Selected quad for the lemma: law_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
law_n	sin_n	sin_v	transgression_n	4,837	5	10.4181	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57067	Some stop to the gangrene of Arminianism lately promoted by M. John Goodwin in his book entituled, Redemption redeemed, or, The doctrine of election & reprobation : in six sermons, opened and cleared from the old Pelagian and late Arminian errors / by Richard Resburie ...	Resbury, Richard, 1607-1674.	1651 (1651)	Wing R1136; ESTC R16922	72,771	138

purpose see lib. 5. contra Julia. c. 3. God workes in the heats of men to incline their wills whithersoever he will whether to that which is good for his own mercy or to that which is evill for their merits St. Austin But now to answer the Objection How then is he himselfe free from sin 1. God works as the supream mover man as the proper subject that is in whom is the principle of the sinfull action this is one step clearing God in the case in hand to make it plain by instances The Sun shining upon a Dunghill raiseth a stink the Sun stinks not but the dung-hill in which is the principle of the stink and it is by the operation of the Sun that it stinks sinfull man is as the dung-hill God as the Sun A Clock false made moved by the poise striks false the poise moves true though the clock strike false By the shining of the Sun upon a false Dyall the hours of the day are falsly given the Sun is true in his course yet without his motion the Dyall would not lye A skilfull writer using a pen with an hair in it for fair letters blots are made yet he writes according to as exact art with that as with the cleanest pen the fault is only in the pen. A skilfull Musician playes upon an Instrument out of tune the musick jarres the instument sounds amisse yet he shews no lesse skill neither transgresseth the lawes of Musick any more then if he plai'd upon a well tun'd instrument Sinfull man is the false Clock the false Dyall the blotting Pen the jarring instrument God in his motion is the Poyse the Sun the Writer the Musician from God is the motion in man is the principle of the evill in the action 2. God works as the Author of nature man as a morall Agent that is as standing under a law which whilst he observes or violates his action is free from fin or sinfull sin being the transgression of the Saw of God now those actions are the same considered as naturall which as morall differ extreamly and God works uniformely in those actions which are naturally the same though morally very different and in point of good and evill contrary Instance Adam eating the forbidden fruit doth the same thing in naturall consideration which he had done in eating the same had it not been forbidden him yet then had his eating been a lawfull and blamelesse action whereas now it was most sinfull nor onely the outward action of eating but his will and desire of eating supposing him to have will'd and desired it not forbidden hath been the same in nature that it was when he desired it forbidden yet in one case free from sin in the other deeply guilty Whence riseth this difference not from the different exertion of natural power or a difference in the operation of his will as naturall but from his different condition because he is in one case under a law forbidding from which in the other he was free Now God here works as the Author of nature and uniformely the difference of mans condition varies not his operation as the Sun shines uniformely upon a Dung-hill and upon a Garden though the effect be contrary the weights move uniformely the true and the false clock c. Another instance suppose one man in heat of affection slay his adversary justly another unjustly his friend here is innatural consideration one and the same action in both the same exertion of naturall strength outwardly in the motion of the Arme the same animosity inwardly stirred up in the motion of the will therefore the operation of God who works as the Author of nature one and the same for kind in both the difference in morall consideration is found onely in the men the one acting according to the law of God the other contrary to it 3. God works according to a pure rule man contrary to a pure rule Gods rule is the dictate of his own wisdom for his own glory whatsoever the wisdom of God represents as making for his glory that God wills and acts accordingly now it is plain by the issue and by Scripture testimony that the wisdom of God hath suggested the way for his finall glory in mans finall state such as supposeth the sinne of man making way for that glory God therefore according to this rule both determines that man shall sin and acts sinfull man in those actions of his to which as in and from man sin cleaves unavoidably Mans rule is the Law of God man in sinning though he fulfils Gods intention for who hath resisted his will the Jews in crucifying Christ did whatsoever the hand and counsell of God had before determined to be done which is not his rule yet he acts against his law which is his rule and therefore God acting according to his pure rule is blamelesse man working contrary to his pure rule guilty The third ground whereupon they will have the Doctrine of Predestination formerly asserted to charge God as the Author of sin is That unto Adam wa denyed that grace without which it could not be as to the event that he should actually persevere in his righteousness Ans To affirm that God is the Author of sin is granted on both hands blasphemy and therefore whatsoever the Scripture teacheth concerning Gods dispensations to man about the first sin or fall of Adam this conclusion cannot thence be infer'd that God is the Author of sin Now all the question is what the Scripture here teacheth This say we That unto Adam was denyed that grace without which it could not be as to the event that he should stand and this we clear by these following steps 1. Adam was created in the Image of God Gen. 1.26 that is whatsoever more is comprehended in righteousness and true holiness Ephe. 4.24 herein was that state of habituall righteousness whereby he was able to do whatsoever good he should will to do all the faculties of his soul were fitted to work according to the rule of righteousness without any interruption it was not then with him as it is now with the regenerate Rom. 7.18 with whom to will is present but how to perform that which is good they find not he had withall by that habituall righteousnesse a power to will that which was good even all that good which God according to his law engraven on his heart might require at his hands free from any principle byassing him to evill and this power and this righteousnesse had all his posterity in him 2. That he was denyed the grace whereby he should actually stand is manifest by the event fallen he is but God was able to have afforded him that effectuall grace whereby his fall had been prevented as he hath dealt with the Angels who keep and for ever shall keep their first standing and had that grace been afforded him he had stood for it is a contradiction to say he had that grace whereby

for revenging justice rather then of them each of them being an act of absolute and arbitrary power favouring or refusing to favour meerly at pleasure 2. Yet there is a twofold justice in God 1. Towards himselfe whereby he doth for himselfe whatsoever his wisdome dictates to be for his owne glory 2. Towards the creature whereby he disposeth good or evill to it upon certaine conditions In the former sense Election and reprobation both are acts of justice God is to be justified in whatsoever he doth beseeming his wisdome for his glory In the latter sense they are for justice and mercy rather then of them This for the first ground of that mistake 2. A needlesse feare they are afraid to affirm that God decreed and willed the fall of Adam lest they should thereby make him the Author of sinne Answ 1. To be the Author of sinne is so to act as to stand under the guilt of sinne to be under the guilt of sinne supposeth subjection to a law against which we act Now let such a law be shewed against which God offends in ●●●●●ing that man take it of the first man and his first sin shall sin 2. Doth not God will the fall of Adam How then 1. Is it against his Will But he is Omnipotent 2. Is it without his Knowledge But he is Omniscient 3. Is it beside his Will But 1. Not one hair from the head nor a sparrow to the ground nor the issue of the lot in the lap without his disposing 2. Then did he not determine what should be the end of man when he intended to create him nor what his course by the same reason the same is to be said for the Angells nor how he would be glorified in the small state of men and Angells nor the giving of Christ nor the Gospell in the world the whole Oeconomy of mans salvation and condemnation of the Kingdome of God here and in heaven of redemption by Christ and thereupon his glory all originally beside the will of God ordered occasionally I had as lieve subscribe to that wilde Philosophie which teacheth the world to be made of the casuall concourse of Atomes as to this more wild Theologie which teacheth the whole administration of this world and that to come to come about meerly casually and occasionally We have formerly upon Rom. 9. v. 11. in the first Sermon laid down three arguments proving the purpose of God to be meerly of it selfe which will here fully conclude that both the sin of the first man and all sins whatsoever are decreed by God let us forme them to this particular 1. He decrees to permit sinne otherwise he could not so much as fore-see it as was there manifested againe whereas he in time permits it if he did not before all time will to permit it it is with him according to mans weaknesse counsells arise in his brest a new therefore he decrees that sin shall be upon his permission the permission of sinne cannot be conceived to have no further end but that it should rest meerly in the act of permission and indeed the permission of sin doth involve the being of it upon permission Further forasmuch as there is no evill but in good and in every sinfull act we have to consider the act and the sin cleaving to the act the act and that which is good he works who is the first cause the fountaine of being and goodnesse in whom we move the sin cleaving to the act he permits Hence in Josephs sale by his brethren the crucifying of Christ the despoiling Job of all he had c. the will and the hand of God are owned If God had not willed the crucifying of Christ and what greater sinne how had he willed the salvation of man by Christ which yet he willed from all eternity Ephes 1.4 Again if God willed not the fall of Adam and it the mother sinne how did he will the salvation of man by Christ it being the first step making way thereto this leads to the 2. He that from all eternity wills that end which cannot be brought to passe without the being of sinne he wills that sinne shall be but God wills that end the glorifying his sparing mercy tempered with his justice in Christ in the salvation of some his revenging justice in the condemnation of others and this way of glorifying himselfe necessarily supposeth sinne there being no place for that kind either of mercy or justice without sinne therefore he wills that sin shall be and the first sinne as well as any other without which the other had not been Hence 3. Though sin be not good but evill yet that sinne should be it is good good forasmuch as it is necessarily conducible to his glory he having set downe in the counsell of his Will in such a way to be glorified but God wills all good therefore he wills that sinne shall be Sin is evil therefore it falls not under the Will of God to approve it that sin should be is good therefore it falls under the Will of God to decree it Hence * Enchirid c. 69. S. Austin It is not to be doubted but God doth well even in suffering to be done whatsoever things are evilly done for this he suffers not but by a righteous judgement and truly whatsoever is righteous is good although therefore those things which are evill in as much as they are evill are not good yet that not only those things which are good but which are evill too should be is good * Enchirid c. 100. Whence after a wonderfull and unspeakable manner it is not brought to passe beside his Will that even against his Will is brought to passe not beside his Will decreeing which is against his Will approving 4. For that Argument taken from the liberty of God both in and for his decree apply it here to his Will when he permits sinne whether the first sin or any other and it will conclude his will necessarily determined beforehand by the creature except we will grant that he freely of himselfe decreed those sins to be many other Arguments might be added As 5. Otherwise the Will of God is not the first in the order of causes is capable of motives from without both which are clearly against the perfection of the Divine Nature otherwise God is not so perfectly happy but there is a happinesse imaginable beyond his happinesse It is greater happinesse that all things whatsoever be fully according to his Will then that any thing be beside it and therefore forasmuch as God is perfectly happy to the greatest perfection imaginable it must needs be his Will that those things should be which yet he approves not as good but approves as good that they though not good but evill be Another Objection yet against this absolute power in God Did God make man to damne him and to this end decree that he should sin Answ The Scripture doth not much abhorre from such

he should not onely be able to stand but should actually stand and yet grant that he stood not he had then both a power to wil all that was good and to do all that good which he should will but to will and to do that for which he had a power was not given unto him A sound eye hath the faculty of seeing there is the power but that it may actually see the object before it it must have light An Instrument truly made and tuned hath in it the power and principle of sounding harmoniously but that it may yield it's harmony the skilfull touch of the Musicians hand is necessary Hence St. Austin * Lib. de correptione grat c. 11. The first man had not that grace by which he never could be evill but that grace he had in which if he would abide he never should be evill Such an aid of grace he had as which he might forsake if he would and in which he might abide if he would not such as whereby it might come to passe that he should will to abide Then comparing it with that aid which beleevers receive in Christ so much greater is that aid which is given by Jesus Christ our Lord unto whom it seemes good to God to give it that not onely we have that without which we cannot persevere although we should will but so great and such that we shall will for there is in us by this grace of God both in the receiving and holding with perseverance that which is good not onely to be able to do that which we will but also to will that for which we are able * Cap. 12. Again To the first man who in that goodnesse wherein he had been made upright had received to be able not to sinne to be able not to dye to be able not to forsake that goodnesse was given an aid of perseverance not by which it might come to passe that he should persevere but without which he could not be able by his free will to persevere but now to the Saints predestinated unto the Kingdome of God by the grace of God not onely such an aid of perseverance is given but such an one as that to them perseverance it selfe is given not onely so as that without that gift they cannot persevere but so as that by this gift they may not but persevere Much more to the same purpose frequently in him 3. It could not be that he should have that grace whereby as to the event he might stand as to his own fitnesse he had by his habituall righteousnesse a power of standing he was habitually fitted for it but that it might stand as to the event there must be further a vigorous influx from God of light upon his mind of holinesse upon his will actuating his habituall power Now that this should be afforded him it could not be that being supposed for which the Scripture is clear 1. That God knew certainly that he should fall that man is put to a very hard shift who shall deny Gods certaine knowledge from all eternity of Adams fall or of any event whatsoever and the free confession hereof would be refutation enough to most mens apprehesions the impression of Gods perfection as for other Attributes so for knowledge deing deeper set upon the heart of man then by a little miserable Sophistry to be wiped out of that unlucky opinion which can be no otherwise supported then by despoiling God of his essentiall properties Now if God knew certainly that Adam should fall then it cannot be that he should have that aid of grace whereby he might as to the event stand for then God should know certainly that that should be which yet certainly might not be namely Adams fall whereas for as much as God knowes certainly that it shall be it may not for the event but be 2. That God hath decreed his fall If God had decreed that Adam should fall by his permission and in that decree of his own permission it was that he knew certainly that Adam should fall then could it not be that Adam should have that grace whereby as to the event he might stand for then Gods Administrations to man might make void his owne decree but that God had so decreed we have formerly proved Let us gather up a brief discourse about it 1. That God decreed the making and ordering all the workes of his hands for his owne glory as the end of all is most unquestionable 2. That he decreed particularly that glory which comes to passe from his creature either that particularly or another particularly or lastly none particularly but his glory generally and indefinitely not another particularly it is too absurd to say that he decreed what comes not to pass and decreed not what comes to pass such an apprehension doth at once utterly overthrow his wisdome and power neither did he decree his glory only generally and indefinitely that apprehension necessarily supposeth a defect in his wisdome for dictating distinctly and particularly the way of his glory and ascribes unto God the weakness of man discoursing from generals to particulars which is alwayes accompanied with and supposeth imperfect knowledge and power 3. That he decreed his owne glory comprehensively to wit all that glory in every particular which ariseth to him from the creature this is cleare to wave other Arguments from the two former particulars because his glory is the end of all his workes as his glory particularly as it comes to passe 4. That glory of his in the final state of man being such as supposeth sinne for how shall some be saved in mercy others in justice condemned without sin and particularly Adams fall and in him all his posterity it must needs be that God decreed that glory of his and that way of his glory Object But why doth God give a righteous law in charge to Adam inables him with habitual righteousness for the fulfilling of that law and yet determines that he should not fulfil it Answ We have from cleare and unshaken principles but now proved that God hath decreed that way of his glory or the glory of those Attributes in mans final state which necessarily supposeth sin not to the decree but to his glory but if God had not made man righteous and given him a righteous law in charge and left him to the violation of that law there could have been no sin in man herein is sinne man transgresseth that law which he is commanded to observe and for fulfilling whereof he had a power Adam in himselfe and we in him Object By what right doth God condemne may for sinning when he hath first decreed and then his dispensation towards man is according that he shall not have that grace without which it cannot otherwise come to passe but he shall sin Answ But by what right doth dust and ashes lift up its head against the great Creator in these bold enquiries 1. Whatsoever appears by