Selected quad for the lemma: law_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
law_n	death_n	sting_n	victory_n	6,058	5	10.0485	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57529	Matrimoniall honovr, or, The mutuall crowne and comfort of godly, loyall, and chaste marriage wherein the right way to preserve the honour of marriage unstained, is at large described, urged, and applied : with resolution of sundry materiall questions concerning this argument / by D.R. ...	D. R. (Daniel Rogers), 1573-1652.	1642 (1642)	Wing R1797; ESTC R5451	341,707	420

hypocrites can teach thee It will intercept all thy succours of lust thy provision to fulfill thy lustes When the Court is pulled downe who needes to feare suires in it It will cause thee not morally but from a Principle of grace to shunne all meanes motives provocations and snares of uncleannes which the Devill shall straw in thy way That so the oile being gone the flames may vanish It shall change thy uncleane thoughts affections eyes eares into cleane and pure ones If thy harlot meet thee and say It is I thou shalt answer but I am not I not my selfe Another is become that in mee which my cursed selfe was wont to bee The signe is pulld downe the Alehouse is let to a man of trade no more harlots nor adulterers come there new Lords new Lawes all old things are done away behold all things are become new I am redeemed with a price not to be mine owne if my Lord and Master will endure lust if any accord betweene Christs body and an harlot aske him leave and I obey else I am not my owne Oh! this Grace shall bring thy lust to the horns of the Altar binde it thereto with cords cut the throate of it with the sacrificing knife of the Priest Thy Priest will teach thee to do that office very handsomely to let out the ranke blood of thy lust and the strength and sway which it bare in thee yea it shall drag thine uncleane heart to Golgotha and naile it to the crosse of thy Priest with the same nailes which nailed the body of Christ It is happier to find out those Implements Crosse blood nayles tombe and all then ever Helen was or any Popish relique-monger and to make use of them too to better end then at this daie that Popish Covent of Friats do who have hired those places of the Turke built Temples Altais and silver floores in honor of the Passion It shall cry in thy soule Oh lust I wil bee thy death oh Concupiscence I wil be thy destruction The sting of fin is death and the strength of lust is the law But thanks be to God in Iesus Christ who hath condemned sin in the flesh mortified it by the flesh of his holy body hat neither guilt nor dominion might prevaile Pursue the victory the Lord is with thee thou valiant man and in this thy strength fight and lin not while through thy Captaine both sin and luste die in thee Sixthly returne to the Lord with full bent of soule to renounce all cleaving to the flesh and to cleave to him without seperation That grace which hath killed lust will quicken the life of purenesse in thy soule it will indeed make thee a t●ue Pentient not only to renounce uncleanes but to embrace a Chaste spirit and live a Chaste life to returne to God in a contrary practice of unblameablenesse all thy daies so farre as weaknesse will permit As he tooke off from thy jawes the yoke of servitude so he shall make his owne joake easie and his burden light He shal bee as one that layeth meate before thee thou shalt be so preserved by the sweetnes of grace that all the sweetnesse of lust of adultery of lascivi usnes shall stinke before thee so that they shall never have hope to recover thee into their possession any more And what then remayneth but when lust knowes not what to doe with thee then thine eare be bored with Gods awle that so thou maist bee his servant and walke in purenesse and holines all thy daies The Lord blesse this maine Direction with all other unto thee and remember none but Christ can heale this sore And so much for the former branch of Counsell to them who are onely guilty of the sin I passe lastly to the other who have revolted from this Grace once obteyned Lastly therefore if thy uncleannes be yet of a deeper die as beeing a revolt from the Grace of God and the vow of thy spirituall baptisme once made then know the Cure is somewhat different from the former Here then Remember that the seed of God in his dyeth not Therefore if once God hath awakned thee out of this thy relapse and the dead sleep of security under it which if he love thee he will do by some three string'd whip or other which hee shall make for thee as once he did for those defilers of his Temple by some crosse or stirring terrors of the word in thy soule then take Davids course Beseech the Lord first that the despaire and extreame horror which an ill conscience sicke of a relapse might worke in thee through unbeleefe added to it may gratiously bee kept off and so thine heart may be stayd from utter departing from the living God upon feare that he is wholly departed from thee Secondly remember that the covenant of God cannot be repealed it comprehends thee when thou canst not it Therefore apply those mercies of old and be comforted Thirdly take heed lest Satan confound and oppresse thy spirit by the conscience of thy base revolting sinning against such mercies and snarling thy soule with so many successive evills as thou hast heaped upon one another without an heart to get out For its an easie thing to lose a mans spirit and selfe in the divells maze Fourthly with a penitent heart for thy trechery that thou shouldest kick up thy heele against former mercies and covenants behold that promise of which I formerly spake and apply it unto thy soule as thou art able knowing that whatsoever Satan hath to gainsay the Lord Iesus was made all sinne both of rebellion against and also revolt from God that thou mightst be his righteousnesse and recover it having lost it Fifthly let the affliction of thy soule so deeply cease upon thee till through mercy it have soaked into thee and pierced thee as deepe as thy sinne hath peirced God as the tent must go as deepe as the sore is festered and fetch out the bottome scurfe content not thy selfe with such an humbling as thy slight heart would admit For this is one attendant of this sinne to be light and wanton and not to bee able to bee serious Therefore set thine heart to it mocke not God make not the remedy worse then the disease that thou shouldest even be fetcht in againe by Satans clawes ere thy repentance is finished which were to unsettle the work of God in thee and worke thy heart to a despaire of recovery It hath beene the portion of many uncleane ones never to get a serious spirit If therefore thine heart be once downe hold it as if thou shouldst keepe corke under water and trust it not pray thus withdraw from me all objects of vanity and teach me thy law gratiously Arraigne accuse condemne thy selfe judge thy selfe lest God judge thee and till God raise thee be content to lye low beare the indignation of the Lord because thou hast sinned and be

toward the other then he to them there may seeme to be wrong received and so the wronged party hearkning to bad counsell and consorting with company of ill note may grow to some new league not only out of an unclean but even a revenging disposition thereby procuring estrangement of heart and irreconciliable difference Now what a base and absured abuse of the ordinance is here how easily might wisedome have prevented all in removing occasion of danger On the other side when the time is too short marriage rushing rudely upon the Contract in an instant it defaceth the characters of instruction which should have taken deeper impression and so crosseth the end of a contract as much in another kinde as the former taxing also the discretion of the party so hastening in that hee either d●d no sooner move a contract or in that he moved it at all For if there bee no difference betweene a present promise and a promise shortly to bee performed to what end is contract when onely marriage would serve So that a middle space is best The Iewes at the first aimed in their contract at the striking up and securing themselves of the marriages and after tooke large liberty of a yeare or halfe a yeare for the consummation But after they found they lost as much in the Hundred as they got in the Shire and that hereby they endured great inconveniences many moe things falling out between when the cup and lip are so farre asunder and so amending their error they grew to pitch a shorter time So that it must be the discretion of a man which must herein moderate it I would think a matter of a weeke or ten dayes a compleat space but because occasions may so fall out by absence and travell that there is more present use of the contract then of the marriage and that for setling of mindes and sometimes when speed is intended yet delayes fall out therefore the due ends of Contract and Marriage being observed and good considerations agreed upon by parties who best know what should let them and what should further them it is to bee left to providence what space is most agreeable So much for this Quest Another question by occasion hereof may bee moved What if either of the parties defile themselves by incontinencie before marriage I answer There need no doubt be made what is such a case ought to be done for no doubt the contract ought to be broken off By the Law of God it was death both to the defiler and defiled Answ This is not a place to determine whether that Law bee positive or perpetuall But I should count him a greater foole then that Levite who in such a case should not breake off his marriage as wee see in Josephs case of error about Mary before hee knew the truth But if it be demanded What if this treachery bee not knowne ere marriage perfected I answer I ●now the judgement of Canonists and Popish Casuists is one and Divines another As touching the practice of our Church it s no doubt grounded upon better and wiser principles not onely because marriage came betweene the act and the accusation and so seemes to disanull it for who knowes not that the root of it was errour But to make the ordinance of marriage more solemne and to teach people not easily to admit of seperations which I thinke is the cause why Divorces being once admitted the guiltlesse party is prohibited the remedy of a second marriage which being allowed by the Scripture would not else be forbidden now were it not for the honour of marriage and the opposition to Iewish abuse who used Divorces frequently lest every loose idle person having the liberty of a second marriage should rush upon the pikes of Divorce And so in charity its to be judged in the case of uncleannesse committed betweene a Contract and marriage that seperation is cut off not as if it were not according to the desert of the offender for it must have bin so among the Iewes as Moses expresly speakes in that case when the markes of virginity could not be produced but for the safeguarding and solemne esteeme of marriage which oftentimes ought not to have bin but being done prevailes the honour of an ordinance being esteemed above the content of this or that married person This I thought good to say of his Question As for more it s not now my purpose and as for Divorces I hope I shall easily be pardoned if I say not any thing it s already sufficiently treated of and I being here onely to speake of an honourable Marriage it would be as death in the pot if I should here come in with that which of all other things is the most absolute opposite and dishonour unto it Vse 1 I chuse rather to end all with some short Vse And first if Contracts be so usefull this is reproofe to all such as deride and vilifie this so ancient so usefull an Ordinance or practise of the Church and thinke it scrupulous and superfluous Tush say they what a waste is here of words must we first marry in the Lord then aptly and then be taught at our Contract and then consider of the weight thereof here 's precisenesse indeed doe not others as well without it I warrant you if once married you will be sure enough without this adoe Somewhat like Christs Disciples If this be the case betweene husband and wife its better not to meddle at all So say these I had rather live single then make such a stire But I answer these two wayes first as Christ answered them No saith he It s not better not to marry at all If any man can abstaine upon the gift of chastity let him but all cannot So say I if it be so easie to take up a single life you may it were best no doubt provided that you meane a single one and a chaste one also for otherwise if you meane as Papists tell their Priests better a life of uncleannesse then marriage it were more desirable to live an unchaste single life then to make such adoe ere you marry I should greatly pity but rather sharpely taxe you for your labour For to come to my second answer Tell me I pray you what thinke you of Marriage Is it a life of loosenesse and of the flesh else why are you so loth to be well fitted ere you enter it Surely you must know that Marriage is rather a curbe to the flesh and a bridle serving to restraine the loosenesse thereof And doe you affect carnall liberty in a condition of restraint thereof No no rather if by any meanes you might compasse a cheerefull and contentfull marriage thou shouldest be gland to take the pains for it and roll every stone under which such happinesse might lye and well too what is a little paines for a perpetuall good and to shun a constant misery As Naamans servants told him If so be

the world and his Dutchesse of her death that shee might no more be looked after But still the harlot lived prospered in health still the Duke pretending other journeis haunted her company burning in his l●st much the more who sees not uncleannesse to bee as ingenious as the Poet describes the Parrat when she is hungry or as the belly which he calles a Master of Arts Therefore I say the Lord deales accordingly with it That which we commit in secret the Lord will revenge in the open view of the world and reveale in the tops of houses as at the last this Dukes Villany And by how much this sinne escapes the judgement of man the more cunningly and smoothly by so much God sets himselfe to meete with it the more terrible That so his method might make it the more hated for his colours are in graine layd in oile and will soone wash out our false paint Reas 5 Fifthly that either by this discovery the Lord might teach his people the prevention of this sinne before hand rather then they should learne repentance too late having before polluted themselves and this he cheefly intends or else if notwithstanding all his waies men will still try conclusions with him their mouthes may bee stopt and themselves put to silence either from ability to excuse the fault or decline the punishment They cannot then pretend that they were the bolder to commit it because they thought it slight They cannot with any forehead deprecate the punishment of that which is so confessedly odious Reas 6 Sixthly that those men who are prone to live by sense in a course of sensuality might have aswell reall and sensible pulbacks from this sinne by Gods abhorring and opposing it as by the beholding the examples of loose and dissolute offendors to be tickled and as it were to stand on thornes till they be like them The Lord tries us with this bitter sweet that is whether his bitter or the worlds sweet be chiefe with us if not yet we shall not have all our will nor all the sweet of our lust but with it we shall have some sting and pricke in our flesh to make vs sit uneasie upon our cushion especially in this woefull world degenerated to all licentiousnesse as in other sinnes so in this of uncleanesse which so overfloweth the bankes of countreys and townes in this declining age that if examples may prevaile there shall not want enough to corrupt the bodies and defile the mannors of the most Iust it is that such as defile the ordinances with the scurfe of their owne inventions should be given over with Papists to the pollution of their bodies by all kinds of lust the outward uncleannesse having beene alway a brand of the spirituall So much for reasons Now I returne where I left to make fuller answer to that question how it may appeare that God is such a Iudge of this sinne I say therefore if wee shall consider these passages following it may First if wee shall consider that the Lord hath not spared to set his owne deerest people on the stage for this sin of uncleannesse It s said that Joseph Maries husband was a just man and was loth to defame her openly when he perceived her to be with child but meant privily to rid his hand of her But the Lord is not as man he is a just and jealous God not sparing to exemplifie and traduce his best servants that their blurre and penalty might scare all from venturing A just King will begin with some servant or favorite of his owne by making him the spectacle of his severity when he would have all his subjects put it out of question that if they transgresse in the like they shall not go guiltlesse And if this bee done in the greene tree if the fire so easily kindle upon that what shal be done in the dry If the very righteous be not free from being stigmatiques in the court of this justice what shall become of the ungodly and wicked And if Iudgment begin at the house of God what shall be done with the rest the stubble who are ready to be burned I say what then shall become of the common rout of Sodomites Adulterers and fornicators Tremble oh ye uncleane wretches Do you see Lot David Salomon Sampson sholled out from their fellowes for this and looke you to escape Secondly see what a judgement appeared upon the bastard of-spring of the Adulterer It might seeme unjust that an innocent should be so plagued for the fathers uncleannesse as to be shut out and cut off from the congregation to the tenth generation Surely the taint was deepe and the iron moll cankerfretted which could so hardly be washt out what did this argne but that by so severe a sentence not to be expiated by blood or any other clensing the Lord would deterre men from such filthinesse That if they durst not thus offend they might tell themselves they must cut off the fruite of their sin from ever comming where God and his people had to doe Who should dare to be so profane if yet the heate of his lust would permit him to think seriously either of the hell which himselfe or the excommunication and blasting curse which his bastarde child should incurre But Alas It s to be feared that these thoughts are the first of those which these last thinke of Thirdly the penalty inflicted upon Adultery was death without remedie There were divers sorts of death inflicted upon malefactors by the law and some learned men question what this death was The agreed tenet is that it was stoning although strangling and burning were used for some excesses in this sin when it came to incest or the unnaturall sins of sodomy and bestiality The theefe was not hanged but spared by making restitution and in single fornication lesse penalties might be allowed but in these cases the Lord would allow none as if the offer of a requitall in such cases were most unseasonable No but gave way to the jealousie of the husband and himselfe admits no pecuniary mulct to redeeme that which jealousy counts to bee above ransome yea so terrible a law he ordeynd for the uncleane harlot upon the instance onely of a jealous husband that if she stood upon her triall and gaynesayd the accusation she should be set before the Priest and there drinke a cursed water and if she were guilty shee was found out by the providence of God and plagued with rotting of her belly and thigh and so perished So shee gat nothing by her concealment for in stead of the peoples stoning Gods hand seased upon her And what is this save Gods comming in person to judge a whore Fourthly what severe judgments hath God executed upon uncleane persons Let first Scripture then experience speake for Scripture how did the Lord pursue David for his Adultery First with the rape of Thamar then