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
A91998	A den of theeves discovered. Or certaine errours and false doctrines, delivered in a sermon at a visitation holden at Baldocke in the county of Hertford, Decemb. 9. 1641. By Henry Denne, curate at Pyrton in Hertfordshire. And since printed by his owne appointment. Contradicted justly by many of the auditors. And confuted by Thomas-Atvvood Rotherham, now rector of St John Zacharies, London, and sometimes vicar of Iclkeford in Hertfordshire, neare Hitchin. Here you have the point of iustification by free grace fully handled, together with many difficult places of Scriptnre [sic] (much abused) plainly expounded; and some speciall cases of conscience resolved, whereby the weakest Christian, in the greatest conflict, may gather true and solid comfort. With severall tables very necessary and usefull for the reader. Published by authority.	Rotherham, Thomas Atwood, d. 1657.	1643 (1643)	Wing R2000; Thomason E251_3; ESTC R212516	114,466	110

not onely the separation of the soule from the body but the punishment which is inflicted upon us from an angry God so that it comprehends eternall destruction and thus every wicked man that is out of Christ is through the feare of death temporall as being the gate to eternall death all his life time subject to bondage The beleeving Jewes were not subject to this bondage they were the Sonnes of God and did receive the spirit of adoption and this slavish feare and bondage was taken away from them by Christ for they were the sonnes of God by adoption as well as wee Pa. 54. To prove that this was a bondage of conscience saith he What is it that makes death bitter but the sting of death and what is the sting of death but sin Wherefore they had conscience of sin This is a doctrine most injurious to the people of God in those times against the blood of Christ certainly the sting of death so of conscience was by Christ taken from them and they could say as well as beleevers now as it is (d) Nec quicquam obstabit quin olim corpora nostra resuscitentur fiat quod olim per propheras Apo●●olos praedictum est Gual in loc hom 87. Verba Prophetae vel Apostoli laetantis Hos 13.14 Glo. Ordin 1 Cor. 15.55 56 57. O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law but thankes be to God who hath given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Pag. 55. he argues thus If the Jewes betweene Moses time and John Baptist were under the Law then under the curse that they were under the Law is proved Gal. 3.23.24 But if under the Law then under the curse Gal. 3.10 Can he prove that because the Apostle saith Before faith came we were kept under the Law therefore the Jewes were under the curse and from Moses to John Baptists time lived and died under the curse which must of necessitie follow Never did any man mis-apply and mis-interpret-Scripture more grossely for this place will prove clearely that their being kept under the Law was not a curse but a blessing upon them and that in a high degree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (e) Erat lex quoddam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 munimentum quo circumse ptus populus ille conspicuus inexpugnabilis impermixtus usque ad Christum conservabatur ab aliis populis separatus permanebat Pareus in loc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth to be fenced about with a garrison of men God did give unto this nation many particular priviledges they being a peculiar people unto himselfe as the morall Law written the Priesthood Rites Ceremonies and forme of government now the Law was quoddam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a wall of defence with which the people were hedged in round about and were conspicuous inexpugnable kept separated from other nations untill the comming of Christ thus to be kept under the Law was a peculiar favour of God to thē above al other nations in the world as God himself witnesseth Deut. 4.7 8. For what nation is there so great who hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for And what nation is there so great that hath statutes and judgements so righteous as all this Law which I set before you this day This place doth confute him the (f) Dicturi erant pscudoapostoli Etiamsi cōcedamus justitiam non manare ex lege sed ex gratuita in Christo promissione quum tamen Deus quem semper unum sui similem esse testatus est oeconomiam istam Mosaicam constituerit c. quo jure vis illam abo●ere Responder Apostolus temporariam fuisse istam oeconomiam Beza in loc scope and designe of the Apostle is to confute the false Apostles who were ready to say Although we grant righteousnesse not to come by the Law but from the free promise in Christ Notwithstanding God who is unchangeable did give the Mosaicall Law and oeconomie as you confesse to bring us to Christ how then can this stand with the unchangeablenesse of God that this Law should be abolished The Apostle makes answer that by Gods appointment this was but Temporarie and to endure but till faith came that is till Christs comming in the flesh for Faith is taken metonymically for the principall object of Faith and it were fearefully desperate to thinke that all the people from Moses to John Baptist lived so under the Law as that they were without faith in Jesus Christ Thus you see this place maketh against him and in stead of a curse pronounceth a blessing it being the blessing of God upon the Jewes to be kept under the Law till Faith came that is till Christs incarnation The beleeving Jewes before the comming of Christ were under the Law in respect of Ceremonies but not in respect of the malediction curse thereof To conclude this if by the Law of Moses we understand the Mosaicall Politie so the Law by the comming of Christ was abolished if by the Law wee understand the morall Law or ten Commandements the curse of the Law is and was ever taken away in regard of all true beleevers living in all ages of the world (a) Causa abrogationis manifesta haec est Deus singulari beneficio constituit politiam Mosaicam ut esser certa fedes certa gens quali Schola in qua servatetur doctrina de Filio Dei repeterentur promissiones adderentur illustrissima testimonia in qua certum esset Filium assumpta natura humana concionaturum esse fururum victimam resurrecturum esse editurum testimonia doctrinae quia Deus de his tantis rebus vult nos certos esse voluit autem postea finem esse hujus politiae Melancthon par 2. de leg pag mihi 251. And likewise consider it as a guard whereby the Jewes were fenced in and separated from all other nations so it is by Christs comming abolished Consider it as a rule of life Thus Angels are under the Law Adam before his fall the Saints now in heaven And none yeeld more subjection to it then they this subjection is their libertie and thus the Law considered as a rule of life is the will of God and is eternall as God himselfe Let us goe on and see how he can prove from Gal. 3.10 That the people being under the Law were under the curse The intent of the Apostle in this place is to prove justification by Faith in opposition to the workes of the Law as Vers 8 9. And the Scripture foreseeing that God would justifie the Heathen through Faith preached before the Gospel unto Abraham saying In thee shall all Nations be blessed So then they which be of Faith are blessed with faithfull Abraham for as

atque praecones quibus Evangelium commendabatur ut enim lex Moysis pluribus miraculis in monte Sina per desertum authoritatem sibi conciliavit quae postea destiterunt cum ad terram promissionis ventum est eadem quoque ratione miracula nunc sublata sunt cum Evangelium per universum orbem diffusum est Pet. Martyr loc com clas prim cap. 8. fol. 33. answer as before by greater workes is not meant onely the gift of preaching but the gift of working miracles which is a gift distinguished from preaching as the Apostle proves 1 Cor. 12.4 Now there are diversity of gifts but the same Spirit ver 10. To another the working of miracles To cleare all If the conversion of soules by the Ministery of the word were the gift of miracles then the power of working miracles in the Church should never cease but that is already ceased and now taken away being necessary onely at the first planting of the Gospell but the Gospell being already planted they are not now necessary and therefore miracles now cease In the latter end of the 12. page he confesseth Moses his office was glorious but pag. 13. he hath these expressions Let Saint Paul speake more plaine 2 Cor. 3.9 If the ministration of condemnation be glory much more shall the Ministration of righteousnesse exceed in glory From this place he concludes that Moses is the Minister of condemnation John of Righteousnesse Moses of death John of life He is beside the particular intent of this Scripture That which the Apostle aimes at is not to compare Johns Ministery and Moses together but his owne Ministery with his adversaries as I shall shew at large when I come to expound the place Let me aske one question Was not God the Author of that which Moses was the Minister no man can deny it but lest I should be thought too captious let me shew you how the want of the true interpretation of this chapter and the right meaning of the Apostle hath beene the occasion of great Haeresie There was an Haeretique thirteene hundred yeeres agoe called Manes (r) Cōveniunt rebus nomina saepe suis à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from madnesse as (t) Insanis diabolicis artibus totum se tradidit Osiand Epitom Hist Eccl. Cent. 3. lib. 4 cap. 3. Osiander observes from his madde opinions he held (u) Videamus igitur quid me doceat Manichaeus Aug. to 6 Contr. Ep●st Manichael lib. unus Vetus testamentū repudiat Deum qui in ipsis locutus Manichaei maledictis impetunt De Prophetis sic dicit Spiritum corū esse impietatis sive iniqui●a●is ten●b atum quae ab initio emerserant propterea seducti locuti sunt excaecavit enim princeps eorum mentem siqui● sequi●ur sermones ipsorum moritur in aeternum illigatus in glebam quoniam non didicit cognitionem Paracleti Magdelurg cent 3 cap 5. de Haeres col mihi 77. Saint Augustine calls him Manichaeus He did reject the old Testament I tremble to write downe what he said concerning the Prophets The (w) Mo●tis esse asserit Manes Testamentum legis co quod Apostolus dixeri● 2 Cor. 3.7 Si Testamentum mortis Vetus Testamentum dixit esse alterius Dēi doctoris novum item alterius contraria enim trad●in utroque vide Magdeburg ibid. Verus Testamen●um ab ali● Deo Novum etiam ab alio Deo factum esse dixit utrumque enim Testamentum inter se pugnate Osi●nd Epitom Hist Eccles lib. 4. cap. 3. Magdeburgenses set downe this as one of Manichaeus his errours that he did hold and affirme the Testament of the law by which he meanes the Old Testament to be the Testament of death or condemnation and he laboured to maintaine his Haeresie from this Scripture which he alledgeth to prove Moses to be the Minister of death to wit this which now we are upon namely 2 Cor. 3.7 If the ministration of death c. This Haeretique doth likewise affirme That he which spake with Moses the people of the Jewes and the Priests in the Old Testament was the Prince of darkenesse And what doth he differ in making Moses the Minister of death and so of darkenesse He likewise did hold this damnable opinion that there was one God of the Old Testament another of the New and that the Old and New are contrary the one to the other Men must take heede how they handle a point of so high a Nature so rawly as I am sure he did when he preacht Now let us see the scope of the Apostle in this chapter 2 Cor. 3.9 The Apostle had to doe with (x) Impostores perst●●ngit qui cum legis doctrinam importunius urgerent se non novi sedpotius veteris restamenti ministros esse declarabant idque non sine ignominia Christi qui umbras istas abolere debuit Gualter in I. Epist ad Cor. hom 12. false teachers who were exceeding earnest in pressing the doctrine of the Law and that in opposition and to the undervaluing of Jesus Christ by whose comming those shadowes were and ought to be abolished and given over So that the opposition stands betweene Pauls doctrine and the doctrine of his adversaries the false Apostles Let us see first 2 Cor. 3.6 how the Law is called the letter and so killeth and how it is the ministration of death and condemnation The Apostle doth often use the word letter in opposition to the word Spirit because that which is called the Law of Moses was written Exod. 31.18 in Tables of stone with the finger of God to wit the Decalogue and therefore called the letter (y) Optima fuit ratio cur lex d●ceretur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per antonomasiam quod rectius converreris scriptum quam literam tamen volumus ex more literam interpretari Beza Annota● in Epistad Rom. cap 2. ver 27. But the Apostle lookes at somewhat more for because not onely the Ceremoniall Law but also the Morall which we call the Tenne Commandements did lead to Christ who is every way made Righteousnesse unto true beleevers this use of the law many of the people of the Jewes partly through ignorance and partly through obstinacie did contemne From whence it comes to passe that the Apostle speaking concerning the law onely from the (z) Modo ex Judaeorum hypothesi Beza in loc supposition of the Jewes who did applie the Law to themselves considered severally and apart and separated from Christ And from hence the Apostle calleth it the letter and so the naked Law by it selfe separated from Christ is in Scripture called the letter which is nothing profitable to salvation and this comes to passe through the corruption of mans nature Sometimes this opposition betweene the letter and the Spirit hath respect in particular to the Ceremoniall Law Then the Apostle calleth it the letter (a) Tunc Paulus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vocat externum

signum ab ipsius signi fine sive a virtute sejunctum quam vocat Spiritum Beza when the outward signe is considered apart from the thing signified then it is a dead thing unprofitable and of no use For what is the shadow without the body Who knowes not but that in disputation many things are laid downe under some condition which otherwise cannot be affirmed The Apostle in this chapter is in a dispute in which he layes downe the difference betweene the Ministry of the Law and of the Gospell by comparing (b) Effert suam doctrinam contra calumniatorum doctrinam Argumentum sumit a cōparatis Areti in loc the one with the other as they were by Pauls adversaries the false teachers set in opposition the one against the other who holding to the bare letter of the law did preach justification by the workes of the Law without Jesus Christ in opposition to the Gospell so that Moses is called the Minister of death (c) Abusive Abusively Because these false teachers did abuse the law of Moses in resting upon it according to the literall sense and so by excluding Christ who is the (d) Mens egis est Christus lex in lapidibus insculpta suit ideoque literal●● erat doctrina hic legis desectus corrigendus suit per Evangelium quia fragilem esse oportuit quamdiu rabulis lapideis tanrum erat consignata Calvin in loc life of the Law make it to be to themselves by their false interpretation and misapplication a dead letter and so it is so long as it is written in tables of stone onely and not in the tables of our hearts Now let us see how the Law is said to be the ministration of condemnation as the Apostle calls it 2 Cor. 3.9 It is called so accidentally (e) Accidenter Dyonys Carthus in loc as is plaine Rom. 7.7 8 9 10 11. For sinne taking (f) Non dicit occasione autem data quoniam lex non dat occasionem pecandi sed dicir occasione accepta Cajeta rom 5 in loc occasion by the Commandement deceived me and by it slew me in this chapter it is plaine that the law is the ministration of death by accident not causally but occasionally The occasion is not given by the Commandement but taken through the corruption of mans nature for the mind of man endeavouring to maintaine its owne liberty in sinning cannot endure to be kept in by the Commandement and restrained and so sinneth the more eagerly according to the Proverbe Nitimur in vetitum we are exceeding earnest to doe that which is forbidden us such is our corruption the more ready we are to run into it So likewise the Gospell may be said to be the ministration of condemnation occasionally Luk. 2.34 Behold this childe is set for the fall and rising againe of many in Israel 1 Pet. 2.8 A stone of stumbling a Rocke of offence No fault in Christ or the Gospell whose proper office is to build us up to be spirituall Temples for God to dwell in The fault is in man who through the corruption that is in him takes occasion to stumble at this stone T is accidentall (*) Quum nobis in sundamentum datus sit illiac identale esse Petram Scandali Calv. in loc to Christ to be a Rocke of offence But it being accidentall as well to the Law as to the Gospell to be the Ministery of death wherein lieth the difference There is a wide difference It is a perpetuall and inseparable accident in regard of the Law not so in regard of the Gospell But to winde up this bottome If by Moses we understand the writings of (g) Scripta M●sis sunt ipsum ve●us Testamonrum adjunctis prophetis Cajetan Moses which are the Old Testament together with the Prophets that is to say Moses and the Prophets the Prophets were extraordinary Ministers of the Old Testament ordained for the Instruction of the Church by interpreting and applying the Law and foreshewing the sufferings and glory of Christ Act. 3.24 Yea and all the Prophets from Samuel and those that follow after as many as have spoken have likewise foretold of these dayes That is of the dayes of the Messias of those things which in these dayes are fulfilled by Jesus Christ The dayes (h) Quae his temporibus per Iesū Christum impleta sunt Brentius in Act. Apost hom 15. of Christs Flesh so the Apostle cals them Heb. 5.7 Who in the dayes of his Flesh All the Prophets did declare one and the same Christ to come in the flesh And the Apostle confirmes this (i) Facit hoc ad Evangelii commendationem confirmationē quod jam olim a Deo per prophetas ab ipso inspiratos quorum oracula litetis consignata haberentur promissum esset ne videretur res nova commentitia Estius Com. in loc Rom. 1.1 2 3. Paul a servant of Jesus Christ called to be an Apostle separated unto the Gospell of God which he had promised afore by his holy Prophets in the holy Scriptures concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh The Apostle useth these words to prove that the Doctrine of the Gospel was not a new (k) Occupatio est qua declinat invidiam novitatis nam Evangelium putabatur doctrina recens Pet. Martyr Com. in loc Ut Novitatis depelleret invidiā seque non novarum retū praedicatorem Apostolum ostenderet Evangeliumque ab antiquitate commendaret Tolet. in loc Doctrine Some of Pauls hearers reasoned thus with themselves The ancient Patriarches and Prophets were saved and had the true Church of God amongst them and yet they wanted your Gospell Therefore the Doctrine of the Gospell is not necessary but superfluous Here the Apostle confesseth those in the old Testament were saved but not without the Gospell And so convinces them that the Preaching of the Gospell was no innovation seeing it was preached throughout the whole Church of God in the old Testament And as Theophylact observes the word Gospell was used in Davids time Psalme 68. ver 11. The Lord gave the word great was the company of those that published it What did they publish Why the Gospell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theophylact. Chrysost ad Roman hom 1. Evangelizantibus Hieron Preachers of the Gospell the Gospell was then preached plentifully for great was the company of Preachers and the Septuagint Chrysostom and St. Hierom agree with Theophylact And Scriptures agree First that from (m) Singulis illis temporibus Evangelicam promissionem de semine mulicris repetitam subinde clarius Expositam esse dicit Chemn lccor part 2. pag. 579. the fall of Adam to the Flood Secondly from the Flood to Moses Thirdly from Moses to the Prophets Fourthly from the Prophets to Christ The Gospell and the promises of it were made knowne And applyed by