Selected quad for the lemma: reason_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
reason_n	law_n	sin_n	transgression_n	2,676	5	10.9658	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12703	The high vvay to Heaven by the cleare light of the Gospell cleansed of a number of most dangerous stumbling stones thereinto throwen by Bellarmine and others In a treatise made vpon the 37. 38. and 39. verses of the 7. of Iohn: wherein is so handled the most sweete and comfortable doctrine of the true vnion and communication of Christ and his Church, and the contrarie is so confuted, as that not onely thereby also summarilie and briefly, and yet plainly all men may learne rightly to receiue the sacrament of Christs blessed bodie and blood, but also how to beleeue and to liue to saluation. And therefore entitled The highway to Heauen. By Thomas Sparke Doctor of Diuinitie.	Sparke, Thomas, 1548-1616.	1597 (1597)	STC 23021; ESTC S102434	161,682	384

the price thereof not according to the worthinesse thereof but according to mens purses will euer seeke to get heauen And further seeing that the lawe is the lawe of God who for that he made vs able at the first to keepe it may by good right still call for the keeping of it at our handes though before he call for it he knoweth now that such is our corruption of the one side and the perfection of it of the other side that we can not keepe it thereby we are to learne to fall downe before him and with the teares of our soules to confesse our debt that therin he demaundeth indeede to be due debt vnto him in regard of the state wherein he created vs but that by our owne fault we are growne now vtterly vnable to pay it and therefore that there is nowe no other way for vs to escape the danger of his infinite iustice but by flying to the throne of his mercy in his sonne Christ Iesus O if we would breake vp the fallowe landes of our heartes as we are counselled to doe Iere. 4.4 by causing this sharpe plowe of the law to make deepe forrowes in it For then so much good feede of the gospell as is woulde not daily be spilt and lost vpon vs for that our heartes for lacke heereof are either like the high way or like to stony or thorny ground But finding that the hardnesse of our hearts is such that this plough alone wil not pearce deep inough to breake them vp let vs adde thereunto the weight of Gods threatned iudgementes against the transgressours of the lawe Entering into which meditation we shall finde first generally Gods curse denounced against all those that doe not obserue and keepe all the words of the law Deut. 27.26 And to goe no further then to that Chapter and the next in particular we shall finde so manie most fearefull iudgementes threatened to all transgressours of the lawe as that thereby wee may easelie perceiue that to all transgressours thereof the Lorde would haue vs to vnderstande that infinite and most intollerable are the plagues both in this life and that which is to come that be threatned and due And in verie reason we must needes see it must bee so for sinne or transgression of the lawe beeing as it is an offence against the almightie and so a meanes directlie to deserue the seueritie of his iustice to be shewed against the same who is so simple but he must needes see that all miseries in this life and eternall death and damnation in the life to come are but iusty threatned against all that breake the law Nowe these thinges thus beeing may we thinke that those beeing both due and threatned that the infinite iustice of GOD is such that it will not inflict or execute the same when or vpon whome he list To what end tende all the fearefull examples of Gods vengeance executed vppon men that wee reade of in the scriptures and in other bookes and daily seeby experience but to teach vs that God is not a bare threatner but that he both can and wil be as seuere as his threatnings come vnto if there be not a iust and sufficient stop to stay the fiercenesse of his iust wrath from breaking out against all the generation of mankind Yf al this will not serue to make vs haue broken and contrite heartes for our sinnes and so to hunger and thirst after Christ let vs further yet behold the vglinesse of our sinnes and the extreeme danger that we were in by the meanes of them in this that God hath not spared his onely begotten sonne to giue him to vs to be borne and to liue and die for vs as he did For heerein as the loue and bountifulnesse of our God towardes man hath most gloriously appeared as Paule noteth Titus 3.4 so therein and thereof we may say with the Psalmist that mercy and iustice haue most notably mette and kist each other Psal 85.10 for doubtlesse such was the loue of the father towardes the sonne that if in his wisedome any other phisition or any other meanes could or woulde haue serued to haue recouered and cured vs of our sinnes he woulde neuer haue so farre debased his sonne as beeing God to appoint him to become man and in his manhoode to haue endured liuing and dying for vs that which he did O then in that the office of a sauiour was committed vnto him in that he taking vppon him to goe through therewith as he did beeing as he was in person not man onely but God also yet found it so heauie and difficult a thing we haue most iust cause to see and beholde that it is a thing of the greatest difficulty that may be to satisfie the iust wrath of God for sinne In him we knowe there was no sinne and in his mouth there was no guile Esay 53.9 1. Pet. 2.22 for such an high priest it became vs to haue that was seperate from sumers and needed not as the priestes of the olde Testament first to offer for his owne sinnes and then for the peoples Hebr. 7.26.27 And yet in that he bare our infirmities he was surely driuen to carrie our sorrowes insomuch that he was debased as he was and wounded and broken as he was for our transgressions and iniquities Esay 53.3.4.5 In that therefore his pure and holy manhoode though it had personally vnited vnto it a Godhead to enable it to goe thorow with that which it had to doe and suffer going vnder the burthen but of our sinnes was driuen into those bloodie sweates and agonies that it was in the garden Luke 22 44. and both there and after vpon the crosse before he coulde say all is finished Iohn 19.30 to say Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me my soule is heauie vnto death Math. 26.39 and 38. and my God my God why hast thou forsaken mee Mathewe 27.40 it was made manifest vnto the whole worlde that infinite is the seueritie of Gods iustice against fin that none but such an one was euer able to haue borne the burden thereof and to haue gotte from vnder it againe to triumphe ouer it as he hath proued that he did by his most glorious and comfortable resurrection and ascention into heauen after his death and passion when thus the iustice of GOD and his wrath against sinne was manifested in his suffering thorowe astonishmente thereat from the sixte howre vnto the ninthe there was darknesse ouer the whole earth the vaile of the temple rente from the toppe to the bottome the earth did quake and the stones were clouen and the graues did open themselues Math 27 45.51 52. if these then and all the former laide togither will not or cannot so astonishe or amaze vs at the sight of our sinnes and of all Gods wrath due vnto vs and most surely ready we cannot tell how soone to destroy vs if it be not stayed by this

their conceptes of purgatory and the releefe of soules there by a number of things which they seeke to make men beleeue will serue well to that end of the ouerplus merits and satisfactions of others to be communicated to such as lacke either through the common force of the communion of saintes or by the speciall intention of the doer and sufferrer of them or of the ordinarie disposer thereof at his pleasure which they hold to be the pope and of their mediation and intercession of saints and Angels for their deuout worshippers and callers vpon are as it were so manie strong cables to holde men backe either altogether or in great parte from longing and thirsting at all after Christ Lastlie their doctrine hath been and is such to blunt the edge and force of the law which God hath left as I haue shewed righthe vnderstood to driue men herunto that in verie deed they haue left it as it is and must bee vnderstood by their gloses and additions and detractions about the same without any force at all in effect to this purpose For first at their pleasure they leaue out the second commaundemente and to make yet vp the number of 10. they deuide the last into two secondly though Dauid neuer so much magnifie the perfection thereof as we haue heard Psal 19.7 yet it shall be so imperfect with them as that there are 5. commandements more which they call the commaun lements of the church beside infinite other traditions for the obseruing whereof often times they make the commandements of God of noe effect as the pharises did for theirs which must needs be obserued say they or else a man cannot lead such a holy christian life as he should thirdly they are so confident resolute that it is possible for man to keepe the lawe of God that they haue cursed al that hold the contrarie they teach a man may doe that more also and that God were a very tirant if man coulde not keep fulfil his law Yea herm they haue gon so far as that not onely they hold that a man may in euery point so exactly keep it that he can neither be charged with trāsgressiō of any commādment therin contayned nor yet in iustice be debarred from the wages rewarde of saluation which by perfect keeping thereof he hath merited and deserued Which whiles they teach and doe first they make some negligent and carelesse in studying and meditating of the lawe to the purpose aforesaid seeing by them they are occasioned to thinke that man may adde therevnto and take from thence at his pleasure and so by this means the law stands these in no steed to this end and secondly by their last kind of doctrine hereof whereas both the nature of the law it selfe and all the circumstances vsed by God in the first promulgation thereof plainly shew that by Gods ordinance it was and is appointed to make man to tremble and quake at the sight of his manifold greate sins imperfections therby made known vnto him that so therby he might take occasion the sooner and the more earnestlie to seeke to be made righteous by Christ and to haue that vnrighteousness of his owne pardoned couered they haue quite trāsformed altered the vse therof as though it were giuē of God of purpose strongly to lead man to a strong conceit of his own ablenes to keep fulfil the same so consequently therby to an opiniō that either Christ is not very much to be thirsted for at al or else that one may very quickly haue done with him Their rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 borrowed from Plutarch that is lawes must be made according to mans ability to keepe them will not beare out and iustifie this their opinion of mans ablenesse nowe to keepe the lawe For it is sufficient for clearing of God of all blame herein as I haue shewed before that man as he created him at the first was able to keepe this lawe which now both plaine and plentifull experience and the expresse scripture it selfe saith it is impossible for him to doe through the weaknesse of the flesh Rom. 8.3 For what reason is there seeing man is fallen from his abilitie by his owne follie eyther that God therefore shoulde fall or alter in his rule of righteousnesse or that he may not challenge that at his handes that in respect of his creation and otherwise he owes him though he know well inough before hand that he is not able to pay him one of a thousand Especially seeing man may make this most notable and profitable vse thereof euen therby to take occasion to see from what he is fallen and to what that so he may giue ouer euer trusting to come to heauen by keeping of the law whereof he is so great a breaker that he may seeke and trust only to come thither by beleeuing the gospell of Iesus Christ To maintaine yet the fansie of mans abilitie and possibilitie to keep the law they haue deuised a number of shiftes all which also tende to the quenching of spirituall hunger and thirst after Christ For to this end some of them haue taught that the precise full and perfect sence of the law is not for vs heere in the way to our country but when we come there and that here we may be saide to haue kept it though in an inferiour and imperfecter sence other some thinke and haue written that man may be saide to be a keeper and fulfiller of the law when for the most part he doth so but others misliking of both these as not pregnant inough to aduance mans abilitie and the facility or easines of the law teach plainly that the iustified man or man in the state of grace findeth the lawe of GOD in his most perfecte sence an easie yooke for him to beare and to vndergoe for that by grace his is enabled perfectly to keepe and fulfill it all in euery pointe euen here And yet in deede these lustie lads for all this for that by experience they finde that saying of Iames. In many things we sinne all Cha. 3.2 verified in them euen when they thinke themselues to be in that state and for that they finde likewise that Sainte Paul in that state in deede yet complaineth of concupiscence which he founde in himselfe by comparing himselfe with the lawe that was is spirituall holye and good and sheweth that most gladly he woulde be rid thereof Romaines 7.7 c. Are faine to helpe out this their position with this that those sinnes whereof Iames speakes and others of men in that case are but veniall sinnes and that the first motions to sinne or concupiscence founde in the regenerate after baptisme are not sinne And the better yet to make this vntempered morter to cleaue though Christe haue toulde vs that an account is to bee giuen for euery idle worde Math. 12.36 Yet these veniall sinnes of theirs amongst which I am sure

for the worthinesse of the thinges done or suffered by men as for that they are done of men formally iustified before with God by the infused grace of charity and that they are therefore growne to that efficacie by the bloode and merits of Christ for which beleeued but on as they teach God hath iustified them by infusing the gift of charitie into their soules and mindes let them not once thinke or dreame I say that any or all of these their sophisticall and cunning sleights or shiftes eyther can or shall once darken or blemish the plaine euidence and cleare light of this doctrine of iustification redemption and full saluation freely and effectually by faith in Christ Iesus For as for the first of these they cannot be ignorant that whensoeuer the question is in hande how and wherby man is to be iustified before God the scriptures throughout as plainely teach vs that there is but one iustification or waie thereunto as they teach vs that there is but one God Indeede they shewe sometimes that there is a proceeding and growing forward ●●eerein from vertue to vertue from faith to faith and so from strength to strength in applying vnto vs according to the increasings of our knowledge more and more of our owne wantes and of Christes person and office and according to our proceeding in the strength vertue power of our faith grounded therupon Christ Iesus his merits and sometimes they speak of iustification in a larger or in another signification therfore then they may and doe vrge him that is iustified to be yet more iustified but heereupon to builde that therefore there are two distinct kindes of iustification of man before the tribunall seate of GOD is both to builde without grounde and foundation and wilfullie in a most serious cause to play and seeke by dallying with ambiguitie of wordes to deceiue the simple Now as for their second shift the vanity falshoode therof will soone appeare to any that with any indifferencie wil but consider Paules wordes when in handling of this point he shutteth out workes of the lawe from hauing any thing to doe in the office of iustifying For writing as he did alwaies when he handled this question not to Iewes that indeede thorowe ignorance both of Christ and of the true meaning and vse of the lawe vsed to seeke by the workes of the lawe in their sence that is by workes taught by the lawe and done before grace to be iustified but to conuerted and beleeuing Gentiles to what purpose had it beene to labour so often and so earnestlie to driue them from seeking iustification by such workes of the lawe whereof they coulde neuer make anie such reckoning in that before their conuersion they were not so much as once acquainted with the lawe If therfore we must thinke as we are bounde that Paule wrote and spoke to the purpose and aptlie to those that he had to deale withall out of all question we must needs be of that iudgement that he taught euen the conuerted and beleeuing gentiles in what measure soeuer the spirit of grace enabled them to haue and to performe neuer so manie good workes of the lawe yet when they were neuer so full of them to trust perfectly freely to be iustified by the grace of God through the redemption that is in Christ Iesus and not at all by the workes of the lawe Alas who is so simple as to thinke that the false Apostles sought to perswade the Galathians whome Paule had left setled in seeking their iustification freely by faith in Christ to seeke manie so to be iustified in part or in whole by workes of the lawe done without or before grace and yet if this popish glose must stand Paule in his Epistle written of purpose to perswade the Galathians not to listen to these teaching them to seeke any way to be iustified before God by the workes of the lawe therein eyther disputes to no purpose and fightes but with his owne shadowe or else it must be granted that these were the workes of the lawe that they were taught by them to put some trust and confidence in which to imagine were most grosse and absurde for there is no likelihoode therein at all His reasons that he vsed to shut out the workes of the lawe from the office of iustifying are these for by the lawe commeth the knowledge of sinne Rom. 3.20 For that our reioycing is in this case excluded not by the lawe of works but by the lawe of faith vers 27. For that if Abraham were iustified by workes he hath wherein to reioyce but not with God for that the wages is counted to him that worketh not of fauour as he taketh it for graunted it was to Abraham and must be to all the children of Abraham in this case but of debt which likewise he assumeth as graunted to be in this point absurde Rom. 4.2.4 For if they which are of the lawe be heires faith is made voyde and the promise is of none effect For the lawe causeth wrath 14.15 therefore it is by faith that it might come by grace and the promise might be sure to all the seeds 16. As mante as are of the workes of the lawe are vnder the curse For it is written cursed is euery one that continueth not in all thinges which are written in the booke of the lawe to doe them No man is iustified by the lawe in the sight of God it is euident for the iust shall liue by faith and to Abraham and his seede were the promises made he saith not and to thy seedes as speaking of manie but and to thy seede as of one which is Christ Gal. 3.10.11.16 Euerie and all of which argumentes make and serue strongly not onely to debarre woorks done before grace according to the outward letter of the lawe from all office and power to iustifie but also all workes done after grace effectually if mans owne free will in such sort concurre to the working of them as they teach For euen therein and when they are done the lawe findeth such imperfection in the doer as we may see by Paules owne confession Rom. 7.24 that he hath cause to crie O wretched man that I am who shall deliuer mee from this bodie of sinne and death and to acknowledge euen in such a one as then he himselfe was who doubtlesse was then in the state of grace that the lawe is such a reuealer of sin yet to be in him and therfore also of wrath that he is so farre off from hauing any cause by his own works done after grace to thinke that he deserueth to be iustified or saued in any respect that thereby he may iustly with him take occasion to confesse that though the law be spiritual yet he is carnal so sold vnder sinne that in his flesh there dwelleth no good thing for though to will is present with him that he allowe not the euill he doth because in