Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	according_a	church_n	law_n	2,427	5	4.7566	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47066	Even lero'sh pina, The Jevv turned Christian, or, The corner-stone wherein is an assertion of Christ being the true Messiah / by John Jacob, formerly a Jew, but now turned a Christian.	Jacob, John, 17th cent.	1679 (1679)	Wing J98; ESTC R5620	15,760	42

That is he could have written his Law in their hearts and in their inward parts Jer. 31.33 If he had not reflected on himself in saying so upon the Covenant of the Law made thus and of that nature by their own agreement So I conclude That the Jews of whom I am as concerning the flesh have been from the beginning a stubborn people conceited of their own righteousness and so minding no spiritual help nor willing to receive Christ and to believe in him in the day of his appearance in the flesh and for that utterly rejected from God and dispersed thorow all the World having no certain mansion but the whole world for their Fathers Land So then having well considered that the chiefest good of a man is God and that none could attain to the enjoyment of him but by the King Messiah which is Christ it was high time for me to look after my salvation and to search well what the Messiah should be if he was come and for what he should come and if Christ in whom Christians believed was the true Messiah Therefore many a time did I enter into my self as one that was abstracted from all opinions and having rejected the vail of Moses did consider by what way I might obtain the salvation of my soul and body and so take hold of that good which exceeds all things of the world And indeed by many weighty Scriptures and by the fulfilling of them I was sufficiently perswaded that the promised Messiah was come and that Jesus was the same who is the Son of God and the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person upholding all things by the word of his power who when he had by himself purged our sins sat down on the right-hand of the Majesty on high Heb. 1.3 Therefore my only desire was to joyn with them that professed him and believed in his name and albeit I saw many different opinions amongst Christians yet considering that amongst the Jews where the Church hath been formerly were many Sects and amongst all of them one must be true viz. which believed according to the promise and did according to the Law I was stedfast in my first resolution and my only desire was to be a living member of Christ as of a Saviour and a Prince of the world And seeing those Churches which are called Protestants did exactly believe according to the rule of Scriptures I resolved to adjoyn my self to them and to partake of the same benefits as they But because I could not make a publick profession of my Fairh in Poland where I was born where they are almost all Papists and hate the Protestants above the Jews yea above the Heathens themselves I stayed until I had a convenient occasion to embrace Jesus publickly and to make my brethren partakers of my joy in Christ And it happened so that being here in London my eyes were opened dayly more and more and I thought my self bound not to defer any longer but to obey the calling of my God as soon as ever possible Because it is a work of that great salvation Heb. 2.3 unto the performance of which every one is to hasten without delay To day if ye will hear his Gods voice harden not your hearts as in the provocation and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness Psal 95.7 Therefore I rejected the Jewish superstitions and Rabbinical dreams and entred my self into the Church of Christ being baptized by the name of John Jacob In the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost God one in essence and three in persons to whom be Glory and Honour for ever Amen But now it will be my duty to shew by what means I was perswaded to Christianity and that as short as ever I can First then I was convinced that the true Messiah was come by these Arguments 1. We read Gen. 49.10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a law-giver from between his feet until Shiloh come and unto him shall the gathering of the people be This was the Prophecy of Jacob concerning the Messiah according to the confession of the Jews themselves Now the Scepter is departed from Juda for the Jews have no King and so consequently no Government in Canaan their Law-givers are destroyed being that great Sanhedrim is no more in esse and so it must needs follow that the true Messiah is come But the Jews use here to except 1. That by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the original is not to be understood a Scepter but a rod as in Psal 2.9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is the Jews must be in great persecutions and chastisements under the Government of Heathens until Shiloh come and deliver them out of their hands and therefore they say this Argument is of no value 2. They say suppose it should be expounded by the word Scepter that nevertheless it could not pass upon Christ being the Scepter of Juda was taken away before ever Christ came whereas the Text saith The Scepter shall not depart from Juda until Shiloh come But as for the first exception I answer 1. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is indifferently taken for a Rod and for a Scepter because a Rod or a Staff is as well a token of Supremacy and Government as a Scepter is 2. That in this place it cannot be taken thus as they say for a Rod of anger and chastisement but it must be taken for a Scepter or Rod of Superiority by reason the next words viz. nor a law-giver from between his feet doth determine the first being it is proper to a Lawgiver to have a Scepter as a sign of his power over others And 3. The word in the second Psalm may be expounded likewise by a Scepter by reason God promiseth unto his Son the Heathens for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession and then he endueth him with an Iron Scepter to signifie his dominion over them and an administration of his soveraignty not only in mercy and meekness but also in justice As for the second exception I answer 1. Although Christ came into the World at that time when the Romans had their Deputies at Jerusalem and when the Jews were subject to the Emperour yet still the Jews had their own King and were ruled by their own Laws Sanhedrim not being abolished nor any of their priviledges disannulled or diminished till after their great Rebellion when Titus Vespasian and his Son having besieged Jerusalem took the holy place destroyed the City dispersed the people and made their Law void and of none effect and from that time till this day the Jews could not recover the Throne of their own King for to be ruled by him or the Law of their Nation nor had any Vision Revelation or Prophet but are quite rejected as an abomination in the eyes of the Lord. Now

promise of the blessed seed might be confirmed by an external worship adumbrating the propitiation of Christ with whose righteousness Adam should be clothed as he was by the skins that so he might appear in the eyes of the Lord not only free from debt but also in holiness As touching these words Gen. 3.22 The man is become as one of us knowing good and evil they are worthy of observation and comfortable to them that search after Christ and his goodness They are surely spoken in the Council of the Holy Trinity by reason they are spoken as unto equals and then they are spoken as to one of that Council as one of us saith God which cannot pass upon any else besides Christ who already in idea had the knowledge of the experimental evil that is of passions and afflictions which he was ordained to suffer for us For we have not an High-Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin Heb. 4.15 So then none can come to the enjoyment of God but he that is under the Covenant of Grace and by no other means but by faith in him who is called the messenger of the Covenant Mal. 3.1 by reason of his being sent into the world for the fulfilling of those conditions which the Covenant doth require by him who is the Angel of Gods presence Isa 63.9 by reason God sheweth all the kindness unto men by and in him because his countenance in this case signifieth his loving propension by him who is the Son of God in whom we must trust and kiss him lest he be angry and we perish from the way Psal 2.12 That is by Christ who is the author and finisher of our faith Heb. 12.2 and without whom there can be no salvation Act. 4.12 and so consequently no enjoyment of the chiefest good which is God And this is the reason that the Almighty and just God hath not only dispersed the Nation of the Jews which was a peculiar treasure unto him above all people a Kingdom of Priests and an holy Nation Exod. 19.5 6 but likewise hath broken them off as branches and cut them out of the Olive-tree Rom. 11.17 24 that is from Christ because they would not enter into that Covenant of Grace which God proposed in his own Son but rejected the Son and the Covenant and so became Lorachama and Loammi Hos 1.9 It is observable from the beginning that the Jews have always been a stiff-necked people and such as did ground their salvation more upon their own righteousness than the mercy of God in Christ and thence proceeds the complaints which God maketh of and about them and that great work the Apostle Paul did undertake to shew them there was no justification by the works of the Law Rom. 9.30 31 32 33 and many other places For when God after he had brought them out of Egypt would have renewed his Covenant with them which he had made with their Father Abraham he had no mind to enter into a Covenant of Works with them which they had already implanted in their hearts by nature but into a Covenant of Grace as we may see by two or three Arguments 1. When God had charged Moses to sanctifie the people that they might be ready to receive the conditions of the Covenant he saith if they would keep his covenant they should be a peculiar treasure c. Exod. 19.5 Which to be Evangelical and a meer effect of the Covenant of Grace the Apostle doth plainly shew 1 Pet. 2.9 2. The preface before the decalogue is Evangelical likewise Exod. 20.2 I am the Lord thy God Now that God cannot be said to be the God of any Man People or Nation but by vertue of the Covenant of Grace is plain through all the Scriptures 3. The Law was ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator Gal. 3.19 That is in the hand of Christ because there is but one Mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 And whatsoever is one is indivisible and cannot be communicated to any other but Christ cannot be a Mediator of the Covenant of Works Now the Jews proud by nature and confident of their own righteousness change the order of Gods purposes and so by their ratihabition makes a Covenant of Works out of a Covenant of Grace When God entred into a Covenant with Abraham he uses two kinds of expressions but both of the same nature the 1st is Gen. 15.1 The word of the Lord came unto Abraham in a vision Fear not Abraham I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward The 2d Gen. 17.1 The Lord said unto Abraham I am the Almighty God walk before me and be thou perfect And then God promised him Christ and likewise not only an innumerable multitude of posterity but also the everlasting happiness unto his seed Gen. 15.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth not only a similitude but also a place that is look now towards Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there shall thy seed be and tell the Stars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so shall thy seed be Let us now observe the order of Gods words and of Abrahams proceedings God professeth himself to be his shield his reward his God and then exacts an obedience from him walk before me saith he and be perfect And upon that Abraham he believed first And Abraham believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness Gen. 15.6 He believed that God was his God and not only able but willing to perform that which he had promised and then being supported by God through his Faith did work the works of righteousness There Abraham observed the order of the Lord and did not boast of his own righteousness or ableness to perform those things which God did require of him as the Jews did in the Wilderness unto whom God did propose his Covenant according to that same order he did unto Abraham saying I am the Lord thy God thou shalt not c. who after the proposing of Gods Covenant returned presently All that God hath spoken we will do Exod. 23.2 setting their works before their faith And although their foolish ratihabition could not disanul the Covenant made with Abraham and confirmed by God in Christ That it should make the promise of of none effect Gal. 3.17 which was adumbrated or shadowed by the sacrifices and offerings under the dispensation of Moses yet God in many places doth reflect upon their agreement and makes them ashamed of the conceit of their own righteousness as when he says Isa 5.4 What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have done in it Wherefore when I looked that it should bring forth Grapes brought it forth wild grapes Surely God could have done more to his Vineyard than those outward helps of Grace which he doth speak of in the following verses