Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	great_a	life_n	love_n	7,775	5	5.2746	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45546	Faiths victory over natvre, or, The unparallel'd president of an unnaturally religious father delivered in a sermon preached at the funerals of the hopefull young gentleman Master John Rushout : son and heire to Master John Rushout merchant and citizen of London / by Nathanael Hardy ...	Hardy, Nathaniel, 1618-1670.	1648 (1648)	Wing H721; ESTC R12956	17,414	32

Abraham to offer up our children yet he somtimes requires us to neglect both children and parents and all naturall relations for his sake and surely in such a case Pietas est impium esse pro Domino it is piety towards God to be unnaturall to our friends our blessed Saviour hath told us He that loveth father or mother more then me is not worthy of me and he that loveth son or daughter more then me is not worthy of me Mat. 10.37 Another Evangelist useth a more harsh expression He that commeth to me and hateth not all these strange that love it selfe should require hatred but yet just not in an absolute but comparative sence we must not love father or mother more then him yea when their desires come in competition with his will we must hate them for him we must say as Levi nescio vos I know you not or with Christ to his mother quid mihi tecum woman what have I to do with thee trampling under foot all naturall relations which would hinder us from obedience to divine injunctions It was a pious though erroneous spirit that lodged in the breast of Sir Thomas Moor once Lord Chancellour of this Kingdom who regarded not the prayers nay tears of his dearest wife when shee perswaded him with the forfeiture of his conscience to endeavour the restauration of his liberty let us follow his pattern that no respect either to wives or children may withdraw us from the performance of our duties to God 3 Finally though God doe not call us to offer up our children yet many times he calls to us to part with them though not to sacrifice them with our own hands yet to resigne them up to his dispose oh let us learn by Abrahams example chearfully to give up our dearest comforts to that God who hath given them unto us he was willing to an obtulit so far obedient as himselfe to offer his son shall not we be content with an abstulit that God should take away wife or children or any enjoyment from us good old Eli when acquainted by Samuel with Gods severe intentions against himselfe his sons his family sits down quietly and sayes submissively Dominus est It is the Lord let him doe what it seems good in his sight Holy Job when informed by severall messengers of the losse of his Oxen by the Sabeans of his Camels by the Caldeans of his Sheep and servants by a fire from God nay of his sons and daughters by a winde from the wildernesse worshiped saying Dominus dedit The Lord gives and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord Oh let us write after these copies and what we daily pray for cheerfully submit unto that the will of the Lord may be done let all parents say to use the Prophets words though in another case Behold I and the children whom thou ô Lord hast given me are at thy dispose doe with me and mine as it pleaseth thee And that we may attein this gracious frame of spirit let us take notice of and strive after that grace of faith wherein Abraham excelled and by which he was enabled to so difficult a work which leads me to the 3 Generall namely the true ground of Abrahams obedient behaviour in those words by faith indeed nothing but faith could enable him to quit himselfe in so great a tryall I deny not but even Heathens have sacrificed themselves and their children unto death but upon what grounds for the most part affection of vain glory at the best but love of their Countrey was that which bereaved them of their lives Abrahams offering up his Isaac was upon another ground in a religious observance of divine precept to which nothing but faith could enable the truth is if we rightly weigh this act of Abraham we shall finde there was great need of faith to unlock the difficulties silence the reasonings answer the doubts which could not but arise in his spirit There was a double objection which this Patriark might make against offering up his son to both which only faith could give an answer The one in reference to the comand which God gave The other in respect of the promise which God made 1 Besides the Law of nature God hath given an expresse command Thou shalt not kill and well might Abraham argue if I must not kill any man much lesse my son surely God is either contrary to himselfe or else this bloudy precept came not from him but is a meer delusion of the Devill but here faith steps in unfolds the riddle assures Abraham it was no other then God who had given this in charge that he is an absolute illimited commander and therefore might enjoyn what he pleased that he is sovereigne Lord of his own Law and therefore may dispence with it when he will thus silencing this objection by faith he offers up Isaac and it is a rule we are to take notice of that where Gods commands seem or doe really clash one against another the lesser must give way to the greater and ordinary to extraordinary precepts the ten Comandements are the generall rule of our life yet if a speciall intervene as here did to Abraham faith gives that the preheminence 2 Another objection might well arise from Gods promise God hath assured Abraham of an innumerable seed as the stars of heaven and the sands on the sea-shore all these to come out of Isaacs loynes and yet God commands that Isaac should be slain Might not Abraham well have reasoned thus What Lord are thy decrees changable or thy promise failable how can these two stand together Isaac shall be a father of many nations and yet he must dye by his fathers hands what fruit is to be expected from a dry root or what hopes can there be in a dead Isaac the truth is to sense and reason there is a manifest contrariety between his precept and his promise neyther of these eyes can see how God should fulfill what hee had promised if Abraham perform'd what he required but faith hath a piercing sight so she steps in untyes the knot and thus bespeaks Abraham Feare not Abraham to sacrifice thy son hee that commands thee to kill him wants not power to quicken him the same hand which raised him from the dead wombe of Sarah can revive him from the ashes of a sacrifice thou gottest thy Isaac by believing thou shalt not lose him by obeying Now faith hath got the day obteined the victory What cruelty doth in others that faith did in Abraham makes him not to be moved at the strangenesse of the fact God knew he had to do with an Abraham and therefore puts upon him such a comand Abraham knew he had to do with a God and therefore believes what he commands is good and what he promiseth is infallible Thus being carelesse of the means not doubting of the end he sets upon the work and by faith

me rather then so sodainly to snatch him from me why didst thou make me a father if now I must become a murtherer of my childe far better I had been childlesse then now to make my selfe so But far be such thoughts from Abraham who had learned this sacred lesson not to murmur but to obey had it been any but an Abraham he would doubtlesse have returned an excuse and said to use Naamans words In this the Lord pardon his servant any thing but my Isaac thou shalt command him I cannot know not how to part with however it might seem no more then just for Abrahom in this case to expostulate with God in these or the like words Doth the God of mercie delight in cruelty and piety it self command murther will justice require the slaughter of an innocent and canst thou in equity desire the bloud of the guiltlesse or if thou wilt needs have an humane sacrifice is none but Isaac fit for thine Altar and must none offer him but Abraham Shall these hands destroy the fruit of my loyns must I that was the instrument of his life become the means of his death Can not I be faithfull unto thee unlesse I be unnaturall to my childe Why did I so long wayt for him Why didst thou at last bestow him if I must now part with him How shall I look Sarah in the fa●e when I have slain her son How will the Heathens censure this holy cruelty and say there goes the man who cut the throat of his own childe But Abrahams obedience had taught him better not to dispute but 〈◊〉 me thinks I hear him answering Gods command in these o● the like submissive terms Blessed Lord doest thou call for my Isaac thou shalt have him what though he be precious in my eyes yet thou art more true he is my son but thou art my God to me it will prove a bitter losse I but to thee it will become a sweet sacrifice what though my wife may blame me yet thou commandest me better shee call me a bloudy husband then thou an undutifull servant What though the world accuse me of cruelty yet thou requirest it as a duty better I be in their eyes an unnaturall father then in thine an ungracious son were he ten thousand Isaacs I dare not I will not spare him but am ready though against my own to doe thy will ô God But here a farther doubt may be moved how Abraham though he would could offer Isaac Abraham was old and feeble Isaac young and lusty though one had a command of offering yet the other none of suffering and the law of nature would teach Isaac to endeavour the preservation of his life though a father came to take it from him To this Divines answer that Isaac being religiously educated and no doubt by his father sufficiently informed of Gods will in this particular submitted himselfe to be offered up Sutable to this purpose is that of Saint Chrysostom {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Isaac gave himself to his Father as freely as Abraham gave him to God Whom should I first admire to whom shall I give the greatest honour the tender father that offered his son or the obedient son submitting to his father even to the death thus there was the same minde the like affection both in Abraham and Isaac so that the courage of the Father seemed to be transplanted into the son and the innocency of the son not wanting unto the father that golden-mouthed Oratour illustrated this whilest hee fitly bringeth in Abraham thus be-speaking his son Suffer me ô my son suffer me to perform the command of my God that God that made thee calls for thee hee that gave thee seeks thee he that created thee desires thou shouldest be sacrificed to him thou wilt be a sacrifice so much the more acceptable by how much the more willingly thou entertainest the glorious benefits of death and then Isaac sweetly complying with his fathers desire My father perform what thou art commanded doe the office thou art enjoyned I resist not refuse not what thou wilt I will what thou desirest I submit to and with the same readinesse I embrace death as I know thou doest by Gods command inflict it See here a rare patterne of obedience to parents in Isaac who suffered Abraham to God in Abraham who offered up Isaac This latter is especially presented in the Text and ought principally to be imitated by us and though we cannot attain yet let us aspire to that height of obedience which Abraham practized indeed herein is the tryall of our submission when in things contrary to our nature contradictory to our desires crosse to our reason we can obey God it is the aggravation of disobedience in easie precepts to rebell it is the commendation of obedience in difficult commands to submit to obey God in what suites with our temper is not praise worthy but then to yield when nature and reason oppose is most laudable Indeed hic labor hoc opus to strive against the stream row against the tyde go against the haire act against the dictates of our own naturall and carnall affections is the difficulty and withall the excellencie of obedience To close up this in a three-fold speciall application 1 Though God call not upon us to offer up our sons yet hee requires us to offer up our sinnes there is none of us but in this sence hath an Isaac a dilectum delictum some darling lust bosome corruption which he expects we should part with at his call but alas how far short are we of this Patriark he offered up a dutifull Isaac we will not sacrifice a rebellious lust he at a single command went about the work we neglect after many precepts often intreaties and frequent threatnings he rose early in the morning to slay his son we make it our evening sacrifice and scarce thinke of mortifying our lusts till death is ready to kill us finally he would have sacrific'd his son in whom all Nations were to be blest we will not slay our sins which otherwise will make us for ever curst but ô sinner how long wilt thou hug that in thy bosome which is Gods hate and will be thy ruine think thou hearest a voice from heaven once more be-speak thee as God did Abraham Take now thine Isaac whom thou lovest thy sin wherein thou delightest and offer it up to me for Sacrifice or as Christ did the Jews as for my enemies thy lusts which would not that I should reign over them bring them hither and slay them before me O then delay not consult not neglect not but while it is called to day binde thy corruptions on the Altar of the Law take the knife of Gods Word in thy hand and cut the throat of thy sins that they may become a sweet smelling Sacrifice in Gods nostrils and thou an amiable Priest in his eyes 2 Though God do not call us as he did