Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	jesus_n	law_n	spirit_n	7,842	5	6.0757	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12099	Five pious and learned discourses 1. A sermon shewing how we ought to behave our selves in Gods house. 2. A sermon preferring holy charity before faith, hope, and knowledge. 3. A treatise shewing that Gods law, now qualified by the Gospel of Christ, is possible, and ought to be fulfilled of us in this life. 4. A treatise of the divine attributes. 5. A treatise shewing the Antichrist not to be yet come. By Robert Shelford of Ringsfield in Suffolk priest.	Shelford, Robert, 1562 or 3-1627.	1635 (1635)	STC 22400; ESTC S117202	172,818	340

thy neighbour as thy self ye do well Here the text makes a manifest supposition of fulfilling G●●●● law in this life first it affirmeth this doctrine to be according to scripture next it sheweth how it is to be tried that is by the law in loving our neighbour as our selves and he that can do this there is no doubt but he loveth God above all because without God he could not do this Were Gods law not possible to be fulfilled the supposition should be idle unfit for Gods word and unbeseeming one writing by divine inspiration and then the twelve tribes might justly have returned this caption upon S. James You put upon us that which cannot be done But in this absurditie the Apostle could not be taken because he wrote by divine inspiration and sootheth the thing first by adding to his supposition this commendation Ye do well and secondly by fetching to this head all other parts of Gods law saying afterward For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet fail in one point he is guiltie of all Here therefore is a generall and absolute fulfilling spoken of and here is implied that every one is bound to bring his obedience not to one or most but to every part of Gods law and so no starting hole is left for any one beloved sinne Secondly this supposition of S. James is confirmed by our Lords prayer Thy will be done in earth ●s it is in heaven If the law which is Gods will could not be fulfilled in earth then Christ obtained not what he would we daily pray in vain and Christ hath in vain commanded us to pray Thirdly this is confirmed by the liturgie of our Church in the collect upon the first Sunday after the Epiphanie in these words And grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do and also have grace and power faithfully to fulfill the same through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Where we are taught by whose vertue men may fulfill Gods law that is by Jesus Christs grace and power Lastly this is taught by the prayer upon the ten commandments Lord have mercy upon us and encline our hearts to keep this law Where first we are taught to know our own miserie in that we are bound to keep Gods law with the penaltie of everlasting death and yet of our selves we have no power to perform it and therefore we pray God to be mercifull to us Next we pray that he would encline our hearts to keep his law where is shewed that God himself is the first mover and principall actour in this work that we do but run along with him and that of our selves we are so crooked and averse that if he do not encline and bend our hearts as the shipwright boweth his timber by his instruments the strength of his arms and the heat of his fire to make a ship we should never be able to sail to the kingdome of heaven Wherefore if we shall fail to joyn our hands to Gods hand when the principall acting is his the second and inferiour ours when he hath used all his means towards us his threatnings to terrifie us his exhortations to draw us his promises to entice us and propounded the end and reward of the work to be onely ours whereas the greatest merit is Christs if we now be defective and behinde on our part we shall be worthy of many hells To conclude in that we intreat God to enable us to keep his law hence appeareth the laws excellencie and mans benefit in observing it It is Gods image and similitude in which he made man therefore it hath relation to us and we to it it restoreth us to our first perfection and heavens felicitie it is the conformity between God and man it is that which maketh God and us one Therefore to the keeping of this we must strain soul and body we must put all that we can we must not fly to naked imputation where is required our conformation For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Sonne His Sonne hath fulfilled the law and so must we too But here may be objected that they which are in Christ are delivered from the law Rom. 8. 2. For the law of the Spirit of life hath made me free from the law of sinne and of death Therefore we have nothing to do with the law I answer that in this place and in the chapter before by the law is understood concupiscence the law of the members which giveth precepts and motions onely for sinne and not the law of God which giveth precepts against sinne and for holinesse and righteousnesse Again it may be objected that we are not under the law therefore we have not to do with it Rom. 6. 14. Ye are not under the law but under grace It is answered Though we be not under the law to be condemned terrified and forced by it yet we are under the law to Christ that is to be guided by it as the Apostle testifieth of himself 1. Cor. 9. 21. Being not without the law to God but under the law to Christ Therefore if the very just shall transgresse while they are within the law they are bound to make satisfaction by holy penance which is secunda tabula post naufragium Lastly it may be objected that we are dead to the law and therefore we have no more to do with it Rom. 7. 4. Wherefore my brethren ye are also become dead to the law by the body of Christ that ye should be married to another even unto him that is raised up from the dead that ye should bring forth fruit unto God By the law here is not meant the law simply but the law and the flesh compounded together as appeareth in the sixth verse wherein we stood in bondage to both For the laws letter onely shewed us what we were to do but gave us no power to perform and with this the flesh and the old man went hand in hand for though the law gave us no power to perform yet the flesh gave us power to transgresse and sinne To this the Apostle sheweth that we are dead by the merit of the death of Christs body that we might be married to another that is to Christ in Baptisme by whose Spirit and grace we might be enabled to fulfill that which the law taught and commanded to bring forth fruit unto God and our own salvation And from hence it appeareth still that the law of it self is good and we have need of it though it be not sufficient for us because it is our school-master to shew us our sinnes and to bring us to Christ Gal. 3. 24. Rom. 7. 7. I had not known sinne but by the law Having made an end of confirming my first argument from the scriptures supposition and grant now I proceed to my second argument which is founded upon the efficacie and

inward man This delight is the wills fulnesse often spoken of in the 119 Psalme O how I love thy law it is my meditation all the day long Again Therein is my delight I will observe it with my whole heart Now the whole is the fulnesse of a thing therefore there is an inward fulfilling of Gods will Notwithstanding we must not here rest but proceed to the outward also because the bodie is a part of the whole and so bound by the law to follow its inward principle By this outward fulfilling God is more glorified to the eye of the world and without the outward the inward is not seen wherefore upon every good opportunitie they ought to go both together But here we must take knowledge that the bodie in its own principle is so farre from fulfilling Gods law that it is a contrary law to it and is called of the Apostle the law of the members and the law of sinne and of death I see another law in my members warring against the law of my minde and leading me into captivitie to the law of sinne which is in my members That is to say as S. Augustine expoundeth it captivare conantem endeavouring to leade me into captivitie to the law of sinne in my members How may we be freed from this by another law that is the law of the minde called the law of the Spirit of life Rom. 8. 2. For the law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sinne and of death Then the law of the members cannot hold us in captivitie Here therefore come to be considered of us three laws in Gods word expressed The first is that which is called the law of God and this is the glasse of our lives shewing what we should do and what we should not do The second is called the law of the members and the law of sinne and of death because it labours and endeavours to draw us to sinne and to death And this is concupiscence giving precepts and motions for sinne which in the unregenerate draweth death after it The third is the law of the minde called of S. Paul Rom. 8. 2. the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus And this law is bestowed upon us habitually in baptisme and is nothing else but holy charitie which sanctifieth by the power of the holy Ghost and purifieth the minde before God and is opposite to concupiscence And because this is the strongest law and seated in the minde which is mans form and principle therefore this both freeth from the law of the members and of sinne also fulfilleth the law of God which is mans conformity with him And this is confirmed by that main conclusion Charitas est legis plenitudo Charitie is the fulnesse or fulfilling of the law Which is thus to be understood saith S. Augustine Diffunditur in corde charitas Dei unde fiat legis plenitudo non per vires arbitrii quod est in nobis sed per Spiritum sanctum qui datus est nobis The love of God is diffused in our hearts from whence proceeds the laws fulfilling not by the power of free-will which is in us but by the holy Ghost which is given to us It may be objected that the law of the members or concupiscence is imputed by God to the whole man being it is opposite and rebells against the law of the Spirit I answer that the sinne of the flesh is not imputed to the whole man because the flesh is not yet redeemed in execution according to that of the Apostle Rom. 8. 23. But we also which have the first-fruits of the Spirit that is the law of the Spirit of life in our mindes by which we are sanctified and consecrated to God even we do mourn in our selves waiting for the adoption the redemption of our bodies that is to say the deliverance of our bodies from concupiscence which is thus done saith S. Augustine Liberari à corpore mortis est omni sanato languore concupiscentiae carnis non ad poenam recipere corpus sed ad gloriam non enim à corpore mortis impii liberabuntur unquam quibus in resurrectione eadem corpora ad aeterna tormenta reddentur To be freed from this bodie of death is to heal all the languour or infirmitie of lust in the flesh and not to receive the bodie to pain but glory in the citie of God for the wicked shall never be freed from this bodie of death to whom the same bodies at the resurrection shall be restored to suffer everlasting torments And the reason why God hath not redeemed or delivered our bodies is because God hath ordained that man should not attain his end and perfection without difficultie or at one instant as the angels did but to go to heavens happinesse by much opposition and by many sighs and sorrows as our head hath done before us by many sufferings and that according to the difference of every ones conflict and striving they might be rewarded with the different orders of the glorious angels For which cause all they who have generous mindes according to the dispensation of grace must put on in the way of godlinesse the best that they can knowing with the Apostle that their labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. And from hence it will follow that whereas Christians have longer time and more difficulties to go to their end then the angels had therefore their rewards shall be greater and more then theirs though their grace be more and greater then that of Christians Wherefore when they both shall meet there shall be a blessed harmonie and sweet rejoycing in God together And to shew a little further the difference between the angels and mens travell toward the end this shall appeare from mans combate under the three laws warring one against another The law of the members challengeth the law of the minde and spirit and the law of the minde and spirit challengeth the law of the members and the law of God challengeth both saying Thou law of spirit and grace comest too short for mans salvation and thou law of members art out of measure sinfull and therefore killing What shall the distressed conscience now do when so many fists are one upon another in one man beside the unknown stratagems of the devil the multitude of the worlds incursions and the manifold falls into sinne O the fears the cares and the labours Is not here S. Pauls exclamation O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death At last comes in our captain to our comfort and then the Apostle saith I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Then take we heart and say further with the same Then I my self with the minde serve the law of God but with the flesh the law of sinne The Saviour of the world strikes in with

nothing but winde in them the one lifteth up in nature the other lifteth up in God But here it may be objected What meaneth the Apostle thus to disable knowledge seeing by it we depart from evil and are informed to good and the prophet Isaiah saith in his 53 chapter vers 11. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many where knowledge is made the cause of our justification I answer that wheresoever knowledge in holy scripture is taken in a good sense there it is vox complexa as sapientia is by S. Bernard called sapida scientia savourie knowledge for in this knowledge charitie which is the extern form of knowledge is comprehended But here in this text of scripture Knowledge is vox incomplexa standing alone by it self and in opposition to Charitie and therefore here it produceth no good effect but onely pride which is enemie to goodnesse But charitie is the substance of Christianitie and therefore is called of the School Divines grace it self And this in the building of a Christian toward heaven is the master-builder for the more it worketh in us the better and bigger Christians we grow according to that of S. Augustine Charitas inchoata inchoata justitia est charitas provecta provecta justitia est charitas magna magna justitia est charitas perfecta perfecta justitia est Charitie begunne is righteousnesse begunne charitie increased is righteousnesse increased great charitie is great righteousnesse and perfect charitie is perfect righteousnesse And when this is come then there is no difference between God and man it is conformitie between God and man it is as S. Paul saith the fulfilling of the law further then this we cannot go Yea that which is the most comfortable and remarkable point in all Christianitie is the law of the Spirit of life which freeth from the law of sinne and of death and this is the main refuge to the distressed conscience There are in the best two laws ruling in them because the best are compounded of two the flesh and the spirit The law of the flesh is concupiscence which gives precepts onely for the flesh whose end is sinne and death and therefore it is called the law of sinne of death and the law of the spirit is charitie which gives precepts onely for holinesse and righteousnes and this is called the law of life because the end of it is life These two laws are ex diametro opposite one to the other in the regenerate because they be both of force in this life therefore the regenerate are carried both wayes sometimes to sinne and sometimes to holines and vertue But because charitie which is the root of all good desires is the more noble law as being the law of the spirit and is in all evil actions first or last or both opposite to them and never yeeldeth but during the violence of the passion which being over it immediately returneth to his former strength and vertue therefore this freeth from the other so that condemnation is never liable to them in whom this law is found Therefore when the blessed Apostle besought God that the prick in the flesh that is to say concupiscence the law of sinne and death might be removed from him he would not grant it but told him My grace shall be sufficient for thee and this is nothing else but charitie which freeth the compound from sinne and death because as S. Peter saith it covereth the multitude of sinnes it will not suffer them to appeare And the reason why God would not have the law of the flesh and of sinne to be outed from this holy man and from the regenerate was because he would have his grace to conflict with the flesh that after the conflict his grace might be victour For my power saith God is made perfect through weaknesse But there is no greater weaknesse in man then concupiscence the lust of the flesh which being overcome by charities desire Gods grace and power is advanced and perfected And this law of the spirit S. Paul opposeth to the law of the letter which is knowledge when it is separate from the spirit and this killeth as well in the ministerie of the Gospel as in the ministerie of the Law of Moses as S. Augustine teacheth lib. de spiritu litera because the more knowledge we have the greater shall be our condemnation if we want the spirit of charitie to put it in practise Will you know then what charitie is which is thus advanced above knowledge It is the most noble above all vertues as our Apostle teacheth 1. Cor. 13. 13. Now abideth faith hope and charitie but the greatest of these is charitie He saith not shall be as Calvin and Beza offer to evacuate the Apostles comparison commendation but is now Now abideth faith hope and charitie but the greatest of these is charitie This is the lust and desire of the spirit as concupiscence is the lust and desire of the flesh the one sanctifieth and justifieth the other damnifieth and condemneth Gal. 5. 17. As concupiscence is the root of all vices so this is the root of all vertues it is the souls sanctified appetite Every man that hath wit and discretion will make choice of the best and the fairest but charitie is the best of all Gods gifts above faith and hope and knowledge and therefore above all things I wish you to seek and follow that In the twelfth chapter before the Apostle sets down all the better sort of Gods gifts among which he placeth wisdome knowledge faith working of miracles and the rest and then willeth them to make choice of the best But saith he desire you the best gifts and when he had so said then he said further I will yet shew you a more excellent way as if he had said Now I will shew you of a gift that is above all gifts yea better then the best before-named such a gift that without it all other are worth nothing Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels and have not charitie I am as sounding brasse or a tinkling cymball And though I had the gift of prophesie and knew all secrets and all knowledge yea if I had all faith so that I could remove mountains and had not charitie I were nothing And though I feed the poore with all my goods and though I give my bodie that I be burned and have not charitie it profiteth me nothing Now if all be nothing without this then get this and get all But what is the reason why all other graces without this are worth nothing Because without charitie they are as a bodie without a soul. Hadst thou a bodie as well framed as Leanders and Hero's was yet if thou hadst not a spirit to move in it thou shouldest have but a dead bodie worth nothing as S. James teacheth of faith without charitie by the effect