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	life_n	trespass_n	5,011	5	10.5955	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61301	The love of God to all mankind in the glorious work of their redemption by Jesus Christ, asserted and vindicated. With a plain and sober discussion of those controversies which are the constant concomitants of it, viz. election and reprobation, God's foreknowledg, his nature, attributes, and decrees; the sufficiency of means vouchsafed to all men to believe; the use of the law to believers under the gospel. Also concerning original sin, freewill, and falling from grace. All fitted to the meanest capacity, in a way of dialogue, by Zachary Stanton.	Stanton, Zachary.	1700 (1700)	Wing S5251A; ESTC R219675	159,700	342

before wholly to be ascribed to the Grace of God in Christ as the principal and primary Cause Now as to Faith and Repentance being the Gift of God this is a truth God is said to give Faith and Repentance yea to intend the Salvation of all Men when he vouchsafeth a sufficiency of means Now Faith is taken many ways sometimes and very frequently 't is taken for the Gospel Acts 6. 7. Gal. 1. 23. So it is the Gift of God and he is said to give Faith and Repentance when he gives the Gospel which is the Word of Faith and so Faith is the Gift of God and when any Soul is by the goodness of God led to repentance God is said to give Repentance Also God gives the power or ability to repent and believe or else Man could do neither yet doth not God's Grace destroy our Duty tho God gives not only Grace necessary but also sufficient for yielding Faith and Obedience yet the Act or Duty of believing is not God's Work but Man's Heb. 11. Rom. 10. 17. James 3. 2. And the Person that is regenerate must be so far active in the Work that the Work it self may be as truly and properly ascribed unto Man and called his as it is ascribed to God and called his Gift now this you must believe unless you have so far forsaken your Reason as to say that Christ acts the Creature 's Actions and so Jesus Christ repents and Jesus Christ believes and Man doth nothing But surely we stand bound to believe repent and obey the Lord if we expect Salvation these are our own acts and 't is impossible they should be the acts of Christ for he that is said to act any action is said to do it Now if when we are exhorted to do these Duties Christ should do them for us while we sit still what sense must we make of Scripture must Jesus Christ break off his Sins by Repentance and amend his evil ways and doings or must Christ believe in Christ or walk in the steps of Christ And from hence it will infallibly follow that Persons shall be damned because God did not only make them Believers by an irresistible Power but also act their Work too Saith Paul Rom. 8. If ye through the Spirit not the Spirit without you nor ye without the Spirit intimating that Man must be an Agent in the Work it must be his own act and therefore he is not wholly passive neither have we ground to believe God will work these in such a way as shall be impossible to be frustrated Philet But if God works Conversion in a resistible way still Free-Grace loseth the triumph and Free will takes the Crown but when God works he works irresistibly Men cannot resist his Will if he works none can hinder it Philad I believe that God hath and still works and none can be able to hinder such are the Works of Creation and Redemption c. When Man was fallen none could hinder the Lord from setting his Love upon him nor hinder him from shewing Mercy to him in sending his only Son to die for them nor hinder the planting of his Will and Light in their Hearts convincing them of Sin Nor could the Jews of old or any in our days hinder or prevent God from rising early and sending his Prophets and Ministers to call Persons to Repentance nor hinder him from administring Grace and Mercy to them nor is it in the power of Man to frustrate God in raising up Persons from the dead in the Resurrection and setting the Godly with Christ in Glory and all the Rejecters of his Grace and Love in endless Misery Neither do I deny but God hath and may still if he please convert some by an irresistible Power we must not care to limit the Holy One of Israel in any of his ways yet it is not God's usual way of working to force Persons against their Wills to be Holy and to accept of Life but he is pressing by his Holy Spirit and by his Word and Ministers which is the ordinary way that the Lord takes to beget Faith c. and therefore Gospel-Ministers are said 2 Cor. 6. 1. to be workers together with God that is Ministers do co-operate with God in order to one and the same effect not that Ministers in their pressing and preaching should so work with God as to be able to do as much as God himself doth in perswading Men but rather they work after one and the same way Ministers in their preaching incline and move the Heart of Men to accept of Christ and this he doth perswadingly without forcing or necessitating their Wills to such or such Election this is God's usual way of working in the dispensation of his Divine Will Philet But I tell you 't is effected by the irresistible act of free Grace Persons are altogether passive in the work of Conversion yea have no more power to stir than Lazarus had when he had lain four days in the Grave Persons are dead in Sins and Trespasses and what less than the almighty Power of God can cause them to live a spiritual Life I do not know You ought not to believe there is any annext Power in the act of Conversion doth not the Apostle Ephes 1. 19 20. speak of the exceeding greatness of the Lord's Power wrought in them that believe according to his mighty Power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead Philad As for your urging Christ and Lazarus being both dead to prove Persons as unable to act in Conversion it is impertinent for tho the Lord in raising up Christ did the work wholly of himself by his mighty Power neither was Lazarus able to act any thing in the Grave towards restoring his Life yet in the Work of conversion the Lord comes to a Creature which he hath by free Grace furnished with Abilities to do what he requires of him And Lazarus after he heard the Voice of the Lord and received Life was active and came forth and so when Persons hear the Voice of the Lord and are thereby raised from a death in Sin or a deadly custom of Sinning to live soberly justly and godly this is said to be a raising from the Dead and a new Creation begotten again and by Faith and Repentance making new Creatures tho the Lord bestoweth Grace sufficient for the yielding to the Voice of the Lord when he calleth them by the Gospel yet through the alone proper fault of Man it becomes unfruitful for the Lord doth not usually come to Persons in such a mighty Whirlwind as 1 Kings 19. 11. to force their consent and carry them headlong to their duty and irresistibly compel them to embrace eternal Happiness and shew such a Miracle of his mighty Power as he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead or upon Lazarus when he had lain four days dead in the Grave Now it is true the Power by

which Christ and Lazarus were raised from the Dead was irresistible neither were they able to oppose it but those ways which the Lord usually takes to bring Mens Wills into a compliance with his own is not so irresistible that they cannot any ways oppose it How very frequently have Persons grieved the Spirit of God and resisted the Holy Ghost and prefer'd a darling Sin and a beloved Corruption before the Grace of God but you seem to hold that no Sinner is converted without such an Omnipotent Power put forth for his conversion as was wrought in Christ c. and therefore cannot be resisted but this is more than you can prove either in your own conversion or any others Tho you sometimes tell us how passive Persons are in Conversion yet at other times you make Faith and Repentance two parts of Regeneration and how Persons can be said to have either and yet be passive neither I nor you know Besides when those of your way give us an account of the Conversion of others they tell us of the frequent resisting the Lord's striving with them and the great wrestlings which have been between Faith and Reason Flesh and Spirit and the many Prayers Tears and Agonys Persons have gon through before the new Birth hath been compleated Pray do but consider what Mr. Keach hath written in his Travels of true Godliness The visits that God gave to all sorts of People Professors and Profane the pains he took with them to have them open the Doors to him and yet could find none that would entertain him and the bitter lamentations Godliness makes thereupon that he may beg as it were upon his bare Knees to be entertained by them but in vain for they will not mind him nor take him in but put him off from day to day till Death seize them Surely if Persons were as dead and as unable to act in Conversion as Lazarus that had lain four days dead in the Grave here was no reason for Godliness to complain but rather others might complain because Godliness did not break open the Doors and rouse these dead Souls out of the sleep of Sin and cause them by an unresistible Power to receive him And at last when they fully embraced him yet he was forced to be laborious as you may see pag. 158 159. Yea Godliness puts him upon endeavouring to obtain the Blessing by his diligence and pains in God's ways it being the only way to be rich in God and plainly tells him that unless he will stir and labour to open the Door he shall never come into his House and so shows him how teachable the Moral of that Fable in Aesop is of a Man that was fallen into a Ditch and lying there almost drowned who calling to Jupiter to help him out received this Answer Endeavour to get out and Jupiter will help thee Surely this could not be said to those that are altogether passive in Conversion or to such as could not but obey And indeed too often the Lord knows do poor frail Men make a repulse against the Operation of God's Spirit and Grace upon their Hearts and very seldom if ever doth the Lord work so omnipotently or forcibly that Men cannot but believe and obey him For he that saith God worketh in us to chuse irresistibly doth in effect say he so works in us that we cannot chuse but chuse which is nonsense and therefore consider these things First He that is wrought upon by God to believe obey or persevere irresistibly cannot possibly do other wise Secondly He that cannot possibly do otherwise than he doth cannot possibly chuse but do what he doth Thirdly He that cannot chuse but do what he doth doth clearly do it whether he will or no. Philet The Apostle tells us that God works in us to will and to do of his good pleasure Phil. 2. 12 13. The Lord works upon the hearts of his Children by such over-ruling and prevailing force that they cannot withstand it if they would Philad It is God that works not only to do but to will and to do by his prev●…ing Grace he worketh in them to will and by his assisting Grace to do yet by neither so irresistibly but that they must work out their Salvation with fear and trembling too Grace doth not destroy but strengthen our Will Is our choice or liberty lost because it is guided and inabled to do that which is good If I can do all things through him that strengthens me then can I through him chuse the good or refuse the evil which would not be chose if it was whether I would or no. Philet Pray what say you to Paul was not he converted by a most miraculous Operation and a mighty Power Philad I know and believe that Paul's Conversion was effected in a very extraordinary way and as miraculous as any we hear or read of Christ himself appearing from Heaven and speaking by audible Voice to him neither do I deny but God may still if he please and no question doth in some special Cases and in order to some great and special End open the Hand of his Bounty much wider to some in the vouchsafement of the Means of Grace and Salvation than ordinarily he doth to others Yet to say all Conversion is so miraculous or that God doth as much for the Conversion of every one that 's converted as he did for Paul is not true neither can you prove that Paul's Conversion was perfected by the Vision for 't is plain he was directed to Ananias to be farther instructed in those things that did relate to the Gospel and what he was farther to do Yea and if you will compare this with Acts 26. 19. as powerful as this Call was yet it did not saith Grotius take away the power of resisting God will have voluntary Obedience not forced Isa 50. 5. Psal 95. 7. Heb. 3. 7 8 15. 4. 7. Mar. Whether you really intend it or no yet you bring all to this That Man meriteth his own Salvation and he may thank himself if he be saved because it 's his own goodness and towardliness in improving that Universal Graee which others did not improve so they are not saved by mere Grace nor from any special discriminating Grace from the Father Son and Holy Ghost to them and whereas God hath ordered it so that no Flesh should glory in his presence you lay a Foundation for pride and self-conceit and make poor provision for admiring free special discriminating Grace here and to Eternity Philad I do not find this term discriminating Grace in the Scripture Grace properly signifies Love and Kindness Favour and friendly Acceptance and as for free-Love free-Kindness free-Favour and free-Acceptance there is nothing more required but that it be not deserved for that is undoubtedly free that is undeserved so that what we do or can do doth not in the least oblige the Lord to bestow any Love or Favour upon us which

sin Philad I believe the same that Believers considered as to that state they are in cannot sin as wicked Men sin to wit in making a customary trade of Sin but that they may sin with delight yea with deliberation yea plot and cast Projects for the committing of Sin as well as the Wicked witness David 2 Sam. 11. But now the Question is Whether they cannot cease to be Believers and then sin as other Men sin Mar. The Seed of God doth so remain in true Believers that they cannot but continue such yea they must remain Believers while the Seed of God remains in them for that keeps them from sinning as wicked Men sin or from finally falling neither can they do any thing to occasion the Seed of God to be taken away from them Philad This word remain signifies a present abode a present being in him it doth not shew a continuance of being and so it is true that those that are born of God begotten by the immortal and incorruptible Seed the Word of God 1 Pet. 1. 23. James 1. 18. and made partakers of the Divine Nature cannot sin as wicked Men sin so long as the Seed remains but you are to prove that it cannot but remain as Mr. Ives says in his Dispute with Mr. Danson Mar. The Seed is Grace by your own grant and it is for the substance of it incorruptible unperishable 1 Pet. 1. 23. John 3. 9. 17. 3. 10. 28 29. 6. 54. 1 John 5. 13. Peter's Faith failed sadly as to the act but the Seed remained c. and he was kept by the Power of God that he did not finally fall away Philad 'T is true the Seed or the Word of God is in its own nature incorruptible tho all the Men in the whole World should reject it 't is not called incorruptible because it cannot be forsaken or taken from those in whom it hath a residence for the present but because whether it be taken away or forsaken by them or not whether it be received or rejected yet still it remains in it self incorruptible and unperishable But you seem to lay the stress upon the word remain to shew that true Believers cannot fall away now the same Apostle John supposeth that the same Seed or Word might not remain by the word if Chap. 2. 24. If that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain in you c. you also shall continue in the Son and in the Father c. and so Chap. 2. 14. I have written to you young Men because you are strong and the Word of God abides in you yet that this was subject to be lost appears by ver 28. where he exhorts the same little Children to abide in him that they might not be ashamed at his coming surely the Apostle would not admonish to that which it was impossible should fall out otherwise So Christ promiseth that the Comforter should abide with his Disciples for ever John 14. 6. Yet that doth not suppose that it was impossible for them to fall for he tells them Chap. 15. 2. That every Branch in me mind in me that hears not Fruit he taketh away And vers 10. If ye keep my Commandments ye shall abide in my Love Christ never said to any of his Disciples That the most abominable Practices you can commit shall never lessen my Love to you nor is it possible you should die in your Sins in the midst of your Impieties there is a Seed of Grace in you that shall keep you from final falling away 'T is true so long as a Man is a true Believer the Seed remains but when once a Man departs from that state then the Seed doth not abide in him so that the word remain or abide doth not imply that it shall never depart the Scripture tells us John 3. 36. That he that believes not the Wrath of God abides upon him doth it follow from hence that it is impossible for him that is an Unbeliever and as such under the abiding Wrath of God to be a Believer So Whoremongers Adulterers Idolaters 1 Cor. 6. 10. Heb. 13. 4. are threatned with the loss of the Kingdom of Heaven without any mention made that if they repent afterwards the Punishment shall be reversed yet would it not be strange Divinity to affirm That no such kind of Sinners shall enjoy Life and Salvation upon their Repentance So God promiseth Life and Salvation to just and faithful Men without mentioning the loss of Life and Salvation they are like to sustain in case they turn aside yet manifest it is in Scripture such are threatned with death and destruction as Ezek. 18. 24 25. 33. 12 13. it being ordinary in Scripture to predict unto Men both Future Punishment and Reward according to their present Ways whether Good or Evil. Philet I believe many Believers fall away but by their falling away they plainly declare they were never of the number of real Saints Philad The Apostle speaks of some in his days that made Shipwrack of Faith c. Philet Ay what Faith was it It was only a temporary Faith or a light believing the Gospel such as believe for a season and then fall away like the stony ground but this differs much from true Justifying Faith Philad He that received the Seed in stony ground might be a true Believer as well as the other for that Faith which springs from the same Seed of the Gospel must needs be of one and the same nature and kind neither doth the withering of a man's Faith in time of Temptation prove he never had true Faith or that it differs in nature from that which is real and endures to the end the Scripture owns no such distinction that I know of neither do I see but that that Faith which indureth but a short time may be as real and true in Nature as that which abides all a Man's days But if a temporary Faith a Faith that is not accompanied with Justification and Salvation be the Faith that these are said to fall from then is it such a Faith that they are exhorted to persevere in and surely he would not exhort them to keep such a Faith with which they might perish and which would certainly fail them neither can you possibly prove that those that made Shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience never were true Believers Besides if to fall from a false hypocritical dead Faith be the Apostacy that the Scripture speaks of surely it would not be a Sin of so high a provocation to God Heb. 10. ult as the Scriptures declare it to be and which you in your preaching and printing declare it to be But I must away I shall be thought long Philet One word more What say you to John 13. 1. Having loved his own which were in the World he loved them to the end Philad Who questions the continuance of God's or Christ's Love to those that continue in love and