Selected quad for the lemma: life_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
life_n	believe_v	faith_n	law_n	5,376	5	5.2987	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77979	An exposition with practical observations continued upon the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters of the prophesy of Hosea· Being first delivered in several lectures at Michaels Cornhil London. By Jeremiah Burroughs. Being the fifth book, published by Thomas Goodwyn, William Greenhil, Sydrach Simson William Bridge, John Yates, William Adderly.	Burroughs, Jeremiah, 1599-1646.; Goodwin, Thomas, 1600-1680.	1650 (1650)	Wing B6070; Thomason E588_1; ESTC R206293	515,009	635

distemper of the hearts of many people amongst us that they commit sin and take liberty to themselves to satisfie the lusts of the flesh and what will they do They will pray to God to forgive them and some go so far that they will fast and then sin again and then pray and fast again and then to it again thinking to put off God with such kind of sacrifices as these are It is true we are all linners and we must repent and so tin and repent and sin and repent again and so make repentance that should be the death of their sins a means to nourish their sins The Priests here did abuse the type the sacrifices they lighten the hearts of people by telling them that there was a sacrifice to expiate their sin and have you not at this day many that abuse the Antitype as much that tell the people with such kind of expressions as there Sin at fast as you can there is a sufficient sacrifice for sin it is but to beleeve in Christ Christ hath shed his blood for the greatest sins of all and sin as fast as you can yet there is a price paid for sin It is true there may be some truth in the words some matter in them without cloathing them with such absurdities that is that there is a sacrifice for the greatest sin but now to speak to people upon this in such a manner sin as fast as you can there is a sacrifice for sin for it is the manner the Modus that doth either encourage or keep back people from sin I appeal unto you whether have you not many that do reveal Christ in such a way and manner and open the rich and glorious free grace of God in Christ as is an encouragement to people unto sin It is true when they come to be examined they deny it no God forbid they do not encourage men to sin they only tel them of Gods free grace Yea but they tell them of it in such a manner without such cautions as prudent wise conscionable Ministers use to do And therefore you find that all your lewd and looser sort of Professors close with them because they have such a way of preaching of free grace It appears that in Hierome his time there were such a kind of people for he hath this expression of some in his daies Ierom against the abusers of Free-grace when they saw any to live wickedly they would say thus to them you sin and offend but God requireth nothing else but only abide in the truth of the faith do but beleeve and that is enough And again he hath a further expression which faith if you do but keep God doth not so much regard your lives what they are only looks that you do beleeve And by this means faith he men repent not neither are they humbled but they walk up and down with a stretched out neck you shall find them by their very gate they walk so peartly abroad and cast up their heads because they think they hold the true faith and so take liberty to sin The Church hath been continually troubled with this generation and no mervail there be such men now amongst us for there being not yet a full Reformation for we are but in the way tending toward it and all things cannot be reformed at once therefore some kind of liberty for the present is permitted to such men and therefore I say no mervail that we have such among us that are of such spirits to abuse the free grace of God and lighten the hearts of men in their sin by telling of them there is a sacrifice in Christs death sufficient to pay for all And so much for this eighth verse Verse 9. And there shall be like people like Priest and I will punish them for their waies and reward them for their doings THE Lord threatning of the ten Tribes especially points his threats against the Priests as the great cause of the evil both of the sin and punishment of the people as ever they have been Evil Ministers in a countrey have been a chief cause of the sin and of the misery of the Countrey Divers of Gods threats against them we saw before and still it follows There shall be like people like Priest Here is a mixt threat both against Priest and people They have made themselves like one another in sin Obser God will make them like one another in punishment They joyn themselves together in sin and were alike there God wil joyn them in judgment and they shal be alike there too There is a likeness between people and Priest upon two grounds I mean in evil especially First They are like in sin one to another usually from the just judgment of God upon people When people dislike the powerful Ministry of the word Obser when their hearts cannot bear a spiritual and lively Ministry God in just judgment sendeth unto them Ministers according to their very lusts Ministers that shall be sutable unto that very disposition of their hearts to harden them in it And this is a fearful judgment upon a people They may rejoyce and bless themselves in it and think themselves now quiet and in safety and say they have got a very honest man a brave man a quiet man amongst them but while they are rejoycing the wrath of God is in a most dreadful manner let out against them in sending them a Minister according to their lusts As God threatneth in Ezek. 14.4 If a man set up an Idol in his heart God will answer him according to his Idol so when people set up Idols in their hearts their hearts are bent unto such and such lusts and wicked waies God in his just judgment will answer them according unto their own hearts and lusts they shall have such Ministers sent amongst them as will harden them in those wicked waies Again secondly Like people like Priest In evil in regard of the great influence that there is mutualy from the Priests to the people and from the people to the Priests so they come to be like one another in evil Sometime from the people to the Priests If people be Malignants and superstitious and loose and vain the Priests that are among them being carnal they will seek to humour them they love to be made of by them and therefore they preach such things as may suit with such kind of humours But this is a very vile thing It is an extream dishonor to the Ministry of the word to subject it unto the lusts of men It is this that makes it so contemptible in the eyes of wicked men Though they be pleased with it yet the truth is the suiting of their lusts makes the Ministry of the word contemptible How is that you will say they are pleased with it commend such men and like them well While they commend the men and like them well yea like what they say yet they contemn the

and therefore he begineth with them They are called Priests not that they were true Priests for they were not of the tribe of Levi Observ Priests but they were so reputed to be The Priests have usually been the causes of all the wickedness in and judgments on a Nation Jer. 23.15 Prophaness is gone throughout the Land from the Prophet and the Priests Multitude of Scriptures are evident before us that layes the evil of Nations upon Priests And hath it not been so with us and is it not so at this day Applic. There was never a more filthy sink of scandalous superstitious Priests in a Kingdom than of late amongst us as hath begun and will yet further appear unto you There hath been an accusation against our Parliament that orthodox grave godly Divines have been put out of their livings See the first Century of malignant Ministers ejected I suppose you begin to see what those grave orthodox godly Divines were that were put out under evident and plain proofs it is made known to the world to the satisfaction of them and you have but the beginning of it you will have a great deale more afterward Heare ye Priests And hearken ye house of Israel that is the next Exposit The house of Israel by that is meant the common people Priests first the house of Israel next and the house of the King that is last And the house of Israel is set between the Priests and the house of the King upon this ground because by these two by the corruption of the Priests and the house of the King all was swaied the cause of the evil of the people came from them both partly from the Priests and partly from the house of the King It came both waies to the people and between them both the people were undone Obser Let these two join in any sinful way in a Kingdom the Priests and the house of the King let them joyn and set up what they wil in worship the people will go that way they go If but one of them be right there is a great deal of hope of much good but wo to a people when both of them are corrupt when both Priests and the house of the King too are corrupt If the house of the King should be corrupt yet if the Priests and so the Ministers if they kept up the truth and vigor and life of Religion things would go reasonably well in a Kingdom though Religion might be persecuted yet the life of it would not be taken away Whatsoever Laws Magistrates did enact against the waies of God except Ministers be brought to comply those Laws will not be brought to prevail with the consciences of people nor with their practices Jeroboam and the other Princes saw it was in vain for them to think to prevail with the people except they could get the Priests to be for them therefore it was the great de●●gn of Jeroboam to get the Priests of his side which he easily did for all preferment came by him he raised whom he would and then because that their means and preferment lay upon him they would joyn with him in what way he went Object But mark Might not the people excuse themselves and say what should we do On the one side authoritie enjoyns us on the other side our Ministers teach us to do thus and thus what shall we do they might think to excuse themselves Answ No judgment is against you Oh house of Israel notwithstanding the Priests and the house of the King have done thus and thus yet you are not to be excused A great many reasons may be given why the people may not be excused though they be commanded thus and thus Arias Montan. I remember Arias Montanus upon this Scripture gives this reason why men are not to be excused though they be commanded by the King Kings for he laies down this for a rule That no King can make any Law but by the people they cannot saith he make Laws by themselves alone the people must consent to th●m some way or other therefore the people are involved in al the wicked Laws in a Kindom It is not enough therefore for you to say such and such Laws are made and we cannot help it we are to know it is not meerly the wil of a King that is a Law to a Kingdom but Laws enacted is where people have their hands one way or other in them This answer he gives and he quoteth an Heathen to shew that people must have their hand in the Laws that are made especially some people for some Kingdoms are otherwise governed than others Not alike Absolute as som in Scripture therefore there is no reason for people to say in the Scripture such Kingdoms did so and so We know in one Countrey the Kings authority reacheth so far and in another so far in one Countrey Kindoms are by Election in another by Inheritance in one Countrey the female inherits in another none but the male therefore the power of Kings and their limits is not what hath been heretofore in such and such a place but what is the constitution of that Kingdom of which he is King for many are limitted in their power in one Countrey more than in another Therefore the people are not to be excused because of their evil especially in these times Now this sheweth evidently that God would have every one examine what is taught him and what is commanded him by his superiours It is cleer from hence The people art here cited to judgment and placed between the Priests and the Kings house though the Priests taught them superstitious waies though the Kings house commanded them yet they must be judged then I say it is cleer that God would have every one examine what is taught him and commanded him by his superiours and himself to know the rule of his own actions It is no answer for God to say I am taught thus or I am commanded thus you must know the rule of your own actions your selves for you your selves must give an account unto God But you may say Quest Shall it be left to every one to judge of the truth of what is taught and of the lawfulness of what is commanded If every one shall judg of what he thinks in his conscience lawful what order can there be For answer unto that Answ Whatsoever the inconvenience may be it appears evidently to be a truth for we must answer unto God for our actions therefore we must know the rule of our actions therefore First let the inconveniency be what it wil the truth is good But secondly I say this that every one must judge so far as it concerns his own act he cannot judge so far as it concerns the Magistrates act what is fit for the Magistrate to command Note nor the Ministers act what is fit for him to teach but he may and he ought to judge

God in Scripture are often set out unto us by this similitude of water as in Isa 28.17 Nahum 1.8 look as their anger ran like water so my wrath shall run upon them until they are consumed That Gods wrath is very hot against wicked Governours such as break the bounds of Religion Laws and Covenants the Lord is much displeased against great ones when wicked Numb 25.4 the people of Israel committed a great evil in provoking God by their Idolatry joyning themselves to Baal-Peor and the Lord said Take the heads of Israel The people offended and it was by the encouragement of the Governors therefore their heads must off the people sin and the Governors must suffer because they reproved them not nor restrained them but countenanced them Hence we may note That we had need to pray much for Princes Fearful are the examples which historiaans report of concerning the judgments of God upon wicked Princes Leander in the discription of Italy reports of a cruel Tyrant who perswaded himself that he must give an account to no man none could call him to an account for what he did at last God gave him into the hands of the people who strip'd him naked bound him upon a planck and drew him through the streets in the sight of all the people then made a great fire by him and heated tongs red hot in the fire when they had done thus then proclaimation was made in the Market place that seeing he had wronged so many that he was never able to make satisfaction for the wrong he had done therefore all that had suffered by him should come and have a pull at his flesh with the red hot tongs Another fearful example we have of latter times concerning Charls the 9th about the massacre in France who at that time pretended great love and kindness to the Protestant party invited them to a great marriage feast and at that time by his Commission calls in those bloody miscreants who cruelly murdered the Protestant party there he broke bounds but see how God met with him in a most grievous disease through the violence of which there spurted out blood from him in several parts of his body so that he wallowed in his blood before he died God powred out His wrath upon them in blood who in their life time thirsted after blood Secondly The bounds of Religion and Laws as they keep in obedience Obs 2 so they keep out judgments Pure Religion and good Laws as they are bounds to keep us in duty so they keep judgments and wrath from us And we ought to look upon Laws in both these notions not only to keep us in order and duty but also to keep out wrath if we break our bounds we must look that wrath should break in upon us therefore we had need to do as men that live neer the Sea when the Sea breaks in upon them they presently leave all their other businesses and go about that Our bounds are broken and who is the occasion of it the Lord knows and wrath is broken in upon u● at our breaches therefore let us now as one man set about the making up of our breaches Obs 3 Thirdly God punisheth according to mens sins They break the bounds God breaks in with wrath upon them are they resolute in sinning God will be as resolute in his judgments upon them see that text Jer. 44.25 You have sworn and vowed to your superstitions and I have sworn to bring judgment upon you and it shall come to pass Therefore when judgments are upon us Use if we would have them removed we should diligently observe what sins we are guilty of which answereth to the judgment which is upon us for many times we may trace the cause of a judgment by the sin that we are guilty of and if we ever look to have troubles removed we must first remove sin the cause of them VER 11. Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment because he willingly walked after the commandement WRATH in the former verse was threatned against the Princes of Judah who removed the bound And here the Lord returns again to Ephraim in this 11. verse and the 12. verse to Judah and Ephraim both together they being both a provocation to God are plagued both together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word Oppressed in the original is Nashuk translated by Hierom Calumnia Ephraim suffered and was oppressed by false accusations and slanderings for there is an opposition in mens names and estates which the Seventy usually translate by Sycophantia The 70. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then we may render i● thu● Ephraim by Sychophants doth suffer a great deal of wrong When there are false reports raised against men they suffer wrong by it false reports are as a false Medium which represents things in another manner than they are As put a staff into the water simile and it shews to be crooked but take it out and 't is not so So the actions of men in the reports of others may seem crooked when in themselves are strait and good And thus was Ephraim broken in judgment though his cause was good yet 't was made bad if he were wronged he could have no releef for himself So that good causes by bad men are many times perverted but the Sain●s may support themselves with Pauls comfort who passed not much for mans judgment In this signification the Seventy Translators do often take the word but in this place they express it by another word thus * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 English translatiō Ephraim hath over-powered his adversaries and so hath trod down judgment they interpret it actively But the words are well rendred in your books in the passive participle and so they are to be read Ephraim is broken in judgment Concussus judicio concussio is a Law word signifying such a kind of breaking and oppression as threatneth the utter ruine and undoing of a man by Law As many rich men threaten poor men when they do them any wrong I 'le be even with you I 'l ow you a good turn Or as Magistrates that are corrupt and wicked when they cannot bring poor men to say or do what they would have them they will threaten to undo them or if ever it lie in their power they wil ow them a good turn of which carriage Samuel cleers himself 1 Sam. 12.3 Crimea cōcussionis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whom have I defrauded or whom have I * oppressed the word is the same here That is used my power to threaten men to yeeld up their liberties their rights their enjoyments by any power which was in my hands This was the sin of the great Princes here of the ten Tribes Broken in judgment That is Expos Not in Gods judgment upon them but in the judgment of their own cause they were crushed in their estates liberties and laws and that not only by their own Magistrates