Linguistic DNA - Concept Modelling Demonstrator

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	father_n	heart_n	son_n	17,006	5	5.6134	4	true

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65924	A vindication of the doctrine of Gods absolute decree and of Christs absolute and special redemption. In way of answer to those objections that are brought against them by Mr. Tho: Pierce, in his treatise, entituled, The divine philanthropy. By Tho: Whitfeld, minister of the gospel.	Whitfield, Thomas, Minister of the Gospel.	1657 (1657)	Wing W2011A; ESTC R222306	60,986	90

come to him except the Father dravv him 3. When the Lord hath promised his people that he will give them a new heart and a new spirit Ezek. 36.26 which is a principal branch of the New Covenant this promise is made absolutely without any condition and in this promise Faith is included for a new heart is a believing heart though pardon of sin and salvation be promised upon our believing and repenting yet there is no such condition propounded in the promise of giving the first grace of giving a new heart which is a believing heart What condition or gracious qualification can we conceive of that should precede the first grace which is the ground whence all other graces do arise or if there could be any such gracious qualification yet this also would be a part of Christs purchase by whom we come to partake of all things that belong to life and godliness 2 Pet. 1.3 4. Although the performance of some conditions be necessary for those who will partake of salvation yet these were not necessary for the purchase of it for as Christ knew absolutely who should be saved so he did absolutely purchase both salvation it self and the conditions belonging to it for all these and these onely Hence it is said that he with one offering hath for ever perfected those that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 He hath made both perfect satisfaction and a perfect purchase of salvation and all things belonging to it for all those whom God in his eternal purpose hath set apart and severed from the rest of the perishing world whereby in due time they come to be made perfect To conclude There can be no condition on mans part but what is in nature and so pure Pelagianism for nothing but nature before faith and repentance and to say that Christ died for all men to purchase salvation for them upon condition they will do what they ought to do in receiving what he shall give is to resolve all into nature Christ by his death hath taken away all those things which are the great hinderances of our salvation Argument 5 as infidelity impenitency and such like therefore he absolutely intended the salvation of all those for whom he died This may be thus proved 1. Christ by his death hath taken away all sin Joh. 1.29 therefore these sins The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin 1 John 1.7 He hath redeemed us from all iniquity Tit. 2.14 2. If he did not take away all sin he should not be a perfect Savior he hath his denomination of Jesus from this that he should save his people from their sins Mat. 1. yea from all their sins He were not a perfect Redeemer if he should deliver us out of the power of some enemies and leave us in the hands of others our sinful lusts are our worst enemies 1 Pet. 2.11 It is said that he hath delivered us out of the hands of our enemies Luke 1.74 This is spoken indefinitely without limitation and therefore taken generally for all verse 71. and the end of this is That we might serve our God in righteousness and holiness which we cannot do so long as we remain under the power of any of them our enemies within being as hurtful and dangerous as those without 3. If he should not remove those hinderances that arise from our selves no man could be saved and so Christ should die in vain For as one man resists so would all men do it being the essential property of the flesh to resist the spirit and lust against it Gal. 5.17 and whatever is born of the flesh is flesh John 3.5 as before was shewed 4. Neither can Christ be said feriously to desire the salvation of those and to give his life to purchase it from whom he will not remove those things which he certainly knows will hinder their salvation when he hath power to do it It will therefore be in vain here to except that Christ would take away their unbelief if they would not resist for he takes away this resistance he takes away both careless neglect and proud contempt and what ever else can be thought of that may be a hinderance of the salvation of those whom he intends to save for he takes away all sin In the Covenant of Grace the Lord hath promised that he will take away the heart of stone This heart of stone includes in it not onely a senseless hardness but unbelief pride perversness stubbornness rebellion wilfulness or what ever else we can think of that is most contrary to the work of Grace in our souls as every valley shall be filled so every mountain shall be made plain Luke 3.3 so that all hinderances shall be removed All those whom Christ hath redeemed Argument 6 he purgeth them to be a peculiar people to himself zealous of good works Titus 2.14 he purgeth their conscience from dead works Heb. 9.14 But all are not made Christs peculiar people all have not their consciences purged Ergo. Object These and other like places are not to be understood of all those for whom Christ hath made satisfaction but onely of such as have made application of it to themselves by believing Answ But here is no mention at all of mans action in applying but onely of Christs action in purchasing and of the certain effect of it He hath given himself to redeem c. His blood purgeth the conscience c. 2. Application is a necessary effect of Redemption for all those for whom Christ hath made satisfaction shall in due time partake of the benefit of it and have this satisfaction applyed to them application being Christs work more then mans and for whom he hath done the first he will do the other also which is thus proved 1. If Christ onely should make satisfaction and leave it to man to make application this work would never be done and so his death would be in vain For application is made by believing and to believe is to come to Christ John 6.35 and man hath no power to do this as before was shewed No man can come c. verse 44. 2. The Apostle makes this to be the end why God sent his Son into the world namely that he might redeem those who were under the Law that they might receive the adâ—ption of sons and because they are sons God sends the Spirit of his Son into their hearts Gal. 4.4 5 6. Here the Spirit of adoption whereby we are enabled to make application is made the effect of adoption and adoption is made the effect of redemption and both these the effect of Gods sending his Son into the world 3. Satisfaction and intercession are inseparably joyned together We have an advocate even Christ the just who hath made propitiation for our sins 1 John 2.1 2. Why is he an advocate to plead for us but because he hath made propitiation for our sins by his suffering He prayes for all those and onely for those

actions that tend to his greatest glory not from himself and his own infinite understanding his own wisdom and skill but from the actions and motions of the creature The more skilful and perfect any Artificer is the less he will borrow from the models and plots of others in any curious work he is to make but fetch all from his own ingeny and invention But this Doctrine makes the most wise and perfect God to stand as it were in suspence and unresolved what to do touching mans eternal salvation or damnation till he hath seen what man himself will do 2. Pet. Mart. loco de praedest pag. 35. No wise man will earnestly desire the doing of that which he knows certainly will never be done yea can never be done unless he affords that help for doing it which at the same time he is resolved not to yield though he be able to do it and might justly do it Estne sapientis hominis DeÅ› ne dicam ea decernere velle quae cassa sunt saith Peter Martyr Is it the part of a wise man much less of the wise God to determine and will and desire those things that shall never be shall never take effect If God wills the salvation of all men upon condition they will believe and knows certainly at the same time that they neither will nor can believe unless he works faith in them which is his gift and yet never wills to bestow this gift upon them how can this stand with his wisdom God is able to work faith in all men as well as he doth in some and that without any impeachment of his Justice and if he would have all men to be saved how comes it then to pass that there are so few true believers since none can be saved but by believing 3. What wise man will earnestly desire and will the end and not will the means that tend to it when he is able to will and to work both Quomodo sapientiae Dei conveniat saith Spanheim scire dispositionem necessariam ad salutem fidem scil in nullo reperiri nec reperiri posse sine suo dono nolle verÃ² id plurimis dare tamen decernere omnes homines ad salutem si ista dispositio in iis reperiatur How can it stand with the wisdom of God to know that the disposition which is necessary to salvation namely Faith is found in no man nor can be found without his gift and that he will not give this to very many and yet decrees the salvation of all if this disposition be found in them How many thousands have lived and died in the world without enjoying any means of faith and salvation How shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard saith the Apostle Rom. 10.14 Are there not many thousands of the Savages both in the East and West Indies in this age especially in former ages who never heard any thing of Christ or salvation Are there not many Infants of Heathens that die before they are capable of knowing any thing that belongs to their salvation and can we think that God earnestly desires the salvation of all these to whom he denies all means of bringing them to salvation and to some of them all possibility of receiving benefit by the means had they enjoyed them Besides are there not many to whom God vouchsafes the outward means and yet denies them the inward work and operation of his Spirit without which he knows that the outward means will be ineffectual and can he be said earnestly to desire the salvation of those to whom he denies saving grace that great grace of Regeneration without which it is not possible for any man to enter into his heavenly kingdom Were it not a ridiculous thing for a King earnestly to desire to bestow a rich reward upon a blinde man upon condition he would read on a book or a lame man upon condition that he would run so many miles or a dead man upon condition that he would live that he would arise and work And is it not as ridiculous to say that God earnestly desires the salvation of such as are in the state of corruption dead in sins and trespasses upon condition that they will repent and believe it being as impossible for unregenerate men to do these things as for a blinde man to see or a lame man to walk to a dead man to work Our Saviour saith that no man can come to him unless the Father draw him John 6.44 To come to Christ is to believe Psal 35. and no man not onely doth this but no man can do this unless the Father draw him by the inward and effectual working of his Spirit how then can he be said earnestly to desire the salvation of those whom he will never draw in this sort Object Against this Mr. P. objects Divine Philant cap 4 Page 31. That when our Saviour saith no man can come to him it doth not signifie that it was impossible for them to believe but onely that they did not believe as when he saith that the Son can do nothing of himself John 5.19 it is no more then if he said he did nothing of himself for God gives sufficient grace to every man in the world to believe if he will Answ Is this sufficient grace such a grace whereby a man is regenerate and made a new creature whereby he is born again and hath a new life infused into him if not how can a dead man perform the actions of life how can one that lies dead in sins and trespasses perform a principal action belonging to Spiritual Life namely come to Christ by true believing The Apostle makes this believing to be an effect of that mighty power which wrought in Christ when God raised him from the dead Eph. 1.19 20. and therefore for the performing of this there needs not onely sufficient but effectual grace such a grace as is wrought not onely by moral swasion but by the mighty operation of God Col. 2.12 This Doctrine of the conditional Decree derogates from the excellency and efficacy of Free Grace Argument 10 which is the first fountain of all that good that is derived to man For whereas the Scripture makes God and his Free Grace to be the first ground of making difference and separation of one man from another Who hath separated thee saith the Apostle and what hast thou that thou hast not received 1 Cor. 4.7 this attributes it to man himself and his Free-will for till man himself by the right motion of his will in believing and repenting hath fulfilled the condition and so made the separation there is no difference no not so much as in the minde and purpose of God betwixt one man and another but he stands equally affected to the salvation of all men alike and when there comes to be a difference a man may say that it was made by the motion of his own will he willingly receiving

ends as should make most for his glory 2. That which the Scripture plainly clearly and positively asserteth that God doth we ought not to deny that he doth it though we cannot discern the maner how he doth it It rather beseems us humbly to acknowledge our ignorance in apprehending the maner of his working then to deny any of his works then to deny that he worketh all things according to the good pleasure of his will or to deny that a sparrow falls not to the ground or an hair from our head without the will of the Father or that he worketh most determinately certainly and infallibly in the various and mutable motions of mans will yea most holily justly and righteously in those very actions wherein man works most perversly unjustly and unrighteously how else can it be said when Josephs brethren sold him into Egypt out of envy that God sent a man before c. and vvhen David numbred the people it is said not onely that Satan stood against Israel and provoked David to number the people 1 Chr. 21.1 but that the Lord moved David against them in that he said Go number Israel 2 Sam. 24.1 Miro ineffabili modo Euchirid ad Laurent cap. 100. id non fit praeter voluntatem Dei quod fit contra voluntatem ejus saith Austin 3. The sum of what Mr. P. or any of his predecessors in this Controversie about Gods absolute Decree hath objected against it is included in that which the Apostle objects against himself speaking of this subject Rom. 9.14 Is God unjust and who hath resisted his will Which he answers with an Absit and Quis tu es God forbid that there should be any unrighteousness in him and Who art thou O man that pleadest with God vouchsafing no other answer but this whereby he gives a sharp check to the malepert boldness and audacious insolence of those that shall dare thus to quarrel with their Creator as if the sheard should strive with the Potter And if we should give no other answer but this having the great Apostle for our example it might suffice But for further satisfaction we shall endeavor to give a particular answer to the particular objections that it may appear we desire not to decline any thing that carries with it any weight of truth Object 1. The first and principal Objection against the Doctrine of the absolute Decree is That it makes God is be the Author of sin For if in the first place he decrees to glorifie his Justice in the just condemnation of some men which is the decree of Reprobation then it follows that in order to this he must decree the permissiin of sin without which there can be no just condemnation and if he decrees the being of sin then he is the author of it Answ For answer It cannot be denied that God doth permit sin for if he did not permit it he could easily hinder it so that without his permission sin could not be 2. If he doth permit it he hath decreed to permit it for he works by counsel and what he doth in time he hath determined before all time And the Scripture is plain that God decrees those actions which when men do they do very sinfully What worse action then the crucifying of Christ yet it is said he was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God Acts 2.23 here is not onely knowledge but a determination of the thing to be done And it is said That Herod Pilat and the Jews did that to Christ when they crucified him which the hand of God and his Counsel had determined before to be done cap. 4.27 28. Besides if God doth permit sin he doth willingly permit it otherwise it should come to pass whether he will or not Enchirid. cap. 95. and so he should not be omnipotent Nihil fit saith Austin nisi quod omnipotens fieri velit vel ipse faciendo vel ab aliis fieri permittendo 2. But though God hath decreed that sin shall be and therefore hath decreed to permit it without which it could not be yet it doth not follow that he is the Author of it Object But if he hath willed and decreed it Ad amitam collat Vorst sâ—ct 17. his decree is an energetical operative decree therefore he hath some hand in working and effecting of it as Calvin Piscator and others teach who are for the absolute decree Negari non potest illum aliquo modo procurare negotium cujus consilio decreto negotium geritur saith Piscator And if his decree be operative so as he hath any hand at all in the working of it then he must needs be the Author of it Answ For answer of this Two things are to be cleared 1. That Gods permission is not such a bare permission as is without all action and operation 2. That though his permission be accompanied with some kinde of operation yet he is no author of evil That Gods permission of sin is accompanied with some kinde of operation appears Argument 1 Because when he permits sin he doth volens permittere he doth willingly permit it else it should be against his will August in Enchirid. ad Laurent cap. 100. which cannot be as was shewed If he doth willingly permit it then there is some act of his will about it Deus permittit saith Austin aut volens aut nolens in vitus non certÃ¨ invitus quia id esset cum tristitia potentia se majorem haberet si voleus permittit est genus quoddam voluntatis Here Austin grants that God hath some kinde of will in the permission of sin if any kinde of will this must needs be a perfect will for no imperfect will agrees to God who is perfection it self And how can he be said to will any thing without any act of his will Scripture-expressions do constantly hold forth Gods maner of working in sin Argument 2 by way of action It doth not say that God suffered Josephs brethren to sell him into Egypt but that God sent him It was not you that sent me hither but God Gen. 45.8 It doth not say that God suffered Pharaoh to harden his own heart but that God hardned it Exod. 9.12 That he suffered the Canaanites to harden their hearts against Israel but it was of the Lord that they should harden their hearts against them that he might destroy them Josh 11.20 That he suffered Absolom to defile his fathers concubines but he tells David What thou hast done in secret I will do in the sight of this Sun 2 Sam. 12.12 So it is said that God bade Shimei curse David That he bade the evil spirit go and deceive Ahab 1 King 29.22 Go forth and do so Job saith that God had taken away his cattel when the Caldeans and Sabeans took them away Job 1. The Prophet complains that the Lord had hardned their hearts against his fear Isa 63.13 It is said that the

Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Text snippets containing the quad