Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	apostle_n	death_n	sting_n	5,270	5	12.1701	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77231	Death disarmed: the grave buried: or, The Christians future triumph through Christ over death, and the grave. Delivered in a sermon at the interrment of Mr. Henry English; at Salerst in the county of Sussex. Decemb. 10. MDCXLIX. By Iohn Bradshavv Mr. of Arts, preacher of Etchingham.	Bradshaw, John, 17th cent.	1650 (1650)	Wing B4152; Thomason E602_5; ESTC R206407	30,926	37

your Armour of Proof on your spiritual Armour Object But to what purpose is that I shall be conquer'd let me do my best Was ever man able to grapple with Death and so to overcome Doth it not alwayes get the Victory where ever it comes Is it not called a Aequa leg● Necessitas sortitur insignes et imos Hor. Necessitas So Iob 18.14 According to the Seventy b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let necessity lay hold on him We reade it The King of terrours c Sol a insuperabile fatum c. Ovid. Metamorph. lib. 15. Can any one man overcome that which overcomes all men Resol It is true there is no man is or can be death-proof by any Armour of proof the thickest Walls it can pierce it can scale the highest Walls it can cut through the strongest Coat of Mail. But yet as it was said of d Vtque animadvertit undique se strictis pugionibus peti togâ caput obvolvit simul sinistrâ manu sinum ad ima crura deduxit quo honestius caderet etiam inseriore corporis parte velata Sueton. Iulius Caesar when he saw there was no remedy but die he must the Assassinatours pressing so hard upon him and adding so many wounds to him He covered his head with his Gown and with his left hand drew down the fold of his Garment over his legs that he might fall modestly Covering his lower parts that the nakedness of life might not be seen and covering his face that the Deformities of Death might not be lookt on So if thou canst not avoid the mortal wound of Death yet laboul in another sense honestè cadere Die with a good Name and a good Report and a good Conscience 2. This preparation will serve for an after Victory for as Christ led Captivity captive and triumphed over Death which had before triumphed over him so shall we if we die in Christ and live to Christ We must be content to lose the Victory that we may gain it and give ground at first that we may gain ground at last of this our Enemy And mark what pieces of Armour are necessary against Satan or the World the same are necessary against Death Yet when we have done all we can We are but poor Souldiers it is our Cheiftaine that gets the Victory for us The Weapon of this Enemy wherewith he doth all the mischief that is a sting that Death carries a sting with it A sting is first telum naturale Nature gives stings to those Creatures that have stings it is not any artificial Weapon as the Sword or Bowe 2. Poenale it puts the Creature that is stung be it Man or Beast to a great deal of smart and pain for the time it is very a terrifying pain 3. Lethale some especially are so poysonsom viz. of Adders and Vipers and other Serpents that they corrupt and enflame the bloud and poyson the body and in short time bring Death This sting the Apostle sayes is sin vers 56. For as the Scorpion by the sting transfuses a deadly poyson into those upon whom it fastens so (a) Aculeum enim mortis esse peccatum utque multò gravius malum ipsa morte utpote in quo suas illa vires habeat omnes jam manifestum est Death kils by sin Were it not for sin Death would be weaponless and stingless a toothless thing (b) Or rather it would not be at all For it is Sin only stings men to death It would be to us but as it is to herbs and plants which die in the Winter but live again in the Summer So it would be but as a benumming for a short time whereas sin by which Death stings leaves such a poyson in the nature of man that he shall never recover himself by any natural power as the herb or flower but onely by the mighty power of God in Iesus Christ. Therefore we can never be sufficiently thankfull to him Sequel 1 that shall disarm Death for us and draw out the sting And who is it that can disarm such an universal Enemy but he that hath the universal Militia of all the World the Lord of hosts is his Name But of this more anon in the fourth part If Death carry a sting with it and that sting be sin as Sequel 2 appears by what follows or which is the Ap●stles meaning as Aquinas well notes [c] Sciendum est autem quod strimulus mortis potest dici vel stimulans ad mortem vel quo utitur seu quem facit mors Sed literalis sensus est stimulus mortis i. e. stimulans ad mortem quia qomo per peccatum est impu●sus et dejectus ad mortem Aquin. in 1 Cor. 15. if sin sting men to Death How can we sufficiently wonder at the fool-hardiness of mortal men who make nothing of it to dally and play with sin as if it were some toothless harmless thing as if it were some harmless play-fellow To see people play with Dogs or Birds to see them stroke them and take them in their arms is not strange but to see people play with Snakes and Adders with Scorpions and Cockatrices is a most strange sight and what do men do otherwise in dallying with sin The Serpent in the Garden left a sting in Adams disobedience Adam could not be content with the fruit of Paradise and so was stung to Death by his disobedience As the Israelites could not be content with (a) Numb 21.6 These serpents fiery teeth being the just punishment of their fiery tongues Or the serpents tongue which is his sting being the just punishment of their tongues become stings Manna and so God sent amongst them fiery Serpents which stung them to death that they who murmured at mercies might now have something to murmur for (b) The greatest of boasters is vanquisht by one of the least of creatures Orion boasted that the earth could not produce any such Monster which he would not undertake to encounter and kill and yet this man was after killed by a Scorpion Thus the proud sinner that dares Heaven and Earth Angels and Men nay God himself and all is killed with the sting of one sin It (c) That was applied to him to wound which is ordinarily used for healing was a strange death that Marcus Arethusius the Martyr was put to by Julian the Apostate which was to be annointed all over with honey and so to be stung to death with Waspes and Bees But this is the death of every sinner he annoints himselfe with the sweetness and pleasure of sin and so is stung to death for his labour You that are yet in your sins that draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sin as it were with carr-ropes will no warning serve you Hath not sin been represented to you in the Book of God and by the Ministers of God and through the judgements of God as the most infectious poyson-some

what manner of Blessing Prov. 14.11 The tabernacle of the upright shall flourish And indeed however he is pleased to suspend the performance of this from many of his precious servants for their Triall yet all this was made good to him though not for his righteousness for God did bless his increase by a special providence putting such undertakings at such times and seasons into his hands when they might be most advantageous to him 3. To be well tempered in matter of Religion For I observe there are four Constitutions in Religion as well as in bodily Compositions (a) Angeli sine zelo nihil sunt et substantiae suae amittunt praer●gativam nisi eam zeli ardore sustentent Ambr. in Ps 118. 1. There are some in whom a flegmatick temper is too predominant that are too cold and too slow to any profession you cannot get them forward to any Duties sluggish and drowsie Christians Matth. 24.12 The love of many w●xes cold so the zeal the prayers the discourse of many waxes cold they want heat 2. Some like these of a melancholy temper discontented with every way pleased with no way 3. Some again are over sanguine and credulous in love with any Doctrine constant to none giving entertainment to any but keeping true correspondency with none at all 4. Others again are over cholerick and furious in their way will hear no reason admit of no argumentation But in this our worthy deceased Brother there was such a temper as might well recommend him for an excellent Example of Religion he was no lukewarm Laodicean contenting himself with a form of goliness but denying the power thereof None of those that think enough that God have service but care not what service it be either how sluttishly performed in one extreme or how apishly in another how irreverently performed on one hand or how superstitiously on the other He professed himself an Enemy as well to all suspicious adorations as to all odious confusions in Gods service I must confess I never came into his company but I came away heated with his godly zeal what earnest Expressions have I heard from him to see the Church of God in all places settled in peace to see Religion here at home settled in the true power and purity to see a just and powerfull Magistracy in the Nation to see a pious and learned Ministery in the Church to see an orderly spiritual heavenly service in Gods house to see a spiritual charitable concord amongst all Christians worshipping the same God believing in the same Christ sanctified by the same Spirit professing the same faith rinsed by the same Baptism joyned in the same Body redeemed by the same Bloud and joynt-heirs of the same Glory This was true heat the true zeal of Gods house no feaverish distempered heat proceeding from the predominancy of Choler or from a malignant humour but a zeal sweetened with charity and enlightened with knowledge And whilest I mention knowledge I have often wondered that considering his manifold Imployments in his middle and elder part of his life how he should attain to so great a measure of knowledge as he had in so many godly Books but above all in the Book of God But it was not such knowledge as is spoken of 1 Cor. 8.1 Which puffeth up There is too much of this swelling knowledge in these Times gunpowder knowledge which puffes men up to undertakings too high for them when people commence per saltum from catechumeni to becom prebyteri It was not so with this religious personage who although rich inwardly in abundance of knowledg yet was one of the most humble lowly minded men that I have met withall O Humility the Pedestal of all Graces the Copy of Christ Learn of me the glory of Saints I am but dust and ashes sayes Abraham I am but a worm and no man sayes David I am not worthy thou shouldst come under my roof sayes the Centurion I am not worthy to be called an Apostle sayes the most painfull and skilfull Apostle (a) In Musick the higher any note stands upon the range the smaller it is in sound The higher we are in excellency the less should we seem at least to our selves The more Endowments Gods servants have the lesse they see Laodicea contrariwise was never so poor as when she thought her self so rich Because thou sayest I am rich and increased in goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blinde and naked Rev. 3.17 Never was a fitter Time to preach Humility to you and to set such an Example of Humility before you than in these proud Times wherein men make themselves what they should not be think themselves what they are not and are not what to others they seem to be Never a fitter Time to learn this Lesson than in such Times when so many that teach others teach any Lesson besides thi● It is with Religion as with all other things there is a medium and two extremes and therefore it is called the narrow way as Pythagoras said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In diet let a man eat too little he sterves himself let him eat too much he surfets himselfe Let a man build a house too high and it will stand over him let him build too low and he cannot stand in his house lay too little ballast in the ship and it oversets lay too much into it and so it may sink let a scholar neglect his study he proves a Dunce let him be unreasonably intent and he may break his brains use too little Physick and the body not being acquainted with it may be overthrown use too much and the body being over-used it findes no benefit Nilus if it flow less than twelve Cubits makes a Famine and if it flow more than eighteen cubits it also makes a Famine There are a kinde of Birds that either lie flat on their breasts on the earth or else are continually flying in the air for they have no feet it is so in Religion understand me aright I mean Quoad specificationem actus not Quoad exercitum the way or kinde of Religion not the exercise When you have found the right way make what haste in it you wil presse forward towards the mark of the high Calling c. In my judgement he is a wise Christian whom no errours can make erroneous he a strong Christian whom no scandals can make to fall who because he findes the frigid Zone too cold runs not presently into the torrid or because he findes the torrid too hot runs not straight into the frigid but avoiding both Excesses keeps himself within the temperate Climate of sound Religion of this temper was the deceased and one that sailed warily betwixt Scylla and Charybdis being as unwilling to be swallowed up of one as to be split upon the other A good firm Protestant proportionably careful of the Truths purity and of the Churches unity And now in this his last sickness wherein he verily apprehended that Death waited for him his Discourse was as I am informed wholly of things spiritual and heavenly not suffering any earthly thing so much as to be interlined or come within a parenthesis shewing to all about him a wearinesse of the world a desire of a change and a thirst after Heaven and in his earnest Prayers bewailing the calamities of Christs Church and the sad condition of Gods true and faithfull People recommended the Church of God to the Mercies of God And O that the mercifull God would hear the Prayer of humble minded men and that his faithfull ones would give him no rest till he establish and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth That our drosse may be taken away from our silver and our wine may no longer be mixt with water When when will the indignation be over-past O that it might be but a little moment till then we will hide our selves under his wings that we may be safe under his feathers Ye that are the Neighbours and Allies of the Deceased I have set before you the Patern of a good and virtuous man but especially ye that are the Issue and Off-spring of him I have proposed to ye the Example of a good Father he hath intituled ye to his name least to ye his earthly Mansions bequeathed to ye his earthly Possessions be ye also Inheritours of his exemplary virtues God Almighty grant ye the former blessing of your Father here and the present hoped blessedness of your Father hereafter that ye may live plentifully and walk piously here and die happily hereafter conquering all sin at the time of Death and conquering Death at the Resurrection for then in the behalf of all those that are Christs shall be made good the saying that is written O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory FINIS ERRATA IN the title page for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Epist to the reader for Hercules r. Achilles for way apologized r. was apologized for impartial r. partial for impartiality r. partiality for taught r. toucht In the Serm. p. 3. in marg for Paulum r. Paulam l. 24. f. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 f. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 5. marg f. adjuncto r. adunco p. 6. l. r 3. f. this is as r. this is as p. 9 marg f. transit r. transitus f. laborem r. labore p. 13. marg f. volentem r. nolentem p. 14. f. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 15. marg f. habitat r. habita