Selected quad for the lemma: law_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
law_n	moral_a	nature_n	positive_a	4,914	5	10.3383	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47326	Convivium cœleste a plain and familiar discourse concerning the Lords Supper, shewing at once the nature of that sacrament : as also the right way of preparing our selves for the receiving of it : in which are also considered those exceptions which men usually bring to excuse their not partaking of it.	Kidder, Richard, 1633-1703.	1684 (1684)	Wing K401; ESTC R218778	114,952	274

a reprobate sense and a seared Conscience These are indeed deaf strokes and such as make not a noise and strike not our senses but yet if we consider the effect and consequence of them they are more formidable and dismal than the raging pestilence or the loudest claps of thunder Let us then resolve as we love our Souls or fear the wrath of God to sin no more lest the worst of things come upon us But let us thus judge that Christ died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again 2 Cor. 5.15 The Body and Blood of Christ will not save us whiles we continue in our sins Nor may we think that this Sacrament will secure us if we return to our follies I shall end this particular with the words of Syracides He that washeth himself after the touching of a dead body if he touch it again what availeth his washing So is it with a man that fasteth for his sins and goeth again and doth the same who will hear his prayer or what doth his humbling profit him Ecclus. 34.25 26. CHAP. XIII HAving shewed you how you must fit your selves for this Sacrament I shall now also let you know the necessity that lies upon us after this Preparation to partake of it And that I shall do in the following severals 1. This duty stands upon the same authority which the other precepts of Christianity do He that commands us to Pray to search the Scriptures to hear Gods Word and to take heed how we hear hath as plainly commanded us to do this We are no more left at liberty here than we are in the other precepts of Christianity And certainly it is an argument of great insincerity to pick and chuse which of Christs commands we will obey Besides by breaking one command we make our selves guilty of all because we do despise the authority on which the rest stand For whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point is guilty of all For he that said do not commit Adultery said also do not kill Now if thou commit no Adultery yet if thou kill thou art become a transgressor of the Law Jam. 2.10 11. I am sure the command is very plain and evident Do this Luk. 22.19 1 Cor. 11.24 25. and verse 28. Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of this bread and drink of this cup. To examine our selves is a confest duty and therefore by a just consequence so it is to eat of this Bread and Drink of this Cup. That duty is relative to this If we do that we are bound to do this also And though we should neglect that yet will not that excuse our neglect of this any more than one fault is a just excuse for the committing of another I doubt not but that we do divers things and think our selves obliged to do them also from the Laws of Christ for which we have no such clear command from the Laws of Christ as we have for this And therefore certainly if we do not this it is not for want of plain Scripture that requires it but for some other cause best known to God and our own Consciences But in the mean time we may be ashamed to call Christ Lord Lord and he may justly upbraid us for it when we refuse to do whatsoever he commands us Luk. 6.46 Let us not for shame call our selves Christians when we will not obey the Laws of Christ Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you Joh. 15.14 It is not a partial obedience to the Laws of Christ will be sufficient to make us the genuine Disciples of our Lord and Saviour If we would be thought to belong to him we must obey him in all his commands Unless we do so we cannot be secure For though we do some of those duties which Christ hath commanded yet if we do neglect him in others we are not such Christians as we ought to be There are those indeed who think themselves obliged by the Moral precepts of the Gospel and are in great measure careful that they transgress not those Laws which are indeed the Laws of Nature as well as the Laws of Christ but yet these men neglect this institution of Christ and are not much concerned in the mean time and that because they do not transgress the Law of Nature though they do transgress the positive Law of Christ But these men ought to consider that the Law of Nature is not the adaequate and full rule of their Conscience They must also attend to the Divine Revelation and to the institutions of Christ This precept of partaking of the Communion is peculiarly the Law of Christ And to do this is the mark and badg of Christians By doing it we shew whose followers we are And we are particularly obliged to do it as we do profess our selves Christians And the same Authority that obliges us to the observance of any other Law of Christ does oblige us to do this also And therefore if we think our selves bound to any Christian duties we judge very much amiss if we think our selves unconcerned in this 2. This duty is built upon as great a reason if we consider the end of its institution as any other of the same nature is I say as great a reason I shall not need to say a greater It was appointed in remembrance of the death of Christ that miracle of mercy and love As often as ye eat this bread and drink this Cup ye do shew the Lords death till he come 1 Cor. 11.26 It is to keep in mind our Lords death for which this Sacrament was appointed this methinks we should be ready to do who expect such benefits from his death and know that he died that we might live We easily fulfil the desires of a dying friend But if our friend died in our quarrel and defence we know not how to forget him and he that does forget such a friend is reputed justly a most ungrateful wretch How then can we forget the dear love of our dying Lord We keep in memory our Temporal victories and deliverances and we think we do well in it also How much greater reason have we to keep in mind this deliverance from eternal death and slavery This is never to be forgotten certainly but ought to be kept in memory as long as this world endures But then our dying Saviour who might have required of us some more burdensome service if he had pleased hath commanded us to do this to do it in remembrance of him he would have us remember his love to us and he lets us know how he would have us remember his love Do this in remembrance of me 3. 'T is a duty the practice whereof is as advantageous to our Souls if we consider our own necessities as any whatsoever We have need of such helps and viands in our