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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	abide_v	able_a	evil_a	15	3	5.3615	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53678	A continuation of the exposition of the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews viz, on the sixth, seventh, eight, ninth, and tenth chapters : wherein together with the explication of the text and context, the priesthood of Christ ... are declared, explained and confirmed : as also, the pleas of the Jews for the continuance and perpetuity of their legal worship, with the doctrine of the principal writers of the Socinians about these things, are examined and disproved / by J. Owen ...	Owen, John, 1616-1683.	1680 (1680)	Wing O729; ESTC R21737	1,235,588	797

the former instances so it is here there are two parts of this aggravation The first taken from the Object of their sin the Spirit of Grace The second taken from the manner of their opposition unto him they do him despight The holy Spirit of God promised and communicated under the Gospel by Jesus Christ from the Father as the Author and cause actually communicating and applying of all Grace unto the souls of them that believe is this Spirit of Grace And this carries in it innumerable aggravations of this Sin This Person the holy Spirit of God God himself his Communication of grace and mercy in the accomplishment of the most glorious Promises of the Old Testament was he whom these Apostates renounced But there is a peculiar notion or consideration of the Spirit with respect whereunto he is sinned against and that is this That he was peculiarly sent given and bestowed to bear witness unto the Person Doctrine Death and Sacrifice of Christ with the glory that ensued thereon John 16. 4. 1 Pet. 1. 12. And this he did various wayes For by him the souls of multitudes were converted unto God their eyes enlightned their minds sanctified their lives changed By him did those who believed come to understand the Scriptures which before were as a sealed book unto them were directed encouraged supported and comforted in all that they had to do and suffer for the name of Christ. By him were all those mighty works wonders signs and miracles wrought which accompanied the Apostles and other preachers of the Gospel at the beginning Now all these things and the like effects of his Grace and Power on all who made profession of the Gospel were owned believed and avowed to be the works of the holy Spirit as promised in the dayes of the Messiah and they pleaded the evidence of them unto the confusion of all their adversaries This therefore was done also by these Apostates before their Apostasie But now being fully fallen off from Christ and the Gospel they openly declared that there was no testimony in them unto the truth but all these things were either diabolical delusions or phanatical misapprehensions that indeed there was nothing of truth reality or power in them and therefore no argument to be taken from them unto the confirmation of the truth of Christ in the Gospel Now this proceeding from them who had once themselves made the same profession with others of their truth and reality gave the deepest wound that could be given unto the Gospel For all the adversaries of it who were silenced with this publick testimony of the holy Spirit and knew not what to say considering the many miracles that were wrought did now strengthen themselves by the confession of these Apostates that there was nothing in it but pretence and who should better know than those who had been of that Society There are no such cursed pernicious Enemies unto Religion as Apostates Hence are they said to do despite unto the Spirit of Grace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They do injure him so far as they are able The word includes wrong with contempt And this they did upon a twofold account For 1. The works many of them which he then wrought were eminent and evident effects of divine Power and to ascribe such works unto another cause is to do despite unto him 2. They did so principally in that by all his works and in the whole dispensation of him he gave testimony unto Christ in the Gospel And what greater despite and wrong could be done unto him then to question his truth and the veracity of his testimony No greater despite can be done unto a man of any reputation than to question his truth and credit in that wherein he engageth himself as a witness And if lying unto the Holy Ghost is so great a sin what is it to make the Holy Ghost a Liar Herein did such persons do him despite For notwithstanding the publick testimony he gave in with and by the preaching of the Gospel they rejected it as a fable in despising his Person and Authority All these great and terrible Aggravations are inseparable from this sin of Apostasie from the Gospel above those of any sin against the Law of Moses whatever They were none of them in the vilest sin prohibited by the Law under capital punishment Hence therefore the Apostle 2. Proposeth it unto the Judgment of the Hebrews of how much sorer punishment They suppose a sinner guilty of this sin shall be Judged worthy above what was inflicted on the wilful transgressors of the Law And there is included herein 1. That such a sinner shall be punished Apostates may flatter themselves with impunity but in due time punishment will overtake them How shall they escape who neglect so great Salvation Much less shall they not do so by whom it is thus despised in all the causes of it 2. That this shall be a sore a great and an evil punishment which is included in the note of comparison far greater punishment such as men shall be able neither to abide nor to avoid 3. Comparatively it shall be a sorer Punishment then that which was appointed for wilfull Transgressions of the Law which was Death without Mercy 4. That the degree of its exceeding that punishment is inexpressible Of how much sorer None can declare it as the Holy Ghost expresseth himself when he would intimate unto our minds that which we cannot absolutely conceive and apprehend 1 Pet. 4. 17 18. But whereas that punishment was Death without Mercy wherein could this exceed it I answer Because that was a temporal death only For though such sinners under the Law might and did many of them perish Eternally yet they did not so by vertue of the constitution of the Law of Moses which reached only unto temporal punishments But this punishment is Eternal that 's constantly proposed in the first place unto all impenitent Unbelievers and despisers of the Gospel See 2 Thes. 1. 6 7 8. Mark 16. 16 c. Yet so as not to exclude any other temporal Judgments in Spirituals or Naturals that may precede it Such was that whereunto the temporal destruction that was ready to come on these despi●ers did belong 3. The way whereby they are made Obnoxious unto it is that they are counted Worthy of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall receive neither more nor less but their due The Judge in this case is God himself as the Apostle declares in the next verse He alone knows he alone can justly determine what such Apostates are worthy of But in general that this shall unspeakably exceed that annexed unto the transgression of the Law is left unto themselves to judge suppose ye Ye know and take it for granted that the punishments under the Law to be inflicted on its transgressors by the Constitution and Sanction of it were all of them righteous for God was the Judge of this

Gods Promise wherefore God expresseth the sense of his Indignation against them with that Scheme of Reproach Ye shall bear your Iniquities and you shall know my breach of Promise chap. 14. 34. or see what your Unbelief hath brought you unto And no otherwise is it with all Unbelievers at present as our Apostle at large declares chap. 3. of this Epistle Other things are pretended as the causes of their Unbelief but it is their dissatisfaction in the Truth of God that is the true and only cause of it And as this sufficiently manifests the hainousness of Unbelief so it Glorifies the Righteousness of God in the Condemnation of Unbelievers 2. The Curse of the Law having by the guilt of Sin been admitted unto a Dominion over the whole Soul it is a great thing to receive and admit of a Testimony to the contrary such as the Promise is What the Law speaks it speaks unto them that are under it as all men are by Nature And it speaks in the Heart of every man that the sinner must dye Conscience complies also and adds its suffrage thereunto This fixeth a conclusion in the mind that so it will be whatever may be offered unto the contrary But so is the Testimony of God in the Promise namely that there is a way of Life and Salvation for sinners and that God offereth this way and an Interest therein unto us Nothing but the exceeding greatness of the power of Grace can enable a guilty sinner in this case to set his Seal that God is true 3. When the Promise comes and is proposed unto us for the most part it finds us deeply engaged into and as to our selves Immutably fixed on other things that are inconsistent with Faith in the Promises Some are interested in divers Lusts and Pleasures Some are filled with inveterate prejudices through a vain Conversation received by Tradition from their Fathers and some have some good hopes in themselves that in the way wherein they are by the Religion which they profess and the Duties which they perform they may in time arrive unto what they aim at When the Promise is proposed the first thing included therein is an utter relinquishment of all these things As it is a Promise of Grace so it excludes every thing but Grace Wherefore when it is proposed unto any it doth not only require that it be believed or God be believed therein but also that in order thereunto we part with and utterly renounce all hopes and confidences in our selves from what we are or expect to be and betake our selves for Life and Salvation unto the Promise alone Some imagine that it is a very easie thing to believe and that the Souls of men are but deceived when they are called off from the Duties that Light and Conviction put them upon to the way of Faith in the Promise But the truth is that what from its own Nature and from what is required thereunto or comprised therein it is as the most important so the highest and greatest Duty that we are called unto And which men would of their own choice rather grind in a Mill of the most burdensome Duties than once apply their minds unto 4. The guilt of sin hath filled the mind of every sinner with innumerable fears doubts and Confusions that are very difficultly satisfied or removed Yea the remainders of them do abide in Believers themselves and oft-times fill them with great perplexities And these when the Promise is proposed unto them arise and follow one another like the Waves of the Sea James 1. 6. No sooner is one of them answered or waved but immediately another supplies its room And in them all doth Unbelief put forth its power And on these grounds it is that poor sinners have such need of the Reduplication of Divine Assurances that notwithstanding all pretences unto the contrary the Promise of Grace in Christ shall be made good and be accomplished unto them 5. The especial Design of God in this Dispensation and Condescension is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That we might have a strong Consolation Being engaged in the Application of his Instance in the Promise and Faith of God given unto Abraham the Apostle here plainly dismisseth the consideration of things past under the Old Testament in those Blessings and temporal things which were Typical of things spiritual and applies the whole unto present Believers and therein unto all those of future Ages That we might have And herein he builds on this Principle That whatever God promised designed sware unto Abraham that he did so promise unto all Believers whatever so that every Promise of the Covenant belongeth equally unto them with him or any other And two things the Apostle lays down concerning such Believers 1 What God designs unto them 2 Such a Description of them as contains the Qualifications necessary unto a Participation of what is so designed The first is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It sometimes signifies Exhortation an encouraging perswasive Exhortation And in that sense it is here taken by some Expositors as Theophylact and Oecumenius That we might have thereby a prevalent Exhortation unto Faith and Patience in Believing But Comfort or Consolation is the most usual signification of the Word in the New Testament as I have shewed elsewhere and that sense of the Word alone can be here intended A Consolation it is that ariseth from the Assurance of Faith and of our Interest thereby in the Promises of God This is that which relieves our Souls against all Fears Doubts and Troubles For it either obviates and prevents them or it out-ballanceth them and bears up our Souls against them For Comfort is the Relief of the mind whatever it be against sorrow and trouble And this Consolation which God intends and designs Believers is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 solamen fortissimum forte validum potens Strong powerful prevalent Strong so as to be prevalent against Opposition is that which is intended There are Comforts to be taken or are often taken from earthly things But they are weak languid and such as fade and dye upon the first appearance of a vigorous opposition But this Consolation is strong and prevalent against all Creature Oppositions whatever Strong that is such as will abide against all Opposition A strong Tower an impregnable Fortress Munition of Rocks For it is not the abounding of Consolation in us but the prevalency of the Causes of it against Opposition that is intended 6. There is the Description of the Persons unto whom God designs this Consolation by the Promise confirmed with his Oath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are three things in this Description of Believers or the Heirs of the Promise 1 The way whereby they seek for Relief they fly for Refuge 2 The Relief it self which they seek after which is the Hope set before them 3 The way whereby they are made Partakers of it they lay hold upon it 1. They are