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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	according_a	judge_v	see_v	1,816	5	3.3060	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A38061	A preservative against Socinianism. The first part shewing the direct and plain opposition between it, and the religion revealed by God in the Holy Scriptures / by Jonath. Edwards.	Edwards, Jonathan, 1629-1712.	1693 (1693)	Wing E217; ESTC R24310	65,484	89

obligation and that both his veracity and faithfulness engage him to make them good But it is as evident on the other hand that here he supposes the contrary and that his Argument proceeds upon that supposition But by this time I hope the Reader will not be much surprised to find Socinians contradicting themselves and he need not be concerned at it for I can assure him whether he will or no they will take the liberty of so doing And hereby we find the observation which we a little before made concerning them confirmed viz. that in their disputations and writings they care not what they say having no regard to the honour of God or Religion being only concerned for their own reputation and to defend and maintain their own loose and unwarrantable Opinions 2 ly But let us admit that God by his promises puts himself under an obligation to men so that he cannot go from his word but is obliged to make it good yet he may be at greater liberty as to his threatnings Indeed these as the Gospel represents them to us are very terrible whether we consider the punishments threatned either as to their Intensive pain or as to the extent of their duration for we are told that the wicked shall go into everlasting punishment that the worm that gnaws their Conscience shall not dye and the fire that torments them shall never be extinguished This is indeed enough to make the sinner look pale and to fright him either out of his wits or out of his wicked course of living But for all this he need not despair of Mercy for tho God hath threatned severely yet no man living can absolutely tell us if we believe Socinus whether he is resolved to execute his threatnings For as at first God might either not have punished the Sinner at all or not with eternal death so now tho he hath declared by his solemn Edict that he will do so yet for all that he may if he pleases not inflict the punishment Deus potuisset idque jure homines licet peccantes morti aeternae non mancipare sic postquam eos morti aeternae edicto suo mancipavit ex illius imperio eximere potest Socin de Christo Serv. Lib. 1. p. 124. Eximere potest saith Socinus he may exempt the Sinner notwithstanding his Decree of punishing him and why may not he hope that he will the bare threatnings according to Socinus do not oblige God to execute them and the consideration of Gods Mercy and Justice to which the Torments of Hell as he may imagine can scarce be reconciled may upon that score afford him some ground to hope that he doth not design to do so We know sinners are apt to allow themselves as too great liberty in sinning so to flatter themselves with too great hopes of Impunity and if they meet with any such compassionate Casuists as Socinus who will afford them any encouragement they are presently apt to run away with it and never look back to see that vengeance which pursues and will at length certainly overtake them But how comes this man to know any thing of God besides what he hath revealed of himself in his word must we have recourse to that exploded distinction of the Calvinists and for which they have bin so much railed at by their adversaries concerning the revealed and the secret will of God For tho the question in the case may seem to be about the power of God yet really and in truth it is about his will forasmuch as God cannot do what he hath solemnly declared he will not do and that for this plain and irrefragable reason because God cannot deny himself And now have we not reason to put the question and enquire whither went the Spirit of God from the Inspired writers to rest upon the head of this Impostor who makes his exceptions to what they have declared as the peremtory and unalterable decree of God Nay who boldly ventures to affirm that which Balaam could not be hired to utter tho tempted to it by the wages of unrighteousness but makes that pious acknowledgement Numb 23. God is not a man that he should lie nor the son of man that he should repent hath he said and shall he not do it hath he spoken and shall he not make it good Now if it be Impossible for God to lie then it is not possible for him to alter the sentence concerning the final state of men which is delivered in Scripture in such terms as plainly evince it to be his peremptory and irrevocable decree The happiness of the Righteous and the punishments of the wicked as to the extent of their duration being expressed in the same words and in the same sentence and if it be possible to know any thing of the Absolute and Immutable pleasure of God the wit of man could not contrive any plainer words then what the wisdom of God hath already made use of to declare his final and unalterable intentions concerning the everlasting punishment of the wicked Besides it deserves to be considered that this Declaration is not only delivered in the manner of a threatning but likewise by way of prediction in the fulfilling of which the veracity of God may seem to be more particularly concerned than in the execution of a bare Threatning delivered in a Sermon or Exhortation or the like Now in those glorious visions which were communicated to St. John which he stiles the word of God the Testimony and Revelation of Jesus Christ concerning the things which were and which should be hereafter Rev. 1. v. 1 2 19. which are styled the true sayings of God chap. 19. v. 9. the words that are faithful and true ch 21. v. 5. I say in these visions are contained as the state and events of the Church till the final dissolution of all things so likewise the condition and fate of the Righteous and Wicked after the judgment of the last day Ch. 20. 21. he tells us that he saw the dead both small and great stand before God and they were all judged according to their works and whoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of fire ver 15. called ver 10. the lake of fire and brimstone where the Devil and the Beast and the false Prophet shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever And what is said in general of the wicked we are assured shall betide the fearful and unbelievers and the abominable and murderers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars who shall have their part in that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone Rev. 21. 8. this is that Furnace of fire which our blessed Saviour so often mentioneth Mat. 13. 42. 50. that everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his Angels Mat. 25. 41. That fire which again and again he assures us Mark 9. shall not be quenched no less then five times within the compass of six verses 43 44