Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	earth_n	great_a	word_n	7,460	5	3.7722	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A94074	The vvay to the highest honour. Presented in a sermon preached before the Right Honourable House of Peeres, in the Abbey Church at Westminster, at their late solemne monthly fast. Feb. 24. 1646. / By William Strong, one of the Assembly of Divines. Published by order of the House of Peeres.	Strong, William, d. 1654.	1647 (1647)	Wing S6013; Thomason E377_24; ESTC R201368	39,205	58

be renowned Esay 14.20 Having thus finished the explication of the Text only the Application remaines which I shall cast into one use of exhortation to you Right Honourable whom God hath exalted in this Nation If yee desire to be truly honourable let Gods honour be precious in your eyes If you feare a blot in your name a staine in your coate doe not set light by the things of God Esay 5.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gloria●● Mont. Qui vult ess● sibi non ti●● nihil esse intipit inter omnia Ber. for they that despise him shall be lightly esteemed The Nobility is the glory of a Nation wee desire that no shame may be be cast upon our glory that our silver become not drosse nor our wine be mixed with water Herein true honour and greatnes lyes when the things of God are great in our esteeme and Gods honour is exalted by us and when a man fals from this he begins to be nothing though he be the greatest Monarch of the earth To enforce this exhortation I shall only adde these considerations and conclude 1. A man may have the highest honour upon earth yet he may be before God and all the Saints a vile person 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 despectu● So is Antiochus though a Prince called Dan. 11.21 It s an especiall manifestation of the soveraignty of God that he rules in the Kingdomes of mortall men gives them to whomsoever he will Dan. 4.17 sets over them the basest of men If a man exalt not God he hath nothing in him that is honourable and all the honour that he hath is but vaine glory Act. 25.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eccles 10.6.7 a fancy and no more It was one of the vanities that Solomon saw under the Sun Folly is set in great dignity and servants are on horse-backe when Princes walke as servants on the earth Men of servile spirits and servile lusts are advanced and men of Princely spirits remaine in low place This outward honour will never set a man up with God and his Saints they only that are precious in his sight may be called honourable And this is a sure rule Tantus quisque est quantus est apud Deum all true honour is that which comes from God only 2. A man may be honourable in this life and miserable in the life to come Prov. 21.16 A man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Medes Diatrib In Pro. 21.16 of the ancient name of Hell p. 136. The word is rendered by a learned Criticke of our owne in Catu Gigantum referring us unto Gen. 6.4 where those ancient Rebells against God are mentioned whose wickednesse was so great upon the earth that the Lord repented that he had made man and to take vengeance upon them he brought the flood upon the world of the ungodly they perishing in their wickednesse and going downe to the place of the damned Hell received it ancient denomination from these ancient Inhabitants and it is called the place of the Giants and all that ever perish since are to goe downe to them to the same place Now these were in the earth men of renowne men of honour and of name and yet they are gone unto that place of torment And of all men in the world none will perish with so much scorne and derision as they As meane men may creepe out of the world to their graves with lesse noise so they goe to hell with lesse observation Esay 14 9. When the King of Babylon dyes Hell from beneath is mooved for thee to met thee at thy comming it stirreth up the dead or the Gyants for thee even all the chiefe ones of the earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And they all say unto him with scorne and derision How art thou fallen from Heaven Oh great Lucifer Son of the morning c. 3. Lay these conclusions firmely in your spirits 1. By strength shall no man prevaile 1 Sam. 2.9 The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which wee translate strength Prov. 5.10 Hose 7.9 Adsumenta omnia adminicula quibus pollere fibi videtur Cal. signifies not only strength and vigour of body but also of minde in wisdome learning policy or outwardly in honour or estate and the Lord hath layd downe this for a Decree let a man be never so great in all these yet he shall not be strong or prevaile in any of his enterprizes by them For God hath no pleasure in the legs of a man Psal 147.10 where by legs is meant any thing in which a man is strong Qu● suis viribus nittunur Mins and that wherein he may put his trust whether strength of body or abilities of mind riches or honours or any outward excellency whatsoever God hath no pleasure in them nor in the man because of them 2 By iniquity shall no man be established Prov. 12.3 A man may exalt himselfe and mount up unto the highest step of all worldly honour and greatnesse by wayes of bribery and blood he may build his house by unrighteousnesse Jer. 22.13.14 Metaphora ducta est ab arb●ribus quae altè profunde in terram demersae non facitè moventur Car t● and his chambers by wrongs enclose himselfe in Cedar painted with vermilion and thinke his posterity shall endure for ever and call the Land after his owne name but they shall not be established that is as the opposition shewes not take roote as the righteous doe their roote shall be rottennesse a worme and a curse is at the roote God bringeth Princes to nothing Esay 40.24 he maketh the Iudges of the earth as vanity they shall not be planted yea they shall not be sowne yea their stocke shall not take roote in the earth As the pleasure of sin is but for a season so the profit of it is not lasting A lying tongue is but for a moment Prov. 12.19 3. Those that walke in pride he is able to abase Dan. 4.37 he delights to doe it And wee have cause to feare that the Lord of Hosts hath purposed to staine the pride of all glory and to bring into contempt all the honour able of the earth Esay 23.8 4. No man knowes how soone yee may lay downe your honour All things here below are compared unto wheeles Ezech. 1.16 in perpetuo motu full of turnings and changes The story of Sesostris the King of Aegypt related by Polanus upon this place is famous who rode in a triumphant chariot drawne by foure captive Kings of whom one was observed alwaies to looke backe upon the wheele that followed him and being asked the reason why he looked behind him He answered to observe quam citò summa fiunt ima how soone that which is highest becomes the lowest A meditation which would be as fit a corrective to men in great places Wee have lived to

without a new Creation a mighty worke of regeneration passing upon a man a people created for his praise God receives no honour by any of the most curious workes of unregenerate men They are all turned into sin Psa 109.7 Esa 65.5 they are to him as smoake in his nose and he abhors them because though they seem to honour God in his Law yet they honour him not in his Sonne and he will be honoured no other way and these workes he sets a very high price upon Luther propounds this query why the Lord in Scripture hath recorded so many ordinary and common things of the Saints and yet the Vertues of Socrates and the famous acts of Hannibal Caesar Alexander and Scipio which to humane view were greater then any in the Church ever performed Comment in Gen. 29 1.2.3 Si dareru● m●hi optio eligero● unius Christiani rustici aut ancillae sordidissi num maxime agreste opus prae omnibus vic●otiis triu●● phis Alexandri magni Iulii Caesaris c. Quere quia hic est Deus illi●●st Diabolus quae est differentia essentialis Hoc non omnes possunt cerwere ne Erasmus qui dem vidit soli credentes cernunt precium pondus operum Christianorum pondus autē pretium maximum operum est sides verium ●bi enim Deus ipse est spiri●us in operante Non sorde●● insima carnaliaopera sanctorum nec vilia abjecta fiunt quia fiunt a parsona credente accepta san●●a divina quae quicquid fecerit scit Deo placere of whom it is hard to find a parallell even in David himselfe or any of the Christian Worthies He answers the first thing to be looked unto is whether the person be accepted or else the workes cannot please God si vel Cicero vel Socrates sanguinem sudasset tamen propterea non placeret Deo And therefore he professeth that if God would graunt him his desire he should chuse rather to be the Author of the meanest worke of the lowest of the Saints then of all the Victories of Alexander or the Triumphs of Caesar because God is honoured in his Sonne in the one and not in the other God may use Cyrus to deliver his people to say to Ierusalem thou shalt be built and to the Temple thy Foundations shall be layd God may make the King of Tyre as a covering Cherub unto the Arke he may cause the earth to succour the woman and appoint Badgers skins and Rams skins for to cover the Tabernacle And he may get himselfe honour by them but they doe not honour him because all they doe is not in his Sonne which is the high and only way in which he will be glorified There is a double Principle from whence all the actions of unregenerate men towards God do flow either a principle of open enmity or of secret flattery all their grosse sins proceed from the first and all their religious duties from the latter Psal 78.36 they did but flatter him with their lips and lyed to him with their tongues for their heart was not right with him c. And the latter in some respect is most abhominable as Judas his betraying Christ with a kisse is more hatefull then that of the Souldiers who came with swords and staves to take him Mark 1.24.34 Christ suffered not the Devills to speake because they knew him Luc. 4.41 Non decet immundum do mundo pronunciare à De● refugum de sancto Dei Brug He will not suffer Satan to give a testimony of him to be the Sonne of God though it were truth and the same testimony that hee commends in Peter Math. 16.16 from an inward detestation that any truth of him should be witnessed by the Father of lyes If our persons doe not please God our workes cannot honour God This being layd for a ground wee now come to shew how God is said to be honoured by us and that is principally in these six particulars 1. When the thoughts of God are sweet to a man and he hath high and ravishing apprehensions of him from day to day Math. 15.8 there is a distinction made by Christ himselfe this people honour me with their lips but their heart is far from me there is therefore an honouring God with the heart as well as with the mouth and if ever our Odors be sweet to God they must proceed out of Golden Vials Rev. 5.8 Pineda Sanctim In opposition hereunto wee have cursing God in the heart Job 1.5 which is not to be understood of violent and malicious blaspheming of God but a forgetfulnesse of God or any irreverent and unholy thought of God unbecomming his Matie and glory And this is I conceive Medes Diatr upon the sanctification of Gods name p. 28. to sanctifie the Lord in our hearts Esay 8.13 noting that immediate duty which wee owe to him in acknowledging and meditating of that peerelesse excellency that is in him as the highest the most delightsome and satisfactory object of the soule Thus do the Angels honour him when they alwaies say in their hearts Esa 6.3 holy holy holy is the Lord God of Hostes the whole earth is full of thy glory So doth Solomon teach us Eccles 5.2 by considering the Lord is in heaven and wee are upon earth So doth Moses when he is rapt into admiration of him Exod. 15.11 who is like unto thee Oh Lord who is like unto thee Glorious in holinesse fearefull in praises 1. Sam. 2 2. doing wonders So Hannah there is none holy as the Lord for there is none besides thee neither is there any rock like unto our God Ps 139.17.18 And David how precious are thy thoughts unto me Oh God how great is the summe of them If I should count them they are more in number then the sand when I awake I am still with thee c. And thus Micayah honoured God 1. Kin. 22.19 when he saw two Kings sit upon Thrones and yet the apprehension of the Glory and Majesty of God did swallow up all the thoughts of the glory of the creature and it becomes as nothing before him Jer. 2.32 Psa 10.4 But when wee forget Gods dayes without number he is not in all our thoughts and when the glory of other things darkens the glory of God in our hearts and thoughts of other things doth drowne the thoughts of God in us as those things that are to us more excellent and more delightsome this is to dishonour God in a mans heart and to live without God in the world 2. Wee then honour God when the honour of God is precious in our eyes when whether wee eate or drinke or whatsoever wee do else 1. Cor. 10.31 wee doe all to the glory of God When a man 's owne honour is not deere to him in comparison of Gods but he casts downe his crowne and falls upon his

17.12 Downham of Antichrist l. 1. c. 3. Bellarm. de Rom. Pont. capt 13. A Lap. in loc The ten hornes are ten Kings which have received no Kingdome as yet but receive power as Kings one houre with the beast At the same time when the Empyre was broken and those that were only Viceroyes under it did begin to take to themselves the Power and the Title of Kings and to reigne absolutely and independently upon the Empyre Now did the beast receive his power now he that letted was taken out of the way and now the wicked one was revealed If therefore wee can learne when the Empyre was divided and the ten Kings arose Mede in Apot. c. 8 p. 78. from that time wee are to begin the forty and two moneths There were indeed severall degrees of the Empyres downfall Attalus a Gothis Imperator effectus est Paul Viacon c. 14. Some refer it to the time when Alaricus the Goth first tooke Rome and sacked it and they created a new Emperour therein which was about the yeere 410. or as some 412. This indeed made way for the comming of Antichrist and therefore Ierome hearing of this taking of Rome Praefat. l. 1 commentan Ezech. Ita Romanorum apud Romam Imperium toto terrarum orbe venerabile Augustalis illa sublimitas quae ab Augusto quondam Octaviano erecta est cum hoc Augustulo periit Paul Diacon l. 16. did presently expect that Antichrist should arise Postquā clarissimū terrarum omnium lumen extinctum est imò Romani Imperij truncatum caput in una urbe totus orbis interiit But this never came to perfection to take him that letted out of the way till Gensericus the Vandall tooke Rome the second time and plundered it utterly and then fired it this was about the yeer 455. then the ten Kings arose If wee adde thereunto a thousand two hundred 60 daies it will appeare that the time of the prophesying of the witnesses in sackcloth is not yet expired and therefore the time of their killing yet to come 2. When the witnesses are slaine Antichrists party ly shall come to a great height of security Cessante jain Romana Vrius Imperio c. l. 17. and they shall glory in their death rejoyce over them make merry and send gifts one to another becauve these two Prophets tormented them that dwell on the earth Rev. 11.10 Consitetur se Apostatam esse sed beatum sanctum qui fidem Diabolo dutam non servav●t Luth. But since the Angel did fly in the midst of heaven with the everlasting Gospell in his hand since that glorious departure and blessed Apostacy as he himselfe calls it that Luther made from the Church of Rome wee reade of no such perfect victory that ever they had over the reformed Christians that they thought all safe and therefore did send gifts one to another as perfectly secure 3. When the witnesses shall arise from the dead then the tenth part of the City shall fall Which cannot be meant as some have thought of the fall of the power of Antichrist in some one of the ten Kingdomes But is spoken of Romes last and utter destruction speedily to follow called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the tenth part Mede Clav. Apoc in cap. 11. v. 13. because that which now remaines is but decima pars Civitatis antiquae the tenth part of what the ancient City was For the fall of Antichrist ends with the sixth Trumpet Mede Syncro● p. 18. or the second woe And as soone as the tenth part of the City is fallen it is said the second wee is past Rev. 11.14 And immediately the seventh Trumpet sounded and then all the enemies being subdued the Kingdomes of the world become the Kingdoms of the Lord and his Christs Rev. 10.7 and then the mystery of God is finished Now because wee see not the City to fall but yet expect by faith Babylon to be cast as a Milstone into the sea therefore the slaying of the witnesses with their resurrection is not past but to come 4. If wee looke to the Text it is then to be expected or feared when the Church of God doth flourish most and hath gotten the greatest victory over the Antichristian party that ever that as the destruction of the one is neerest when they are most secure so is the slaying of the other when they have the greatest expectations of a full deliverance Therfore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when they had finished is not to be rendered cum finierint but cum finituri sint Mede Clav. p. 136. when they were about to finish their testimony sc when they had got great ground against Antichrist and men began to repent of their drinking of the wine of her fornication and to hate the whore And the Temple of God was purged and a great Reformation was begun now had the witnesses peace and inlargement in some measure and they began gratulabundi saccum exuere to cast off their sackcloth and expect on the enemy an utter ruine thinking he had received a deadly wound that could never more be healed Yet at this time shall Antichrist gather all his scattered and broken forces and shall with greater fury make war upon the Saints and overcome them and kill them exercise greater cruelty over them then ever he did in times past but it shall be short though it be sharpe I could be glad to tell you that this sad calamity is past that our iniquity is pardoned and our warfare accomplished for Lord thou knowest I have not desired the wofull day But these considerations make me to conclude with that learned Interpreter so often quoted cladem istam novissimam adhuc metuendam that wee have cause to feare that this last and great affliction of the Church in the killing of the witnesses is yet to come And if it be what a comfort will it be to a man when he shall lay downe his honour and when they that formerly honoured him outwardly shall despise him then to be able to reflect upon his former wayes and say Lord I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and I layd out mine honour for thee while I did enjoy it 5. The last direction that I shall humbly commend to you in the conclusion is Take heed of those sins especially that will set God against you to cause you to be lightly esteemed and will surely lay your honour in the dust 1. Take heed of selfe exaltation selfe adoration and standing too much upon selfe Interest for the hautinesse of man shall be bowed downe and the loftines of man shall be layd low that God alone may be exalted This honours Moses to posterity that though he was a Prince in Israel Ante occupationem Hierosolymorum a Davide factam Arauna Iebusitarum Rex fuerar Postea verò regno se abdicans religionem Israe i. cam fuerat