Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
virtue_n	day_n	lord_n	sabbath_n	851	5	10.2633	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61847	A discourse of the two covenants wherein the nature, differences, and effects of the covenant of works and of grace are distinctly, rationally, spiritually and practically discussed : together with a considerable quantity of practical cases dependent thereon / by William Strong.	Strong, William, d. 1654.; Gale, Theophilus, 1628-1678.	1678 (1678)	Wing S6002; ESTC R10428	996,223	490

God It was not enough for Jeroboam to say Ye shall worship the God of Israel but it shall be under the resemblance of a Calf and ye shall have the Ordinances of God every way as glorious and as rational at Dan and Bethel as ever you had at Jerusalem what can you desire more there is nothing for matter of worship to be had at Jerusalem but it may also be had here For every thing done in the service of God must not be ex arbitrio Tertullian sed ex imperio and if the reason of man in this perswade him and interpose whatever is set up so is an image of jealousie and will-worship as the Apostle speaks Ezech. 8.3 Jer. 17.31 Col. 2. and that which the Lord will one day return upon you and say Who hath required these things at your hands it's that which I never spake it never came into my mouth nor entred into my heart so far we are from setting up reason or the wisdom of men to have any place in the worship of God and to infer because this is rational therefore it shall be accepted For I know that as the power of Ordinances so the fruit and the acceptation of them come from the institution only and as it 's sinful in the things that God has commanded to dispute his commands in matters of obedience and to examine them by the rule of reason and bring them unto that Bar so it 's also to impose any thing upon God in matters of worship that he has not commanded It 's said Hos 11.14 Israel hath forgotten his Maker and builded Temples Hos 11.14 a man would think surely he that builds Temples has God much in his mind but he that doth build many Temples when the Lord had appointed but one this is to forget God under a pretence of worshipping of God and in vers 11. 't is said Ephraim hath made him Altars to sin and Altars shall be unto him to sin they had multiplied Altars beyond the institution of God therefore that was their great sin as Drusius expounds it or else this was the sin that God did give them up in judgment unto till they had destroyed themselves for vain man would be wise and he loves to shew his wisdom in nothing more than in imposing in the worship of God and this is so far from bringing God near to the soul Ezech. 8. that it 's an image of jealousie that does provoke him to go far from him 3. As for Institutions meerly typical it 's not safe arguing from them that there must be in the externals of Worship something answerable to them in the Ordinances of the New Testament and it will be no good argument to say It was so under the Law therefore by way of Analogy and proportion it must be so under the Gospel and the reason is because they were shadows of good things to come and therefore when the substance came Heb. 10.1 the shadows were to vanish for Joh. 1.17 the truth of all those legal Types and all those shadows came by Christ as well as the grace of them and therefore when he came they were all done away and of this kind are all the fore-mentioned instances the legal holiness upon the people and land was typical in the Priests and high Priests and their ornaments and vestures typical and their Temple a type and their Altar a type all fulfilled in Christ and so abolished he having taken down the partition-wall and taken the hand-writing that consisted in Ordinances out of the way by nailing it unto his Cross Col. 2. of all these Types we may lawfully argue that there remains something spiritual in the days of the Gospel there is a spiritual Temple and there is a great High Priest and there are inferiour Priests that are made Kings and Priests unto God and we have an Altar of which they have no right to eat which serve the Tabernacle Heb. 13.10 we have even under the Gospel a Circumcision without hands putting away the body of the sins of the flesh the inward workings of the Spirit of Christ circumcising our hearts and we have a spiritual Passover also for Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us The Apostle has a distinction Col. 2.11 Heb. 9.23 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 figures and shadows of the true and there are shadows of heavenly things themselves the one remains when the other are done away therefore it is confessed that arguments drawn from typical institutions are not valid so far as that there must something remain to answer them in the days of the Gospel they may justly be denied and rejected because they were shadows of spiritual and heavenly things and nothing external was to come in the place of them But I suppose no man will say that Circumcision was a type of Baptism nor the Passover a type of the Lords Supper they are all of them seals of the same Covenant under different administrations and therefore there may arguments be drawn from these in reference unto the externals of worship which cannot be from the other they being shadows only of heavenly things and spiritual under the Gospel 4. Though no institution of the Old Testament can be the ground of any institution of the New but barely the will of the Law-giver yet in many things the institutions of the Old Testament may give rules and in several particulars afford arguments to regulate those of the New As though I do not say that the Jewish Sabbath was institutive of the Lords day as some do and that it was no new institution but remained by virtue of the fourth Commandment and though the day be changed yet it hath the same institution still yet I suppose that many arguments may be drawn from the Jewish observations as directions for the Christian Sabbath as 1 The Jews in their Sabbath did consecrate to God the whole seventh day that is a natural day consisting of 24 hours and therefore were derided by the Heathen in losing the seventh part of their lives so it 's the duty of Christians to give the same time unto God as great a proportion in their Sabbath as the Jews did 2 The Jews in their Sabbath were to do no servile work only our Lord Christ lets them see that works of piety and of charity and necessity might be done upon that day and so are the Christians to celebrate their Sabbath also by doing no servile work 3 The Jews were not only to take care of the observation of the Sabbath themselves Nehem. 13.19 but also that all that were under their charge the Magistrate in his place as Nehemiah did give forth a commandment he did set his servants to observe that it was done and he did threaten even the strangers that if they did not reform he would lay hands on them which he would surely have done had the sin been continued in

a seeking their Fathers life as Absalom did David's Vse the young man well for my sake says the father but when Hushai said We will smite the King only the saying pleas'd Absalom well And the son shall betray the father to death Sennacherib was slain by his two Sons 4 The parting with Children at death and not knowing in what condition a man shall leave them is a great part of a mans vexation In this life it 's a great part of the Curse His Sons come to honour and he knows it not they are brought low and he considers it not c. That was Luther's comfort in his Will Lord thou hast given me Wife and Children and I give them to thee again Qui pater es pupillorum judex viduarum which art the Father of Orphans and Judge of the Widows But the contrary is a very great affliction unto the hearts of Parents and a great part of a mans misery that Children must suffer for the Parents sins and God may visit the iniquity of Parents upon Children to the third and fourth Generation 2. Parents also are a Curse to their Children 1 The sins of Parents are transmitted to the Children We see Adam did bring a Curse upon himself and all his posterity and the infants of Sodom were involved in the punishment of the sins that they were not in themselves guilty of Ezech. 4.25 God reserved the punishment of the Fathers for their Children for three hundred and ninety years together Chams sins and Canaans is punisht nine hundred twenty-five years after and Gehazi his Leprosie cleaves to him and his posterity and the Jews in Crucifying Christ say his blood be upon us and our children and so wrath is come upon them to the uttermost for many Generations 1 This is a punishment upon the Parent and a testimony of great wrath that not only Judgment comes upon himself but upon his posterity 2 It 's only in Temporal things for an Eternal Curse never comes upon Children but for their own sins but for Temporal Curses they are dispens'd in a way of prerogative and the Lord will lay those Curses upon Children which the Parents did deserve and they are gone down to Hell to receive 2 Parents prove snares and plagues to their Children by betraying their liberties losing of their priviledges Rom. 3.2 Vnto them were committed the Oracles of God Now when they shall forfeit them and part with their priviledges by little and little What a curse is this The Ordinances and the Truths of the Gospel are the greatest trust committed to Parents but when they provoke the Lord to call them Loammi and to cast them off then they are forfeited As Rom. 11. the natural branches are broken off and their posterity are cast out as an abominable branch only the Lord will in time graft them in again So many a Father does lose glorious priviledges and opportunities for his Children Saul did divest himself of the Kingdom and all his posterity Now would I have established the Kingdom to thee c. 3 By an evil example 1 Pet. 1.18 corrupting them by their vain conversation received by tradition from their Fathers Jer. 44.17 We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven as we have done we and our fathers our Kings and our Princes in the cities of Judah c. 4 The Father may forsake his Son yea he may forget When my father and mother forsake me says the Psalmist the Lord takes me up And the Father may betray the Son to death as we see Saul did Jonathan if he will not comply with his lusts he shall not live he throws a Javelin at him to kill him c. SECT III. Spiritual Death § 1. WE have thus far considered the first Branch of the Covenant's Curse and that consists in Temporal death Now let us come to consider the second Branch of it which is Death Spiritual and that is All the spiritual evil that can befal the soul of man in this life whether of sin or sorrow And it 's as possible for a man to weigh the fire and to measure the wind and number the stars or count the sand upon the sea-shore as to reckon the particulars wherein this Death consists Godly men that study the evils of their own hearts all their days yet cry out The heart is deceitful above all things who can know it Jer. 17.10 The word signifies an incurable disease it s only the Lord that can cure and search it and know the malignity of it And as it is said of Vertue and the beauty of Holiness if it could be seen with bodily eyes Mirabilem excitaret amorem sui it would stir up a wonderful love of it self so could the death of the soul and the evils of it be seen it would stir up hatred and amazement above all things in the world A godly man that sees but a little of it when God opens his eyes he abhors himself and loaths his own soul Job 42.6 And Luther blessed God that he did not shew him sin all at once but by degrees it would have sunk him with the apprehension of it This will be the study of men in Hell to all eternity to rake into this filthiness of the soul and the death thereof for Hell is the grave of the soul and the rottenness of it shall be studied there for ever And this shall be the work of that never-dying worm the souls reflection upon it self and its own loathsomeness and to loath it self for ever Consider 1 the soul is the darling and therefore the beauty of a man and the worth of the man lies in the hidden man of the heart which is in the sight of God of great price 1 Pet. 3.3 and therefore the deformity of the soul is the greatest The worth of the man is from the worth of the soul Prov. 10.20 The heart of the wicked is little worth His Lands and his Honour and his Cloaths may be worth much in the esteem of the world but his soul is worth nothing Therefore the value of a man is in his spirit though there be other things that we commonly prize men by yet those that judge aright count the Saints upon this account the excellent ones Psal 16.3 and all others to be vile men how great and rich soever Dan. 4.17 Psal 15. And a man does prosper truly as his soul prospers 3 Joh. 2. and not as his body prospers or as his estate prospers Therefore a man is filthy if his soul is filthy and vile as his soul is vile and he decays as his soul does from day to day 2 The great difference between men and men lies in their spirits Caleb had another spirit Numb 14.24 Our distinctions for the present are but for a time and death will make all equal that as we were all made of one body so we shall all be dissolved into the same dust they are all but for the time

and good will for his Purposes and Decrees are immutable as himself is and there can nothing arise de novo that should cause him to change his purpose but more that he proceeded herein to a treaty with his Son about it to be his Servant in this great work to bring Jacob again unto him Isa 49. and made a solemn Covenant pass between these glorious persons about it and that those thoughts should delight them before the World began and that the Lord should bespeak his Son with all the terms of dearness that can be to undertake this service Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee and therefore being his Son it was only an office fit for him and as being his Son there was all fitness in him so there was all dearness to him and by this Christ did upon this motion of the Fathers undertake this service and there was a solemn Covenant passed between them Jer. 30.21 And thus the Lord did as it were bind himself and his Son unto this great work of your Salvation before the World was not only laying his love but also his faithfulness to pawn though not in a Covenant to you before you were yet in a Covenant to his Son and therefore there was a promise of eternal life given us in him before the World began 3 When he doth Covenant with Christ to be a Priest Tit. 1.2 it is a Covenant that he confirms by an Oath to shew that he doth never intend to alter and change his resolution Psal 110.4 The Lord has sworn and will not repent c. Psal 110.4 Heb. 7.21 This Priest was made by an Oath by him that said unto him Thou art my Son the Lord swore and will not repent and this was from everlasting for then it was that Christ was first appointed or set apart to become a Priest Now all this shews how much the heart of God was in it For the Word of God is as true as his Oath and as infallible and therefore if he had but said it it had been enough for there is a greater stability in his Word than there is in Heaven and Earth but yet it is observed by Divines that between the Word of God and his Oath there is this difference though the Lord speaks the word yet there may be some secret and tacite condition or some subsequent declaration of the mind of God As for Nineveh God said Within fourty days Nineveh should be destroyed yet there was an implyed condition of repentance which being performed the Judgement was not executed And so to Ely I said that thy fathers house should walk before me for ever but now I say Be it far from me and so the promise is reversed and it may be that is the meaning of the expression in Numbers You shall know my breach of Covenant But if God swears it shews the unchangeableness of his counsel an absolute act that nothing can arise de novo and nothing can be supposed that can cause God to change it he will never have a relenting thought for the pardon of sins and saving of sinners for ever and therefore he swore and made him a Priest by an Oath and this Oath some conceive to be the seal of God by which he did in a solemn manner set apart his Son for this great office and designed him to it from everlasting Joh. 6.27 John 6.27 Him hath God the father sealed So that as he has sealed up his decrees concerning you that they can never receive an alteration or change more how changeable soever you be 2 Tim. 2.19 as 2 Tim. 2.19 The foundation of God remains sure having this seal the Lord knows who are his so he hath sealed up also his Covenant with Christ and that by an Oath Now if it were but a Kings Seal who could reverse it But this is the King of Kings 4 We see that their hearts were much in it for neither of these persons ever repented of it to this day 1 If God the Father would have repented a man would have expected that it should have been when he came to make his Son an offering for sin Oh! what relenting thoughts and rolling of bowels had Abraham when his Son must dye and he himself must have a hand therein and become the executioner So it pleased the Father to bruise him Matt. 26.29 and Matt. 26.29 there is a necessity or an impossibility spoken of and it lay wholly in the will of God for so he adds not my will but thy will be done If God could have changed his Will Christ might have lived and the Cup passed away but God had covenanted to make him a surety he had made him a Priest by an Oath and his will could not change he could not repent of it therefore this Cup he must drink Thus Isa 53.5 the same word is used and it signifies to beat a thing to pieces as in a Mortar and God was pleased with it Ephes 5.2 The offering of Christ was to God a Sacrifice of a sweet savour What made it so Only the end Finis dat mediis amabilitatem the end gives sweetness to the means Had it not been for that the Lord must needs have abhorred it 2 And Christ accepts of the Covenant and never repented he did never call back his word or change his ingagement he had the law of dying written in the middle of his bowels as it was the pleasure of the Lord so it was his with desire have I desired it and I have a baptism and I am straitned till it be fulfilled Vse 3. Thence we see the ground of the pardoning of all the sins of the ancient Saints under the first Testament Rom. 3.25 Heb. 9.15 The debt was not paid and the Sacrifice was not offered and yet their sins were pardoned and their souls saved it was by vertue of the Covenant and ingagement of Christ unto God the Father there was blood of Bulls and Goats and that could only signifie Christ but could not satisfie God but when Christ came and performed the Covenant now he satisfied for the transgressions under the first Testament and in this respect he was a Lamb slain from the beginning though offered in the latter days of the World because the Covenant immediately from the fall of man took place and God looked upon him by virtue of this Covenant as our surety and required all of him Vse 4. It is a mighty ground of Faith that all shall be performed for if these glorious persons could break Covenant with you yet they will not break one with another therefore surely 1 on Gods part all his promises unto Christ shall be made good every knee shall bow taken him all his enemies shall become his footstool all the persecuting Monarchies shall be taken down and the stone without hands shall fill the earth and the Mountain of the Lord shall be exalted upon the top of all the