Selected quad for the lemma: law_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
law_n	good_a	sin_n	transgression_n	4,384	5	10.5404	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07686	A liuely anatomie of death wherein you may see from whence it came, what it is by nature, and what by Christ. Togeather with the power, strength, and sting thereof: as also a preparatiue against the same. Tending to teach men to lyue, and die well to the Lord. By Iohn More, preacher of the Gospel.	More, John, d. 1592.	1596 (1596)	STC 18073; ESTC S120562	24,364	78

our soule all our mynde all our might all our strength all our force in this his seruice All our members both head handes and heart yea all partes that we possesse are tyde to his obedience The least sinne could not shadowe it selfe but it shewed it in vs not condempning only our outward actes but geuing sentence against our wicked thoughtes yea all our idle motions without consent And therefore since all flesh created of God is corrupted so that the verie imaginations of mans hart are onely euill continually since that by the Law it is co●●inced that there is none that doth good no not one but all are concluded vnder sinne and subiect to the same guilt of damnation Since by the Law commeth the knowledge of sinne and that it stoppes euery mans mouth and makes all the worlde subiect to Gods iudgementes and summons them to appeare before his seate since it was added because of transgressions that our sinnes might more appeare and abound therefore it is called to the vnregenerat man an importable yoke the occasion of sinne hence it is called the law of sinne and of wrath the administration of condempnation the oldnes of the letter which can not giue life but pronounceth all our workes accursed And here beholde the strength and sting of death How did death enter By sinne How did sinne appeare and what is the strength of the same The Law of God which giueth sentence of condempnation agaynst all flesh and leaueth not one iustified in his sight And yet notwithstanding all this the Law of God is holy iust and good opening his very will setting a blessing before our eyes as well as a cursse It was not contrary to our nature before it was corrupted but agreeable for the Image of man in which he was first created It teacheth the very patterne of true obedience what is agreeable to God and his nature how much he hateth sinne and delighteth in goodnes It offereth both lyfe and death lyfe to the obeyers death to the breakers Therefore let vs all glorifie God let euery mans mouth be stopped from accusing him or his Law Let vs confesse against our selues our sinnes and say vnto him Shame and confusion belonges vnto vs Death and dampnation is our due the heauie anger wrath and hell are our desartes And thou O blessed God art iust righteous good and gratious in all thy doinges for euer Let vs thus I say giue sentence against our selues that God may be founde cleare euen to the most wickedst men when he is iudged Well then let vs beare in minde that God is not too rigorous in punishing vs with eternall death by reason of our sinnes so conuinced by his lawe and that Gods infinite iustice thus broken disobeyed coulde not otherwyse be answered of man but by infinite susteyning of eternall death Marke therefore I pray you the whole kingdome of the Deuil He first fighteth and warreth with temptations which are as dartes to wounde our soules to death which if we resist not being so tempted but yeelde to sinne then comes the Law against vs with his force and by vertue of the Law death entreth and triumpheth For the sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the Law for it sheweth vs Hel which is the pallace of Death leaues vs in perdition So that you see according to my promise what Death is it selfe what Prince it hath and what strong Souldiers it hath to keepe his kingdome to wit the Deuill him selfe sinne lawe wrath of God and all to vpholde it Wherefore it is no maruel yf the remembraunce of death be bitter to many and that they abhor and hate it I say it is no wonder if all their ioyntes do tremble and shake a sunder for the horror thereof made the Sonne of God oft to pray against it to sweate droppes of bood for the agonie of it and to cry out to his Father as a man forelorne Why hast thou forsaken mee Neither yet was this so strange a miracle to see the Sonne of God so amazed at death for it set both Deuill Lawe Sinne Hell Graue and wrath of God against him all these were armed to ouerthrow him all these were Death his Souldiers and appoynted captaynes to conquer Christ And any or the least of these without him will quite destroy vs. But now to your comfortes that beleeue let vs see who got the victorie whether Christ or Death or which of them was spoyled that so we may learne to confirme our fayth in the middest of our conflictes You haue heard already what death is in it owne nature now heare what it is through Christ Our estate without him we know we are euen holden in the shadow of death being fettered in our finnes The weight of our finnes is the Law of God layde vpon vs. Hel is our prison death is our Iaylor to hold vs. See how we are locked from God yet most iustly as I noted In this distresse and deepe dungion Iesus Christ came to visite vs euen God and Man a right redeemer for vs he takes our cause vppon him and he reasons and wrastles with the Deuill that helde vs captiues This mightie Sauiour tooke flesh and blood to take our part that he might destroy through death him that had power of death that is to say the Deuil and that he myght delyuer all them which for feare of death were all their lyfe time subiect to bondage He suffered for our sinnes the Iust for the vniust that he might bring vs to God and was put to death concerning the flesh but qui●kened in the spirite that he might be our ransome Marke therefore diligently I beseech you this his combat and conflict For he had to deale with the Deuill who helde vs captiues The Deuill for his defence had the Law euen the righteous law of God which man had transgressed and therefore now worthely subiect to his power The obiections therefore that he made against man to Christ are these Whosoeuer breaketh the Law of God shall die the death but man hath broken the Law of God therefore he shall die the death and by the vertue of the Law sayth the Deuill I will holde him in death Againe the Law of God is according to his nature good holy and righteous And therfore the death of man pronounced by the Lawe is iust and his damnation righteous God the Law giuer is infinite and eternall therefore his death must be endles and euerlasting God is iust and can not denie himselfe He sayd that man yf he should breake his lawe should die the death and therefore death shal hold him God is perfect pure and therefore the satisfaction must be according to his nature His law bindes both soule and body euen thought worde and deede and therefore let man performe this and he shall liue These and many more are the dartes of the Deuil which he throweth agaynst our foules to wound

oucrthrowe of mankinde an enemy to nature the breache of Gods lawe the power of the diuell the strength of Gods wrath and most heauie displeasure And albeit that Death as I haue said be deriued from the diuell yet it is also attributed to man himselfe to leaue him inexcusable as it most plainlie appeareth in Paules comparison betweene Christ and Adam As by the offence of one man saith he Death raigned ouer all and sinne came on all to condemnation so by Christ which is one the benefit of grace abounded towards all men to iustificatiō of life and as sinne by Adam reigned vnto Death so grace reigned by righteousnesse vnto eternall life through Christ In which opposition we may likewise see Death attributed vnto all through Adam and not vnworthily so that man and diuell are partners in sinne and so in Death Here two things runne together the tempter and the obeyer Satan tempted and perswaded of enuie intermingling the matter with lying and slandering of the truth to breake Gods commandement yet notwithstanding all this Satan had nothing preuailed had man resisted and not consented therefore we may conclude that in respect of Sathans enuie and roote of his euill temptation and lying tending all to mans vndooing and vtter destruction that so he may be called as he is indeed the Auctor of Death yet in respect of the assent consent of man in transgressing Gods lawe Death may well lye on his neck and he may most boldly be accounted his owne bane though indeede there were no other Autor being created to the likenesse of God himselfe and flourishing with free will which as then he possessed The diuell then is not the absolute and proper cause of sinne and death because the nature of the absolute and proper cause is such that it going before the effect cannot choose but follow but it falleth not out so in man prouoked of the deuill who although he continually assaile and most vehemently assault Gods children to sinne yet sinne doth not alwayes follow his assaults His worke is not effectuall for many of Gods saints and seruants very mightily resist him being armed with faith which weapon he flyeth Againe let vs imagine saith a godly father the diuell himself neuer to haue falne from God and man as yet to haue stoode in his creation yet man by nature might haue declined and should haue had indeed the cause of sinne in himselfe the reason is this God gaue him free will and so left him to himself free it could not be but that he had full choise of good and euill yet not so vnarmed and naked was he left but that God gaue him power and strength sufficient to continue in his vpright state albeit he leaning too much one waye and sliding from Gods lawe and not vsing but rather abusing the meanes that God had giuen him he fell of himselfe from his creation and so was intangled in the snare of the diuell death and euerlasting condempnation so that in this supposition the suggestion of the diuell is not simplie the cause of sinne and death the diuell as yet not degenerating from God Neither also hath the diuell power of mans will to bowe it as he listeth to his purpose Furthermore we must not thinke that God is to be blamed for not shutting all gates and stopping all gaps tending to sinne for that as I sayd before he gaue to man armour sufficient to defend himselfe and to keep him from falling Neither yet was it vnagreeable to Gods iustice to make a distinction betweene himselfe and his creature for that he himselfe is only good without change or alteration all his creatures good yet subiect to change yea in the very Angels of heauen themselues in respect of God there is found imperfection the Cherubins hide their faces with their wings for the brightnesse of his glory Thus doth God humble all his creatures to exalte himselfe to teach them this not to go from him of whom they had and haue their goodnesse nor to leane onely to themselues though by creation good yet subiect to corruption Though mans nature saith Augustine was vpright and sound and nothing sinfull yet it was capable of sinne apte to receiue corruption Though man in his nature were immortall standing in his state yet was he inclinable to mortalitie As for example we see our flesh apte to receiue a wound yet euery one is not wounded The body of man is subiect to sieknesse yet many often dye not subiect to sicknesse so the state of Adams body was such that although he might haue dyed yet except sinne had come betweene he might and should haue beene preserued of God from death Euen as the hose and shooes of the Hebrewes in the desert by Gods mightie power neuer waxed olde by wearing or consumption Therefore to hedge vp this gap man was subiect to death by nature yet not necessarily as though he sawe no way to shunne it for now I go no further then mans knowledge setting Gods election and secret working aside for he had sufficient force giuen him of God in his creation to auoide it Gods lawe was written in his heart agreeable to his nature he thought it no yoake or slauerie to obserue it his shoulders and other parts being strong enough to susteine it Sinne therefore we may see hath diminished our strength and altered our nature that now we are slaues to those who before were our subiects Gods law now written is the same that before were ingrauen in nature yet now it is a huge weight and heauie yoake which neither we nor our fathers were able to beare except we be first new borne in by the holy Ghost giuen vs of God through Christ So that to conclude this point not only the diuell but euen we our selues are the cause and auctor of sinne and so of Death Although indeed as Augustine alledgeth An ill thing hath no cause efficient but rather deficient And if any man sayth he wyll goe about ouer curiouslie to searche out the efficient cause of Death it is all one as if a man should labour with his eyes to see darkenesse or to bend the sence of his eares to heare silencc which since they bee of themselues meere depriuations haue no essence in nature though existent in some subiect and knowne vnto vs. The sight seeth nothing but bright things and the eare heareth nothing but a noyse of loude things these thinges are knowne to our sences not by vse but by depriuation onely The deficient cause and Autour therefore of sinne and Death is Diuell and Man the diuell by suggesting the other by obeying both their actions not vrged of God but voluntarily of themselues Learne therefore this by the way whosoeuer committeth sinne is of the diuell whosoeuer sinneth is the seruant of Death Neither let vs so rage against the Deuill as that we altogether exempte our selues from gilte but rather knowing the readinesse of the diuell in