Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	conscience_n	death_n	sting_n	3,176	5	11.7818	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A23803	The whole duty of mourning and the great concern of preparing our selves for death, practically considered / written some years since by the author of The whole duty of man, and now published upon the sad occasion of the death of our Most Gracious Sovereign Lady Mary the II, Queen of England, &c. of blessed memory.	Allestree, Richard, 1619-1681.	1695 (1695)	Wing A1194; ESTC R33068	65,567	192

Brass for Gold Pebles for Pearls Earth for Heaven VII But let the advantages of Death mitigate the Fears which is apt to arise in us from the apprehensions of it when Abigall told Nabal the threatning Words of David the Text says 1 Sam. 25.27 his heart died within him and became as a Stone thus is it with the most of us when any Summons of Death is given nay not only with the most but even sometimes with the best Christ cometh to the Disciples on the Sea to preserve them from the Storm and they are Troubled Death cometh to deliver us from all evil and we exceedingly Tremble indeed the reason is because we Consider not that Death is a deliverance and an advantage to us what Chrysologus saith of Martyrs is true of all Good Men Their death is a birth and end a beginning they live by being killed and whilst they are thought to be extinguished on Earth they shine in Heaven and surely were this well pondered by us we would not seek Consolation against Death but Death it self would be our Consolation those Words of Job chap. 16.14 I have said to Corruption thou art my Father to the Worm thou art my Mother and Sister are not unfitly allegorized by Origen to this purpose as if he therefore called Corruption and Worms his Father and Mother because as Parents are comforters to their Children so were they to him VIII It is true the Separation of Soul and Body is Terrible and a natural Fear of it cannot but be in all I but it is as true in respect of the Godly that when this Separation is made the Soul is set at Liberty and rejoyceth yea the Body is at rest and knoweth no Trouble and is such a Separation to be feared this Life what is it but a going to Death and Death what is it but a going to Life little cause there is then sure why we should either too much Love the one or Fear the other shall that be the Object of our Fear says Tertullian Which freeth us from what ever is to be feared and this we have from the Mouth of a Roman I would not be Young again though God would grant it me and he giveth this Reason because when I die I shall go from my Inn to my home I. It is not Death it self but our mis-apprehension of Death is terrible to us says St. Ambrose Did we look through beyond Death at the happiness which followeth it would not be dreadful but Amiable in our Eyes and with the Apostle we would not Fear but desire to depart that of the Wise Man Prov. 14.32 the Righteous hath hope in his death the Caldee reads the Righteous hopeth he shall dye so far is a Good Man from fearing of that he hopeth for his dissolution and though he dare not rashly hasten yet he willingly entertaineth it whensoever sent by the Almighty to him X. Now if a good Life preceed an happy Death cannot but follow nor is it probable a happy Death should be the Consequent if a religious Life hath not been the Antecedent some there are who would invert these Words of the Apostle Phil. 1.21 To me to live is Christ but to die is Gain and make Gain the predicate of the former and Christ of the latter thus doth every Covetous man say To me to live is Gain and to dye is Christ Vain Men who will have Gold to be their God and yet Christ to be their Redeemer they will serve Mammon whilst they live and yet be saved by a Saviour when they dye but it will be Just with Christ to say to all such Mammonists in these Words of God to the Israelites in the day of their distress Go to the Gods which you have Served the Gain which you have lived to and let that deliver you in this hour of your Death XI Others there are who would severe these Clauses whilst they would gladly say To dye is Gain but not to live is Christ one was asked whether he had rather be Croesus or Socrates his answer was he would be rich Croesus in his Life and good Socrates at his Death you know whose Prayer it was Numb 23.10 Let me dye the death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his and it is that no doubt which many wish and desire nay hope who yet regardeth not to live the Life of the Righteous and that their Course to that end may be like his but what a Folly nay Madness is it for Men to expect to Reap that they do not Sow to Sow to the Flesh and to the World and yet Reap by Christ the Gain of everlasting Life after Death as therefore we expect the one let us endeavour the other and if Gain by Death be our Hope let living to Christ be our practice XII So that this Scripture thus Considered doth plainly put a difference between the Precious and the Vile the Godly and the Wicked whilst to these who live to themselves Death is a loss but to those that live to Christ it is a Gain Adrian was wont to say that Death is the Rich Man's fear and the Poor Man's desire and this I may well apply here Death either is or may be the bad Man's fear but the good Man's wish or to use St. Ambrose his Expression it is an Haven to the Just but a Shipwrack to the Guilty to the Good a Bed of Repose but to the Wicked a Rack of Torture The Man who liveth to the World saith to Death as Ahab to Elijah 1 Kings 21.20 Hast thou found me oh mine Enemy but he who liveth to Christ may say to it as David of Ahimaz 2 Sam. 18.27 it cometh with good tydings XIII And now would you on the one hand see the reason why you are so fearful of Death it is because your Consciences accuse you that you have not lived as becometh Christ's Disciples and so you may thank your own Guilty Consciences for those fears of Death it was not without reason that St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 15.56 The sting of death is Sin since Death is only venemous and deadly to them who live in Sin on the other hand would you see the way to a joyful End would you have Comfort in and Gain after Death Oh let it be your Study to live to Christ it is our Saviour's Counsel to his Disciples Mat. 6.25 Take no thought for your life let me alter it a little take no thought for your death but for your Life let your Care be to advance Christ in your lives and it will be his Care to Confer the Gain of Glory and Immortality upon you at your Death XIV Lastly I shall earnestly beseech you in those Words of our Saviour to his Disciples I say unto you all Watch indeed when we see many falling in their full Strength and snatch'd away in the prime of their days have we not reason to Watch and Watching to prepare for the Hour

Body for hunger is a Worm gnawing the Intrails calling for Meat or threatning Death Jer. 11.22 Lam. 4.9 Men being hungry and thirsty their soul fainteth in them Psal. 107.5 and by this infirm condition whereunto God hath subjected our nature he calls us to think on Death IV. Our Table as oft as we come to it is the Memorial of our Mortality and our food before it enters the Body for nourishment is diversly prepared as Corn and the like are made to grow by the dung of beasts Luke 13.8 and from hence is the strength of our corruptible Life So that we may say with Holy Job to Corruption thou art my Father chap. 17.14 But this not all but we feed upon Death it self and that by the allowance of the Almighty Gen. 9.3 in taking away the lives of other Creatures to maintain our own this is seriously to be thought upon as a wonderful Work of God that our lives are preserved by the Death of the Creatures our living Bodies are sustained by their dead Carcasses in their Blood Swims our Life and from their pangs of Death spring the Pleasures of our Life our Feasts and daily Food Now if those that in part were maintained by Sin-Offerings were said to eat Sin Hos. 4.8 then those that in part were maintain'd by the death of Creatures may be said in the like Phrase to eat Death So often therefore as we eat the Flesh of the dead Creature and make our bodies to become their Graves So often are we called to remember our own Death and our own Grave in the body of the Earth V. Another Help to preserve our frail Bodies is our Apparel which God hath given us to cover and defend them from Cold to preserve Health and herein we have a double or treble memorial of Death considering that our Apparel was given us when by our Sin we came first into the World to the state of Death Gen. 2.25 and when God first gave us our Garments he took 'em out of Deaths Wardrobe they being made with the death of the Creatures from whence they were taken God made coats of skin for Adam and his Wife and his Posterity Gen. 3.21 Heb. 11.35 our Garments therefore being Badges of Mortality and Cognizances of Death so oft as we look upon them we are called of God to remember Death and so oft as we cloath our selves with them to be mindful that we put on the Livery of Death VI. As Food and Raiment are Means to preserve Life so Labour of Man in his Vocation is a means to get both Food and Rayment and therefore an Help of Helps to maintain Life and yet in and by this Labour also we are called to remember our Latter End and to think of Death for upon Labour attends Weariness and Faintness even a failing and decay of Life Painful Labour sometimes maketh Men weary of their Lives and to think of Death and wish for it as for hid Treasure Ex. 1.14 Job 3.17.22 considering that in Death Men rest from their Labours Rev. 14.13 VII And above all consider the Labour Vigilancy and Care that is found in the highest Callings how many Thorns is there platted in every Crown Likewise in the Magistracy what Troubles is there in distributing Justice and in the painful Work of the Ministry who watch over Souls all these have through their indefatigable Weariness in Affairs of Church and State have thought it as the best Expedient to think of Death nay even to wish for it and consequently to prepare for it Numb 11.15 1 Kings 19.4 VIII And not only by the Weariness thereof but by the divers Kinds of Labour in several Vocations God takes occasion to shew the Vanity and Shortness of Life present and summons them by their Callings and by the Quality of their Works to think of Death For the Weaver by finishing every Web God teacheth him how his Days are cut off and the Web of his Life finished Isa. 38.12 yea before the Web is finished by the running of the Shuttle at every Stroke and every Thred added to the Web the Lord admonisheth how swiftly the days of his Life run away Job 7.6 Then the Shepherd in the Field by the removal of his Tent or Fold he is taught to think of the Removal of his Life IX The Travel that Men have by Land is appointed of the Almighty to put us in mind that our days are swifter than a Post Job 9.25 that we ride Post as on Dromedaries that run by the way in all hast to their Journeys end And the Voyages that Men have by Sea in the most swiftest sailing Ships is mention'd by the Almighty to represent the swiftness of our Time that carries us night and day sleeping or waking to the Haven of Death Job 9.26 and according to this Wisdom of God and his Example should Men make right use of their respective Callings Employments and Affairs of the World to see before their Eyes continually their Lawes End X. As Labour and Toil in the Day so Sleep and Rest in the Night-Season is also a necessary Help to preserve this Mortal Life and this Sleep is a lively Image of Death for in Sleep Men lye down as dead Men without Sense or Motion ceasing from their Works and taking no notice of the things that are done by others and therefore the Holy Scriptures describeth Death by the Name of Sleep or lying down to sleep Job 14.12 Psal. 76.5 Matth. 27.52 John 11.11 1 Cor. 11.30 1 Thes. 4.13 Now when Sleep assails us and like a Giant throws us down we ought to think of Death and by sight of our Bed to remember our Grave to look upon it as a Tomb or Sepulchre and every Night before we go into it to labour for reconciliation with God that so we may lie down and sleep safely IX Whenever Sleep seizes upon us let us seriously meditate and think how securely and sweetly do they sleep that take care to go to Bed with a just and quiet Conscience who after a toilsome day of Faithfull Diligence and Industry in a Course of prudent just and pious Living lay down their carefull and wearied Heads in Peace and Tranquillity and safely rest securely in the Bosom of the Almighties Providence if they awake at midnight their Conscience void of Offence comforts them in the dark and with Christian Courage bids them not tremble or be afraid at the Shadow of Death no nor even at the grim Majesty of Death it self but confidently and with good Assurance look up with the Eye of Faith and long for the Dawn of that Eternal Day this indeed should be our chiefest care to note and censure and correct our selves to strive for Mastery over our Passions and to dismiss from our Thoughts what no ways concern us CHAP. V. Of Sin the Means of Death of Sickness Youth and Old Age. OVR Sins the Works of the Flesh in Scripture are called dead Works Heb. 6.1 and 9.14