Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	punishment_n	sin_n	wage_n	4,100	5	11.0461	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A90682	The Christians rescue from the grand error of the heathen, (touching the fatal necessity of all events) and the dismal consequences thereof, which have slily crept into the church. In several defences of some notes, writ to vindicate the primitive and scriptural doctrine of Gods decrees. By Thomas Pierce rector of Brington in Northamptonshire.	Pierce, Thomas, 1622-1691.	1658 (1658)	Wing P2166; Thomason E949_1; ESTC R18613	77,863	94

transgression of some Law so every punishment is the revenge of some sin upon which it follows that if a mans sin is from himself 't is from himself that he is punisht And as the Law is not the Cause but the * Occasion only of sin so God is not the Cause but the inflicter only of punishment for so saies the Apostle Sin taking occasion by the Commandement wrought in me all manner of Concupiscence for without the Law sin was dead That which is good not being made death but sin working death by that which is good God and his Law are each of them the Causa sine qua non the Condition without which sin and punishment could not have been for without Law no sin without God no Reprobation but not the Energetical efficient Cause of which sin punishment were the necessary effects For if God had made a Hell by an absolute purpose meerly because he would that some should suffer it and not in a previous intuition of their sins Damnation had been a Misery but not a Punishment as if a Potter makes a vessel on purpose that he may break it which yet none but a mad man can be thought to do or if a man meerly for recreation cuts up Animals alive which yet none ever did that I can hear of except a young Spanish Prince it is an Infelicity and a torment but no more a punishment than it is any thing else Indeed the Common people who doe not understand the just propriety of words make no distinction many times betwixt Pain and Punishment not considering that Punishment is a relative word of which the correlative is breach of Law and therefore is fitly exprest in Scripture by the mutual relation betwixt a Parent and a Child when lu● hath * conceived it bringeth forth sin sin being perfected bringeth forth death Iam. 1. 15. which is as much as to say according to the propriety of the Apostles words sin is the parent and death is the childe Now there cannot be a child without a parent for they are relata secundum esse much lesse can the child be before the parent for sunt simul natura dicuntur ad convertentiam Upon which it followes that punishment could not be ordained by God either without sin or before it or without respect and intuition of it which yet the great * Mr. Calvin does plainly say I say it could not because it implies a contradiction For though God could easily make Adam out of the earth and the earth out of nothing yet he could not make a sinful Cain to be the son of sinful Adam before there was an Adam much lesse before there was a sinful one because it were to be and not to be at the same time Adam would be a Cause before an entity which God Almighty cannot do because he is Almighty So that when the Romanists assert their Transubstantiation or the posterity of Marcion their Absolute decree of all the evil in the world both pretending a Reverence to Gods omnipotence they doe as good as say † those things which are true may therefore be false because they are true or that God is so * Almighty as to be able not to be God that being the Result of an Ability to make two parts of a contradiction true so said S. Austin against Faustus and Origen against Celsus Whensoever it is said God can do all things 't is meant of all things that become him So Isidore the Pelusiote But to return to that argument in the pursuit of which I have stept somewhat too forward if Gods preordination of mans eternal misery were in order of nature before his prescience of mans sin as Mr. Calvin evidently affirms in his Ideo * praesciverit quia decreto suo praeordinavit setting Praeordination as the Cause or Reason or praevious Requisite to his Praescience either mans Reprobation must come to passe without sin or else he must sin to bring it orderly to passe which is to make God the author either of misery by it self without relation to sin or else of sin in order to misery The first cannot be because God hath * sworn he hath no pleasure in the death of a sinner Ezek. 33. 14. much lesse in his death that never sinn'd And because if it were so the Scripture would not use the word Wages and the word Punishment and the word Retribution and the word Reward Hell indeed had been a torment but not a Recompence a fatal Misery but not a Mulct an act of power but not of vengeance which yet in many places is the stile that God speaks in Vengeance is mine and I will repay Rom. 12 19. Nor can the second be lesse impossible it having formerly been proved that God is not the Author of sin he hath no need of the sinful man whereby to bring mans Ruine the more conveniently about and most of them that dare say it are fain to say it in a Disguise Some indeed are for ligonem ligonem but the more modest blasphemers are glad to dresse it in cleaner phrase A strange {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in Divinity to put the 1 child before the parent the 2 wages before the work the 3 end before the means the Reprobation before the sin yet so they do who make the Decree of Reprobation most irrespective and unconditional and after that say that whom God determines to the end he determines to the meanes To put the horse upon the Bridle is a more rational Hypallage For by this Divinity eternal punishment is imputed to Gods Antecedent will which is called the first and sin to his consequent will which is the second The first {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and the other only {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} punishment chiefly and sin by way of consecution Men are bid not to sin ex voluntate signi or revelata but are determin'd to it ex voluntate occulta or beneplaciti Distinctions very good when at first they were invented for better uses the former by S. Chrysostome from whom it was borrow'd by Damascene and from him by the Schoolmen But I say they all were used to very contrary purposes by them and by these who endeavour'd to repel those Fathers with their own weapons as the elaborate † Gerard Vossius does very largely make it appear I am sorry I must say what yet I must saith * Tertullian when it may tend to edification That the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering abundant in goodnesse and truth who is all Bowels and no gall who hateth nothing that he hath made who in the midst of Iudgement remembreth mercy ever forgiving iniquity transgression and sin is exhibited to the world by the Authors and Abetters of unconditional Reprobation as a kind of Platonick Lover of so excellent a Creature 's everlasting misery Which if

the Apostle had foreseen an objection that the word all might be restrained unto the houshold of Faith he prevents it by a distinction of general and special For if he is a special Saviour of believers he is a general Saviour of those that are unbelievers not that unbelievers can be saved whilest they are obstinate unbelievers but upon condition they will repent and believe else why should the Apostle affirm the Saviour to be of all and then come off with an especially to them that believe Certainly if it is every mans duty to believe in Christ Christ dyed for every man And this very argument is not easily answered in the very confession of Dr. Twisse who yet by and by saies 't is easily answered and yet he leaves it without an answer he only scornes it and lets it passe Twiss. in Respon. ad Armin. Praefat. p. 16. col 2. This is secondly confirm'd from the Apostle's way of arguing 2 Cor. 5. 14. If one died for all then were all dead This is the major Proposition of an hypothetical syllogisme in which the thing to be proved is that all were dead and the Medium to prove it is that one dyed for all Now every man knows that understands how to reason that the argument of proof must be rather more than lesse known than the thing in question to be proved so that if it be clear that all men were dead by the fall of the first Adam it must be clearer as St. Paul argues that life was offered unto all by the death of the second Adam and if none were dyed for but the Elect then the Elect only were dead for the word all must signifie as amply in the Assumption as it does in the Sequel or else the Reasoning will be fallacious and imperfect The Apostle thus argues If one dyed for all then were all dead But one dyed for all that must be the Assumption Therefore all were dead Whosoever here denies the Minor does before he is aware condemn the Sequel of the Major and so gives the Lie to the very words of the Text which I can look for from none but some impure Helvidius who would conclude the greatest falsehoods from the word of Truth This is thirdly confirmed from the saying of the Apostle Rom. 11. 32. that God concluded all in unbelief the Gentiles first verse 30. and afterwards the Iewes verse 31. that he might have mercy upon all From whence I inferre that if this last all belong to none but the Elect then none but the Elect were concluded in unbelief But it is plain that all without exception were first or last concluded in unbelief therefore the mercy was meant to all without exception Lastly it is confirm'd from those false Prophets and false Teachers 2 Pet. 2. 1. who though privily bringing in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bringing upon themselves swift destruction yet it seems they were such whom the Lord had bought So far is God from being the Cause of mans destruction by an absolute irrespective unconditional Decree that he gave himself a ransome even for them that perish They were not left out of the bargain which was made with his Iustice but the Apostle tels us they were actually bought He whose blood was sufficient for a thousand worlds would not grudge its extent to the major part of but one He was merciful to all men but the greatest part of men are unmerciful to themselves He is the Saviour of all but yet all are not saved because he only offers does not obtrude himself upon us He * offers himself to all but most refuse to receive him He will have no man to perish but repent by his Antecedent will but by his Consequent will he will have every man perish that is impenitent Which is sufficient to have been said for the negative part of my undertaking That the cause of Damnation is not on God's part in which if any one Text be found of power to convince let no man cavil at those others which seem lesse convincing If any one hath an objection let him stay for an answer till his objection is urged It might seem too easie to solve objections of my own choice or confute an argument of my own making and therefore I passe without notice of common shifts and subterfuges till I am call'd to that Drudgery to the second part of my enterprise which is the affirmative 16. That man himself is the cause of his eternal punishment Which though supposed in the negative must yet be proved to some persons who are prevailed upon by fashions and modes of speech and will deny that very thing when they see it in one colour which they will presently assent to when they behold it in another He who is very loth to say that God is the Author of sin and damnation will many times say it in other termes and therefore in other terms it must be proved that he is not O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self but in me is thine help Hosea 13. 6. They that privily bring in Damnable Heresies shall bring upon themselves swift destruction The foolishness of man perverteth his way And as when lust conceiveth it bringeth forth sin so when sin is finished it bringeth forth death Iam. 1. 15. If death is that monster of which sin is the Dam that brings it forth how foul a thing must be the Sire and can there be any greater blasphemy than to bring God's Providence into the pedigree of Death Death saith the Apostle is the wages of sin Rom. 6. 23. and wages is not an absolute but a relative word It is but reason he should be paid it who hath dearly earn'd it by his work It is the will of man that is the servant of sin Disobedience is the work Death eternal is the wages and the Devil is the pay-master who as he sets men to work to the dishonour of their Creator so he paies them their wages to the advancement of his glory From whence I conclude with the Book of Wisdome God made not death neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living for he created all things that they might have their being and the generations of the world were healthful and there is no poyson of Destruction in them nor the kingdome of death upon the earth But ungodly men with their words and works call'd it to them and made a covenant with it because they are worthy to take {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} part with it 17. I will confirm this truth by no more than one Reason which if it is not the best doth seem to me to be the fittest as being aptest to evince both the connexion and necessity of my first inference from my first Principle It is taken from the nature and use of punishment which as soon as it is named doth presuppose a Guilt for as every sin is the *

had absolutely decreed a greater punishment to the one but because the one had means of sinning lesse than the other For our Saviour saies expresly that if the mighty works which were done in Chorazin and Bethsaida had been also done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes Which was as much as to tell them that it was not at all for want of means and mercy on Gods part but for want of will on theirs that they did not do what was commanded to be done And therefore our Saviour did upbraid them because they repented not Matth. 11. 20. which he could not have done had it been impossible for them to have repented Our blessed Saviour was too pittiful and of too sweet a disposition to jeer a poor Creature for being such as God made him or for being such as he could not but be whether by fatal or by natural infirmity We esteem it an ill nature to upbraid a stammerer for not speaking plain nor is any man reproached for being naturally but wilfully blind nor for being born deaf but for being like the Adder that stoppeth her ears He that bindes my feet and then invites me to come to him intends me nothing for entertainment but a salted Sarcasme or bitter Iest for if he were serious he would set my feet at liberty that I might come in good earnest and not say to me as we say to a child that is fallen down Come hither to me and I will lift thee up And yet this Mr. Calvin is fain to say having been first of all engaged in that opinion That so many nations of men together with their infants were involv'd without remedy in eternal punishment by the fall of Adam for no imaginable reason but that so it seemed good in the sight of God and being pincht with that Text Ezek. 18. 23. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die and not that he should return from his wayes and live he is fain to say That God wils not the Death of a sinner so far forth as he wils his Repentance which experience teacheth us he doth so will as not to touch his heart that he may repent Which is all one as to say He wils it so as to command it but he does not will it so as to leave it possible that is he wils it in shew but not in reality Nor do I know any way possible for Mr. Calvin to escape those ugly sequels but by saying that the sinner may repent by the strength and force of Nature without the touch of his heart by the grace of God which is to shelter himself under the Heresie of Pelagius Solomon gives us a more rational account why wisdome one day will laugh at mens calamities and mock when their fear cometh even because they hated knowledge and did not chuse the fear of the Lord 27. My fifth Reason is taken from the nature of Death as that does signifie Privation and as Privation supposes a former Habit. A stone is said to be not alive because it suffers the Negation of life but a stone cannot properly be said to be dead because it doth not suffer the Privation of life So that when a man is said in Scripture to be spiritually dead in trespasses and sins he is imply'd by that expression to have been spiritually alive And no man is damn'd for the Negation but the Privation of Grace because the Negation of Grace would be Gods work whereas the Privation of it is his own It having formerly been shew'd That God doth not punish his own work in man but man is punisht for his own work not for Gods illiberality but for his own being a prodigal not because no Talent was given him but because he * squandred it away Sin is properly the death of Grace Death is a privation a privation is of a habit So that every sinner had grace for this very Reason that he hath lost it he was alive for this very Reason that he is dead He came alive out of Gods hands but he fals desperately by his own A man may be dead born but he cannot possibly be dead be gotten deprived of life he cannot be in the very Act of his conception A man can no more be created a sinner than he can be generated a dead man which insers the Condition of Gods Decree 28. My sixth Reason is taken from Christs having bought those very men 2 Pet. 2. 1. whose damnation did not slumber v. 3. I have proved already Christ died for all that were dead in Adam from 2 Cor. 5. 14. and from several other Texts Which he could not be truly affirm'd to doe if any one had been past by by an absolute Praeterition For that any man doth perish for whom Christ dyed is from his own sin and not from Adams if to free us from Adams it was that Christ dyed Which as it hath been already proved so it may be confirmed from other Scriptures as from 1 John 2. 2. where he is called the propitiation not for our sins only but also for the sins of the whole world The Apostle foresees and confutes the Heresie of Christs dying onely for the Elect with a not onely but also He dyed for Infidels impenitents as the whole stream of the Fathers conclude from those words Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ dyed And shall thy weak brother perish for whom Christ dyed That this was the Judgement of the primitive Church I can prove by an Induction and though I now spare my Reader yet I shall trouble him hereafter if I am challeng'd to it I shall at present refer him to the 31. Article of our Church of England The oblation of Christ once made is a perfect Redemption propitiation and satisfaction for all the sins of the whole world as well Original as Actual I had almost forgot a special Testimony of S. Iohn who cals the Messias the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world So that if any man is in the dark it is not for want of Light but because he will not see as S. Chrysostome infers which is the very interpretation that S. Iohn himself gives it chap. 3. ver. 19. This sayes he is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darknesse rather than light because their deeds were evil Sure that which is the Reason of their Condemnation was the Condition upon which they were determin'd to be damn'd than which I know not what can be said either more plainly or more convincingly of any subject whatsoever 29. My seventh Reason is taken from the conditional Decrees of temporal Death and other temporal punishments which are so evidently conditional as I cannot believe any Creature will deny it For the Denuntiations of destruction to Nineveh and of certain death to Hezekiah do put this quite out of all scruple