Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	dead_a	death_n	trespass_n	4,131	5	10.6204	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A90866	Theos anthrōpophoros. Or, God incarnate. Shewing, that Jesus Christ is the onely, and the most high God· In four books. Wherein also are contained a few animadversions upon a late namelesse and blasphemous commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrewes, published under the capital letters, G.M. anno Dom. 1647. In these four books the great mystery of man's redemption and salvation, and the wayes and means thereof used by God are evidently held out to the capacity of humane reason, even ordinary understandings. The sin against the Holy Ghost is plainly described; with the cases and reasons of the unpardonablenesse, or pardonablenesse thereof. Anabaptisme, is by Scripture, and the judgment of the fathers shewed to be an heinous sin, and exceedingly injurious to the Passion, and blood of Christ. / By Edm. Porter, B.D. sometimes fellow of St. John's Colledge in Cambridge, and prebend of Norwich.	Porter, Edmund, 1595-1670.; Downame, John, d. 1652.	1655 (1655)	Wing P2985; Thomason E1596_1; ESTC R203199	270,338	411

that sin shall never be forgiven for if this sin cannot at all be remitted by repentance in this life why was the Church so offended with Novatus for not admitting penitents to his Atha ib. pag. 624. Communion who in time of persecution for fear had denied Christ and yet if there be a possibility of remission after this life why is Origen so condemned for affirming that the punishment of the damned shall have an end Again he saith 〈◊〉 those who were ignorant of the Godhead of Jesus and so did not believe or confesse it shall not be pardoned what will become of his own Disciples Ausim dicere ne ipsos b●atos Discipulos Atha ibid pa. 265. perfectam sententiam de ejus Divinitate habiusse antequam Spiritus sanctus in die Penticostes eos visitasset i I dare bouldly affirm that the blessed Disciples of Christ had not a perfect opinion of their Lords Godhead untill the holy Spirit descended on them at the Feast of Penticost for we read Math. 28. 17. that after his resurrection some worshiped him but some doubted Heathens Turks Jewes and Arrians do unto this day blaspheme the whole Trinity and therefore do certainly blaspheme the Holy Spirit yet if any of these should be converted to the true faith and with a penitent confession and with teares should come to the Christian Church renouncing their blasphemies and desire admission thereinto and to be instructed and then baptized what Christian would be so hard-hearted as to deny them St. Austin goeth yet further Aug. in Exposit Epist ad Rom. n. 96. Si ex eo numero hominum quibus Dominus crimen peccati in Spiritum Sanctum objecit veniret ad ecclesiam ad fidem Christi paenitens salutem cum lacrimes pos●ens quaero utrum quisquam tanto errore esset ut neget ad baptismum admitti aut frustra admissum esse contendat i If any one of those very Pharisees unto whom particularly Cbrist objected this sin against the Holy Ghost had been converted to the Christian faith and with repentance and tears had desired that saving doctrine I demand whether any one would be so ignorantly nice as to deny him leave to be baptized or to affirm that if he were baptized it would not profit him Certainly if Julian or Arrius who by divines are said to have sinned this sin had so offered themselves to the primitive Church in their times they had not been refused for we know that Novatus and his sect were therefore condemned by the Orthodox because they refused to admit such as had denied Christ as is said before The conclusion and resolution of this question by Aug. Epist 50. n. 31. St. Austin is this that this sin is unpardonable only in this case viz. If such a sinner continue in duritia cordis usque ad finem vitae hujus and again Aug. Enchirid cap. 83. n. 58. Si in hac obstinatione mentis diem extremum clandit i If such a blasphemer continue and persevere in this hardnesse of heart and obstinacy all his life time and in it depart this life then will there be no hope of forgivnesse And for this reason onely this grand sin Vid. infra may be called in the Apostles words 1. John 5. 16. A sin unto death Not because it doth alwaies necessarily bring to that sinner eternall death but because it Aug. Epist 50. ● 31. will do so if that sinner live and die in this sin obstinately and impenitently of which saying I shall more largly speak here after in its due place of this sin when it doth necessarily bring the sinner to eternal damnation the same Saint Austin saith very truly as I conceive Non probatur ab aliquo commissum nisi cum de corpore exierit i none can be properly said to have committed the sin unto death untill the sinner be actually dead because if he repent before his death then the sin canot be said to be unto death Finallie neither this sin or any other Apostasie except it be final is so absolutely unpardonable but that forgivenes may be obtained through Christ if the sinner seeke pardon with true repentance But whether any repentance may be had by such who have once fallen into this grand sin is the next thing to be enquired CHAP. IV. An exposition of Hebr. 6. 4. that the word Inlightned signifieth baptisme Anabaptisme is inhibited as both unprofitable and also sinful BEcause no sin how great soever can be said to be absolutely unpardonable if the sinner wil truly repent him of it and that there is no case or condition in this life wherin sinfull man should despair and cast of all hope of pardon therefore divers * Calvin l. 3. 3. 24. Instit Polan p. 339. Buc. p. 155. divines tell us that the reason why it is said of this sin that it shall never be forgiven is because when it is once committed it is ever after accompanied with final impenitentie and that by the just judgment of God such apostates are punished with final and Eternal blindnes and that they cannot possiblie repent and for this doctrine they alleage the saying of S. Paul Heb. 6. 4. It is impossible for those who were once enlightned if they fall away to renue them to repentance Whether this be the true meaning of those words or not it will better appeare if we diligentlie by way of exposition examine them together with the context both before after Which I will not presume to undertake or performe by mine owne single judgment but will call in the assistance of former expositions by the auncient Fathers upon that place where we read as followeth For it is impossible for those who were once enlightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift c. If they fall away to Renue them againe to repentance The Apostle having in the former verses told those Hebr●ws that they should not expect that he would new lay the foundations of Christian religion which had bin done to them before wherof one was 〈◊〉 and its Doctrine for if they must be alwaies n●w rounded in Christian religion as oft as they fall into ●in then should they be as often baptized that if they fell a second and third time they should as often be baptized and therby re●●ored to their former estate by so many several baptismes This is the e●position of Theophilact Si iterum e●● in primordiis religionis insti●ueret Theoph. in locum ru●sus baptizaret po●iqu●m denuò ●apsi essent baptizaret a●que ●te●um per ●ujusmodi● iterationem essent multi baptismi verum ho●●bsurdum non oportet iterari baptismum i If the Apostle must new lay the foundations of religion in his disciples as oft as they fall into sin then must he new baptize them and if they fall againe he must baptize them againe and againe but ●f so then there would be many Baptismes which were absurd for Baptisme may

called his may appear by these passages Christ saith Matth. 25. I was hungry I was naked I was in prison Act. 9. 4. Saul Saul why persecutest thou me when these things were not meant of his own proper and individual person but only of his servants and members which he calleth himself for so he saith Verily in as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of my brethren ye have done it unto me So the Apostle saith that 2 Cor. 5. 21. Christ was made sin for us when in the same breath it is also affirmed that he knew no sin Both are most true because our sins are his sins by reason of this union as the debt of the principal is also the debt of the Surety So Christ is said to be Rev. 13. 8. slain from the beginning of the world even before he was incarnate because of Abel who was both his member and type Lyranus upon that place saith Lyra. in loc Christus fuit in Abel occisus in prophetis exhonoratus for all the holy Patriarchs and Prophets who dyed before the birth of Christ are his members as well as others who novv live or shall hereafter live untill the end of the world even as we read of that birth Gen. 38. 28. where the hand came out of the Womb before the other parts yet it was a member united to the body as well as the other parts Upon that speech of Christ Matth. 23. How often would I have gathered thee as an hen c Orig. in loc Origen saith Christ in Moses and the Prophets would have gathered them in every age before Upon that passage in Psal 61. 2. From the Aug. in Psal 60. ends of the earth will I cry unto thee Austin asketh this question What one man cryeth from the ends of the Earth And answereth That it is meant of Christ for his Members or Church is that one man And upon that saying of the Psalmist Psal 86. 3. I cry unto thee daily or all the day long that is all the time of the world continuance If question be made how this can be true of any one man Austin Aug. in Ps 85. answereth That it is meant of the body of Christ which groaneth under pressures in all ages this one man is extended unto the end of the world in his Members preceding and succeeding Thus he Finally upon these grounds If it be demanded how any man can be saved seeing man daily transgresseth the Law Our answer is That every true member of Christ doth perfectly perform the Law in that Christ hath done it who is one with his members So if we enquire how Christ could with Justice suffer death who never sinned The answer is That his suffering was just because the sins of his Members or body are his sinnes in that himself and his Members are One for it is as easie to conceive our most innocent Saviour to be justly charged with our sins as to conceive sinful man to be justly discharged of all sin and to be truly called righteous even the righteousnesse of God in him Thus much I have thought fit to premise as an Introduction and a needful Preparative for the reading of these Books All which I humbly submit to the Judgment of Superiors and to the serious consideration of the Christian Reader THE Principal Contents of the four Books following In the first Book THe Authors and spreaders of the Arian or Socinian heresie Why the title Saint was of old withdrawn from Churches That the most high God is the Author of the Gospel That the soules of men and women never dye The article of Christs descent into hell is expounded The Original of Creeds and what hath been added to the most ancient of them and why The meaning of the word Hades or hell A full discourse of Ecstasies Raptures Inspirations Revelations and Enthusiasmes Of the apparitions of dead men Of Angels good and bad which conduct the soules of the dead to their receptacles and mansions in the other world A Summary of the blasphemies contained in the said Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrewes In the second Book THat to deny and renounce the Godhead of Christ is the sin against the holy Ghost The sin against the holy Ghost is fully described The eternall Godhead of Jesus Christ is fully proved The deniers of Christ's Godhead are of no better religion then Jewes Turks or Antichrist Of the Deification of Jesus Christ and how it is to be understood The manner how Christ doth intercede and mediate for us in Heaven The Subjection and Minoration of Christ and the delivering up of his Kingdome at the end of the world expounded out of 1 Cor. 15. A plain discovery of Originall sin On what Object the Christian is to fix his mind in prayer How the most high God became a Priest Why the Church of England required adoration when the Lord Jesus is named That Christ is Jehova and what that word signifieth In the Third Book THat the most high God was incarnate How and when the most high God appeared visibly to the Patriarchs and the mystery thereof unfolded The meaning of the face and backparts of God The everlasting Covenant of Grace made before the Creation and after is plainly set forth How the Son of God was necessitated to be incarnate and to suffer death That the Obedience of Christ is with perfect justice and equity imputed to his mysticall Body the Church for the salvation thereof The Originall of the Soul of Christ and of other mens souls is disputed The Omnipresence of the Spirit of God and the diversities of the graces thereof The curing of the Kings Evill by the Kings of England and the Scripturall warrant for the same In the Fourth Book IN what cases the sinne against the Holy Ghost is unpardonable or pardonable is fully shewed The dangerous sin of Anabaptism is shewed by evidence of Scripture with the History of the ancient Anabaptists The reasons why the ancient Christians did defer Baptism till ripe years or old age shewed to be carnall The reason why St. Paul commanded those to be baptized who had been baptized before with St. John Baptists baptism Acts 19. A plain description what true repentance is The meaning of Sins unto death and sins not unto death 1 John 5. 16. The meaning of sins Mortall and Veniall so oft mentioned in the Fathers In what cases sinners must be prayed for and in what not shewed out of 1 John 5. 16. OBSERVATIONS UPON THE COMMENTARY ON The Epistle to the HEBREWES published under the Capital Letters G. M. Anno Dom. 1646. CHAP. I. The Original and growth of the Arian Heresie THe blasphemous heresie of denying the Godhead of Jesus Christ began early and after 〈◊〉 was first broached by one a Euseb hist l. ● ● 28. 〈◊〉 c. 20. 〈◊〉 as Eusebius and Ni●eph have written and after him 〈◊〉 seconded by his dis●●ple ●●●odotus who was an 〈◊〉 of

●●tu i. that he was in the light of God and company of Saints and St. Austin prayed thus for his godly Aug. Confes l. 9. c. 13. Mother deceased Pro peccatis matris mea deprecor te Deus demit●e illi debita sua c. i. I beseech thee O God for the sins of my Mother that thou wouldst forgive her and yet immediatly he saith Credo jam feceris quod rogo i I beleeve thou hast alread●y done what I now pray for Notwithstanding the Church did so pray and Epiphanius gives this reason why the names of the dead were Epiph. hae 75. mentioned in the Church-prayers Quia hoc magis fuerit utile quid commodius quod credunt praesentes quòd bi qui decesserunt vivunt non sunt nulli i. What can be more profitable to the living then to be assured that the dead persons commemorated do still live and that they are not annihilated So we see the Church had other reasons which moved them so to commemorate the dead though the deceased received no benefit thereby As 1. To commend unto the living and in their mindes to preserve the wholesom doctrine of our Souls immortality 2. Their prayers did challenge the performance of Gods promises to those deceased who had lived and died in the Lord as is declared Rev. 14. 13. Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord saith the Spirit 3. For the co●solation of the living the Priest declared that the sins of such holy men which had lived and died in the faith of Christ were forgiven 4. The Church gave thanks for their departure to rest as acknowledging the mercy of God by which they were saved and not by their own merits Some Divines think that when St. Paul prayed for Onesiphorus The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day 2 Tim. 1. 18. that Onesiphorus was at that time dead because in the end of the Epistle in the salutations there is no mention of Onesiphorus but of his familie only 2 Tim. 4. 19. And because there is no state or condition of men in this life though never so sinful which excludeth them from the benefit of being prayed for therefore some Expositors have thought that when St. John said There is a sin unto death I do not say he shall pray for it 1 Joh 5. 16. his meaning is that such an one who liveth and dieth in a soul-destroying sin such as shall in this book afterwards be discovered without repentance for such a mans prayers are unprofitable and vaine not excluding others that die in the Lord to be commemorated in the prayers of the living as Onesiphorus before mentioned and in that sense as is before said and this is St. Heromes exposition in his objurgatory Hier 10. 9. Epiad Evang. Epistle to Evangius if it be his own and so also saith the interlineal glosse with Lyra. St. Austin being hard put to it to give an account why the Church prayed for the dead and what benefit the dead had by the prayers of the living by the questions of Dulcitius and Paulinus confesseth most inge Aug. lib. de Cur promort● c. 1. nuously that the dead can have no benefit at all by our prayers here except by their good life they were capable of good before their death and again he saith Because the Church knoweth not unto what dead men Aug. ib. c. 17. her prayers are profitable therefore she prayeth pro omnibus regeneratis i. for all the regenerate that none may be omitted CHAP. XV. That the Fathers did not beleeve that Souls departed were insensible as if they were dead or asleep because the Saints departed do pray for the Church Militant as the Fathers thought HAving shewed before what the Church Militant did here below for the Triumphant part above it would now be considered what the Triumphant Church above doth for us that are on earth in the judgement of the Fathers The ancient Church were so far from thinking that our souls died with our bodies that they affirme and verily beleeve that the souls of holy men departed and being in rest did pray for the Church on earth for so St. Hierom tels us the Saints deceased pray for the living Hier. Epist 53. n. 17. for they that had so much charity on earth as to pray even for their enemies and persecutors much more will they now in heaven pray for the Church St. Paul is not lesse charitable after his departure then he was before and so he wished Heliodor●● that if he died before Hier. Eipst 1. n. 1. Hierom to pray for him when he was in heaven so likewise he desireth a Id. Epist 27. n. 7. Principia and b Id. Epist exeg 140. n. 30 Paula to remember him when they are in heaven And St. Ambrose professeth c Amb. de fide Resur n. 30. That he expecteth the intercession of his brother Satyrus deceased for the speedier deliverance out of the miseries of this life and that he hoped the godly Emperour d Id. de Obit Theod. n. 47. Theodosius departed did yet pray to God for his surviving Children and that the dead Emperor e Id. de Obit Valent. n. 46. Gratian did pray for his brother Valentinian Of the same Judgment is St. Chrysostom f Chrys ser de uno Legisl to 6. n. 55. for he doubteth not to affirm that the Martyrs and Prophets Apostles deceased do actually pray for the living and before him St. Cyprian in his life-time contracted with Cornelius g Cyp. l. 1. Epist 1. Qui prior è vita discesserit oret pro sratribus i. That which of them should first dye must pray for the survivers and in an Epistle written to some Martyrs who were very speedily to suffer death for Christ he desireth † Cyp. ad Marty n. 98. Naz. Orat. 24. them to be mindful of him when they were in the honour of Martyrs with the Lord. Greg. Naz. tells us that Athanasius though deceased yet as he was perswaded did still help and assist the Church and that his friend St. Basil deceased and now in heaven yet Naz. Orat. 20. even there poured out prayers for the people And of his reverend old father deceased who had been a long time Bishop of Nazianzum he saith That he doubteth Id. Orat. 19. not but though he were in heaven yet the same Pastoral care which he had on earth remaineth still with him and now that he is approached nearer to God he doth more good for that flock by his prayers in heaven then he could do by his doctrine on earth This is enough to shew what the Fathers thought of the Immortality of the soules of men and the same opinion was so generally received of Christian people in those dayes that as St. Chrysostome reporteth they Chrys Ser. 4. de Laz. n. 42. would commonly boast that they should

exp●cted in this life for against this thorn in the flesh did this Apostle pray ● but it was answered My G●●ce i● sufficient That 2 Cor. 12. 7. is no other deliverance may be had but power by grace to resist this temptation yet not so much power as to annihilate and quite extinguish it in this life If it be here objected that the Holy Scriptures acknowledge Gen. 6. 9. Job 1. 1. Luke 1. 5. some persons just and righteous and perfect ones as Job and Noah and Zecharie the answer is that this perfection doth not imply impeccancie or impeccability for such just men fall seven times Prov. 24. 16. Noah was just but it is said there in his generation such may be called perfect Travellers but not perfect Possessors having not yet finished their course so a child is called perfect which hath all his limbs and lineaments compleat yet is far from a perfect man and a perfect man is yet far short of Angelicall perfection Men are called just who are not Aug. de natura Grat. ● 38. free from sin Justi su●runt sine peccato non suerunt That this truth hath been ever acknowledged by the Church may appear in that the Apostle saith ●f we say we havë no sin we deceive our selves civitas 1 Joh. 1. 8. Dei o●at● dimi●te nobis debi●a the universall Church in the time of prayer saith Forgive us our trespasses Indeed Aug. de Civit l. 19. c. 22. De peccat merito l. 2. c. 6. S. Austin confesseth That a man may sometime live without acting a sin yet that any mortall man can be without sin he denyeth For when the Pelagians urged that the Virgin Mary was without sin he desired to be excused from all accusation of that Blessed Mother of our Lord God yet he was assured that all Saints on earrh would submit to that speech of Ambr. de Jacob l. 1. c. 6. Hier. ad Ctesiphon cap. 5. Id. Cont Pelag l. 2. cap. 8. Saint Iohn If we say we have no sin c. Sain● Ambrose saith Non gl●ri●r quia justus sum s●d quia redemptus not glorying in Justice but in Justification St. Hierom saith men are called just not because they are without sin but because they are endowed with many vertues as Ezechias was a just man though he sinn●d and wept he did not lose the repute of a just man for some sins but he retained it because withall he performed many just and worthy actions besides a man is ●steemed righteous when his un●ighteousnesse is forgiven as he is ●steemed with God a performer of the Law whose transgr●ssions are pardoned Omnia Aug. Retract 1. c. 19. mandata facta deputan●ur quando qui●quid non fit ignosci●ur Now that the rebellion of flesh and blood or concupisc●nce doth cont●nually dwell in all mankind during this life may clearly appear in the Holy Person of Saint Paul by his own words for thus he writes Rom. 7. 19. The go●d that I would I do not but the evil which I would not that I do f we inquire what evill it is which the Apostle would not do and yet did it it must needs be answered that evill concupiscences or carnall lusts did arise in him which he desired to be quit of and free from that they might not all be in him but because evill concupiscences will ever be in mortal men therefore his next care is that such desires may be r●sisted so that they proceed not into action as he saith Rom. 6. 12. Let not sin reign in your mortall body that ye should obey i● in the lusts thereof he doth not say let it not be for it will alwaies be in us but let it not rule and p●evail over Grace So Gala. 5 16. w●lk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh he doth say ye shall not have those lusts but not fulfill and pe●form them and ver 17. Ye cannot do the thing that ye would that is because ye cannot as you desire be free and quit from evill desires so as no evill desires at all should arise in you yet resist them do not obey them Tene Aug. de Verb. Dei ser 43. manus pedes ocu●o● c. withhold your members from acting those carnal suggestions Where he saith What I hate that I do We are not Rom. 7. 15. to imagine that the Apostle meaneth that although he hated fornication adultery rapine c. yet he did act these things but he meaneth that he hated evill lusts which yet did continually arise in him he desired they might not all be in him Nolo concupiscere tamen con●upisco O ●i tamen Aug. de verbis Apost ser 5. ago quamvis membra●●eneo arma nego So himself adviseth Rom. 6. 13 Y●●ld not your members as i●st ●ments of unrighteousness Although sinfull desires arise in Id de Temp. Ser. 45. your carnall heart Rebellant r●bella pugnant pugna This is the strife betwen the flesh and the spirit he did continually resist those temptations Luctabatur no● Id. ibid. subjug●ba●ur alwayes str●ving with them but not overcome by them Rom 8. 8. They that are in the flesh cannot please God Though holy men are in the flesh yet because they are not over-ruled by the flesh they do please Id. de verbis Apost Ser. 6. God Carnem portant sed non p●rtantur ab ●a Where he saith Rom. 7. 25. With the mind I my self serve the Law of God but with the flesh the Law of sin We are not to think that the naturall mind or intellective faculty of this Apostle was free from carnall concupiscence for by nature our whole man body and soul is carnall but the mind here signifieth his understanding reformed and renued by the Spirit of God for the very naturall spirit or mind of man needeth ● renuing by the Spirit of Grace as himself saith Ephes 4. 23. B● r●nued in the Spirit of your mind When he saith Rom. 7. 17. It is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me His meaning is not to excuse himself so as if he were without sin and blameless But that his Spirituall part or in ward man did detest that which his carnall part or outward man did suggest Just so doth this Apostle ascribe his holy and spirituall actions not to himself but to the Grace of the Spirit as 1 Cor. 15. 10. I laboured more then they all yet not I but the Grace of God which was with me So 1 Cor. 7. 10. I command yet not I but the Lord. So again Gal. 2. 20. The conclusion is that The Son himself that is to say Christ as he is considered with the plenitude of his Mysticall Body and so is the Whole Christ cannot be perfectly subject and obedient to the Godhead untill this mortall hath put on immortality and our naturall body be raised a Spirituall body when

Godhead is there called the Holi● Spirit or Holie ghost as hath bin shewed before in my Second book and this blasphemio consisteth in the denial of the Godhead of Iesus Christ wherby his allsufficient Sacrifice is undervalued and the Son of God is troden underfoot as being esteemed but a creature and a meer man and therby becometh contemptible and his Blood even the blood of the Covenant is esteemed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i But common ordinarie unholie blood no better then the blood of another ordinarie common man and not Sanctified and ordaineth for that great and high mysterie to be offered as a full and sufficient expiatorie sacrifice for the sins of the world according to the Covenant of God For he that denyeth the Godhead of Christ must needs think that his blood is but common blood as other mens blood is and therfore not of sufficient worth and value to redeem the world more then another mans blood is and indeed if his blood be no better then the blood of another man and if it be not the royal blood of God Act. 20. 28. It hath not it can not redeeme us Now whether the sin mentioned in this place be absolutely unpardonable and altogether remediless will better apeare by a diligent exposition of that text as it stands in relation to the context both before and after it For if we sin c If everie sin which is committed after we knew and professed the Christian religion should be unpardonable what man could be saved seeing the most righteous men fall and therfore doe daylie pray forgive us our trespasses therfore this saying can not be understood of every sin but suerlie here is one special grand and capital sin meant and what that is the words going before and following doe declare For verse 5. it is said in the Person of the Son of God Sacrifice and Offerings thou wouldst not but a Vide. Psal 40. bodie hast thou prepared for me That is because the Legal sacrifices or the blood of bulls and goates could not redeem man therfore an humane bodie was prepared for the Son of God that in that assumed humane nature he might in man's stead beare the curse and suffer death which man had merited And because we who are but meer men weak and sinfull can not by our selves performe the will and law of God without performance wherof no man can be saved therfore the Son of God came in our stead to performe the whole law so as was required and willed of God as it is said vers 9. Then said I loe I come to doe thy will o God So that both the active obedience of Christ in doing the law and his passive obedience in suffering the punishment of our transgressions are here set forth in these words vers 10. By the which will we are sanctified through the Offering of the body of ●esu Christ once for all That is by Christs performing the will or commandments of God in our stead and through the Sacrifice of himself on the Altar of the Cross for our sins his mystical bodie or Church is Sanctified for it is said vers 12. This man Christ Offered one Sacrifice for sins for ever and again vers 14. h● one offering he hath perfi●ted for ever them that are Sanctified and then we are exhorted vers 22. Let us draw neer with a true heart in full assurance of faith and vers 23. Let us hold fast the Pro●ession of our faith without wavering If we sin there remaineth no more sacrifice c Having shewed what the foundation of our Christian religion is namely Jesus the Son of God God Incarnate and in his humane nature performing the covenant law and will of God both actively and passively for us and in our stead and requiring that we should have a full assurance of faith of the truth of that Doctrine without which faith Christ will not profit us he now shewes the sad consequences of rejecting this doctrine by Apostacie or falling away from our Christian religion in these words There remaineth no more sacrifice for sins but a certaine fearfull looking for of judgement So that the sin here meant is Apostasie that is forsaking Christianitie as Julian did esteeming of Christ but as of an ordinarie Coman man and therfore distrusting the sufficiencie of his blood and death as not an equivalent price and ransome for man's redemption The truth of this Exposition will better appear by the words following wherein this particular sin is evidently expressed and is called verse 29. Treading under foot the Sonne of God counting the blood of the Canant unholy or as it is in the Originall a common thing and doing despight unto the Spirit of Grace Now to tread under foot is to vilipend and undervalue Christ as esteeming him not sufficient to take away or satisfie for our sinnes to count the blood of the Covenant unholy or Common is to esteem of the death and blood shedding of Christ to be of no more vertue and power then the death and blood of another Common man and they that so basely undervalue Christ as to think and to account him but a meer man do despight unto the Spirit of Grace What is the Spirit of Grace in the Sonne of God but his Divine Spirit and Godhead even that Spirit from which all Graces flow which are called the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ So they who have no higher estimation of Christ then of a meere man do despight unto his Divine Nature his God-head for what greater spite can be then to un-God him the word here used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to despite in effect is all one with the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Saint Matthew and the Spirit of Grace here is the same which is there called the Holy Spirit which doth signifie the God-head of Christ as hath been shewed before For if he that despised Moses Law died without mercy verse 28. Yet Moses was but a mere man and so but a Theod. in loc fervant to this our God Quan●ò morte dignior est qui Mosis Deum hab●t despicatui i. What shall become of him that despiseth the God of Moses and the saving Doctrine of Christ who is the Onely Eternall God Moses propounded life as a reward to them that should perform the Law Christ did perform that Law in mans stead to mans behoof and benefit and offereth to men the benefit of that performance and with it life eternall onely with this condition of believing on him Therefore that man which will not give credit to this joyfull-Evangelicall offer must expect to perish eternally for if Christ be rejected absolutely and salvation through him despised and not hoped for or expected There is no other sacrifice for our sins possibly to be found nor any other Name by which we can be saved By what hath been said it appeareth that these words If we sinne in this place signifie the sinning of the

amendment To this doctrine of the pardonablenesse of any sin though ever so great upon repentance the Church discipline of old was correspondent for in the Ecclesiasticall Canons recorded by St. Basil it is ordered That whosoever had denied Christ in time of persecution should be debarred from the Communion all his life time untill his death bed and remain onely in the number and ranck of penitentiaries but upon point of death he should be restored and the Sacrament administred to him and this propter fidem divinae Clementiae i. because the Church believed that our merciful God did pardon those true penitents who had fallen into that grand sin of denying Christ Upon the same doctrine did the fathers ground their dist●nction of sins calling some mens sins venial and others mortal just as St. John here doth a sin unto death a sin not unto death For so Origen mentioneth mortale peccatum and St. Amb●ose speaketh of crimen Orig n. 41. Ambr. n. 9. 15 Aug n. 6773 77. Prosp n. 34 mortale and Erratum Noae erat veniale So doth St. Austine call sins V●nialia Morralia capitalia Damnabilia and so doth Prosper and so doth the Church of Englands Liturgie mention a Deadly sin and all these onely in this sence as Saint Ambrose expresseth himself Venialis culpa est quam Amb. de Paradiso cap. 14. s●qnitur confessio i. that sin is called venial which is confessed or repented of And so that sin is onely a deadly sin or a sin unto death in which men live and die impenitently aud therefore unpardonably as is shewed before CHAP. XVIII The meaning of these words Idoe not say he shall pray for it that this praying and not praying is to be understood of the living and not of the dead the practise of the Church in praying for penitents the manner and form of Ecclesiastical or external pennance viewed in the Roman Lady Fabiola in what case God forbad praying for sinners in the Old Testament THere remaineth yet a greater difficultie in the words next following wherby this sin unto death may seem to be such a sin as the Apostle forbiddeth men to pray for wherby he may also seem to set the brand and mark of absolute unpardonablenes upon the sinner as being quite forlorne and bereft of all remedie and left utterly to desperation for thus we read A sin unto death I doe not say he shall pray for it It being granted that the sin unto death is one of those capital sins before mentioned out of Math. 12. 31. and Gal. 5. 19. In which the sinner continueth impenitently al his life time and therin dieth we are next to inquire whether the Apostle meaneth that such a sinner so dying is not to be prayed for after his death or whether he mean that such a sinner is not to be prayed for during his life time whilest he continueth in his sin without repentance For if we grant that by these words a man dying in that sin is excepted from being prayed for after death then it will follow that the other sort of sinners which sin not impenitently unto their death may be prayed for after death and so prayers for the dead must be allowed of as if they were warranted by Scripture which the Church of England doth neither practice nor allowe of although we can not denie but that the ancient Church used them so as I have shewed above in my first book To this inquirie the answer is that the praying or not praying here mentioned is to be understood of men living and only during their life time for so the Apostle meaneth he that is seen or knowne to consess his sin to repent and amend it may be prayed for by the Church whilest he is living But he that is not perceived or perceived not to Confess repent and amend his foul visible and noted sins whilest he liveth the Church hath no direction to pray for such a sin or for such a sinner in this sense that the sin may be forgiven which is never repented Or that the sinner may be pardoned notwithstanding his obdurate persisting and continuing in his sin no not whilest he is living and much less when he is dead So here is no warrant for praying for the dead whether they died penitently or impenitently but in what sense an impenitent sinner during his impenitencie may and ought to be prayed for in this life will appeare hereafter more cleerly but first I must shew the Church practise in praying for sinners The reader may consider that this Epistle is Catholick written to the whole Church and upon this direction the Church Catholick used to p●ay most earnestly yea and with teares and lamentations for such sinners who for some grievous and known Crime had bin excommunicated and this the Church did at such times as the sinners appeared to and in the Church or at the Church dores as penitents confessing and bewayling their owne sins in garments of sackcloth and their faces besmeared with ashes b●gging on their knees both the prayers of the Church and also reconciliation and re admission to the congregation and communion The manner of penitents humiliation and of the Churches commiseration and compassion we have very frequently described in the Church Histories and the Fathers thus In the wist●rne Church saith Sozomen Soz l. 7. c. 1● Ambr. 34. 37. Epiph. haer 59. Origen lam n. 30. there is a set place appointed where the penitents stand with a sad coun●enance mourning and weeping then they cast themselves downe on the pavement being clad in course sack cloth and their beauti● obscur●d and d●faced with ashes and with long sorrow and fasting they beg the prayers of the Church to God for them Confessing their sins openly If the Bishop be present he Compassionatly kneeles and weepes and prayes with them and for them and so doth the whole congregation S. Jerome relates the particular Hier. Epist 30. n. 8. pennance of the noble and religious Lady Fabiola as it was performed in his owne time She had bin divorced and after divorcement she was married to another man whilest her divorced husband was living But she repented and confessed her offence with great sorrow in sack cloth and ashes publickly in the sight of the whole citie of Rome Episcopis presby●eris populo Collacrimantibus i. her self and the Bishops present and the priests and the whole multitude altogether compassionatly weeping This was the use and manner of the Churches praying for those Brethren or Sisters which were thus seen to confefs and express penitency for their sins and therfore not sinning unto death impenitently and this they did upon this direction If any man see his brother sin a sin that is not unto death let him pray for him c S. Ambr●se doth exhort the sinner to confession Ambr. de paenit l. 2. c. 10. n. 34. and penitencie by this motive Fleat pro te mater ecclesia that

the Church our Mother may poure out her teares for her Children and it is required as a Christian dutie of the people to shew compassion by prayers and teares for such penitents and he himself used to weep when he heard a penitents confession Amb. ibid. c. 8. Pa●lin in vita Amb n. 2. for saith he Surely I ought at least to pray and weepe for him f●r whom my Saviour vouchsafed to die Thus the reader may perceive that the praying and not praying here mentioned is meant only of men living and not of the dead for neither the sins nor repentance of the dead can be seene by the living The Apostle's discountenancing prayer for the impenitent sinner is no more then what God himself had done before in the old Testament in forbidding man's intercession for averting temporall judgments from rebellious sinners as a warning and intimation what he intended to doe to obdurate and impenitent sinners concerning eternal judgement So he commanded Moses Exo. 32. 10. Let me alone and reproved Samuel 1 Sam. 16. 1. for mourning for Saul and Commanded his Prophet Jer. 7. 16. Pray not thou for this people Even as S. John will not approve of our praying for sinners during their impenitencie because he knew that from such God will not avert his eternal plagues But whether any man can be in such a forlorne and desperate condition in this life as that he may not at all be prayed for is the next thing to be examined CHAP. XIX That the greatest sinners during their natural life may be prayed for in some sence Certaine propositions of divines examined the practise of the Synagogue and Church in praying for all mankind for heathens Jewes infidels hereticks persecutors idolaters FOr the understanding of this needfull question I will first lay down to the readers view some propositions which I find dogmatically asserted by some divines both lately and heretofore First they say There is no sin so great that it can The Confess the assemb c. 15. l. p. 27. bring damnation upon those who truly repent This Proposition I doe assent unto as being very true if it be understood of Evangelical repentance before mentioned and not of that repentance wherwith Judas is said to have repented and that truly in that kind of repentance Secondly they say Prayer is not to be made for those ijdem c. 21. P. 38. of whom it may be known that they have sinned the sin unto death This proposition is verie dubitable For if this sin be particularlie determined to be one certaine sin as the denying Christ to be God or blaspheming the Holie-Ghost or apostasie or any one or all those sins mentioned Gal. 5. 19. Yet while the sinner is living his repentance is not absolutely to be despaired of and therfore he may be prayed for so as will be shewed anon Bur if by the sin unto death is meant any of those sins continued and persevered in obstinatly without repentance until the sinner be dead then amongst us there will be no question left for no man will affirme that such sinners are to be prayed for after they are dead Thirdly they say That it can not be certainly known Beza in loc p. 618. by us who doe commit this sin unto death until the sinner be dead therfore that we may not upon this pretence forbear to pray for any sinner whilest he liveth and so not for such sinners This I take to be very true if it be rightly understood in that sense which anon shall be discovered Fourthly That no sinner during this life is absolutely to be despaired of for be possibly may repeat and so be pardoned This Proposition is affirmed and asserted by S. Austin and by Prosper Quamdiu hic vivunt Aug. Epi. st 50. n. 31. Pros de vocat Gent. l. 2. c. 37. Aug. Retract l. 1. cap. 19. non sunt desperandi Dum in corpore vivitu● nullius est desperanda reparatio nullius est negligenda correctio De quocunque pessimo in hac vita non est desperandum nec ●ro ill● imprudentèr oratus de que non desperatur i. No man though the greatest sinner is utterly to be despaired of during his life time therfore his amendment must not be neglected neither is it any vanitie or fo●ly to pray for him of whom we may not despair Now I proceed to the words I doe not say he shall pray for it This Scripture seems more difficult because other texts seem to speak the contrarie we may find in Scripture both precepts and practise for praying for all men even the worst of all 1 Tim. 2. 1. I exhort that requests Supplications Interc●ssions and giving of thankes be made for all men for Kings c. Here are as many and as full words as can be desired prayer for Kings even then when Nero raigned and persecuted the Church Just so Christ commanded Mat. 5. 44. Pray for them that persecu●e you and so himself did for his Crucifiers Luc. 23. 34. forgive them Father and Act. 7. 60. Lord lay not this sin to their cha●g In the old Testament the Temple is re built upon this reason that Sacrifices and Prayers might there be made for King Cyrus and Darius both heathen Kings Ezra 6. 10. So Josephus writes that in the Temple Josep Anti q. l. 11. c. 4. and lib. 13. and n. 21. Phil. de leg ad Caium n. 20. of Ierusalem and in Aegypt Sacrifices were dayly offered for Caesar and the people of Rome for Cyrus Darius Xerxes Ptolomie and Cleopatra who were all heathens and Philo reports that particularly every day a Bullock and two Lambs were Sacrificed in that temple for Augustus Caesar and further that therfore the foure Colours in the Priests Ephod represented all the Elements to signifie Sacrificaturus totum mundum introducit ut totum Philo. de vita Mosis l. 3. de Monarch l. 2. n. 11. 14. mundum deprecatorem allegare possit i. the Priest in his Sacrificing considered the whole world and did represent the whole world as a suppliant and delinquent before the Lord here is no particular sinner excepted either from the benefit of law sacrifices or Gospel prayers But let us see what the practise of the Church Catholick hath bin in this point of prayer for if both law and Gospel and the Church have in all ages prayed for all kinds and degrees of sinners Certainly S. Iohn's meaning was not to exclude any sinner whilest he lived from being prayed for I will instance in the most unlikely sinners and the most underserving our prayers as heathens and infidels who being no members of the Church yet were prayed for Cyprian Cyp cont Dem n 75. Fulg seu p. Diac. n. 3. Aug. Epist 107. haer 88. c. 6. saith Orant Christiani pro salute ●●hnicorum i. Christians pray for the Salvation of heathens Fulgentius saith Tota ecclesia precatur ut infidelibus donetur fides i.