Selected quad for the lemma: city_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
city_n	abel_n	become_v	cain_n	42	3	10.4472	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52804	A compleat and compendious church-history shewing how it hath been from the beginning of the world to this present day : being an historical-narrative how the power and providence of God, according to his promise, hath hitherto confounded all the damnable plots of the Devil : to which is annexed a Scripture-prophecy fore-shewing how it shall be hence to the end of the world : to whole containing the quintessence of sacred, civil and ecclesiastick-writers, and serving as a short comment upon all the books in the Bible, both historical and prophetical / published for publick good by Christopher Ness ...	Ness, Christopher, 1621-1705.	1680 (1680)	Wing N446; ESTC R37720	248,071	530

the same means an Expiation of Sin was made where as it was first committed Thus God overshoots Satan in his own 〈◊〉 and the Devil goes off from his first Plot with a broken-Head by the Womans Seed which makes him weaker in his Projects ever after The Second Plot against the Church in ABEL Defeated by GOD. CHAP. II. WHen Satan saw his first Plot Defeated in as much as Man did not dye immediately nor was made as miserable as himself and that in despight of the Devil God would have his Church in the World to make up that Breach withal in the City of God which Lucifer and his Apostate Angels had made therein he takes other Measures and projects a New Plot by his Serpentine subtilty to wit seeing he could not Hinder the Being of the Church he next Endeavours to Divide it into a True and False Church that at least he might thereby hinder the Well-being of it if he could not make the False Church Destroy the True One. This is held forth in Cain and Abel both whom our first Parents had Religiously Trained up in the Worship of God by Sacrifice they were both Worshippers of the True God Cain as well as Abel Cain did not offer his Oblation to an Idol but it was Mincha la Jehovah an Offering to the Lord Gen. 4. 3. and we do not find that God blamed Cain either for the Matter Time or Place of his Worship Cain Rectè obtulit non Rectè Divisit offered right but did not Divide aright betwixt God and himself he should have given God first Se and then de Suis first Personam and then opus Personae Himself and then of his Substance as Abel did according to Gods Demand My Son give me thy Heart Prov. 23. 26. he dealt Fraudulently therefore with God and so became the Head of the False Church as Abel was of the True or as August de Civit. Dei lib. 15. cap. 1. expresseth it Cain was the Author of the City of the World both as he was Born first of faln Man and was called Cain which signifies Possession so he made the World his Possession and that first City which he Built therein yea and as he Plots against his Brother Abel who was chosen out of the World Born second and call'd Abel i. e. Vanity because he look'd upon the World in all its Pomps and Possessions as Vanity and he is called the Author of the City of God and therefore is he driven out of the World by an Untimely Death so early came Martyrdom into the World upon the True Church which Abel represented by the False One Cain As the first Beast that Dyed in the World Dyed for a Sacrifice Figuring Christ the True Sacrifice for Sin ut Suprà so the first Man that dyed in the World dyed for Religion 1 Joh. 3. 12. The first Righteous Man that went to Heaven must swim thither in a River of his own Blood Matth. 23. 35. The City of the World which at the best onely professes Religion will persecute the City of God which both professes and possesses the power and purity of Godliness Or as the Holy Scripture better then Augustin expresseth it Cain was the Head or top of the Seed of the Serpent who was the first begotten of Adam in his faln Estate And as Rab. Menachem saith was conceived of the Filth and Seed that the Serpent had conveyed into Eve However Gods Word speaks Infallibly That Eve was much mistaken at Cain's Birth saying She had got a Man from the Lord Gen. 4. 7. or that Famous Man The Lord as if she had brought forth that promised Seed of the Woman Gen. 3. 15. the Holy Child Jesus These were Verba Spei non Rei her Hoping was better than her Having for Cain was a Wicked One and of the Wikced One 1 Joh. 3. 10 12. Joh. 8. 44. so was the Root of all the Reprobates in the World but Abel was the Root of the Righteous as Christ himself reckons him Matth. 23. 35. And therefore the Devil Cain's Father Joh. 8. 44. complotts with Cain to Root out Abel by Killing him and in him all future Hope of the True Church That Tree cannot grow whose Root is Destroyed This Head of the Black-Line Cain Clubbing wits with the Head of the Serpent Satan whose Head was already Broken or Bruised by the Promise of Christ Essays the 2d Plot against Abel the Head of the White-Line to break his Head with his Club and to Brain him therewith yet even this Plot that came from the Devils Broken Head prov'd in the Issue but a Broken Plot God over-shooting him in his Bow The preparation to this 2d Plot was This Lucifer that was come down from Heaven in great Rage Rev. 12. 12. enrages Cain touching him with a live Coal from Hell as the Angel did the Prophets with one from Heaven Isai 6. 5. and sets his Heart on Fire of Hell Jam. 3. 6. This made him Hot and Burn in Indignation as the Word Charah Gen. 4. 5. signifies for of all the Eight Hebrew Words which signifies Anger This Word Charah is the most Vehement Cain's hot Displeasure was first Inflamed against God as being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Respecter of Persons in sending Fire from Heaven in Token of Accepting Abels Bloody Sacrifice and yet rejecting his un-bloody Meat-Offering Thus Cain's Eye was Evil because God's was Good Matth. 20. 15. Yea and such was his Rage against God that when he not only told him If thou dost well shall thou not be accepted v. 7. but also asks him Where is Abel thy Brother v. 9. Cain Angerly Answers and bids God Go look as if God had ask'd him an Impertinent Question and as if he had put an Office upon him which belong'd not to him yet he that disdain'd to be his Brothers Keeper disdain'd not to be his Brothers Executioner and the Wrath of Man that never speaks the Righteousness of God much less works it Jam. 1. 20. transported Cain so far as to tell the God of Truth a loud Lye in his saying I know not where he is Thinking by this frivolous Evasion to blind the Eyes of the All-knowing God as the God of this World had blinded his Eyes and hardned his Heart too and hereby he declared himself to be immediately descended from the Devil who was both a Lyar and a Murderer from the beginning Joh. 8. 44. 2dly His Rage against Abel for though his Rage was great against God insomuch that he could have found in his heart to have pull'd God out of Heaven Omne peccatum est Deicidium all sin is a kind of God-Murther for his partiality but God was out of his Reach yea and of the Devil 's too that set him on work The Borrowing power can never match the Lending power The Creature can never be too strong for the Creator Howbeit Abel was within his Reach and he will Wound the Master in his Servant The

Ierusalem He gets Letters-Patents from the High-Priest to range abroad and to worry Christs Lambs at Damascus v. 2. The going out of the Gospel from Ierusalem to the Gentiles makes Satan Mad Satan makes Saul Mad Hereupon he Rides or Runs Post after it to reclaim and Suppress it thus far the Devils Bowl runs well but now it meets with a Rubb that casts it quite out of the way and that which was most Vexatious this Rubb falls out when the Bowl was well nigh got home to the Jack even when Saul was come neer to Damascus Act. 9. 3. Damascus the chief City of Syria or Damesec signifying a Bagg of Blood so called because there 't is supposed Cain Murdered Abel was Distant from Ierusalem 160 miles or Six Days Journey Saul was suffer'd by his Saviour to become an Apparitor or Inquisitor against private Meetings of Hereticks Christians so called this was more than a bare Base Informer he must get a full Commission for doing much Mischief by Authority he must Travel without Disturbance Five Days Journey and be also towards the end of his 6th even neer Damascus and not one Rub or Remora we read of doth he meet with in all this Wicked Work and Wretched Way and it may be easily Imagined what Bloody Thoughts this Blood-Hound Saul had Suggested into his Mischievous mind by Satan all the way as he went Oh how did he Hope to Pepper the poor Christians with a full Execution of his Barbarous Designs Oh how was he Delighted to espy on the Road his Dear Damascus where his Design lay when he came neer to it and so neer as to behold it no doubt but he meant to fill that Bag of Blood as Damascus signifies with a great deal more of the Blood of many Righteous Abels and he Resolv'd to do something in order hereunto before he slept that 6th Night but Behold in the midst of all those his Murdering Imaginations and Hellish Machinations Christ meets him and Vnhorst him or Knock'd him down with a Thunder-Bolt or Flash of Lightning when almost at his Journeys end there he stumbl'd upon that stumbling-Stone the Rock of Ages as well as of Offence and falls to the Earth Act. 9. 3 4. and 't is a Wonder he brake not all his Bones and that his Breath was not beaten out of his Body yea that his Carcass was not hung up in Gibbets as a publick Warning to all Bloody Persecutors that the Churches of Christ might have the more Rest and Respite thereby No Christs thoughts are not as ours 't is True Christs Throws and Blows with his Heavy Hand are Deadly to effect the aforesaid and his Anger is Destructive to such as will not Kiss him with a Kiss of Subjection he saith a little of his Wrath will make them Perish in the midst of their way of their Plots and of their Lives Psa 2. 12. yet lo together with the Beams of his Glory Christ here shews the Bowels of his pitty though now he be in Heaven in a Glorified Estate yet hath he still his Heart as kindly affected to Sinners as when he was upon Earth though he hath chang'd his Honour yet not his Nature he is as kind and loving as ever yea more for it is Glorifi'd Love that is now in Christ though he now be free from Passion as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or uncapable of Suffering yet not at all from Compassion still hath He a kind of Feeling as well as Fellow-Feeling in those Words Saul Saul why Persecutest thou me Act. 9. 4. the Head of the Church Christ feels himself Wounded in his Members the Saints Christ liveth in them Gal. 2. 20. their Reproaches are his Hebr. 13. 13. and their sufferings are his Col. 1. 24. Saul Hearing from this Compassionate Christ that he was but kicking against the Pricks v. 5. that is In his mad marching to Damascus he was but Hurting himself in Hurting the Saints he Truckles and becomes of a mad Bull of Bashan Tractable to Christs Yoke * Oh matchless Mercy in Christ thus to make of a Worrying Wolf such a Blessed Shepheard of his Flock of Sheep Then had the Churches Rest c. v. 31. when the Wolf was chang'd into a Lamb yea into a Pastor or Feeder and Defender of the Lambs of Christ ☞ God hath still this way open whereby to give Rest to his Afflicted Chruches He can Convert as well as Confound the worst of their Persecutors 'T is plain here Satan lost and Christ gain'd the Game Satans 6th Assault was upon Saul himself when converted into Paul so call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Cessando because Christ caused the Flame of Hell-Fire to Cease in him no sooner was the Fire of Hell caused to cease in Saul and he become Paul but presently the Fire of Hell from Satan began to flame out against him Tempora Mutantur etiam persona c. Now Satans principal Assaulter of the Church is become the principal Assaulted by Satan in the Church now Satans prime Apostle or as the Word signifies Messenger with his Credentials and Plenipotentiary Letters-Pattents from the Soveraign Sanhredrim for persecuting the Church becomes a prime Apostle of Christ with all Apostolical Qualifications thereunto for the preserving and protecting of the Church this makes the Devil mad against him and not onely to hinder him at every turn in his Work as himself sayeth 1 Thess 2. 18. but also doth his Utmost not onely to Hurt him yea and to Hand him out of the way by some of those often Perils he brought him into 2 Cor. 11. 14 24 to 30. Paul Describes his Perils and Passions both by Sea and Land by Forraigners and Domesticks all Satans Instruments in a Golden Flood of Eloquence to which Demosthenes is but Dull yet here again the Devil was Defeated in this Design also by a marvelous Hand of God for 1. Paul after he had been struck Blind with the Lightning and was led Blind into Damascus which he would so gladly have seen and been at for persecuting the Christians to shew him he was but Blind in that Rage against them and after he had Afflicted his Soul in Fasting Three Days and receiving his Sight both of Soul and Body by his Rapture into Heaven as some say 2 Cor. 12. 2. becometh Insatiabilis Christi Concionator an Unwearyed Preacher of Christ Act. 9. 20 22. both there and in Arabia Gal. 1. 17 18. God Chain'd up Satan for Three Y. so that he could not Act any Violence against Paul all that time God gave him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sufficient or so many Days Act. 9. 23. or Three Y. so long a time to Settle e're he call'd him to Suffer the good Husbandman turns not the crushing Wheel upon his tender Cummin nor his hard Flail upon his soft Fitches Isa 28. 26. when Paul was well confirmed in the Faith then the Devil hath leave to stirr up Layers in Wait against him but God both Discover'd it