Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	body_n	life_n	separation_n	4,198	5	9.8832	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A78030	The sounding of the two last trumpets, the sixt and seventh or Meditations by way of paraphrase upon the 9th. 10th. and 11th. Chapters of the Revelation, as containing a prophecie of these last times. / Digested by Henry Burton during his banishment, and close imprisonment in the isle of Guernsey.	Burton, Henry, 1578-1648.	1641 (1641)	Wing B6172; Thomason E174_1; ESTC R6165	58,961	100

astonishment and terrour of all their enemies who shall behold them But now a little more particularly to cleere the words we shewed before how the Lord's witnesses may be slain two wayes either corporally in separating their souls from their bodies or mystically and in a similitude or parable in a separation of their life from the world that is from all cōmerce cōmunion with the world so as their life is made no better but rather worse then death Now for them that are slain after the first manner we are not to expect that God wil according to the Letter rayse them up from the dead as here after three days and a halfe And for them that are slain after the second manner here specified though God should not deliver and restore them from that their civill death though he be able to do it and will doe it if he have so determined unto their libertie and communion with humane societie as formerly Yet this we are sure of as Gods Word here must needs be true that of the very dust and ashes of his dead witnesses under this Trumpet in what manner so ever dead hee will raise up again to life and that in the time of this Trumpet either those very witnesses in their own persons or else in the Spirit of these hee will raise up other witnesses and such as if they were those very witnesses formerly slain Thus wee read of Elias c Mal. 4.5 6. Behold saith the Lord I will send you Elias the Prophet before the comming of the great and dreadfull day of the Lord and he shall turn the heart of the Fathers to the children c. Now this Elias was meant of John the Baptist that morning Star that ushered in the d Mal. 4.2 Sun of Righteousnesse that was to prepare the way before him e Luke 1.17 He saith the Angell to Zachariah shall goe before him in the Spirit and power of Elias to turn the heart of the Fathers to the Children c. Whence it is plaine and cleere that John the Baptist was that Elias there prophecied of and he is called Elias because hee came in the spirit and power of Elias And therefore Christ faith to his Disciples when they objected that Elias must first come f Math. 17.11 I tell you saith he that Elias is come already c. whereupon they understood that hee spake unto them of John the Baptist And Matth. 11.14 Speaking of John Baptist he saith This is Elias which was to come Thus wee see how the Prophet Elias being dead and buried many hundred yeers before yet was as it were raised up from the dead to be Christs harbinger But how Not in his person but in his spirit and power So as John Baptist comming in the spirit and power of Elias is called Elias and in him the Prophecie is fulfilled that Elias should come and now in Iohn he was already come Now according to this sense wee may safely interpret this Prophecie also in this place After three dayes and a halfe the spirit of life from God shall enter into them to wit into the two slain witnesses and they shall stand upon their feet c that is after a short but set time with God the spirit of life from God shall rayse up his former witnesses that were slain though not in their owne persons yet in other witnesses that shall succeed them who shall be indued with the same spirit and power which they had beene indued with all And this is that spirit of life from God which entring into his servants raiseth them up to be lively witnesses of his truth full of vigour strength courage zeale constancie g Revel 12.11 not loving their lives unto the death but as it is said of Paul and Barnabas such as had h Acts 15.26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abandoned or given up for lost their lives for the Name of Christ So that as the same spirit of life from God entring into Iohn the Baptist made him to be called that Elias who had been indued with the same spirit and was foretold to come againe which was fulfilled in the Baptist So here the same spirit of life from God nor is it said to bee their own spirit which the slain witnesses had now entring into other witnesses succeeding them they by the same reason may be called those very witnesses as being now by the Almighty power of GOD raised from the dead as Iohn the Baptist was called that Elias because hee came in the spirit and power of Elias And in this respect seeing the raising and restoring of these two witnesses is perhaps not personall but spiritual it is not necessary that we tie or restrain the succeeding witnesses strictly to the number of two only For as it was said of old Sanguis Martyrum semen Ecclesiae The bloud of the Martyrs is the seed of the Church and as one seed or grain sowne and dying brings forth much fruit as i Iohn 12.24 Christ saith so as one corne brings forth the increase of a hundred and some of a thousand as in some Countries as of Virginia So these two witnesses may in the multiplication of their spirit and power and of that spirit of life from God bring forth an abundant harvest even great plenty of more witnesses that sh●ll stand up for that Truth for the which these two were slaine What shall wee say of those many witnesses whom the Lord lately raised up in Scotland standing up upon their feet to mayntain their Christian Liberty against Antichristian bondage and to vindicate Christs Scepter and Government over his Church there out of the tyrannicall hands of that proud usurping Beast out of the bottomlesse pit who by his Egyptian Taskmasters the Prelates so oppressed Gods people as they were made weary of their lives And when were these witnesses raised up Surely not much after three dayes and a halfe that the two witnesses were slaine those I meane who suffered worse then death for bearing witnesse against the Tyranny of the Romish Beast and his cruell Taskmasters And what other spirit but that spirit of life from God could raise up so many witnesses so unanimously and with such a wonderfull wisdome discretion judgement zeal and courage to stand up in defence of Christs Kingdome against Antichrists Tyranny Yea and what other spirit and power but that of God could move the heart of his anointed Vicegerent to assent to his peoples just and religious plea to have Christ alone to raigne over his peoples soules and consciences which is his peculiar and incommunicable Prerogative Nor could the King either have advanced higher his own Royall honour or more surely have established his owne Throne in the uniting and fastening of his Subjects hearts and affections in all love and loyalty unto him then by giving Christ his due honour who hath said k 1 Sam. 2.30 Those that honour me I will honour and they

with the same spirit namely such as prophesie against the Beast and his Throne and all those that by their constant profession of the Truth and refusing communion with the Beast doe become thereby the witnesses of Christ For the Beast wars with the Saints Chap. 13.7 But what be those weapons and what those forces wherewith this Beast warreth against Christs witnesses and Gods Saints Surely hee useth all manner of weapons whereby to execute his beastly cruelty And these may be reduced to two kindes The Spirituall Sword and the Temporall Sword His Spirituall Sword is the brute Thunderbolt of his execrable Excommunication direfull Curses and dreadfull Courts as his Court of Inquisition and of High Commission and other his Prelaticall and Hierarchicall Courts which are so many Dens wherin this hideous Beast once inclosing the Saints doth prey upon them he and his Cubs But if this his Sword prove not strong enough as meeting with some mettle too tough for it to ●●●rce then he can command with a wet finger the helpe of the Temporall Sword which is like Tamberlains black and bloudy Banner which being displayed by the Beasts power and inspired with his fiery-mettled spirit breathes nothing but either fire and faggot or Pillory with shedding of bloud perpetuall close imprisonment banishment and all other evils of this life more bitter and cruell by many degrees than death it selfe And this is his kinde of warre But how comes he to do these things by the help of the Temporall Power when commonly all his proceedings are without either law or colour of justice except according to the Beasts owne lawlesse Law For this hee wants not his devices for hee will so contrive the matter and lay his snares as either the innocent being brought into the Temporall Court where also he himself wil sit a Judge and where his spirit is wondrously predominant shall be forced to assent to the condemnation of his own cause before the hearing or else if hee refuse so to doe he shall be censured as guiltie of all those hainous crimes laid to his charge though never so false and maliciously devised yea hee can so handle the businesse as the censure shall be agreed upon and concluded before ever his day of hearing come and when it is come his Legall Defence shal never be heard This needs no application And this is the Beasts manner of warring right nor should it be properly the Beasts warre were it not altogether bestiall void of all Law or conscience or honesty or humanitie And ever his mayn forces and battery are bent against the two witnesses namely such as doe constantly testifie and maintain the Prerogative of Christs Kingly Government over his Church against the Beasts proud and tyrannicall usurpations and the truth of the Gospel and Word of Christ against all Antichrists lyes and the authoritie and sufficiencie of the Holy Scripture against the Beasts unwritten Traditions and Ecclesiasticall Canons the authoritie whereof hee preferreth above and opposeth against the Law of God As for all wicked prophane and impious persons his Holines hath no quarrell against them for either they are such as belong to the Beasts Den or at least though they be not of it yet they are not much against it Thus he warreth Secondly as the Beast warreth against the witnesses so hee shall overcome them How shall hee overcome them Their faith and testimony hee shall not overcome so as to force them to recant or desert their cause or betray their conscience For Chap. 12.11 those on Christs side overcame the Dragon by the bloud of the Lamb and by the word of their Testimonie and they loved not their lives unto the death Nor shal the Beast be able to overcome them by force of arguments and reasoning for he is a Beast yea the Beast of all Beasts his Arguments are fire and faggot Pillory and bloud-shed as before down-right club-law or a push with his ten q Revel 17.12 hornes or a by-back-blow with his paw So as thus hee comes to get the conquest over their bodies indeed he can shut them close up hee can pillory them hee can mangle and torture them and a thousand ways subdue r Matth. 10.28 their bodies but can doe no more Luke 12.4 Not only so but in the third place hee shall kill them Famous is the Beast for his infinite bloudy victories over Christs Witnesses in this kinde by putting them to death But now there is a twofold kind of death which he puts them to The first is by a violent separation of their soule from their bodie as in the flames of Martyrdome This hath bin the Beasts practice of old But this subtile Dragon finding by experience that his kingdome rather suffered damage this way then wonne any ground and that it proved rather an advantage to his Adversaries and brought much hatred to his barbarous cruelty in so putting them to death hee hath found out another kinde of death and that though not in show yet indeed farre more cruell than the other and that is by a violent and perpetuall separation of a living man from all the delights comforts and contentments in the World from his wife and children from his meanes and livelihood friends and acquaintance from the Communion of Saints yea from all societie of men and in a word from all the means of comfort in this life Spirituall or Temporall So as a man in this case may be said to be killed or deprived of life when he is deprived of all those things without which life cannot well be called a life but a death rather or such a life as that in hell where not one drop of comfort is allowed to those tormented souls And as dead men neither see nor heare nor speake nor write nor have any commerce with the living So these may neither see their living friends nor heare from them by letters nor speake nor write unto them nor have any commerce with them Thus far dead they be And in this sense we have seen some eminent Witnesses of Christ yet living in their close Prisons in remote Lands thus to bee killed in these our dayes Which being so may it not bee one evident signe that we are now in the sixt Trumpet wherein wee have seene so many things to be come to passe and fulfilled so particularly set forth in this Prophecie It followeth Verse 8. Verse 8. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great Citie which spiritually is called Sodome and Egypt where also our Lord was crucified And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and Nations shall see their dead bodies three dayes and a halfe and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoyce over them and make merry and shall send gifts one to another because these two Prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth Now these dead bodies as we said before may

be so called in respect of a civill death as dead to the whole World in a civill respect having no communion nor commerce with the World And the bodies are here named not the persons because persecuting Tyrants as we touched before have no power over the soule but only over the body this they may torment imprison ſ Matth. 10.28 kill but that 's all they can doe Well what of those dead bodies take them in any sense They shall lie in the street of the great Citie which spiritually is called Sodome and Egypt where also our Lord was crucified What great City is this Surely it can be no other but the Citie of the Beast together with the Suburbs And the Suburbs are all those Cities or States which are either subject to or confederate with the Head-Citie which is Rome We can not have a fitter exposition hereof then that which the Prelate of Canterbury gives us in his reprinted Conference with the Jesuite Fisher For there he saith That the Church of Rome and the Church of England as also all other Prelaticall or Hierarchicall Churches are all one and the same Church no doubt of that as he saith and as is noted before This is his Catholike Church And so this is that great City which stands in opposition to the Holy Citie and treads it under feet as Verse 2. For as Christs Church is called a Holy Citie though it be dispersed over the World So Antichrists Synagogue is here called a Great Citie as comprehending in it all those Cities and States which make up one body of the Beast This great City is spiritually called Sodome and Egypt Sodome for the wickednesse voluptuousnesse prophanenesse pride and other sins of Sodome raigning therein and where they make open warre against all holinesse and all good Laws of GOD and Man And secondly it is called Egypt for its tyranny in oppressing and afflicting of Gods people with their intolerable burthens And for this they have their Task-masters to wit the Prelates and their multitude of officers who force Gods people through their whole Egyptian Provinces to fill up their tale and task of bricks in the strict observation of all their Rites and Ceremonies Constitutions and Canons the Spirituall burthens of their spirituall Egypt and for default thereof in the lest degree or kind the Taskmasters beat and abuse them if they t Exod. 5.15 complaine 't is to no purpose they can have no remedy Thus not without cause is this Citie called not only Great but spiritually Sodome and Egypt So as in what Country soever in the World this Beast sets his paw that is where ever hee hath his Taskmasters the Prelates and their Officers as where almost are they not there is the Kingdome of the Beast there be the Suburbs of this Great Citie And whatever Countrey or State doth incorporate it self into an union or confederation with this Papall Hierarchie becomes thereby ipso facto a member of this great Citie which is spiritually called Sodome and Egypt And this being so tell me ô England art thou not become a member of this great body of this Great Citie of this spirituall Sodome of this spirituall Egypt For wherein dost thou differ from Rome it selfe Doth not thy great Arch-prelate who is as thine Oracle professe in thy name and in Print with an unblushing forehead that England is of the u Conference Reprinted Epist Ded. pag. 16. And pag. 376. 338. c. same Church same faith same Religion with Rome And doth he not shrowd this his Book under the name of the highest Authoritie in England as commanded by the King to be published And hast thou not set forth Edicts dispensing with the open profanation of the Sabbath by heathenish Sports and others prohibiting Ministers to preach in the after-noons on Lords Days as preferring thy prophane Sports before the holy and divine Ordinance of Preaching and so consecrating at least the one halfe of the Lords Day to Bacchus or Belial Art thou not then a part of that great Citie which is spiritually called Sodome Again dost thou not permit if not command thy Prelates the Roman Pharoahs Taskmasters to vex afflict and grievously oppresse the people of God with the intolerable burthens of their and thine endlesse Ceremonies And not x These things were then in force when this Treatise was written content with the old thou addest new burthens as the Egyptians did in denying straw and those most abominable as thy Superstitious yea Idolatrous Heathenish Altars with all their Idolatrous Altar-Service wherein thou art utterly falne from being a member of the Holy Citie which thou treadest under thy feet and even professest thy selfe to be of that Great Citie which for its inthralling and oppressing of Gods people is spiritually called Egypt O England England Repent hereof cast out thy cursed and cruell Taskmasters like as thy Neighbour Scotland hath done so suffer thy people Gods people to serve their God as he hath commanded and to enjoy their Christian Libertie which Christ hath deerly purchased for them and no longer to be under the Antichristian Babylonian yoake and the Egyptian Taskmasters Thus we have seen as it were in a Map the large Territories and bound lesse bounds of this great City here mentioned spiritually called Sodome and Egypt in the street whereof lie the dead bodies of Christs two witnesses and where as here is added our Lord was crucified Which is to be understood not simply and personally of our Lords crucifying but mystically For our Lord in Person was crucified at Jerusalem and yet not within the Citie but without the Gate And yet Christ in his Person was crucified by the first Roman Beast the Emperour whose Successour both in his Seat and in the Image of his Power and State and in all his bloudy persecutions of the Saints the Papall Beast now is as also of the Scribes and Pharisees and High Priests who put Christ to death and so hee with them is guilty of his bloud as Matth. 23.35 36. Verse 31. But he is crucified mystically in his mysticall members even in the open Streets of this Great Citie Witnesse all those persecutions and Martyrdomes which the Beast in all Ages and Countries hath caused wherein the Lord himselfe hath been crucified to wit in his Saints and Witnesses And what thinke you of those Witnesses of whose crucifying on the Pillory in the open street or rather spacious Palace-yard in the Citie of Westminster we have been all eye-witnesses and spectators Was our Lord there then in them on those Pillories crucified or not If he were and that upon such an eminent Theatre and in the view of that Court where they were so censured the High Priests themselves with others of high note beholding and pleasing themselves with such a Tragedie of the Beasts cunning contriving and cruell execution was not this trow you a part of that Great Citie where our Lord hath been