Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	law_n	time_n	write_v	3,058	5	5.6338	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A48837	A sermon preached at the funeral of Mr. Francis Mitchel, who dyed the 19th, and was buried the 24th of July, 1671	Lloyd, William, 1627-1717.	1671 (1671)	Wing L2702A; ESTC R20394	10,987	39

Perfect throughly furnisht to every good work The word Upright in my Text is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Straight in the Hebrew Now that is Straight which is according to the Rule So that the Law of God being considered as the Rule of our Life he that Walks by this Rule is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a straight or an upright man Thus all Israel was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deut. 33. 5. and in other places to signifie not so much what they were as what they should be how they ought to be Straight according to that Rule which God had given them Thus Balaam speaking by the Spirit of God called that Nation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Numb 23.10 Insomuch that this Title in my Text is the very same in effect that our Saviour gave to Nathanael John 1. 47. Behold sayes he an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile Both these words according to this interpretation signifie one and the same thing He is a Perfect man and he is an Upright man that yields a hearty constant and uniform obedience to all the known Commandements of God Fear God and keep his Commandements says Solomon this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the whole Duty of Man as it is in our translation Eccl. 12.13 Nay according to the Hebrew it is the Whole Man so the Septuagint renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the Vulgar Latine this is Omnis homo This is all that a man Is to any purpose This is the substance and solidity and life of him This is it that makes him a Perfect man in Holiness here and in Happiness hereafter This was plainly the sense of these Hebrew words in my Text But how these words are to be Applied to a Christian I cannot easily shew you without going higher and spreading farther through the whole use of the word Perfection in Scripture There is an Absolute Perfection which is onely the perfection of God There is Perfection in suo Genere which belongs to every one of his Creatures Every creature is said to have perfection of Parts when it hath all things that are necessary and essential to its kind And yet that which is perfect as to its Parts may be imperfect in Degrees in comparison with others of the same kind To Apply this to the Moral and Religious sense In this sense he is said to be a Perfect Man that in all respects conforms himself to the Will of God He is in all points such a Man as God made and such as God would have all Men to be Thus Adam was Perfect before the Fall He was then free from Sin He was Perfectly such as God made him But having Contracted Sin upon himself and his Posterity there was need of a second Adam to obtain Pardon for Sin and that Second Adam was our Lord Iesus Christ. By Vertue of whose Death which He was to Suffer in the Fulness of time there was prepared for us even from the beginning of the World a new Way to Perfection not by living without Sin but by the Pardon of Sin to all them that conform themselves not exactly but sincerely and constantly as far as they are able to the Reveal'd will of God But the Will of God was Reveal'd by several Degrees to them that lived in several Ages and Dispensations And Perfection was still an Uniform obedience to that Will of God that was known to them in their Age and under their Dispensation It was thus in the Patriarchical Church for above Two Thousand Years before the Law was given They had then little else that we know of besides Oral Tradition But whatsoever they had they that lived according to it they were said to be Perfect Men that is they were such as God required Men to be under that Dispensation Thus it is said of Noah Gen. 6.9 that he was Perfect in his Generation That is he Observed both the Natural Law of God and the Divine Institutions that then were though he had not all that was Known when the Books of Moses were Written He lived Carefully according to those Rules of life in his Time and therefore is said to have been Perfect in his Generation When God afterwards made his special Covenant with Abraham and bound it upon him with the Seal of Circumcision He prefaced it thus Gen. 17. 1. I am the Almighty God walk before me and be thou Perfect From thence forward no man could be said to be Perfect I say none that descended out of Abrahams Loins could be Perfect without the Seal of Circumcision For the Iewes when they had once received the Written Law of God Then besides their Obligation to the Natural Religion beside those Positive Laws to Adam and to Noah and to Abraham I say besides all these Obligations it was required of them that they should be Conformable to the Laws of Moses Deut. 18.13 sayes Moses Thou shalt be Perfect with the Lord thy God 'T is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a great Letter which the Iewes say is an extraordinary thing there were but Ten such before it in the Five Books of Moses Which implyed that there was more required to Perfection in them than in the Nations from whom they were Separated by that Law But What shall we say to that place in Heb. 7. 19. That the Law made nothing Perfect It means as I have shewed you Perfect without Sin and this Perfection was never attained by the Law It can be attain'd no otherwise by Fallen Man but by Christ who is Reveal'd to us in the Gospel And for us to whom this Gospel is Reveal'd we are then said to be perfect if we live according to the Will of God which is reveal'd to us in the Gospel That is in plain termes if we are good Christians such as live according to our Profession So Theophylact observes that Perfection in the Gospel-sense is no other than Christianity it self And Iustin Martyr interprets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be a Christian that is to conform our selves to the Gospel Which is that acceptable and that perfect Will of God Rom. 12.2 Which is called that perfect law of liberty James 1. 25. Which is able to make us perfect unto every good work Heb. 13.21 Under each of these Dispensations there have been some that have been more Perfect than others And those which have been perfect in the main Those which had enough to bring them to Heaven yet are said to be Imperfect in respect of some Others that have Excelled them in the knowledge of God and in the practice of Religion Vertue This particularly appears in some instances of the Gospel where comparison is made between the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 between those that were newly Converted and those that were Adult well grounded and confirmed in Religion The first in each of these kinds being in comparison of the other as Children in Comparison of Men You