Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	death_n	sin_n	sin_v	3,797	5	9.4651	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A02352	Ignis fatuus. Or, The elf-fire of purgatorie Wherein Bellarmine is confuted by arguments both out of the Old and New Testament, and by his owne proofes out of Scriptures and Fathers. Also an annexe to this treatise of purgatorie, concerning the distinction of sinne in mortall and veniall. By M. William Guild, Minister at King-Edvvard.	Guild, William, 1586-1657.	1625 (1625)	STC 12481; ESTC S118973	32,841	72

any such thing be as Bellarmine grants and saith posse dubitari et periculosissimum esse definire or else expresly he sayes that except Hell and Heauen he knoweth no third place 5. Last of all themselues say Masse for children dying soone after baptisme who haue not committed any actuall sinne and to whom the whole punishment of originall is remitted and so consequently can not be in Purgatory AN ANNEXE TO this Treatise of Purgatorie concerning the Distinction of Sinne into Mortall and Veniall which is the maine Pillar of this Pyrotechnie and being pulled downe makes the whole Fabricke to fall IF we consider aright what Sinne is of its own nature as Saint Iohn describes it to wit that all sinne whatsoeuer is a transgression of the Law or if we consider what is the proper wages of sinne of whatsoeuer sort it bee as Saint Paul cleares it to wit death or if we consider what is onely able to expiate and doth purge vs from all sinne name it as they will to wit Christs blood and death onely Then surely any such distinction of sinne into Mortall and Veniall by nature will quite evanish and sinne of it owne nature will bee acknowledged to bee mortall solely and to say Peccatum and yet Veniale simply and not Mortale properly will be 〈◊〉 to bee vertuall contradiction and we know that there is no composition of meerely opposites nor construction of mutuall destructiues Yea out of their owne mouth to condemne them how is sinne vniuer●ally distinguished by themselues into Veniall and Mortall if the Veniall bee not sinne and that properly and if it bee sinne or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then of necessitie it must bee as is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as saith Saint Iohn and the wages thereof as the Lawe threatneth is Gods curse or as Saint Paul pronounceth doome is death So that euery sinne is as a Viper and there is no Viper if wee respect the meere nature of the best of them but shee killeth whom shee biteth yet if one shall light on the hand of Paul shee is shaken off into the fire without any harming but not the lesse is shee to bee feared and accounted deadly of her owne nature although the Apostle be safe Wherefore the distinction of sinne into ●ortall and Veniall ariseth 〈…〉 sed personis From whence it followes That all sinnes are damnable in all men but not to all men all deserving but not all receiuing damnation for to the reprobate no sinne is finally veniall and to the elect no sinne is finally mortall Notwithstanding that there is one sinne which is simply and vniuersally mortall because it is not only punishable but euer punished with eternall death and is that sinne against the Holy Ghost but is no wayes incident to the elect Therefore I call sinne mortall two wayes First by explication and generally and to say a mortall sinne is to shew the nature of all sinne Secondly by way of distinction and specially and so to say a mortall sinne is to designe that sinne against the Holy Ghost in particular and which sinne Impenitencie doth follow necessitate ineuitabili as an inseparable consequent where in all other sinnes it is rather contingent for as no sinne can bee forgiuen without repentance so this sinne excludes possibilitie of repentance and therefore is irremissible and is called Mortall in an eminent degree and neuer becomes veniall not because God in his absolute power cannot forgiue it but because in his iust will hee hath decreed neuer to forgiue it the partie so sinning being euer obdured by his owne vniust action and Gods iust desertion And this is that which is spoken Mathew 12.31 and which Christs beloued Disciple vnderstands saying There is a sinne to death and a sinne not vnto death distinguishing so not betweene some sinnes mortall in nature and some sinnes veniall by nature But betweene one sinne simply mortall in nature and in necessary effect vnto all and all other sinnes simply mortall in nature also but not in necessary effect vnto all and therefore possibly and by repentance veniall through grace vnto the elect Whereas the same sinnes are iustly through want of repentance retained and be comes finally mortall to the obdured reprobate Neither is it to any purpose which Bellarmine alledgeth out of Iames 1.15 that because concupiscence brings foorth sinne and sinne consummate brings foorth death therefore that concupiscence it selfe should not bring foorth death or be a mortall sinne but veniall Where in the contrary it is rather to bee reasoned that Concupiscence being the euill Tree budding or poysoned Spring flowing it is the cause of all that which proceeds therefrom to wit both sinne consummate and death inflicted as from the seed both stalke and each eare comes And in the very regenerate where no consent is thereto as it is called sinne properly and a rebellion against the Law of God Rom. 7.20 23. so the fruit and merit thereof is affirmed to be death vers 24 and Rom. 8.2 and consequently it is of nature mortall Neither is it forbidden in the Law with that restriction of giuing consent thereto but simply it is said Thou shalt not couet and therefore to lust or couet although it proceed no further as Christ himselfe expounds that Precept is a breach of the Lawe and consequently merits death and the curse Neither may we according to Bellarmines owne rule restraine that which God hath set downe more amply And as for that out of a 1 Corinth ● where veniall sinne is desweined saith Bellarmine Ex leuitate materiae wee may iustly say it is leuis probatio and whereas through wanting more solid stuffe for proouing their distinction they haue their recourse then to stubble they may fitly bee compared to that thralled people in the Egyptian bondage who wanting long straw were forced to gather short stubble to themselues to make vp their ●aske which they could not accomplish and for building such stuffe not vpon the foundation but rather thereby euerting the foundation they may feare a fearefull and consuming fire at last But heereunto wee will onely giue them but their owne answeres and fully pay them with their owne coyne Bellarmine then testifies that because by the Builders in that place is vnderstood Doctors therefore by the worke must bee vnderstood doctrine and consequently by Hay and Stubble saith hee is vnderstood curious and vnprofitable doctrine Next he saith That by the fire that burneth this combustible and light stuffe Purgatory wherein Veniall sinnes enter cannot bee meant because it purgeth not the worke but altogether consumes the worke This likewise is but Metaphorically then so called fire but that of Purgatory is reall Et ignis Purgatoriae qui ver●● realis est saith Bellarmine non potest opera comburero quae sunt actiones transeuntes jam transierunt And whereas the Ancients seeme to poynt at this Distinction making

punishment of sinne and is inflicted vpon the godly not to preuent sinne but for satisfaction to Gods Iustice. Whereto wee answere That to no purpose doth hee instance the common calamities of all men or death of all in generall seeing our controuersie heere is onely of satisfactory punishment proper to the godly in particular which Bellarmine himselfe confesseth the former not to be and so most clearly answeres for vs saying That Indulgences take not away Poenas naturales communes sed illam quae infligitur in foro poenitentiario haec enim est per quam Domino satisfacimus cui succedit nisi Domino satisfiat in praesenti purgatorii poena So that these other naturall and common calamities are the fruites of sinne but not satisfactions for sinne Againe Bellarmine more plainely as yet answeres for vs saying Mortis debitum non erat solum vt moreremur sed vt in morte perpetuò maneremus And this debt by his satisfaction Christ hath so freed vs thereof that death altering its nature to the godly is now but a safe passage to life of a curse made a full cure and blessing ending our fight leading vs to our crowne bringing vs to our countrey to the sight of God company of Angels societie of Saints and coniunction with Christ and therefore so expected with ioy and desired with longing which no punishment could bee Besides that hereby he contradicts himselfe saying that in baptisme the whole guilt and the whole punishment of sinne is remitted and yet sodainely after baptisme many Infants die To say therefore that the death of these is a satisfactory punishment when nothing is to bee satisfied for vnremitted fully is an absurd contradiction His third instance is of violent death inflicted on some as a satisfactorie and temporall punishment after the remission of the sinne as Exod. 32. of those that were killed for worshiping the golden Calfe Numb 14. of those that murmured against the Lord. 1 King 13. of the Prophet slaine by the Lyon and 1 Cor. 11. the death of those that vnworthily communicate We answer that these first that were slaine were manifest Idolaters of whose repentance or remission we reade not but of the iust deserued temporall punishment here and what such merite hereafter 1 Cor. 6.9 Next the others that murmured are called by the Apostle hard-hearted misbeleeuing wicked and disobedient and who as cleerely appeares Heb. 4.2.3 were also excluded out of the heauenly rest that which God remitted being according to Moses desire only their full deletion as God had threatned and their posterities To the other two examples we answer that all that they proue we grant to wit that disobedience and sinne is the efficient cause of temporall punishments but such punishments of the godly are not payments to God and redemptions of themselues So our difference is of the finall cause which is either for example to others to be aware or amendment of themselues or as Augustine saith cited by Bellarmine vel ad demonstrationem debitae miseriae vel emendationem labilis vitae vel ad exercitationem necessariae patientiae Neither read we of the Prophets repentance nor remission nor of the reconcilement of these vnworthy receiuers against whom that are such the Apostle threatneth the receiuing of their damnation Last of all when enforced by truth Bellarmine is made to confesse meritū Christi sufficere ad omnē culpam et poenam tollendam he comes to this shift that it must be applyed by Purgatory and all be it that in baptisme it take away all yet hee saith blasphemously quod deus tantum semel utitur ea liberalitate et postea contrahit nonnihil manum and will haue vs to satisfie for our selues and that for the temporall punishment quod vna tantum si actualis satisfactio et ea sit nostra Whereunto wee answer that wee grant that Christs merit is not auailable to any without application but the meanes are set downe expresly in the word to wit faith by the Word and Sacraments and by which meanes whensoeuer it is applyed it looseth none of its full vertue nor as they blasphemously affirme doth the Lord but once only vse such liberalitie to accept it for as much as it is worth towards the godly like the Pope who neuer but once at his Coronation scatters his copper money amongst the people but Faith applies it euer and he accepts it euer according to the full vertue and value thereof as being sufficient to free the godly as well from the temporall satisfactorie punishment which is the lesse as from the eternall which is the more Besides likewise that the meanes of applying a thing should be actiue and not a passion or torment so neither should these meanes be contrary to the benefit which we enioy by them as who to see should cloose his eie lids applying Gods mercie by the execution of his Iustice pardon by punishment discharge of debt by payment and applying the grace of Christ by a meanes derogating from his grace which is altogether impious and absurd As for his testimonies of Councels and Fathers that he brings in for prayer for the dead out of which hee would inferre Purgatory they neuer proue his point 1. Because this did proceede of an errour that sundry of the Fathers did hold and the whole Greeke Church as yet whom Bellarmine refutes that the soules of the Godly remained till the resurrection in certaine hid receptacles without seeing God 2. Their owne Canon of the Masse prayes for the soules of the faithfull which doe sleepe in the slumber of peace for so are the words Memento domin● animarum famulorum famularumque tuarum quae nos pracesserunt in signe fidei et dormiunt in somno pacis And yet these soules so long since departed cannot be said now to be in the fire of Purgatory for none could sleepe peaceable or found in so easelesse a bed except they make labouring and rest sleepe and waking peace and torment to bee all one 3. Cyprian testifies that they offered for the Apostles and Martyrs whom yet they thought not to be in Purgatorie and in the ancient Missalls Bellarmine grants that on the day of Pope Leo the 8. canonized Saint the Church said Annuè quaesumus domine vt animae B. Leonis haec prosit oblatio and yet this prayer for his soule imported not by their owne confession that it was in Purgatory 4. Likewise they prayed for the dead for declaration of their loue to them and not doubting that the soules notwithstanding were in blisse already and in that ioy which they prayed for vnto them as Augustines words for his mother Monica plainely manifests et credo domine quod feceris quod te rogo sed voluntaria oris mei approba domine And whereas the same Augustine would seem more plainely to make for Purgatorie in other places againe he either calles it in doubt if