Selected quad for the lemma: work_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
work_n	ceremonial_a	law_n	moral_a	5,536	5	9.9611	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45149	Peace at Pinners-Hall wish'd, and attempted in a pacifick paper touching the universality of redemption, the conditionality of the covenant of grace, and our freedom from the law of works upon occasion of a sermon ... / by a lover of truth and accommodation.	Humfrey, John, 1621-1719.	1692 (1692)	Wing H3700; ESTC R5169	19,418	34

something practical at the end That Christ hath redeemed us from the Law or delivered us from it as the Scripture speaks so that we are not Vnder the Law but under Grace is not to be denyed by any and yet that we are still to obey the same is no less certain If thou wilt enter into life keep the Commandments The Law therefore may be considered qua Regula or qua Foedus say our Divines which does in the gross state the matter By the Law we mean not the Ceremonial Law which containing things that were but shadows whereof the substance is come is abrogated out of question but we mean the Law Moral the Law of Nature or Law of Works Now this Law as a Rule we say that is as it prescribes us our duty to God our selves and our neighbour cannot cease but be always of force because it is founded on Our Nature and Gods and so long as they are the same this must be so also For ever O Lord thy Law is setled in Heaven But the Law as a Covenant that is as God and Man are obliged thereby so that man must live or dye and God deal with him according to his keeping or breaking it this is not to stand in force but we are delivered from it by Christ To come to the Difficulty There are three things in the Covenant the Precepts the Promise and the Threat The Preceptive part now is and must be still of force because the Law qua Regula is The Comminatory part is of force likewise because Christ tells us those that believe not are condemned already and St. Paul sayes that we are all by Nature the Children of wrath which could not be if the Threat were void The Promisory part then only remains and Divines say therefore that the Capacity of the Subject ceasing that ceases The condition thereof they say cannot be performed and the Promise is void But neither what they say is true nor is it the thing which should be said It is not the thing because the delivery of us from the Law which the Scripture speaks of as the purchase of Christ is the freeing us from the curse and condemnation of it To be freed from the Promisory part what good is that Neither is this true because the Lord Jesus a man as we are did perform the condition and made the reward thereby due to him of debt or merit and accordingly entred into glory This can be gain-said by no body If then Neither the Promise nor Threat nor Precepts are ceased how does the Law cease as a Covenant or we be freed from it Here now is the thing I must speak to and I humbly answer there are two Parties in a Covenant as I have asserted before and consequently there is Our part and there is Gods part in the Covenant On our part the Law qua Regula qua Foedus both being the Law and Covenant of Nature must for ought I see continue and always for when Christ after the day of Judgment shall have delivered up his Mediatory Kingdom and the Laws of it I do believe that man being made perfect in Holiness and confirmed therein this Law is that which he and the blessed Spirits in Heaven shall live by and keep for evermore But as to Gods part now and till the Judgment is past the case is altered We are by this Covenant through our Transgression we and all the world in Gods hands lyable to Wrath and Condemnation and God as Rector is engaged to deal with us according to his Threat But Mans case being verily pittiable he in his Wisdom found out and in his Goodness accepted of a satisfaction to be made by his Son and thereupon he is taken off so as not to inflict the punishment upon us There are two Reasons upon which a Law-giver who also is Rector may forbear the punishing a Delinquent One is when the case of the person is Pittiable and requires Commiseration and the other when his Justice and Honour can be saved also tho' he spare that person Such is the case here If God deal with man according to this Law all mankind must Perish which is pittiable indeed and it pleased Him therefore that the Lord JESUS his Son should interpose who by fulfilling the Law exactly for himself and bearing the punishment of it also in our stead it is made a Righteous Thing hereby without casting any dishonour upon Himself or Law to deal otherwise on his part with us than the Covenant required Here then to speak properly the Law is not Abrogated nor Ceased but Relaxed it is not an Abrogation or a Cessation but a Relaxation or a Dispensation as to the Penalty of it that is so as we shall not be condemned by it It is hitherto then the Point is come and so far doublesly we are in the Right We are not freed from the Law so as that we are no longer to obey it but we are delivered so as God will not deal with us according to it How then will you say does or will he deal with us I Answer by another Law a Remedying Law the law of Grace the Covenant of Forgiveness the law of Faith in opposition to the law of Works Christ sayes to the Father I will Redeem these lost Creatures from the Sentence of the Law by which every mortal man of them else must Perish But I will take the Redeemed into my Hands or under my Government so as they shall not be Lawless for all that They shall have the Law still as in my Hand to live by as well as they can and as far as human frailty will permit but they shall be dealt with in regard to Acceptation according to the Grace I have purchased for them and is promulgated in the Gospel The Law then remains still as a Rule to Live by but not as the Rule we shall be Judged by as a Rule of our Duty but not as the Rule by which we shall be Justified or Condemned There is a Universal Pardon in regard to the Sentence of the Law of Works procured passed and declared in the Gospel upon condition of our Faith and Repentance But the obligation of Obedience to the Precepts of it can never cease I must say still so long as it is the Law of Nature which never ceases The Law of Nature then or the Law of Works is the Norma Officii the Rule of Life but the Law of Grace this Act of Pardon is the Norma Judicii the Rule of Judgment We are not delivered from the Law so as that we are free from living according to it I must inculcate this to be sure I mistake not or be mistaken But we are delivered from it so as we shall not be Judged by it which is all one as not to be Justified or Condemned by it We shall be Judged by the Law of Liberty says St. James and St. Paul According to my Gospel Blessed be God for this