Selected quad for the lemma: reason_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
reason_n	day_n	law_n	sabbath_n	3,352	5	9.6183	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01666	Of the ende of this world, the seconde commyng of Christ a comfortable and necessary discourse, for these miserable and daungerous dayes.	Geveren, Sheltco à.; Rogers, Thomas, d. 1616.	1577 (1577)	STC 11803A.7; ESTC S115248	72,058	116

of the celestiall euerlas●ing life his force and sting being lost he shal vtterly be abolished To which thing Iudas in his Epistle had respect which saith that this Henoch the seuenth after Adam dyd foretell of the last iudgement Which iudgement is giuen of Elias that he should be a type figure of his owne prophecie And it is said that as Henoch in generation so Elias in cōputation of yeres was the seuēth after Adam For it is reported that next vnto Adam was Methusalah next to Methusalah Sem to Sem Iacob to Iacob Amram to Amram Ahia and to Ahia Elias the Prophet Now if this accompt of Elias be altogether true as many do coniecture there is no doubt but the Lord God would in his wonderfull woorks declared to his Saintes and chosen haue many secret mysteries that in the consideration of them we might be inflamed with desire of the celestiall and most blessed life Here let vs cōsider that before the seuen●h thousand yeare we shal be taken vp to meete the Lord in the cloudes euen as Elias by a f●rie chariot and horse● was lifted vp to heauen Finallie also the Euangelists and Apostles call the tyme from Christes incarnation vntill the ende of the world the laste howre or laste tymes Saint Peter saith Christ was manifested in the laste tymes And to the Hebrewes Paule writeth Christ once was offred in the ende of the world Neither is this tyme of the Apostles therfore called the last bycause that certainly the ende of the world is at hande but because according to Elies distribution it is the laste of the three ages of the world which without all doubte they respected Neither is it to be deemed that this prophecie was vnknowen to them but rather that by reuelation of the holy Ghoste it was singularly renued and therefore in deede they call this last age of two thousande yeeres in the beginning of which all prophecies and visions by Christ were to be fulfilled the laste tymes and howre These nowe be the testimonies and coniectures by which I haue studied to proue and haue satisfied my selfe that this world shall not continue aboue the space of sixe thousande yeeres Nowe followe those things by which I meane to shewe that the sixt thousande yeere shal not be expired That the world shall not endure sixe thousande yeeres NOwe that the sixt thousand yeere shal be shortened it is apparant and maye be prooued for order sake firste by those woordes of Elias the Prophete aboue recited in this manner And for our sinnes which are many and marueylous some yeeres which are wanting shall not be expyred VVhich words do not much disagree frō those of Christ where he saith And except those dayes were shortned all flesh should perish but for the elects sake they shall be cut of And although there peraduenture the Lorde doth properly talke of the ruine ouerthrowe of Hierusalem as may easely be gathered by the circumstances of that place yet may it seeme that he would speake the same of the vtter destruction of the world because in that place he giueth certaine and moste euident signes thereof of which hereafter more at large and also dooth foretell both of the ouerthrowe of Hierusalem and by a certaine confusion of wordes of the worldes destruction so that for the perfect vnderstanding thereof greate iudgement is to be required And bycause the former is a figure of that which is to followe I perswade my selfe that as well by the woordes of Christ as by the prophecie of Elias it may be gathered that for the electes cause those miserable dayes of the vtter ouerthrowe and ending of this wicked world shal be shortened and cut of Others by probable reason endeuour to proue the same through consideration of the Sabboth daie which is a true figure of the eternall Sabboth For in the Lawe it was prescribed that about the euening of the sixt day the Sabboth should take his beginning And therefore their coniecture is not vnlike to be true which thinke that the eternal superexcellēt Sabboth of the Lord shal begin not at the end of the last thousande yeere but a litle before Here be some other coniectures brought foorth which willyngly I passe ouer and the rather bycause I know them to be of no great force But those tokens are dilgentlie to be marked which Christ did foretel should goe before the cōsummatiō of the world that by them we may the more certainly thinke and perswade our selues tyme present and tokens foretolde being compared together that the ende of the wo●lde hangs ouer our ne●kes Among oth●r signes in my iudgement the preaching of the Gospell is not the least but moste cheefely to be noted as rhat by which all other tokens both going before and following in those wordes of Christ are knowen to bee true tokens of his comming The wordes of Christ telling vs howe to knowe when the Gospell is preached are these And this Gospell of the kingdome shal be preached through the vniuersall world for a witnes to all nations and then shall the ende come By which words the sonne of God Christ doth playnly teach that about the time of the worlds destruction the true doctrine of Christ should be preached By which is gathered that the same was obscured defaced and almost not spoken of by reason of false prophets before that tyme And Christ saide that in those dayes should arise many false Prophets and by saying themselues to be Christ should seduce many Nowe what is more euident in these our dayes Hath not the true and sincere doctrine of the free pardoning our sinnes by Christ lien hid these many yeeres and vnder the tyrannie of Antichrist maruelouslie been obscured And the Pope arrogantlie vaunted himselfe to bee Christ or at leaste his vicar What promising of pardoning sinnes and redeming soules out of their fained purgatorie by theire wicked Bulies and blasphemous Masse what idolatrie in woorshipping and impietie in receiuing Christ in the sacrament Finally what diuers and diuilish supe●stitions haue been practised so well it is knowen vnto all men that I neede not to recken them And nowe againe ●y the vnspeakeable grace and mercie of God we plainlie perceiue such a cleare light of the Gospell to shine ouer the whole world that in spight of the diuell and all his adherentes it castes his b●ames ouer all nations And therefore what other things shall we looke for but as Christ did foretel a sodaine downfall of this wretched world For if we reade eyther the holy Byble of God or historicall bookes of prophane men we shall finde that God hath alwayes followed the example of a ryghteous iudge which before he condemne a man for his offences will first accuse by witnesse so God before he send plagues and punishment for our transgression dooth first put vs in minde of our wickednes by preaching of the Gospell and declaring his diuine pleasure

earthquakes which in our dayes haue happened in manye places as of late at Ferraria in Italie and in Friseland the nature of which Soyle is left subiect to the same But I beseech you let vs call to our remembraunce all those euils which as yet we doo as it were beholde and haue tasted not heard of doo see with our eyes and to our great griefe suffer them continually What a greeuous pestilence and plague these many yeeres both with vs and in other places hath reygned and tyrannically dooth exult ouer all persons and bring very many to their graues and according to the iudgment of the learned which are in opinion that it will and must continue yet moe yeeres will dispach many moe What a long dearth of Corne and great scarsitie of all things What a multitude in the cause of religion haue suffred the losse of life and lyuing What theft and robberyes on al sides both on sea and land What an infinite company haue in cruell fight been miserably slayne and murdered in Fraunce Flaunders and Friseland But I am troubled and that greatly to think on and recite the calamities which Frisela●● by strange and vnaccustomed ouerflowings o● waters hath felt especially by the two later whereof one happened in the yeere of our Lord. 1574. the fourth of Nouember in which men and beastes in number infinite were drowned and was of such a great depth as almost it myght be called the Frisian floud The other chaunced in a more dangerous and woorse tyme three dayes before the Feaste of Saint Bartholomewe in the yeere of our Sauiours incarnation 1573. the which in many places brought more hurt to many men than the former because by the same all corne on the grounde and other fruite perished miserablie by reason whereof great dearth and penurie ensued So that in those Coūtries it might wel be said that those wordes of Christ were fulfilled saying The people shal be at their wittes endes at the roring of the Sea and salt Waters Wherefore let vs giue credit vnto those words of Christ and let them be vnto vs for most certayne tokens of the suddayne commyng of our Sauiour to iudgement There are besides these other signes of the oldnes of the world and of his ouerthrowe because we playnlie perceyue al things dayly to waxe woorse and woorse and decrease in their vertue The aire is oftentimes corrupt sometime with vntimely showers sometime with vnprofitable drinesse now with too much colde now with extreame heate The fruitfulnes of the feilde is not such as it hath been aforetime Riches and substance we see consumed The Progenie of great and Noble men we perceiue dayly to be multiplyed but their patrimonie is no whit encreased but impayred by discorde By which it commeth to passe that many great men and Lordes bend all their cogitations to the oppressing of their poore Tenantes and by often fines and exactions bring honest men to beggerie ●nd by the example of Pharao make slaues of their seruan●●s and subiects as though they were appoynted of God to liue not for the defence of the good punishment of the wicked and preseruation of iustice but to them selues and to pamper their bellies with good cheare and theyr backes with braue apparell And therefore do those Empires now shewe themselues to be as cancred and rustie Iron which in tymes past were as bright Siluer or glittering Golde But I doe not speake these things of true noble men and of good Princes which do exacte things necessarie to the defence of the common weale and for the conseruation of their Maiestie which things wythout all controuersie the worde of God doth allow them to haue Nowe it is not to be doubted sith for the sinnes of the people such tyrannie is growen to the top but these Pharaoes with suddaine destruction of the world shal be ouerwhelmed euen as that Pharao in persecuting the people of Israel which for a tyme he had with greeuous yoke of slauerie oppressed was with all his hoste drowned in the red sea The reason is not vnlike he is a figure and the same God is now which then was readie to deliuer his people from calamitie and to take reuenge on the wicked for their crueltie Another great argumēt of the worlds consummation is because all good artes learning haue these fewe yeeres been so contemned and Vniuersities and schooles and scholasticall discipline which are the causes fountaines of knowledge almost in euery place come to decay For God in this last age hath shewed his singuler and marueilous goodwil towards mankynd especially in that so great barbarousnes of our Predecessors when all artes and liberall learning was hid and knowen to sewe the Latin tongue polluted smal cunning in the Greeke by raysyng vp some Vall● Agricola Erasmus Melan●ton and others which with great study and paynes haue brought al sciences knowledge of the tongues to their puritie and deliuered vnto vs a more easye way to the attayning the perfect knowledge of them all by which almost all Europe is set free from rude barbarousnes Afterward when our most bountiful God had giuen vs such helpes to the vnderstanding of the Scripture by and by he set on fyre the Beacon of true doctrine which of all other gifts and graces of God is and ought to be imbraced as chiefest But by experience we see these giftes of long time to haue been at the ful and now decrease For not adu●s●d iudgement not that sharpnes of witte not that great industrie and exercise in studies are now which haue been To this dooth appertayne the marueilous contempt of all kinde of knowledge especially of Diu●nitie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Also the smal regard of godly and faythfull Ministers by which they are brought to such pouerti● or almost beggery that their wiues and children must be inforced to liue vppon almes But what is the cause of this miserie Is not that intollerable tearyng and spoyling of Church goodes the chiefest Is it not to be imputed vnto those Magistrates whose care is such ouer Ministers that they will not allowe them abundance of worldly wealth least happely by possessing much they tast of couetousnes the roote of all mischiefe and so desire more or els fall into ryotousnesse and so become Epicures Or if that be not in their minde they doo imagine them selues to be such Lords of body and soule as was of late that Romish Tyrant This may very well without offence be coniectured although it may be that their insaciable desire of worldly promotion which by ryches without vertue may be gotten is the roote from which so diuelish fruite dooth proceede How much better were it if in these things a meane were obserued and that Churche men had wherewithall to lyue honestlye wyth keeping hospitalitie and if that whiche were thought too much for them were Christianly bestowed either on those which liue in pouertie or carefully reserued to

heauen let vs contemne all worldly things let euery man cast away securitie and desire of pleasure by whose inticementes the mind is suppressed let euery man frame himselfe to learne what is good and godlines let hym prepare himselfe to the Crosse let hym profit in good woorking in true calling vppyn the name of the Lord and put on the armour of righteousnes that if the aduersarie challenge vs into combate we may by no flaterie by no force by no terrour by no tormentes be drawen and pluckt away from Christ. The almightie God be present with vs continually with his diuine asistance and defende vs euermore agaynst all the inuasions of the diuell by which he would bring vs from our faith driue vs out of hope and so bar vs from our kingdome which is in heauen ¶ Of the manner and effect of the Lordes commyng to iudgement with an exhortation to watchfulnes HEtherto by diuine testimonies it hath ben shewed that certainly the world must be destroyed and also by Oracles and probable reasons and coniectures it hath been proued that the glorious comming of the Lorde is at our doores and cannot be farre of although we knowe not the certaine yeare daye and houre of hys commyng It followeth therefore that both for the edifying of the Churche and refourming of our manners that we alledge testimonies out of holye Scripture both of the manner of the commyng of the Sonne of God to iudgement and of the effect of the same After that the Sonne of God Christ our Lorde and Sauiour by the secrete counsayle of God the Father had determyned for our saluations and satisfying the wrathe of God to suffer death he tooke vppon him the shape of a seruaunt was in the worlde poore and miserable tooke paciently all tauntes and mockes and suffred himself to be condemned though vniustly and shamefully to be crucifyed but in his seconde commyng he shall not onely appeare lyke a chiefe Monarch of thys world but shall shewe hymselfe to be a King since the begynning of the worlde and him which cast the myghtiest from theyr seate of Maiestie and exalted the humble and turned Empyres at hys pleasure Also he shall declare himselfe to be the Sonne of God coequall in dietie wyth God his eternall Father so that then the course of things shall be chaunged for he in that daye shal be iudge and iustly condemne those of whom he was iudged and against all equitie together wyth his members condemned and which haue obstinately and wythout reason persisted in impietie For the wordes of Christ in the .25 of Matthew by which accordyng to the capacitie of man the last iudgement is depainted are these Cum venerit silius hominis in maiestate sua omnes angeli cum eo tunc sedebit super sedem maiestatis suae congregabuntur ante eum omnes gentes Nemo enim qui vnquam vixit est erit hoc iudicio eximetur separabit eos ab i●uicem sicut pastor segregat oues ab hoedis statuet oues quidem à dextris suis. Tunc dicet Rex his qui à dextris eius erunt Venite benedicti Patris me● possidete paratum vobis regnum à constitutione mundi c. Et his qui à sinistris dicet Discedite à me maledicti in ignem aeternū qui paratus est Diabolo Angelis eius That is When the sonne of man shall come in his maiestie and all his Angels with him then shall he sit vppon the throne of his maiestie and all Nations shal be gathered tegether before hm for none which euer was is or shal be from this iudgement shal be exempted and he shall separate them euen as a shepheard doth segregate the sheepe from the goates and shall place the sheepe on his right hand Then shall the King saye vnto those which are on his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father possesse the kingdome prepared for you from the beginning of the world c. And to those which are on his left hand he shall say Depart from me ye accursed into euerlasting fire which is prepared for the Diuell and his Angels Because these haue doone no deedes of charitie but haue continually rebelled against God but these haue doone much better because by reason of their fayth they haue fulfylled all woorkes of mercies and haue been with one minde with God. In which Sermon Christ dooth applie himselfe to mans capacitie and borroweth his similitude from an vpright King and Iudge of this world which dooth pronounce lawfull sentence whether it be of absolution or condemnation according to our woorkes be they good or bad and by and by dooth execute the same Lykewyse Paule dooth shewe the manner how Christ in his last comming shall appeare to al the elect which euer were or shal be in these wordes Hoc enim vobis dicimus in verbo Domini quiae nos qui viuimus quiresidui sumus in aduentu Domini non praeuentemus qui dormierunt Quoniam ipse Dominus in iussu in voce Archangeli in tuba Dei descendet de caelo mortui qui in Chri●●o sunt resurgent primi Deinde nos qui viuimus simul rapiemur cum illis in nubibus obuiam Christo in aera sic semper cum Domino erimus This we say vnto you in the word of the Lord that we which liue and are the remnaunt in the Lordes comming shall not goe before thē which sleepe Because the Lord himselfe in the cōmaundement and voyce of an Archangle and in the trumpet of God shall descend from heauen and they which are dead in Christ shall first arise Afterwarde we which doo liue shall togeather with them be caried in the Cloudes to meete Christ in the the ayre and so shall be with God for euer Also Paule teacheth that in a moment in the twinckeling of an eye in the last sound of the Trumpet the dead shall ryse vncorrupt and those which are liuing shall vppon the suddayne be changed to incorruption and immortalitie Iohn also seeth all the dead standing before the great and whyte Throne in the sight of God and the bookes to bee opened and the dead to be iudged out of that which was written according to their woorkes And he which was not found written in the booke of lyfe was cast into a burning lake But Sybyll Erithraea in in her verses called Acrostichides which were read as it seemeth but not well vnderstoode of Cicero dooth notably depaint the last comming of Christ and destruction of the world Which verses were greatly esteemed of the Fathers as appeareth both out of Eusebius and Augustine For out of these Authors which were before the byrth of Christ as also it is euident in Varro in Virgils 4. Eglog that these Oracles were of great antiquitie in so much as they were accounted as diuine reuelations and therefore wyll wee ioyne those Latine verses vnderneath and