Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	die_v	flesh_n	live_v	4,655	5	5.5646	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85208	The sacrifice of the faithfull. Or, A treatise shevving the nature, property, and efficacy of zealous prayer; together with some motives to prayer, and helps against discouragements in prayer. To which is added seven profitable sermons. 1. The misery of the Creature by the sinne of man, on Rom. 8. 22. 2. The Christians imitation of Christ, on Ioh. 2. 6. 3. The enmity of the wicked to the light of the Gospel, on John 3. 20. 4. Gods impartiality, on Esay 42. 24. 5. The great dignity of the saints, on Heb. 11. 28. 6. The time of Gods grace is limited, on Gen. 6. 3. 7. A sermon for spirituall mortification, on Col. 3. 5. / By William Fenner, minister of the Gospel Fellow of Pembrok Hall in Cambridge, and lecturer of Rochford in Essex.	Fenner, William, 1600-1640.; Stafford, John, fl. 1658, engraver.	1649 (1649)	Wing F699; Thomason E1241_1; ESTC R210449	136,683	333

set them on worke so though sinne be in you still yet let it be like a dead corpse wanting life like a dead Tyrant that can no longer rage and hence it is that the Apostle saith Let not sinne reigne in your mortall bodies he doth not say let it not be but let it not reigne Sinne when it is mortified is like a dead King that can call no more Parliaments but a man may doe for him what he listeth because his strength lieth in the dust If Christ be in you saith the Apostle the bodie is dead because of sinne but the spirit is life for righteousnesse sake Rom. 8. 9 10. Againe if a man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of Christs now if Christ be in you the bodie is dead if you consider the bodie as it hath relation unto sinne Againe if you live after the flesh you shall die verse 13. as if he should have saide if your flesh be alive in you if your pride live in you and if your infidelity live in you if your hardnesse of heart live in you if your wrath c. live in you and if you walke after these you shall surely die he meaneth not a temporall death for so they must doe howsoever they live but his meaning is they shall die eternally but if you mortifie the deedes of the body by the spirit you shall live so then it is plaine there is no life of Christ to be had so long as you retaine your sinnes and therefore sinne must be mortified First because Christ is a Saviour and Reason 1 hence he is called Jesus Math. 1. 21. for he shall save his people from their sinnes if therefore Christ doe not save thee from thy sinnes and if by the power of Christ thou mortifie not thy sinnes and give them a deadly blow assure thy selfe he will never be a Jesus unto thee It is true indeede Christ dyed for sinners but it was not to let them goe on in sinne and therefore if thou goe on in sinne it is for thy damnation and not for thy salvation for he will first save thee from thy sinnes or else he will never save thee from hell so then consider if thy sinnes beare sway in thee if they doe then know thou art delivered up unto the power of thy sinnes and to everlasting darkenesse For Christ is the true Physitian of the soule and you know that a Physician doth not bring a potion to put it unto deaths mouth to kill death and so to save the sicke person alive no but he putteth it into the sicke mans mouth to kill the ill humours that are in his bodie that so he might not fall into the hands of death so Christ came not to quench the flames of hell by his spirituall Physicke but to let his Physicke fall upon the heart and soule of man to save him from hell Therefore unlesse the bloud of Christ doe mortifie thy sinnes and crucifie thy lusts there is no hope ever to get Christ to save thee from hell and everlasting damnation This is a true saying saith the Apostle and worthy to be received that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners 1 Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithfull saying and wicked men like it well indeede For saith the drunkard I am a wicked man yet Christ came to save me The whoremonger saith I am an uncleane person yet Christ came to save me The swearer will say Christ came to save sinners and therefore I hope he will save me to No no Christ came to save sinners that is such as were sinners but now are none they have and doe repent Jesus Christ came to save sinners saith the Apostle whereof I am cheife I was a blasphemer a persecuter but now I am not Hence then is the faithfull saying Christ came to save sinners not still sinning No before Paul was injurious a persecuter and lived in ignorance and unbeleife but now the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ was wonderfully abundant through faith and love towards him so that the grace of God hath appeared to draw men out of blindnesse and ignorance therefore to say that Christ came to save such as live in their sinnes of drunkennesse prophanesse or uncleanesse is a rotten saying and this onely is the faithfull saying that Christ came into the world to save sinners in whom the power of sinne is broken therefore if ever welooke to have benefitte or interest by Christ we must mortifie our earthly members Secondly because it is impossible for 2. Reason sinne and grace to live and subsist in one subject it is impossible that they should ever stand together and be in a man at one and the same time it cannot be that one and the same creature can have the life of a swine and the life of a man for if he have the soule of a swine he cannot have the soule of a man for they are two contrary distinct lives and where the one is the other cannot be It is like hot water and cold if it be cold it cannot be hot if it be hot it cannot be cold Even so the life of sinne and the life of grace are two contraries and therefore they that walke in their sinnes walke contrary to God Now the Lord saith if you walke contrary to me I will walke contrary unto you Levit. 26. and two contraries we know cannot goe together He that walks in sinne walks contrary unto God but he that goes on in the waies of grace he walks towards God Now it is impossible to walke towards Dover and towards London at one and the same time for every steppe he goeth forward to the one it carries him backward from the other so then if ever we will have the life of grace we must forsake our sinnes as it was with the house of Saul and David Sauls house grew weaker and Davids stronger so must it be with sinne and grace as grace growes stronger so sinne must grow weaker as grace goes up so sinne must goe downe And as Saul told David he would not give him Michal his daughter to wife unlesse he brought unto him an hundred fore skinnes of the Philistins Even so the Lord saith that he will not marry the Lord Jesus Christ unto any soule unlesse he bring the fore-skinne of every lust he must circumcise the fore-skinne of his pride of his covetousnesse of his prophanesse this must be the offering and condition of marriage unto Christ even the circumcision of the heart and the mortification of all the corruptions Thirdly because else it is impossible to Reason 3 enter into heaven if we mortifie not our sinnes a man can never be capable of glory hereafter that doth not mortifie his sinnes here in this life Suppose a wicked man should enter into heaven it is impossible that he should delight in heaven if he were there You will thinke this a strange point but give me leave to explaine

I believed and therefore did I speake He beleeved Gods promise and then he spake with condition So we believe saith the Apostle and therefore doe we speake First the soule beleeves and then every action of a Christian wherin it moves to the keeping of the condition springs from this root nay beloved a man cannot keep any condition in the Bible without faith he must believe Secondly faith is the inabling cause to keep the condition Dost thou thinke to get weeping mourning and humiliation for thy sinnes and then thereby to get the promise to thy selfe then thou goest in thy owne strength and then in Gods account thou dost just nothing John 15. 5. Without me ye can doe nothing saith Christ therefore first lay hold on me beleeve in me abide in me What! doe you first think to pray to mourne to lament and bewaile your sinnes to do this and that in turning your selves and sanctifying of your selves Indeed you may fumble about these things but you can never do any of them in deed and to the purpose without me ye can doe nothing I had fainted saith the Prophet unlesse I had beleeved to see the goodnesse of the Lord in the land of the living Psal 27. 13. where we may see three things First the Promise that he should see the goodnesse of the Lord otherwise he could not have beleeved Secondly the Condition if he doe not f●i●● Thirdly the method the Prophet went by First he beleeved to see the goodnesse of the Lord. As if he had said if he had not first laid hold on the Promise if I had not beleeved to have seen the goodnesse of the Lord in the Land of the living I had fainted Beloved it is true that the keeping of the Condition is before the fruition of the Promise but not before beleeving the Promise because the doing of the Condition is effected by beleeving the Promise This is the cause that many fumble about grace but never get it they are ever repenting but never repent ever learning but never learne the knowledge of the truth everlasting ever striving but never get power over their corruptions c. because they fumble about it in their own strength and take it not in the right method Let the soule come with faith in Christ and believe it shall speed and have grace and power from Christ his grace and from Christs power and then it shall speed Christ hath promised John 16. that whatsoever we aske the Father in his name he will give it us Christ beloved is an excellent Surety Indeed our credit is crackt in Heaven we may thinke to goe and fetch this and that grace in our owne names and misse of it as the servant may goe to the Merchant for wares in his owne name but the Merchant will not deliver them to him in his own name unlesse he come in his Masters name and bring a ticket from him and then when the servant sheweth his Masters ticket the Merchant will deliver him what wares he asketh for in his Masters name So when a soule goeth to the Throne of grace with a ticket from Christ if he can say Lord it is for the honour of Christ I come for grace and holinesse and strength against my corruptions Lord here is a ticket from Christ most certainly he shall speed But men must take heed that they foyst not the name of Christ that they foyst not a ticket to say that Christ sent them when it is their own selfe-love and their owne lust that sends them it is not enough to pray and at the end to say through Christ our Lord Amen No for this may be a meere foysting of the Name of Christ But canst thou pray and shew that Christ sent thee and say as the servant I come from my Master and he sent me Lord it is for Christ that I come it is not to satisfie my owne lust nor to ease and deliver me from the galls of my conscience nor to free me from hell but for Christ Lord I begge grace and holinesse that I may have power to glorifie Christ It is for the honour of my Lord Christ that I come When the soul comes thus in Christs name beleeving it shall speed then his prayer shall prevaile Whatsoever saith Christ ye shall aske the Father in my Name he will give it you We come now to the third and last part of our Text to wit the supplies they had against danger and discouragements The Lord upheld their hearts from being dismayed in prayer thou saidst feare not There be two things that do much hurt in prayer First groundlesse incouragements Secondly needlesse discouragements First I say groundlesse incouragements and these the wicked are most subject to especially who because they pray heare the Word and performe many duties of religion therefore they incourage themselves in the goodnesse of their estates judgeing themselves happy though notwithstanding they go on and continue in the hardnesse of their hearts and rebellions against God We have abundance of sayings amongst us that if they were examined would prove false and unsound As that the vipers die when they bring forth their young for say they the young eate out the old ones bowels that beares shape all their young by licking of them that the Swanne singeth sweetest at her death that the Adamant stone is softned by Goats blood c. These things are not so as may be shewn out of ancient Writers So beloved there are abundance of sayings that goe up and down amongst men concerning Divinity which if they were examined will prove to be rotten sayings as he that made them will save them It is not so saith the Prophet Esal 27. 11. He that made them will not have mercy on them and he that formed them will not pitty them It is commonly beleeved if men come to Church heare the Word and call upon God that then presently they are good Christians Beloved it is not so Matth. 7. 21. Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven Men are ready when they can but call Lord have mercy on me O sweet Saviour pitty me most mercifull Lord Jesus have compassion on me if they can pray in their families and pray at Church c. to think now all is well with them and Christ cannot but save them and give them the Kingdome of Heaven but our Saviour puts a not upon it and saith not every one that saith Lord Lord it is not a Lord a Lording of Christ with the tongne onely it is not a taking up of an outward profession of Christ only that is sufficient for a man that shall inherit the Kingdome of Heaven no saith Christ but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven But of this by the by Secondly there are needlesse discouragements which doe much hurt in prayer Needlesse discouragements doe much hurt to many a poore soule that hath forcible wouldings and

he given his bloud for thee that thou shouldest part with thy sinnes with thy drunkennesse with thy oathes thy pride security luke warmenesse earthlinesse prophanesse from thy vaine thoughts thy vaine words and thy vaine lusts and wilt thou not if God had redeemed us with silver and gold that were but drosse no he hath redeemed us with the bloud of his Sonn if now thou wilt part with the bloud of Christ rather then with thy sinnes that the word of God commands thee to part with how great is thy hatred of the word Bloud it is necessary to the life of every living creature I am sure the Bloud of Christ is necessary to the life of a Christian without it a man can never be washed nor never be sanctifyed nor made acceptable to God That man that will rather part with his bloud rather then lay downe his hatred of such a one whom he hates he hates him for ever he hates him to the death Thou that rather then thou wilt part with thy evill courses from those sinnes that Gods word would have thee to give over and forsake wilt part with the bloud of Christ I say thou hatest the word and thou hatest a reformation of thy wayes for ever with an everlasting and damnable hatred That man that had rather be damned then leave his sinnes that had rather goe to hell then be a new creature he hates the parting with his sinnes he hates to be a new creature It is truth man is a reasonable creature and therefore cannot reason so in expresse words as to say I had rather be damned then to give over my drunkennesse my lying my swearing my lust I had rather goe to hell then be so pure and so holy c. But every wicked man is so unreasonable in very deed for the word of God tells that wicked men that live and dye in such sinnes and such sinnes shall be damned yet they will not give over their sinnes Doth not your owne conscience tell you that as long as you pray no better as long as you walke no better in your profession God abhors you and all that you doe and will damne you doth not thy conscience tell thee that yet thou hast no assurance of salvation that as yet Jesus Christ was never given to thee that as yet you never had the Spirit of Christ to kill sinne in you if that thou wilt goe on in thy sinnes and not get Christ and his Spirit into thy heart as the word of God commandeth thee and thy owne conscience perswadeth thee I say if yet thou wilt goe on in thy sinnes then thou choosest to be damned rather then to part with sinne Doe we not say such a rogue will be hanged that such a hasty furious man will undoe himselfe doe we not say of a rebellious child that he will be disinherited not that any man reasons so in words I will doe thus and thus and undoe my selfe I will steale and be hanged I will be a rebellious childe and be disinherited I will goe on in my sinnes let the world say what it will and be damned But when a man knowes that the wages of sinne is death that the end of drunkennesse of swearing of lying of pride security hypocrisie formality in religion c. is death When a man knowes that the end of that sinne which he lives in is damnation and yet will goe on in those sinnes he wills to be damned Ezek. 18. 31. Turne you turne you why will you dye O ye house of Israel why were any so madde as to be willing to dye to perish for ever yet sayth the Prophet why will you dye as if he should say why will you sinne that man that wills to sin he wills to be damned that man that will be damned rather then part with his sinne that man loves sinne for ever and so hates the light Beloved be ashamed to carry so many plague tokens upon your hearts so many sinnes in your soules so many oppositions and rebellions against the word That man that hates and rebells against the word can never be saved by the word You that have had the preaching of the word looke that you give way to it take heed that you withstand not the breath of it I could tell you one thing and I pray God to send it home to your hearts commonly when God sends his word to a people those that are wrought upon for the most part are wrought upon at the beginning generally it is so I will give you a convincing place for it Acts. 13. 48. And when the Gentiles heard this they glorified the word of the Lord and as many as were ordained to eternall life beleeved Paul and Barnabas were come to Antioch and had preached one Sabboth day and now had preached another The Gentiles glorified the word of the Lord and as many as were ordained to eternall life beleeved as if he had said all that were ordained to eternall life beleeved at those Sermons as if he should say againe all that beleeved not at these two Sermons were reprobates Those that did belong to God they did beleeve and hearkened to the preaching of the word to them on those two Sabboths All that were ordained to life they beleeved at these two Sermons the rest that beleeved not are branded and marked out for despisers and wonderers Heare O despisers and wonder and perish c. Agree with thine Adversary whilest thou art in the way Math. 5. Beloved you are now in the way of salvation your Adversary is the Lord himselfe till he be reconciled unto you you are in the way while you are under the preaching of the word you know not how soone God may take you out of the way you know not how soone God may take his word away or if that continue yet he may withdraw his Spirit and then if God once take away his Spirit then you may seeke to be converted but shall never finde it you may seeke for grace but shall never get it you may seeke for Christ but never obtaine him if men stand out against the Word and Spirit of Christ while it is beating upon their hearts and offering them grace then Christ will be a swift witnesse against them Malach. 3. 5. Doth Christ come to thee now obey now beleeve now give over thy sinnes Doth he bid thee now repent c. O give way to the Words of Christ give way to the Spirit of Christ otherwise Christ will come swiftly I will be a swift witnesse I tell you the Covenant of grace will not stay long God is about to put up his wares When no Customers come the Merchant puts up his wares so God will even close up all his graces then Preachers may preach but none shall be converted People may heare but none shall be converted People may heare but never be turned which the Lord deny from ever being amongst us therefore while it is called to

but I will let them alone till they die of themselves sure I am that they will one day die no no the Prophet gives other counsell plough up saith he the fallow grounds and sow not among thornes if thou dost not they will grow up to that height and ranknesse that they will spoile the whole harvest Even so if thou kill not thy sinnes but suffer them to die of themselves they will spoile all thy spirituall harvest and quite banish thee out of Heaven for evermore The third use may manifest unto us that Vse 3 the worke of our Redemption is no easie worke as many men in the world thinke it to be The Apostle saith mortifie your members now can a man stab his owne arme through with ease can he cut off his Legg or any other member without feeling any great paine no more can a man kill his sinnes and mortifie his lusts with ease it is called mortification to shew that there is a great deale of miserie and paine in it The Apostle saith that those that are Christians have crucified the flesh c. Gal. 5. 24. and therefore Repentance is set out unto us by crucifying which is the hardest of all kinds of mortifying Can a man set his flesh upon the Tenter peirce his hands and feet with nailes laying his whole weight upon the Tenter and yet feele no paine Cicero a wise Heathen saith that crucifying was a torment that cruelty it selfe had invented to put a man to death it being the soarest kind of death that could be devised And the Apostle to set forth Repentance what it is shews it by crucifying It is an easie matter to cut off the outward act of sinne as of swearing or drunkennesse c. this is an easie matter but to crucifie a mans lusts and to mortifie daily the body of death which he be●reth about him this is a hard thing indeed A Father saith it is the hardest Text in all the Bible and the hardest dutie in all Christianitie that we can goe about they that doe it● an doe all things and therefore let a man resolve with himselfe that unlesse he attaine unto this there is no Christ for him How shall we saith the Apostle that are dead to sinne live any longer therein Rom. 6. 2. The Apostle makes it a Paradox and wonders that men should be so unreasonable as to thinke that they are crucified with Christ and yet live in their sinnes Is it possible that you can be dead with Christ and yet live in your sinnes no no it cannot be But some may object and say what Object doth the Apostle meane to exhort the Colossians unto Mortification were they not alreadie mortified did he not say a little before that they were crucified and buried together with Christ Yes it is true but they that have mortified Sol. their earthly members must goe on and persevere in this mortification and that for three Reasons First because the very same sinne that hath been killed will live againe unlesse it be continually mortified for sinne is strong-hearted it is not every blow that will kill sinne stone-dead no no we may say of sinne as some say of Catts they have nine lives kill sinne once and it will revive againe kill it the second time and it will yet live kill it the third time it will yet have life unlesse it be continually mortified it will never be starke dead and therefore the work● must be continued as Christ said of his Disciples if you continue in my word then are you my Disciples indeed So if we goe on in mortification then verily are we Christs Disciples Secondly suppose the sinne mortified doe not rise againe yet if we goe not on in the way of mortification there will arise another sinne in the roome of it Sinne is like the Monster Hydra cut off one head and many will rise up in its roome Even so it is in the bodie of sinne therefore thou must dayly mortifie it or else it will grow again There is a History that speaks of a Fig-tree that grew in a stone wall and all meanes was used to kill it they cut off the branches and it grew againe they cut downe the bodie and it grew againe they cut it up by the root and still it lived and grew untill they pulled downe the stone wall Even so it is with sinne lopp off the branches it lives cut downe the body it will not die digg up the rootes and it will still revive and will never leave growing untill God pull downe the stone wall of this our earthly Tabernacle and lay it in the dust and therefore we must still be mortifying of it Thirdly because as we mortifie so we mortifie but in part as saith the Apostle in another case we know but in part c. so may we say of this dutie we mortifie but in part as we say of a man breathing out his last breath he is adying but not quite dead so we may say of sinne though it lie sprawling upon the ground yet it is not dead the last gaspe is not past Nay it may be sinne is more striving in the heart of a child of God converted then it was before conversion As an Oxe or an Asse when they have their deaths blow will lash and struggle more then then they did in all their life time before but this is nothing but the panges of death being giving up their last breath Hence it is that the Apostle saith that the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh Gal. 5. So that they could not doe what they would verse 17. as if he should say sinne is so mortified that it hath his deaths wound in thee else thou canst not be the child of God yea such a deaths wound as it cannot possible recover againe If a man that hath received his de●ths wound should send for all the Phisitians in the world and take all the Physick he could and use all the meanes under Heaven yet they can never recover him So when a man is converted unto God as soone as ever the worke is wrought in him sinne hath his deaths blow and although the Devill come as Physitian with all the Cordialls Julips and Balmes under Heaven and use all the shifts and devises in the world yet he shall never be able to recover it againe all will not doe why because it hath received its deaths blow it may be with his industrie and cost he may make the face of sinne looke fresh and faire for a time but it hath it deaths wound and it will downe at the last Now that we may know whether we Marks have mortified our sinnes or no let us observe these markes following First they that have mortifyed their sinnes live in the contrary graces Hence it is that the Psalmist saith that they worke no iniquitie but walke in thy pathes Psal 119. 3. First they crucifie all their sinnes they doe