Selected quad for the lemma: judgement_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
judgement_n	body_n	sin_n	soul_n	3,674	5	5.2011	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57574	Early religion, or, The way for a young man to remember his Creator proposed in a sermon preach'd upon the death of Mr. Robert Linager, a young gentleman, who left this world, Octob. 26, 1682, with an account of some passages of his life and death / by T. Rogers.	Rogers, Timothy, 1658-1728.; Veel, Edward, 1632?-1708.	1683 (1683)	Wing R1849; ESTC R27563	39,498	63

that attended on his Weakness to read the Scripture to him when he could not reach it with his own Hand he desired others to administer to him that Bread of Life He was much in Prayer in the midst of his restless Nights and strong Pains resolving as long as he could to lift up those Eyes to Heaven which he believed would shortly be closed by Death and to spend that Breath in Desires after Grace which was every Moment ready to be stop'd Thus while his Body was detained on his Bed by various Pains his Soul was swiftly moving towards its proper Center And though by the Violence of his Disease he was somewhat stupified for a little while before he died yet while his Sences continued free in their Exercise he did with the bitter Cryes of a Penitent bewail his Sins expressing a great Hatred of them and a holy Indignation against himself Sometimes when he was told of Comfort he would mournfully say You know not what I feel My Sins ly very heavy on me my Sickness is not all nor is the Anguish of my Body so great as the Anguish of my Soul God gave him a very sensible tender Conscience which though it be grievous for a while yet is a great Mercy if compared with the great Judgment of an hard unmelting Heart which many Sinners both young and old are punish'd with so that even when they are on the Rack they do not confess their Sins nor seek after God He was greatly troubled And thus a loving Physician searches to the bottom of the Sore and puts his Patient especially when the Wounds are of a long Continuance to more then ordinary Pain that he may perform a great Cure When a Cloud of Despair seem'd to obscure his Comfort being told of the Pity and the Love of Christ to the greatest Sinners the Thoughts of his Saviour revived his dying Hopes and made him willing to pass through Darkness to Light through Pain to Rest saying I desire the Blood of Christ to cure all my internal Maladies And at another time said he desired him above all things The Night before his last he lay very Unquiet expressing a great sense of Trouble with many Sighs and Groans his Nurse rightly guessing that these were the Signs of something greatly afflictive to him advised him to ease his Mind which he immediately after did to him under whose Care he was with a serious Profession of Sorrow for the Sins he then Confessed and which he then found to be a great Burthen on his Conscience though they had been Committed long before The day before desiring the Prayers of the same Person and being ask'd what he would have begg'd of God for him He answer'd That God would shew his great Mercy on him in pardoning his Sins and healing his Soul and removing his spiritual Maladies owning with a due Sorrow his Sins of Omission and Commission and those which he had committed against the holy Spirit that would have reclaimed him from them He called to mind several suitable places of Scripture even beyond Expectation and very pertinently applyed them to the Necessities of his own Case which argued that he was no Stranger to that Rule which can more then all others teach a young Man best how to cleanse his Waies and to Remember God and at last said that he would be very willing to dye if he might have a Sense of the Mercies of Christ and of Pardon Which we have good ground to hope he did not come short of These were the Speeches and this the Behaviour of this dying young Man And lest any may be troubled to think that after so many Prayers and serious Endeavours as he used he should have so many Doubts and Fears about his Title to Forgiveness and a happy State I will add this viz. That it is greatly to be Considered that Satan whom the Scripture calls a Lyon when the Evening of Time is come to any Soul marches out of his Den and is then more full of Rage and Violence then he was before and as dying Bees or Serpents thrust out their Stings with greater vehemence so does he use the greater Force when he knows his time is but short He troubles the Souls of good People with dark and mournful Apprehensions of God and their own Condition when he sees them just at the Door of Heaven at which when they once enter his Spite is over and he can do no more Many Christians he thus Assaults that are of a long standing in the Vineyard and therefore it is not to be wondered if he thus tost to and fro this young Man who was but as a tender Plant. He had indeed a laborious Conflict and an hard Passage but we may well hope that it was but to him as a dark Night before a clear Day and that his Troubles here were but as the sharp Sauce the better to prepare his Appetite for the sweeter Tast of Happiness Many a time the Sun that sets in a Cloud does arise in Glory and many a Ship at last arrives to a quiet Harbour that met with Waves and Storms and high Winds all the way thither Let us also by this Example be perswaded to Remember our Creator now in the Days of our Youth while the evil Days come not For we see 't is he alone that can speak Peace and that to him alone we must go at last for Comfort who can heal our wounded Spirits and bear us up when if we should look to all our Friends they can only bewail our sad Case but not remove our Sorrows If we do this Mal. 3.16 17. he will write our Names in his Book of Remembrance and in that day when he makes up his Jewels he will spare us as a Man spareth his own Son that serveth him Ps 33.26 And when our Heart and our Flesh fails he will be the Strength of our Heart and our Portion for ever We may now see that all the Delights and Pleasures of the World are of no value and but miserable Comforters in the time of spiritual Distress from the sense of Sin and Guilt they will yield us then no Solace no peaceable Thoughts no Refreshment but our God is worthy to be thought upon who can by his Grace and Favour uphold and Bless the departing Soul To you that were the Acquaintance of the Deceas'd I shall only say this now you have stronger Engagements upon you to Remember your Creator then you had before for he has by the death of your Companion sent you a near and a loud Warning to prepare for your own He had but a little if any Sickness at all before that which proved his last Flatter not then your selves with the too great Hopes of long Life because of your present Health and Strength For though your earthly Tabernacles have not been undermin'd with many Infirmities and Diseases yet you know not but the first Storm that comes may shatter them

they are also forgetful of their God who it may be spend more time in reading of Plays and Romantick Histories and the Adventures of feigned Heroes than in reading of the Bible that would teach them to remember God and inspire them with none but lawful Passions such as have reigned in the Breasts of those worthies who have endured all imaginable Dangers with a valour more than human for the Love they bore to their Creator and who well deserve our Imitation Nor are they less unmindful of God who are much addicted to sinful Games and Sports where the Devil often is the greatest Gainer and at which they for a Trifle throw their Souls away and such also deserve no better Character that spend more time at their Glass than on their knees in Prayer That are more concerned if a Wig or a Crevat sit wrong than for all the interior Blemishes and Disorders of the Mind that are more observant of the Rules of Civility than of the Laws of God though both these might consit well enough together Such also cannot be supposed to be mindful of their Creator that use a greater Care to be affable and courteous in their Behaviour than to be holy in their Lives tho when duly limited an agreeable chearful Conversation and an upright Heart before God are things greatly necessary for the Comfort of Life and the Honour of Religion I delight not to insist upon the Miscarriages of Youth God knows they are too many nor will I enlarge upon the Crime of such that in their Health consult their Taylor more than their Divine and while they strive to cloath their less valuable part in a genteel splendid Habit have their poor unregarded Souls full of Ulcers and Putrefaction and void of Grace This too great Affection to the Body and the sensual Life darkens the Glory of the Mind and the intemperate luxurious Person to use the Comparison of Maximus Tyrius upon this Subject Dissert xxviii Is troubled with a Vertigo in his Head and like one that has drunk too much Wine he is not far from Madness but that now and then he recollects himself and uses a little Reason but by and by that Light is quench'd and he reels to and fro again as one left in the Dark and in a strange Place Thus he is lost as to all wise and sober Considerations and 't is no wonder if he who has forgot himself forget his God or that he who is not Master of his own Thonghts have not the sense of his Creator there When the Manhood is drowned 't is no wonder that we see not the Religion floating on the Water With these sensual Delights are Young Men too often charmed asleep And then like Persons in a Dream they cannot govern their own Spirits which will often be possest with the meanest inconsiderable things The Philosophers as one observes To separate the Mind from things sensual Smith 's Select Disc p. 11. devised Mathematical Contemplations whereby the Souls of Men might shake off their Dependency on Sense and learn to go alone without the Crutch of any sensible or material thing to support them and so be a little inured being once got above the Body to converse freely with Immaterial Natures So should we learn to separate our Affections from what is present and to let them frequently take their Flight to the Heaven above the Throne of God the sight of which we lose when we bring upon our selves the Punishment of the Serpent when we creep on this Earth and lie groveling in the Dust What will all the Cares that Young Men take about this mortal ruinous Habitation avail when they must ere long exchange their fine Cloaths for a winding Sheet and when they are nailed up in their Coffins what better will they be for all their gorgeous Apparel and their dainty Food Or will it be a good Plea in Judgment if the Young Man should say thus Lord I spent so much time abroad so much in the Tavern so much on my Recreations and my worldly Business that I had none left to remember thee or to think of the true State of my own Soul Or rather will not the Soul of such an one hereafter be amaz'd when being cloathed with the Garments of Heaviness he shall be forc'd to cry out after this or the like manner Oh that the many Days I spent in Vanity I had laid out to prepare my Soul for the Hour of my Change and the Day of Judgment then I had been in a safe and quiet Harbour whereas now I am begirt with Lighthing and Thunder Storms and Tempests and must never see the Sun shine again Oh that the Discourse I made so often about my worldly Pleasures about new Modes and Fashions I had made of God and Heaven I should not then have seen those horrid Objects of Terror nor have had my Ears peirc'd with these hideous Shrikes of my fellow Prisoners I would not in the days of my Life on Earth remember God but now I must remember him whether I will or not and no more as a Friend but as an Enemy no more as a Father but as an angry Judg. Secondly If we would remember our Creator in the days of our Youth we must avoid the Company of such who as we may judg by their Practise have him not in all their Thoughts You are not willing to venture your Bodies among those that are infected with some dangerous Distemper or in a contagious Air and will you hazard the Welfare of your better part among those who are leprous all over Rom. 3.13 and whose Throat is an open Sepulchre who if you be a Picture will deface it if you be a Glass they will spoil it with their tainted Breath Do you expect to have a serious Remembrance of your Creator Psal 1.1 if you converse with such as sit in the Chair of Scorners and deride Religion tho their Scoffs against it are to be accounted as ridiculous as it would be in a blind Man that knows not the Comfort and Benefit of Light to rail against the Sun would it not be disingenious and base for a Man to quarrel at the Light by which he sees or at the Air in which he breaths and shall we not account them unworthy of our Friendship that speak against God that God that made them Acts 17.28 and in whom they live and move and have their Being 'T is in such Company that Satan waits for our halting and we should be as careful to avoid it as we would a place where we certainly knew there was a Mine sprung and a Match lighted to fire the Train and blow us up 'T is there the Devil lies in wait for Youth and because he knows that Age is much affected with Credit and Reputation he endeavours to cloath those Sins in a genteel Fashionable Dress which would be frightful did they appear in their own ugly Shape and when

this infernal Serpent has by his insinuating Methods proselited one Young Man he instructs him in his hellish Arts and sends him abroad as his Emissary to gain many more to seek Advantage from such Society is as if we thought we could no where find a Cure but in a Lazaretto no where Health but in the Chambers of the Sick How many poor Young Men have in such Company lost their Innocence and have had their Souls diseased and benumed not sensible of their ill State till a Dart struck through their Liver which none could pull out again Prov. 7.23 How many have by this means been nipt in the Bud and spoiled that gave fair hopes to their poor Parents of their After-fruitfulness by their early Blossoms they that were once serious and well-disposed by associating with careless profane Livers have lost their former Tenderness their fear of Sin their sense of God How many ingenious Tempers have been depraved by this one great Stratagem so that they have employed the Talents that were given them by God to arm his Enemies to raise War against him in his own Dominions and with the Tools he put into their Hands they built the Kingdom of the Devil and as it would be but a poor Commendation of a Man to say He very ingeniously made himself away or He neatly cut his own Throat so these deserve no good Character who are only witty to promote their own Misery thinking to be wiser than God they make their own Hell while they are alive and poor Creatures are hasting to lie down in a Bed of eternal Sorrows and which aggravates the Terror of it with Laughter and a Joke How many by the ill Example of their Companions have cast off the Respect they once paid to their great Master Mat. 24.49 and have learn'd to eat and drink with the Drunken and to smite him and his Servants too with their violent and bitter Tongues They have been perswaded to look upon their once dear and sweet Religion as a tedious melancholy thing And have parted with the Favour of God the Hopes of Glory and the real Pleasures of another World for the poor Joys of this they have become as much the sworn Opposers of all that is good as if they had been baptiz'd in the Name of the Devil and not in the Name of Jesus How many sober Parents have to the Grief of their Hearts seen by this means the Children of their Hopes the Children of their Prayers tainted with Vice and Wickedness they have seen the Children they once instructed led away with Error and those to whom they taught the Language of Heaven speaking the Dialect of Hell and running with such Violence in the broad way as if they were afraid they should not come to their everlasting Sufferings soon enough Thus they forget their Creator and make a Rod for their own Backs which will hereafter like the Rod of Moses Exod. 4.3 be turn'd into a Serpent and devour all their Hopes and what Comfort will they that now scoff at all that is grave and serious have hereafter Jam. 3.6 when those Tongues that are set on Fire of Hell shall be cursing in those Flames and not be able to ject any more With what pale Faces and dejected Eyes will they that are now jovial and brisk together look upon the dismal Conclusion of their ill Choice when the Scene will be changed and instead of Mirth Mat. 8.12 there will be Lamentation weeping and gnashing of Teeth their Eyes that now run after Vanity will then be fixed in the solitary Contemplation of their great Loss And their Thoughts that are now roving and disorder'd will then be their own Torture with what hideous Cries will they then lament their early Follies and upbraid one another Had it not been for thee cruel Creature will one say to his miserable Companion I had not fallen into this helpless irrecoverable State had it not been for thee I that am now pale with Hunger and faint with Thirst might have drank of that River Psal 46.4 the Streams whereof make glad the City of God and have been feasting with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all holy Souls at the Supper of the Lamb. Had it not been for thee instead of being confin'd to these Chains and this doleful Prison I might have been walking in the Streets of the New Jerusalem but now the Gulf is fix'd my Hopes are gone and my Sun is set And all that such a distressed Creature shall receive from such a miserable Complaint will only be to hear the like sad Language from his Neighbour and so that deep and ugly Cave will ring with the noise of their Stripes and the lamentable Cries wherewith they will for ever salute one another saying Wo unto us for we have sinned Lam. 5.16 wo unto us for we have sinn'd our selves into this burning Lake Thirdly Another Rule to be observ'd by those that would now remember their Creator in the days of their Youth is to accustom themselves to frequent Retirement and Solitude Most of that Irreligion and Contempt of God that is in the Minds of Young People arises from the Neglect of the many convenient Seasons which they might improve to self-examination They will not give themselves leave to think or reflect upon their own Actions for if they did but separate some little Portions of their time tho but one quarter of an hour in a day seriously to think what it is to dy and when that is over to go to Judgment and what pains are necessary to prepare their Souls for things so solemn and so great it were morally impossible they should forget their Creator and disobey his Call 'T is not long might the Young-man say till this Body of mine that was made of Earth and Dust shall be resolved into common Dust again 't is not long till it will be clothed in its last Robes and be insensible of what is grateful or delicious it will be worn out like a moth-eaten Garment after all the sweet Odours and Perfumes after all the Cost and Charge I have laid out upon it Now then begin O my Soul to take thy leave of thy dearest Companion that will shortly bid thee farewel and warn thee by its irreparable Delays to seek for thy self a more lasting Habitation Tho I have now might he go on in his Meditation the Company of my Relations and my Friends yet ere long they will stand weeping at my Bed's side when they see me going from them by my self into the silent melancholy Vale. Tho I now have my numerous Enjoyments and my full Tables yet when I have sat a little longer I must rise for Death will come and take me away Such Reflections as these would help Young Men very much in the Remembrance of their Creator now and engage them not to put off such useful Thoughts till their dying Day But alas the most instead of