Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	adam_n	moses_n	reign_v	4,387	5	9.3174	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29090	The doctrine of free-grace, no doctrine of licenciousnesse, or, That Gods free unconditionall pardoning of sinne is the best way to mortifie the power of sinne in believers asserted and cleared by Edward Bagshawe ...	Bagshaw, Edward, 1629-1671.	1662 (1662)	Wing B410; ESTC R5497	30,451	48

vers 20. Because by the Law is the knowledge of sinne i. e. A strict and impartiall view of the Law in its latitude and spirituall significancy and comparing of our Lives with it is so farre from discovering the Rectitude of our Nature and Actions that it rather serves to manifest the Obliquity and sinfullness of them both And therefore there must be some other expedient found out to Acquit or Justifie men in the sight of God vers 27. than an appeal unto the Law of Works and that is the Law of Faith as the Apostle speaks The Righteousness of God i. e. which avails before God vers 22. and is accepted by him is by Faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God whereby is meant either the Graces which God requires or the Happiness which he promises Men were not of themselves able to perform the one and therefore had no Right or Title unto the other whereupon it follows that all such as are Justified are Justified Freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in or by Jesus This Doctrine which doth so levell the Pride of man by putting his Salvation quite out of himself and therein is utterly contradictory to humane conception the Apostle foresaw would meet with great opposition and therefore that he might Assert and Clear this Fundamentall Truth from all possibility of Cavill he urges and answers three of the main Objections which either are or can be alleaged against it Object 1 The first Objection is taken from the Example of Abraham concerning whom the common opinion of the Jews was that he was Justified by Works which they gathered from Gods renewing his Blessing upon him after his signall obedience in attempting to offer his sonne For now I know Gen. 22.12 saith God that thou fearest God seeing thou hast not withheld thy sonne thine onely sonne from me And again Because thou hast done this thing vers 16 17. and hast not withheld thy sonne thine onely sonne In blessing I will bless thee Whereupon the Apostle James seems clearly to Affirm that Abraham was justified by his Works in that Question Was not Abraham our Father Justified by Works when he had offered Isaac his sonne upon the Altar To this Instance Answ the Apostle answers by directly denying that Abraham was Justified by Works for proof of which he quotes a place out of the Old Testament Gen. 13.6 That Abraham believed in God and it i. e. that Faith of his was imputed to him for Righteousness Which was spoken of Abraham long before he had received Circumcision and done that Signall and Heroick Action by which the Sincerity and Truth of his Faith was evidenced So that the Apostle James words cannot be understood as if he intended to decide whether Faith or Works did Justifie but onely that he determins what kind of Faith it was which Justified viz. not a Naked and Barren but an Effectuall and Working Faith And that Abrahams was such a kind of Faith he manifested afterwards in undertaking so Perillous and Dangerous a Task meerly in obedience to Gods Command From whence it follows that if Abraham who is stiled the Friend of God did attain to the esteem of being reputed Righteous before God meerly upon the account of his Faith then all others whose highest commendation is onely to be the Followers and Imitators of Abraham have no other way of obteining True Righteousness but by treading in the same footsteps of Faith which the Patriark Abraham walked in as the Apostle concludes Rom. 4.23 24. It was not written for him i. e. for Abraham alone that it was imputed to him But to us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the Dead Object 2 The second Objection against this Doctrine is taken from that seeming Absurdity and Contradiction which would follow should men think of being saved by the Righteousness of another For as every man is to be condemned onely for his own sinnes so it seems to be most Just and Equall that every man should be saved onely for his own Righteousness according to the Reasoning of God himself who doth not onely say that the Wickedness of the Wicked Ezek. 18.20 but likewise that the Righteousness of the Righteous shall be upon him Answ 2. To this Objection the Apostle excellently answers throughout the whole fifth Chapter of this Epistle by drawing a parallel between Adam and Christ who were the two great Heads and Representatives of all Mankind in their severall Estates Now if it shall appear that Adam destroyed his Race by the Imputation of his sinne then it cannot be Unreasonable to believe that Christ may save his Race by the Imputation of his Righteousness But that Adam destroyed his Race by the Imputation of his sinne appears clearly from hence in that Death which is the Wages of sinne vers 14. doth actually ceaze those who never Actually sinned and therefore could be but liable to it onely upon the Account of Transmitted Derivative and Imputed sinne as he Argues Death reigned from Adam to Moses even over those that had not sinned after the similitude of Adams Transgression i. e. over Infants From whence he inferres As by one mans disobedience Many i. e. All who descend from him by Naturall Generation were made sinners so by the obedience of one man Many i. e. all who are related to him by Faith and supernaturall Regeneration shall be made Righteous Nay by how much Christ is a greater Person than Adam the one being formed from Earth the other 1 Cor. 15.47 being the Lord from Heaven by so much shall the Obedience and Righteousness of that One more avail to Save than the Unrighteousness and Sinne of the other did to Destroy And this the Apostle clears in two Particulars 1. In Extent of the Pardon which is to many sinnes whereas the Condemnation was onely for One. For saith he the Judgment or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Guilt was by one i. e. Offence to Condemnation but the free-gift is of many Offences vers 16. unto Justification In Adam one sinne and that of the lesser sort stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a slip or so was sufficient to undoe a World But in Christ Many sins how aggravated and circumstanced soever shall not be sufficient to destroy one Soul 2. In the Excellence of the purchase Adam by his Sinne purchased Death and Damnation which is like a Motion down-hill very Naturall and easie to be conceived For that a Creature should die that a Sinner should be sentenced may without any Difficulty be imagined But Christ purchased Life Eternall which is like a Motion up-hill very Hard and exceeding Difficult to be comprehended From whence the Apostle concludes that where Sinne i. e. the Guilt or Demerit of Adams Sinne

abounded there Grace or the Gift of Life by Christ did much more abound The word in the Originall signifies something more than enough something 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that was above and beyond what was sufficient to Antidote and to Expell the Contagion of Adams sinne Just as if a Man should let in a Sea to cleanse a sink so abundant was the Overflow of Christs Righteousnesse for the Purifying of those Natures which Adams sinne had infected Object 3 The third and last Objection is conteined in the Text and the sense of it amounts to this Some may say If the Merit of Christs Death doth so infinitely transcend the Demerit of Adams Sinne as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports then will it not follow from hence that the Gospell will be a Rule of Strictness and Severity of Life no longer but rather set open a door to all manner of Impiety since this Conclusion may easily be drawn Since Gods Goodness is so Free as well as full since Christ in the most proper acception did die for Sinners will it not follow the greater Sinners we are the more acceptable we shall be to Christ and the more Offences we commit the better will his Goodness in pardoning them appear As to run upon the Score is the best way to set out and to adorn a Creditors Munificence Come on then will wicked men say Let us sinne that Grace may abound Answ To this Odious and Unworthy Inference which yet so corrupt and disingenuous it our Nature most men are ready not onely to Reason but to Live by the Apostle returns a double Answer 1. In a Phrase of Abhorrency 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He seems as it were to start and to blush at the bare mention of such a supposall and therefore hastily cries out Farre be it that any should be such a Wretch as to make Rich and Undeserved Mercy a Motive of his Contumacy that any should therefore presume to Offend because God is Willing to Pardon that any should therefore spurn their Heavenly Father on the Bowels because they are Tender and Yearn toward them This doth not use to be our manner of dealing with Men and therefore Farre be it that any should thus deal with God 2. He answers by instancing in the Life of Himself and those Believing Romanes to whom he writes As if he had said Farre be it that any should make such Impious Conclusions from so Holy and so Gracious Premises that any should presume to Poison themselves because there is an Antidote so neer them If any doe so it is their own Fault for we have experimentally found this Doctrine of Free-Grace to have had a clean contrary Effect and Operation upon us and instead of Exciting us to Sinne even to cut up and root out in us not onely the Acts but even the Habit of Sinfullness How then saith he shall we that are dead to sinne live any longer therein Which being the Full scope and Design of the Apostles whole Discourse it affords us this usefull Observation That the best and most effectuall way to mortifie the Power of In-dwelling sinne is to consider how free how Absolute how Unconditionall Gods Grace is in pardoning it Before I proceed to handle this I must needs take notice of the Objection and from thence observe Doct. 1 That Corrupt and Curious Wits doe usually draw pernicious and destructive consequences from the most Precious and soul-saving Truths For Instance What Doctrine can be more Winning to a Desperate or more comfortable to a Despairing Sinner than to hear that Christ hath already fully satisfied for Sinne that God is willing to be reconciled that notwithstanding his Greatness he even woes us to be at Peace with him and in token of his Readiness he offers us Peace and Pardon unclogged with any Condition he requires nothing but Faith i. e. a Naked and an Empty hand to take what he is willing in Bounty to bestow Yet the Disputer in my Text labours to make this Sweet appear to be very Unsound Doctrine and would fright men from embracing their Cordiall lest by accident it should heighten and encrease their Distemper Thus it hath fared with all the Abstruse and most Mysterious Points of our Religion the Incarnation of the eternall Sonne of God the Resurrection of the Body the Assistance of the Holy Spirit in the Hearts of Believers have been all attaqued and set upon by mens Irregular Fancies and each Age hath produced some Sect or other who have made themselves Famous by direct opposition unto those forementioned Truths But to omit them I shall content my self with those Instances which the Apostle makes in this Epistle Chap. 3 He layes down this Conclusion That God in the Wisdome of his Providence so orders and manages all Events as that out of Evill he doth extract Good and makes even our Unrighteousness vers 5. to set off and to illustrate his Righteousness From whence one presently inferres then is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance i. e. who punisheth men for that which at last doth redound to the Advantage of his Glory and then goes on Let us doe Evill that good may come of it i. e. Let us Sinne that Gods Glory may be promoted Which Impious Deduction whereby Gods Providence is made to countermand his Precepts the Apostle confutes in that sharp Expression Whose Damnation is Just i. e. such who will not actively Glorifie God by their Obedience unto his Revealed Will God will get himself Glory of them by Punishing their Disobedience Again in that Great Business of Gods Absolute and Unconditionall Electing of some unto Eternall Life Rom. 9. the Apostle instanceth in the Examples of Jacob and Esau who when as yet neither of them had done Good or Evill yet one was preferred before the other or which the Apostle gives no other reason but this That the Purpose of God according to Election might stand not of Works but of him that calleth Against which Unmerited and Irrespective choice vers 14. there is One in that place objects Is there not then Unrighteousness with God i. e. Is not God Partiall and Unequall in his determinations concerning Man thus to chuse and preferre one before another when as by Nature All are Equall To this he answers by alleaging God's Soveraignty vers 15. who in the case of Pharaoh affirms of Himself I will have Mercy on whom I will have Mercy and the Apostle inferres from thence and whom he will he hardens i. e. he showes no Mercy to but leaves them in their Naturall Hardness and Impenitency And when the Objector is not satisfied with this but cries out Why doth he then find fault i. e. why doth he reprove and seem Angry against sinne and sinners for who hath resisted his Will The Apostle then in stead of answering any further asks a Question which the Bold Disputers of our times will never answer and that is Who art