Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	die_v	life_n	sin_n	30,740	5	5.1513	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60471	The designed end to the Socinian controversy, or, A rational and plain discourse to prove, that no other person but the Father of Christ is God most high by John Smith.	Smith, John, fl. 1673-1680.	1695 (1695)	Wing S4103; ESTC R15169	29,912	68

of a Trinity make me a more merciful and righteous Man than I shall be if I did profess the contrary Will it make me love and honour God better Will it make the Service which I render to his Divine Majesty a more reasonable Service And if on serious Consideration you find it will not then 't is plain that the Unitarian Faith which denies a Trinity of Persons in the Godhead is much to be preferr'd since 't is not perplex'd with such Contradictions to humane Understanding but depends on more plain and noble Evidences and does also in all Respects whatsoever effectually secure a good Life which when all is done is the very Soul and Life of Religion and will stand by a Man when Hypostatical Vnions and Mutual Consciousness and Somewhats will prove but poor things to depend upon for Salvation There can be no Danger of Damnation for not assenting to such mysterious Notions as Men can at no tolerable rate understand such as is that of the Doctrine of a Trinity which makes the Divine Power of the Godhead to reside in three distinct Persons whose Constitution is like that of a free State rather than the more Divine Government of a single Monarchy if in the mean time they believe heartily the plain Doctrine revealed in God's Word and live up truly to the undoubted Precepts which the Christian Religion commands which I am certain does no where say that unless ye believe that three Persons are truly God ye shall certainly be damn'd Salvation and the Belief of the Trinity not inconsistent 'T is objected as dangerous to believe the Doctrine of God's being but one in Person because we should hereby as much as in us lies exclude from Salvation all those pious and just Men who in former Ages have liv'd and died in the Belief of a Trinity I answer The Wisdom of the Unitarian Doctrine never was so uncharitable as to suppose this yet doubtless the Belief of a Trinity must needs much lessen their future Happiness though not wholly debar them of Salvation And therefore to persist therein after due Admonition especially is very imprudent and dangerous 'T is plain that though those who believe a Trinity do believe more than either God or Christ do require as necessary to Salvation yet together or therewith many Persons do also believe all the chief Fundamentals in Religion that are requisite to save them and therefore their Hope and Trust in God's Mercy on one Hand may out-ballance their Error on the other If God winked at the Ignorance of the vertuous Gentiles how can we imagine that he should not be gracious to the heedless and unwitting Errors of the humble and contrite-hearted Christian If any Man saith the Apostle build on the Foundation Hay and Straw and Stubble that is Doctrine that will not stand the Test of Truth he shall suffer Loss yet he himself shall be saved but so as by Fire 1 Cor. 3. 15. that is with great Difficulty he shall escape Damnation If God should be extream to mark what is done amiss no Man could stand in Judgment before him as it is in Psal 143. 2. 130. 3. All Salvation is of the free Grace and Mercy of God who pardons Iniquity Transgression and Sin Exod. 34. 7. A good Life will make great Abatements upon the account of a bad Faith Mercy rejoiceth against Judgment Jam. 2. 13. and Charity shall cover a multitude of Sins 1 Pet. 4. 8. But though 't is possible for a Man to be saved in this Faith who otherwise has lived well yet 't will doubtless much lessen his future Happiness for Error of any kind is the fruitful Parent of many Mischiefs it betrays us into Absurdities and involves us in many unwarrantable Words and Actions As our Faith is so will our Practice be apt to be and consequently Error in one respect or other will be apt to make Mens Lives less innocent and the less innocent our Actions are the less doubtless will our Reward hereafter be For the eternal Glories compar'd to that of the Sun and Moon and Stars 1 Cor. 15. will be in proportion to the Degrees of our Christian Perfection They therefore whose Religion is such only as will but just preserve them from Damnation must not expect so large a share of the Divine Recompences as by God's Grace is due to the inlarged Capacity of the more exactly knowing and undefiled Soul But notwithstanding what has been said on the Behalf of those otherwise good Livers who have not been ignorant of the Truth merely out of Malice and Design I add that in case Men of false Principles are told plainly that they are in the wrong and yet they still do obstinately persist therein and refuse to consider seriously the Arguments both of Scripture and Reason that are offered to convince them I see not how in any case 't is possible for such to be saved for this is truly and plainly to reject the Counsel of God and to do Despite to the Spirit of Grace By what Nature the World was redeemed When Men have argued whatever they can about the Necessity of Christ his being truly God that so the Sacrifice he offered might be of Merit sufficient to answer the Demands of God's most Infinite Justice yet after all it must be acknowledged that our Peace was made with God only by the holy Life and Death of an humane Person for nothing that is truly God can die or shed Blood but 't is by Blood even the Blood of a dying Jesus that we are cleansed from all Sin 1 Joh. 1. 7. And this his Death for our Redemption is an undeniable Instance to prove that his Person was truly humane Christ Jesus our Lord was undoubtedly filled with the Divine Spirit for in him dwelt the Fulness of the Godhead but this did not make him God any more than a Believer shall be made God by receiving of his Fulness Joh. 1. 16. or by being Partaker of the Divine Nature promised to such 2 Pet. 1. 4. It only fitted him for the Work of Redemption he by that eminent Inhabitation of the Divine Spirit became able to surmount all Temptations to Sin and 't was only the underfiled Obedience of his Life even unto Death that made the Sacrifice which he offered unto God acceptable The Blood that was shed to manifest the intire Obedience of Jesus unto God was no other than the Blood of a most holy and excellent Man 't was not the Blood of God as some Men rashly do affirm On the Cross he that thus died cried out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Now for him to be God that thus prayed to God is I think impossible Wherefore 't is evident that he who thus died was not a true Deity and yet 't was by him that died that the World was redeemed for which blessed be the Lord God of Israel who hath thus visited and redeemed his People and hath raised up a

Analogy of Faith and the most general Scope and Design of the Holy Scriptures that is to say that Christ was before Abraham and before the World c. in the Fore-ordination Decree and Counsel of God as in very Deed St. Peter interprets them when he saith thus of Christ that he verily was fore-ordained before the Foundation of the World but was manifest in these lust times 1 Pet. 1. 20. Of the Satisfaction that Christ made to God Some argue thus That if Christ had not been God the Sacrifice he offered or the Satisfaction he made for Sinners would not have been of that Infinite Worth which was necessary to satisfy the Infinite Justice of an offended God I answer The Holy Scriptures do not any where declare this Doctrine but on the contrary they tell us that as by the Offence of one Judgment came upon all Men to Condemnation so by the Righteousness of one the free Gift came upon all Men to Justification of Life Rom. 5. 18. In which Words are contained the whole Doctrine of the Satisfaction of Christ and they imply thus much only that God was so infinitely well pleased with the unspotted Righteousness of his Son that for his sake he entred into a new Covenant of Grace and Mercy with Mankind wherein he did engage himself to be still their God and to afford them new Means of becoming his People Thus did God in Infinite Mercy take all Men again into Favour for the sake of one perfectly righteous Person as in infinite Justice he had before included all Men under Suffering for their first Father's Sin and Transgression So that as by Man came Death the Punishment due to the Breach of the first Covenant so by Man came also the Resurrection from the Dead 1 Cor. 15. 21. All which was not the Effect of any equivalent Price which by Christ was given to God but of the Righteousness or Obedience which he perform'd to his Father's Command for as by one Man's Disobedience many were made Sinners so by the Obedience of one shall many be made Righteous Rom. 5. 19. Had Christ given to God or made in our stead such a Satisfaction as had been equivalent to the Transgressions of all Men in order to redeem them how then could Eternal Life be the free Gift of God How then could we be saved by Free Grace and how could our Sins be said to be forgiven for Gift and Grace and Forgiveness are not proper terms where an Equivalent hath been received In the Scripture 't is said indeed that Christ hath obtained Eternal Redemption for us Heb. 9. 12. That our Peace is made through the Blood of his Cross Col. 1. 20. That we were reconciled unto God by the Death of his Son Rom. 5. 10. But it speaks not so much as one Word of an Equivalent But is it not said say some that we are bought with a Price 1 Cor. 6. 20. And that the Son of Man has given his Life a Ransom for many Mat. 20. 28. I answer These are but improper Expressions and are of the same Nature with those which attribute Hands and Eyes and Ears to God which only imply that such Acts are done by God which Men usually perform by these bodily Parts Even so Christ is said to ransom us and to buy us with a Price because by his Means we do receive Benefits equivalent to what they do who are set free from any kind of Misery and Bondage by the Payment of a Price to them in whose Bondage they are I shall as a Close to what I have to say on this Head add that the Justice of God spoken of is satisfied in a manner different from that which the Adversary supposes that is to say the Justice of God is satisfied in the certain Punishment of Adam's Transgression Adam was commanded not to eat of the forbidden Fruit on pain of Death This Command he transgressed and 't is evident that the Punishment was accordingly inflicted for Adam died and all his Posterity do die likewise Now when the Penalty is thus inflicted 't is plain that Justice is satisfied and God in Equity can require no more but had not Christ obtained the Favour to restore us to Life after the Punishment was thus inflicted there had then been an End of Mankind for ever From hence 't is apparent how idle their Fancy is who imagine Christ suffered what all Mankind should have suffered in order to free them for ever from suffering the same For 't is plain beyond Contradiction that we are not freed from Death the Punishment due to that first Transgression for we all die God does exact the Forfeiture of every one of us and by Consequence his Justice as to that Offence is satisfied in all its Demands But this say some is false for Hell was our Due as well as Death and from that Christ has freed every one that will believe I answer 'T is strange that Christ should free Believers from one part of the Punishment and not from the other The Scriptures no where reveal this Secret and for that Reason we need not believe it Hell is the Punishment which is due to the Breach of the second Covenant and not of the first now neither has Christ freed us from this by any thing that he has done and suffered for us He by his Righteousness did indeed procure for us a new Covenant and this new Covenant of Grace proposes Life and Pardon on condition that we will believe its Promises sincerely endeavour to obey its Precepts and repent of Sin and they are truly the Breakers of this Covenant who live in a continued Course of Disobedience thereunto and die at last in final Impenitence Now for such Sinners as these there does remain no Sacrifice Christ never died for the Redemption of such and by Consequence can no ways be said to suffer in their stead Of the Object of Divine Worship Some object that Jesus must be God because 't is recorded that his Name in the most Primitive Times of the Gospel was called upon see Acts 9. 14. and 22. 16. I answer 'T is difficult to understand rightly what is there meant by Calling on his Name This is certain that the Scripture no where injoins us to make Christ the Object of Divine Worship it does rather expresly intimate the contrary Our Lord forewarns his Disciples not to ask any thing of him after his Ascension but bids them ask the Father in his Name Job 16. 23 24 26. And when our Lord taught his own Disciples to pray he bids them say Our Father which art in Heaven Mat. 6. 9. He does not direct them to say O Christ hear us He tells the Samaritan Woman that in the following times the true Worshippers should worship the Father Joh. 4. 23. 'T was the Doctrine of St. Paul that in every thing by Prayer and Supplication we should let our Requests be made known unto God Phil. 4. 6. And his