Selected quad for the lemma: act_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
act_n	death_n	king_n	treason_n	2,352	5	9.2422	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30316	The Spiritual anatomy of man in which is considered I. the happy state of mans integrity in his first creation, II. the woful apostacy of man from God, by his original sin ..., III. mans restoration by ... Jesus Christ, and the excellency of the Covenant of Grace, IV. the whole series of Christian duties ..., V. the particular cases of affliction, especially spiritual defection ..., VI. the great encouragement to believers, for patience and perseverance ... : to which is added an index of the whole contents / published by Andrew Burnet ...	Burnet, A. (Andrew)	1693 (1693)	Wing B5753; ESTC R15370	202,954	328

a man Math. 15.18 19 20. Seems to confirm this Doctrine that Sin principally consisteth not in the outward acts but in the inward Corruption and Disorder of the affections and mind for here in this Scripture he brings the words and actions of a man to charge the guilt upon the heart This is explained also by the Custom and Laws of Countries against Treason where Imagining and Conspiring to kill the King is made Treason and any act which discovers or proves that Intention is made Treason but the main guilt lieth in the malice and rebellious Inclinations of the heart in Conspiring the Kings Death and the act is but a proof of it so upon the whole matter we find this great transgression of Original Sin was the adulterate and disorderly frame of the Spirit of man let out in disobedience against God and having once listned to temptation the whole faculties were defiled and did not stop until man run into actual rebellion against God So that we must look on Man's corrupt Nature as having in it the Complication of all Lusts and Sins as the Principal cause of Gods Wrath and Curse and that the act of Disobedience served for Gods Evidence to prove the guilt of the heart and this Corrupt Fountain of Nature with the Curse for Rebellion have our first Parents sent down to all Posterity And thus we see man lately Righteous Holy Pure and Undefiled full of Knowledge Power Soveraignty over the Creatures giving Law to them and receiving Obedience from them living in Honour Glory Pomp Plenty and at Pleasure having all the Creatures in Subjection to him and none in Competition with him a Friend of and at Peace with God the Darling of the Creation having Glory without Envy Plenty without Toil Pleasure without Trouble Strength without Infirmities or Pain Degraded from Soveraignty Clouded with Darkness Pestred with Contention Oppressed with Toil Pinched with Difficulties Obnoxious to Destruction from such who lately were under Subjection to him an Outlaw to God and Banished from his Presence his Body a Mass of Infirmities and Soul a Cage of unclean Lusts The whole Head is Sick the whole Heart faint from the Sole of the Foot even unto the Head there is no soundness in it but Wounds and Bruises and putrifying Sores Isa 1.5 We are all as an unclean thing and all our Righteousness are as filthy Rags and we do all fade as a Leaf and our Iniquities like the wind have taken us away c. Isa 64.5 And there is none that calleth upon thy name that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee for thou hast hid thy self from us and hast consumed us because of our Iniquities Isa 64.7 Thus having viewed mans estate in his Creation and Integrity and considered his fall and steps thereof we come next to examine how far his Posterity is concerned in his guilt and punishment thereof Adam being freely Created of God and by him endowed with excellent Knowledge Righteousness and Holyness and made Lord over the Creation under the Covenant of Obedience and Penalty of Disobedience we must look on him in the Purpose of God as representing all mankind so as on his performance with God he should continue and hold all the Priviledges he was dignified with and send them down to his Posterity and if he should fail in the Conditions assigned to him he was to forfeit all these Priviledges as well for himself as Posterity this is but what was just with God who freely made Man what he was and might duely claim the disposal of his own gift upon his own terms this was only advantagious enough to Man having so fair a bargain gratis without price or any purchase except that of due Obedience which he was capable to perform had he not wilfully corrupted himself This is illustrated by the customary practice amongst Men for when any man lets Land to Lease for term of years reserving a Rent payable at a certain time if the Rent be not pay'd at the term assigned the property reverts and vests in the Leasser and the Tennant is devested of his term and of all benefit thereby but if the Leassee performs he holds for himself and assigns This also is clear in that case when a King or Overlord makes a Grant for Service to a Man and his Heirs if the Grantee performs he holds for himself and sends the right and benefit of the Grant to his Heirs but if he fail the Grant is Extinct by his Non-performance and the Heirs take nothing by succession to him for that his right in his own time was voided so could not he send it down to his Heirs In the Case of Treason the Ancestors blood is corrupted and he so dead in Law that the claim of Succession is cut off so as the Issue of his Body can make no claim through him and not only so but the Ancestors blood is so attainted by Act in Law that the Posterity is not only barred from succession to what the Ancestor held but the Crime of Rebellion or Treason is imputed to the Successors or Posterity that in all time coming their Succession is cut off unless by Act in Law the blood be restored although the Posterity should not be guilty of the Act of Rebellion or Treason on which the forefeit was declared or accrewed In this case two fatal Consequences have hapned to the Posterity of Adam First By his Act of Disobedience he hath so far corrupted Nature so as thereby the Nature of all Men by Natural Generation is Corrupted Secondly by breaking of the Command he in his own life time was dispossessed of the Rich Priviledges vested in him and thereby his Posterity were cut off from the claim of right thereunto First Adam by his transgression hath corrupted his Nature and thereby all men by Natural Generation are corrupted and as partakers of that degenerated Nature they are guilty of and chargeable with Adams transgression and have lodged in them inherent Corruption That Adam by the many enormous steps of his Disobedience above mentioned hath not only incurred the Wrath of God but also Corrupted his Nature doth thereby appear by what has been already said in the Concomitants or special steps of that Disobedience for it was simply impossible that so many irregularities could have concurred in any one Act as have appeared in this if the whole Nature had not been polluted the very Act in the Circumstances of it clearly prove it for that so many different Concomitants would have jarred and marred that Act if the chief propension of the Affections and Natural Dispositions had not joyned whereby we must agree that the whole Mass was Corrupted and in Conspiracy to rebellion against God If Adam by his Apostacy from God did defile his Nature from the first purity and that all men since are the seed of Adam we must infer that all men by Natural Generation are of a Corrupted race and naturally defiled and consequently

original guilt imputable to them in so much as they are part of that Mass which was corrupted common experience in all Ages tell us that unhappy constitutions of Parents either natural or accidental render Posterity exceeding corrupt as well in Intellectuals as in bodily habits and what reason can be given why men beget men and not beasts and beasts beget beasts and not men but because of the Affinity of Nature between the Sire and what is begotten the same Parity of reason will infer that from corrupt Men corrupt Issue must be produced and how can it be otherwise supposed for what is begotten of man can give no quality to it self and therefore must participate of the nature and ascribe its quality to that by which it is begotten This also is clear from Scripture who can bring a clean thing from an unclean not one Job 14.4 If a man be sinful polluted and unclean as Adam was after his fall how could his Posterity be clean they have it not of themselves and could not claim or derive it from him David gives us for this a clear Scripture proof in his own acknowledgment of Original guilt behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my Mother conceive me Psal 51.5 From whence comes this pollution of David the Embrio took it not from its lodging in the Womb there being nothing there to defile it therefore it must needs have it from its polluted Parents Do not dayly and woful experience instruct us that the first Acts of Children is wickedness and if not restrained and instructed they will perish in Sin and Atheism whence comes this Man was created Righteous and Holy untill he wilfully defiled himself doth not then this wickedness arise from that first pollution of Nature in Adam and so descended and fell on all Posterity and continues successively until Nature be polished by Grace and man be renewed in Christ Jesus and made conformable to the Image of him that Created him in Righteousness and true holiness wherefore we must conclude all men under Sin by natural Generation and for this the Scripture is most clear for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under Sin and in that other place of the same Apostle Wherefore as by one Man sin entred into the World and Death by Sin so Death passed upon all Men for that all have sinned Rom. 3.9 Again therefore as by the offence of one Judgment came upon all Men to condemnation For as by one Mans Disobedience many were made Sinners so by the Obedience of one shall many be made Righteous Rom. 5.12 18 19. Having discovered from Scripture and by other arguments that by Adams Transgression his Nature was corrupted and that thereby his Posterity partaking of his corrupted complexion and nature are also tainted with his corruption and are thereby guilty of his original Transgression we come next to consider the consequences thereof upon his Posterity and these are twofold First The Posterity of Adam are made subject to Death and disabled from succeeding him in the many priviledges he enjoyed in his Integrity Secondly They are disabled in natural enjoyment and spiritual performances For the first as we have already cleared upon Adams transgression an act of attender passed against him and he was deprived of his Soveraignty over the Creatures enmity was sowed between him and them and the Earth was accursed for his sake and he himself exposed to toil misery and sorrow so that all these evil effects have fallen on his Posterity and they also made subject to Death This is already cleared from their participation of the corrupt nature and consequently the Judgments which have followed must also affect them and they are thereby brought under the Judgment of Death as by that Scripture already cited as by one man Sin entred into the World and Death by Sin so Death passed upon all men for that all men have sinned Rom. 5.12 So as Adam had not seen Death if he had not sinned and sinning was brought under the Judgment of Death all his Posterity likewise sinning in him are liable to the Judgment of Death For the Wages of sin is Death Rom. 6.23 Secondly The Posterity of Adam are not only disabled from succeeding him in that glorious state of his Integrity but are disabled in the use of natural enjoyment and spiritual performances First In natural and temporary enjoyments for though the World be respited from utter ruine and God continues Man on Earth with a Course of Day and Night and the usual seasons nevertheless since the Curse on the Creatures for Mans Sin the enjoyment of Creature delights is attended with such uneasiness that Mans Life is a continual dying and a Life of Sorrow Man that is born of a Woman is of few days and full of trouble he cometh forth like a flower and is cut down he flieth also as a shadow and continueth not Job 14.1 2. See Davids testimony of the greatest of Men surely Men of low degree are vanity and Men of high degree a lye to be laid in the hallance they are altogether lighter than vanity Psal 62.9 If we take Solomons opinion of the whole World he plainly tells us all is Vanity and Vexation of Spirit Eccles 2. all The holy Apostle gives us an Inventory of the World In the World is only the Lusts of the Flesh the Lusts of the Eyes and the Pride of Life and these things are not of God and perish in the using 1 Joh. 2.15 16. The holy Apostle Paul informs us that the whole Creation is brought under subjection and groans under bondage for Sin Rom. 8.20 21. So that since the Curse for Sin the World is but a Stage of Sin Sorrow and Misery This also is proved from daily experience what Age Nation City or Family is exempted from the lash of mortality misery or changes is not the greatest Earthly glory honour wealth and strength clouded in a moment and brought to nothing and this is the just effect of mans Sin and Rebellion and will be the continuing Lot of the Seed of Adam untill the Restoration of Man in Christ Jesus according to the Image of him that created him and that the bondage of the Creation be restored by the coming of the second Adam and restitution of all things by him Rom. 8.21 22. The second thing wherein Man is disabled by Adam's Sin and inherent Corruption from the first pollution is not only natural feebleness and weakness all the vital and corporal faculties being disabled from that original wholesome and vigorous Constitution of the first Adam whereby the actions are either corrupt or faint in comparison with what they were before the Fall but also in Religious performances and duties so as all these actions and performances are either wholly corrupt and sinful or so weak and scanty that they are rather a Skeleton or Picture than real Duties This is illustrated from these three Instances First

killing fourscore and ten thousand men in the Camp of Assyria and when Senacherib fled and at his Idolatrous Devotion God raised up his own Sons to Butcher him 2 Chron. 32. to 24. How eminently was the Pride of Herod taking Glory to himself and not giving to God severely punished by his being suddenly struck to Death and consumed by Worms Act 12.20 to 24. Where is now the glory and Honour of Caesar Pompey and Alexander and all the antient Heroes can their History or ours witness any thing to make out happiness farther than that all perish in the using Object It may be objected if contentment be not to be found in the things of this ●ife how come the Apostle to say havi●g Food and Raiment let us be therewith content For answer we may take up the word content to signify the placing our sole and full satisfaction on some object without desiring any farther and in that sense it is unlawful to place our contentment in any Creature or content may signify an acquiescence in the use of any Creature Enjoyment in the measure time and towards the end it is given us as being contented with so much of the Creature as God will give us for our use in this Life without murmuring or stinting of him to time or measure and in this sense is the Apostle's meaning as he explains himself I have learned how to want and how to abound and in every condition therein to be content Phil. 4.11 12 And yet he longed for Christ and Eternal Life and gloried in nothing but in the Cross of Christ by whom the World was Crucified to him and he to the World Gal. 6.14 So that though he used the World with contentment that is with acquiescence it was not his full satisfaction and rest but Christ was his end he drove at in that use of the Creature Now as from what hath been said we see the things of this Life though they make no happiness they are given both to the Godly and to the Wicked but with these differences First The Godly have them as owning them from God the Wicked ascribe them to themselves or their own industry or suppose they have them by chance Secondly They are given to the Godly as Instruments in their Journey to Heaven or Travelling expences but the Wicked have them as their Portion Thirdly They are given to the Godly with submission to the Will of God in time manner and quantity but to the Wicked with murmuring repining and covetousness after more Fourthly They are given to the Godly to be improved for Gods Glory but the Wicked spend them on their Lusts First The Godly have the Blessing of owning the dispensation of all things to them as from God that they are all made created and supported by him and that they do all flow from him of his free goodness and pleasure For by him were all things created and for him and all things consist by him and he is before all things Col. 1.16 17. Every good and perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of Light with whom is no variableness or shadow of turning Jam. 1.17 Holy David ascribeth all his Power Greatness and Grandure to God He sent from above and took me from many Waters he delivered me from my strong Enemies and from them which hated me for they were too strong for me Psal 18.16 17 18 19 31 to 41. Psal 27. to 4. But on the other hand the Wicked boast of their own strength glory and greatness and ascribe all to themselves as if they were the original of their own glory and greatness Is not this great Babylon saith Nebuchadnezzar which I have built for the honour of my Majesty and Glory of my Kingdom Dan. 4.30 It was Rabsecah's boasting Where are the Gods of Havah and the Gods of the City of Sephervaim Who are they of all the Gods of the Countreys that they should deliver them out of my Hand Thus the Wicked boast themselves and give not the glory to God 2 Kin 19.35 36 37. Secondly The second difference is that the Godly have all allowances as helps and not as their Portions but the Wicked have them as their all and their Portions See what Christ saith to the Rich Glutton he had his Portion in this Life and is chained up in everlasting darkness and misery but poor Lazarus though he was glad of the Crumbs from under the Rich Mans Table is placed in everlasting Paradise of happiness The Arms of the Wicked shall be broken but the Lord upholdeth the Righteous and their Inheritance shall be for ever the Wicked shall perish and be as the fat of Lambs they shall consume away into smoak shall they consume such as be blessed of him shall inherit the Earth and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off Psal 18.16 to 29. Christ himself adviseth his People not to be anxious or make provision for the Flesh for that he will take care of them but against the Wicked whose care is only for this World he pronounceth Curses Wo to you that are Rich for ye have received your consolation wo to you that are full for ye shall hunger wo to you that laugh now for ye shall mourn and weep Luke 6.20 to 26. The third difference is That the Godly receives these things with a humble and thankful mind with submission to the Will of God in giving taking away or continuing but the wicked fret repine and murmur at every eclipse or change whereby his Condition seemeth to be worsted and covetously curseth God in his Heart when he hath not his full desire I create the fruit of the Lips peace to him that is far off and to him that is near saith the Lord but there is no peace to the Wicked saith my God the Wicked are like the raging Sea casting up dirt and mire Isa 57.19 20 21. Hence then see the different complexion of the Godly and Wicked the one patiently submitting the other constantly murmuring how patiently did Job bear the loss of his Children and vast Estate The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken blessed be the name of the Lord in all this Job sinned not neither charged God foolishly in his Heart Job 1.21 22 23. But on the other hand see the restless and implacable malice of Satan to persecute Job Job 2. to 6. How patiently did David submit himself under the revilings cursings and reproaches of Shimei and the King said let him curse for the Lord hath said to him curse David who then shall say why hast thou done it my Son which came out of my Bowels seeketh my Life how much more may this Benjamite do it 2 Sam. 16.10 11 12. See on the other hand the tragical turbulency and murmuring temper of the Wicked in the instance of Achitophel whose Counsel with David and Absolom used to be as of an Angel of Light because his Counsel was rejected in the Pride