Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	eternal_a	sin_n	temporal_a	8,837	5	8.6794	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61848	Heavenly treasure, or, Mans chiefest good wherein the several workings of the heart about, and in pursuance of its chiefest good are solidly and judiciously discovered / by William Strong.	Strong, William, d. 1654.; Sedgwick, Obadiah, 1600?-1658. Elisha his lamentation upon the sudden translation of Elijah.	1656 (1656)	Wing S6004; ESTC R25154	135,945	535

doth exceedingly abhor to be deceived t is so in all your natures men do not love to be cheated for there is not only a loss in the thing but a disparagement left upon the man he is not only deceived of some good thing but he hath the blemish of a fool laid upon him because he was deceived being out-witted you use to say I had rather give away three times as much then to be cheated of a small matter now you shall finde deceit is conversant about the understanding and by this means a man is deceived through the failing of his understanding The Holy Ghost charges That no man should circumvent and over-reach his brother in bargaining men do not love to be over-reached the woman was deceived 1 Tim. 2. 14. and 2 Cor. 11. 3. The Serpent beguiled the woman out-witted over-reached but never was there such a cheat as this in the world to deceive a man in his chief good this is the great deceit you will say to give a man Brass for Gold is a great deceit for a man to take stones for bread that were a greater because there is a less similitude but to take the Creature for the Creator to set up the devil in the place of God this is the deceit of being cheated in a mans chief good there are t is true many lesser deceits of Satan he doth deceive men in this or that particular act and a man is many times deceived by Satan through the same sin when a man hath been convinc'd of a sin hath repented for it hath prayed against it cost him many tears and sighs and groans before God and he hath resolved against that sin yet a new temptation hath come the devil hath varnisht that sin over again and the man is taken with it this is a deceit in a particular act but here lies the grand deceit when a man is deceived in point of his chief good the nature of man is exceedingly against being beguiled over-reached consider further Fourthly you have the more reason to look unto it upon this account because this is the deceit that above all others Satan takes care to hide from you he would so deceive you in your chief good that you should never know it keep you under that deceit all the days of your lives There are several deceits of Satan that may be discovered to men and they may recover out of them as the Apostle 2 Tim. 2. 26. speaks of men recovering themselves out of the snare of the Devil or as the word is to come to a mans self after he hath been drunk to come into his wits again a man may do so in many things A man may see that in this or that action he erred and hath been deceived and that was not good and this was not well this a man may see and recover himself nay I think a man may go thus high a man may see the deceit of Satan his guile in reference to his darling sin that I conceive even in a state of unregeneracy a man may change his darling sin a man may have such discovery of the deceit of Satan for the unclean spirit sometimes goes out of the man in reference to particular acts a man may see himself deceived and a man may see himself quite escaped those great errors among which he lives 2 Pet. 2. 18. but in regard of a mans chief good whatever he can do to hinder a man from seeing the deceipt in his chief good he will do 2 Cor. 4. The God of this world hath blinded the eyes of them that believe not What is the devils great design upon all unregenerate men his great design is to keep them unregenerate that 's his business for never was any man converted to Christ but he did see that he had erred in his chief good for you must consider what conversion is it is a turning to God that argues a departing from God turn to the Lord therefore we are departed from him Now how is a man departed from God Why as his chief good as his utmost end and therein lies the true nature of all ungodliness I am departed from God as my chief good and have forsaken God as my utmost end when a man returns to God again what doth he do why change his chief good that place is observable Jer. 2. 13. My people have committed two evils forsaken me the fountain of living waters what is that departed from me as their chief good from whence all good flows And dig to themselves broken Cisterns that is place their chief good somewhere else that is the meaning of the Spirit of God though a man see his particular error yet in this he shall be blind the God of this world will endeavor to blind his eyes Further consider Fifthly this will be the deceit under which the greatest part of the world will perish being deceived in a mans chief good I say under this deceit the greatest part of the world will be damned for straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that enter thereat Mat. 7. 14. Now all men it is very true are carryed out after some good thing or other and that they pursue Who will shew us any good Psal 4. but there is a fourfold deceit under which about good things diligently sought the greatest part of the world will perish pray observe them carefully First men take bonum apparens pro vero that which is but a seeming good for a real and true good Secondly they take bonum particulare pro universali a particular good for an universal good that which is the chief good serves to all ends and purposes in all estates and conditions t is good every way whereas riches its true they profit against poverty but not against death and wrath honour keeps a man from disgrace but will not prevail against sin and hereby men are deceived Thirdly men take temporale pro aeterno a temporal good and they think this is an eternal good they think their riches will last for ever and that they will go down with them to the pit to bribe the flames and corrupt the Tormenter A mans chief good must last not only for this life but in the life to come Lastly they take alienum pro proprio that which is another mans good for their own I that 's the deceit The holy Ghost when he speaks of all things of this life saith If thou be not faithfull in that which is another mans Luke 16. 11. I warrant there is never a rich man here but thinks your estates are your own a Nabal may say indeed Shall I take my meat and my drink and very thing is my and my but the Spirit of God is quite contrary he saith Thou art the Steward of it for the present but t is another mans and therefore when he speaks of giving to the poor he saith withhold not from him

dear Childe my Father my Father As David once about Absolom my Son my Son So Elisha here for Elijah my Father my Father Ah my Father my Father Oh I have lost a Father my Father such a Father The Chaldee Interpreter renders it Rabbi Rabbi my Master my Master But in the Hebrew it is Abba Abba my Father my Father 2. The publique loss The Charet of Israel and the horsemen thereof As if he had said one of the best instrumental helps and safeties that all Israel enjoyed is now taken away O the staff and the stay is broken What the Charet and the Horsemen are to an Army or to a State and what the loss of them is unto a State That was the life and that was the loss of this Prophet Elijah unto all Israel There are two Propositions onely which I would briefly discourse upon from this Text at this time and with respect to this sad occasion 1. That even the most eminently Faithfull and Zealous Prophets of God may be and shall be taken away from a people 2. That the loss of any one eminently Faithful and Zealous Prophet of God should affect the hearts of people with exceeding Grief and Lamentation I begin with the first of these 1. Proposition That even the most eminently Faithfull and Zealous Prophets of God may be and shall be taken away from a people The Prophets or Ministers of God they are of different parts and gifts and they are of different Spirits and they are of different Use and Service Put them in comparison one with another some are as Stars of the first Magnitude and others of a lesser Magnitude some are as the Cedars and others are but as ordinary trees Some are more richly As Elijah Paul Calvin and Luther and plentifully endowed and furnished others are not so they are lower by the head some are vigorously active and are raised up and laid out for the general Advantages and Managements of Religion yet others are not so though all be Builders yet all of them are not Master-builders They differ much in their Gifts in their Graces in their Services Gifts will free from Indiscretion Grace from hell but nothing from death in their Usefulness Nevertheless they must all agree in this they must all dye they must all be taken away Here in the text Elijah was taken away and what was he he was a Prophet and in some sense more then a Prophet He was a Prophet of the highest rate most eminent for faithfulness and zeal that was his excellency Noah was eminent for uprightness and Moses for meekness and Job for patience and Solomon for wisdom and Joshua for prowess and Josiah for tenderness and Elisha for Miracles and Elijah for zeal and courage and faithfulness All the false Prophets were nothing to him nor Jezabel the Queen nor Ahab the King and although in his opinion he was left alone to sustain the cause of God yet he alone continued faithfull and zealous Nevertheless this holy and excellent man of God is taken away and suddenly and in a very needfull time Zach. 1. 5. Your Fathers where are they And the Prophets do they live for ever No no they do not live for ever Nor yet many times very long You may finde them for a while in the Study and for a while in the Pulpit and after a little while you may finde them in their graves The Reasons of this Divine 4. Reasons why God takes away his most faithful prophets dispensation besides many other are these 1. Because even the most faithful Prophets of God are Stewards but for a time of them as well as of others it must be said Ye shall be no longer Stewards they have their determined work and their allotted time for that work their reward shall be measured by eternity But their work and their life are measured by time so much work for so much time and then their Master calls them home In Scripture you read that they are sometimes called 2 Cor. 5. 20. Ambassadors who are choice persons sent abroad by a special Commission and when they have finished their Legation or Treaty then must they return back unto their Prince the Prophets or Ministers of God are the Ambassadors of God in a special manner Authorized to treat with sinners to be reconciled perhaps sinners will hearken unto them and conclude upon terms of saving agreement perhaps they will not These have but their time to hearken and they have but their time to offer and perswade and when that is expired the Lord calls them home Again you finde them 1 Cor. 3. 9. sometimes called labourers and workmen the labourer goes forth in the morning and he does his days work which when he hath finished then he comes home and takes his Rest Thus it is and thus it shall be with the best of Gods Prophets and Ministers who are also called the Messengers of God and must return unto him an answer what they have done and how they have sped 2. There is a day of recompence for them their reward is with the Lord they are imployed by a good Master and as there are the works of faithful servants for them to do so there is the reward of a faithful master for them to receive there is a Prophets work here and a Prophets reward hereafter Christs cals it our Masters joy and Paul calls it a Crown of Righteousness the faithfull and laborious Ministers of God though despised and injured by men on earth yet they are loved and encouraged by Christ and as they are a means to save others so they themselves shall be saved and shall shine as the stars for ever and ever they shall be with the Lord for ever they shall be everlastingly blessed And therefore they must die they must away else they cannot take possession of the inheritance reserved for them nor of the Crown laid up for them indeed in this life they have the assured hopes of eternal blessedness and the first fruits and some tasts but the ful perfect possession and fruition comes not to them nor to any in this life that comes only after death and therefore Paul desires to be dissolved and so to be with Christ 3. The Lord doth this to punish the ingratitude of people who do despise and disgrace and despightfully use his servants the Prophets injuriously handle them and there is no man that will plead for them and right them Of all the men in the world the faithful Prophets of God do the most good to others and finde the worst reception from them Jesus Christ chargeth this unworthy dealing upon Jerusalem Mat. 23. 37. O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee And Stephen chargeth it upon them Act. 7. 52. Which of the Prophets have not your Fathers persecuted And Paul complains in 1 Cor. 4. 13. We are made as the filth of the