Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	law_n	paul_n	sin_n	7,343	5	5.3847	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A06513	[A methodicall preface prefixed before the epistle to the Romanes ...] Made by the right reuerend father in and faithfull seruant of Christ Iesus, Martin Luther ...; Praefatio in Epistolam Pauli ad Romanos. English	Luther, Martin, 1483-1546.; Wilkinson, William, d. 1613, attributed name.; Watkinson, William, fl. 1573-1594, attributed name.	1632 (1632)	STC 16986; ESTC S105157	20,999	82

which taketh it grievously that any good should be exacted of it which she cannot fulfill not vnlike a sickly weake man who is heavily displeased if any man requyre of him to doe those works or that maine strength which is in a sound strong man The nature of the law Wherefore Paul heere inferreth that the law the more exactly throghly it is known doth worke in vs nothing else but this that it doth the more shew our sinne and increase it by which it doth slay vs and mak vs guiltie of eternall death and of the wrath of God But of this matter no man can dispute better than he whose conscience hath felt had triall of the terrour of the Law whose conscience hath felt that shaking and quaking as it were the verie foundations of the earth and who hath well perceived it at some time or other to haue caused a great tumult in his heart Therefore we haue neede of a more effectuall and mightier force in our hearts to justifie vs than the Law is Truely they that haue not so knowne the law they are altogether blind walk in this life in a certaine bolde confidence thinking that they can fulfil the law by their works not considering at all how that the Law doeth imperiously require the whole heart and all the affection Wherfore these men behold not the end of the Lawe onely they view the covered and hid face of Moses without grace who are like perpetually to perish in their vaine works After these matters the Apostle setteth forth The strife twixt the flesh the spirit even in the regenerate how the flesh and the Spirit in one and the same man doth strive and wrestle together hee exhibiteth himself vnto vs as an example though hee was justified Wheerby we might learne this mortification of the remnants of sin Now he calleth both the Spirit and the flesh a certaine law I haue found saith he a law in my members contrarie repugnant c. For like as the law of God doth vrge and exact those things to bee done of vs which God wold haue done so the law of the members or of the flesh doth incite and compell vs to carnall things contrary to the spirit Againe on the other side the spirit doth labour mightily against the flesh moving vs to spiritual things And this conflict combat dureth so long as wee are clothed with this flesh In this man the strife is mightier and stronger in that man more remisse faint in everie man accordingly as the spirit or flesh is in him stronger or weaker notwithstanding one and the same man is that flesh spirit which so strives and wrestles with himselfe vntill Sinne being quyte abolished hee become spirituall Chap. 8. In the 8 chap. he comforteth those which fight so with their owne flesh A comfort for the afflicted conscience also hee declareth that the reliques of sin can not hurt vs that there is no condēnation to them that are in Iesus Christ which walke not after the flesh but according to the spirit Furthermore hee doeth explicate at large the nature of the flesh spirit shewing that the spirit is given to man onely by Christ He that hath not the spirit of Christ saith hee the same man is none of his Again as many as are led by the spirit of God they are the sonnes of God For it is the Spirit alone which doth innovate renew our hearts which doeth make them spirituall which doth incourage vs with sweet and loving affects and motions lastly which doth giue testimonie beare witnes vnto our spirits that we are the very sonnes of God teaching vs that wee althogh sin doth boyle with rage within our flesh haue God for our Father may account our selves his sonnes if so bee that we doe dayly by the spirit wrestle against the flesh Now because nothing is more profitable to the mortifying of the olde Adam the flesh than the crosse tribulation affliction that is the Apostle doeth heere comfort vs in these tribulations affirming that the Spirit doth make intercession and request for vs with sighes that cannot be vttered expressed also that all the creatures being subject to vanitie abuse doe even groane travell in paine together with vs vntill this bodie of sin be abolished and the glory of the sonnes of God bee revealed Thus wee see that these three last Chapters doe vrge nothing so much as this onely and chiefe worke of our faith namely the mortification of our olde Adam which is the flesh Chap. 9. 10. 11 In the 9. 10. and 11. Chap. he handleth the matter of Predestination For all the rest depend vpon that namely who should receiue the worde and who should not who should belieue who not who shuld bee freed from sin who should bee blinded who should bee damned and who should bee justified Seing therefore that both the sending out of the preachers of the Gospell and the word it self be of God it is certaine that it lyeth in Gods hand onely to justifie vs. And surely this stable sentence and immoveable necessitie of predestination Predestination must bee taught preached is a most necessary doctrine to bee taught For we are so weake that if it were in our handes very few or rather none should bee saved For the Devill wold overcome vs. Yet now seeing this sentence decree of God is most sure certaine so that it cannot be changed or altered by any creature we haue then good hope to overcome at the length these reliques of sinne although that now they rage in our flesh But these curious men who before they haue learned Christ the vertue of his Crosse A Caveat for curious Christians doe search the profunditie depth of predestination labouring in vaine to inquire whether they are predestinat to life or death must bee rayned strained and kept back with some holy bridle For without all doubt these men by this their foolish curiositie will leade learne to cast themselves headlong into the confusion of their conscience or into the bottomles pit of desperation But thou deare Christian see that in reading learning holy things thou follow the order and methode set downe heere in this place by the Apostle Learne this godly Methode First of all learne the knowledge of Christ that thou maist acknowledg that al thy strength and power availeth to nothing but to sinning Furthermore that by faith thou mayst daily wrastle with thy flesh as hee hath taught thee in the 7. first Chapters Finally after that thou bee come to the 8. Chap. that is after that thou hast tryd the crosse and tribulation after thou hast had experience of this wholsome mortification often to bee repeated then first of all will this necessitie of predestination waxe sweet vnto them then thou shall first feele in the 9. 10. and 11. Chapters how full of comfort

he reasoneth thus The Apostles argument It was therefore needfull and necessarie that Christ should bee sent who should make his righteousnesse to be ours by the new birth or regeneration in faith the spirit even as the old man Adam by propagation left vs his sinne through that old generation according to the flesh Againe by this argument aaother proposition is surely grounded namely that no man by his own strenth power is able to deliver him self from sin or to justifie himself For it was not in our choise to be borne or not to be borne of the old Adam according to the flesh which by other arguments is evident and cleare enough For if the law of God which surly if any other thing in the world might haue justified ought to haue prevailed and availed for righteousnes doth not only not justifie but rather increaseth augmenteth sinne in vs namely that grudging fretting of our nature dayly stomacking murmuring at God yea the more it doth presse vs the more it stirreth vp sinne in our nature Nitimur in vetitum semper cupimusque negata which goeth against all whatsoever is forbidden Therefore the more perfitly we know the law the more misery we behold in our selves and we see the better how that wee have more need of Christ Chap. 6. In the 6 chap. hee handleth that great and chiefe worke of faith to wit the warfare conflict of Christians betwixt the flesh the spirit The warfare of Christians For the flesh fighteth against the spirit and the spirit wageth warre against the flesh to the end that the desires of the flesh reliques of sinne which remaine in vs after iustificatiō might be quite suppressed quelled quenched in vs. And in this chap. the Apost teacheth that we are not so justified freed from sin by faith that sin is quite taken away and altogether abolished in vs Reliques of sinne but that the reliques of sinne as yet remaine in vs. Nevertheles these remnants of sinne are not laid to our charge by reason of faith which continually wrestles with the desires of the flesh wherfore as yet becaus we liue in the flesh that strife combat indureth in vs they that are already justified haue enogh to doe haue labour enough to turne them vnto yea all their lifetime they maye toyle vntill they sweat againe by indevouring to tame their fleshe to represse the lusts of it to make it subject vnto the Spirit Mortification And by that mortification of our flesh newnes of our spiritual life we expresse the Death and the Resurrection of Christ as also that signe of mortification in Baptisme which doth signifie and represent vnto vs no other thing but this continuall mortification of the flesh and dayly vivification quickning of the spirit For Baptisme that is this mortification doth work in vs so long vntill sin being abolished and abandoned by the death of our bodies wee rise in our bodyes with Christ and raigne with him for evermore And this thing namely the dayly mortificatiō of our flesh we may performe because we are not vnder the law but vnder grace Now what it is not to bee vnder the law What it is not to bee vnder the Law must not bee so vnderstood as though it were lawfull for vs to do what wee list but not to bee vnder the law is this that our hearts are so made new by the spirit through faith that freely willingly and of our owne accord wee may doe that which the lawe requyres though there were no lawe at all For grace doth endue vs with the loue of the law Wherefore we being justified haue no more the law against vs but agreeing with vs. To bee vnder the law What it is to be vnder the Law is to worke without grace and not to bee able to fulfill the lawe where there cannot choose but bee sinne And this now at length is the true liberty and freedome from the law and sin of which the Apostle heere disputeth even vnto the end of this Chap. As for this libertie it is such that wee may willingly from our hearts doe good without any exaction of the law Therefore it is a spirituall libertie which doth not take away the law but giveth and imparteth a certaine power and spirit to fulfill the law namely a cherefull mynde a ready will and fervent desire to worke well whereby it doth then satisfie the law insomuch that it hath not any thing to exact at his hand or to charge him withall A fit apt similitude Even as if thou were endebted to a certaine creditor of thine didst owe him a great summe of money thou mightest after two wayes satisfie him and so discharge the debt First by a free forgivenes of the debt and cancelling of thy handwriting Secondly by suretie of another man who will giue his faith and truth for thee promising to stand to the payment of all the foresaid money and so by his word and faith given for the obligation wherewith thou wast bound may be blotted and cancelled as voyde of none effect Likewise Christ hath delivered vs from the law as from a creditor Wherefore that libertie is not carnall wherby it is lawfull to do what thou wilt but is altogether laboursome and paynefull which willingly doth good workes so that it needs not any exaction of the law Chap. 7. In the seventh Chap. he confirmeth this by a certaine similitude of marriage betweene the husband and the wife For even as the woman if her husband be dead A simili●ude to ●roue the ●●berty frō●he law is delivered from the law of the man not so freed that shee may not marry but rather contrarie now first of al she is freed indeed and truely that shee may marry another man which she could not doe before she was deliuered from her former husband so also our conscience is dead to the lawe as long as old Adam liveth in vs. But when this olde Adam is mortified by the spirit there is then libertie for both parties like as I haue said there was betwixt man and wife But the conscience is not free so that it cannot at all doe any worke but rather so that now hee beginneth to cleaue vnto another even vnto Christ that it should bring forth fruite vnto God After this hee doth at large explicate the nature of sinne The natur● of sinne of the law shewing the lawe to bee the force and power of sinne For the olde Adam or nature how much more it is pressed downe by the law which of his owne strength hee cannot fulfill so much the more it doth fr●t and fume against it And no maruell seeing it can doe nothing of it selfe but sin Therefore the law is vnto it a punishment and death not that the law is evill but this is done through the fault of our owne nature