Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	bring_v	sin_n	world_n	10,547	5	5.2298	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67000	The freeness of Gods grace in the forgiveness of sins by Jesus Christ, vindicated. Against the doctrine of Mr. Fergusson, in his sermon preached at the morning lecture, the fifth of August 1668. in a letter to a friend. By H. W. a lover of the truth that is according to Godliness.	H. W.	1668 (1668)	Wing W35; ESTC R217619	15,119	18

THE Freeness of Gods Grace IN THE Forgiveness of Sins BY JESUS CHRIST VINDICATED Against the Doctrine of Mr. Fergusson in his Sermon Preached at the Morning Lecture the fifth of August 1668. in a Letter to a Friend By H. W. a lover of the Truth that is according to Godliness Rom. 3. 24. Being justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ Col. 1. 14. In whom we have redemption through his Blood even the forgiveness of sins Prov. 12. 15. He that justifieth the wicked and he that condemneth the just even they both are abomination to the Lord. London Printed for J. J. and are to be sold at William Crooks at three Bibles near Temple Bar and at Peter Parker's in Billeter Lane Anno 1668. My Friend BEing the other day in your company you told me of your being the fifth instant at the morning Lecture where as you said a great company of well disposed people were assembled to hear I was glad to hear it Then you gave me to understand that one Mr. Fergusson there preached at that time from Heb. 2. 10. And you also gave me in writing an account of his Sermon desiring me to peruse it Sir your Paper I return with many thanks and therewith also a few Animadversions upon the Sermon which you may read when your leasure permits you There are three faults inexcusable in a Preacher as all do acknowledge for it is in it self most evident First To propose a Text out of the Holy Scriptures and thence to draw Doctrines which are true in themselves but which the Text affords not This is one way of prophaning the Word of God and of doing the Work of the Lord negligently But Secondly It is a greater fault and much more to be lamented when such Doctrines or Theses are grounded upon a Text of Scripture which are so far from being rightly drawn from that Text that they are deducible from no other Text being such Doctrines as contain not the truth in them but are false and therefore contrary to the Scriptures of Truth But Thirdly The fault is then greatest and most of all to be lamented when the Doctrines or Articles proposed as from a Scripture are not meerly false and errors of a mean import but are false in matters of high concernment in Faith or Manners These three things Sir came to mind by the unhappy occasion of your Preachers Sermon whom I may charge though not with the first of those faults for he was not so little unhappy as to preach Truth from a Text that reach'd it not to him yet I may charge him with not onely the second but the third also For alas I grieve to speak it he preach'd such a Doctrine which greatly reflects disparagement upon Almighty God in respect of his Goodness Wisdom and Power and therefore must needs have much of malignity in it how devout soever the Preacher may seem to be Now that you may not think me to be rash and inconsiderate in thus charging that Gentleman give me leave to evince by a few words the truth of the Charge I pray consider his Text and his Doctrine grounded thereon The words of the Text are these For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many Sons unto Glory to make the Captain of their Salvation perfect through sufferings His Doctrine was this That there was no other way imaginable or possible whereby God might forgive sins but by a full and plenary satisfaction made to his Justice by the death of his Son He branches this Doctrine into three Propositions which are these 1. That it is not possible for God to pardon sin and save sinners without satisfaction to his Justice 2. That it was impossible to obtain satisfaction by any other way but by Christ 3. That Christ hath given God a full and plenary satisfaction and thereby made way for the bringing of all those Sons to Glory that the Father and he agreed about when he undertook this work Now consider I pray you seriously whether any man but one that is first prepossess'd with such an Opinion could have drawn such a Doctrine from that Text. The terms I am sure are at a vast distance The Text saith It became him for whom are all things c. Now suppose that to be in the Text which is not viz. That Christ made satisfaction to the Justice of God for mens sins in Mr. F's sence it will not follow from this It became God c. First That it was impossible to have been otherwise for Mr. F. knows well enough that though God cannot chuse good or evil yet he may chuse this or that good so that when it is said That such or such a thing becomes God it doth not follow that the omission of that and the chusing of another might not also have become him It did well agree with the Wisdom and Goodness of God to make the Captain of our Salvation perfect through sufferings But what are we poor silly Worms that we should hence conclude That the Wisdom of God could have found out no other way for his goodness to appear unto us in Let us be thankful for this that he hath done and admire his Wisdom in it but let us not by our wisdom set bounds to the onely wise God However let us not do it grounding upon a Text that will not justifie us therein as this Preacher doth But secondly How doth it arise from this Text That Christ made full satisfaction to the Justice of God The Text saith To make the Captain of their Salvation perfect through sufferings As if for God to make Christ perfect through sufferings and for Christ to make satisfaction to the Justice of God were all one Whereas for God in bringing many Sons to Glory to make the Captain of their Salvation perfect through sufferings seems plainly to imply no more but this To make the Captain a perfect and compleat Captain or Leader 1. By making him to be to his Souldiers or Followers those Believers he was to bring to Glory a Pattern in doing in suffering and in receiving of Glory 2. By making him to have pitty and compassion towards them in all difficulties and sufferings through having experience of the same himself 3. And lastly By giving him power to supply them in the way and give them glory at the end inasmuch as by his sufferings he came to sit down at the right Hand of God If any man of a more refined wit than ordinary can draw any thing more from these terms yet I perswade my self That no man will ever be able to convince an impartial hearer that Christ's being made perfect through sufferings is Christ's making full satisfaction to the Justice of God But if this Proposition be not to be found in the Text much less the other two that it was not possible for God to pardon without a satisfaction and that no

the Judge of all the Earth which he Preaches The Phoenicians and Carthaginians sacrificing a few men or some of their Children in the behalf of the whole people seems to come short of this in cruelty and unrighteousness Now he comes to his second Proposition That it was impossible for satisfaction to be made any other way but by Christ But having made it appear that the satisfaction he talks of is inconsistent with the Nature of God with his Righteousness Mercy and Grace as they are set forth in Scripture this Proposition falls to the ground and is impertinent Onely I may observe that in rejecting of Sacrifices new Obedience and Sufferings though he cites Psalm 51. 16. for the defectiveness of Sacrifices yet he takes no notice of the next verse where the Psalmist saith The Sacrifices of God are a broken Spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise So he cites Psalm 50. 12. to the same purpose but waves that which follows in verse 14 15. Offer unto God thanksgiving and pay thy vows unto the most High And call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me He doth not reject slain Beasts and burnt Offerings that he may have slain men or such as may be eternally or infinitely punished and tormented in the stead of the guilty but he requires in those places sincere and hearty obedience in things morally and truly good in place of things ceremonial and only positively good Here he tells us That the sufferings of men cannot satisfie because they are not infinite in weight for men are not capable of that They are capable of infinite sufferings in respect of length and continuance but that is to be alwayes suffering without ever compleating satisfaction Thus we see that the punishment laid upon Christ is according to him equal to the sufferings of men for evermore But these men if they had been sit sureties must have been righteous men so the sufferings of Christ are equal to the sufferings of millions of righteous men for evermore But how dare we say That God who loved his own Son more than millions of Righteous men much more than millions of sinners should yet lay upon him the punishment due to sinners and that which is equal to the eternal sufferings of millions of righteous men for the saving of a lesser number of sinners would it not even grieve a man of Ingenuity to be saved if it were possible at this rate He saith the Satisfaction is alwaies spoken of as having been done to reconcile God But it will be very hard I think impossible for him to shew but one Scripture that saith so nay that saith but that Christ dyed to reconcile God to us which is far less How ordinary is it for men to think the Scriptures speak what they would have them speak It saith indeed that when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son Rom. 5. 10. And that God hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ And God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them 2 Cor. 5. 18 19. what need of reconciling him that so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son c. Joh. 3.16 We come now to his proof of the main matter viz. That Jesus Christ hath given the Father a full and plenary satisfaction c. Here by the way he saith Christ hath given the Father Satisfaction I desire therefore to know who satisfied the Son and Holy Spirit Or is the Son and Holy Spirit of a more merciful and gracious nature so that they will pardon sin without a satisfaction though the Father cannot For the clearing of this proposition he saith 1. That Christ underwent what we should have undergone And this he saith was in point of feeling Death and the Curse an infinite punishment as to weight though it was but short as to time as Hanging is shorter than sitting in the Stocks two or three hours He did not only undergo the Death which the Law cursed but all the Curse which God could put into his Death Thus far he Here he cites Luk. 22.44 Mat. 26. 37 38. Mar. 14. 33. Heb. 5.7 Mat. 27.46 Joh. Now my Friend I pray read all these texts consideratly as many more as ye please and see whether all or any of them say that Christ underwent an insinite punishment or all the Curse which God could put into his Death Whereas he saith Christ swett great drops of Blood Luke saith as it were great drops of blood But I would ask him a question or two hereupon 1. Whether it be not part of the curse that men must bear to know clearly and to be deeply sensible that they have no interest in Gods favour and that they never shall have any and that God hates them with an everlasting hatred 2. Whether a stinging and guilty conscience as having justly deserved the Curse in their own persons be not a main Ingredient in the Curse which men must bear And if these be parts of the Curse then let him tell me whether Christ when he was in an Agony in the Garden or when he was on the Cross or at any other time underwent either of these for did he not pray to God in the Garden and call him Father Did not God send an Angel to comfort him Did he not upon the Cross invocate God saying My God my God though he had forsaken him in giving him up to the power of his enemies and did he not then comend his Spirit into his Father's hands Luk. 23.46 Are these the Actions and this the state of a man under the greatest Curse that God can lay upon him Then be comforted ye damned for it will not be so hard with you as is imagined Did Christ think that God hated him when he knew he was his wel-beloved Son and that this obedience of his in dying should be rewarded with eternal Glory what Doctrine is this that brings in the Holy One of God despairing of Gods favour hated of God and tormented in his own conscience with sense of unpardonable guilt as it necessarily follows from his assertions He saith it would be to lessen the courage of Christ if his Agony proceeded from a foresight of his Death not considering what his Text saith that It became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many Sons to Glory to make the Captain of their Salvation perfect through sufferings How should Christ be a compleat Captain if he did not experience as great trials as any of the Souldiers are like to meet with And do not many of the Souldiers his followers meet with such a sense of sufferings that are before them as put them into an Agony But what if he being to break the Ice to go first to be a glorious example met with with greater Hardships and