Selected quad for the lemma: blood_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
blood_n	holy_a	jesus_n	lord_n	5,323	4	3.5692	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44515	Delight and judgment: or, a prospect of the great Day of Judgment and its power to damp, and imbitter sensual delights, sports, and recreations. By Anthony Horneck, D.D.	Horneck, Anthony, 1641-1697.	1684 (1684)	Wing H2824A; ESTC R215360	126,341	401

you shun it as men do their creditors that dun them you are afraid it will fill your head with scruples and therefore avoid it as those who are unwilling to look into their accounts that they may not be surpriz'd with the sum they owe if visiting the Stage makes you neglect this self-examination it makes you neglect a known duty and if so it must be sinful and if sinful how dare you meddle with it Do but take a view of the writings of the Primitive Fathers and you 'l find them unanimous in this assertion that in our Baptism when we renounce the Devil and his works and the pomp and glory of the World we do particularly renounce Stage-Plays and such ludicrous representations They that lived nearest to the Apostolical times in all probability knew what was meant by this rendunciation and this they profess to be the sense of it this they assure us is meant by those pomps and glories and why should we presume to put a new sense upon that vow They received this interpretation from the Apostles and propagated it to posterity and in their sense we make this Abjuration Sir have you abjured these things in your Baptism and dare you venter on them have you renounced them and dare you fall in love with them Have you protested in the presence of God and angels that you will not meddle with them and will you break your vow Have you solemnly professed before the Congregation that you will not have any affection for them and do you make nothing of persidiousness How darest thou O Christian run into a Play-house after Baptism saith Salvian when thou hast confessed those very Plays to be the works of the Devil Thou hast renounced the Devil and these Stage-Plays so that if thou willingly and wittingly frequentest them it 's evident that thou returnest to the Devil too for thou hast renounced both and hast professed both to be one so that if thou return to one thou returnest to both I know what is commonly objected that the reason why the Fathers are so much against Christians seeing of a Play was because the heathenish idolatries were acted to the life upon the Stage and that proselites might not be in danger of being enticed to idolatry was the great motive why they inveigh'd so much against sights of that nature but those that use this plea most certainly have not read the Fathers or if they have read them have not considered all their arguments for to go no farther then Tertullian after he had condemn'd these sights for the idolatries committed on the Stage he produces other reasons for which they are utterly unlawful as 1. Because the spirit of the Gospel is a spirit of gentleness but the actors are forced to put themselves into a posture of wrath and anger and fury and the spectators themselves cannot behold them without being put into a passion 2. Because vanity which is proper to the Stage is altogether forreign to Christianity 3. Because we are not to consent to peoples sins 4. Because men are abused in these places and neither Princes nor People spared and this being unlawful elsewhere must be unlawful too upon the Stage 5. Because all immodesty and scurrility is forbid by the Law of the Gospel not only acting of it but seeing and hearing it Acted 6. Because all Players are hypocrites seem to be what they are not and all hypocrisy is condemn'd by the Gospel 7. Because the Actors very often belie their Sex and put on womens apparel which is forbid by the law of God 8. Because these plays dull and damp devotion and seriousness which is and ought to be the indeleble character of Christians 9. Because it is a disparagement to God to lift up those hands to applaud a Player which we use to lift up to the Throne of grace 10. Because experience shews how the Devil hath sometimes possess'd Christians in a Play-house and being afterwards cast out confest that he had reason to enter into them because he found them in his own place 11. Because no man can serve two Masters God and the World as those Christians pretend to do that frequent both the Church and the Stage 12. Because though some speeches in a Play are witty and ingenious yet there is poison at the bottom and vice is only coloured and guilded with fine language and curious emblems that it may go down more glib and ruin the soul more artificially These are some of Tertullians Arguments and he that shall attentively consider them will easily find that they are not only applicable to such Comedies where idolatry is Acted but to those of this age where scurrility vanity and immodesty and other vices are incouraged and whereas some pretended that if they saw no Plays they should want sport and be without necessary recreation the learned Presbyter doth very handsomly reply Why art thou so abominably ungrateful to complain of want of recreation when God hath given thee such great variety of pleasures for what can be more pleasant then to be reconciled to God the Father and the knowledge of the truth our deliverance from darkness and error and a free pardon of all our sins what greater pleasure can there be then the loathing of carnal pleasure contempt of the World true Christian liberty a conscience void of offence a spotless life freedom from the fear of death trampling on the Heathen Gods expulsion of Devils the gift of healing prayer for illumination and living to Gods glory These are the pleasures these are the Plays of Christians holy free and perpetual in such things as these fancy thou seest a Play here see the course of the World behold the gliding time view the distance betwixt this life and eternity expect the consummation of all things defend the Church rouze thy self at Gods signal listen to the Arch-angels trumpet glory in the Martyrs laurells If learning and knowledge do delight thee behold in the Scripture there are verses enough witty sentences enough songs enough and voices enough no fables of Poets but solid truths no sophistry but majestick simplicity wouldst thou see Gladiators and wrestlers here thou hast them here thou mayst see lasciviousness overcome by chastity perjury by faithfulness cruelty by mercy wantonness by modesty and these are our Olympick games in which he is Crown'd that strives for mastery Dost thou love to see blood drawn in a pulblick shew Behold thou hast the blood of Jesus and what a noble sight will shortly appear to our eyes even the coming of our glorious Lord the exultation of Angels the Resurrection of his holy ones the stately Kingdom of believing Souls and the sight of the new Jerusalem There is a another shew behind even the last day of Judgment a day unlook'd for a day despised by fools a day wherein the old world will be swallowed up of fire How glorious a

hast broke through the Guards and Fences I have set betwixt thee and sin how couldst thou find in thy Heart to afflict and grieve me so often who have endured such agonies already for thee on the Cross why wouldst thou forsake me the Fountain of Living VVaters How is it that thou wast not afraid to make thy Belly thy Gold thy Harlot and such a great Man thy God Did ever any Person oblige thee more than I Didst thou ever receive such Favours at any Man's hand as thou hast received at mine and why could not I have thy Heart and thy will and affections Why must a sottish Lust and Passion engross thy desires and my Law be cast behind thee If ever Law-giver had reason to be offended This Judge in the last Day hath for his Commandments were not grievous his Yoke was easie and his burthen light all that was required was love and it 's hard if so small a Tribute for his ineffable and incomprehensible Mercies must not be paid him It 's true this love must extend and branch it self into various acts of Meekness and Patience and Humility c. but still where love is the Principle none of all the other things which are required can seem tedious or difficult Nor is this all for the same Judg will be Witness against the Sinner too Indeed no Creature can be so true a Witness against him as the Judge himself There are many sins no Creature ever saw but he and therefore who so fit a Witness against those Crimes as he I will come near to you to judgement I will be a swift Witness against the Sorceres against the Adulterers against the false Swearers and against those that oppress the Hireling in his Wages the Widow and the Fatherless and that turn aside the Stranger from his Right and fear not me saith the Lord of Hosts Mal. 3.5 This Judge sees all nor will the Sinner be able to elude this Testimony of the invisible God When thou wast under the Fig-tree I saw thee said Christ to Nathanael his Conscience knew he had been there and he believed But this was in love In that Day we speak of such Language as this will be pronounced in wrath and indignation and therefore will cause other Thoughts in the Hearts of the Wretch that shall hear it Thou careless Creature couldst thou imagine that any thing was hid from me Did not I see thee at such a time in such a place in such a Garden in such a Chamber playing the Rebel and the Wanton Did not I see thee treating with mine Enemies Did not I see thee conspiring against me Hadst not thou such base thoughts such wicked intentions such impure desires in such Company I opened the Windows of Heaven and look'd upon thee when thou wast committing Fornication with such a Woman Wilt not thou believe me who look'd within the Curtains and saw thy abominations Couldst thou think I would look on and not set thy sins in order before thee There will be no contradicting of this Testimony for thy Conscience O Man will immediately join issue with it and say as Nathan to the guilty King Thou art the Man For besides this grand Witness there will abundance of other Witnesses come in which will all help to cast thy impenitent Soul thy Conscience here will have a great share in the Accusation that Conscience which once thou didst smother and curb and put by when it pull'd thee by the sleeve and bid thee be wise and serious that Conscience that once boggled and winced when thou offered'st violence to it and said to thee as the Baptist to Herod it is not lawful for thee to espouse this sin that Conscience which was aware of this judgment and gave thee warning and could not with all the strongest arguments it used prevail with thee to stand in aw of God this like one of Job's Messengers when the House falls and all these out-ward things are gone alone escapes to tell the Sinner of his folly Conscience even in this life doth sometime force the guilty to make confession of their sins It forced the the Multitude that came to St. John Matth. 3.6 It forced Judas to cry I have betrayed Innocent Blood when no Creature prompted him to the confession It forced those who had used curious Arts Act. 18.18 19. to bring their Schemes and Figures and Astrological Tables and burn them before the Apostles of our Lord. How much greater then may we suppose will the force of it be in that day when terrour will surround it when it will be readier to speak and to accuse then God to ask and when no noise no tumult no croud no business will be able to divert it With the Conscience the Devils themselves will join who are therefore emphatically call'd The Accusers of our Brethren Rev. 12.10 These cannot but know our sins for they were the tempters and remember how we yielded and consented to their suggestions These were the constant and indefatigable Observers of our lives These watch'd our going out and our coming in these were about us when we lay down when we rose when we walk'd and when we sat and whatever we did these were still at hand to take notice of our doings our words and our behaviour nor is their Memory so frail as to forget it nor their malice so little as so let it slip without making publication of it These rejoice in our ruine and will be sure to make the worst interpretation of our deportment These are they that presented us with charming Objects and were restless till they had made us enamoured with them first drove us into the Snare and now will be ready to accuse us for being taken And therefore the Fathers in their Discourses concerning this day do justly bring in the Devil arguing and pleading with the Almighty Judg Behold these men it's true they were thine by Creation but they became mine by imitation of me they had thy Image upon their Souls but see they have defaced that and chosen mine thou didst breath on them by thy holy Spirit but they were more fond of my suggestions then those motions Thou didst indeed draw them with Cords of Love and by Temporal and Spiritual Mercies soughtest to make them in love with thy will but they turned a deaf Ear to thy call and invitation I never gave them any nor promised them any thing yet they served me like Slaves thou courtedst them and didst oblige them to love thee yet they had rather be my Favourites then thy darlings it thou didst command them any thing that was against their Lusts either they did nothing or would be sure to provoke thee with their inventions I did but becken to them and they flew to my Camp nay they were more impudent than I believed less than I found out sins I did not dream of durst do more than I bid them I bid them deny a thing they had done

The great Day of the Lord is near it is near hasteth greatly even the Voice of the Day of the Lord the mighty Man shall cry bitterly that Day is a Day of Wrath a Day of Trouble and Distress a Day of Wastness and Desolation a Day of Darkness and Gloominess a Day of Clouds and thick Darkness a Day of the Trumpet and Alarm against the fenced Cities and against the high Towers and I will bring Distress upon men that they shall walk like Blind Men because they have sinned against the Lord and their Blood shall be poured out as Dust and their Flesh as the Dung neither their Silver nor their Gold shall be able to deliver them in the Day of the Lord 's Wrath. O let me not lose the sense of this Day Oh let me consider how much better it is to be humble and contemptible and to hunger and thirst and to suffer here and afterwards to enter into my Great Masters Joy than to be a Slave to my Lusts and Pleasures here and to be bound at last with everlasting Chains of Darkness Chains which never wear out Chains which always bind are always grievous always painful Oh let me consider how much better it is to Mourn here and to Water my Couch with my Tears and to Afflict my Soul and after this to triumph with the Spirits of men made Perfect than to feed upon Pleasures which at the best are but like the crackling of Thorns under a Pot and then to be sent away to howl with Devils Help Lord help that my Soul may be concern'd at her danger and despise the World and prepare against that Day and encounter with Powers and Principalities and Spiritual wickednesses in High-places if by any means I might attain unto the Resurrection of the Dead Such Prayers offered from a Heart that hath no reserves from a Heart resolved to do any thing rather than miss of Salvation such Prayers I say if they express the very desires of our Souls will certainly put Death and Paleness into our sensual Pleasures and oblige us to entertain other Thoughts of the Gauds and Gaieties of the World than now we have and make us sensible that this casting such a damp on the foolish satisfactions of the Flesh with a prospect of that Day is not only a task fit for Hermits and Melancholick Scholars and contemplative men but a duty incumbent on all that carry immortal Souls in their Breasts which calls me to the fourth Point 4. Whether every Man is bound to embitter his Carnal delights with this prospect To this I must answer in the Affirmative For though the young Man be particularly mention'd here yet since the expression in the Text reaches all men who are fit for action all such must necessarily fall under the Obligation of this duty and all that are capable of such delights are bound to make use of the aforesaid consideration in order to this self-denial if the young Man is obliged to this seriousness much more Older men if God will not allow of these delights in Youth they must necessarily be intolerable in Years of greater Maturity and if the tender Age be concerned to embitter them with this prospect when it meets with any temptation to them without all peradventure the stronger cannot be excused And the Reasons are these following 1. If they be not embitter'd with such Thoughts as these they will infallibly lead the Soul into innumerable dangers there is no Man but is obliged to preserve his Soul from danger It is said of the Prodigal Luk. 15.13 That he took his Journey into a far Countrey these sensual Pleasures alienated his Soul from God drove it away far from him made him travel as far as Hell the Truth is the Soul is lost in such sensual Pleasures they wear out the bright Notions the Soul had of God and Religion as it is said of the Sicilian Dogs that running through the sweet and floury Fields they lose their Scent in huntting so the Soul where these pleasures these white Devils become her Familiars loses the Noble apprehensions it once had of God's Omniscience and Omnipresence of his Holiness and Goodness and of the Truth of his Promises and Threatnings and these Characters like Letters written with bad Ink vanish and consequently the Life of the Soul for which reason the Prodigal who drowned himself in these delights is said to be dead v. 32. These choak the good Seed that 's sown in the noble Ground and as you have seen a Field of Wheat where the red Poppies spring up as fast as the richer Grain though the proud Flowers are pleasing to the Eye yet they retard and hinder the growth of the more useful Blade and suck away the moisture that should have fed the other so sensual delights where they are taken in as Partners and suffered to grow in the Soul in which some Fruits of the Spirit do appear in a short time blast those excellent Fruits the Effects of the Holy Ghost or Education or the Ministry of the Word and prove Bryars and Thorns which will not suffer any of the better Corn to grow under them Man's Soul and Body are like two Buckets while the one comes up full the other goes down empty Carnal delights advance the bruitish or fleshly part make it grow strong lusty and vigorous whereby it wrests the Scepter out of the Hand of Reason and the Soul looses her strength and power and Sagacity in Spiritual things grows weak and faint and at last expires and dies I mean the vertuous Principles which either kind Nature or kinder Grace or Afflictions or some other means and Instruments have incorporated with the Soul which indeed are the life of that excellent Creature and the Soul being thus dead it falls a Prey to Devils who rejoice over so great a Prey and lead it in Triumph take it Prisoner and make it draw in their Victorious Chariot and now all the Curses of the Law are in force against it the threatnings of the Gospel become her Portion and there is nothing left to stand betwixt her and Eternal grief and anguish but the slender Thred of this Mortal Life which if it chance to break or tear the Soul sinks irrecoverably into the Gulph of Perdition from whence there is no returning so fatal is the influence of these flattering Guests which in time starve their Keeper and finding the House empty swept and garnish'd like the Evil Spirit spoken of Matt. 12.45 go and take with them Seven other Spirits more wicked than themselves and they enter in and dwell there and the last state of that Man is worse than the first and thus they plunder and boldly rob the Soul of her Riches and hinder her from that Holiness which is her Food her Cordial and her greatest support and without which no Man can see the Lord they had need therefore be embittered with something that 's sour and unpleasant to Flesh

sight of a Comedy a probable means to make you live above the World are the profane railleries that are used there fit preparatives for austerity of conversation Is this the way to promote gravity to visit the Stage where all gravity is lookt upon as Pedantry and traduced as a thing proper only for old Usurers and Women who are past their sins and vices Is this the way to advance seriousness to be much at places where seriousness is censured as a trick of Divines or at the best as an effect of vapours and the natural result of melancholy and the spleen As a Christian you are to shun the very appearances of evil and is this your obedience to delight in that which is evil to applaud it with your smiles to commend it with your tongue and to encourage it by your presence As a Christian you are the Salt of the Earth and consequently are to preserve your Neighbour from corruption and is this the way to preserve him from infection by your presence in such places and being as vain as he to encourage not only the actors in their unlawful profession but the spectators too in their disobedience to the Gospel And what is this but to make your self a Proctor to sin to help people to be undone to assist them in going to Hell and to make your self accessary to their folly Are these the Christians that are to help one another to Heaven Are these the Christians that are to go hand in hand together to Gods everlasting Kingdom Are these the lights the shining the burning lights that are to light the ignorant Brother to the inheritance of the Saints in light Is not this to be blind to the great design of the Gospel And if the blind lead the blind shall not they both fall into the pit Wo to that man by whom the offence cometh it had been better for him that a Mill-stone were hang'd about his neck and he drown'd in the midst of the Sea saith our great Master Matth. 18.6 Does not this threatning fright you Doth this put no sad thoughts into your mind Do you believe he spoke true And do not you think you are concern'd What is your going to a Play-house but giving Offence What is it but hardning other men in their sins Is not this tempting young people to those extravagancies they should detest Is not this justifying the Players profession and to make them think that you approve of their ludicrous vocations Their profession is infamous by our Law which looks upon them as persons of no honest calling and if you go to see their actings and to see how they prostitute themselves doth not this look like a commendation of their undertakings And have not you sins enough of your own to answer for but you must load other mens upon you too Are you afraid Gods anger to you will not be great enough except you add your Neighbours offences to make his wrath the heavier All those persons of your acquaintance that go to a Play because you do are all Scandalized by your example and is not this putting a stumbling-block in your Neighbours way especially if people believe that you have some goodness in you or have a name that you are Religious how bold doth this make other persons to venture on these vanities And how dreadful must this make your account Either you do not think much of other World or if you do you cannot but conclude that these things will lie very heavy upon your conscience one day What if you do not think it to be sin will your thinking so excuse you Willful ignorance is as bad as a known sin and how easily might you know such doings to be sinful But being unwilling to be better informed judge you whether it will not agravate your Condemnation how could the Primitive Christians know these things to be sinful And is not possible for you to know it They had the Bible so have you They had the same precepts that you have only they did not read the Scripture so superficially as perhaps you do and that was the reason why they came to the knowledge of this sin while you halt betwixt two opinions Their affections did not hanker and bend so much after the World as perhaps yours do and therefore they might easily perceive Christs and the Apostles meaning while you who dote too much upon these outward things have a cloud or mist before your eyes that you cannot discern the sense of the Holy Ghost Your present divertisements may hide the guilt from your sight but when the Summons of a terrible God to appear at his bar shall rouze your Conscience one day you 'l be of another mind How Did Christ come down from Heaven and die and spill his blood for you that you might securely indulge your carnal Genius Did he sacrifice himself for you that you might please your self with such fooleries Hath he appeased the Almighties wrath for you that you might spend your time in a Theatre Is this a proper end of the mighty purchase he hath made Did such phantastick actions deserve so great a condescension Is it likely that he would have astonish'd all the Angels of Heaven with his descent into this valley of tears if this security in carnal satisfactions had been his design One would rather think that so deep a humiliation called for the greatest severities and was shewn on purpose to engage poor mortals to the profoundest acknowledgments of his favour One would think that such miracles of charity challenged a most serious behaviour and that after this men should not dare to think of trivial and impertinent things This is more likely to be the end of his Incarnation and Suffering then the other To delight in such vanities is a disparagement to his love a blemish to his charity a disgrace to his condescension and an undervaluing of so great a mercy And do you thus reward him Do you thus requite his kindness Is this the return you make him for his sweat and agonies for his sighs and groans for his pains and all his labours Did he bleed that you might grow strong in sin Did he die that you might cherish the lusts of the Flesh Did he make himself of no reputation that you might please your self with divertisements invented only to affront him and to render his endeavours to convert our souls ineffectual Have not you observed it Have not you taken notice how men and women who have had some zeal for Religion and very pious inclinations how that zeal hath decreas'd upon their frequenting of these Houses how their goodness hath decay'd how flat they are grown in Devotion how weak in their holy performances how dull in the work of meditation how slovenly and superficial in Gods service may be they have kept up some outward shews some external formality some earnestness for the fringes of Religion or for the ceremonial part of Christianity But