Selected quad for the lemma: law_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
law_n	commandment_n	love_n	neighbour_n	4,758	5	8.6381	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A18304	Precepts, or, Directions for the well ordering and carriage of a mans life, through the whole course thereof: left by William, Lord Burghly, to his sonne, at his death, who was sometimes Lord Treasurer of this kingdome. Also some other precepts and advertisements added, which sometimes was the iewell and delight of the right Honourable Lord and father to his country Francis, Earl of Bedford, deceased. In two bookes; Certaine precepts	Burghley, William Cecil, Baron, 1520-1598.; Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo, attributed name.; Cyprian, Saint, Bishop of Carthage, attributed name.	1636 (1636)	STC 4899; ESTC S118517	27,423	208

without shamefastnesse 6 A Master or Ruler without vertue 7 A Christian man full of contention 8 A poore man proud 9 A wicked and an unjust King 10 A negligent Bishop 11 A people without discipline 12 A people without law A Glasse wherein those blemishes and abuses may be perfectly seene which are the destruction and overthrow of every Christian Common-wealth The first abuse Chap. 1. A wise man without works AMong those severall maimes and blemishes in any estate whatsoever the first that presenteth it selfe is a wise man or a Preacher without good workes that is to say such a one as doth not worke according to his teaching and to the wisedome which he delivereth with his owne tongue For the hearers doe despise the good and wholesome doctrine if they perceive that the works of the Preacher do differ from his teaching And the authority of the Preacher shall never be good except by example of good life he fasten it in the heart of the hearer especially when the Preacher himselfe is fallen into the love of sin and will not apply the wholsome salves of other Preachers to his owne wounds The Lord therfore willing to instruct his Disciples both in doctrine and good works taught them how they should take heed thereunto saying If the salt be unsavory wherein shall it be made savory that is to say if the Preacher be out of the way and doe not as he ought to doe what Preacher shall bring him in againe And if the light that is within thee is become darkenesse how great then shall the darkenesse be it selfe If the eye have lost the use and office of sight what man can require that same service of the hand or foot or any other member of the body Therefore let Preachers take heed that they incur not a sharper vengeance if they be the greater occasion to many that they doe perish For Salomon himselfe while he did transgresse and worke contrary to his great wisedome was the cause that by his salt onely the kingdome of all the people of Israell was divided Wherefore those persons to whom many things are committed have the greater los●e if they bestow not that well which they have received of their head and Governour and therefore he that hath the greater charge shall make the greater answer and reckoning For the servant which knoweth the will of his Master and doth it not shall suffer sharp scourges and bitter punishments The second abuse Chap. 2. An old man without devotion and godly feare THe second stain and shamefull abuse is an old man that hath no holinesse in him but when the members and parts of his body be old and feeble the lims of his minde that is to say of the inward man are nothing the stronger It is decent and comely that old men should give themselves to more perfect holinesse and devotion than other men whom the flourishing time of this world hath not as yet forsaken The example may be gathered in wood that even as the Tree is accounted naught and evill which after it hath blossomed bringeth forth no good fruit so among men he is a wicked and evill person who when the flower of his youth is past doth not in the old time of his body bring forth ripe workes of good fruits For what thing can be more ridiculous than a mans minde not to endeavour to attaine strength and perfection when all the parts of his body by age are come to defection and end When his eyes waxe dimme his eares hard of hearing his head bald his cheeks withered through lacke of bloud when he beginneth to want his teeth to have his breath strong and earthly his breast stuffed with phlegme evermore troubled with the cough and finally when his legges doe faile under him as he goeth by age and swelling with diseases the inward man that feeleth no age being also pained with the selfe same diseases And all these sicknesses and infirmities rehearsed are signes and tokens before that the house of this body shall shortly decay What have we to doe then while the end of this life draweth so fast on but that such as are old should desire to covet nothing else than how they might soonest obtaine the felicity of the life to come For to young men the end of their life is alway at hand and uncertaine but unto old men it is more ripe and naturall as also agreeable to their age Wherefore a man must take heed of two things which never doe waxe old in his flesh and doe draw the whole man unto sinne that is to say the heart and the tongue For the hart is alway imagining of new thoughts and the tongue is evermore swift in speaking whatsoever the heart doth imagine or thinke Let old men therfore beware that these young members doe not bring the whole harmony of their bodies out of tune causing the other parts of the body which doe shew gravity to be laughed to scorne For every man ought to take heed what becōmeth the age which he beareth that he may doe those things which shall cause that neither his life age nor behaviour may be touched with despising The third abuse Chap. 3. A young man without obedience HEre must we intreat on the third eye-sore namely if a young man be found without obedience whereby the world is brought out of good order For how doth he thinke to be reverenced when he commeth to age that in his youth will shew no obedience or reverence to them which are old And therefore it is a common saying among old men that he can never play the Master well who hath not one way or other declared himselfe serviceable and obedient to some other before For the which cause our Lord Iesus Christ in the time of his being upon the earth in his flesh till the lawfull time and age of a teacher that hee should teach did serve and minister obediently to his Parents Likewise then as gravity sadnesse and perfect godly manners are looked for and beheld in old men so to young men belongeth of right humble service subjection and obedience Wherefore in those precepts and commandements of the Law which appertaine to the love of our neighbour the first is the honour of Father and Mother being commanded unto us that although the carnall father be not alive or is unworthy yet you must to some other which is alive shew obedience and give honour till such time thou commest to an age worthy to be honoured thy selfe For this word Father is taken foure manner of waies in the Scripture that is to say by nature by the nation or people for counsell and for age Of the naturall father Iacob speaketh to Laban saying If the feare of my father Isaack had not beene here thou wouldest have taken all that I have Of the father of the people it is said when the Lord spake to Moses out of the bush I am the God of thy Fathers the God of

and thou givest him not warning thereof nor speakest to admonish the wicked of his evill way and so to live then shall the same ungodly man dye in his owne unrighteousnesse but his bloud will I require at thy hand Neverthelesse if thou give warning to the wicked and hee yet turne not from his ungodlinesse and from his wicked way hee shall dye in his wickednesse but thou hast delivered thy soule It becommeth therefore a Bishop that is set to be a Watch-man over all to looke well upon offences and when he knoweth them perfectly then to cause them to be amended if he can with words and godly counsell if he cannot then after the rule of the Gospell to avoid them out of the fellowship and company of the godly for the Lord saith in the Gospell If thy brother doe offend against thee rebuke him betweene thee and him if hee will heare thee thou hast wonne thy brother If hee will not heare thee take one or two with thee that in the mouth of two or three all words may be ratified If hee will not heare them tell the Church And if hee will not heare the Church take him as an Ethnicke and a Publican After such an order must hee be driven out which will not obey the Bishop and teacher and he that is thus expulsed ought not to come in company either of Teacher or Bishop For it is written of the Priest in the Law Let him not take a wife that is a whore or polluted nor put from her husband for such an one is unholy unto his God Therefore he that doth joyne to him in company such a body being excommunicated by a faithfull Minister without the consent of him breaketh the Law of holy Priest-hood which is an elect kinde of Christian men After this fashion must a Bishop behave himselfe over them to whom hee is a watchman but what manner of man he must be himselfe the Apostle Saint Paul sheweth in this wise A Bishop must be blamelesse the husband of one wife watching sober comely apparrelled a lover and maintainer of hospitality apt to teach Not given to over-much Wine no striker not greedy of filthy lucre but gentle abhorring fighting abhorring covetousnesse One that ruleth well his owne house having children in subjection with all gravity and cleanenesse of life Not a young Scholler lest he being puffed up fall into the snares of the divell Hee must also have a good report of them which are without lest he fall into the rebuke and snare of the divell that he may shew in worke that thing which hee teacheth in doctrine Therefore let negligent Bishops take heed for in the time of vengeance the Lord complaineth by the mouth of his Prophet saying My Pastors have ground my people to powder the sheepheards did not feed my flocke but they did feed themselves But rather let them whom the Lord hath set over his family procure to give them meate in due season a measure of Wheate that is to say pure and true doctrine that when the Lord commeth they may deserve to have these comfortable words My good and faithfull servant because thou hast beene faithfull over a few I shall set thee over many enter into the joy of the Lord. The eleventh abuse Chap. 11. A people without discipline COmming now to the eleventh blemish in this life it is comprehended in these words a people without discipline who when they doe not practise obedience in their living to good and godly doctrine doe choke themselves with the common snare of perdition For they doe not escape the wrath of God except they earnestly follow those things which they are taught And therefore the Psalmist saith to the people which will not receive discipline Apprehend and receive discipline lest God be stirred to anger Discipline is a manner of teaching which leadeth men to the amendment of evill and naughtie manners it is also a keeping and following of the rules and lessons of our Elders whereof Saint Paul speaketh saying Abide and continue in discipline God offereth himselfe to you as to his children But if yee be out of discipline whereof ye are made already partakers then are yee advouterers and not his children They therefore which are gone from him and be out of discipline doe receive no inheritance of the Kingdome of heaven but if children doe receive and beare the correction of their fathers discipline let them not despaire or doubt but they shall receive in time to come the inheritance of the Father Of this discipline Esay speaketh saying Cease from doing wickedly and learne to doe well And the like sentence is found in the Psalmist who saith Decline from evill and doe good Wherefore that man is very miserable and unhappy which throweth from him discipline for he is bolder than the Souldiers which crucified Christ and did cut out his garment for hee doth cut the discipline of Christs Church And likewise as the coat doth cover all the body saving the head even so is the whole Church clad and defended with discipline saving onely Christ who is the head of the Church And as that coat was whole without any seame so is this discipline given to the Church whole and sound Of this discipline the Lord when hee should ascend up to his Father after hee was risen from death spake to his disciples saying Abide yee here still in the Citie of Ierusalem till yee bee clad from above with power Then the discipline of the Church is the coat of Christ and hee which is not within this discipline is out of the body of Christ Let us not therefore cut that coate but let us cast lots who shall have it that is to say Let us breake nothing of the commandements of GOD but every man whereunto hee is called therein let him constantly abide with the Lord. The twelfth abuse Chap. 12. A people without Law THe last of this Catalogue of abuses is a people without Law who while they despise the sayings of God and the ordinances of his Lawes doe runne thorow divers waies of errours into the snare of transgression and breaking of the Lawes As concerning those wayes of errour the Prophet under the person of a transgressor doth lament and bewaile mankinde on this wise We have erred saith he and gone astray like sheepe every one after his own way Of these waies it is spoken in the Booke of Wisedome by the mouth of Salomon saying Many wayes appeare good and strait unto men but the last end of their wayes bringeth them to death And truely there are many wayes of perdition when men doe not regard the Kings high way which is right and straight out turning neither on the right hand nor on the left the which way our Lord Iesus Christ who is the end of the Law to the justification of all that doe beleeve plainely sheweth us saying I am the way the truth and the life no man commeth unto the Father but by mee To which way he calleth all men without respect saying Come unto me all yee that labour and are heavy laden and I will refresh you For there is no exception of persons before God with whom there is neither Iew nor Greeke man nor woman bond nor free but Christ is all things in all and all are one in Christ Iesu For so much as Christ is the end of the Law those which are without the Law are without Christ then the people that be without the Law are likewise without Christ It is a great abuse that in the time of the Gospell any people should be without the Law for so much as the Apostles were commanded to preach to all Nations and the thunder-claps of the Gospell were heard over all the parts of the earth and the Gentiles which sought not after righteousnesse have received it And finally considering that they which were farre off were made nigh in the bloud of Christ and they which sometime were not a people are now made the people of God in Christ being now a glad time and the day of salvation the time of comfort 〈◊〉 ●he sight of the Highest And sith that every Nation hath a witnesse of the resurrection yea sith the Lord himselfe beareth witnesse thereunto saying Behold I am with you alway to the end of the world Therefore let not us be without Christ in this transitorie life lest Christ be without us in the world to come FINIS LONDON Printed by Thomas Harper for Thomas Jones 1636.