Selected quad for the lemma: act_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
act_n	believe_v	faith_n	justification_n	5,240	5	9.4416	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29082	A confutation of the Dutch-Arminian tenent of universal redemption with relation in special unto certain sectaries in England : by name, the Morians or Revelators, with others tracing them, who hold that Christ died for all men, good and bad / by Theoph. Brabourne.	Brabourne, Theophilus, b. 1590.	1651 (1651)	Wing B4089; ESTC R37451	38,222	107

he should not set free from sin all and every man in the world Furthermore if God shall not justifie and set free all men there will be fraud and folly imputed to God and Christ for where there is fair and honest dealing the buyer and the seller are agreed upon the same terms as if the buyer intendeth to have so many in number be it ten twentie an hundred or a thousand the seller intendeth the same number also and the same persons or else there is fraud in the one and folly in the other now Christ is the purchaser and if he intended by his death to ransom all men then God the Father must intend the same and must justifie and deliver from wrath even all men He must in justice deliver as many as Christ bought and the same persons that is all men in the world or else you impute fraud and folly to God and to Christ I shall inlarge my self upon this last Argument by descending to some particulars as thus If God shall not justifie and save eternally Judas Pharaoh Cain Corah and his wicked company for whom Christ died as say Arminians then he shall be very unjust this I thus prove If Christ died for Judas Pharaoh and other abominable wicked men then have they suffered in this life the full wrath of God for all their sins and have made a sufficient and perfect satisfaction to Gods justice already here for though they suffered not in this life in their own persons yet if it be true that Christ died for them then they suffered in the person of Christ when in this life he died on the Cross for them which is to be reckoned as their own death and suffering This I thus prove Look what a mans surety performs for him that is reckoned as done by himself as in case my surety payeth my debt it is reckoned as my payment for thereby I am discharged So if Christ paid the debt of Judas Pharaoh and the rest it is as if they had paid it in their own persons and so they must be discharged Hence it follows That since Judas and others have suffered in the person of Christ which is to be reckoned as their own suffering 1. That Judas and Pharaoh have made a full and perfect satisfaction to Gods justice for all their sins having suffered in this life the second death and hell with the pains thereof or what is equivalent thereunto 2. That God must in justice justifie and save this wicked crue eternally or else he will be an unjust Judge for he shall punish one sin twice once in Christ the suretie and once again in Judas the principal So much for proof of my Major as for my Minor it needs no proof it being so clear Answer Arminians do answer thus to my Major That it followeth not that if Christ died for all men then God must justifie and save all men for God may interpose the condition of faith to go between Christs death for Judas and others and the act of Gods justification and so as though Christ died for all men yet God will not justifie any of them unless they first believe Reply 1 It is absurd to suppose that God would put in a condition after he hath taken a ransom and payment of a full price Conditions are always made before the price is payd but never after the price is paid and received what man that selleth house or land doth put in a condition after he hath received his money Wherefore since Arminians will not have the condition of Faith to go before Christs death it is too late to put in this condition after Christs death for by his death the ransom and price is fully paid and received paid by Christ and received by God the Father 2 If Christ died for Judas and all men considered absolutely as sinners and without faith as Arminians hold then God the Father must justifie Judas and all men considered absolutely as sinners and without Faith and so the condition of Faith cannot be interposed for the Buyer and Seller if there be fair dealings between them so as one doth not over-reach the other are both agreed upon the same terms so as if the Buyer purchaseth and payeth the price without any condition then the Seller that takes the price must give up the thing bought and paid for without any condition and so God cannot be said to put in the condition of Faith between Christs death and the act of justification 3 Since Arminians hold that Christ died for all men as sinners and without the condition of Faith God cannot in justice require the condition of Faith before he will justifie them for if he shall require it then many thousands for whom Christ died dying without Faith must be damned and suffer for their sins eternally in the next life now if Christ died for them in this life and suffered for them and in their room stead and place then God shall be unjust to punish these men for their sins in the next life though they die without faith for so he shall punish one sin twice once in Christ their suretie and once in themselves the principal Since Judas hath suffered for his sins in the person of Christ in this life God shall be an unjust Judge to punish Judas for his sins in the next life though he hath no faith for God hath as they say punished Judas his sins in the person of Christ and therefore he shall be unjust to punish him also in his own person It is extream injustice to require a debt both of the suretie and also of the principal wherefore Judas his debt being paid to God by Christ God cannot in justice require the condition of Faith of him so as for want of it to damn him and to cause him to suffer for his sins in the next life and so to pay his own debt in his own person for so God should require one debt to be twice paid and so you see that the condition of faith cannot be interposed betwixt Christs death and justification being that God in justice must justifie and set free from the debt of punishment all those men whose debt Christ hath paid whether they believe or not believe when God looks upon Judas as having suffered in the person of Christ he cannot but see his justice fully satisfied and therefore cannot but justifie and free him believing or not believing wherefore to interpose the condition of Faith is to make God an unjust Judge 4 I shall here add one thing which will both strengthen my Major and also confute their answer They say Christ died for all men and therefore they must so generally understand the Text 2. Cor. 5.15 which saith He died for all c. now all those who Christ died for those he reconciled to God his father He is the reconciliation not for our sins onely but also for the sins if the whole world 1. John 2.2 And all

it had been wo to all godly persons for as Paul saith of the godly and believing Corinthians that there was a time when they were ungodly and unjust as idolaters adulterers drunkards and extortioners c. 1. Cor. 6.9 10 11. so may I say there was a time before our conversion when we were ungodly and unjust if therefore Christ had not died for ungodly and unjust persons no godly man now living could possibly be saved Wherefore we must distinguish of ungodly persons thus There are some ungodly persons who are become believing and penitent godly persons and for these ungodly persons Christ died as the Text saith and of such the Text speaketh as is plain Rom. 5.6 8 10. but there are other ungodly persons who persist still even unto death in their ungodliness refusing to repent and believe now I denie that Christ died for these or that the Text is to be understood of these These are dogs and swine wherefore Christ the pearl is not to be given to these Matth. 7.6 Christ would not vouchsafe to pray for these John 17.9 and therefore he would not die for them and this is my Answer to this Text. Thus I have made answer to all the Texts of Scripture which seem to have any weight in them for the Arminian cause they have also some arguments as two or three but the one of them onely deserves an answer so passing by the other I shall here propound it and make answer to it you shall find it in their Acta Synodalia pag. 337. de Morte Christi ARGUMENT Whosoever are bound to believe in Christ Jesus for them Christ died But all men are bound to believe in Christ Jesus Therefore for all men Christ died As for the Major they prove it by this reason because if it be not true some men as those for whom Christ died not are bound to believe a lye or a falshood which is very absurd The Minor they prove by this Text John 3.19 36. Answer I denie their Major for it is not true that Christ died for all those men who are bound to believe in him that is to believe in him that he is the Son of God and Saviour of the world which is the right object of faith And as for the reason whereby they labour to prove their Major it is unsound for it leans upon an unsound though common description of justifying faith for they describe it thus Faith in Christ is a certain full or plerophorie perswation of the mind whereby we embrace Christ with this confidence that he died not onely for others but also for us or for me and my sins in particular This description however common yet is it unsound for it cannot be proved in Scripture for I no where find in the Scripture that the object of faith is to believe that Christ died for us or for thee and me in particular as they suppose in their Argument this I deny and they must prove it if they can and when they can The object of justifying and saving faith is to believe that Christ is the Son of God the Messias the Saviour of the world and the like and this is the current of the Scriptures every where in particular see John 20.31 These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is that Christ the Son of God and that in or so believing ye might have life c. All men may be bound to believe this and yet not bound to believe a lye or those for whom Christ died not may be bound to believe all this and yet not be bound to believe a lye or a falshood Now that the Scriptures do every where make this the object of faith that Christ is the Son of God the Messias the Saviour of the world and the like beside the Text alleadged John 20.31 See also these Texts Matth. 16.16 the object of S. Peters faith whereof he made confession unto and before Christ was this Thou art Christ the Son of the living God Acts 8.37 The object of the Eunuch's faith was the same I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God Acts 9.20 the sum of Pauls preaching to beget saving faith in men was this That Christ was that Son of God Acts 2.36 the sum of Peters sermon as touching Faith whereby he converted three thousand souls unto the faith was this That he whom they had crucified God had made him both Lord and Christ 1. John 5.5 who is he that overcometh the world but he who believeth that Jesus is that Son of God So you see the victorious faith is to believe that Christ is the Son of God Acts 17.3 4. Paul preached that Christ died and rose again and that this is Jesus Christ And by this sermon of Christ he won many to the faith as you may see in the fourth verse Acts 18.5 here you have another sermon of Pauls that Jesus was the Christ and this is the object of faith John 1.29 34. S. Johns sermon was this Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world c. and This is that Son of God John 1.49 50. Nathanaels confession of faith was this Thou art that Son of God John 4.7 25 29 39 42. The faith of the woman of Samaria and of other the Samaritanes was this that Jesus was the Messias and the Christ and that Jesus was that Christ the Saviour of the world John 11.27 the faith of Martha was that Christ was the Son of God Thus you see that according to the current of the Scriptures the object of faith is To believe that Christ is the Son of God the Saviour with the like now all men may be bound to believe these things of Christ and yet not be bound to believe a lye or those for whom Christ died not may be bound to believe these things of Christ and yet are not bound to believe a falshood nor hence will it follow that Christ died for them that are bound to believe this But I no where read that Christ required or that the Apostles preached for such a particular applicatorie faith as this That Christ is mine or that Christ died for our sins or that Christ died for thee or for me in particular I confess I read of Thomas his faith Iohn 20.28 saying Thou art my Lord and my God And of Pauls faith Gal. 2.20 saying Who hath loved me and given himself for me These indeed were acts of the two Apostles faith but I no where read that Christ required of every man this faith as necessary to salvation nor do I read that the Apostles or any one of them did preach this faith to the people when in their sermons they preached to beget men unto the faith wherefore I judge 1. That this kind of faith is proper unto Apostles and unto Christians of the highest form in the school of Christ and not common to every weak Christian for how then should they be saved since

is to punish twice over for the same sins which is an act of injustice in God now this must be so if you distinguish of impetration and application in such sort as they concurr not in the same persons but are divided so as impetration belongs unto unbelievers but application belongs not to them for if application and justification belongs not to them then they must suffer punishment for their sins in the next life and so God shall be unjust for after he hath punished unbelievers in Christ their suretie he shall punish them again in their own persons so you see impetration and application are not to be distinguished in respect of persons as if the one belonged to some persons but not the other unless you will make God to be an unjust Judge 3 I shall confute this distinction by a Text of Scripture understanding it in the Arminian sence see 2. Cor. 5.15 19. In verse 15. speaking of Christ and his death it saith one died for all c. Here I understand the word all in the Arminian sense and then in verse 19. it speaketh again of Christ and his death saying God was in Christ that is in Christ upon the Cross when he died for all and reconciled the world unto himself not imputing their sins unto them So here you have the impetration of Christs death and the application of it in reconciliation and not imputation of sins now here application is made as large as impetration and to belong unto the same persons without distinction or division for those all which Christ died for were all of them reconciled to God and justified their sins not being imputed unto them the same world which Christ died for John 3.16 the same was reconciled and had no sins imputed to them So S. Paul did not allow of this Arminian distinction and division of impetration and application in the Arminian sense so as impetration should be understood more largely for persons than application or as if impetration had been for all men and application but for some men 4 This distinction is guiltie yet of another absurditie for it makes the means of faith to be used altogether too late and so to become an unprofitable and frivolous means for Arminians make faith to be a means to avoid an evil after the evil is past They say Christ by his impetration suffered the evil of death for unbelievers now in as much as Christ suffered death and bore the evil of punishment of unbelievers for them and in their stead and room they themselves have suffered death and bore the evil of punishment in the person of Christ now after unbelievers have born the evil of punishment it is too late to use faith as a means to obtain application and justification and a freedom from the evil of punishment for thus they should use a means to avoid an evil after the evil is past and so the means of faith is made unprofitable and frivolous wherefore should I use any means to avoid imprisonment when my Suretie hath suffered imprisonment for me were not means in this case frivolous If Christ did impetrate and die for Iudas and in his stead then Iudas hath suffered death by his Suretie Christ what need then is there of faith in Judas as a means to obtain application and freedom from death after he hath suffered death as by his Suretie This is as if a Judge should hang a man for his offence and then require him to use means to free himself from death And so much for confutation of this distinction of Impetration and Application FINIS