Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	die_v	let_v	life_n	14,740	5	4.9962	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52357	The true liberty & dominion of conscience vindicated, from the usurpations & abuses of opinion, and persuasion	Nalson, John, 1638?-1686.	1677 (1677)	Wing N117; ESTC R19982	50,790	152

necessity follow the Practise of this Principle And that these are the natural effects of Disobedience to Lawful Government let us but turn our eyes a little backward and we shall plainly see And these Dissenters however they seem to have forgot it may remember they have seen the days when the Presbyterian was in favour and full of hopes having troden upon the neck of dismounted Episcopacy to advance into the Chariot of Government but the crafty Independent coming slily behind him whipt up his heels and laid him in the dirt and was just going himself to take possession of the vacant seat when the surly Anabaptist Quaker Leveller and several others rushing in all at once upon him told him with the Hand all the while upon the Hilts that they had as just a right as he and that they would not part with it without a fair Trial of skill who had the longest Sword And there was nothing gave the late Vsurper more trouble than the importunities of these several Interests which he kept from falling foul one upon another by tollerating all for the present and cajolling the Heads of the Parties with Protestations and Assurances that in his heart he was of their persuasion and in time would declare himself to be so though for the present in regard of the Malignant Party it did not stand with his Interest nor theirs so to do till they were more fully assured against the common Enemy though at last they all found him to be a meer Proteus or Polypus in Religion and that he could change himself into the shape and colour of that Party which was nearest to him Lastly Let them consider That this Principle must give increase growth and encouragement to all Sects and Heresies since all pretend Conscience and plead for Toleration And if this Liberty of Conscience be granted them there must of necessity follow infinite and unavoidable Divisions Separation upon Separation Confusion and at last Atheism since amongst so many pretenders to the true Religion all will at last come to be suspected to be false These are certainly the necessary effects and inevitable consequences of unsetling the present Government in the Church either by changing it for a new one or permitting Toleration or what men call Liberty of Conscience And we must either believe that these Dissenters do not foresee or understand the danger of this Precipice to which they make such haste or if they do that they are the most malicious of Mankind since they would sacrisice all Law Government Liberty Property and Religion to their own private Opinions and Persuasion CHAP. XIII A vindication of what is before laid down as a fundamental Principle in this Discourse viz. That God Almighty made Mankind for an excellent End that is his Glory and in order thereunto by obedience to his Commands their own happiness both here in this Life and hereafter in the Life of Immortality THus far I have endeavoured to follow the Clue of Truth and Reason which if others would likewise do I doubt not but it would bring them out of those Mazes and Labyrinths of doubts which perplex their minds and make their Lives so uneasie both to themselves and others by making many things matters and scruples of Conscience when in truth they were not such And not onely so but likewise it would conduce much to the calming of those storms and tempests which are gathering from so many several Quarters and seem to threaten both Church and State if not with Shipwrack yet with most violent agitations and commotions But before I conclude there is one thing which I have laid down as a fundamental Principle in this Discourse and upon which a great part of this weighty building of Conscience does depend as upon a main Pillar which I think it will be necessary to make clear and evident And that is That the great Creator out of the Excellency of his Nature made the World and particularly Mankind for a most excellent End viz. his own Glory and in order thereunto the happiness of Mankind here in this Life as a preparative to Eternal happiness hereafter That this is a most certain and undeniable Truth however some narrow-spirited men who would engross all the Bounty of Heaven to themselves may think otherwise by taking such low measures of the Divine Goodness and Beneficence as may be proportionable to the Stature of their own understandings though far short of Infinite which is the onely true measure of the Deity I doubt not but to make it most evidently plain and apparent to all those who do not wilfully close their eyes against the brightest beams of Truth Reason and Scripture First therefore we must consider the Incomparable Excellency of this Infinite Being who is the Author of all things for he himself tells us Psal 57.10 that his mercy reacheth unto the Clouds and his goodness far above these visible Heavens and that it is over all his works And lest we should be mistaken by judging him according to our selves he gives us to know Isa 55.7 8 9. that his thoughts are not as our thoughts nor his ways like our ways low narrow and short But as the heavens are high above the earth so are his ways and thoughts high above our ways A comparison large and wide enough to shew us the vast disproportion betwixt Finite and Infinite Goodness Now there can be nothing more suitable and agreeable to the Goodness Bounty Wisdom Power and Justice of his Essence which is Infinite than a Design that all his Creatures should be happy according to their several capacities which he who made nothing in vain created them with And on the contrary to suppose he made any thing with a capacity of enjoying any degree of Happiness as its ultimate End and chief Good and yet with an intention and design not onely of not attaining it but of being for ever miserable is so far from magnifying his Goodness or Justice that it would argue him of such a cruel nature as were the highest derogation and most proper blasphemy to believe it of him And that his Justice will be glorified in the punishment and misery of some of his Creatures even of the Noblest Rank he assures us with the highest protestation imaginable is far from being an effect of his Will and is perfectly occasioned by their own choice and wilful folly As I live saith the Lord Ezek. 33.11 that is as surely as I am I have no pleasure in the death of a sinner but had rather that he should turn and live Turn ye turn ye why will ye die And if he has no pleasure in his death a smaller punishment undoubtedly not in his Eternal Damnation the greatest of all miseries But secondly let us consider That the scope of all Religion and the Commands of God in Scripture all aim directly at this White viz. the happiness of all Mankind even here in this Life in order to an Eternal