Selected quad for the lemma: faith_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
faith_n	abraham_n	promise_n	seed_n	17,099	5	8.5560	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31280	An impartial examination and refutation of the erroneous tenents of Thomas Moor in his dangerous writings intituled Clavis Aurea &c. wherein he is not ashamed to insinuate his being the Elias mentioned in Malachi, denies an Hell, or future punishment, and boldly asserts the inevitable salvation of all men.	T. C.	1698 (1698)	Wing C135; ESTC R35832	20,498	25

attended with greater enlargements from his inexhaustible Fulness Whereas the neglect or mis-improvement of that measure though never so small as in the case of the single Talent causes the open hand of Divine Bounty to be withdrawn all gracious Experiences to wither and vanish and gradually leaves the Soul to an obdurate Frame under the just Sentence of Condemnation Man therefore in respect to his own Happiness or Misery either Temporal or Eternal is not so much a Machine or meerly passive as T. M. would insinuate nor is he in any wise compell'd to make this or that choice Aug. de Civit. Dei lib 7. c. 30. Anselm de concord grat liberi arbitrii For though he hath not a natural strength or capacity to find out choose and persevere in the narrow path that leads to Eternal Life yet he hath a Talent supernatural a common Gift or measure of Grace freely bestowed on him as an Universal Benefit accruing by and from the second Adam which so far as he resigns or subjects to his sensual part he wilfully shuts the Door of Salvation upon himself But if he faithfully improve this single Talent by denying his sensual Lusts and the dictates of depraved Reason and becomes sincerely resign'd to the Divine Conduct then to him that thus hath i. e. rightly useth more shall be given and he shall have abundance Mat. 25. 29. like a Branch abiding in the true Vine he shall be always fruitful through spiritual Vertue convey'd from that Eternal Root and thus growing from strength to strength shall at last as the Royal Prophet saith appear before God in Zion Augustin de corrupt grat c. 14. Id. Enchirid. ad Laurent cap. 103 That the tenders of Divine Grace which are universally extensive do not prove universally effectual must be imputed to the perversness of Mans Heart which obstinately opposes the way of Life and Happiness and resting in that serpentine Wisdom before hinted forms to himself some vain and delusive Ideas instead thereof so that as the Prophet positively affirms in the case of rebellious Israel Hos 13. 9. his destruction is only of and from himself If T. M. thinks I put too great Stress upon the Parable of the Talents because 't was but a Parable and not a Reality as he alledges in divers Places against the Parable of Dives and Lazarus of the Sheep and the Goats c. He may remember that 't was our Saviours delight to exhibit in Parables the greatest Mysteries of his Kingdom yet not leaving those familiar Comparisons so obscure but that the meanest Capacity might apprehend his gracious Design therein for we scarce read of any that stumbled at them but the over-wise and self-confident to whose lofty expectations indeed they were not so well adapted nor may we any more imagine that he did or would thereby impose destructive Fallacies upon lost Mankind whom he came to save than joyn with the obstinate Pharisees in censuring him for an Impostor Blasphemer or possess'd with an Evil-Spirit The sweetness of his Deportment and Condescention in explaining inculcating and applying what he delivered did sufficiently evince that his Parables were of great weight that he had no design thereby to amuse or deceive his Auditors but on the contrary that believing they might have Life through him Joh. 5. 40. cap. 7. 37. cap. 10. 9. But the next thing in T. M's new Systeme of Divinity is Fifithly That the Children of the Flesh Rom. 9. 8. are all Men in the Flesh whether good or evil and the Children of the Promise are the Souls of all Men that ever were are or shall be not one excepted of what Nation or Belief soever in their separated or unbodied State This is indeed agreeable with his Doctrine of universal inevitable Salvation and equally true That the Apostle Paul in this and many other concurring Places intended to distinguish two kinds of Persons as vastly differing in their Principles Practices and Ends as light and darkness is evident beyond all reasonable exception How often do we find him using Ismael Abraham's Son by the Bondwoman as a Type of the unregenerate part of Mankind and Isaac the promised Heir as a lively Representative of all those who truly lay hold on the Promises of God by Faith whether under the Legal or Evangelical Dispensation the Object of Faith being still the same viz. the Messiah And that he limits the true Israel or Seed of Promise to the latter i. e. the faithful and obedient Servants of God and not to the Lineage of Abraham descending from him in Isaac by natural Generation is also clear from the scope of the foregoing Verses When he had first testified his unparallel'd Sorrow for the obstinate Blindness of the literal Israel reckoned up those transcendent Priviledges wherewith they were dignified beyond all other Nations and shewed their Priority of Right to the Gospel he tells us That the Word of God hath not been altogether ineffectual though for the most part rejected by these natural Branches verse 6. and adds a Reason For all are not Israel that are of Israel neither because the Seed of Abraham are they his Children but in Isaac shall thy Seed be called And lest any should think he meant only the literal Off-spring of Isaac he explains himself further verse 7. That is they who are the Children of the Flesh are not the Children of God but the Children of the Promise c. If Isaac therefore once intentionally Sacrificed and in whom all the Nations of the Earth were to be Blessed be considered as a Type of the Messiah the spiritual Israel will appear to be all those who are truly obedient to the Faith of the Gospel and the Children of the Flesh all those whether Jews or Gentiles who either remain in the gross Pollutions of unsanctified Nature or exalt the imperfect typical Righteousness of the Law in opposition to Christ the end thereof Thus much seems plainly imported in the Apostles result verses 30 31 32. The Gentles have attained to the Righteousness of Faith but Israel hath not attained to the Law of Righteousness because they sought it not by Faith but by the works of the Law which he further clears cap. 10. v. 4. For Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth The same learned Apostle in his Epistle to the Galatians who were ready to look back from the ennobling Principle of Faith to the sandy Foundation of the Law more largely illustrates this Point in several Chapters and after a very copious distinction between the fleshly and spiritual Seed lays down this comfortable Conclusion Gal. 3. 29. cap. 4. 28. If ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham 's Seed and Heirs according to promise But let us consider a little how this agrees with T. M's Sophistical Invention Second Addition to Clav. Aur. pag. 29. That all Men are damn'd or lost in the

Hypothesis I shall in the first place endeavour to touch thereupon Therefore First The plain scope of the Apostle in those words seems to be For I dare not assume this bold Assertor's infallible strain than which no greater mark of a Satanical delusion That he would re-mind the converted Gentiles of their former miserable State whilst Strangers to the Gospel and fix on them the most humble sense of the greatness of their present Priviledges their own unworthiness and the danger of ingratitude carnal security and a careless using those inestimable Talents committed to their charge And he heightens this so necessary Momento from the tremendous Example of the obstinate Jews who by an exorbitant Zeal for and confidence in the Externals of their Religion were justly left to so great Blindness as to reject oppose and crucifie the true Messiah the End and Center of their Typical Worship whom they pretended to wait for Act 13. 27. Having a little before spent a whole Chapter in vindicating the Divine Justice in these great and arduous Points against the bold and groundless Cavils of such as would be ready to impeach it the better to confirm the believing Gentiles in their Title to the Priviledges of the New Covenant and well knowing the great propensity of Humane Nature to Pride Ostentation and Carnal Security he does by divers Metaphors and strong Arguments very pathetically endeavour to fortifie them against the same Stumbling-block which had been so fatal to the other For though these degenerate Branches of faithful Abraham had thus stubboruly and wilfully excluded themselves from the fulness of their Idoliz'd promises yet the Gentiles being ingraffed into the same Root or Principle of Faith with the Primitive Jewish Ancestors who liv'd and dy'd in the true Faith of the Messiah were not to insult over them but from their Fall should rather be excited to the greater caution humility and fruitfulness as before hinted and the rather because this rejection of the whole Unbelieving Race of literal Israel is not to be esteemed absolute it being very probable that God may hereafter in his due time 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24. ver and by some extraordinary Dispensation of his Providence powerfully convince and convert a remnant of them to the Christian Faith Nevertheless he will not thus own or respect them considered as literal Jews but as Gospel Believers in common with the Gentiles both together making up the spiritual Israel the true Universal Church peculiarly purchased by Christ justified solely by Faith in him and sanctified governed and preserved by the happy influence and conduct of the Holy Spirit For all i. e. both Jews and Gentiles which include the whole World having sinned verse 32. and being concluded by God in Unbelief as to their own natural or moral capacity are equally made partakers of the same rich Mercy and free Grace of God in the Gospel This seems to be the plain drift of this profound Apostle as well in the forementioned verses at in the two former chapters and divers other parallel places of his Epistles and particularly of this to the Romans One while he tells us Rom. 2. 28. He is now a Jew that is one outwardly ch 9. v. 6. that all not Israel that are of Israel at another place Gal. 6. 15. that Circumcision availeth nothing and ch 3. v. 28. that there is neither Jew nor Greek c. but all are one in Christ Jesus Secondly The best and safest way of expounding this part of St. Paul's Writings is to compare it with the general scope of other Scriptures and especially with the assertions of the same Apostle in his other Epistles who doubtless best knew his own meaning If in this or any other part of his Writings he ever intended to suggest the certain and inevitable Salvation of all men or that the Jews dying in Unbelief and Enmity to the Gospel are notwithstanding elected and saved we should not find him in the same Epistle so pathetically lamenting their dreadful condition as to wish himself accursed from Christ for their sakes Rom. 9. 2 3. nor giving such cautions not to treasure up Wrath against the day of Wrath and revelation of the righteous Judgment of God who will render to every one according to their deeds ch 2. v. 5 6. nor would he have used holy policy such condescension such unwearied pains undergone such trials and hardships in the service of his great Master much dearer to him than his life Act. 20. 24 viz. propagating the Gospel and establishing its Converts in their holy Faith becoming to the weak as weak c. 1 Cor. 9. 22. that by all means he might save some earnestly exhorting them so to run as that they might obtain the prize and for their greater vigilancy and circumspection enforcing on them the Example of his own Spiritual Warfare by which he kept under the relicts of corruption lest when he had preached the saving Gospel to others himself should be cast away 24 25 26 27. verses nor would he have spoken of the differing Effects of the same unchangeable Word of Life as being the savour of death unto death in them that perish and of life unto life in them that believe and embrace it 2 Cor. 2. 15 16. nor yet mentioned any thing of the Gospel being hid from such as are lost and judicially blinded by the God of this World 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. nor dehorted the backsliding Galatians from those works of the flesh particularly mentioned with a positive assertion that all those who commit such things with allowance and perseverance shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Gal. 5. 19 20 21. nor would he have exhorted the Church at Philippi not to be terrified by their Adversaries which was to them an evident token of perdition c. Phil. 1. 28 nor told them afterwards with weeping of some that walked contrary to the Gospel being Enemies to the Cross of Christ whose end is destruction Phil. 3. 18 19 nor would he have comforted the Thessalonians under their sore troubles and persecutions with a Memento of Christ's glorious Coming to give them perfect rest and an entrance into the heavenly Kingdom as also to take vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel c. who shall be punished with everlasting destruction c. 2. Thes 7. 8 9. 'T is needless to enumerate the many concurring Testimonies of the other Apostles and of our Saviour himself in the Records of the Evangelists lest I should seem too tedious in a point so clear that the contrary Assertion as T. M's must strike at the whole scope of Scripture and shew a degree of obduracy beyond comparison What is urged of Christ's giving himself a Ransom for all c. 1 Tim. 2. 6. and being the Saviour of all men but especially of them that