Selected quad for the lemma: fire_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
fire_n	work_n	world_n	wrath_n	83	3	6.9912	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42547	God's soveraignty displayed from Job 9. 12. : Behold he taketh away, who can hinder him? &c., or, A discourse shewing, that God doth, and may take away from his creatures what hee pleaseth, as to the matter what, the place where, the time when, the means and manner how, and the reasons thereof : with an application of the whole, to the distressed citizens of London, whose houses and goods were lately consumed by the fire : an excitation of them to look to the procuring causes of this fiery tryal, the ends that God aims at in it, with directions how to behave themselves under their losses / by William Gearing ...	Gearing, William.; Gearing, William. No abiding city in a perishing world.	1667 (1667)	Wing G435A; ESTC R18630	101,655	265

it Luke 10.42 This worlds goods will do you good no longer than you live in this world but godliness will make you happy and the fruit of it will remain with you when the goods and the world it self shall have an utter end Leave then this worlds goods to the children of this worlds whose names are written in the earth they are the only portion of worldly men So Abraham said to Dives Son remember thou in thy life time hadst thy good things God gives unto Esau's the fatness of the earth but denies them the dew of heaven Indeed God sometimes promiscuously scatters these outward things upon the godly and the wicked he gives the wicked some share of his goodness yet it is worth your observing that Isaac would not vouchsafe to call Esau's Portion a blessing yet he gives him the fatness of the earth the worlds goods are the influences of Gods Providence not of his love only the riches of his Grace is the influence of his love and favour Ah! what pity it is to see how Satan layes upon many men a burden of cares above a load and makes a Pack-horse of their souls when they are wholly set upon the world we owe the Devil no such service it were wisdome then to throw off that heavy load into a mire and to cast all our cares upon the Lord Oh never seek warm Fire under cold Ice this world is not a field where true happiness groweth CHAP. VII THe work which now remains to use 2 be done is the application of this to the distressed Citizens of London in special many of whom have had their goods and houses taken away and consumed to ashes by that late sad and raging fire that hapned among them 1. I beseech you enquire into the procuring cause and that you will find to be sin if sin be in the City and in the house vengeance may quickly be seen at the door and at the gate sooner or later God will visit iniquities sin shall never go unpunished This was Davids resolution when God took away his subjects Behold it is I that have done wickedly but those sheep what have they done 2 Sam. 24.17 This was Hezekiah's confession for his own life I have cut off like a Weaver my life Isai 38.12 Thus did that godly Widow of Zareptha acknowledge at the death of her Son What have I to do with thee O man of God art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my son 1 Kings 17.18 She verily thought that either some of her former sins or else the not using of so holy a man according to his place was the cause of this present punishment A harsh string to be touched but will be tuneable enough in the ears of the Childe of God that is already touched with the feeling of sin whose heart is still rather in the house of mourning than in the house of mirth it is the Unison of Gods people We have sinned and dealt wickedly Our Saviour prophesied Mat. 24.12 that iniquity shall abound c. and do not the times wherein we live tell us that iniquity doth abound It hath abounded and doth abound exceedingly among us in all our Country Towns and Villages but I had almost said it cannot abound more than it hath among you in London I wish I could draw a veil over the sins of these times and cover the iniquities of the City and Country as Constantine did over the errours of learned men in his daies But the sins of our times and the iniquities of your City cannot be hid they are too publick too common among us See whether all manner of sins do not abound among you the iniquities of the head the iniquities of the heart iniquities of the tongue iniquities of the life do abound in the midst of you have not the streams of all iniquities fallen into your City as all waters and rivers run into the Sea There are some particular sins for which God threatens to poure down fiery showres of wrath and indignation upon a people 1. The first I shall set before you is Sabbath-breaking the profanation of the Lords day Jer. 17.27 See how God threatens the City of Jerusalem for this sin But if you will not hearken to me to hallow the Sabbath day and not to bear a burden even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof and it shall devoure the Palaces of Jerusalem and it shall not be quenched Examine now whether there were not many among you that neglected and despised the publick worship of God and others that as soon as they came out of the House of God laid aside all thought of the Word preached to them either spending the rest of the day in the Alehouse or in some idle recreations yea many suffering their children and servants in the close of the Publick Worship to turn Gods Ordinances sc prayer singing of Psalmes hearing the Word into shouting and clamors idle sports and foolish loud laughter and that in such a rude manner as if they would profess themselves open despisers of God and of his Ordinances Is this to bring up your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord Is this to do like Abraham to command your children servants to keep the way of the Lord Is it a wonder to see Gods Judgments upon your City to see the Plague raging among you destruction wasting at noon-day poverty encreasing and a fire kindled in your Gates and devouring the stately houses and Palaces thereof SECT II. A second sin is a general contempt and rejection of the Gospel and a despising of his faithful Messengers We read Mat. 23.37 38. that our Saviour prophecieth of the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem for killing and crucifying and stoning some of Gods Prophets for scourging others in their Synagogues and persecuting them from City to City therefore saith he Behold your house is left unto you desolate His Disciples were troubled to hear that so goodly a Structure should be made a ruinous heap wherefore they shewed him the goodly buildings of the Temple wishing him but to look on them vainly imagining that he could not but admire the stateliness of the house and sumptuousness of the buildings and would call in his threatning and prevent the desolation of it but Christ who regardeth not the magnificence of buildings or persons but will stain the pride and glory of man was so far from revoking his threatning as he doth assure them by an oath that the stately Temple so much admired for its curiousness so strongly seated and enriched should not only be left desolate but should be totally demolished Verily I say unto you there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down Mat. 24.2 This was for their contempt of the Word and their cruelty toward the Prophets This sin God hath alwayes

ugly how deformed how polluted and abominable their souls are in the sight of God As God complained of the Jews Is it time for you to dwell in your seiled houses and this house lye waste Hag. 1.4 So God may complain is it time for the daughtets of England for the daughters of London to be haughty and walk with stretched out necks and wanton eyes walking and mincing as they go when the Lord is pouring out his fury like fire upon them and marring the pride of England and the great pride of London as sometime he threatned to mar the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem Jer. 13.9 Ah! how do many people spend more precious time in dressing their bodies than in trimming their souls and delight more to see their faces in a glass than to view their hearts in the glass of the Word Oh what will become of their souls when God shall strip them of their gaudy cloathes and pampered bodies What confusion will fall on them when their souls shall appear naked before the Lord Then they will cry out the joy of our heart is ceased our daunce is turned into mourning the crown is fallen from our head wo unto us that we have sinned Our crown of honour our crown of pleasure our crown of pride is fallen from our heads wo unto us that we have sinned and walked in pride Pride is the usher of ruine Pride goes before destruction Prov. 16. 18. One asked an Heathen Philosopher what God was doing hee answered Totam ejus occupationem esse in elevatione humiliū in dejectione superborum It is Gods whole business to exalt the humble and to abase and cast down the proud Behold the day cometh that shall burn like an tven and all the proud c. shall bee as stubble Mal. 4.1 Though now they are like iron and steel yet then they shall bee like stubble before the fire of his devouring wrath CHAP. VIII HAving discovered those Capital sins for which we have just cause to think God hath been pouring out his anger against City Country let me now in the next place Exhort you to mourn bitterly for these and for all your sins It is not enough that you mourn for the loss of a Husband of a Wife of a Childe of your Goods of your Estate of your houses this sorrow is that which the Apostle calls worldly sorrow 2 Cor. 7. and it is so far from working comfort in the end that it worketh death not only death temporal but also death eternal if this sort of men weep their eyes out and their hearts out for these carnal things yet shall they no more partake of divine joy than the tormented Glutton doth of heavenly comfort David's mourning for his son Absolom was carnal and did no way tend to his true comfort Joab did justly blame him for his bellowing and howling for the death of Absolom This mourning may be found in Pharoah such was Esau's mourning for the loss of his Fathers blessing The Prophet Hosea tells us that wicked men will howl upon their beds for corn and wine for the want or loss of temporal goods Hos 7.14 They can lament for these things but cannot lament for their sins or lament after God the loss of God and of Christ is not such a matter of mourning to them Neither is it available to mourn meerly for the Judgements of God inflicted upon us Oh how did Cain mourn when the wrath of God was upon him So did Pharoah under Judgements and Ahab humbled himself greatly so do the damned mourn to eternity in hell The wicked mourn not because they have sinned but because they are punished God no more regardeth the howling of sinners under Judgement than we regard the howlings of dogs when they are beaten Neither is all sorrow for sin godly sorrow yet this is an high degree of mourning Pharoah lamented his wickedness I have sinned Judas also lamented his grievous sin I have sinned in betraying innocent blood Mat. 27.3 and now he mourneth in hell for his sin and we have some examples of men who sin and mourn and then sin afresh and mourn afresh crying out O my pride O my drunkenness O my swearing O my uncleanness that the beholding their bitter mourning would make a tender heart to mourn with them many such there are that mourn on earth for a fit and mourn in hell for ever Prov. 5. 11 12 13. Death-bed lamentation and mourning for sin is not alwaies repenting mourning Neither are all that mourn under dreadful apprehensions of Gods anger against them and terrours upon them arising from their sense of sin and apprehension of Gods wrath true mourners yet this like the former is an high degree of mourning yet below holy mourning such a mourner was Cain the load of terrours upon his heart pressed forth all his tears and complaints There are such examples still of men who in their fears of death and judgement and agonies of conscience do weep confess their sins resolve to forsake sin and yet when they have ease do sin again and they are again as prophane as irreligious as they were before nay they become more hardned in sin and opposite to God and godliness than they were before Neither do all who mourn after grace and pardon truly mourn yet this is one of the neerest degrees to spiritual mourning that is found in hypocrites An unregenerate man may feel such a load of guilt upon his conscience as that he may mourn after grace and pardon yet not be comforted as there is a temporary sorrow for sin so there is in th●m a temporary desire after ease and deliverance from it But all such as mourn in bitterness of spirit under their spiritual wants Mr. Cartwright gives this as a reason why in the Beatitudes our Saviour addeth mourning next to poverty of spirit because the want of grace and Gods favour is such a lamentation that nothing quieteth them so long as they are without it And though God by the hand of his bounty give them all outward things liberally as health strength riches friends yet still they mourn over their spiritual wants these are the true mourners that complain for the want of spiritual riches What is this worlds goods if I have not the grace and favour of God As Moses said What is the presence of an Angel if we have not the presence of God with us so what is any thing what are all things if I have not Gods favour I am undone for ever Again such as mourn bitterly for sin they truly mourn Lam. 5.16 Wo to us for we have sinned Woe is the time that ever I sinned against God Wo is me that ever I did curse swear and blaspheme the holy name of God wo that ever I was drunk wo that ever I sinned against the Lord such a mourning was that of St. Peter he went forth and wept bitterly wo is me that ever I

that are therin shall be burnt up Here you have a full description of the Worlds destruction it is above all humane determination whether this fire shall be a fire of utter abolition of the world or a fire of purgation to refine it when these things come to pass then Heaven and Hell will divide the whole world between them CHAP. IV. SECT I. Quest HOw is it that nothing here is of continuance Resp 1. The very law of their Creation subjecteth the world and all creatures therein to dissolution and corruption Every creature qua creature is corruptible look but upon their composition the materials the principles are corruptible and there is a contrariety and opposition between them how can creatures stand and continue which are divided within themselves look upon the things we are most apt to dote upon our Cities Houses are they not made of dissoluble materials though some continue for many generations yet either water fire or war or if none of these their age consumeth them We see how among men some dye of old age so age ruineth Cities Towns and all other things the heavens which of all creatures are the most durable yet saith the Psalmist they shall wax old like a garment Psa 102.26 which Text is enough to confute the Philosophical opinion that maintaineth the heavens to be made of incorruptible matter 2. Mans rebellion against his Lord and Creator hath put the whole creation in subjection to great vanity and corruptibility Rom. 8.20 21. The creature was made subject to vanity not willingly but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope By the creature there is meant the heavens and the earth with all the creatures in them Angels excepted who are only spectators of this vanity not vassals to it as all other creatures are By vanity we are to understand a state of imperfection opposite to their created condition and perfection they have lost much of their Primitive excellency and perfection And they are made subject to vanity which denoteth that they are unavoidably in a state of vanity they cannot help themselves But yet not willingly Here the Apostle continueth his Prosopopeia attributing will to inanimate and sensitive creatures which have no will at all It sheweth that this vanity that is upon the creature is against the natural inclination of the creature Creatures by natural instinct do abhor corruption all creatures are strongly carried with a desire of self-preservation to preserve their own perfections Moreover it noteth that all the vanity in the creature is not from it self but it is meerly adventitious mans rebellion and Gods curse is the cause of all their vanity As Death passed on all men because all had sinned so Vanity and Corruption hath passed upon the whole Creation because man hath sinned But by reason of him who hath subjected the same These words clearly shew how and by whom this yoke of vanity came to be laid on the creatures not by themselves but by him who hath subjected the same viz. God who being provoked by the sin of Adam layes this bondage of vanity on the creature as part of the penalty of mans disobedience Cameron passionately contendeth that it must be meant of man not of God because the Apostle doth not mention the Name of God but the following words sufficiently confute him and evince it is God who subjecteth the creature to vanity because though he hath powred forth vanity on them yet he hath left in them a hope of restitution And to reconcile Cameron with other Interpreters this distinction may be used Man is the procuring and deserving cause of the creatures subjection unto vanity and God is the efficient or imposing cause of this subjection unto vanity All creatures in their own being were by nature corruptible but our sin makes them two-fold more the Children of vanity and corruptibility Mans sin and Gods curse on the creature for sin hasteneth the creatures to their dissolution As the house of the Leper was in it self not unclean but the walls thereof being once infected with Leprosie it was the sooner pulled down SECT II. I know it is a Dispute among Divines whether there be a decay of Nature in all creatures Some strongly affirm that yet there is no decay but they are as vigorous now as they were in their first Creation Others and I think more truly affirm a decay in Nature both in the Heavens and the earth the Sun and the Heavens have not those vigorous influences as formerly What meaneth the curse upon the earth thorns and bryars shall it bring forth but a decay of its Nature What is meant by vanity and corruption under which it groaneth but their natural decay Why are not the lives of men of that duration as formerly One reason given is because the fruits of the earth are not so nourishable and healthful as before the flood A general Deluge brought saltness and barrenness upon the earth so that now there is a gradual privation of the creatures of their original beauty goodness pleasantness sweetness which they received from God in their Creation by which privation they are rendered unable to perfect the particular uses for which they were created The Sun Moon and Stars though still they remain excellent creatures yet it is supposed by sundry Divines they have lost much of their Primitive splendour and that they shine not so bright as at their first Creation The Moon hath her spots it is disputable whether she had them from the beginning Some Stars though great bodies yet are scarce perceptible by the eye The ayr the waters have lost much of their sweetness pleasantness and clarity the earth hath lost much of her beauty the herbs plants fruits trees have lost much of their virtue all the living creatures have lost much of their created goodness All men see with what art toyl and labour the husbandman provokes the earth to its present fruitfulness seeing the whole earth was naturally propense to bring forth fruits of all kinds in great abundance but for our sakes it is subject to much barrenness all the Heaths and wilder wasts in the world are marks of this curse of vanity on the earth had not the soul of man become a Wilderness in respect of grace and holiness there had been no Wilderness in the earth in respect of barrenness All mans labour and sweat to make the earth bring forth is a part of mans punishment also Had not man sinned though Adam in Innocence should have laboured yet it should have been without sorrow sweat and wearisomness Men may thank their own sin for every drop of sweat that trickleth down their face and for every miscarrying of the earth SECT III. Moreover it consisteth in a positive malignity which through sin and the curse of God is now cast upon the whole Creation the Sun it self worketh deliquia eclipses it suffereth it worketh a contrary evil to the good for which it was created

a Position and an Opposition or a Position and a Conclusion 1. The Position is Here we have no continuing City 2. The Opposition or Conclusion is But or therefore we seek one to come for the present we have no abiding City but there is an abiding City to come which we seek This earthly Jerusalem is no abiding City for you Hebrews this world is no abiding City for you Christians But Jerusalem that is above the heavenly City the City of the King of Kings that is an abiding City that let us diligently seek after This world is to believers as the Wilderness was to the Israelites they were Pilgrims in it So are believers in the world strangers and Pilgrims they abode not long in the Wilderness but passed through it to Canaan there they made their abode so this world is not a place for believers to abide in but must pass thorow it to an heavenly Canaan that is an abiding Country an abiding City and there all believers shall abide to eternity The general point of instruction to be drawn from hence is That the consideration that there is no abiding place in this world should forcibly move us to seek out for heaven This was that which moved Abraham Isaac and Jacob those renowned Candidates of Eternity to be as Pilgrims in the world wandring from place to place now sojourning here then sojourning there but abode no where and wheresoever they went they dwelt not in Palaces or Fortresses strongly built but in Tabernacles which they could pitch down and take up and carry them whether they pleased and so they used to do to mind them that there was no abiding for them here but they must look after a City wherein they should abide for ever Heb. 11.9 10 14 16. By faith Abraham sojourned in the Land of Promise as in a strange Country dwelling in Tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob the Heirs with him of the same Promise for he looked for a City which hath foundations whose Builder and Maker is God They confessed they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth for they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a Country But now they desire a better Country than that from whence they came out that is an heavenly Here ye have a full proof of the point the Holy Ghost calling believers sojourners pilgrims strangers what is it but to convince them that there is no abiding for them in this world this world is not their Country their City their home their habitation here they are not to place their hopes to set their affections to seek a lasting happiness but heaven is their City their Country their home their habitation there all our hopes should be placed thither should all our desires aspire there we are to seek everlasting happiness there we shall be sure to find it and to abide in the possession of it to eternity CHAP. III. FOr the better prosecution of this point I shall draw from it two Propositions and make use of them Prop. 1. That here is no abiding City I need not seek proof for this for there is none of us but his experience evidenceth it 1. Take City here for our houses we dwell in they are no abiding places for us death turneth every man out of his own doors and carrieth him from his house to the grave it turneth Princes out of their stately Palaces and great men out of their strong-built houses and Castles and poor men out of their Cottages The poor mans Cottage the rich mans House and the Princes Palace are of no continuance how many stately Houses Edifices and Castles have we seen in our daies to be made ruinous heaps and consumed to ashes your continual repairing them sheweth them to be of no long continuance 2. Take City for the Towns and Cities wherein we inhabit with others they are no continuing places for us to abide in for ever See we not how one Generation passeth and another cometh and the Generation that is coming is going and though the Stages stand a while when the Actors are gone off yet at length the Stages are taken down What is now become of Jerusalem of Athens of Corinth and of those famous Cities of Asia How many famous Towns and Cities are become ruinous heaps Jam seges est ubi Troja fuit Behold there now is good Corn-land Where once the City Troy did stand The like may be said of many Towns and Cities in the world Cato the Censor boasted that he had taken more Towns and Cities in Spain than he had been daies in it Plutarch saith he took four hundred Sempronius Gracchus destroyed in Spain three hundred more as Polybius relateth Pliny saith that Coneys destroyed a great City in Spain and that Moles destroyed another in Macedonia Many have been destroyed by fire many by inundations of water and others have been swallowed up by earthquakes here we have no abiding City We read Gen. 19.24 That the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven and he overthrew those Cities and all the Plain and all the inhabitants of those Cities and that which grew upon the ground Josephus saith that five Cities perished and we read of five Cities of that Region named Gen. 14.2 viz. Sodom Gomorrha Admah Sebojim and Bela which is Zoar. Moses besides the two principal Cities mentioneth the place of their scituation but Admah and Sebojim were destroyed by fire as well as Sodom and Gomorrah Deut. 29.23 these the Lord overthrew in his anger and fury As for Zoar Theodoret Lyra and others think it was preserved upon the request of Lot but that after Lot went out of it it was utterly over hrown But this cannot be made evident from Scripture that this fifth City was either overthrown together with the rest or a little afterward but the contrary rather appeareth from the speech of the Lord to Lot Gen. 19.21 He said unto him see I have accepted thee concerning this thing that I will not overthrow this City for the which thou hast spoken And mention is made of it Isa 15.5 where it is said that the Moabites being overcome by the Assyrian should flye unto Zoar Babylon and Nineveh those great Cities are long since utterly laid waste 3. Take City for the Countries wherein we live they shall not abide neither shall any man continue in them for ever Fruitful Canaan is now become a barren wilderness how hath the Country cast out all her Inhabitants Kingdomes Countries Nations Common-wealths have their deaths and burials as well as the Inhabitants of them 4. Take City for the world it self and this is no continuing place Though it hath continued a most six thousand years yet 2 Pet. 3.10 The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat and the works