Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	fire_n	set_v	tongue_n	3,652	5	9.4006	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30164	The life and death of Mr. Badman presented to the world in a familiar dialogue between Mr. Wiseman and Mr. Attentive / by John Bunyan ...	Bunyan, John, 1628-1688.	1680 (1680)	Wing B5550; ESTC R15248	155,977	378

put authority or terrour into his words to stuff them full of the sin of Swearing Wise. You say right else as I am perswaded men would not so usually belch out their blasphemous Oaths as they do they take a pride in it they think that to swear is Gentleman-like and having once accustomed themselves unto it they hardly leave it all the days of their lives Atten. Well but now we are upon it pray shew me the difference between Swearing and Cursing for there is a difference is there not Wise. Yes There is a difference between Swearing and Cursing Swearing vain swearing such as young Badman accustomed himself unto Now vain and sinful swearing Is a light and wicked calling of God c. to witness to our vain and foolish attesting of things and those things are of two sorts 1. Things that we swear are or shall be done 2. Things so sworn to true or false 1. Things that we swear are or shall be done Thou swearest thou hast done such a thing that such a thing is so or shall be so for it is no matter which of these it is that men swear about if it be done lightly and wickedly and groundlesly it is vain because it is a sin against the Third Commandement which says Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain For this is a vain using of that Holy and Sacred Name and ●o a sin for● which without sound Repentance there is not nor can be rightly expected forgiveness Atten. Then it seems though as to the matter of fact a man swears truely yet if he sweareth lightly and groundlesly his Oath is evil and he by it under sin Wise. Yes a man may say The Lord liveth and that is true and yet in so saying swear falsly because he sweareth vainly needlesly and without a ground To swear groundedly and necessarily which then a man does when he swears as being called thereto of God that is tolerated by the Word but this was none of Mr. Badmans swearing and therefore that which now we are not concerned about Atten. I perceive by the Prophet that a man may sin in swearing to a Truth They therefore must needs most horribly sin that swear to confirm their Jests and Lies and as they think the better to beautifie their foolish talking Wise. They sin with an high hand for they presume to imagine that God is as wicked as themselves to wit that he is an Avoucher of Lies to be true For as I said before to swear is to call God to witness and to swear to a Lie is to call God to witness that that Lie is true This therefore must needs offend for it puts the highest affront upon the Holiness and Righteousness of God therefore his wrath must sweep them away This kind of Swearing is put in with lying and killing and stealing and committing Adultery and therefore must not go unpunished For if God will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain which a man may doe when he swears to a truth as I have shewed before how can it be imagined that he should hold such guiltless who by Swearing will appeal to God if Lies be not true or that swear out of their frantick and Bedlam madness It would grieve and provoke a sober man to wrath if one should swear to a notorious lye and avouch that that man would attest it for a truth and yet thus do men deal with the holy God They tell their Jestings Tales and Lies and then swear by God that they are true Now this kind of Swearing was as common with young Badman as it was to eat when he was an hungred or to go to bed when it was night Atten. I have often mused in my mind what it should be that should make men so common in the use of the sin of Swearing since those that be wise will believe them never the ●ooner for that Wise. It cannot be any thing that is good you may be sure because the thing it self is abominable 1. Therefore it must be from the promptings of the spirit of the Devil within them 2. Also it flows sometimes from hellish Rage when the tongue hath set on fire of Hell even the whole course of nature 3. But commonly Swearing flows from that daring Boldness that biddeth defiance to the Law that forbids it 4. Swearers think also that by their belching of their blasphemous Oaths out of their black and polluted mouths they shew themselves the more valiant men 5. And imagine also that by these outrageous kind of villianies they shall conquer those that at such a time they have to do with and make them believe their lyes to be true 6. They also swear frequently to get Gain thereby and when they meet with fools they overcome them this way But if I might give advice in this matter no Buyer should lay out one farthing with him that is a common Swearer in his Calling especially with such an Oath-master that endeavoureth to swear away his commodity to another and that would swear his Chapmans money into his own pocket Atten. All these causes of Swearing so far as I can perceive flow from the same Root as doe the Oaths themselves even from a hardened and desperate heart But pray shew me no● how wicked cursing is to be distinguished from this kind of swearing Wise Swearing as I said hath immediately to do with the Name of God and it calls upon him to be witness to the truth of what is said That is if they that swear swear by him Some indeed swear by Idols as by the Mass by our Lady by Saints Beasts Birds and other creatures but the usual way of our profane ones in England is to swear by God Christ Faith and the like But however or by whatever they swear Cursing is distinguished from Swearing thus To Curse to Curse profanely it is to sentence another or our self for or to evil or to wish that some evil might happen to the person or thing under the Curse unjustly It is to sentence for or to evil that is without a cause Thus Shimei cursed David He sentenced him for and to evil unjustly when he said to him Come out come out thou bloody man and thou man of Belial The Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul in whose stead thou hast reigned and the Lord hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son and behold thou art taken in thy mischief because thou art a bloody man This David calls a grievous Curse And behold saith he to Solomon his Son thou hast with thee Shimei a Benj●mite which cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim But what was this Curse Why Eirst It was a wrong sentence past ●pon David Shimei called him Bloody man man of Belial when he was not Secondly He

and glory without it Repent for the Ax is laid to the root of the tree every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit but no good fruit can be where there is not sound repentance shall be hewn down and cast into the fire This was Mr. Badmans case he had attending of him a sinfull life and that to the very last and yet dyed quietly that is without repentance he is gone to Hell and is damned For the Nature of repentance I have touched upon that already and shewed that it never was where a quiet death is the immediate companion of a sinfull life and therefore Mr. Badman is gone to Hell Secondly My second argument is drawn from that blessed Word of Christ While the strong man armed keeps the house his goods are in peace till a stronger than he comes but the strong man armed kept Mr. Badmans house that is his heart and soul and body for he went from a sinfull life quietly out of this world the stronger did not disturb by intercepting with sound repentance betwixt his sinful life and his quiet death Therefore Mr. Badman is gone to Hell The strong man armed is the Devil and quietness is his security The Devil never fears losing of the sinner if he can but keep him quiet can he but keep him quiet in a sinfull life and quiet in his death he is his own Therefore he saith his goods are in peace that is out of danger There is no fear of the Devils losing such a soul I say because Christ who is the best Judge in this matter saith his goods are in peace in quiet and out of danger Atten. This is a good one too for doubtless peace and quiet with sin is one of the greatest signs of a damnable state Wise. So it is Therefore when God would shew the greatness of his anger against sin and sinners in one word he saith They are joyned to Idols let them alone Let them alone that is disturb them not let them goe on without controll let the Devil enjoy them peaceably let him carry them out of the world unconverted quietly This is one of the sorest of Judgments and bespeaketh the burning anger of God against sinfull men See also when you come home the fourteenth Verse of the Chapter last mentioned in the Margent I will not punish your daughters when they commit Whoredom I will let them alone they shall live and dye in their sins But Thirdly My third argument is drawn from that saying of Christ He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their hearts and be converted and I should heal them There are three things that I will take notice of from these words 1. The first is That there can be no conversion to God where the eye is darkned and the heart hardened The eye must first be made to see and the heart to break and relent under and for sin or else there can be no conversion He hath blinded their eyes and hardned their hearts lest they should see and understand and So be converted And this was clearly Mr. Badmans case he lived a wicked life and also died with his eyes shut and heart hardened as is manifest in that a sinful life was joyned with a quiet death and all for that he should not be converted but partake of the fruit of his sinfull life in Hell fire 2. The second thing that I take notice of from these words is That this is a dispensation and manifestation of Gods anger against a man for his sin When God is angry with men I mean when he is so angry with them this among many is one of the Judgments that he giveth them up unto to wit to blindness of mind and hardness of heart which he also suffereth to accompany them till they enter in at the gates of death And then and there and not short of then and there their eyes come to be opened Hence it is said of the rich man mentioned in Luke He dyed and in Hell he lift up his eyes Implying that he did not lift them up before He neither saw what he had done nor whither he was going till he came to the place of execution even into Hell He died asleep in his soul he dyed besotted stupified and so consequently for quietness like a Child or Lamb even as Mr. Badman did this was a sign of Gods anger he had a mind to damn him for his sins and therefore would not let him see nor have an heart to repent for them lest he should convert and his damnation which God had appointed should be frustrate lest they should be converted and I should heal them 3. The third thing that I take notice of from hence is That a sinfull life and a quiet death annexed to it is the ready the open the beaten the common high-way to Hell there is no surer sign of Damnation than for a man to dye quietly after a sinfull life I do not say that all wicked men that are molested at their death with a sence of sin and fears of Hell do therefore goe to Heaven for some are also made to see and are left to despair not converted by seeing that they might go roaring out of this world to their place But I say there is no surer sign of a mans Damnation than to dye quietly after a sinful life than to sin and dye with his eyes shut than to sin and dye with an heart that cannot repent He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart no not so long as they are in this world lest they should see with their eyes and understand with their heart and should be converted and I should heal them God has a Judgment for wicked men God will be even with wicked men God knows how to reserve the ungodly to the day of Judgment to be punished And this is one of his wayes by which he doth it Thus it was with Mr. Badman 4. Fourthly It is said in the Book of Psalms concerning the wicked There is no b●nds in their death but their strength is firm By no bands he means no troubles no gracious chastisements no such corrections for sin as fall to be the Lot of Gods people for theirs yea that many times falls to be theirs at the time of their death Therefore he adds concerning the wicked They are not troubled then like other men neither are they plagued like other men but go as securely out of the world as if they had never sinned against God and put their own souls into danger of damnation There is no band in their death They seem to go unbound and set at liberty out of this world though they have lived notoriously wicked all their dayes in it The Prisoner that is to dye at the