Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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B08795
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Animadversions upon a fatal period, or, A brief discourse concerning the present state of the body, and the future state of the soul by Tho. Collard.
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Collard, Tho.
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1678
(1678)
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Wing C5102A; ESTC R174032
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31,547
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104
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Inchantments it follows Pharaoh's heart was hardned not he as if it were God hardned Pharaoh's heart but Pharaoh's heart waxed hard was strong or by an ordinary acception of Kal for Hithpahel Pharaoh's heart hardned it self And so it follows v. 14. the Lord said unto Moses Pharaoh's heart is waxen hard he refuseth to let the People go But after the judgment that of Boyls and Blains Exod. 9. 10. then 't is said in a new Stile the Lord hardned Pharaoh's heart v. 12. Which was the very time at first referr'd to by the prediction of God to Moses IN like manner it happen'd to the perverse Jews who having resisted Christ after all the rest of the Prophets kill'd the Son after the Servants and rejected the Apostles Preaching after Christs Resurrection God then but not before gave them up to obduration to become Vessels of Wrath fitted for Destruction And after this the great Jehovah that is a most free and gracious Agent and is not bound to this People or that to primogeniture or the like as appears by the tipical Stories of Ismael and Isaac of Jacob and Esau Rom. 9. out of his gratuitous Mercy by the Preaching of the Gospel call'd and invited the Gentiles to Christianity to save them upon Christian without legal performances upon internal and Evangelical without external and Mosaical obedience Peruse the most elaborate and Orthodox Writings of the most Learned Reverend and Pious Dr. H. Hammond concerning these and the like difficulties and thou mayst receive the clearest satisfaction BUT it could never enter into my Breast to imagine that God from Eternity did absolutely decree the Fall and the inevitable Perdition of the major part of mankind or as W. C. words it pag. 13. that God drew out Death's Commission before the Fall but did not set his Hand and Seal to confirm it till after the Fall and that in the counsel and purpose of God Death was appointed unto men from Eternity Which Calvin himself terms a dreadful and horrible Decree Unde factum est ut tot gentes unà cum liberis eorum infantibus aeternae morti involverat lapsus Adae absque remedio nisi quia Deo ita visum est Decretum quidem horribile fateor Cal. Inst l. 3. c. 23 s 7. 'T is strange I say that some men should be of such sour and morose I had almost said Diabolical natures as peremptorily to maintain That God Created Souls purposely to damn them or to use the Doctrine and the very words of J. M That God takes as great glory and delight in damning of men as he doth in saving of them Monstrous Divinity and such as is not to be found amongst the sottish Turks or the rude Indians and Americans and therefore I should much wonder did I not know what Charitable and good-natur'd and how free from Pride and Selfishness our Olivarian Speakers were that Saints as most shamefully they stiled one another that liv'd in the Sun-shine of the Gospel should yet contradict the most perspicuous Truths in it For THE Sacred Bible from Genesis to the Revelations asserts That the Divine Goodness Clemency Mercy and Love are exhibited to all Mankind really upon Condition of Faith Repentance and amendment of Life John 3 16 17. God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life For God sent not his Son to condemn the World but that the World all mankind through him might be saved Herein Dr. Hammond hath Gods unspeakable Love been exprest to mankind that he hath sent his Eternal Son to assume our nature and to teach and give Examples of Holy Life and at last to dye for them and rise again and ascend the Heaven all on this one Design that every Person in the World that shall receive and obey him shall be rescued from Eternal Death and then made partaker of Eternal Life For this my mission from God my Father was design'd all in Mercy and Charity not to punish or condemn any man but on purpose that all men might be rescued from Punishment MAT. 11. 28. Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Mar. 1. 15. Repent ye and believe the Gospel Mat. 18. 11. The Son of man is come to save that which was lost Rom. 5. 8. God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet Sinners Christ dyed for us 1 Ep. St. Joh. 2. 1 2. Jesus Christ is the propitiation for our Sins and not for ours only but for the Sins of the whole World Non solum Bro. pro peccatis Electorum sed singulorum hominum Nam vox Mundi nuspiam usurpatur in literis sacris pro sclis electis By the word World is never meant in the Sacred Writ only the Elect but either signifies the whole Compages consisting of the Heaven and Earth or the whole race of mankind both pious and wicked or else the whole number of the wicked And therefore 't is very evident That Christ came not only to save the Elect that is those that have believed in him and have thereby obtained Mercy but also the Prophane that have rejected his Counsels and would not submit to his easy Yoke and Golden Scepter 1 TIM 1. 15. This is a Faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation a Truth of an huge price and fit to be the only Tradition or true Cabala among us Christians instead of all the Jewish Secrets and Misteries that Jesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners to rescue men out of their evil courses and upon reformation to obtain Pardon and Salvation for the greatest Sinners none excepted Psal 145. 8 9. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion slow to anger and of great Mercy The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his Works 'T is the Title by which God was pleas'd to make known and proclaim himself to his People Exod. 34. 6. The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious c. God is very forward and willing to pardon repentant Sinners and not denying them that Grace or proceeding in Judgment against them till he be provoked to it by great ingratitude and obdurations and this Mercy of his is not inclosed to a few special Favourites of his but inlarged and vouchsafed to all and every man in the World upon the Title of his Fatherly Mercy to his Creatures till by their impenitence persisted in against his means of Grace they render themselves incapable of it H. H. Paraph. GOD does seriously invite us to discard our Sins and tells us That all our calamities issue from our own putrid Fountains and not from the Divine will or any Eternal and Inconditional Decree For God cannot do or will Evil viz. malum culpae the Evil of Sin tho he may malum paenae the evil of Punishment Amos 3. 6. Shall there be evil in the City and
and impetuous rage of Lyons and Tygers And if you should ask him the reason of this his inhumanity he could answer nothing but Sic volo sic jubeo I have no more reason to object and delate against my eight Children that I have rejected than against the two that I have cherish't and embrac'd I might if I would have preserv'd all from perdition but 't was my will and pleasure only and nothing else that the far greater number maugre their sad cries and expostulations should fall and perish to eternity This doubtless is no Criterion or sure sign of a Paternal affection but an evident Demonstration of one of the most prodigious Monsters in nature I need not apply it In short THESE crude and fatal Assertions before mentioned concerning the Divine decrees and appointments cannot be palliated sweeten'd or well digested by their pleading that God is under no Law which saith a judicious Author is a very Lawless and unreasonable pretext for the everlasting rectitude of his spotless nature is more than any external Law and pray what can Truth and Justice do but what is holy and just Or by their subtile distinguishing inter jus Dei absolutum ordinatum inter reprobationem damnationem inter reprobationem privativam positivam inter praeteritionem damnationem For he that avers Gods absolute will and pleasure to be the Sole Cause of preterition and reprobation may with the same confidence affirm it to be the prime if not sole cause of damnation Tantum discriminis est inter praeteritionem damnationem quantum differentiae intercedit inter haec duo inferre mortem nolle vitam alicui continuare absque quâ vitae continuatione mors necessario sequitur Whereas the Scriptures the only Rule of our Faith unless we will admit of Enthusiasm assure us That 't is mens crying Sins their contumacy impenitency and incredulity non absolutum Dei in homines creaturas jus non Dei beneplacitum seu absoluta ejus voluntas that are the real Causes both of preterition reprobation and damnation Joh. 3. 18 19. Joh. 6. 40. Mark 16. 16. THE Consequences and results of these Calvinistical Dreams and fatal Doctrines are very sad dismal and numerous some whereof I shall nominate and then conclude 1. THEY confine and limit Gods power and make him a necessary Agent for he cannot punish or destroy the most blasphemous and bloodiest men before their appointed time nor shorten or extend the days of the virtuous 2. THEY derogate from Gods goodness mercy and justice for what greater tyrany and injustice than to judge men to endless flames without any intuition of faith or incredulity of obedience or disobedience For surely 't is not justice as some Hypochondriacks fancy but the highest cruelty to make men miserable that thereby he might take an occasion of shewing justice 3. THEY contradict Gods Veracity for what more false and perfidious than to say and swear That he willeth not the Death but the safety and conversion of those whom notwithstanding by an immutable and irresistable Decree he hath designed to eternal Death and Misery 4. THEY make God with Marcion Simon Magus the Manechees the prime and principal Author of all the Crimes and horrid Villanies acted under the Sun Cum enim Causa superior omnipotens ita moveat determinet causam inferiorem impotentiorem ut ea sic mota ac determinata non possit non peccare stupidus sit oportet qui non animadvertat constitui hac ratione Deum peccati causam quidem propriam principalem 5. THEY render Christs Nativity his Holy Life his bitter Death his glorious Resurrection and Ascention and his continual Intercession for us at the Throne of Grace yea all Preaching and Praying the Sacraments and all just and virtuous Actions to be vain useless and ineffectual For to what purpose all this if 't is absolutely decreed from Eternity who shall be sav'd and who shall be damn'd sine fide praevisa sine praevisis operibus Praedestinationem vocamus aeternum Dei decretum quo apud se constitutum habuit quid de unoquoque homine fieri vellet Non enim pari conditione creantur omnes sed aliis vita aeterna aliis damnatio aeterna praeordinatur Calv. Inst lib. 3. cap. 31. s 5. 6. THEY lead men especially the Vulgar and those of the weaker Sex as we have often known either into Presumption or Despair some poor deluded Souls think the Gate of Mercy shut when 't is wide open and become melancholy and distracted and others tho rebels traytors hereticks and schismaticks grow proud and censorious and dream that it will fall open to them tho precious and witnessing People Gods Cupboard of Plate as in modesty they stile themselves without the least knock or striving AND Lastly They are inlets and broad roads to security and all licentiousness if I shall live I shall live if I shall be sav'd I shall be sav'd do what I will if I shall dye I shall dye if I shall be damn'd I shall be damn'd do what I can for the Decree and Sentence either of Life or Death is eternal is immutable past and irrevocable Therefore Ede bibe lude THESE prodigious Effects and sad consequences being clear and demonstrative 't is prudence to stop our ears and if I may use W. C's martial phrase to buckle our selves against all such fatal Opinions and wild Whimsies that are contrary to reason and the very nature of a Deity to the purport and Oeconomy both of the Law and the Gospel What is asserted in this small Tract is I presume consonant to both to Gods word and to that Light viz. Reason he has seated in us to judge and ballance things by Here is no Popery no Pelagianisme or Semi-Pelagianisme which some cry for want of arguments as a sufficient confutation For we firmly believe that 't is by Gods grace and providence that we live move and have our Being in this World and by which by the merits of the Holy Jesus we expect Salvation in the Other We stedfastly believe the Apostles Symbole that God is true and just in all his ways and righteous in all his dealings that his secret Will is not opposite in the least punctilio to his revealed and that he that believeth and is baptized that sincerely repents of his former sins and forsakes them shall be saved shall receive plenary pardon and upon perseverance to the end eternal bliss but he and he only that stands out obstinately and impenitently shall be damn'd Our extravagant thoughts and foolish confiding and depending on our absolute Election may be a snare and stratagem to deceive and ruine us but our serious and hearty Perswasions That the Divine Decrees and appointments are conditional so that we are hereby mov'd and allur'd to come to God with a filial love and fear and incited to duty and action to real piety and honesty to do as we would be done by which comprehends both what the Law and the Prophets hath taught us This belief I am sure can never delude us no Decree can baffle this For Godliness 1 Tim. 4. 8. hath the Promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come THIS may suffice to demonstrate to all considering men that are not biassed by interest prejudice or prepossessions That the present State of the Body and the future State of the Soul are not limited and determined by any fatal absolute inconditional immutable and peremptory Decree but that both Body and Soul by the Divine grace and providence may if we be not defective in our own Duty be infinitely blessed and happy FINIS A Catalogue of some Books lately Printed for Tho. Basset at the George in Fleet-street DR Littletons Dictionary English-Latine and Latine-English in 4to Bp. Wilkins of the Principles and Dutyes of Natural Religion 8vo Dr. Sparks Devotions on the Feasts and Fasts of the Church 8vo Mr. Wanley of Coventry his History of Man wherein by many thousands of Examples is shewed what Man hath been from the first Ages of the World to these times in respect of his Body Senses Passions Affections c. in Folio Mr. Allingtons Reformed Samaritan a Visitation Sermon Preached in Coventry to which is annexed a Discourse about the Necessity and Expediency of Set forms in 4to Mr. Meritons History of England in 120. The 12. and 13th parts of Sr. Edw. Cooks Reports in Folio Dr. Browns Religio Medici in 8vo Sr. Thomas Herberts Travels in Folio Pools English Parnassus or a Help to English Poesie in 8vo Sr. Roger Manleys Russian Impostor or History of Muscovy in 8vo Pharmacopoeia Londinensis newly altered and Enlarged throughout the whole work according to the present Practice by the Colledge of Physicians London In Folio and 24to Pharamond or the History of France a fam'd Romance in 12 parts in Folio Sr. John Vaughan late Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas his Reports and Arguments in Folio Mr. Mieges New Dictionary French and English and English-French in 4to The History of France Containing all the Memorable Actions in France and other Neighbouring Nations in Folio Daltons Justice of Peace newly enlarged Folio Hudibras the first and second part in 8vo Swinburns Treatise of Wills and Testaments in 4to Doctrina Placitandi or the Art of Pleading in 4to The History of Don Quixot Folio Judg Hales of the Primitive origination of Mankind Folio FINIS Advertisement Now in the Press THE ten Volumes of Year Books with Tables to the whole and references never before Printed And also Guillims Heraldry with many Additions