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	soul_n	wicked_a	1,668	5	6.6215	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64642	Eighteen sermons preached in Oxford 1640 of conversion, unto God. Of redemption, & justification, by Christ. By the Right Reverend James Usher, late Arch-bishop of Armagh in Ireland. Published by Jos: Crabb. Will: Ball. Tho: Lye. ministers of the Gospel, who writ them from his mouth, and compared their copies together. With a preface concerning the life of the pious author, by the Reverend Stanly Gower, sometime chaplain to the said bishop.	Ussher, James, 1581-1656.; Gower, Stanley.; Crabb, Joseph, b. 1618 or 19.	1660 (1660)	Wing U173; ESTC R217597	234,164	424

but here the damned spirits the filthy and cursed host must be thy yoke-fellows Suppose there were no torment to suffer yet to be banished from heaven and to be tied and yoked to wicked spirits were a torment sufficient to make the stoutest that ever was tremble and quake and be soon weary of it 2. But it 's a place of torment too a prison where there is a rack to which thou must be put and on which thou must be tormented I am tormented in this flame saith Dives To speak of the torments there will be matter enough for another hour but I delight not to dwell on so sad a subject only this is that which prepares the way to the glad tidings of salvation therefore I shall a little longer insist upon it The body and soul the whole man shall be there tormented not the soul only but even the body too after judgment Do you think the members of the body which have been the instruments shall escape be rais'd and cast into hell to no purpose Why should God quicken it at the last day but to break it on the anvil of his wrath and to make it accompany the soul as well in torments as in sinning 'T is true the soul is the fountain of all sense and the body without it hath no sense at all take away the soul and you may burn the body and it will not feel it Now the soul being the fountain of sense and the body being united to it when God shall lay his axe at this root at this fountain how dreadful shall it be how shall the body choose but suffer too Should any of us be cast into a fire what a terrible torment would we account it Fire and water we say have no mercy but alas this fire is nothing to the fire of hell 't is but as painted fire to that which burns for ever and ever The furnace wherein Nebuchadnezzar commanded those to be thrown that fell not down to the graven Image which he had set up was doubtless at every time a terrible place Hell is compared to such a furnace but what shall we think of it when the King in his wrath shall command the furnace to be heated seven times hotter then usual Nay what shall we think of hell when the King of Heaven shall command it to be heated seventy times seven times hotter then before when there shall be a fire and a fire prepar'd for so is this fire of Tophet it 's a pile of much wood When the King of Heaven shall as it were set to work his wisedome to fit it in the sharpest manner in procuring such ingredients as may make it rage most and be most violent It is a fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels the strongest of creatures for the punishment of principalities and powers and if it can master Angels think not but that God hath a fire to rost thy soul. It is the soul that is in hell onely till the day of judgment though the body be not there A man would think that the soul did not suffer but Philosophy tels us that the soul suffers mediante corpore in and by the body Therefore 't is a rule in Divinitie that whatsoever God doth by means he can do without means Though the body be not there but the soul only yet God is able nay doth make the soul as well feel grief without the body as he doth by means of the body 3. But now besides thy fellow-prisoners in that cursed Gaol consider who are thy tormentors thou that dost continue in impenitency Now thy tormentors are these three 1. The Devil 2. Thy self 3. God Almighty 1. The Devil who is thy deadly enemy a bloody-minded adversary a murthering and merciless-minded Spirit a murtherer from the beginning a merciless tormentor who being in plagues and torments and thereby even at his wits end would fain ease himself in tormenting thee When the Devil as we read was dispossessed of a child wherein he was he rends and tears leaves him foaming that there was little hope of life in him But now when a man shall be delivered into the hands of this merciless spirit when God shall say to the Devil take him do what thou wilt with him do thy worst to him when thou shalt be thus put into the hands of one that hates thee and delights in thy ruine how will he tear thee into pieces how will he torment thee in how desperate and wretched a case will thy soul and body be 2. But the tormentor within thee is far more heavy painful and grievous that never dying worm within the sting of a guilty and wounded conscience this like a sharp dagger is still stabbing thee at the very heart This by a reflecting act upon it self will cause thee to revenge Gods quarrel on thy self and as a musket over-charged beats back on the shooter so will it most furiously return upon thee This is that that smote David when 't is said Davids heart smote him A man needs no other fire nor other worm to torment him then that within him which as the worms on the carkass gnaws on a wretched soul. But there is a greater tormentor then both these behind and that is 3ly God himself he is highly offended and inraged at thee and therefore comes and takes the matter into his own hand and will himself be executioner of his fury There i● a passage in the Thess. to this purpose which me thinks is more then can be spoken by men or Angels Epist. 2. cap. 1. v. 9. Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power Mark that God whom thou hast so highly provoked to wrath hath a strong hand and glorious power He shew'd the glory of his power in the making the world and all things in it and all that infinite power which he hath manifested in the creation of heaven and earth shall be engaged in the tormenting of a sinner Were there a man that should lay a target of brasse or a target of steel on a block and should then cleve all in sunder at a blow this would sufficiently manifest his strength So doth God make manifest his power in crushing thee to pieces There are still new charges and discharges against sinners to make his power therein manifest What if God willing to make his power known saith the Apostle Rom. 9. suffered a while the vessels prepared to destruction God will manifest his power by the strength of his stroke on those that rebel against him Hence proceedeth weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth which is a Metaphor taken from one either that hath a great coldness on him or from the symptomes of a Feaver Add to all that hath been said these two things 1. The torment shall be everlasting you shall desire to die that your torments may have end And here you may expect that I should say

more he often provides and is the more covetous Consider that the wisest of men gave thee this counsel Remember thy Creator in the day of thy youth before the evil dayes come wherein thou shalt say thou hast no pleasure in them Here we find it 's a youthful thing and should be a young mans practice not according to that devilish saying A young Saint and an old Devil but Remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth The more sin thou committest the more unapt thou art to repent Custome in sinning makes thee a Lot the elder thou growest the more loth to go out of Sodom Besides 2. Consider what sin is in its nature It is a weight Heb. 12.1 Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us Sin is then a weight and so an heavy thing but add sin to sin a weight to a weight and it becomes heavier and heavier A man that is in the state of impenitencie hath this weight laid on him and is subject to the Devil in a state of rebellion against God A man now in this estate is weigh'd down what will he be six seven or ten years hence going on in his impenitency How will he then shake that off which now he cannot free himself of He must hereafter buckle against it with a great deal of disadvantage and wrestle with more difficulty One sayes well that if we consider of sin aright it 's like the rising of water over which a man being to passe and finding it higher then it was wont to be he stayes a while and then tryes again and finds it higher then before he stayes yet longer till it become unpassable so that he may not adventure without great disadvantage Thus it is with sin now peradventure the waters of iniquity are passable if thou wilt thou mayst go over but if thou delayest the adventure the streams of sin will run together into one channel and be more difficultly passed Take another Metaphor from the Scripture The Scripture compares sin to cords which are instruments of binding and therefore the mystery of the Gospel is expressed by binding and loosing Whose soever sins you shall bind on earth they are bound in heaven but whose sins ye remit they are remitted Every sin thou committest is a bond and binds thee hand and foot against the judgment of the great day Therefore it 's said His own iniquity shall take the wicked and he shall be bound and holden with the cords of his sins Now consider what folly it is when a man shall say though my sins are so many cords difficult to be broken yet I le not trouble my self about it in my younger days but I le stay till my old age and then I hope I shall be the better able to break these bonds and cast all these cords from me when as every iniquity I commit is as a new cord which binds me faster and faster Is not this madnesse it self to think so that in our younger yeares being scarce able to break one of them in our dotage we shall be able to break ten thousand together And certainly this is the disposition and nature of sin 3. But add hereto the Argument in the Text To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your heart but repent while it is called to day Shewing that if we passe this day we shall be harder and harder Wherefore saith the Apostle Exhort every one another daily while it is called to day lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulnesse of sin Heb. 3.13 As if he had said if thy heart be hard to day it will be harder to morrow Custome in sin hardens the heart and takes away the sense of it Wherefore saith the Apostle I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmitie of your flesh For as ye have yeilded your members servants to uncleannesse and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now yeild your members servants to righteousnesse unto holinesse Rom. 6.19 So that we see if a man once give himself up unto sin he will not be satisfied therewith but will give himself up to iniquitie unto iniquitie What 's the meaning of that It 's as if he had said if we give our selves up to iniquity we will not rest there but we 'l add iniquity unto iniquity sin unto sin we will be brought to such a custom in evil as that it will be easier for a black-moor to change his skin and a leopard his spots then for those that have been accustomed to do evil to learn to do well Jer. 13. It will be to as much purpose to wash an Aethiopian as to go to put off that ill custome and shake off that second nature Sin is a hammer and sin is a nail too Every sin strikes the former sin home to the head that whereas before it might easily have been drawn out it roots it in so fast as that it can very hardly be plucked out Mark how the Apostl● describes this cursed nature of sin Having eies full of Adultery and that cannot cease from sin beguiling unstable soules a heart they have exercised with covetous practises 2 Pet. 2.14 What makes a man prompt in any thing but exercise When a man is exercised in sin see the event of it it brings him to that vicious habit as that at length he cannot cease from sin If a man deal with a young twigg it will bend and break at his pleasure but when it comes to full growth it 's past his strength So fares it with sin if thou dealest with it whilst thou art young and it in thee before it hath taken ●oot thou maist easily wield it at least with more facility then otherwise thou couldst but if thou let it run on to confirmed habits it becomes immoveable Wherefore saith the Apostle Heb. 12.1 Let us lay aside the sin which doth so easily beset us The reason is evident because else we shall be so hardned as that we shall not be able A man that hath a green wound if he 'l seek for his cure betimes it may be quickly and easily remedied but through delay it begins to fester and must be lanced to the quick not without great pain and anguish to the Patient Sin is such a wound if it be let ●lone it corrupts and proud flesh the more grows up the longer the cure is delayed This ●herefore should be a chief thing we should take heed of how we put from us Gods time and the proffers of mercy till another day 2. But there are another sort as greatly be●●ol'd as these yea more if more may be and ●●ose are they who put it off till the hour of 〈◊〉 death till the last gasp as if they desired t●●ive God as little of their service as possibly th●y might who think if they can but cry Peccavi and Lord have mercy on me when their breath departs their bodies they shew

and that 's a terrible one He that eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks damnation to himself damnation that 's somewhat hard the word in the Margent is better 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 judgement True there are such as so come that they deserve to eat condemnation to themselves as openly profane ones in whom it's high treason being Gods vowed enemies to take his Privy Seal and put it to so vile a use this I say deserves damnation but then others there are that have faith and repentance and a portion in Christ yet coming unworthily to this feast eat judgement to themselves that is a judgement of chastisement There is a twofold judgement 1. One of revenge for those that put Gods Seal to a wrong evidence having no faith to make Christ his portion in such a one its high treason to put forth his hand to this tree of life 2. Another of chastisement for such a one as hath repentance and yet comes too unmannerly and carries himself too carelesly at the Lords Table at this the Apostle aims in the Text not at that judgement of condemnation but at a judgement to prevent damnation And this appears in the words following where we shall finde the Apostle recounting up the particulars of this judgement of chastisement For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep ver 30. Mark what 's the judgement he eats why this he 's cast upon his bed of sicknesse into a Consumption perchance or some other corporal disease a cause Physicians seldome or never look into they look to Agues Colds or the like they never once conjecture that their unworthy eating at the Lords Table cast them into the disease and was the principal cause of the malady Nay death it self too often is the punishment of such bold attempts so that all the Physicians in the world cannot cure them And thus God inflicts temporal judgements to free them from eternal as appears farther in the 32. ver When we are judged we are chastned of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world that is we undergo a judgement of chastisement to prevent the judgement of condemnation which though it be a sharp and bitter pill yet by the mercy of God we eat that whereby damnation is prevented This judgement of condemnation is the portion of the profane person who dares to meddle with that belongs not to him against whom the Angel of the Lord with a flaming sword stands to keep the way of this tree of life Those that come that have faith yet coming unpreparedly they eat judgment too yet by Gods mercy it 's that which preserves them from the damnation of the soul. Now before I come to the particulars note how careful God is that spiritual exercises should be spiritually performed He 's very angry when he sees a spiritual duty carnally undertaken For this cause many are sick c. that is because you that are believers have faith repentance and a portion in your Saviour come irreverently come unpreparedly perform a spiritual work so carnally We have presidents hereof in Scripture● and chiefly two First for circumcision Exod. 4.24 At the 21. v. God sent Moses on a Message into Egypt and in the 24. vers the Text saith It came to pass by the way in the Inne that the Lord met him and sought to kill him This is very strange this hath no dependance on that which goes before a strange accident God sought to kill him although he but a little before had sent him into Egypt and told him he would be with him Why what should we do then how should the message be done and fulfilled But what was the reason hereof It 's not expressed yet we may gather from the following words that it was by reason his sons were uncircumcised for vers 25. Zippora took a sharp stone and cut off the fore-skin of her sonne and cast it at his feet and said surely a bloody husband hast thou been unto me God would have smitten him for the neglect of the Sacrament of Circumcision Another instance we have for the Passover in Hezekiahs time 2 Chron. 30.17 18. A multitude of the people yea many of Ephraim and Manasseh Issachar and Zebulon had not cleansed themselves yet did they eat the Passover otherwise then it was written There were many likewise in the Congregation that were not sanctified and therefore God punished them It 's not set down in what manner God punished them yet by the consequent it may be gather'd that it was by sicknesse for the next words are to that effect Hezekiah prayed for them saying the good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God the Lord God of his Father though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the Sanctuary and the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah and healed the people So that you see for this God smites a person and it 's to be feared least judgements temporal fall on the whole Nation for this fault that he even smites a people to death But we passe from this and come to the particulars 3. The particulars of this offence and wherein it consists that a man comes unworthily that so we may know whether we are guilty of the crime Know therefore that there are two sorts that come to the communion First those to whom the businesse doth not belong that have nothing to do with the thing as openly profane ones Secondly such as have interest in the matter but yet come unpreparedly and in an unbeseeming manner the former take part in the signe but enjoy not the thing signified and the latter coming unpreparedly depart without the comfort which otherwise they might have Now mark to whom Christ would say if he were now coming to judgement in the clouds to whom I say if he were now coming in the clouds he would say Come ye blessed of my Father inherit a Kingdome prepared for you from the beginning of the world to them he would likewise say Come to my Table come to this banquet partake of my body and blood and to as many as he would say Depart from me you cursed into everlasting flames to so many would he say go you from my Table come not near Now there are two sorts of people to whom if the Lord Jesus were coming in the clouds to Judgement he would say Depart into everlasting flames and those are those that know not him and obey not the Gospel of Jesus Christ 2 Thes. 1.8 Now to these two sorts of people Christ would say if he were on earth Depart from my Table meddle not with those Mysteries And they are 1. Those that know not God and indeed it is a most unworthy thing for an ignorant man to come to Gods Table Know whoever thou art that art such an one that it belongs not to thee it was appointed for an understanding people The Lord invites not fools and block-heads to his Mysteries

as if the thing were in hand he soweth not only the seed but the fruit of peace as soon as he is justified at that instant he hath the fruit of peace 2. So we have peace but with whom is it it is between God and us God and a justified man is at peace through Jesus Christ at the very same instant that a man is justified he is at peace with God This peace as I declared unto you is a gift of an high nature which belongs not to every man but to the justified man only he who is justified by faith he only hath peace In the Eph●sians and Isaiah there are general proclamations of peace Peace be unto them that are near and unto them that are afarre off and Isa. 5.7 The word the Apostle useth in the Ephesians hath allusion to this in Isaiah ver 19. I create the fruit of the lips peace peace to them that are afarre off and to them that are nigh saith the Lord and I will heal them but the wicked are like a troubled Sea that cannot rest There is no peace saith my God to the wicked Though the proclamation be never so general to Jews and Gentiles yet it belongs only to those who have peaceable minds towards God those who will not stand on termes of rebellion against him what madnesse is it to think that if I stand in point of rebellion against God I should have peace with him But I must cast down my treasons and I must come with a subjects minde then there will be peace otherwise no peace When Jehu came to revenge the quarrel of God Joram asked him Is it peace Jehu he answers What peace so long as the whoredomes of thy mother Jezabel and her witch-crafts are so many 2 Kings 9. As long as thou continuest in a course of rebellion what hast thou to do to talk of peace why thinkest thou on peace when thou art the chief rebel as long as wickednesse continues in thy heart thou hast no peace of God by Jesus Christ. Now it may fall out that there may be a kinde of quietnesse in the conscience of a wicked man but we must make a great difference between a peace and a truce a truce is but a cessation of warre for such a time and many times when the truce is over it ends in greater warre because they have the more time to gather strength and increase their Forces So there may be a peace or a truce between God and wicked men but it is the highest judgment that can be upon a wicked man to be thus let alone but it is not so with a godly man God breaks their peace and hedges up their way with thornes and many times torments their conscience and breaks their peace but when God suffers a sinner to thrive in sinne when he suffers him to on so long that his own honour is almost touch't I held my peace saith God then thou thoughtest me to be such a one as thy self God holds his peace then the sinner saith God doth not heed However the preacher amplifies these things God is not so terrible as they make him well but though God hold his peace long yet at last he will speak Oh consider this ye that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you· When the time of the truce is out then the conscience is like a fierce Mastiffe the longer he is tyed the more fierce he is when he is let loose so conscience when it hath been long quiet and tyed up when God le ts loose the cords thereof it will be more fierce than ever before it will then flie like a Mastiffe in thy face and as it were tear thy throat and then there will be in thee the very flashings of hell Now there is a great difference between the peace of Gods children this little cessation of war in the consciences of wicked men When the strong man armed keeps the house the goods that he possesseth are in peace When Satan is the Master and thou dost his will and he hath thee at command he doth not trouble thee when he keeps the house the goods are in peace but when a stronger than he comes and puts him out of possession then comes the strife and debate Look therefore to thy peace is it such a peace as thou hast never found any conflict any stirring striving betwixt the strong man and the weak suspect that peace that 's not the peace of a justified man but of such a one who is held by the Prince of darknesse 2. Again how comes this peace to wicked men they consider not the wrath of God nor the danger of sinne they consider not that Tophet is prepared of old if they did but consider this it would spoile their sport and break their peace but now a justified man he knows what sinne is and what hell is and at that very time when he is thinking of his sinnes and of damnation when he knoweth that this is the reward of Gods enemies he hath peace even then The other they shut their eyes that they may not see their danger and because they discern it not therefore they are at peace A man in a dark night going over a dangerous Bridge that if he misse but a step he is drowned yet he passeth over securely and is not afraid because he wanteth light to discover the danger but bring him the next day and shew him what a danger he escaped and the thoughts of it will make him quake and tremble though the danger be past So these men being in darknesse see not their danger and therefore do not fear but Gods child having his eyes in his head discerns the danger and sees also how he is delivered by Jesus Christ he is at peace not because he seeth not the danger of the way but because he knows that God hath made the way broad by Jesus Christ and so he is freed from sinne and death Now to speak something to them that have this true and sound peace this peace is with God I shewed you the last time that this peace is not alwayes in their own conscience but it is such on Gods part which is the safe part many reasons there are why God doth not shew it unto them though all be quiet betwixt God and them yet they have not an apprehension of it in their consciences I shewed that this is many times their own fault because they will not be comforted all their thoughts are bent upon their sinnes and their provocations of God and they have not an eye open to look upon the mercies of Christ they put it off and will not be comforted and if they put it off from themselves no marvail if they have not peace in their consciences This may come by reason of the great conflict before in the conscience God raiseth a great storme and when he intends to bring a man to do some