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	holy_a	rule_n	2,531	5	6.6462	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13541	The Kings bath Affording many sweet and comfortable obseruations from the baptisme of Christ. Gathered by Thomas Taylor, preacher of the word of God at Redding in Barkshire.	Taylor, Thomas, 1576-1632.	1620 (1620)	STC 23831; ESTC S102223	77,312	281

predestination a carelesnesse and leaue to doe what wee list vpon the doctrine of Gods mercie a boldnesse and licentiousnesse in sinne vpon the doctrine of care for our family a couetous earthlinesse Verse 15. Suffer now for so it behoueth vs to fulfill all righteousnesse so he suffered him Sect. 3. SVffer now Let it be so now for the time of my abasement and for the time of my office and ministery and for the dayes of my flesh wherin I haue voluntarily laid aside my greatnes I aym now at another thing there is a righteousnes which I must performe for which I haue descended frō heauen must descend be further abased thē thus yet vpon earth therfore suffer now By righteousnesse here is meant not any speciall vertue but generally perfection of all vertues namely whatsoeuer the Law of God requireth for that is the rule of all righteousnesse The fulfilling of all righteousnesse is perfect and absolute obedience vnto all Gods holy constitutions and ordinances according to those many precepts in Scripture as Deut. 11. 32. Take heed that yee doe all the commaundements and lawes that I haue set before you this day and 6. 1 2 and 4. 6 c. This fulfilling of righteousnesse the Law looking for at our hands in our owne persons but being now impossible because of the flesh Rom. 8. 3 God sent his owne Sonne in the similitude of sinfull flesh that the righteousnesse of the Law might bee fulfilled in vs not by way of inherency but of imputation not by doing but by beleeuing And this fulfilling of righteousnesse our Sauiour here speaks of wherby as a most obedient seruāt of God our surety he was voluntarily subiected to all Gods ordinances Thus to satisfy the law he must be circūcised for that Moses his law required he would bee presented in the temple Luk. 2. 21 22. As it is written c. At 12. yeeres he came vp to Ierusalem after the custome of the feast vers 42. He was after this subiect to his parents vers 51. for so the Law required and hee that hitherto had fulfilled all legall rights and obseruances now at this time must vndertake another which was yet wanting But what law or ordinance was there for baptisme to which Christ must be subiected It was decreed by the whole Trinity 1. That Christ should bee initiated by this ceremony wherein also hee must manifest himselfe the author of all purity and cleanenesse 2. Iohn had preached it and shewed the necessity of it by diuine authority 3. Hee would not onely subiect himself to his Fathers ordination but also for our sakes the vertue of whose baptisme depends vpon his as also giue vs helpe by his example and therefore would himselfe doe that which he commaunded others to do 4. Christ as Mediator and in our stead was to be made our righteousnes 1. Cor. 1. 30. three vvayes 1. In being made an offering for vs by vvhich hee vvas to abolish our sin and curse and by his most perfect obedience satisfy the vvhole Lavv for vs. 2. By applying that righteousnesse purchased by his blood vvhich els vve could neuer haue had benefit by 3. By appointing and sanctifying meanes and instruments for that applicatiō called the ministery of the Spirit vvhereof one branch is the lauer of water in the Word And thus as in our stead hee stood in the general bound by the wil and ordinance of God in himselfe to sanctifie baptisme for vs. But why doth Christ say It behoueth vs to fulfill and not me seeing neuer any but he fulfilled all righteousnesse In the righteousnesse wherewith we stand righteous before God are two things 1. The merit of it and whole performance and thus by his satisfaction and obedience he alone procureth perfect righteousnes to his people he trod the wine-presse alone Isa. 63. 3. He looked for an helper there was none 2. The application of it in the meanes and thus he takes in helpers that is the ministery of the Word Sacraments whose labour he vseth in the worke of reconciliation and in this second consideration he takes Iohn in with himselfe who he also puts in minde of his duty and so speakes in the plurall number Our Sauiour seeth Iohn in an error because of his ignorance and want of consideration hee suffers him not to lie in it neither doth he imperiously checke and reproch him nor stand vpon his will Sic volo sic iubeo but vouchsafeth him a meek and modest answere whereby 1. he labours to roote out his error 2. To leade him into his dutie 3. To leade vs into our dutie in dealing with weake offenders 1. He answers him to roote out his error so hee dealt with Peter Ioh. 13. 37. I will lay down my life for thy sake Nay verily saith Christ I say vnto thee before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice The like with Nicodemus Ioh. 3. when he spoke most grossely and carnally of the high poynt of Regeneration so Matth. 20. 21. to the two sonnes of Zebede who would sit at his right and left hand and be aboue all the rest It is not mine saith he to giue and when the other ten heard this and disdained vers 26. how doth hee call them and teach them not to make this vse of the others weaknesse but learne to bee humble in themselues and become each others seruant In whose steps we must tread and bring our brethren our of their errors by exhorting one another and restoring one another by the spirit of meeknesse Gal. 6. 1. for 1. hereby we testifie our hatred of the euill which wee seeke to suppresse 2. It is a token of true Christian loue to helpe our brethren out of sinne whereas to let them runne on in error not seeking to reclaime them or restraine them is a part of hatred and crueltie Leuit. 19. 17. Thou shalt not hate thy brother nor suffer sinne vpon him as wee would not suffer our neighbour to runne into bodily harmes 3. It is the right vse and dispensing of our gifts whē we lay them out to the profit of our brethren 2. Christ leads Iohn into his dutie most gently which was to looke to his calling and not pretend modestie or reuerence to hinder him in the same This was Peters error Ioh. 13. 8. hee would not in modestie haue Christ wash his feete till Christ tolde him that then hee must haue no part in him Oh then said Peter not my feete onely but my head and hands and all God had called Abraham to kill his sonne he must not now pretend nature or pitie or the promise c. to hinder him Gods will and calling must bee his square Teaching 1. Ministers to haue respect more to their calling than to the greatnesse of any mans person for 1. God sends them equally to all 2. In the ministrie all are one In the kingdome of God there is no difference

was any ceremony in all the world so honoured as this Baptisme of Christ was The ancient sacrifices of Gods institution were honoured by manifest signes of his gracious presence as by the fire which came from heauen continually to consume them the Arke was honoured with speciall signes of his glorious presence sitting betweene the Cherubims answering by Oracle and voice vnto cases propounded the Temple it selfe at Ierusalem at Salomons prayer and dedication was filled with the glory of God manifested in that cloud that filled the House of the Lord 1. Kin. 8. 10. and this cloud still watched ouer the Tabernacle Exod. 40. 34. But these were all but shadowes to this wherein the Lord did not cloud and vaile his presence or reueale his presence in some signe but the Diuine Maiesty manifested it selfe distinctly as we may say in person yea in the distinction of all the three Persons the Father testifying his delight in his deare Sonne the Sonne standing in Iordan and receiuing his Fathers testimony and the holy Ghost descending in the visible shape of a Doue From whence is notably grounded the doctrine of the blessed Trinity of persons in the Vnity of diuine essence because they be so really distinguished although they cannot bee separated But the word Trinity is not to be found in the Scriptures Yet the doctrine is if not according to the letter yet according to the sense Mat. 17. 5. In the transfiguration of Christ the Sonne standeth the Father by his voice witnesseth and the holy Ghost ouershadowes him in a cloud as heere by a Doue So Matth. 28. 19. Baptize them in the name not names to note the vnity of the Father Sonne and holy Ghost And 2. Cor. 13. 14. The grace of our Lord Iesus Christ and the loue of God and the communion of the holy Ghost bee with you all Besides there is expresly the word three frō whence Trinity comes 1. Ioh. 5. 7. There be three that beare witnesse in heauen the Father the Word and the holy Ghost and these three are one So also Gal. 4. 6. God sent the Spirit of his Sonne into your hearts Which is worthy to be by the way obserued as against sundry other damnable Heretikes so especially against the Iewes at this day who hold an indistinct essence in the Deity without distinction of persons and secondly against the wicked Arrians who deny the Sonne of God to bee begotten of the essence of the Father and to bee coeternall and coequall with him they hold him to be meere man onely borne without sin and receiuing the Spirit beyond measure and in all those places where he is called God they vnderstand it God by office not by nature as the Magistrate is called God and by this equiuocation they can deceiue the Magistrate and professe namely in this their sense that they verily beleeue him to bee God and yet meere man But this place and many other assume him into equall dignitie with the Father and holie Ghost as wee shall further see in the Fathers testimonie of him In the opening of the heauens consider 1. how they were opened 2. why they were opened For the former not the whole heauens but a part and that part ouer the earth where Christ prayed in the banke of Iordan and not to all the people of the earth but to those onely that were present with Christ were the heauens opened and therefore it is said The heauen was opened vnto him not as some say to Iohn but to Christ for so the phrase is vsed Act. 2. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 visae eis linguae i. supra eos The difficultie is in the manner Some think it was but an apparition in the aire because the densitie of the heauens as Philosophie teacheth cannot admit of any diuision in the same But this is vnlikely for in apparitions the eye is easily deceiued by thinnesse or thicknesse neerenes or remotenes light or darknesse of the parts of the heauens and clouds now God would not haue so notable a confirmation of Christs calling stand vpon the credit of a thing so liable to deceit as apparitions be Againe this was a miracle by which Christs office was exalted and therefore goes beyond nature and it is absurd to limit so transcendent a power within the rules and hedge of nature Others of the Fathers whom some Schoolemen follow think that there was no alteration in the heauēs to the bodily eye but it was a meer vision which none but Christ saw and that not with the eyes of his body but of his minde such a vision as Ezekiel and Steuen saw But this is not so for first to the eyes of Christs minde heauen was neuer shut Secondly Mark 1. 10. hee saw the heauens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 clouen a word vsed in things really done and vsed of the rent garment Luk. 5. 36. and of the vaile of the Temple which was rent in twaine Thirdly the other signes were really and sensibly done the Spirits descending visible and the Fathers voyce audible and sensible which are things of greater difficultie to conceiue as wee shall see and visible and sensible were they not so much for Christs as for Iohns and the peoples confirmation that stood there It seemeth therefore to bee true that the heauen was sensibly diuided and rent in twaine euen as the earth was when Korah and his company were swallowed vp This is not vnreasonable to conceiue if wee consider that the Lord might well doe as much for his Sonne as he had formerly done for his seruants Henoch in his body as wel as in his soule was taken vp into heauen here either the heauens must diuide themselues or one body must pearce and penetrate another which euen glorified bodies cannot doe Eliah when Elisha prayed him that his spirit might be doubled on him answered thus Thou askest an hard thing yet if thou see me when I am taken from thee thou shalt haue it so 2. King 2. 11 12. and Elisha saw him when he was taken vp into heauen by a whirlewinde and consequently saw the heauens diuided to receiue his body now glorified in the act of translation When Christ had accomplished his whole ministery Act. 1. 9. while his Disciples beheld he was taken vp into heauen they did see the heauens opening themselues to receiue his glorious body and shall we think it absurd that according to the letter of the Scripture his Father should enter him into that ministery by a sensible opening of the heauens As easie it must bee for God to doe this as to make the Sunne stand still the Sea runne backe yea the Sea to diuide it selfe and stand like a wall for the defence of his people And that he thus did it is plaine because this serueth for the greater confirmation and glorie of the businesse in hand which aboue all other the Lord set himselfe to aduance commend to the world Now in the