Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	dead_a	die_v	live_v	11,283	5	6.6056	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31080	Practical discourses upon the consideration of our latter end, and the danger and mischief of delaying repentance by Isaac Barrow ...	Barrow, Isaac, 1630-1677.	1694 (1694)	Wing B951; ESTC R17257	64,090	182

length and that within a very short time no man knows how soon the whispers of every mouth the closest murmurs of detraction slander and sycophantry shall become audible to every ear the abstrusest thoughts of all hearts the closest malice and envy shall be disclosed in the most publick Theatre before innumerable spectatours the truth of all pretences shall be throughly examined the just merit of every Person and every cause shall with a most exact scrutiny be scann'd openly in the face of all the World to what purpose can it be to juggle or basfle for a time for a few days perhaps for a few minutes to abuse or to amuse those about us with crafty dissimulation or deceit Is it worth the pains to devise plausible shifts which shall instantly we know be detected and defeated to bedaub foul designs with a fair varnish which death will presently wipe off to be dark and cloudy in our proceedings whenas a clear day that will certainly dispel all darkness and scatter all mists is breaking in upon us to make vizors for our faces and cloaks for our actions whenas we must very shortly be exposed perfectly naked and undisguised in our true colours to the general view of Angels and Men Heaven sees at present what we think and doe and our conscience cannot be wholly ignorant or insensible nor can Earth it self be long unacquainted therewith Is it not much better and more easie since it requires no pains or study to act our selves than to accommodate our selves to other unbeseeming and undue parts to be upright in our intentions consistent in our discourses plain in our dealings following the single and uniform guidance of our reason and conscience than to shuffle and shift wandring after the various uncertain and inconstant opinions or humours of men What matter is it what cloaths we wear what garb we appear in during this posture of travel and sojourning here what for the present we go for how men esteem us what they think of our actions St. Paul at least did not much stand upon it for with me said he 't is a very small thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the least thing that can come under consideration to be judged of you or of humane day that is of this present transitory fallible reversible judgment of men If we mean well and doe righteously our conscience will at present satisfie us and the divine unerring and impartial sentence will hereafter acquit us no unjust or uncharitable censure shall prejudice us if we entertain base designs and deal unrighteously as our conscience will accuse and vex us here so God will shortly condemn and punish us neither shall the most favourable conceit of men stand us in stead Every man's work shall become manifest for the day shall declare it becuase it shall be revealed by fire and the fire that is a severe and strict inquiry shall try every man's work of what sort it is I cannot insist more on this Point I shall onely say that considering the brevity and uncertainty of our present state the greatest simplicity may justly be deemed the truest wisedom that who deceives others doth cozen himself most that the deepest policy used to compass or to conceal bad designs will in the end appear the most downright folly I might add to the precedent discourses that Philosophy it self hath commended this consideration as a proper and powerfull instrument of vertue reckoning the practice thereof a main part of wisedom the greatest proficient therein in common esteem Socrates having desined Philosophy or the study of wisedom to be nothing else but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the study of death intimating also in Plato's Phoedon that this study the meditation of death and preparation of his mind to leave this World had been the constant and chief employment of his life That likewise according to experience nothing more avails to render the minds of men sober and well composed than such spectacles of Mortality as do impress this consideration upon them For whom doth not the sight of a Coffin or of a Grave gaping to receive a friend perhaps an ancient Acquaintance however a man in nature and state altogether like our selves of the mournfull looks and habits of all the sad pomps and solemnities attending man unto his long home by minding him of his own frail condition affect with some serious some honest some wise thoughts And if we be reasonable men we may every day supply the need of such occasions by representing to our selves the necessity of our soon returning to the dust dressing in thought our own Herses and celebrating our own Funerals by living under the continual apprehension and sense of our transitory and uncertain condition dying daily or becoming already dead unto this World The doing which effectually being the gift of God and an especial work of his Grace let us of him humbly implore it saying after the Holy Prophet Lord so teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisedom Amen SERMON III. The Danger and mischief of delaying Repentance PSALM CXIX 60. I made haste and delayed not to keep thy Commandments THIS Psalm no less excellent in vertue than large in bulk containeth manifold reflexions upon the nature the properties the adjuncts and effects of God's Law many sprightly ejaculations about it conceived in different forms of speech some in way of petition some of thanksgiving some of resolution some of assertion or aphorism many usefull directions many zealous exhortations to the observance of it the which are not ranged in any strict order but like a variety of fair flowers and wholesome herbs in a wild field do with a gratefull confusion lie dispersed as they freely did spring up in the heart or were suggested by the devout spirit of him who indited the Psalm whence no coherence of sentences being designed we may consider any one of them absolutely or singly by it self Among them that which I have picked out for the subject of my discourse implieth an excellent rule of practice authorised by the Psalmist's example it is propounded in way of devotion or immediate address to God unto whose infallible knowledge his conscience maketh an appeal concerning his practice not as boasting thereof but as praising God for it unto whose gratious instruction and succour he frequently doth ascribe all his performances But the manner of propounding I shall not insist upon the rule it self is that speedily without any procrastination or delay we should apply our selves to the observance of God's Commandments the practice of which rule it shall be my endeavour to recommend and press It is a common practice of men that are engaged in bad courses which their own conscience discerneth and disapproveth to adjourn the reformation of their lives to a farther time so indulging themselves in the present commission of sin that yet they would seem to purpose and promise themselves hereafter to repent and take