Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	law_n	sin_n	sin_v	3,553	5	9.3146	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34535	A humble endeavour of some plain and brief explication of the decrees and operations of God, about the free actions of men, more especially of the operations of divine grace written by Mr. John Corbet ...	Corbet, John, 1620-1680.	1683 (1683)	Wing C6253; ESTC R233166	37,069	64

Scripture he punisheth Voluntary Hardness of heart with Judicial Hardness Nevertheless though to Punish be Gods Act yet he doth not properly cause the penal sin but in his Righteous Judgment he denies to give that help of Grace which is needful to keep a man from such sin and which is forfeited by the abuse of Grace already received He doth also justly expose the sinner to more and greater Temptations Hereupon the sin which is the Punishment of former sin certainly follows But there is no Causation or Agency of God to the effecting of the sin only by his Righteous Judgment it is ordered to be a Punishment of former sin 16. Sin doth not necessarily follow the permission of it IF the Humane Will had been bent to sin by a Natural Inclination as the fire burns sin must have necessarily followed upon the permission of it But first man sinned with Freedom and Choice and without any previous inclination to it and therefore the bare Permission of it which is no more than a Non-prevention doth not infer a Necessity of sinning Nor did it causally ascertain the Event of sin For it hath no Causation in it Yea the first man sinned not only by Free Choice and without a Previous Inclination to it but also against a Holy Inclination to Obedience called Original Righteousness This holy Inclination though it was not so natural as burning is to fire that is naturally inseparable yet it was necessary to Humane Nature in its right state and as it first came out of its Makers Hands and under the Necessary Influence of God which was with him it was so fully sufficient to his Perseverance in that state that his sin was a matter of inexcusable Ingratitude and high Contempt of the Divine Goodness towards him In the state of Fallen Nature the Will hath lost its Freedom to acts conformable to Gods Law and is enslaved to sin And while God permits him to abide in this state man sinneth Necessarily yet not by reason of Gods Permission but his own Vicious Inclination This Necessity of Sinning is not purely Natural but Moral which is also Voluntary being from no other Cause than the obstinate Depravedness of the Will it self which is not to be conquered by its own Power Moreover it is not a Necessity of the very particular sins which men run into as if they were inevitabe For ordinarily the particular sinful deeds committed might be forborn and the Duties omitted might be performed as to the outward deed But the meaning is whatsoever an unrenewed person doth hath necessarily in the manner of it a disconformity to Gods Law A Corrupt Tree cannot bring forth Good Fruit. PART III. Of the Operations of Divine Grace 1. What is signified by Divine Grace FOr the clearer understanding of all Points to be discussed touching Divine Grace it is requisite that the meaning of Grace in general and of all the kinds thereof be explained By Divine Grace in general is understood whatsoever is graciously vouchsafed on Gods part in order to mans Duty and Felicity whether it be the Divine Operation or the Effect hereof in man Sometimes men call the first saving Operation of God to the renewing of the Soul by the name of the First Grace but it is not so indeed For abundant and manifold Grace is vouchsafed before that Whatsoever is from God over and above Humane Nature and Faculties and his general concurse in themselves considered is to be comprehended under this Term. Nature and Gods upholding thereof in it self considered is not to be called Grace but Gods reprieving of Nature in order to its recovery is his Grace through-Christ and so the continuing of our Reason and Free Will and all our Faculties in this state of Tryal is of Grace And Nature in it self considered is the Subject that Grace works upon For Grace doth not put into us any such thing as we call a Natural Faculty but the Rectitude of the Faculty or that which tends thereunto And all the degrees of the healing and restoring of our depraved lapsed Nature are so many degrees of Grace obtained for us by Christ. In sum under Divine Grace in general may be comprehended Gods Ordinances Providences secret Influences and Eternal Purposes or the gracious Effects and Consequents thereof in man 2. The meaning of some Distictions of Grace that are commonly used THere is Grace Objective and Subjective By Objective Grace is meant the Law or Covenant of Grace which is stiled in Scripture the Grace of God that bringeth salvation together with all the external Signs and Evidences thereof either in the Works of God and the course of his Providence towards Mankind or in his written Word By Subjective Grace is meant all internal gracious operations of God on man over and above his general concurse together with the impression and disposition made thereby in the Soul There is Grace Common and Special By Common Grace many understand that which is common not to all but to more than the Elect and by Special Grace that which is peculiar to the Elect or to a state of Salvation But these terms are not necessarily restrained to this meaning For there is a common Grace not only as given to more than the Elect but as given to all men And there is a Special Grace wherein God freely favours one man more than another and yet it may be below that which is peculiar to a state of Salvation Grace of the same kind may be considered as given to several persons in equal or unequal measure There is also Grace Sufficient and Grace Effectual Sufficient Grace is that by which we can do the Good to which it is said to be sufficient and without which we cannot do it and therefore it is also called Necessary Grace Effectual Grace is that which as such doth take Effect and is never frustrate 3. Of Vniversal Grace I Think the Notion of Grace ought not to be restrained to Favours or Benefits vouchsafed to some and not to others but whatsoever God gives which in his Justice according to the Law of Works he might refuse to give is truly called Grace though it be given to all And the most Common Grace is so far of free-choice as that God might justly have refused to give it That there is an universal Objective Grace appears by the general Law of Grace or the Conditional Grant of Life and Salvation to all Mankind The Grace of the external Signes and Evidences of the said General Grant is likewise Universal in some degree For in the course of Gods Providence towards Mankind his mercy to sinners is very legible particularly his Reconcileableness to them upon their Repentance The Mercy of God towards men in general tends to lead them to Repentance and seeking after God Act. 17. 27. And this supposeth God to be reconcileable otherwise there were no ground for Repentance If there be such Universal Objective Grace what hinders that there should not