Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	commandment_n	law_n	moral_a	3,008	5	9.5759	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47309	The practical believer, or, The articles of the Apostles Creed drawn out to form a true Christian's heart and practice in two parts.	Kettlewell, John, 1653-1695.	1688 (1688)	Wing K380_VARIANT; ESTC R36226	263,804	566

one another What becomes of their Apostasie If they proclaim the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ to be the only true God whom we are to fear and worship and themselves to be fallen Angels who are no longer to be adored in Temples hearkened to in their suggestions nor imitated in their falshood pride envy hatred of God and Men and other practices they turn Angels of Light instead of being Powers of Darkness The Devils can work no Miracles for these ends except they should first turn Saints and change their Natures And therefore it was a most authentick and assuring mark which Jesus gave of the truth of his own Miracles when he called them the works his Father had given him to finish that is which were not wrought for any ill ends nor out of vanity to exalt his own Praise but to serve the ends of God and set on his Father's desires and purposes John 5. 36. Quest. Indeed in such kinds which seem more imitable by created powers these intents and designs would indisputably distinguish his signs from all Satanical Delusions Ans. Yes and so I might add in the last place would his manner of performance too For his usual way of working wonders was not by any Magical Rites and Invocations but meerly by a Word of his Mouth To the wind and sea he said Peace and it was still Mark 4. 39. to the deaf man's Ears Be opened and instantly he heard Mark 7. 34 35. to the blind man Go thy way thy faith hath made thee see and without more ado he saw again Mark 10. 52. to the leper I will Be thou cleansed and his leprosie was cured Luke 5. 13. Which way of effecting things by an all-commanding Word is as plain an evidence of a Divine Power as Creating all things was at first for then God only said Let there be light and there was light Gen. 1. 3. he only spake and it was done he commanded and it stood fast Psalm 33. 9. Not to mention moreover the vast number of his Miracles which more assuredly inferred a Divine Power in him than in any nay in all the Prophets put together who lived before him For whereas the Jews when to exalt Moses and the Prophets they ambitiously make the most of their Miracles after they have picked up all they can compute all his only at 76. and all theirs from the beginning of the World to the destruction of the Temple only at 74. which both together make but 150. in above 3000 Years time this single Jesus in three Years wrought so many that were they all written the world it self would not be able to contain the Books that should be written of them John 21. 25. To all which I might add lastly That he did not only show these great and numerous signs himself in Person but transmitted the Power to Numbers to do the same in his Name and conferred this Power on Gentiles as well as Jews which are things utterly unknown among all the wonder-workers of former times Quest. But in this point one thing sticks still with the Jews which is that Jesus and his Apostles in credit of their Miracles went about to overthrow the Law of Moses And may not they therefore confront all the Miracles wrought in justification of that Law against theirs Ans. They might to one that accused that Law as forged or erroneous Which Jesus was so far from doing that he all along makes Moses and the Prophets his Vouchers telling the Jews had you believed Moses you would have believed me for he wrote of me John 5. 46 and search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testifie of me verse 39. Quest. But did not those Miracles when they proved that Law to come from God prove also that none should come in after-time to abrogate and annull it Ans. No but on the contrary the Holy Prophets under that Law declared it should be changed and all those things subverted whereto it was adapted and which were the ground and foundation of it Quest. To what things was the Jewish Law adapted Ans. Their Moral Laws contained in the Ten Commandments were adapted not to the particular state and circumstances of any place or People but of the common humane Nature and therefore were unchangeable And accordingly when our Saviour comes to meddle with them he declares it was not to destroy or vacate but fulfil and add what was wanting in them Matth. 5. 17 18. But their Judicial Laws which prescribed the Rules of Courts and Judgments were fitted to their external Polity as they were a civil State in Canaan And as for their Ceremonial which order'd the Rules of their Religion and Worship to omit other specialties therein that chief part of them about Sacrifices was all to be administred by one Family viz. Aaron's line and was limited to one place viz. the temple of Jerusalem Quest. And did the Holy Prophets under that Law foretel any change in that Priesthood Temple-worship and Civil State or talk of any new settlement of things independent on or inconsistent with them Ans. Yes In the last days a known Phrase for the days of Messiah the mountain of the Lord's house says Isaiah shall be established in the top of the mountains and all nations shall flow unto it Isaiah 2. 2. God's Name shall be great among the Gentiles from the rising to the setting of the sun in every place shall incense be offered to his Name and a pure offering which cannot consist with Worshipping still in one appropriate place viz. the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem Mal. 1. 11. A new Priesthood shall be erected says the Psalmist in the days of Christ not after the order of Aaron but Melchisedech Psalm 110. 4. and then shall God take to himself Priests and Levites out of other nations no longer confining his choice to Aaron and his Sons Isaiah 66. 19 20 21. a plain sign the Law was to cease when the Priesthood was which had the Ministration of it Heb. 7. 12. About Messiah's time says the Prophet Daniel shall God destroy the city and make an utter desolation the Scepter too departing as Jacob foretold when once Shilo was come and what place then for their Judicial Laws when they were no longer to be a Nation nor have any Established Polity to administer and judge by them He shall also destroy the Sanctuary and what then becomes of all the Sacrifices when once the place was demolished wherein the Law required they should all be offered Dan. 9. 26 27. In summ they declare as I noted before that God would set aside the Mosaick Covenant by reason of its insufficiency and give them a new and better Covenant in its place And that he would make this change at that time when a woman should compass a Man which plainly notes the days of Messiah Jeremiah 31. 22 31 32 c. Quest. Indeed these are plain proofs

on being under his Protection and going on lawful Errands Matth. 8. 24 25 26. God very commonly suffers good Mens dangers which at last he designs to remove to go on first to the greatest extremities that their Faith and Trust may pass through a more full trial and illustrious exercise Quest. Must it teach us any thing else Ans. Yes Secondly in no case to forsake God and fly to any Foreign and unlawful Aids For if we stick to him this over-ruling Power when things are at the worst can with a Word put all the evil by and rescue us And if we forsake him he can as easily turn that Power against us and make us fall by our own succours For as this Almighty Arm is able to bring all things about for us so when it pleases can it also bring them about against us in spite of all probabilities Quest. This is a stupendious height of Power how will God employ it Ans. In making good all his Promises and executing all his Threatnings heaping Favours on his Friends and faithful Servants and Judgments on his Enemies So that all Holy Men shall taste the sweetness of it in endearing Providences in this World as Jacob Joseph David and the Patriarchs and pious Men of old did and in Glorious and endless Rewards in the next And wicked Men shall feel the smart of it in all the crosses and penal inflictions of this Life and in the everlasting torments of the Life to come Quest. If this irresistible Power were not to be thus justly and kindly used though we should basely fear and dread yet should we not love and value him that has it Ans. No for nothing is so hateful as power in the hands of malice which makes us have such an utter hatred of the powers of darkness And this must teach all ambitious Men never to covet and all Potent Men never to employ their Power to oppress or tyrannize to accomplish unlawful Lusts or to work their wills on others But only to encourage Virtue and reward it to protect the innocent relieve the oppressed curb the vicious or some way or other to do good with it Quest. Another Branch of God's Almightiness you said is his Sovereignty and Power to command and order all things What mean you by God's Sovereignty Ans. His Supreme Authority being accountable to none but having Power to order and injoyn all things as seemeth fittest to his own Wisdom Quest. What doth this imply Ans. Two things both Empire that is a Power to injoyn and command as a Ruler and Dominion that is a Power to allot and dispose as a Proprietor God may give any Commands and exact them of any Persons as an absolute Governour and make any distributions of Things or allotment of States and Conditions as an absolute Lord and Proprietor And he is Sovereign in both these being bound to please none but only to order as seems best to himself Quest. Doth God exercise over the World a Sovereign Empire Ans. Yes all other Rulers as the Apostle says are but his ministers Rom. 13. 4. but he still keeps the controlling Power and the Reins of Government in his own Hands being the blessed and only Potentate King of kings and Lord of lords 1 Tim. 6. 15. He hath prepared his throne in heaven and his kingdom ruleth over all Psalm 103. 19. And this Empire he exercises in giving and exacting all Commands and guiding and directing all Actions and turns in the World as he pleases Quest Has God an absolute and unlimited Power to command all things Ans. Yes all that his Creatures by his Grace are capable of doing and all that his most Holy and Perfect Nature is capable of injoyning Quest. Why do you say all his Creatures by his Grace are capable of doing Ans. Because his most just and equitable Government cannot impose an impossible thing His Laws indeed might be impossible to us considered naked in our own strength but not as consider'd under those assistances and that strength which he is ready to afford us He doth not reap where he has not sown and whatsoever his Laws require his Spirit will assist Men to perform His commandments are not grievous 1 John 5. 3. and his yoke is easie and its burden light Matth. 11. 30. Quest. Why do you add also all that his most Holy and Perfect Nature is capable of injoyning Ans. To shew he doth not give Commands out of unlimited Will and Arbitrariness but doth all according to unalterable Principles of Goodness and Justice He may command whatsoever he will but then he cannot will all that we may fancy but only all that is like himself i. e. all that is Wise and Good. He never Wills against the Perfection of his Nature because he will do it Quest. I perceive then that God having commanded Holiness and Justice and Mercifulness and Truth and Faithfulness and the like which are his own Natural Perfections there is no possibility of his reversing these Commands to shew unlimitedness of Will and commanding their contraries Ans. No in commanding these Virtues he only commands us to be like himself to be holy as he is holy perfect in kindness as he is perfect as the Scripture says And being Transcripts of his own Perfections these Virtues are a limitation to his Will and whilst he is himself he can never will them to be otherwise Indeed it is his Command which makes them become duties to us and instances of our obedience but that which made him command them was the Goodness they had antecedent to his Command as being Draughts of his own Perfections He willed them because they were Good and like himself And he being unchangeable they must be always like him and upon that account he must always will them whence they are said to be duties of Essential and Eternal Goodness and Obligation Quest. Doth God exercise this Empire also in guiding and directing all Actions and Turns in the World as he pleases Ans. Yes he doth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him What doest thou as Nebuchadnezzar most justly acknowledged when he returned to himself Dan. 4. 35. He presides in all Councils and directs and over-rules all Actions and Events I form the light and create darkness I make peace and create evil I the Lord do all these things Isaiah 45. 7. And this Administration of things is called his Providence which has already been discoursed of Quest. Has God also a Sovereign Dominion to dispose of all things and allot all their different states and conditions as a Supreme Proprietor Ans. Yes his Hand made all things bestowing upon them both the Workmanship and the Materials and his Power still preserves them and all this for what uses he pleases Thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Rev. 4. 11. As the clay is in