Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	bear_v	life_n	live_v	4,791	5	5.2156	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07536	Sapientia clamitans wisdome crying out to sinners to returne from their evill wayes: contained in three pious and learned treatises, viz. I. Of Christs fervent love to bloudy Ierusalem. II. Of Gods just hardning of Pharaoh, when hee had filled up the measure of his iniquity. III. Of mans timely remembring of his creator. Heretofore communicated to some friends in written copies: but now published for the generall good, by William Milbourne priest.	Jackson, Thomas, 1579-1640.; Donne, John, 1572-1631. aut; Milbourne, William, b. 1598 or 9.	1638 (1638)	STC 17918; ESTC S112664	68,848	322

object To the same purpose Esay 65. 12. Therefore I will number you to the sword and you shall all bow downe to the slaughter because when I called yee did not answer when I spake yee did not heare but did evill before mine eyes and did chuse that wherein I delighted not So then whether by the destruction of the wicked or salvation of the chosen Gods name is still glorified His justice expects what should have beene done but was not paid unto mercy Hee can be no loser by mans unthankfulnesse or ungratefulnesse The case is all one as if one should take that from a theefe with the left hand which hee hath picked out of our right hand Thus much of the two points proposed I doe desire no more than that the tree may be judged by the fruit and questionlesse the use of these resolutions for convincing our selves of sinne or quelling despaire or for encouraging the carelesse and impenitent unto repentance by giving them the right hold of the meanes of life is much greater than can bee conceived without the admittance of their truth First seeing the end of our preaching is not so much to instruct the elect as to call sinners to repentance not so much to confirme their faith that are already certaine of salvation as to give hope to the unregenerate that they may bee saved how shall wee accomplish either intendment by magnifying Gods love towards the elect who these are God and themselves know How shall he that lives yet in sinne p●rswade himselfe there is probability that he may bee saved because God hath infallibly decreed to save some few Rather seeing by the contrary doctrine the most part of mankinde must necessarily perish hee hath more reason to feare lest he be one of those many than one of the few The bare possibility of his salvation cannot be inferred but from indefinite premisses from which no certaine conclusion can possibly follow and without certaine apprehension or conceit of possibility there can bee no certaine ground of hope But if wee admit the former extent of Gods unspeakable love to all and his desire of their eternall safety which desperately perish every man may nay must undoubtedly thus conclude Therefore Gods love extends to mee It is his good will and pleasure to have mee saved amongst the rest as well as any other and whatsoever he unfainedly wils his power is able effectually to bring to passe The danger of sinne and terrour of that dreadfull day being first made knowne to our Auditory the pressing of these points as effectually as they might bee were this doctrine held for current would kindle the love of God in our hearts and inflame them with desires answerable to Gods ardent will of our salvation and these once kindled would breed sure hope and in a manner inforce us to embrace the infallible meanes thereunto ordained Without admission of the former doctrine it is impossible for any man rightly to measure the hainousnesse of his owne or others sinnes Such as gather the infinity of sinnes demerit from the infinite Majestie against which it is committed give us the surface of sinne infinite in length and breadth but not in solidity The will or pleasure of a Prince in matters meanly affected by him or in respect of which h●e is little more than indifferent may bee neglected without greater offence than meaner persons may justly take for foule indignities or grievous wrongs But if a Princes soveraigne command in a matter which he desired so much as his owne life should be contemned a loyall subject conscious of such contempt though hapning through riot or perswasions of ill company would in his sober fits be ready to take revenge of himselfe specially if hee knew his Soveraignes love or liking of him to be more than ordinary Consider then that as the Majesty and goodnesse of our God so his love and mercy towards us is truly infinite that he desires our repentance as earnestly as wee can desire meat and drinke in the extremity of thirst or hunger as wee can doe life it selfe whiles wee are beset with death This our God manifested in our flesh did not desire his owne life so much as our redemption We must therefore measure the hainousnesse of our sinne by the abundance of Gods love by the height and depth of our Saviours humiliation Thus they will appeare infinite not only because committed against an infinite Majesty but because with this dimension they further include a wilfull neglect of infinite mercies and incomprehensible desires of our salvation Wee are by nature the seed of rebels which had l●ft up their hands against the infinite goodnesse of their Creator in taking of the forbidden fruit whereby they sought to be like him in Majesty Conscious of the transgression the first actors immediately hid themselves from his presence and as if this their terrour had imprinted a perpetuall antipathy in their posteritie the least glimpse of his glory for many generations after made them crie out Alas wee shall die because we have seene the Lord. We still continue like the off-spring of tame creatures grown wilde alwayes eschewing his presence that seekes to recover us as the bird doth the fowlers or the beasts of the forest the sight of fire And yet unlesse hee shelter us under the shadow of his wings wee are as a prey exposed to the destroyer already condemned for fuell to the flames of hell or nutriment to the breed of serpents To redeeme us from this everlasting thraldome our God came downe into the world in the similitude of our flesh made as a stale to allure us with wiles into his net that hee might draw us with the cords of love The depth of Christs humiliation was as great as the difference betweene God and the meanest man therefore truly infinite Hee that was equall with God was conversant here on earth with us in the forme and condition of a servant But of servants by birth or civill constitution many live in health and case with sufficient supplies of all things necessary for this life So did not the Son of God His humanity was charged with all the miseries whereof mortality is capable subject to hunger thirst temptations revilings and scornings even of his servants an indignitie which cannot befall slaves or vassals either borne or made such by men or to use the Prophets words Hee bare mans infirmities not spiritually onely but bodily For who was weake and hee not weake who was sick and hee whole No malady of any disease cured by him but was made his by his exact and perfect sympathie Lastly Hee bare our sinnes upon the crosse and submitted himselfe to greater torments than any man in this life can suffer And though these were as displeasant to his humane nature as to ours yet were our sinnes to him more displeasant As he was loving to us in his death so was hee wise towards himselfe and in submitting himselfe unto his

Imprimatur THOMAS WYKES Decemb. 12. 1637. Sapientia Clamitans WISDOME Crying out to Sinners to returne from their evill wayes CONTAINED IN THREE pious and learned Treatises Viz. I. Of Christs fervent love to bloudy Ierusalem II. Of Gods just hardning of Pharaoh when he had filled up the measure of his iniquitie III. Of Mans timely Remembring of his Creator Heretofore communicated to some friends in written copies but now published for the generall good By WILLIAM MILBOURNE Priest EZECH 33. 11. Say unto them As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turne from his way and live turne ye turne ye from your evill wayes for why will yee dye Oh house of Israel LONDON Printed by I. Haviland for B. Milbourne at the unicorne neere Fleet-bridge 1638. CHRISTS FERVENT LOVE TO BLOVDIE HIERVSALEM OR An Exposition delivered in a Sermon on MATT. 23. vers 37. MATT. 23. vers 37. Oh Hierusalem Hierusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children together even a● an hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and yee would not THe summe of my last meditations upon the former verses was That notwithstanding our Saviours predictions or threatnings of all those plagues shortly to befall Hierusalem there was even at this time a possibilitie left for this people to have continued a flourishing nation a possibilitie left for their repentance that their repentance and prosperity was the end whereat the Lord himselfe did aime in sending Prophets and Wisemen and lastly his onely Sonne unto them The former of the two parts the possibility of their prosperity and repentance was proved from the perpetuall tenour of Gods covenant with his people first made with Moses afterwards renewed with David and S●lomon and ratified by Ieremie and Ezechiel The tenour of the covenant as you then heard was a covenant not of death onely but of life and death of life if they continued faithfull in his covenant of death if they continued in disobedience The later part of the same viz. That this peoples repentance and prosperity was the end intended by God was proved from that declaration of his desire of their everlasting prosperity Oh that there were such an heart in this people to feare me and to keepe my commandements alway that it might goe well with them and their posterity for ever And the like place Psal. 81. vers 13. to the end● Esay 48. verse 18. Both places manifest Gods love and desire of this peoples safety But the abundance the strength with the unrelenting constancie and tendernesse of his love is in no place more fully manifested than in these words of my text The abundant fervencie wee may note in the very first words in that his mouth which never spake idle or superfluous words doth here ingeminate the appellation Oh Hierusalem Hierusalem This hee spake out of the abundance of his love But love is oft times fervent or abundant for the present or whiles the object of our love remaines amiable yet not so constant or perpetuall if the quality of what wee love bee changed But herein appeares the constancie and strength of Gods love that it was thus fervently set upon Hierusalem not onely in her pure and virgin dayes or whiles shee continued as chaste and loyall as when shee was affianced unto the Lord by David a man after his owne heart but upon Hierusalem often drunken with the Cup of fornications upon her long stained and polluted with the bloud of his Saints upon her children who with the dogge returned unto their vomit or with the sow unto their wallowing in the mire or puddle of their Mothers dust whose sacrifices were mingled with righteous bloud upon Hierusalem and her Children after he had cleansed her infected habitations with fire and carried her Inhabitants beyond Babylon into the North-land as it had beene into a more fresh and purer aire not onely before the Babylonish Captivitie but after their returne thence and replantation in their owne land God would have gathered them even as the Hen doth her chickens under her wings c. In which words besides the Tendernesse of Gods love towards these Cast-awayes is set out unto us the safety of his protection so they would have beene gathered For as there is no creature more kinde and tender than the hen unto her young ones so is there none that doth more carefully shroud and shelter them from the storme none that doth more closely hide them from the eye of the Destroyer Yet so would God have hidden Hierusalem under the shadow of his wings from all those stormes which afterwards over-whelmed her and from the Roman Eagle to whom this whole generation became a prey if so Hierusalem with her children after so many hundred yeeres experience of his fatherly love tender care had not remained more foolish than the new hatched brood of reasonlesse creatures if so they had not beene ignorant of his call that had often redeemed them from their enemies How often would I have gathered you and you would not Here were large matter for Rhetoricall digressions or mellifluous Encomions of divine love points wherein many learned Divines have in later times beene very copious yet still leaving the truth of that Love which they so magnifie very questionable It shall suffice mee at this time first to prove the undoubted truth and unfainednesse of Gods tender love even towards such Cast-awayes as these proved to whom he made this protestation Secondly to unfold as far as is fitting for us to enquire how it is possible they should not be gathered unto God nor sa●ed by Christ whose gathering and whose safety Hee to whom nothing can be impossible had so earnestly so tenderly and so constantly longed after These are points of such use and consequence that if God shall enable mee soundly though plainly to unfold their truth you will I hope dispence with mee for want of artificiall exornations or words more choice than such as naturally spring out of the matters handled as willingly as the poore amongst you pardon good house-keepers for wearing nothing but home-spunne cloth For as it is hard for a man of ordinary meanes to bestow much on his owne back and feed many bellies so neither is it easie for mee and my present opportunities both to feed your soules with the truth and to cloath my discourse with choice words and flourishing phrases And I am perswaded many Preachers might in this argument often prove more Theologicall so they could be content to be lesse Rhetoricall Yet let not these premises prejudice the truth of the conclusion My purpose is not to dis●ent from any of the Reformed Churches but only in those particulars wherein they evidently dissent from themselves and from generall principles of truth acknowledged by all that beleeve God or his word Were I to speake in some

Audience of this point it would be needfull to dip my pen in Nectar or sweeten my voyce with Ambrosia to allay the harshnesse of this position That God should so earnestly desire the conversion of such as perish Howbeit the surest ground of that charitie which God requires should be in every one of us towards all our greatest enemies not excepted is firme beleefe of this his unspeakable love towards all even towards such as kill his Prophets and stone the Messengers of his Peace I e●hort saith the Apostle that first of all Supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thankes be made for all men For Kings and all that are in Authority Yet did such in those dayes most oppresse all Christians draw them before the Iudgement Seats even because they did pray to the true God for them For they did blaspheme that worthy name by which wee were called This duty notwithstanding which was so odious unto those great and rich men for whose good it was performed Saint Paul tels us was good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour why acceptable in his sight Because he would have all men and therefore even the sworne enemies of his Gospell to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth which they oppugned Or if the expresse authority of the Apostle suffice not his reasons drawne from the principles of Nature will perswade such as have not quenched the light of Nature by setting not the corruptions onely but the very Essence of Nature and Grace at ●ods and faction For there is one God Had there beene moe every one might have been conceived as partiall for his owne Creature But in as much as all of us have but one Father his love to every one must needs be greater than any earthly parents love unto their Children in as much as we are more truly his than children are their parents But here as the Apostle foreseeth might be replyed That albeit God be one and the onely Creator of all yet in as much as wee are seeds of Rebels with whom he is displeased our Mediatour might be more partiall and commend some to Gods love neglecting others To prevent this scruple the Apostle ads As there is but one God so there is but one Mediatour betweene God and Man and Hee of the same Nature with us A man but Men are partiall yet so is not the Man Christ Iesus that is the Man anointed by the holy Ghost to be the Saviour of the world As he truly tooke our flesh upon him that hee might be a faithfull and affectionate High Priest so that wee might conceive of him as of an unpartiall Sollicitour or Mediatour betwixt God and us hee tooke not our Nature instampt with any individuall properties characters or references to any one tribe or kindred Father according to the flesh hee had none but was framed by the sole immediate hand of God to the end that as the eye because it hath no set colour is apt to receive the impression of every colour so Christ because hee hath not these carnall references which others have but was without father without brother without sister on earth might be unpartiall towards all and account every one that doth the will of his father which is in Heaven as Sister Mother and Brother Thus saith the Lord to the Eunuchs that keepe my Sabbaths and choose the things that please mee and take hold of my Covenant even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a Name better than of Sonnes and Daughters I will give them an everlasting ●●me that shall not be cut off Briefly Hee is a Brother to all mankinde more loving and more affectionate than Brothers of entire bloud are one towards another The very ground of the Apostles reason thus bared will of it owne accord reverberate that Distinction which hath beene laid against his meaning by some otherwise most worthie Defendants of the Truth The distinction is that when the Apostle saith God will have all men to be saved he means Genera singulorum not Singula generum some few of all sorts not al of every sort some rich some poor some learned some unlearned some Iewes some Gentiles some Italians some English c. The illustrations which they bring to justifie this manner of speech did the time permit I could retort upon themselves and make them speake more plainly for my opinion than for theirs It shall be sufficient by the way to note the impertinencie of the application supposing the instances brought were in themselves justifiable by the illustrations they bring or how little it could weaken our assertion although it might intercept all the strength or aid this place affords for the fortification of it What can it helpe them to turne these words because they make towards us from their ordinary or usuall meaning or to restraine Gods love only unto such as are saved when as the current of it in other passages of Scripture is evidently extended unto such as perish In stead of many words utter●d by him that cannot lie unto this purpose those few Ezek. 33. 11. shall content mee As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turne from his way and live turne yee turne yee from your evill wayes for why will yee die Oh house of Israel If God minde the safety of such as perish yea even of most desperate and stubborne sinners no question but he wils all should be saved and come to the knowledge of his truth The former distinction then will not stop this passage Howbeit some learned among the Schoolemen and other most religious Writers of later times have sought out another for intercepting all succour this or the like places might afford to the maintenance of that truth which they oppugne and wee defend That God doth not will the death of a sinner Voluntate signi they grant but that hee wils it Voluntate heneplaciti they take as granted That is in other termes God doth not will the death of him that dies by his revealed will but by his secret will Not to urge them to a better declaration than hitherto they have made in what sense God being but one may be said to have two Wils That hee wils many things which wee know not that hee hath divers secret purposes wee grant and beleeve as most true indefinitely taken But because these Wils or Purposes are secret man may not without presumption determine the particular matters which hee so wils or purposes Otherwise they should not bee secret but revealed to us whereas things secret as secret belong only to God In that they oppose this Secret will to Gods revealed will they doe as it were put in a Caveat that we should not beleeve it in those particulars whereto they apply it For wee may not beleeve any thing concerning the

cruell and ignominious death did of two evils chuse the lesse rather to suffer the punishment due to our sinnes than to suf●er sinne still to raigne in us whom he loved more dearely than his owne life If then we shall continue in sinne after the manifestation of his love the hainousnesse of our offence is truly infinite in so much as wee doe that continually which is more distastfull to our gracious God than any torments can be to us So doing we build up the workes of Satan which hee came purposely to destroy For of this I would not have you ignorant that albeit the end of his death was to redeeme sinners yet the onely meanes predestinated by him for our redemption is destruction of the workes of Satan and renovation of his Fathers Image in our Soules For us then to reedifie the workes of Satan or abett his faction is still more offensive to this our God then was his Agonie or bloudy sweat For taking a fuller measure of our sinnes let us hereunto adde his patient expectation of his enemies conversion after the resurrection If the sonne of Zaleucus before mentioned should have pardoned any as deeply guilty as himselfe had beene of that offence for which hee lost one of his eyes and his father another the world would have taxed him either of unjust follie or too much facilitie rather than commended him for true justice or clemencie But that we may know how farre Gods mercy doth over-beare his Majestie he proceeds not straightway to execute vengeance upon those Jewes which wrecked their malice upon his deare and onely Sonne which had committed nothing worthy of blame much lesse of death Here was matter of wrath and indignation so just as would have moved the most mercifull man on Earth to have taken speedy revenge upon these spillers of innocent blood especially the law of God permitting thus much But Gods mercy is above his law above his justice These did exact the very abolition of these sinners in the very first act of sinne committed against God made man for their redemption yet hee patiently expects their repentance which with unrelenting fury had plotted his destruction Forty yeares long had hee beene grieved with this generation after the first Passeover celebrated in signe of their deliverance from AEgyptian bondage and for their stubbornnesse Hee swore they should not enter into his rest And now their posterity after a more glorious deliverance from the powers of darknesse have forty yeares allotted them for repentance before they bee rooted out of the land of Rest or Promise Yet hath not the Lord given them hearts to perceive eyes to see or eares to heare unto this day because seeing they would not see nor hearing would not heare but hardened their hearts against the Spirit of grace Lord give us what thou didst not give them hearts of flesh that may melt at thy threats eares to heare the admonirions of our peace and eyes to foresee the day of our visitation that so when thy wrath shall be revealed against sinne and sinners wee may bee sheltered from flames of fire and brimstone under the shadow of thy wings so long stretched out in mercie for us Often Oh Lord wouldst thou have gathered us and wee would not but let there be we beseech thee an end of our stubbornnesse and ingratitude towards thee no end of thy mercies and loving kindnesses towards us Amen GODS IVST HARDNING OF PHARAOH When he had filled up the measure of his iniquitie OR AN EXPOSITION OF ROM 9. 18 19. Therefore he hath mercie on whom he will have mercie and whom he will be hardneth Thou wilt say then unto me Why doth he yet find fault For who hath resisted his will LONDON Printed by JOHN HAVILAND for ROBERT MILBOURNE 1638. Gods just hardning of Pharaoh when he had filled up the measure of his iniquitie Or An Exposition of ROM 9. 18 19. Therefore hath ●e mercie on whom he ●ill have mercie and whom hee will bee hardneth Th●u wilt s●y then unto me Why doth be ye● finde faul● For who hath resisted his will● THe former part of this proposition here inferred by way of conclusion was avouched before by our Apostle as an undoubted Maxime ratified by Gods owne voyce to Moses For he said to Moses I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compasion on whom I will have compassion Exod. 33. 19. The true sense and meaning of which place I have before declared in unfolding the 16. verse of this chapter so that the later part of this eighteenth verse Whom he will hee hardneth must be the principall subject of my present discourse The Antecedent inferring this part of this conclusion is Gods speech to Pharaoh Exod. 9. 18. Even for this purpose have I raised thee up that I may shew my power in thee and that my name may be declared throughout all the Earth The inference is plaine seeing Gods powre was to be manifested in hardening Pharaoh The points of inquiry whose full discussion will open an easie passage to the difficulties concerning Rebrobation and Election and bring all the contentious controversies concerning the meaning of this chapter to a breefe prospicuous issue are especially foure 1. The Manner how God doth harden 2. The pertinencie of the Objection why doth hee yet finde fault for who hath resisted his will and the validitie of the Apostles answer 3. The Logicall determination of this proposition Whom hee will hee hardeneth what is the pr●per object of Gods will in hardening 4. What manner of division this is Hee will have compassion on whom hee will have compassion and whom hee will hee hardeneth For the right opening of all these foure difficulties the explication of the single term●s with their divers acceptions s●ves as a key The termes briefly to be explicat●d are three 1. Gods will 2. Induration or Hardening 3. Irresistible The principall difficultie or transcendent question is in what sense Gods will or Induration may be said to be irresistible whom hee will hee hardeneth Not to trouble you with any curious distinctions concerning Gods will this is a string which in m●st meditations we were inforced to touch Albeit Gods will be most truly and indivisibly one and in indivisible unitie most truly in●inite and immutable yet is it immutably free omnipotent able to produce pluralitie as well as unitie mutabilitie as well as immutabilitie weaknesse as well as strength in his creatures By this one infinite immutable will hee ordaines that some things shall be necessarie or that this shall be at this time and no other And such particulars hee is said by an extrinsecall denomination from the object to will by his irresistible will The meaning is the production of the object so willed cannot be resisted because it is Gods will that it shall come to passe notwithstanding any resistance that is or can bee made against it If any particular so willed should not come to