Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	law_n	sin_n	sin_v	8,157	5	9.6294	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B05829	Certain select cases resolved. Specially, tending to the right ordering of the heart, that we may comfortably walk with God in our general and particular callings. / By Thomas Shephard, sometimes of Emanuel College in Cambridge; now preacher of Gods word in New-England.	Shephard, Thomas, 1605-1649.	1695 (1695)	Wing S3105A; ESTC R227738	42,314	125

rationally wrapt up in the Covenant of grace Indeed gross scandalous sins nay infirmities when they are given way to and not resisted may keep the soul from the fruition for a time of Gods Covenant but never from the eternal jus and right unto it for as the habit of Faith or Grace gives a man a constant right to the promise and Covenant which seed ever remains which habit ever lasts Jer. 3. 9. so the act of Faith or Grace gives a man fruition of the Covenant and the benefit of the promise and hence by the acting and venting of some sins wherein there is included the neglect of the exercise of grace He that is really in covenant with God may be deprived of the fruition of it yet seeing the seed of God and the habit of grace ever remains he cannot by any sin break his covenant for the covenant of grace is absolute wherein the Lord doth not only promise the good but to begin perfect fulfil the condition absolutly without respect of sin ex parte creaturae Indeed if Gods covenant of Grace did as that of works depend upon man to fulfil the condition having sufficient grace to fulfil it then gross sin might well break the Covenant but seeing God hath undertaken to fulfil the Covenant absolutely not withstanding all the evils and sins of the soul no sin can possibly break that knot and covenant which so firm and resolute love hath once knit And therefore if this be a good argument Infirmities cannot break covenant What cause have I to be humbled for them so as to say It is thy mercy Lord that I am not consumed for them as you write you may upon the same ground say so If the Lord should desert you or you for Take the Lord and so fall into the foulest sin which I suppose corrupt conscience dares not be so bold as to think or allow of 2. Secondly I say the least sins or infirmities do break the first covenant of works and hence you do not only deserve but are under the sentence of death and curse of God immediatly after the least hairs-breadth swarving from the Law by the smallest sin and most involuntary accidental infirmity According to the Tenor of the Law the soul that sinneth shall die and cursed is he that continueth not in all things of the Law Gal. 3. 10. The least sin being ex parte objecti in respect of God against whom it is committed as horrible and as great as the greatest For it being an infinite wrong being the dishonour of an infinite Majesty there can be no greater wrong than an infinite one unless you can imagin a thing greater than that which is insinite and therefore in this respect there is as much venom and mischief done against God in the least as in the greatest sin And therefore it and whosoever commit it deserve death for it as if they had committed the foulest sin in the world and therefore after the least and smallest infirmities you may from hence see what cause you have freely to be humbled and to confess for them how worthy you are to be destroyed yea even to look upon your self as lying under the sentence of the Law and death immediately after the commission of them and so to mourn bitterly for them Object But you will say a Christian that is under the Covenant of Grace is not within the Covenant of Works that Bond is cancelled the last will must stand and therefore he being out of that Covenant no sins of his can be said to break the Covenant for no man can be said to break that Law under which he is not and which he is not bound to keep Answ I answer every Believer has a double being or standing and so there may be put upon him a double respect 1. First he may be considered as united to and having a spiritual being on Christ and so it is true he is under Grace and the Covenant of Grace and not under the Law nor the Covenant of works and hence not being under the Law nor bound to keep it as a covenant of life tho' it be a rule of life no sin can condemn him there being no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8. 1. But as Christ is above condemnation and law and death and curse so is he And this truly understood is the foundation of a Christians joy and peace and glory every day yet so as tho' sin doth not condemn him yet he has good reason to say it is mercy and meer mercy Lord that I am not consumed that I am condemned For sin is the same nay grace and Gods love aggravates sin for to sin against the law deserves death without recovery but to sin when grace has received me and loved me when the blood of Christ has been shed abundantly to deliver me from sin Oh this makes the most secret silent sin a crying one So that if you do consider this well you may see what little cause there is to have your heart rising against the deepest humilation for the least sin tho' you be in Christ and under grace For as Daniel when he was put into the Lions den had not the cause to wonder that he was not torn in pieces by them and why because it was not from any defect on their parts to tear him in pieces but from the omnipotent power and mercy and grace of his God that muzzell'd their mouths so tho' no Lion can ●ear tho' no sins can hurt or condemn a Christian as he is considered in Christ yet has not he cause to confess and wonder and say Lord it is thy meer grace and mercy that it is not so which is the act of humilation your letter saith you can hardly come unto and why not because Gods grace puts any less evil in sin but because it is meerly grace that keeps it from spitting that venom which otherwise it would Secondly A Christian may be considered in respect of his natural being in hi●●elf and thus he is ever under the Law and as oft as he sinneth under the sentence of death and as the Apostle speaks by na●ure even we justified quickned are the children of wrath as well as others And thus after the least involuntary accidental sin you may easily see what cause you have to lie down deeply humbled mourning under the sentence of death and Gods eternal curse as a condemned man going to execution to feel that fire that shall never go out looking upon your self as you are in your self a forlorn cast-away every moment and this truly understood is the foundation of a Christians sorrow shame and confusion of face self-loathing self-forgetting self-forsaking and condemning every day and believe it Sir it is no small Piece of a Christians skill and work to put a difference between himself and himself himself as he is in Christ and so to joy and triumph and himself as he is growing on

Conversation whereby he upholdeth things in their being and power of working Act. 17. 28. Psal 104. 29 30. Nehem. 9. 6. Secondly in Gubernation whereby he guides directs brings all creatures to their ends Psal 29. 10. Psal 33. 11. Q. Doth God govern all creatures alike A. No but some he governs by a common providence and others by a special providence to wit Angels and Men to an eternal estate of happiness in pleasing him or of misery in displeasing him Deut. 30. 15 16. Q. What of Gods Providence appears in his special government of man A. Two things 1. Mans Apostacy or fall 2. His Recovery or rising again Q. Concerning mans fall what are you to observe therein A. Two things 1. His transgression in eating the forbidden fruit Gen. 2. 17. 2. The propagation of this unto all Adam's posterity Q. Was this so great a sin to eat of the forbidden fruit A. Yes exceeding great this Tree being a Sacrament of the Covenant also he had a special charge not to eat of it and in it the whole man did strike against the whole law even when God had so highly advanced him Q. what are the causes of this transgression A. The blameless cause was the law of God Rom. 5. 13. And hence as the Law did it so God did it holy justly and blamelesly Rom. 7. 10 11 12. Q. What are the blameable causes A. Two principally 1. The devil abusing the serpent to deceive the woman Gen. 3. 1. 2. Man himself in abusing his own free-will in receiving the temptation which he might have resisted Eph. 7 29. Q. What is the Devil A. That great number of apostate rebellious Angels which through pride and blasphemy against God and malice against man becamely ars and murtherers of man by bringing him into that sin Luk. 11. 18. 1 Tim. 3. 6. 1 loh. 3. 12. loh. 8. 44. Q. What are the effects and fruits of this transgression A. They are two 1. Guilt wherby they are tied to undergo due punishment for the fault Rom. 3. 19. 2. Punishment which is the just anger of God upon them for the filth of sin Rom. 1. 18. Q. What are the particular punishments inflicted on the causes of this sin A. Besides the fearful punishment of the devils mentioned Iude 6. and that of the Serpent the Woman Gen. 3. 14 16 the punishment of man was first Sin Original Actual Secondly death Gen. 5. 5. Q. What is sin A. The transgression of Gods law Io. 3. 4. Q. What is Original and Actual sin A. First Original sin is the contrariety of the whole nature of man to the law of God whereby it being averse from all good is enclined to all evil Eccles 8. 11. Gen. 6. 5. Rom. 6. 20. Secondly Actual sin is the continual jarring of the actions of man from the law of God by reason of original sin and so man hath no free will to any spiritual good Esa 65. 2 3. Jam. 1. 14 15. Esa 1. 11. Q. What death is that God inflicts on man for sin A. A double death 1. The first death of the body together with the beginnings of it in this world as grief shame losles sicknesses Deut. 28. 21 22. 35. 2. The Second death of the Soul which is the eternal separation and ejection of the Soul after death and Soul and body after judgment from God into everlasting torments in hell Q. Is there no beginning of this death as there is of the other in this life A. Yes as first Security and hardness of heart which cannot feel sin its greatest evil 2. Terrors of conscience Heb. 2. 15. 3. Bondage of Satan Eph. 2. 2. 4. The curse of God in all blessings whereby they are fitted for destruction Rom. 9. 22. Q. What of Gods attributs shine forth here 1. His holiness whereby he being pure from all sin cannot away with the least sin in the best of his creatures Heb. 1. 13. 2. His Justice whereby he being most just in himself cannot but punish man for sin as well as reward him for well doing 2. Thes 1. 6. 3. His Patience whereby he useth pity Patience and Bounty to his creatures offending Rom. 2. 3. Q. Is this sin and the punishment of it derived to all mens posterity A. Yes Ioh. 3. 3. Eph. 2. 3. Q. How is it propagated A. By the imputation of Adams sin unto us and so the punishment must needs follow upon it Rom. 5. 13. Q. Why should Adams sin be imputed to all his posterity A. Because we were in him as the members in the head as children in his loyns as debtors in their surety as branches in their roots it being just that as if he standing al had stood by imputation of his righteousness so he falling al should fall by the imputation of his sin Q. Thus have you seen mans apostacy from God what is his recovery A. It is the return of man to the favour of God again meerly out of favour and the exceeding riches of his free grace Eph. 2. 12 13. Rom. 5. 8. Q. How are we brought into favour and what are the parts of this recovery A. Two wayes First by Redemption 2 Cor. 5. 19 20. 2dly by Application hereof Tit. 3. 6. Q. What is Redemption A. The satisfaction made or the price payed to the justice of God for the life and deliverance of man out of the captivity of sin Satan and death by a Redeemer according to the Covenant made between him and the Father 1 Cor. 6. 20. Luk. 1. 74. Esa 55. 10 11. Q. Who is this Redeemer A. Jesus Christ God and Man Mat. 1. 23. Ioh. 1. 14. Col. 2. 19. Q. VVhy is he God Man A. Tha t so he might be a fit Mediator to transact all businessess between God and man in the execution of his three Offices whereunto he was anointed of the Father 1 Tim. 2. 5. Esa 42. 12. Q. What are those three Offices of Christ A. 1. His Prophetical Office whereby he doth reveal the will of the Father Act. 3. 22. Col. 2. 3. 2. His Priestly Office whereby he makes full atonement with the Father for us Col. 1. 20. 3. His Kingly Office whereby he governs his people whom he had taught and reconciled subduing their enemies and procuring their eternal peace Psal 2. 6. Esa 9. 6. Q. How hath Christ Iesus made satisfaction A. By his humiliation whereby he was made subject throughout his whole life and death to the strict Justice of God to perform what ever the same might require for the redemption of man Gal. 4. 4 5. Q. What did Gods Justice require of man A. 1. Death for the breach of the Law and that Christ tasted in his bitter sufferings both of body and Soul by being made sin and so abolishing sin and this is called his Passive Obedience Heb. 2. 9. Eph. 1. 7. 2 Cor. 5. 21. Gal. 3. 13. 2. Perfect Obedience in fulfilling the Law perfectly both in his Nature and Actions

his first root and so to sorrow and loath and condemn himself so that to wind up all that I have said look upon your self as in Christ you may say these involuntary infirmities do not shall not condemn me But Lord it is grace Grace that it is not so and this is Evangelical humiliation Look again upon your self as you stand on your own bottom and live in your own nature and so you may say after the least infirmity I have now broken a most holy and righteous Law and rherefore I am already condemned O woe is me I have already undone my self by mine iniquity and this is Legal humiliation which serves for mortification as the first for vification I know it is very difficult to bring the heart to acknowledg freely it deserves death after so small an involuntary offence but when the Lord reveals two things First himself in his glory Secondly how the least sin strikes him I perswade my self the vilest heart cannot but be forced to confess how just God should be in his severest proceedings against him And withal consider the more involuntary any sin is the more strong and natural it is and the more natural the more horrible as to be a natural Thief is far worse than to be a deliberat thief who somtimes steals and therefore good Sir take heed of looking no deeper nor seeing no further than the bare act and unvoluntariness and accidentalness and suddenness of your infirmities for if you do you look through the wrong end of the glass and they will appear so small that you will find it a very tough work to bring your heart consentively to say if I may say and use your own phrase It is thy mercy Lord that I am not consumed for them but look upon them as indeed they are in respect of that infinite glory you strike doing the greatest mischiefs to God by them and which makes them the viler as they are so strong you cannot remove them and so horrible as that it is natural to you to commit them c. And surely you will not through grace find such thoughts haunt you long not but that they will be haply rising and tempting but never alway vexing and prevailing Ans Satans ground reaching as far as the minds of Gods people and therefore so far he may come and there he may walk for he came into the mind of innocent Adam nay Jesus Christ by his suggesting temptations but the heart is Christs peculiar possession and purchase and if he shall still there offer to come in and vex you and prevail against you and to lodge his suggestions this or any other way with you you have Law and Christ on your side by this little light now given you to cast him out Quest 3. The third thing that troubles you is the dis-ranking of the Persons in the Trinity for tho' you think the holy Ghost is God yet you have not so high a repute of him as of the Father and the Son because the Son addresseth himself to God the Father in all his prayers and acknowledgmenrs in a more immediate manner than unto the holy Ghost and therefore you would know if the word Father as in the Lords Prayer includes not the Unity in Trinity To this briefly consider three things 1. Without all question the same God which lies under that relative property of Father is the same God with the God-head of the Son and the God-head of the holy Ghost there being not three Gods and therefore the God-head of the Son and Spirit are not excluded but included in the God-head of the Father when we look upon the Father as God in the Lords Prayer or any where else 2. But secondly the Father as Father is never taken for the same holy Ghost in Scripture nor the Son as Son is taken for the Father nor the holy Ghost as holy Ghost is at any time taken for the Son For it is a rule in Theologie tho' the res substrata the thing that lies under the Relative property viz. the God-head of every person be common and communicated yet the same God-head considered as clothed with his Relative property as Father Son and Spirit it is not common but peculiar For the God-head of the Father as Fathet is not the God-head of the Son as Son c. 3. Hence it follows that when Christ addresseth himself to the Father as Father in Scripture it is not because he is either a diverse or greater God than the holy Ghost but it is for two other reasons 1. Because the Father as Father received primarily the wrong that sin did against his work of creation for the Father being the first person in order creation the first transcient act as election and reprobation were the best immanent hence this work is attributed chiefly to God the Father in respect of our orderly apprehension and hence man sinning then when he was only made this is chiefly attributed to be against the Father because his work appeared to be chiefly there and not against the Son for his work chiefly appears in redemption he being the second Person and this the second main and wonderful work neither against the holy Ghost for his work chiefly appears to us in application being the third Person And this the third main act that ever God will do or show forth to the world in this life hence God the Father receiving to our apprehension the wrong in creation by sin he is the Person that is to be satisfied and not the holy Ghost And hence Jesus Christ in all his prayers has a most special eye to him and not to the holy Ghost as holy Ghost because he came into the world by his death and intercession and strong cries to satisfie God the Father and not God the holy Ghost as a third Person And hence it is said 1 John 2. 1 2. If any sin we have an Advocate with God the Father not God the holy Ghost because he was to our apprehension the Person wronged and hence we are after sins committed chiefly to eye the Father in our prayers and to go to him for pardon with our advocate with us because to whom offence is chiefly offered from him chiefly pardon and reconciliation is to be expected 2. Therefore Christ addresseth himself chiefly in his prayers to God the Father because he is the original and first cause of all good because he is the first Person in order of subsisting and therefore first too in the manner of conveying I know the God-head is the original of all good but consider the Persons one with another and so the Father is ever the first in operation as the holy Ghost is the last in consummation for all good comes from the Father James 1. 17. through the Son by the holy Ghost And hence in all our prayers we are to look for all good from the Father for his Sons sake to be conveyed us by the holy Ghost