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A66020 The arraignment of a sinner at the bar of divine justice delivered in a sermon in St. Maries Church at Oxford, March the 5. 1655 before the Right Honourable, the Judges of Assize, &c. / by Robert Wilde ... Wild, Robert, 1609-1679. 1656 (1656) Wing W2165; ESTC R22649 25,661 46

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the Originalls Here is now before us a Text which if they will allow the Epistle to be Greek as indeed they doe suffers by their vulgar Latine which Lyranus Tolet and the Rhemish and most Romish writers doe and will follow in the very sense and substance of it For they read it thus Who knowing the Iustice of God understood not that they which doe such things are worthy of death c. By which they first insert non intellexerint which is not to be found in any Greeke Coppy and then that which they doe put in is not the Herbe Iohn as we say but very Colloquintida which infects the whole Messe making thereby the Gentiles who are the Subject of the Apostles discourse to be nescious and ignorant that Sin deserved at Gods hands death and so the more excusable when as the very thing which the Holy Ghost seemes apparently to drive the whole Argument at is quite contrary viz. to aggravate and accumulate to their Guilt 1 that They knew sin to be sin 2 that they knew that sin some sin at least deserved death and yet 3 that they did hold downe and violently keepe under this knowne truth like a Prisoner and in despite of it dared to commit those Sinnes Nay 4 not onely so but also that they did connive yea consent to yea Patronize and applaud Others who did so also so that They sinned not through ignorance infirmity or temptation but out of choise and Election and with Deliberation and Delight But I must remember I am not at home but in a place which needs not to be taught how to read or expound Scripture That I may therefore present you the words in a Metaphoricall language proper to this daies occasion and yet not wrench'd and forc'd Methinkes I see Saint Paul in this Epistle as in a triumphant Charriot riding by the Spirit a Circuit about the world first like a Severe but just Iudge to try and condemne all guilty ones and then according to his commission in the Gospel to offer unto all penitents a pardon from Iesus Christ the King of Peace His whole Expedition he divides into two parts as it were two Goale-deliveries One of the Gentile world whom he sits upon and tries by the Law of Nature written in all their Hearts something blurr'd yet legible and by the works of Creation and Providence obvious to their very Senses The other is an Assize upon the Iewes with whom he proceeds to a tryall according to the Lawes of their owne Moses written in their Bookes upon their Walls Doores and Phylacteries and also according to their great priviledges and Gods speciall dispensations towards them and this is the work of the second chapter My Text is the issue of his Arraignment of the Gentiles begun at ver. 18. And with some light and assistance from the context laies before us these particulars * First the Iudge Saint Paul Once a guilty and condemned Malefactor Himselfe But pardoned made a Favourite raised to the dignity of an Apostle and Ambassador sent out and by speciall commission of Oyer and Terminer as I may say given him from heaven by word of mouth from Jesus Christ the King of all the world authorized to try and judge the Gentiles And accordingly in this chapter he sits upon them opens his commission publisheth it then proceeds with them upon an issue of Eternall Life or death Such an other Judge was the Prophet Ezek. Wilt thou Iudge them Son of Man wilt thou judge them chap. 20. 3. And that I may seasonably magnifie our vilified office Such a Judge is every true Minister of the Gospell being all put into commission as well as the Apostles Math. 18. 19. 20. As very scar-crowes as the wicked world make of them having a power as authoritatively to declare and pronounce Sentence of life or death from the Pulpit upon the Souls of men as any Judge on earth hath upon the bodies and lives of Malefactors from the Bench And the effects and Successe of our Sermons doe oftentimes make this appeare causing Sinners that stand below as at a Barre to grow pale wring their hands to tremble and cry out like those in the Acts Men and Brethren what shall we doe As we read Judge Faelix himselfe did who when he sent for Paul to heare him thought only of some neat discourse but it proved a Judiciary Tryall of Him for intemperance and injustice The poore prisoner proving to be the Judge and the Judge the prisoner 2. The prisoners at the Barre of Pauls Ministry are the whole body of the Gentile-nations spread all over the Earth Greeks and Barbarians Princes Philosophers Poets Orators wise unwise rich and poor all all There is I confesse a Learned Annotator of our owne nation who as he too much hath gratified the Church of Rome laying the great Mystery of Iniquity at the doore of the Gnosticks a Mungrel Sect made up of Gentilisme Iudaisme and Christianity living in the Apostles time So also he loads them with the heavy Burden of both these chapters But I finde him in this latter opinion to stand alone and by himselfe and not so much as his Friend H Grotius with him The generall vote of Expositors being that the Gentiles were the men whom the Apostle here chargeth 3. The Indictment and Articles of Crimes laid to their Charge wee have ranked under three Heads 1 against God 2 their neighbours 3 themselves many or most of them are found to be Felones de se Not to name All Here is within the compasse of three verses 29 30 31. a Bill brought in against them consisting of Treasons Murders Felonies Riots Buggeries Perjuries and all sorts of misdemeanours no lesse than 23. in number c. 4. As for the Law by which he proceeds in their tryall it is here produced {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the Ancient and Fundamentall Law of Divine Iustice From whence as the very Fountaine have issued all the just and good Lawes both Divine and Humane in the world The word in the plural number as Beza observes is promiscuously used both for the Mandates of God Morall Iudiciall and Ceremoniall and also for his Judgemen●s Rom. 15. 4. But in the singular as here it either signifies that Divine Law of Righteousnesse written in all mens hearts with the obligation to vengeance upon the transgressors so comes to as much as the Synteresis and Syneidesis in naturall conscience Or else it imports that just execution of punishment due for sin Iustitia poenalis Suidas calls it and our English Translation in the Text The Iudgement of God So then the Law is 1. A common and universall Law called by some The Law of Nature by others Ius Gentium and {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} The Divine Law 2. A Iust and Equall Law translated sometimes The righteousnesse of God dealing with sinners according as they are {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}