Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	church_n	free_a	zion_n	17	3	8.8423	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28173	The sinners sanctuary, or, A discovery made of those glorious priviledges offered unto the penitent and faithful under the Gospel unfolding their freedom from death, condemnation, and the law, in fourty sermons upon Romans, Chap. 8 / by that eminent preacher of the Gospel, Mr. Hugh Binning ...	Binning, Hugh, 1627-1653.	1670 (1670)	Wing B2933; ESTC R6153	246,575	304

even the language of our hearts when we tell you that ye are born heirs of wrath and slaves of sin and satan he●e is the secret whispering of hearts we be Abrahams seed we were never in bondage to any We be baptized Christians we have a Church State have the priviledges and liberties not only of Subject● in the State but of Members in the Church why sayest thou we are bond-men I would wish ye were all free indeed but that cannot be till ye know your bondage Consider then I beseech you that you may be free subjects in a State and free members in a Church and yet in bondage under the law of sin and death This was the mistake that was a ground of presumption in the Jews and occasioned their stumbling at this Stone of salvation laid in Sion you think you have Church-priviledges and what needs more Be not deceived you are servants of sin and therefore not free There are two sorts or rather two ranks of persons in Gods house Sons and slaves the son abides in the house for ever the slave but for a time when the time expires he must go out or be cast out The Church is Gods house but many are in it that will not dwell in it many have the outward liberties of this house that have no interest in the special mercies and loving kindnesse proper to children The time will come that the most part of the visible Church who are baptized and have eaten with him at his Table and had a kind of frien●ship to him here shall be cast out as bondmen and Isaac only shall be kept within the child of the promise The house that is here hath some inward Sanctuary and some utter Porches many have accesse to these that never enters within the secret of the Lord and so shall not dwell in the house above It is not so much the business who shall enter into the holy hill but who shall stand and dwell in it The day of Judgement w●ll be a great day of excommunication O how many thousands will be then cut off from the Church of the living God and delivered over ●o satan because they were ●eally ●nder his powe● while they were Church-mebers and Abrahams sons Let me tell you then that all of us were once in this state of bondage which Christ speaks of He that committeth sin is the servant of sin John 8.34 and the servant abids not in the house for ever So that I am a●raid many of us who are in the visible Church and stand in this Congregation shall not have liberty to stand in the assembly of the fi●st-born when all the Sons are gathered in one to the new Ierusalem sin hath a right over us and it hath a power over us and the●efore it is called a law of sin the●e is a kind of authority that it hath over u● by vertue of Gods Justice and our own voluntary consent The Lord in his righteou●nesse hath given over all the posterity of Adam for his sin which he sinned as ● common person representing us he hath given us all over to the power of a body of death within us Since man did choose to depa●t from his Lord he hath justly delivered him into the hands of a strange Lord to have dominion over him The transmitting of such an original pollution to all men is an act of glorious justice As he in jus●i●e gives men over to the lusts of their own hearts now for following of these lusts Contrary to his will so was it at first by one mans disobedience m●ny were m●de sinners and that in Gods holy righteousnesse sin entred into the World and had permission of God to subdue and conquer the World to it self because man would not be subject to God But as there is the justice of God in it so there is a voluntary choice and election which gives sin a power over us we choose a strange lord and he lords it over us We say to our lusts Come ye and rule over us we submit our reason our conscience and all to the guidance and leading of our blind affections and passions we choose our bondage for liberty and thus sin h●th a kind of law over us by our own consent it exerciseth a jurisdiction and when once it is installed in power and clothed with it it is not so easie again to put it out of that throne there is a conspiring so to speak of these two to make out the jurisdiction and authority of sin over us God gives us over to iniquity and unrighteousnesse and we yield our selves over to it Rom. 6.16.19 we yield our members servants to iniquitie a little pleasure or commodity is the bait that ensnares us to this we give up our selves and joyn to our idols and God ratifies it in a manner and passeth such a sentence Let them alone he sayes go ye every one and serve your idols Ezek. 23. since ye would not serve me be doing go serve your lusts look if they be better masters then I look what wages they will give you Now let us again consider what power sin hath being thus cloathed with a sort of authority O! but it is mighty and works mightily in men It reigns in our mortal bodies Rom. 6.12 here is the throne of sin established in the lusts and affections of the body and from hence it emits laws and statutes and sends out commands to the soul and whole man Man choose at first to hearken to the counsel of his senses that said it was pleasant and good to eat of the forbidden fruit but that counsel is now turned into a command sin hath gotten a scepter there to rule over the spirit which was born a free Prince sin hath conquered all our strength or we have given up unto it all our strength any truth that is in the conscience any knowledge of God or Religion all this is incarcerated detained in a prison of unrighteous affections sin hath many strong holds and bulwarks in our flesh and by these commands the whole spirit and soul in man and leads captive every thought to the obedience of the flesh You know how strong it was in holy Paul Rom. 7. what a mighty battel and wrestling he had and how near he was to fainting and giving over How then must it have an absolute and soveraign full dominion over men in nature there being no contrary principle within by nature to debate with it it rules without much controlment there may be many convictions of conscience and sparkles of light against sin but these are quickly extinguised and buried Nay all these principles of light and knowledge in the conscience do oftentimes strengthen sin as some things are confirmed not weakned by opposition unequal and saint opposition strengthens the adversary as cold compassing springs makes them hotter So it is here sin takes occasion by the command to work all manner of concupiscence Rom. 7.8 Without the Law sin is

what hopes are there then of delivery when the prisoner accounts his bondage liberty and his prison a palace what expectation of freedom when all that is within us conspires to the upholding that tyrranous dominion of sin against all that would cast it out of its usurpation as if they were mortal enemies Yet there is a delivery possible but such as would not have entered in the heart of man to imagine and it is here expressed the Law of the Spirit of Life c. this declares how and by what means we may be made free Not indeed by any power within us not by any created power without us sin is stronger then all these because its imperial seat is within far without the reach of all created power there may be some means used by men to beat it out of the out-works of the outward man to chase it out of the external members some means to restrain it from such gross out-breaking● but ther● is none can lay ●iedge to the soul wi●hin or s●orm the unde●standing and will where it hath its p●incipal residence its inaccessible and impregnable by any humane power no intreaties or perswasions no terrors or threatnings can prevail it can neither be stormed by violence nor undermined by skill because it is within the spirit of the mind Untill at length some other spirit stronger then our spirit come till the Spirit of life which is in Christ come and bind the strong man and so make the poor soul free You heard that we were under a law of death and under the power of sin now there is another Law answering this law and a power to overcome this power You may indeed ask by what law of authority can a sinner that is bound over by Gods Justice unto death and condemnation be released Is there any law above Gods Law and the sentence of his Justice The Apostle answers that there is a Law above it a Law after it the Law of the Spirit of Life Jesus Christ opposes Law unto law the Law of life unto the law of death the Gospel unto the Law the second Covenant unto the first Thus it is then Iesus Christ the eternal Son of God full of grace and truth did come in mans stead when the law and sentence of death was past upon all mankind and there was no expectation from the terms of the first Covenant that there should be any dispensation or mitigation of the rigour of it he obtains this that so many as God had chosen unto life their sins and their punishment might be laid on him and so he took part of our flesh for this end that he might be made a curse for us and so redeem us from the curse Thus having satisfied Justice and fulfilled the sentence of death by suffering death him hath God exalted to be a Prince and Saviour and the head of all things In compensation of this great and weighty work given him by his Father all judgment is committed to him and so he sends out and proclaims another Law in Sion another sentence even of life and absolution unto all and upon all them that shall believe in his Name Thus you see the law of death abrogated by a new Law of life because our Lord and Saviour was made under the law of death and suffered under it and satisfied it that all his seed might be freed from it and might come under a life-giving law so that it appears to be true that was said at first there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ there is no Law no Justice against them But then another difficulty as great as the former is in the way though such a law and sentence of life and absolution be pronounced in the Gospel in Christs Name yet we are dead in sins and trespasses we neither know nor feel our misery nor can we come to a Redeemer as there was a law of death above our head so there is a law of sin within our hearts which rules and commands us and there is neither will nor ability to escape from under it It is true life and freedom is preached in Christ to all that come to him for life to all that renounce sins dominion is remission of sin preached But here is the greatest difficulty how can a dead soul stir rise and walk how can a slave to sin and a willing captive renounce it when he hath neither to will nor to do Indeed if all had been purchased for us if eternal life and forgiveness of sins had been brought near us and all the business done to our con●ent and that only wanting if these had been the terms I have purchased life now rise and embrace it of your selves truly it had been an unsuccessful bu●ine●● Christ had lost all that was given him if the moment and weight of our salvation had been hung upon o●r acceptation T●erefore it is well provided fo● this al●o that there should be a power to overcome this power a spirit of life in Christ to quicken dead sinner● and ●aise them ●p and draw them to him And so the second Adam●ath ●ath this prerogative beyond the fi●st that he is only a living soul in himself but a quickening spirit to all that a●e given him of the Father 1 Cor. 15.45 So then as Christ Jesus hath law and right on his side to free us from death so he hath vertue and power in him to accomplish our delivery from sin as he hath fair law to loose the chains of condemnation and to repeal the sentence past against us without prejudice to Gods justice he having fully satisfied the same in our name so he hath sufficient power given him to loose the fetters o● sin from off us When he hath pay'd the price and satisfied the Father so that justice can crave nothing Yet he hath one adversary to deal with Satan hath sinners bound with the cords of their own lusts in a prison of darkness and unbelief Jesus Christ therefore comes out to conquer this enemy and to redeem his elect Ones from that unjust usurpation of sin to bring them out of the prison by the strong hand and therefore he is one mighty and able to save to the uttermost he hath might to do it as well as right to it Consider then my beloved these two things which are the breasts of our consolation and the foundation of our hope we are once lost and utterly undone both in regard of Gods justice and our own utter inability to help our selves which is strengthned by our unwillingness and thus made a more desperat busine●s now God hath provided a suitable remedy he hath laid help on one that is mighty indeed who hath almighty power and by his power he fi●st conflicted with the punishment of our sins and with his Fathers wrath and hath overcome discharged and satisfied that and so hath purchased a right unto us to give salvation to whom he will be conquered

not deceive your selves the true quarrel is because they run not to the same excesse of riot with you if they will lie cozen defraud swear and blaspheme as other men you could indure to make them companions as you do others and the principle of that is the enmity that was placed in the beginning that mortal irreconciliable feud betwixt the two families are two seeds of Christ and Satan But as I told you this enmity acts in a more subtile and invisible way in some and is painted over with some fair colours to hide the deformity of it not only the grosser corruptions of men carry this stamp but take even the most refined piece or part in man take his mind take the excellency of his mind even the wisdom of it yet that hath enmity incorporated into it and mixed with it throughout all for the wisdom of the flesh is enmity with God as it may be read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very prudence and reason of a natural man which carries him to a distance from and opposition with the common defilements in the courses of men yet that hath in its bosome a more exquisite and refined enmity against God and so the more spiritual and purified it be from grosser corruptions it is the more active and powerful against God because it is as it were the very spirit and quintessence of enmity You see it 1 Cor. 1. how the wisdom of God is foolishness to the wisdom of the world and then again that the wisdom of the world is the greatest folly to the only wise God Men that have many natural advantages beyond others are at this great disadvantage They are more ready to despise godliness as too base and simple a thing to adorn their natures As Christ said of rich men it may be said of wise men of learned men of civil and blameless persons who have a smooth carriage before the world how hard is it for such to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven hard indeed for they must be stript naked of that ere they can enter through this narrow gate I mean the opinion and conceit of any worth or excellency and so diminished in their own eyes that they may go through this needles eye without crushing The stream of enmity runs under-ground often and so hides it self under some other notion till at length it burst forth openly I find it commonly run in the secret channel of amity or friendship to some other thing opposite to God So Iames 4.4 the amity of ●he world is enmity with God and 1 Joh. 2.15 He that loveth the world the love of the Father is not in him There are two dark and under-ground conduits to convey this enmity against God Amity to the world and Amity to our selves self-love and creature-love We cannot denounce war openly against Heaven but this is the next course To joyn to or associat with any party that is contrary to God and thus under the covert of friendship to our selves and love to the world we war against God and destroys our own souls I say first Amity to the world carries enmity to God in the bosome of it and if you believe not this hear the Apostles sharp and pungent question you adulterers and adulteresses know you not that the Amity of the world is Enmity with God He doth not speak only to persons guilty of that crime but to all natural men who are guilty of an adultery or whoredome of a more spiritual nature but as abominable and more dangerous There is a bond and special tye betwixt all men and God their Maker which oblidgeth them to consecrate and devout themselves their affections and endeavours to his honour especially when the Covenant of the Gospel is superadded unto that in which Jesus Christ our Lord reveals himself as having only right to us and our affections as willing to bestow himself upon us and notwithstanding of all the distance between him and wretched sinners yet filling it up with his infinit love and wonderful condescency dimitting himself to the form of a servant out of love that so he might take us up to be his chast Spouse and adorn us with his beauty This he challengeth of us whoever hear and profess the Gospel This is you● profession if you understood it That Iesus Christ shall be your well-beloved and ye his that you shall separate your self to him and admit no stranger in his place that the choice and marrow of your joy love and delight shall be bestowed on him Now this bond and tye of a professed relation to that glorious Husband is foully broken by the most part by espousing their affections to this base world Your hearts are turned off him unto strangers that is present perishing things whereas the intendment of the Gospel is To present you to Christ as pure Virgins 2 Cor. 11.2 Truly your hearts are gone a-whoring after other things the love of the world hath withdrawn you or kept you in chains these present things are as snares nets and bands as an harlots hands and heart Eccles. 7.26 they are powerful inchantments over you which bewitch you to a base love from an honourable and glorious love O that you would consider it my beloved what opposition there is betwixt the love of the world and the love of the Father betwixt amity to that which hath nothing in it but some present bait to your deceitful lusts and amity to God your only lawful Husband Affection is a transforming and conforming thing Si terram amas terra es the love of God would purify thy heart and lift it up to more similitude to him whom thou loves but the love of the world assimulats it unto the world makes it such a base and ignoble piece as the earth is Do you think marriage-affection can be parted My wel-beloved is mine therefore the Church is the Turtle the Dove to Christ of wonderful chastity it never joyns but to one and after the death of its marrow it sighs and mourns ever after and sits solitarily You must retire my beloved and disingage from the love of other things or you cannot love Christ and if you love not Christ you cannot have peace with the Father and if you have not that peace you cannot have life this is the chain of life the first link begins at the divorcement of all fo●mer loves and beloved idols once the soul must be loosed in desire and delight and that link must be fastned upon the most lovely and desireable object Christ the desire of the Nations and this draws alongs another link of peace and life with it Do not mistake it Religion would not hinder or prejudge your lawful business in this world O it were the most compendious way to advance it with more ease to your souls But certainly it will teach you to exchange the love of these things for a better and more heart-contenting love Then Amity to our selves is Enmity to