexpected accidents This is a gift that we must beg at Gods hands and the best way to get it is as Iudah did to see God in it and be humbled before him for our sins that procured it And so much for Iudahs particular good deeds Now his crosses were first that he had two sonnes so wicked that God himselfe could not brooke them but even slew them for their extreame wickednesse It is a crosse that hath befallen many a Father to have very lewd children Labour what you can to prevent it by being good your selves and carry not your selves so wickedly as to pull this crosse upon your selves as Iudah did in running to Hiram and marrying a Canaanitish woman for what could he looke for but that the sonnes of such a woman and brought up in such a place should proove wicked And if it doe befall any of you or have befalne you be indeed humbled by it but not put quite out of heart Let it helpe to make your selves better if your children be wicked Another crosse was that his daughter in Lawes discontent drew her to prostitute her selfe to him in the disguize of an Harlot and so drew him to incest when he thought but to have committed fornication It is a misery to be drawne into a more grievous sinne then one intended to commit Let us resolve to commit none at all that such an addition of faultinesse may not be put upon our sinnes beyond our owne knowledge and if it have befalne us let us learne to be humbled very much It is just with God to give a man over to a worse sinne then he thought of that is bold to take liberty to commit some sin which he ought not to have done Lastly God did cause the sinne of Iudah to breake forth to his shame as you know though hee feared the shame more then the sinne And this is surely a great punishment to make ones evills knowne which he hoped should have beene kept still in secrecy And a just thing it is with God to dishonour a man before men when hee will dishonour God by sinning boldly in secret And if God have buried any mans faults in darkenesse let him bury them by repentance else they shall breake out more reproachfully at last day to his utter confusion But if God have cast the dirt of any mans sin upon his face and layd his grosse crimes open to all the world he must make this use of it to be more humbled before God and improve the griefe that shame and reproach will stirre in him to the more hearty bewailing of the sin that deserved it otherwise to be greatly grieved for the shame is nothing else but a carnall and unsanctified

sinned surely in forgetting himselfe so farre as to resolve in his minde to blesse his sonne Esau whereas God had said the elder shall serve the younger He should have beene mindfull of that propheticall answer which was given concerning those two sonnes even when they strove in their Mothers wombes unlesse wee shall say that the whole passage was so carried as it was concealed from Isaac but that is nothing probable it can hardly be conceived that Rebekah would not acquaint her husband both that shee felt so strange a striving in her wombe which made her seeke to God to know the matter as also what answer shee received from God Taking that for granted which is so probable that there is no reason to doubt of it I say wee may note a fault in good Isaac yea good old Isaac hee forgate the Word of God which had beene spoken some yeares before and that so utterly as hee determined to have crossed it and gone directly against it It is a fault from which the bed men alive are not exempted even so to forget Gods Word as to be ready out of forgetfullnesse to transgresse it This forgetfullnesse ariseth many times from heedelesnesse and many times from continuance and length of time and sometimes from very strength of passion and distemper which doth cast out the remembrance of good things from the minde David and all the Priests had forgotten that which at least some of them had read concerning the not carting of Gods Arke but carrying it upon the Priests shoulders Iacob after had little lesse then forgate the vow hee made unto God in his affliction I pray you take heed of such forgetfullnesse meditate often that you may remember seasonably pray God to write his Lawes in your hearts and to make his holy Spirit to become your remembrancer that your knowledge be not made unprofitable through forgetfullnesse for that which is not fitly called to minde is in a manner as if it were not And if you meete with such a weakenesse as this in your selves looke that you be duely abased in the sight of it but be not out of heart as if you were destitute of all grace because you are imperfect in it but take comfort to seeke and hope for pardon upon your humble confession when the Lord pleaseth to put you in remembrance againe If Peter had remembred Christs words before hee might perhaps have escaped his great sinne of denying his Master but hee remembred it after to make him weepe bitterly It were a comfortable thing to call to minde those things that should preserve us from sinne so timely that we might be so preserved by them But if wee have done otherwise it behooveth us to put our selves in minde of them after to worke godly sorrow and then turning to God wee must not suffer our selves to doubt but that hee will vouchsafe to accept us Now Isaac offended something against men In respect of his two sonnes at first he loved Esau better then Iacob and that for carnall respects because Esau by his hunting supplied him with such kinde of meate as was contentfull to him It was without doubt a weakenesse in him and deserveth taxing Should Isaac beare favour to a gracelesse sonne for venisons sake rather then to a godly sonne for vertue sake Should our passions fancies appetites carrie us away and over-rule our affections Surely as David wished those that feared God to come unto him and he would choose them for his companions so should every man make godlinesse the rule of his affections so as when other things be even to give piety the preheminence and cause godlinesse to cast the scale as it were It is a fault in any man to love a worse childe above a better for any sinister respect Abraham loved not Ishmael above Isaac to prevent that it may be thought that God commanded Ishmael to be cast out that hee might not be thought a meete person at least to partake with Isaac in his inheritance And as to be carried away in our affections to children by affecting them most that deserve it least in carnall respects is a sinne so likewise towards other persons also servants neighbours or any other Therefore hee that hath done so or findes himselfe so inclined must be humbled in his folly and labour at last to rectifie his love as wee shew'd you before that Isaac did when God discovered his weakenesse to him Now in respect of Abimelech Isaac offended by lying out of feare when the men of Gerar began to question with him about his wife he began to suspect that they meant no good in such inquirie and fearing some ill usage from them if hee should have professed himselfe her husband helped the matter with a sudden lie and said shee was his Sister Gen. 26.7 you see hee inheriteth here his Fathers carnall feare and carnall shift of lying to prevent the evill feared Here wee have two plaine faults his immoderate feare and his lying to helpe himselfe at a pinch to be afraid of death so that there appeare some likelihood that it will come upon us suddenly and violently we suffer our selves to be drawne into sinne for the escaping of it is a sin and such a sin it is as hath often discovered it selfe in good men Wee noted it in Abraham twice upon the same occasion that is here mentioned So it befell David when hee came first to Achish King of Gath so to Peter and others The inordinatenesse of the feare of death ariseth from weakenesse of faith both in that a man doth not so stedfastly rely upon God for defence and safeguard of life as also for salvation of his soule after death or because hee is not so well versed in the meditations of death and Heaven as to become sufficiently heavenly-minded For if wee did fully perswade our selves that God would stand by us in perill that hee would be our shield and buckler then it would befall us according to that of David The Lord is on my side I will not feare what man can doe unto mee but in the best this confidence is often weakened and they are taken unprovided through the suddennesse of the danger or the like occasion or it is likely that the soule which so feareth death as by sinne to shun the same doth not so thoroughly assure it selfe of salvation or hath not so clearely and fully apprehended the excellency of salvation for doubtlesse death would be welcome to him rather then terrible that did apprehend it as a darke entrie leading to the glorious palace of glory and had well considered of the greatnesse of that glory I beseech you take paines to helpe your selves against the feare of death and to worke in your hearts so truly couragious a temper that though it should present it selfe to you naked and without disguise and that suddenly and that in shew unpreventably yet you might be so constant and so setled as not to