Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	apostle_n	new_a	testament_n	4,132	5	8.0648	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45134	A letter to George Keith concerning the salvability of the heathen together with a testimony to the same doctrine, as long held and not newly taken up, out of several former books of him that writ it / by J.H.	Humfrey, John, 1621-1719.; Keith, George, 1639?-1716.	1700 (1700)	Wing H3684; ESTC R25550	27,967	37

Innocency and the Law of Lapsed Nature which is the Law of Grace and Mercy towards Man in regard to his fallen Condition To express it more fully there is Lex Naturae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Lex Connaturalis Gratiae the Law of Nature and the Connatural Law of Grace as Suarez hath it in his Book De Legibus I am much pleased with the Terms though I found not that he did well understand them or explain them himself Only thus much he says That the Ancients before Moses who were govern'd by the Law of Nature only must have this Lex Connaturalis Gratiae together with it or comprehended under it or else no Man then upon Earth could be saved which is a Truth so evident as makes the Proof of that Law by that Reason alone to be good When he terms this Law then Connatural I understand by it that this Law of Lapsed Nature this Law of Grace or Remedying Law is written in the Heart of Man in regard to his fallen Nature no less than the Law of pure Nature it self was The Law of Nature as I take it is the Dictates of right Reason declaring to us our Duty to God to our Selves to our Neighbours and the Light of the same Reason will dictate to us when we have fail'd in that Duty to repent and turn to God with trusting in his Mercy for pardon if we do so and not else We do find it legible in our Hearts that God is good and wisely gracious to pity our Infirmities and consider our lost Estate and necessary Frailty as that there is a God and any Worship that is at all due to him There is Mercy with thee that thou should'st be feared And these Characters thus engraven in the Heart of Man is the same Law of Grace in the Practical Contents as is more largely Paraphrased on by the Prophets in the Old and the Apostles in the New Testament There is no difference at all in the Substance as Divines speak but in the Administration It is no otherwise than as a Book thrice Printed the second Edition is larger than the first and the third most compleat and perfect This I will say the Covenant was still on foot the Condition sincerity in walking according to their Light Men were judged by it and many saved Here only is the difference that the Foundation on which all this is laid the Mediation Sacrifice and Righteousness of Christ comes not to be revealed but in Types and darker Promises till the Promulgation of the Gospel Now I say that though the Heathen be not under or have not this Law of Grace in the third and last setting out or in the State under the Gospel yet they are under it or have it in the State of the Ancients or as they had it in the first Promulgation and upon Supposition that any of them do according to the Light they have live up in Sincerity to this Law I dare not be the Man that shall deny but through the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ procuring this Law or Covenant for them as for us and all the World they shall be saved even as we and we shall be saved even as they To them who by patient Continuance in well-doing seek for it Eternal Life Not to leave this yet I have learned from Cicero That all Laws must be derived from the Divine Reason and Will I have learned from others That this Reason of God in his Government of all things agreeable to his own Nature and the Nature of his Creatures is the Eternal Law I have learned from the Scripture That there is a Law of Works and a Law of Grace I do learn by consequence That these Laws as Frames of God's Government over Man must be Reconcileable with the Eternal Law or the Reason of his Wisdom and Justice and Goodness the one of them being fit for the State of Man in Innocency the other for his Lapsed Condition How these Laws do now consist and not consist with one another while the Scriptures say sometimes that we are freed from the Law and sometimes that it is Established sometimes that not a tittle of it shall pass and sometimes that we are not under the Law but under Grace I do not intend here any full decision I will draw only one chief Stroke towards it The Law may be considered as the Rule of Man's Duty or Measure of Good and Evil according to his own Nature and God's or as the Instrument of God's Government over Man or Measure of his Dealing with us or Judging us according to our deservings It cannot be conceived but so long as the Nature of God and Man is the same and Good and Evil which consists of agreeableness or disagreeableness to them both is the same the Law of Nature must remain unchangeable as the Measure of our Moral Actions But as it is the Instrument of God's Government in the World it is as certain that through the Mediation of Christ who hath satisfied his Father for our breach of it it is relaxed so as we are not dealt withal according to the Tenor of the Law in the Matters of this Life or of that which is to come I distinguish these two things A Rule of Life and a Rule for Life A Rule for Life is expressed in these words He that doeth them shall live in them We are freed from the Law on the latter account we are made free to it in regard to the former That is we are under the Law so as that we are still bound to live according to it but we are delivered from it so as through Mercy and the Merits of Christ we shall not be judged by it There is Norma Vitae and Norma Judicii The Law is of force as a Rule of Life or Duty but we are not under it as a Rule of Judgment We shall be Judged says St. James by the Law of Liberty and Paul says According to my Gospel Blessed be God for this good Truth Now that the Government of God over the whole World is by the Law of Grace and not of Works thus much being said only for light in the way does appear as the Sun or Moon in the Heavens For God hath not left himself without Witness in that he does good and gives us Fruitful Seasons These are Effects of his Mercy which he could not shew to the World as he does if he dealt with it according to the Law of Works When Abraham pleads with God for Sodom that he would spare it if there were ten Righteous Persons there it is manifest that he must account of God's Government over the Earth to be a Government of Grace That the Righteous be as the Wicked that be far from thee says he shall not the Judge of all the Earth do Right If God should do but Right to the best of Men according to the Righteousness of the Law of Works there could be no such Pleading as