Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	abundant_a	great_a	zion_n	23	3	8.6060	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47164	The Presbyterian and independent visible churches in New-England and else-where brought to the test, and examined according to the doctrin of Holy Scriptures ... : more particulary directed to those in New-England, and more generally to those in old England, Scotland, Ireland, &c. : with a call and warning from the Lord to the people of Boston and New-England, to repent, &c. : and two letters to the preachers in Boston, and an answer to the gross abuses, lies and slanders of Increase Mather and Nath. Morton, &c. / by George Keith.	Keith, George, 1639?-1716.	1691 (1691)	Wing K191; ESTC R21261	124,580	240

Christ Jesus who gave himself a Ransom for all to be testified in due time Heb. 2.9 That he by the Grace of God should taste death for every Man 1 John 2.2 He is the Propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole World But it is commonly alledged by the Adversaries of Truth that by All in these places is understood not all particulars but some of all sorts or all the elect To this I answer the word All must needs be as full and universal with respect to Christs death and the benefit of it as it is with respect to Adam's fall because the Scripture maketh a plain parallel betwixt all that die in Adam and all that Christ died for as in that fore-cited place 2 Cor. 5.14 If one dyed for all then all were dead Now if All only signifie Some in the first part of the verse the sense must run thus If one dyed for some or a few then all were dead This quite maketh void the Apostles inference for if Christ only dyed for some then only some were dead and not all Again in Rom. 5.18 the parallel is very plain As by the offence of one Judgment is come upon all unto Condemnation even so by the Righteousness of one the free Gift is come upon all unto Justification of Life not that all are actually justified but the free gift is come upon them that they may be justified and so it is that the two sides or parts of Parallels are of equal extent Beside that the word All in Scripture doth most commonly signifie all particulars and therefore to restrict it in respect of Gods Grace and Mercy through Christ savours of a narrow Spirit and this narrowness of Spirit in Presbyterians and Independents is a great evil in them and maketh them so peevish uncharitable and cruel 2. And whereas they object against Christ his dying for all Men because he said he did not pray for the World and therefore he did not die for the World John 17.9 I pray for them I pray not for the World It may be very well granted that he dyed not for the World which he doth not pray for But what World is that It is not any part of Mankind as they are considered when first born into the World and having had a time to live in the World and a day of visitation wherein they might have repented and have been converted unto God but as having finally rejected the great Mercy and Grace of Christ after many tenders and offers of it until that the Lord hath wholly left striving with him by his Spirit in their hearts and then they become Reprobates and that World whereof Christ spoke when he said he prayed not for the World And therefore it ought to be well noted and considered that when it is said Christ dyed for the sins of the World it is only with respect to sins past or any other sins that Men may commit before the precise time and period of Gods leaving them and ceasing any more to strive with them when they are become perfected so to speak in sin and evil and are as the ripe Tares fit for burning having nothing remaining in them of any tenderness simplicity or sincerity or true Love to God or Man no grain of Goodness or Virtue nay not the least Seed but are wholly become as Dross after all the precious Mettal to the least grain is extracted or separated from it for such I say Christ hath neither dyed nor prayed And thus it may be with many and is with many before they die and concerning these John declared saying There is a sin unto Death I do not say that he shall pray for it 1 Joh. 5.16 and this is that sin of final Unbelief and obstinate Impenitency wherein men may be permitted to live some considerable time before they die And this is no Contradiction nor Inconsistency but serveth greatly to clear the understanding of this weighty matter how Christ hath dyed for all Men within a day or time of Grace and yet hath dyed for none of these Men after they have wilfully neglected that day of Grace and resisted the Spirit of Grace until he did altogether leave and forsake them And also it is to be considered that though Christ hath dyed for all Men within a day or time of Grace and Mercy beyond which time they have not the benefit of his death and there remaineth no more Sacrifice for Sin unto them yet he hath not died with the same equal intention and degree of Love Kindness and Good-will for them who finally perish as for them who are saved nor are the gracious Providences of God and his dealings both inwardly and outwardly after the same way and manner towards all And therefore all who shall be saved at the end of the World have very great and unspeakable cause to praise God for his more abundant Mercy Grace and Love towards them in Christ Jesus and that he and not they did make them to differ from others yet none that perish can have any just cause to complain against God for when that that is sufficient is given to them they have no cause to complain But all who are saved God is pleased at one time or another that suiteth with his infinite Wisdom and good pleasure so to draw perswade move and incline them to come unto him and when come so to preserve them with him and in him or if at any time he suffer them to depart infallibly to reclaim them before the end that they shall certainly be saved and this the Lord can well do so as to put a difference betwixt Cattel and Cattel or Men and Men without their observation and so as neither to give unto the one any occasion of Presumption nor unto the other of Despair and without giving any greater measure of inward Grace although he may and oft doth give a greater measure to one than to another for he is free to give of his own as he pleaseth but only by suitable Providences and Dispensations and means of his own chusing the one may be taken and the other left the one gained and saved and the other not the inward Grace being the same both in kind and degree in some that are saved and in some that are not as the Parable of the Pounds and Marks plainly declare every Servant had his Pound or Mark which is an equal sum and some improved it and some not And of this more abundant Love of God towards Paul he himself taketh special notice with great Thanksgiving unto God 1 Tim. 1.14 16. And the Grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with Faith and Love which is in Christ Jesus Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all Long-suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to Life everlasting And the like notice he taketh of the

shall finally perish not simply as men nor yet simply as sinners either for Adam's sin or other sins that they have formerly committed before that great sin of final Vnbelief and Impenitency but it doth regard and consider them as having a day of Visitation and a Call to Repent and a tender of Grace Love and Mercy from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and as having resisted and rejected the same and hardning their hearts against it and that finally until the Day of their Visitation be over whereby they declare themselves unworthy of eternal Life and that they are none of Christ's Sheep but Goats to be put at the left Hand and if any say If these Men were not Elected before the Foundation of the World it will follow that they were Reprobated before it I answer it doth not follow for Elected and Reprobated are not contradictory terms being both positive and Election signifieth a Preference of some before others but that doth not argue a total Reprobation of others when God did elect some But at the End of the World and in the Conclusion it is granted that all who are not elected are but Reprobates to wit when all God's elect Seed every where are gathered out selected and separated from others as so many Grains of pure Gold from all the Dross Tin and Lead that they have been mingled with for a time here in this World that then nothing will remain but that which is Reprobate and which the Scripture calleth reprobate Silver the pure being wholly separated and selected from the impure the Gold and Silver from the Dross the Wheat from the Tares the Sheep from the Goats and the good Fish from the bad and the Children of the Kingdom from the Children of the wicked One he who hath Ears to hear let him hear and the wise in heart let them understand for unto them it is given but unto others as Christ said in Parables that seeing they may not see and hearing that they may not hear nor understand And also it is readily granted that there is a special and peculiar and singularly gracious Care and Providence of God towards all that shall be saved from the beginning of the world to the end and the number of them is most infallibly known unto God and every one of that number shall certainly be saved and none of them shall finally perish but in the proper season and time shall be graciously visited called converted justified sanctified and last of all glorified and this without any Violence done to their rational Faculties or Free-will for God doth well know how to gain and prevail upon the Understanding and Will and Inclinations of his People by such gentle and yet prevalent and overcoming Perswasions and Allurements and Motions of his holy Spirit of Grace of Light and Life as shall infallibly gather them unto himself And it is also granted that as God hath provided that Grace whereby some shall certainly be saved so by the same all are put under a capacity or possibility of Salvation And therefore that any are not saved in this World is not because of any want or defect in the sufficiency or efficacy in the Grace in its own Nature but because of them whom God in his infinite Justice and Counsel permits finally to resist it even as in the Parable of the Sower the Seed was one and the same in all the four Grounds but the Grounds differed one from another and that one Ground was good was of God but that others were bad was of themselves and the word Election doth properly enough signifie selection seperating and setting a part or refining as when Gold or Silver is separated in the Furnace from the Dross And this separation hath had its various degrees and progress from first to last as when Gold or Silver is purified or purged in the sire seven times and then in the seventh time it hath no mixture but is all pure or as when Liquor is poured from Vessel to Vessel several times or as Wheat is winnowed again and again until all the Chaff be separated And in this sense we find the word Election used in Scripture divers times Isa 14.1 For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob and will yet chuse Israel And Isa 49.7 And he shall chuse thee And Zach. 1.17 And the Lord shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet chuse Jerusalem And Zach. 2.12 He shall chuse Jerusalem again And Isa 48.10 I have chosen thee in the Furnace of Affliction And in this sense of the Word as it signifieth a selecting or separating the pure from the impure Election doth go before Reprobation and is not Co-evous with it But whether that Election in Christ before the Foundation of the world doth in some sort signifie a selection or setting apart in Christ the Head who was before the Foundation of the world and is said to be the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World as some mystick Writers affirm it is not my present business to determine neither is it necessary at this present occasion 6. But the place of Scripture which they mainly abuse and wrest to prove this reprobate Doctrin of theirs of an absolute Reprobation of the greatest part of mankind even before they are born and that not only Babes and Sucklings on the Mothers Breasts but in the Womb are absolute Reprobates and cast-aways and that some yea many Infants die in a state of Reprobation and perish eternally only for Adams sin imputed unto them as they say without any knowledge or eonsent of theirs and corrupt Nature derived into them and that all such Reprobates never had or ever shall have any opportunity of saving Grace whereby it was possible to them at any time to be saved The place of Scripture I say they mainly abuse and wrest to favour this evil and pernicious Doctrin is that in Rom. 9.11 12 13. But for the opening and vindicating of this place of Scripture let it be considered that here is only a preference mentioned of Jacob before Esau how that the Elder shall serve the Younger but this saith nothing of Esau his being absolutely reprobated The great design of the Apostle Paul being to shew that God had chosen the Line of Jacob before the Line of Esau and given unto that Line and Posterity of Jacob a Preference and Dignity over the Line and Posterity of Esau and that the reason of this Preference was not any Works that they had done but for some other cause hid in the secret counsel of God and this Preference did appear first in chusing the Line and Posterity of Jacob to be his Church in that peculiar Dispensation of the Mosaical Law and giving them many Prophets and other excellent Men to be raised up among them and honouring them with many great and signal Appearances Signs and Wonders whereas the Posterity of Esau was not so highly favoured and yet they had a divine Dispensation among

great Love of God towards the believing Ephesians and Thessalonians for his chusing them and so for all other Believers of all other Churches and People that God had chosen them from the beginning and for this he said he laboured and endured all things even for the sake of the Elect that they might be saved 2 Tim. 2.10 And as it is the great work and end of all faithful Ministers to gather Gods elect every where scattered so of the Angels Mat. 24.31 and so also of Christ Jesus according to John 6.39 cap. 10.27 28 29. Isa 43.5 6 7 8. Rom. 11.7 And thus we find a great difference betwixt some that were invited to come to the Supper who when they refused were no more called but sentence passed against them that they should not taste of the Supper and others that were compelled to come in Luke 14.23 24. not by using any violent Compulsion but by infallible Perswasions and Motions of his Spirit of Love and Grace that shall infallibly prevail with them Nor doth this give to any Man the least occasion either to presume or despair as by saying Either I am elected or not if not elected I cannot be saved for that doth not follow and yet it is most true that either a Man shall be saved or he shall not being contradictory Propositions whereof the one is always true and the other not But this doth not infer that he who shall not be saved could not be saved And seeing no Man certainly knoweth that he shall not before he discover it by his final Impenitency therefore it is the wisdom of every Man to improve with all diligence that inward Grace and all outward means and helps afforded him the which if he do according to his ability he shall infallibly be saved And though it is most true that there is a certain number elected in Christ Jesus the elect Head and Foundation and corner Stone living and precious that is infallibly known unto God which make up a compleat intire and perfect Body yet seeing none knoweth that great Mystery who is in any danger to abuse it it is great folly for any Man to presume that he is safe or upon a bare supposition which can infer no positive conclusion to resolve to be in any respect negligent And he that by the Grace of God doth know both his calling and election that knowledge hath its proper tendency to make him the more diligent to abound in all due Obedience and Thankfulness which is the only way to retain the knowledge of it after it is once obtained And the said above-mentioned Dilemma is as idle and foolish as who would argue I shall live for a Month or Year to come or I shall not if I shall not I need take no care to save my life seeing I shall die If I shall I need take no care for without taking care I shall live for seeing both these parts of the Argument are but Hypothetical they can infer no positive Conclusion But as to a Mans Salvation the only safe and sure way of arguing is this If I use the Grace and Means that God hath given me I shall infallibly be saved and if I do not use them I have no ground to expect that I shall and therefore let me with all diligence that is possible make use of them But the Doctrin of absolute Reprobation that maketh Salvation or the effectual use of the means absolutely impossible to many thousands yea as they say to the greatest part of Mankind is a most woful and miserable Discouragement unto People 3. The Lord Jesus Christ by means of his Death hath procured unto all Men both Jews and Gentiles as the fruit and effect of his death an inward Principle of divine Grace Light Life and Power that is the free Gift of God unto them in the hearts of all Men together with subordinate and concurring outward Means and Helps more or less but sufficient unto all Men whereby they may be saved one time or another before the end of the World and the ordinary outward means of Salvation is the preaching of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ even Jesus of Nazareth that was crucified for our Sins and rose again for our Justification by qualified Men or failing of them by reading or hearing read the holy Scriptures by which after a sort the Prophets Apostles preach unto all men or failing of these outward means God supplying them by his inward Teachings and Revelations in mens hearts and some other secret ways and manners of his divine Providences Dealings and Dispensations unknown to most Men For the proof of the first part see Rom. 5.18 Therefore as by the offence of one Judgment came upon all Men to Condemnation even so by the Righteousness of one the free Gift is come upon all men unto Justification of Life the which Righteousness of one is the active and passive Obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ by which the free Gift is come upon all The which free Gift is called Grace and the Gift of Righteousness and is expressed in this Chapter by four sundry Greek Words in the Greek Text as Charis Charisma Dorea Dorema all very significant see further John 1.9 He was that true Light that lighteth every Man that cometh into the World And he is called The Light of Men John 1.4 and John 8.12 I am the Light of the World he that followeth me shall not walk in Darkness but shall have the Light of Life And Tit. 2.11 12. For the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared unto all Men teaching us to deny Vngodliness c. And Verse 13. Looking for that blessed Hope and the glorious appearing of that great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Ephes 3.6 That the Gentiles should be fellow Heirs and of the same Body and partakers of his Promise in Christ by the Gospel Col. 1.26 27. The Mystery which hath been hid from Ages and Generations but now is made manifest to his Saints to whom God would make known what is the Riches of the Glory of this Mystery in the Gentiles which is Christ in you the Hope of Glory And Rom. 10.8 The Word is nigh thee in thy Mouth and in thy Heart and that is the Word of Faith which we preach And verse 6 7. He understandeth it of Christ which Moses preached in the People of Israel Deut. 30.14 And because this great Mystery which was in the Gentiles was much hid in the time of the Law and in all Ages of the world until Christ came in the Flesh both in Jews and Gentiles as Paul called it The Mystery hid from Ages and Generations therefore the Psalmist Psal 67.2 prayeth saying That thy Way may be known upon Earth thy saving Health or thy Jesus Hebr in all Nations For he saw that it was in them but as it were hid and vailed according to the weakness and darkness of that Dispensation and therefore he prayed