Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	life_n	punishment_n	sin_n	9,230	5	4.9399	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30629	Cavsa dei, or, An apology for God wherein the perpetuity of infernal torments is evidenced and divine both goodness and justice, that notwithstanding, defended : the nature of punishments in general, and of infernal ones in particular displayed : the evangelical righteousness explicated and setled : the divinity of the Gentiles both as to things to be believed, and things to be practised, adumbrated, and the wayes whereby it was communicated, plainly discover'd / by Richard Burthogge ...	Burthogge, Richard, 1638?-ca. 1700.	1675 (1675)	Wing B6149; ESTC R17327	142,397	594

when the Sin for which it is inflicted is only Possible Hypothetical and on Supposition only That which would be never was in Act and it seemeth very hard and most unworthy Infinite and Soveraign Righteousness and Justice That there should be Punishment inflicted actually for sin that never was in Act. Non-entities have no Praedicates and can do Nothing if the Sin never was it can merit no Punishment 'T is ●rue the Intention of evil is sometimes Punisht where there is no evil Effect but then the Intention is the Crime In all I have said I suppose the Objection to proceed of the Event and not of the Design that the Damned would for ever sin if they liv'd for ever not that they Actually and explicitly resolv'd to sin for ever For this case is rare if possible In this the malice of the Will would be Infinite and so he that had an Actual Will or Resolve to sin for ever if he could would deserve for that to be punished for ever The will which is the Cardinal and Grand Principle of what is Moral in an Action might justly pass for the Deed. But of all the Damned few if any can be conceiv'd to have such Resolves and Intentions Nor is the second Opinion That the Damned are subject to Eternal Punishment in Hell because they sin there Eternally of more Importance than the former For though the Damned sin materially and perpetrate in Hell the same Actions some of them which they did on Earth and for which they suffer in Hell yet 't is a great Question whether they may rationally be affirmed formally to sin there since there is no Law there Hell is no part of Gods Kingdom those in it are not subjects but condemned Rebels and there is no Transgression and consequently no Sin where there is no Law Nor is their doing Actions which in themselves were sinful formerly and which perhaps are still so in Others an Argument they sin now in it For as the Beasts that are not under Law though they do the same Actions that men do yet do not sin in doing them as men sin so the Damned that do the same Actions yet being now Exiled and Banished by God from under his Protection and from his Kingdom into DUCER Darkness and consequently are no longer under the Law of his Kingdom they do not sin in what they do but suffer for what they sinn'd Hell is not a Place of Sinning but of Punishing Their Sin there is their Punishment Again a Person once condemn'd to dye for Treason cannot in our Law be Judicially called in question for any subsequent Act because he is Civiliter mortuus His former Attainder of Treason is the highest and last work of the Law in the eye of which he is Dead after that and so unable to commit offences And why after Sentence pronounced by Divine Justice on the Guilty Sinner may not he be looked on as Dead in Gods Law and as uncapable of doing any thing against it more Is not the State of Hell in Scripture call'd the Second Death But to Destroy the both Opinions at Once with one Argument Eternal Death is threatned unto men for sin in this life and the sentence of it is Pronounced on the Damn'd for this Depart from me you cursed into Everlasting Fire and why for I was an hungred and you gave me no meat I was a thirst and you gave me no Drink I was a stranger and you took me not in Naked and you cloathed me not Sick and in Prison and you visited me not Therefore Depart from me you Cursed into Everlasting Fire Now is Eternal Death be threatned unto men for sin in this Life and the Sentence of it be pronounced upon them for what they have committed here it cannot Rationally be presumed that the Everlastingness of the Punishment should not be founded on some thing in the sin already acted in the present world but only either on the Hypothetical Perpetuation of it in this or on a Fancied Continuation and Persistance in it Hereafter in the Other And having said thus much you cannot doubt of my sense of what the Learned Parker further offers out of the Schoolmen in his Treatise de Descensu which because it is a Learned Passage and one that by Representing the Variety of Opinions about the thing whereon I now discourse will also represent the Difficulty of deciding in it I shall give you entirely Atqui nostrum quòd in medio tutissimum iter est Christum nempe c. But our Opinion lyes in the middle in which it is most safe to go namely that Christ endured the very Pains of Hell as to their Substance which were due to us and yet avoided their Eternity To make this clear We Deny that Infernal Eternal Pain is absolutely due to All Sins and withal with the Schoolmen particularly with Iohanne's Scotus and with Iohannes Picus C. of Mirandula affirm that some Distinction must be made in this matter There are Three things then that ought to be considered by us in sin The first is the Aversion that is in it from God and to this the Pain of Loss which is Infinite is due forasmuch as it is the Amission of an Infinite Good The second is a Conversion to what is Perishing and Transient and to this the pain of sense is Due which is Intensively Finite Agreeably as that delight and pleasure the sinner takes therein is Finite But thirdly there is to be considered also in sin either the Continuation and Persistence of the sinner in it or his Cessation from it It is only with the first of these that Eternity of Pain doth hold proportion The second is adjusted by a but Temporal enduring of the Pain It is Objected that every sinner sins in his Eternity as Gregory speaks forasmuch as he hath cast himself upon a necessity of sinning from which he cannot possibly be Restrained by any endeavours of his own This indeed is true and therefore the Eternity of Punishment doth naturally follow their sin But yet this hinders not but that if sin be supernaturally interrupted by Repentance in that case Extremity only and not Eternity of Punishment should be the Due as which answers the greatness of the sin but finitely committed And this is that which Scotus contends for and which the Count of Mirandula demonstrates at large namely that to sin continued to Eternity both in the Guilt and Filth Eternal Punishment is due but that it is in no wise necessary nor exacted by Divine Justice that Eternal Punishment should be inflicted for sins that are not continued to Eternity but abandoned by Repentance Now things being so 't is easie for Every Body to discern how Iesus Christ endured the Pain of Hell without the Eternity especially That being remembred which we said before That He sustained not the Infernal Pains of those actually Damned but only of those that were to be so Non Damnatorum poenam

no great matter nor is the eating of it in it self a Greater But then it is no small matter neither to offer an Affront to God Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth to scorn and contemn most Excellent Majesty to oppose his Will to break his Bands asunder and cast away his Cords which Adam did in eating And what is offer'd by the Atheist in order to extenuate and abate the Guilt doth extreamly aggravate and heighten it that he would break with God for but an Apple as one resolved to deny himself in nothing to keep in with God and Please Him who is his Maker and Soveraign Verily He that will break for an Apple will break for any thing Without doubt It was an Ample Demonstration of the Infinite Benignity and Goodness of God that He did not choose a greater matter to exercise the Vertue and Obedience of the First Man in who might very well have forborn the Apples of but One Tree when he had so many Others bountifully Accorded to him to Oblige and gratifie him Indeed had God Requir'd Proof of Mans Obedience in a matter absolutely necessary to his Comfort or Delight it might have minister'd some colour of Excuse for his Failure But now there is None 'T was but an Apple no more that God denyed him and would he run the hazard of Divine Displeasure and Expose his own Eternal Happiness for That What Pretext can there be for a Plea that he would be faithful in greater matters that broke his Faith for so small a One Some find the Breach of all the Commandments in This. Verily That Adam disobliged God for an Apple it argues the greater contempt of God and the greater Injustice in Adam For this I appeal to Aristotle who speaks home to All I have said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those Injuries are greater which proceed from a greater Injustice on which consideration the least things done may be the greatest wrongs So Callistratus accused Melanopus that he had defrauded the Maker of Shrines of Three Half-pence c. But to Return This Sin Objecctively is Infinite and it is on this Infinity of Guilt and aggravation which is in Sin by reason of its Object that the Perpetuity of its Punishment or to use your own expression the Infinity thereof is grounded which is the Second thing to be Proved And the first Consideration to Evince it which I shall insist upon again hereafter when I more expresly shew the Proportion and Equality between the Sin and Punishment is that there is nothing else in the Punishment of meerly Finite Beings but the Perpetuity or Infinity of its Duration that can answer that Infinity and Vastness of Guilt and Aggravation which is in the Sin by Reason of that Infinite Goodness and Transcendent Majesty that is the Butt and Object of it Nothing in the Punishment but its Infinite Duration answers the Infinity of the Guilt and Aggravation in the Sin But beside this main consideration there is another that Establishes it namely that Eternal Death or Perpetuity of Punishment is threatned unto sin as sin every sin and therefore must be bottomed on something is in sin as sin in every sin which what it should be is unimaginable other than the Aggravation it receiveth from the Object which if you suppose it but to be then will all things be adjusted and as I shall evidently shew hereafter on the fourth Head will all lye Even and Square Nor is it a Barr unto the Truth alledged and Pleaded for but rather a Confirmation that the Punishment which Jesus Christ sustained in behalf of all that will receive him who suffering in their stead is understood to bear what they should was in its utmost Duration and Extent but short and momentany For as much as it is evident that the Punishment in Him receiv'd the same Infinity or Reputation from the Subject he being GOD-MAN that the sin of man Receiv'd from the Object which was GOD. For if in the One God was sinn'd against in the Other God suffered the Blood of Christ was the Blood of God The Sin was Infinite it was committed against an Infinite God the Punishment was infinite it was suffer'd by an Infinite Person Not that Christ suffer'd as he was God God as God cannot suffer but he who was God suffer'd Passions as Actions are of Persons or Supposites and as the Infinity of the Object made the Sin Infinite in Aggravation So the Infinity of the Subject suffering made the Punishment so in Value and Reputation Thus Christ suffering for us suffered but a moment though we had we suffered for our selves were to suffer to Eternity So congruous it is and so agreeable that the Perpetuity of infernal Punishment should be bottom'd on the aggravation which the sin receiveth from its object but yet as evident a Truth and as Perspicuous as it seemeth Many there are who cannot Acquiesce and rest contented with it Who think themselves obliged to Account for this Article in a very different way and manner from that so lately proposed They tell us tha● men are therefore Infinitely Punished or as some express it Punished in Gods Eternity because they sin in their own they sin as long as they live and therefore suffer for it as long as God Lives Of which Assertion there are two senses of which I must acknowledge that they seem tolerable and to bear some Weight for in the third it is a Jingle most unworthy of the Gravity and Judgement of the men that use it The first is That thé Damned should they live for ever here they would sin for ever and so are Punisht not for what they have done but what they would do The Second that in Hell they never leave sinning and that therefore God will never leave Punishing Truth is it were all one to me and my design which is to evidence the Perpetuity of Internal Torments to have it bottomed on either these considerations one or both if I thought them able to support the weight of it or on the former I have laid But not having that Opinion of their great sufficiency and strength some others have and knowing that a weak and ruinous foundation most times betrayes the Fabrick I am unwilling a Doctrine of so much concernment and importance unto all mankind and to all Religion should be oblig'd to stand or fall with them Wherefore that for the future none may build upon them I shall bestow a little of my time and exercise a little of your patience to shew their Weakness For the first then that the Damned would sin for ever if they lived for ever here and that therefore they are Punished for ever I say it seemeth not an Account that can be owned with any safety to the honour of Divine Iustice seeing to those that weigh things and that know That only to be Just which is Equal it appears not so Consistent with it that the Punishment should be Actual Real Effectual

gehennalem sustinuisse sed Damnandorum tantum Verily the Use of this Distinction here is very great since those that are Actually Damned sin far otherwise than the Elect that were to be so So that Eternal Torment is in Justice due to Them but to these Extream Torment indeed is but not Eternal This is clear in a simile Imprisonment is no part of the Debt but is Justly due to him that abides in Debt And thus it is in the Elect and Reprobate of which the former paying the Debt in Jesus Christ and renewed by the Holy Spirit ceasing from sin are freed from that Eternal Prison of Hell in which the Damned are Tormented for ever because they are for ever in Debt and abide for ever Polluted with the Filth and with the Guilt of Sin The Case then is thus Christ suffered only for the Elect who were to be Damned to whose sins ceasing by Repentance not Eternity but Only Extremity of Punishment was due So that Justice Requir'd not that Christ should Endure the Eternity but only the Extremity of the Torments of Hell This is the Notion of the Learned Parker which yet I must acknowledge I cannot Entertain a thought of but with Repugnance for to me it seemeth very Harsh if not directly contrary to Sacred Scripture That Death Eternal should not be the Due of every sin For though indeed Perpetual Torments are not inflicted on every sinner and for every sin yet they are deserved and merited by every sin and due to every sinner The wages of sin is Death Death Eternal for it is opposed to Eternal Life And if Almighty God be pleased to forgive and Pardon upon Repentance it is his Free-Grace and not his Justice but in respect of that well-order'd and Immutable Covenant wherein he has oblig'd and ty'd himself to do so so indeed he is faithful to forgive Nor is Hell a Sheriffs Ward in which the Debtor is Imprisoned till he pay his Debt For Imprisonment on Account of Debt is not so intended as a Punishment upon the Debtor for not having paid as to be in lieu of Payment and satisfaction of the Debt But 't is ordain'd to Necessitate him and to compell him to Pay it Whereas all Infernal Torments are truly Poenal Design'd for satisfaction to the Law and Justice and Not by way of compulsion to make the Prisoner pay a Debt which when he is in Hell it is impossible for him to Do since that Design were Irrational In vain are those means which are Referred to Ends that they can never compass Nor can it consist with Wisdom to Institute such The Punishments of Hell are Debts Nor are there are Other which they are ordained to constrain the Prisoner to pay If the Scripture speak of lying in Prison till men Pay the Utmost Farthing it must be Understood of the Eternal Punishment to be Undergone in Hell This is the Only Debt there to be paid of which no Abatement can be had It is expected to the Utmost Farthing and this is all that that Phrase imports Thus you see I differ both from this and other Excellent and Learned Persons and why I do so about the Ground on which the Perpetuity of Infernal Punishment is rais'd I say the Perpetuity for though I have acknowledged Infernal Punishments to be Perpetual yet I cannot easily be brought to own them to be Infinite but with Distinction they are not Infinite in Essence or Being ' but only in Duration or Continuance and consequently are not to be called Infinite in any sense but because they are Endless For questionless the Torments which the Damned suffer in Hell are intrinsecally and subjectively Finite and as Finite as the sins themselves intrinsecally and subjectively are for which they be Inflicted For since all Reception is according to the Measure and Capacity of what Receives the Torment Pain or Punishment inflicted on a Finite Creature and received by it neither is intrinsecally and subjectively Infinite nor indeed can possibly be So that if the sin subjectively and intrinsecally be Finite the Punishment ordained is not subjectively and intrinsecally Infinite which was the third thing to be proved And this Re-minds me of the fourth thing I promised namely to Represent expressly the Proportion between the Sin of man and the Punishment of it And this Proportion is manifest For if the Sin of Man subjectively be Finite and Unequal as well as Finite the Punishment of that sin subjectively is also Finite and Unequal as well as Finite there are Degrees of Torments in Hell as there are Degrees of Guilt in sin and if the Punishment be Infinite Protensively and in Duration it is because the sin is so Objectively and in Aggravation And Infinite objective Aggravation for such is that of sin as we have formerly evidenced it cannot be Proportion'd in the Punishment of a meerly Finite Being but by its infinite Duration and Extent Once the sin is some way Infinite but the Punishment of a meerly Finite Being neither is nor can be any wise so but in Duration Wherefore the Punishment would be Unequal to the sin if as this is Infinite in Aggravation that were not also so in Duration But this I hinted before And now Sir upon the whole you will be pleas'd to Judge what Inequality there is or what Unjustice or rather what great Equality and Justice in Divine Proceeding wherein you cannot but receive abundant satisfaction as to the Equity and Righteousness thereof if to what Considerations have already been presented you concerning it you but add the following First That the Proportion which is observed in Distributive or as Aristotle calls it Dianemetic Justice is not Arithmetical but Geometrical or as they love to speak the medium it observeth is not medium Rei but Personae that is that Persons are as much consider'd in the Distribution of Rewards and Punishments as things themselves Yea and more Secondly That in Proportioning of Punishments to make them Just and Equal it is not Requisite that their Duration should exactly be adjusted unto that of the sin 's A short and momentany sin if aggravated in the circumstances may in great Justice have allotted to it long and tedious Punishment A Truth so obvious that were it not Unnecessary I might abundantly enlarge in instancing it and I would have offer'd somewhat of mine own in that kind but that the grave St. Austine from whom I make no question but you will take it better hath happily prevented me He tells us Some of the Adversaries of Gods City hold it Injustice for him that hath offended but temporally to be bound to suffer pain Eternally this they say is utterly Unjust As though they knew any Law that adapted the time of the Punishment to the time in which the Crime was committed Eight kinds of Punishments doth Tully affirm the Laws to inflict Damages Imprisonment Whipping Like for Like Publick Disgrace Banishment Death and Bondage Which of these can be