Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	death_n	sin_n	sin_v	3,797	5	9.4651	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77614	Precious remedies against Satans devices or, salve for believers and unbelievers sores. Being a companion for those that are in Christ, or out of Christ; that are high, or low, learned, or illiterate, staggering, or wandering; that slight, or neglect ordinances, under a pretence of living above them; that are growing (in spiritualls) or decaying; that are tempted, or deserted, afflicted, or opposed; that have assurance, or that want assurance; that are self-seekers, or the common-wealths caterpillars; that are in love sweetly united, or that yet have their spirits too much imbittered, &c. By Thomas Brookes, a willing servant unto God, and the faith of his people, in the glorious gospel of Christ, at Margarets fish-street hill.	Brooks, Thomas, 1608-1680.	1658 (1658)	Wing B4954; Thomason E1426_1	231,671	413

golden cup and hide the poison to present the sweet the pleasure and the profit that may flow in upon the soule by yielding to sin and by hiding from the soule the wrath and misery that will certainly follow the committings of sin By this Device he took our first Parents Genesis 3. 4 5. And the Serpent said unto the woman yee shall not surely die For God doth So to reduce D. Taylor Martyr they promised him not onely his pardon but a Bishoprick Act. and Mon. folio 1386. Inest peccatum cum delectaris regnat si consen● ser● August in Psal 50. know that in the day ye eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evill Your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods here is the baite the sweet the pleasure the profit Oh! but he hides the hook the shame the wrath and the losse that would certainly follow There is an opening of the eyes of the mind to contemplation and joy and there is an opening of the eyes of the body to shame and confusion He promiseth them the former but intends the latter and so cheats them giving them an Apple in exchange for Paradise as he deales by thousands now adayes Satan with ease puts fallacies upon us and then by his golden baites leads us and leaves us in a fools Paradise he promises the soule honour pleasure and profit c. but paye's the soule with the greatest contempt shame and losse that can be by a golden bait he laboured to catch Christ This world at last shall be burnt for a witch sayeth one Multi amando res noxias sunt miseri habendo miseriores August in Psa 26. Many are miserable by loving hurtfull things but they are more miserable by having them Men had need pray with Bernard Da domine ut sic possideamus tempora lia ut non perdamus aeterna Grant us Lord that wee may so partake of temporall felicity that we may not loose eternall in the 4 of Mat. 8. 9. he shewes him the beauty and the bravery of a bewitching world which doubtlesse would have taken many a carnall heart but here the devils fire fell upon wet tinder therefore took not these tempting objects did not at all win upon his affections nor dazle his eyes though many have eternally died of the wound of the eye and fallen for ever by this vile Strumpet the world who by laying forth her two faire breasts of profit and pleasure hath wounded their soules and cast them downe into utter perdition she hath by the glistering of her pomp and preferment slaine millions as the S●rpent Scytale which when she cannot overtake the fleeing passengers doth with her beautifull colours astonish and amaze them so that they have no power to passe away till she have stung them to death Adversity hath slain her thousand but prosperity her ten thousand Now the Remedies against this Device of the Devil are these FIrst keep at the greatest distance from 1 Remedy sin and from playing with the golden bait that Satan holds forth to catch you for this you have the 12 Rom. 9. v. Abhor that which is evill cleave to that which is good when we meet with any thing extreamly evill and contrary to us nature abhors it and retires as far as it can 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The simple verb imports extreame detestation which is aggravated by the composition Chrysost from it The Greek word that is there rendred abhor is very significant it signifies to hate it as Hell it selfe to hate it with horror Anselm used to say that if he should see the shame of sin on the one hand and the pains of hell on the other and must of necessity chuse one he would rather be thrust into Hell without sin then goe into Heaven with sin so great was his hatred and detestation of sin 'T is our wisest and our safest Prov. 5. 8. 1 Thess 5. 22. course to stand at the furthest distance from sin not to goe neer the house of the Harlot but to flie from all appearance of evill the best course to prevent falling into the pit is to keep at the It was a divine saying of a Heathen that if there were no God to punish him no Devil to torment him no Hell to burne him no man to see him yet would he not sin ser the ugliness and filthiness of sin and the griefe of his owne Conscience Seneca greatest distance he that will be so bold as to attempt to dance upon the brink of the pit may find by wofull experience that 't is a righteous thing with God that he should fall into the pit Joseph keeps at a distance from sin and from playing with Satans golden baites and stands David drawes near and playes with the bait and falls and swallowes bait and hook with a witnes David comes neer the snare and is taken in it to the breaking of his bones the wounding of his conscience and the losse of his God Sin is a plague yea the greatest and the most infectious plague in the world and yet ah how few are there that tremble at it that keep at a distance from it 1 Cor. 5. 6. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump As soon as one sin had seised upon Adams heart all sin entred into his soul and over-spread Sinne is like those Diseases that are called by Physitians Corruptio totius substantiae it How hath Adams one sin spread over all mankinde 5. Rom. 12. ver Wherefore as by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned Ah! how doth the Fathers sin infect the child the Husbands infect the Wife the Masters the Servant The sin that is in one mans heart is able to infect a whole world 't is of such a spreading and infectious nature The story of the Italian who first made his enemy deny God and then stab'd him and so at once murthered both body and soule declares the perfect malignity of sin and Oh! that what hath been spoken upon this head may prevaile with you to stand at a distance from sin The second Remedy is to consider 2 Remedy When the golden bait is cast forth to catch us wee must say as Demosthenes the Oratour did of the beauti●ull Lais when he was asked an excessive sum of money to behold her I will not buy repentance so dear I am not so ill a merchant as to seleternals for temporals that sin is but a bitter-sweet that seeming sweet that is in sin will quickly vanish and lasting shame sorrow horrour and terrour will come in the room thereof 20. Job 12 13 14. Though wickednesse be sweet in his mouth though he bide it under his tongue though he spare it and forsake it not but keep it still within his mouth yet his meat in

subdued and destroyed After Julius Caesar was murdered Antonius brought forth his coat all bloody and cut and laid it before the people saying look here you have your Emperours coat thus bloody and torne whereupon the people were presently in an uproar and cryed out to slay those murderers and they tooke their tables and stooles that were in the place and set them on fire and ran to the houses of them that had slam Caesar and burnt them so when we consider that sin hath slaine our Lord Jesus ah how should it provoke our hearts to be revenged on sin that hath murdered the Lord of Glory and Nolo vivere sine vulnere cum te video vulneratum Oh my God! as long as I see thy wounds I will never live without wound saith Bonaventure hath done that mischief that all the Devills in Hell could never have done 'T was good counsell one gave never let goe out of your mindes the thoughts of a crucified Christ let these be meat and drinke unto you let them be your sweetnesse and consolation your honey and your desire your reading and your meditation your life death and resurrection The third device that Satan hath to 3. Device draw the soul to sin is by extenuating and lessening of sin ah saith Satan 't is but a little pride a little worldlinesse a little uncleanness a little drunkennesse c. As Lot said of Zoar Gen. 19. 20. it is but a little one and my soule shall live ahlas saith Satan 't is but a very little sin that you stick so at you may commit it without any danger to your soule 't is but a little one you may commit it and yet your soul shall live Now the Remedies against this device of Satan are these FIrst solemnly consider that those 1. Remedy sins which we are apt to account small hath brought upon men the greatest wrath of God as the eating of an Apple gathering a few sticks on the Sabbaoth day and touching of the Ark oh the dreadfull wrath that these sinnes brought down upon the Draco the Rigid Law-giver being asked why when sins were not equall he appointed death to all Answered he knew that sins were not all equall but he knew the least deserved death So though the sins of men he not all equall yet the least of them deserves eternall death heads and hearts of men the least sin is contrary to the Law of God the nature of God the being of God and the glory of God and therefore t is often punished severely by God and doe not we see daily the vengeance of the Almighty falling upon the bodies names estates Families and soules of men for those sins that are but little ones in their eyes Surely if we are not utterly left of God and blinded by Satan we cannot but see it Oh! therefore when Satan saies t is but a little one doe thou say oh but those sins that thou callest little are such that will cause God to raine Hell out of Heaven upon sinners as he did upon the Sodomites The second Remedy against this device 2. Remedy of Satan is seriously to consider that the giving way to a lesse sin makes way for the committing of a greater he that to avoide a greater sin will yeild to a lesser ten thousand to one but God in Justice will leave that soule to fall into a greater if we commit one sin to avoid another 't is just we should avoid neither we having not law nor power in our own hands to keep off sin as we pleas and we by yeilding to the Psal 137. ver 9. Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones Hugho's Glosse is pious c. Sit nihil in te Babylonicum Let there be nothing in thee of Babylon no● onely the grown men but the little ones must be dashed against the stones not onely great sins but little sins must be killed or they will kill the soul for ever lesser doe tempt the tempter to tempt us to the greater Sin is of an incroaching nature it creeps on the soule by degrees step by step till it hath the soule to the very height of sin David gives way to his wandring eye and this led him to those foule sins that caused God to breake his bones and to turne his day into night and to leave his soule in great darknesse Jocab and Peter and other Saints have found this true by wofull experience that the yeelding to a lesser sin hath been the ushering in of a greater the little thief will open the doore and make way for the greater and the little wedge knock't in will make way for the greater Satan will first draw thee to sit with the drunkard and then to sip with the drunkard and then at last to be drunke with the drunkard he will first draw thee to be unclean in thy thoughts and then to be unclean in thy looks and then to be unclean in thy words and at last to be unclean in thy practises he will fi●st draw thee to looke on the golden wedge and then to like the golden wedge and then to handle the golden wedge and then at last by wicked wayes to gaine the golden wedge though thou runnest the hazard of loosing God and thy soul An Italian having found his enemy at an advantage promised him if he would deny his faith he would save his life he to save his life denyed his faith which having done he stab'd him rejoycing that by this he had at one time taken revenge both on soule and body for ever as you may see in Gehazi Achan and Judas and many in these our dayes Sinne is never at a stand Psal 1. v. 1. First ungodly then sinners then scorners here they goe on from sin to sin till they come to the top of sin viz. to sit in the seat of scorners or as ris in the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to affect the honour of the chair of Pestilence Austin writing upon John tells a story of a certaine man that was of an opinion that the Devill did make the flye and not God saith one to him if the Devill made flies then the Devill made wormes and God did not make them for they are living creatures as well as flies true said he the Devil did make wormes but said the other if the Devil did make wormes then he made birds beasts and man he granted all thus saith Austin by denying God in the fly he came to deny God in man and to deny the whole Creation by all this we see that the yeelding to lesser sins drawes the soul to the committing of greater Ah! how many in these dayes have fallen first to have low thoughts of Scripture and Ordinances and then to slight Scripture and Ordinances and then to make a nose of wax of Scripture and Ordinances and then to cast off Scripture and Ordinances and then at

the justifying of beastiality as many have done in these dayes of vertue the more dangerous 't is to the souls of men this we see evident in these days by those very many souls that are turned out of the way that is holy and in which their souls have had sweet and glorious communion with God into wayes of highest vanity and folly by Satans neat colouring over of sin and painting forth vice under the name and colour of vertue this is so notoriously knowne that I need but name it the most dangerous vermine is too often to be found under the fairest and sweetest Flowers and the fairest glove is often drawn upon the foulest hand and the richest robes are often put upon the filthiest bodies so are the fairest and the sweetest names upon the greatest and the most horriblest vices and etrors that be in the world ah that we had not too many sad proofs of this amongst us The third Remedy against this Device 3 Remedy is to look on sin with that eye Tacitus speaks of Tiberius ●hat when his sins did app●ar in their own colours they did so terrifie and torment him that he protested to the Senate that he suffered death daily which within a few hours we shall see it ah souls when you shall lye upon a dying bed and stand before a judgement seat sin shall be unmaskt and its dresse and robes shall then be taken off and then it shall appear more vile filthy and terrible then Hell it self then that which formerly appear'd most sweet will appear most bitter and that which appear'd most beautifull will appear most ugly and that which appear'd most delightful will then appear most dreadfull to the soul ah the shame the paine the gall the bitternes the horrour the hell that the fight of sin when its dress is taken off will raise in poor souls Sin will surely prove evill and bitter to the soul when its robes are taken off A man may have the Stone who feels no fit of it Conscience will work at last though for the present one may feele no fit of accusation Laban Satan that now allures thee to sin will ere long make thee see that Peccatum est deicidium sin is a murthering of God and this will make thee murther two at once thy soule and thy body unlesse the Lord in mercy holds thy hand shewed himself at parting sin will be bitternes in the latter end when it shall appear to the soul in its own filthy nature The Devil deals with men as the Panther doth with Beasts he hides his deformed head till his sweet sent hath drawn them into his danger till we have sinned Satan is a Parasite when we have sinned he is a Tyrant Ah souls the day is at hand when the Devil will pull off the paint and garnish that he hath put upon sin and present that monster sin in such a monstrous shape to your soules that will cause your thoughts to be be troubled your countenance to be changed the joynts of your loines to be loosed and your knees to be dashed one against another and your hearts to be so terrified that you will be ready with Achitophel and Judas to strangle and hang your bodies on earth and your soules in Hell if the Lord hath not more mercy on you then he had on them oh therefore looke upon sin now as you must look upon it to all eternity and as God Conscience and Satan will present it to you another day The fourth Remedie against this device 4. Remedie of Satan is solemnly to consider that even these very sins that Satan paints and puts new names and colours V●a guttula plus valet quam coelum terra Luther i. e. one little drop speaking of the blood of Christ is more worth then Heaven and Earth upon cost the best blood the noblest blood the life-blood the heart-blood of the Lord Jesus that Christ should come from the eternall bosome of his Father to a Region of sorrow and death that God should be manifested in the flesh the Creator made a Creature that he that was cloathed with glory should be wrapped with raggs of flesh he that filled heaven and earth with his glory should be cradled in a manger that the power of God should flie from weak man the God of Israel into Aegypt that the God of the Law should be subject to the Law One of the Rabbins when he read what bitter torments the Messias should suffer when he came into the world cryed out Veniat Messias at ego non videam i. e. Let the Messias come but let not me see him Dionysius being in Aegypt at the time of Christs suffering and seeing an Eclipse of the Sun and knowing it to be contrary to nature cryed out aut Deus naturae patitur aut mundi machina dissolvitur Either the God of Nature suffered or the frame of the world will be dlssolved the God of Circumcision circumcised the God that made the Heavens working at Josephs homely trade that he that bindes the Devills in chaines should be tempted that he whose is the world and the fulnesse thereof should hunger and thirst that the God of strength should be weary the Judge of all flesh condemned the God of life put to death that he that is one with his Father should cry out of misery my God my God why hast thou forsaken mee that he that had the keyes of Hell and death at his girdle should lie imprison'd in the sepulcher of another having in his life time no where to lay his head nor after death to lay his body that that head before which the Angels doe cast down their Crowns should be crowned with thornes and those eyes purer then the Sun put out by the darknesse of death those eares which hear nothing but Hallelujahs of Saints and Angels to hear the blasphemies of the multitude that face that was fairer then the Sons of men to be spit on by those beastly wretched Jewes that mouth and tongue that spake as never man spake accused for blasphemy those hands that freely swayed the Scepter of Heaven nailed to the Crosse those feet like unto fine brasse nailed to the Crosse for mans sins each sense annoyed his feeling or touching with a speare and nailes 'T is an excellent saying of Bernard quanto pro nobis vilior tanto nobis charior the more vilde Christ made himself for us the more dear he ought to be to us his smell with stinking savour being crucified about Golgatha the place of Skulls his taste with vinegar and gall his hearing with reproaches and sight with his mother and Disciples bemoaning him his soule comfortlesse and forsaken and all this for those very sins that Satan paints and puts fine colours upon oh how should the consideration of this stir up the soule against it and worke the soule to flie from it and to use all holy meanes whereby sin may be