Selected quad for the lemma: life_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
life_n drink_v flesh_n meat_n 7,615 5 9.1083 5 false
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A27047 Three treatises tending to awaken secure sinners by Richard Baxter. Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.; Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691. True Christianity.; Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691. Absolute dominion of God-redeemer.; Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691. Absolute soveraignty of Christ. 1656 (1656) Wing B1420; Wing B1409L; Wing B1437; ESTC R11838 152,069 348

There are 3 snippets containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

weight with you and no knowledge would serve your turn but by seeing and feeling you shall see and feel everlastingly to your sorrow The seventeeth Excuse It was so strict a Law that God would have Ruled me by and the way to Heaven was so strait and difficult that I could not endure it I was not able to deny my flesh and live such a life Answ 1. You were not Able because you were not Willing ●hat was there but your own wicked hearts that should make such a life seem grievous to you Every thing is hard and grievous to him who loaths it and whose heart is against it The chief thing that God called you ●o was to love him and make him your Delight And are Love and Delight such grievous things It was not grievous to you to love your meat or drink or money It was no hard matter to you to love a friend that loved you no nor to love your sin which was your enemy And what should make it seem hard to love God but a wicked heart Is not he better and more Lovely then all these And had you but Loved him all the rest of his service would have seemed easie to you To think of him to speak of him to pray to him to praise him yea to deny all and suffer for him would have been sweet and pleasant to you so far as you had Loved him It was not God therefore but your own naughty hearts that made his work seem grievous to you and the way to heaven seem hard He told you truly that his yoak was easie and his burden light and his Commandments were not grievous Mat. 11. 29. 1. Joh. 5 3. They that tryed them found them the very Joy and Delight of their souls and why could not you do so 2. But what if the way to heaven had been harder then it was was not heaven worth your labour were you afraid of being a loser by it Could not God requite your labour or sufferings Doth any Repent when they come to Heaven that it cost them so dear to come thither And is not hell worse then the hardest way to heaven seeing you have chosen hell to save you a labour and suffering in in this life you must have your choice And seeing you thought not everlasting life to be worth so much as God required that is the Accepting thankfully and minding and seeking and preferring it before this life you have none to blame for the loss of it but your selves The eighteenth Excuse It was God that made me of a sensual nature He gave me an Appetite to Meat and Drink and Ease and lust He gave me that flesh which ruled me how then can be condemn me for living according to the nature which he gave me Answ He gave that Appetite to be exercised moderately under the rule of reason for the preservation and propagation of mankind But did he not also give you Reason to govern that Appetite and the Revelation of his will to guide that Reason He gave you your flesh to be a servant and not a master Your beast hath fleshly Appetite without reason and therefore God hath put him under you who have Reason that you should Rule him Will you let your beast do what he list and madly run upon whom he list and say you do but let him live according to his nature which God hath given him Why God that gave him such a nature did intend him to be Ruled by a higher nature even by the Reason which he gave to you And so he did also by your flesh and sensual Appetite The ninteenth Excuse But I lived among so many baits which enticed this flesh that I could not resist them My meat was a snare to me my drink a snare my cloaths my house my land a snare every beauty that I saw was a snare and the better all these were the stronger was my snare If God would not have had my heart ensnared and drawn from him he should not have put so many baits in my way Yea and they were so Neer to me and Daily with me that though I was resolved to forbear them before yet when they were brought to my hand I could not forbear Answ Is this the thanks that God hath for his mercies He sent you all these as favours from his own hand He wrote his own name upon them that in them you might see his power and wisdom and goodness and so be led up to the Consideration of him that you might fall in love with himself who was the fountain the life the end of all And do you overlook God in the creature and live as without him in the world and dote upon that which should have drawn you to himself and then lay the blame on God If he send a Suitor to speak to you in his name and write you a love Letter with his own hand will you fall in Love with the Messengers or the Letter and neglect the Sender and then blame him that wrote his letter on so fair a paper or in so neat a hand or that sent it by such a comely Messenger Certainly these Excuses are too gross to take with the wise and righteous God or to seem sufficient to a well informed Conscience 2. And whereas you speak of the power of these objects was there not much more in God in Christ in the promised glory to have drawn your heart another way why then did not these take as much with you as the other You could not choose forsooth but be enticed with such baits as were fitted to your sensual Appetite and such things as a dog or a swine may enjoy as well as a man But you could chosse when Christ and glory were offered you yea you did choose to refuse the offer and tread them under feet by your neglect When Satan set your Cups and your ●arlots and your profits before you on one side did not God set his favour and everlasting hapiness on the other side And was it wise or equal dealing to preferr your lusts before that glory 3. Moreover it was not in the power of any of those baits to force your will or to necessitate you to choose them They could be but Baits to entice you and it was still in your own choice wheth●r you would yield to the encicement and choose them or not Shall every man be false to God that hath any bait to entice him from him will you excuse your child or friend if he would be false to you upon as great enticements as these If a cup-of drink or a whore or a little gain could draw him more then all you love and interest I do not think you would hold him excused And whereas you speak of the Neerness and Continuance of these allurements I would fain know was not God as Neer you and Continually neer you to draw you to himself Faith might have ●een him though flesh and blood cannot Did
to his dispose and service If custom bid thee curse and swear and Christ forbid thee which dost thou obey If thy Appetite bid thee take thy cups and fare deliciously every day If thy company bid thee play the good-fellow or scorn the Godly If thy covetousness bid thee love the world and Christ forbid thee which dost thou obey If Christ bid thee be Holy and walk precisely and be violent for Heaven and strive to enter in and the world and the flesh be enemies to all this and cry it down as tedious folly which dost thou obey Dost thou daily and spiritually worship him in private and in thy Family and teach thy Children and Servants to fear the Lord I intreat you Sirs deal truly in answering these Questions never man was saved by the bare title of a Christian If you are not subject to Christ you are not Christians no more then a Picture or a Carcase is a man and your salvation will be such as your Christianity is subjection is an essential part of thy Faith and obedience is its fruit In short then dost thou make him thy fear and tremble at his word Darest thou run upon fire or water sword or canon rather then wilfully run upon his displeasure wouldst thou rather displease thy dearest friend the greatest Prince or thine own flesh then wittingly provoke him When Christ speaks against thy sweetest sin thy nature or custom or credit or life against thy rooted opinions or thy corrupt traditions Art thou willing to submit to all that he revealeth Dost thou say Speak Lord for thy Servant heareth Lord what wouldst thou have me to do I am ready to do thy will O God Beloved Hearers This is the frame of every Servant of Christ and this is the acknowledging and accepting him for your Lord. I beseech you cozen not your souls with shews and formalities if ever you be saved without this subjection it must be without Christs merits or mercy It must be in a way that Scripture revealeth not ●nay it must be in despite of God his truth must be falsified his power must be mastered before the disobedient can be saved from his wrath 2 Examine also your Dependence on Christ whether you kiss his Hands as well as his Feet Do you understand that you are all by nature Condemned men and lyable to the everlasting wrath of God that Christ hath interposed and paid this Debt and bought us as his own by the satisfaction of that justice that all things are now delivered into his hands John 1● ● and he is made Head over all things to his Church Ephes 1. 21 22. Dost thou take him for thy onely Saviour and believe the History of his Life and Passion the truth of his divine and humane nature his Resurrection his Office and his approaching Judgement Dost thou see that all thy supposed Righteousness is but vanity and sin and that thy self art unable to make the least satisfaction to the Law by thy Works or Sufferings and if his blood do not wash thee and his righteousness justifie thee thou must certainly be damned yet and perish for ever Dost thou therefore cast thy self into his arms and venture thy everlasting state upon him and trust him with thy soul and fetch all thy help and healing from him When sin is remembred and thy Conscience troubled and the fore-thoughts of judgement do amaze thy soul dost thou then fetch thy comfort from the view of his blood and the thoughts of the Freeness and Fulness of his Satisfaction his Love and Gospel-offers and promises Dost thou so build upon his promise of a Happiness hereafter that thou canst let goe all thy happiness here and drink of his Cup and be baptized with his Baptism and lose thy life upon his promise that thou shalt save it Canst thou part with goods and friends and all that thou hast in hope of a promised Glory which thou never sawest If thou canst drink with him of the Brook in the way thou shalt also with him lift up the head Psal 110 v. last Dost thou perceive a Mediator as well as a God in all thy mercies both special and common and tast his blood in all that thou receivest and wait upon his hand for thy future supplies Why this is kissing the hand of Christ and depending upon him O how contrary is the Case of the World whose confidence is like the Samaritans worship they trust God and their Wits and Labours Christ and their supposed Merits I would I might not say Christ and deceit and wicked contrivances Oh blasphemous joyning of heaven and hell to make up one foundation of their trust 3. Examine a little also your love to Christ Do you thus kiss the Son do your souls cleave to him and embrace him with the strongest of your affections Sirs though there is nothing that the blind world is more confident in then this that they love Christ with all their hearts yet is there nothing wherein they are more false and faulty I beseech you therefore deal truly in answering here Are your hearts set upon the Lord Jesus do you love him above all things in this World do you stick at your answer do you not know sure then at best you love him but little or else you could not choose but know it Love is a stirring and sensible Affection you know what it is to love a Friend Feel by this Pulse whether you live or dye Doth it beat more strongly toward Christ then to any thing else Never question man the necessity of this he hath concluded If thou love any thing more then him thou art unworthy of him nor canst be his Disciple Are thy thoughts of Christ thy freest and thy sweetest thoughts are thy speeches of him thy sweetest speeches when thou awakest art thou still with him and is he next thy heart when thou walkest abroad dost thou take him in thy thoughts canst thou say and lye not that thou wert ever deeply in love with him that thou dost love him but as heartily as thou lovest thy friend and art as loth to displease him and as glad of his presence and art as much troubled at his strangeness or absence Hath thy Minister or godly Acquaintance ever heard thee bemoaning thy soul for want of Christ or inquiring what thou shouldst do to attain him or thy Family heard thee commending his excellency and labouring to kindle their affections towards him why love will not be hid when it hath its desire it will be rejoycing and when it wants it will be Complaining Or at least Can thy Conscience witness thy longings thy groans thy prayers for a Christ Wilt thou stand to the Testimony of these Witnesses Do you love his weak his poor despised Members Do you visit them cloath them feed them to your power not only in a Common Natural Compassion to them as they are your Neighbors but do you love or relieve a Prophet in the name of a
to the nature of their wa●es which we see is not done here where the wicked Prosper and the good are afflicted therefore it must be heareafter 2. We see there is a necessity that God should make promises and threatnings of everlasting hapiness or misery for the right governing hf● the world for we certainly perceive that no lower things will keep men from destroying all humane society and living worse then bruit beasts and if there be a necessity of king such threats and promises then there is certainly a necessity of fullfilling them For God needeth no lye or means of deceiving to rule the world 2. And as we see it by Reason so by certain experience that this is descernable by the light of nature for all the world or almost all do believe it Even those nations where the Gospel never came and have nothing but what they have by nature even the most barbarous Indian● acknowledge some life after this and a difference of men according as they are here Therefore you must believe thus much or renounce your common Reason and humanity as well as your Christianity Let me therefore perswade you all in the fear of God to confirm your souls in the belief of this as if you had heard Christ or an Angel from Heaven say to you Oh man thou art hasting to Judgement Qu. 2. MY next Question is Whether you do ever soberly consider of this great day Sirs do you use when you are alone to think with your selves how certain and how dreadful it will be how fast it is coming on and what you shall do and what answer you mean to make at that day ●are your minds taken up with these considerations Tell me is it so or not Alas Sirs Is this a matter to be forgotten Is not that man even worse then mad that is going to Gods Iudgement and never thinks of it when if they were to be tryed for their lives at the next Assize they would think of it and think again and cast 100 times which way to escape Methinks you Should rather forget to go to bed at night or to eat your meat or do your work then forget so great a matter as this Truly I have often in my serious thoughts been ready to wonder that men can think of almost any thing else when they have so great a thing to think of What! forget that which you must remember for ever forget that which should force remembrance yea and doth force it with some whether they will or not A poor despairing soul cannot forg●t it He thinks which way ever he goes he is ready to be Judged Oh therefore Beloved Fix these thoughts as deep in your hearts as thoughts can go Oh be like that holy man that thought which way ever he went he heard the Trumpet sound and the voice of the Angel calling to the world Arise ye dead and come to Judgement You have warning of it from God and man to cause you to Remember it do not then forget it It will be a cold excuse another day Lord I forgate this day or else I might have been ready you dare not sure trust to sech excuses Qu. 3. MY next Question to you is How are you affected with the Consideration of this day Barely to think of it will not serve To think of such a day as this with a dull and sensless heart is a sign of fearful stupidity Did the knees of King Belshazzar knock together with trembling when he saw the hand-writing on the wall Dan. 5. 6. How then should thy heart be affected that seeth the hand-writing of God as a summons to his barr When I began to preach of these things long ago I consess the matters seemed to me so terrible that I was afraid that people would have run out of their wi●s with fear but a little experience shewed me that many are like a dog that is bred up in a forge or furnace that being used to it can sleep though the hammers are beating and the fire and hot iron flaming about him when another that had never seen it would be amazed at the sight When men have heard us 7 years together yea 20 years to talk of a day of Judgement and they see it not nor feel any hurt they think it is but talk and begin to make nothing of it This is their thanks to God for his patience Because his Sentence is not executed speedily therefore their hearts are set in them to do evil Eccl. 8. 11. As if God were slack of his Promise as some men Account slickness 2 Pet 3. 9. When one day with him is as a 1000. years and a 1000. years as one day What if we tell you 20 years together that you must dye will you not believe us because you have lived so long and seen no death comming Three or four things there be that should bring any matter to the heart 1. If it be a matter of exceeding weight 2. If it concern not others only but our selves 3. If it be certain 4. If neer All these things are here to be found and therefore how should your hearts be moved at the Consideration of this great day 1. What matter can be mentioned with the Tongue of man of greater moment For the poor creature to stand before his Maker and Redeemer to be Judged to everlasting Joy or Torment Alas all the matters of this world are playes and toyes and dreams to this Matters of profit or disprofit are nothing to it Matters of credit or discredit are unworthy to be named with it Matters of temporal life or death are nothing to it We see the poor brui● beasts go every day to the slaughter and we make no great matre● of it though their life be as deer to them as ours to us To be Judged to an Everlasting death or torment this is the great danger that one would think should shake the stou●est heart to consider it and awake the dullest sinner to prevent it 2. It s a matter that concerneth every one of your selves and every man or woman that ever lived upon the earth or ever shall do I am not speaking to you of the affairs of some far Countrey that are nothing to you but only to marvail at which you never saw nor ever shall do no It is thy own self man or woman that hearest me this day that shalt as surely appear before the judgement-seat of Christ as the Lord liveth and as he is true and faithful and that is as sure as thou livest on this earth or as the heaven is over thee That man that heareth all this with the most careless blockish heart shall be awakened and stand with the rest at that day that man that never thought of it but spent his time in worldly matters shall leave all and there appear that man that will not believe these things to be true but make a jest of them shall see and feel what he would