Selected quad for the lemma: fire_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
fire_n	earth_n	great_a	world_n	2,396	4	4.4621	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44522	Four tracts by A. Horneck ...; with a preface by Mr. Edwards.; Selections. 1697	Horneck, Anthony, 1641-1697.	1697 (1697)	Wing H2831; ESTC R4616	55,346	154

our Saviour saith here of a certain Gradation of Punishments due to the several Lusts and degrees of Wrath and Anger Judgment Council Hell fire must be understood of Penalties in the next World yet with allusion to the degrees of Punishment among the Jews in this Life Now among the Jews there were three degrees of publick Infamy according to the nature of the Punishment inflicted on Men for their Crimes and the more publick the Punishment was the greater was the Infamy If an Offendor were brought before the Court of Three and twenty which was an inferiour Court of Judicature called here being guilty of the Judgment and there condemn'd he was infamous and a great Disgrace it was to him but in a lower degree If he were brought before the Sanedrin or the Great Council of the Nation consisting of LXX Elders in the nature of our Parliament and by them adjudged to Death the Infamy and Disgrace was greater Yet if lastly a Man were condemn'd to be burnt in the Valley of Hinnon or Tophet where all the Trash and Filth of the City of Jerusalem the Garbage and dead Carcasses were burnt and where antiently they offered their Children to Moloch and where a perpetual Fire was kept to consume all things that were offensive and nauseous and which by the Jews themselves was look'd upon as an Emblem of Hell fire the Infamy was greatest of all According to these degrees of Infamy here on Earth Christ shews there will be degrees of Punishment for the several degrees of unjust and unlawful Anger in the other World for most certainly this Threatning cannot be understood with respect to this Life there being no such thing inflicted upon Men for Anger and reproachful Names on this side the Grave and whereas the Jews were generally afraid chiefly of Punishments in this Life Christ thought fit to acquaint them and us that we had far greater reason to be afraid of the Punishments in the next as more dreadful and more grievous than any they could fear here on Earth And this is the meaning of the Commination in the Text Whosoever c. From the Words thus explained arise these following Truths I. Antiquity is no warrant for erroneous Doctrines and Practices II. Murder is a Crime which the Magistrate must by no means suffer to go unpunish'd III. Wrath and Anger without a just Cause hath its degrees and according to the degrees of the Sin the Punishment in the next World will be proportionable 1. Antiquity is no warrant for erroneous Doctrines and Practices The Scribes and Pharisees here pretended that what they taught and practic'd concerning the sixth Commandment was deliver'd to them by them of old time But our Saviour shews that this pretence could be of no use to them but rather betray'd than cover'd their Nakedness Error pleads Antiquity as well as Truth and though nothing be more antient than Truth for it is from Eternity and before ever Error appear'd in the World Truth had the universal Monarchy yet Error is as antient as the Fall As soon as the Apostate Angels forsook their Habitation and Integrity together Error began to shew it self which soon spread it self through the habitable World when Man tempted by the Devil consented to his false Principles and went astray from the center of his Happiness No doubt Antiquity is venerable but it must be in a good cause and where Truth and that join together the Argument is perswasive and may be call'd invincible But a thing is not therefore true because it is antient nor doth it command assent because of its uncommon Pedigree Sin and Error lose little of their Deformity by appealing to antient times and an Error is so much the worse by how much it defends itself by the Practice of former Ages Idolatry and all the Vices in the World may shelter themselves under this roof and there is no Villany so great but Men may find a President two or three thousand years ago The Priests of the Temple of Diana at Ephesus called the Wicker-image of that Goddess 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fallen down from Jupiter meerly because it was antient and the Temple having been seven times ruin'd and built up again and this Image still preserved was to them an Argument that this Worship must be lawful Indeed at this rate a Man might even defend Sodomy with the Romish Arch-bishop Joannes Casa because it was practised in the Cities which God destroyed with Fire and Brimstone and the Jews would have had a good Plea for their Adoration of the Queen of Heaven because their Fathers had been used to it This very Argument makes the Allegations of the Roman Church from Antiquity ridiculous and they might as well espouse the Heresies of Ebian and Cerinthus because they lived in and about the Age of the holy Apostles When God hath given a Standard of Truth that must be the Rule whereby Truth and Error must be concluded and when that saith a thing is true it is not its being revived or taught but yesterday that can make it false and whatever is contrary to that Form of sound Words must be erroneous and false though it were as old as the Rebellion of Corah Dathan and Abiram The Worship of Images is not therefore lawful because Irene a superstitious Woman 900 years ago got a company of illiterate and passionate Men together who decreed it in a Council nor is Sedition and Disobedience to Magistrates therefore justifiable because Gregory II. Pope of Rome in the eighth Century shook off the Authority of Leo Isaurus his Emperor And therefore let none of you plead for any Sin because it is the fashion nor allow themselves in actions offensive to God's Holiness because it hath been the Custom of the Country to do so for many Ages This will be but a poor defence in the last day to alledge that you follow'd the sinful Practices of your Ancestors or to say it was unmannerly to depart from that which was done before you for many Generations To be sure Men were good before they were bad and there was a Golden Age before that of Iron took place in the World and therefore if Antiquity be a motive nothing can challenge your Embraces more than Righteousness and dominion over your Appetite and Passions for that was in the World before Mankind knew what is was to depart from the living God Murder is as antient as the time of Cain yet no civiliz'd Nation under the cope of Heaven will allow of it because of its Antiquity So far from it that in all Countries it is order'd to be punish'd with the Death of the insolent Creature Which calls me to the II. Observation That Murder is a Crime which a Magistrate must by no means suffer to go unpunished for it hath been said Thou shalt not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the Judgment The Substance of this hath been said by Almighty God as well as