Selected quad for the lemma: law_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A52593
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A declaration of the faith and order owned and practised in the Congregational Churches in England; agreed upon and consented unto by their elders and messengers. Licensed and entred according to order.
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Congregational Churches in England.; Owen, John, 1616-1683.; Nye, Philip, 1596?-1672.
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1688
(1688)
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Wing N1490; ESTC R222326
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27,512
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123
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unprofitable unto Life God was pleased to give unto the Elect the Promise of Christ The Seed of the Woman as the means of Calling them and begetting in them Faith and Repentance In this Promise the Gospel as to the substance of it was revealed and was therein Effectual for the Conversion and Salvation of Sinners II. This Promise of Christ and Salvation by him is revealed only in and by the Word of God neither do the Works of Creation or Providence with the Light of Nature make discovery of Christ or of Grace by him so much as in a general or obscure way much less that Men destitute of the Revelation of him by the Promise or Gospel should be enabled thereby to attain Saving Faith or Repentance III. The Revelation of the Gospel unto Sinners made in divers times and by sundry parts with the addition of Promises and Precepts for the Obedience required therein as to the Nations and Persons to whom it is granted is meerly of the Sovereign Will and good Pleasure of God not being annexed by virtue of any Promise to the due Improvement of Mens natural Abilities by virtue of common Light received without it which none ever did make or can so do And therefore in all Ages the Preaching of the Gospel hath been granted unto Persons and Nations as to the extent or straitning of it in great variety according to the counsel of the Will of God. IV. Although the Gospel be the only outward means of revealing Christ and Saving Grace and is as such abundantly sufficient thereunto yet that Men who are dead in Trespasses may be born again quickned or regenerated there is moreover necessary an effectual irresistable Work of the Holy Ghost upon the whole Soul for the producing in them a new Spiritual Life without which no other means are sufficient for their Conversion unto God. CHAP. XXI Of Christian Liberty and Liberty of Conscience THE Liberty which Christ hath purchased for Believers under the Gospel consists in their freedom from the guilt of Sin the condemning wrath of God the rigor and curse of the Law and in their being delivered from this present evil World bondage to Satan and dominion of Sin from the evil of Afflictions the fear and sting of Death the victory of the Grave and everlasting Damnation as also in their free access to God and their yielding Obedience unto him not out of slavish fear but a Child-like love and willing mind All which were common also to Believers under the Law for the Substance of them but under the New Testament the liberty of Christians is further enlarged in their freedom from the yoak of the Ceremonial Law the whole Legal Administration of the Covenant of Grace to which the Jewish Church was subjected and in greater boldness of access to the Throne of Grace and in fuller Communications of the free Spirit of God than Believers under the Law did ordinarily partake of II. God alone is Lord of the Conscience and hath left it free from the Doctrines and Commandments of Men which are in any thing contrary to his Word or not contained in it so that to believe such Doctrines or to obey such Commands out of Conscience is to betray true Liberty of Conscience and the requiring of an Implicit Faith and an absolute and blind Obedience is to destroy Liberty of Conscience and Reason also III. They who upon pretence of Christian Liberty do practice any Sin or cherish any Lust as they do thereby pervert the main design of the Grace of the Gospel to their own Destruction so they wholly destroy the end of Christian Liberty which is that being delivered out of the Hands of our Enemies we might serve the Lord without fear in Holiness and Righteousness before him all the days of our Life CHAP. XXII Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day THE Light of Nature sheweth that there is a God who hath Lordship and Sovereignty over all is Just Good and doth good unto all and is therefore to be feared loved praised called upon trusted in and served with all the Heart and all the Soul and with all the Might but the acceptable way of Worshipping the True God is instituted by himself and so limited by his own revealed Will that he may not be Worshipped according to the Imaginations and Devices of Men or the Suggestions of Satan under any visible Representations or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scripture II. Religious Worship is to be given to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and to him alone not to Angels Saints or any other Creatures and since the Fall not without a Mediator nor in the Mediation of any other but of Christ alone III. Prayer with Thanksgiving being one special part of natural Worship is by God required of all Men but that it may be accepted it is to be made in the Name of the Son by the help of his Spirit according to his Will with Understanding Reverence Humility Fervency Faith Love and Perseverance and when with others in a known Tongue IV. Prayer is to be made for things Lawful and for all sorts of Men living or that shall live hereafter but not for the dead nor for those of whom it may be known that they have sinned the Sin unto death V. The reading of the Scriptures Preaching and hearing the Word of God singing of Psalms as also the Administration of Baptism and the Lord's Supper are all parts of Religious Worship of God to be performed in Obedience unto God with Understanding Faith Reverence and Godly Fear Solemn Humiliations with Fastings and Thanksgiving upon special Occasions are in their several times and seasons to be used in a Holy and Religious manner VI. Neither Prayer nor any other part of Religious Worship is now under the Gospel either tied unto or made more acceptable by any place in which it is performed or towards which it is directed but God is to be Worshipped every where in Spirit and Truth as in private Families daily and in secret each one by himself so more solemnly in the publick Assemblies which are not carelesly nor wilfully to be neglected or forsaken when God by his Word or Providence calleth thereunto VII As it is of the Law of Nature that in general a proportion of time by God's Appointment be set apart for the Worship of God so by his Word in a positive moral and perpetual Commandment binding all Men in all Ages he hath particularly appointed one Day in seven for a Sabbath to be kept Holy unto him which from the beginning of the World to the Resurrection of Christ was the last Day of the Week and from the Resurrection of Christ was changed into the first Day of the Week which in Scripture is called the Lord's Day and is to be continued to the end of the World as the Christian Sabbath the Observation of the last Day of the Week being abolished VIII This Sabbath is then kept Holy unto
Saved II. This Perseverance of the Saints depends not upon their own free Will but upon the immutability of the Decree of Election from the free and unchangeable Love of God the Father upon the Efficacy of the Merit and Intercession of Jesus Christ and Union with him the Oath of God the abiding of his Spirit and of the Seed of God within them and the nature of the Covenant of Grace from all which ariseth also the certainty and infallibility thereof III. And though they may through the temptation of Satan and of the world the prevalency of corruption remaining in them and the neglect of the means of their preservation fall into grievous sins and for a time continue therein whereby they incur Gods displeasure and grieve his holy Spirit come to have their graces and comforts impaired have their hearts hardned and their consciences wounded hurt and scandalize others and bring temporal judgments upon themselves yet they are and shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation CHAP. XVIII Of the Assurance of Grace and Salvation ALthough Temporary Believers and other unregenerate Men may vainly deceive themselves with false Hopes and carnal Presumptions of being in the Favour of God and state of Salvation which Hope of theirs shall perish yet such as truly Believe in the Lord Jesus and Love him in sincerity endeavouring to walk in all good Conscience before him may in this Life be certainly assured that they are in the state of Grace and may rejoyce in the Hope of the Glory of God which Hope shall never make them ashamed II. This certainty is not a bare conjectural and probable Perswasion grounded upon a fallible Hope but an infallible Assurance of Faith founded on the Blood and Righteousness of Christ revealed in the Gospel and also upon the inward evidence of those Graces unto which Promises are made and on the immediate witness of the Spirit testifying our Adoption and as a Fruit thereof leaving the Heart more humble and holy III. This infallible Assurance doth not so belong to the Essence of Faith but that a true Believer may wait long and conflict with many Difficulties before he be partaker of it yet being inabled by the Spirit to know the things which are freely given him of God he may without extraordinary Revelation in the right use of ordinary means attain thereunto And therefore it is the Duty of every one to give all diligence to make his Calling and Election sure that thereby his Heart may be inlarged in Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost in Love and Thankfulness to God and in Strength and Cheerfulness in the Duties of Obedience the proper Fruits of this Assurance so far is it from inclining Men to loosness IV. True Believers may have the Assurance of their Salvation divers ways shaken diminished and intermitted as by negligence in preserving of it by falling into some special Sin which woundeth the Conscience and grieveth the Spirit by some sudden or vehement Temptation by God's withdrawing the Light of his Countenance suffering even such as fear him to walk in Darkness and to have no Light yet are they neither utterly destitute of that Seed of God and Life of Faith that Love of Christ and the Brethren that sincerity of Heart and Conscience of Duty out of which by the Operation of the Spirit this Assurance may in due time be revived and by the which in the mean time they are supported from utter despair CHAP. XIX Of the Law of God. GOD gave to Adam a Law of Universal Obedience written in his Heart and a particular Precept of not eating the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil as a Covenant of Works by which he bound him and all his Posterity to personal entire exact and perpetual Obedience promised Life upon the fulfilling and threatned Death upon the breach of it and indued him with Power and Ability to keep it II. This Law so written in the Heart continued to be a perfect Rule of Righteousness after the Fall of Man and was delivered by God upon Mount Sinai in Ten Commandments and written in two Tables the four first Commandments containing our Duty towards God and the other six our Duty to Man. III. Beside this Law commonly called Moral God was pleased to give to the People of Israel Ceremonial Laws containing several Typical Ordinances partly of Worship prefiguring Christ his Graces Actions Sufferings and Benefits and partly holding forth divers Instructions of Moral Duties All which Ceremonial Laws being appointed only to the time of Reformation are by Jesus Christ the true Messiah and only Law-giver who was furnished with Power from the Father for that end abrogated and taken away IV. To them also he gave sundry Judicial Laws which expired together with the state of that People not obliging any now by virtue of that Institution their general Equity only being still of Moral Use V. The Moral Law doth for ever bind all as well justified Persons as others to the Obedience thereof and that not only in regard of the Matter contained in it but also in respect of the Authority of God the Creator who gave it neither doth Christ in the Gospel any way dissolve but much strengthen this Obligation VI. Although true Believers be not under the Law as a Covenant of Works to be thereby justified or condemned yet it is of great Use to them as well as to others in that as a Rule of Life informing them of the Will of God and their Duty it directs and binds them to walk accordingly discovering also the sinful Pollutions of their Nature Hearts and Lives so as examining themselves thereby they may come to farther Conviction of Humiliation for and hatred against Sin together with a clearer sight of the need they have of Christ and the Perfection of his Obedience It is likewise of use to the Regenerate to restrain their Corruptions in that it forbids Sin and the threatnings of it serve to shew what even their Sins deserve and what Afflictions in this Life they may expect for them although freed from the Curse thereof threatned in the Law. The Promises of it in like manner shew them God's Approbation of Obedience and what Blessings they may expect upon the Performance thereof although not as due to them by the Law as a Covenant of Works so as a Mans doing Good and refraining from Evil because the Law encourageth to the one and deterreth from the other is no Evidence of his being under the Law and not under Grace VII Neither are the forementioned Uses of the Law contrary to the Grace of the Gospel but do sweetly comply with it the Spirit of Christ subduing and enabling the Will of Man to do that freely and cheerfully which the Will of God revealed in the Law required to be done CHAP. XX. Of the Gospel and of the Extent of the Grace thereof THE Covenant of Works being broken by Sin and made