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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
world_n	death_n	sin_n	sin_v	14,462	5	10.3751	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65563	Six sermons preached in Ireland in difficult times by Edward, Lord Bishop of Cork and Ross.	Wettenhall, Edward, 1636-1713.	1695 (1695)	Wing W1521; ESTC R38253	107,257	296

can pray for nothing else in their behalf yet may we most charitably pray that God would give them Faith and Repentance though they come in even in the end of the eleventh hour of the day There was indeed in the miraculous days a miraculous Gift of discerning of Spirits and I will not say but St. John and other like inspired persons might be able hereby to perceive what men sinned unto death and when how and in what acts But I think there is none but mad men will in the present age pretend to this Gift and then there will be no knowing who will sin unto death that is be finally incredulous or impenitent except God should reveal it to us Besides as just now intimated none can be said to be incredulous or impenitent finally that is to their end till their end that is till their death and we do not teach to pray for any persons longer Wherefore it remains except God should reveal to any of us that such and such particular persons were incorrigible and by him eternally rejected from all Grace and so by immediate Inspiration or voice from Heaven interdict us to pray for them I conceive in the present ●●ate of the Church we stand bound in charity to pray for all men at least that God would give them repentance as long as they are in this life or on this side Hell be they never so wicked Further 2. If that Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost which our Lord has declared Matt. xii 31 32. shall not be forgiven unto men either in this world or that which is to come were as in all probability it was the Jews malicious ascribing those Miracles to Beelzebub the Prince of Devils which in their Consciences they were convinced he did by the power of the Holy Ghost then by reason of the Cessation of Miracles no man of the present age is capable of it and therefore is no man now upon supposition of this sin to be excluded from our Prayers In a word as the world goes I know not how there is any maintaining Charity or the true Christian Temper without strict observing the Apostles injunction in my Text. For allow this that we are not to pray for those who have sinned a sin unto death and withal that sins unto death are in the present age as certainly to be known as they are commonly committed there will be few men if they have but ill nature enough to maintain enmities whose Malice will not byass their Judgments to pronounce their Enemies to have sinned a sin unto death and so there will be no loving of Enemies or praying for them at least there will be a proper method to absolve us from the Obligation of that our Lords Command of loving our Enemies and blessing those that curse us so proper to the Religion by him instituted Wherefore by the way give me leave from hence to recommend unto you the Prudence Piety and Integrity of the first Reformers of our Church and consequently the Soundness of the Reformation it self The first thing the Apostle gives in charge here to Timothy in order to the settling the Church of Ephesus is the due constituting the publick Prayers The first part of the Reformation was the compiling the Liturgy of our Church and that almost in the very form we at present have it The primitive publick Prayers by the Apostolical Injunction in the Text were to consist of Supplications Petitions Intercessions and giving of Thanks And St. Chrysostome on the Text tells us in his time the practice of the Church was accordingly The Priests all know saith he how this is performed every day both morning and evening Our Liturgy does consist of Confessions Suffrages or Litanies of Collects of Prayers for the whole Church Hymns and Eucharistical Devotions parts perfectly conformable to what was then both enjoyned and practised And these according to the Apostle were to be made for all men and as Chrysostome tells us were actually so made We pray accordingly in our Litany That it please thee to have mercy upon all men Besides we have other Prayers for all sorts and conditions of men But especially for King● saith the Apostle and all that are in Authority And that these Prayers according to Order in our Liturgy are offered up morning and evening I need not tell you but as led hereby proceed to my main design Proposition II. Publick Prayers of the Church in all kinds are to be made for Kings and all in Authority Nothing can be more expresly said in terms than this is in the present Text. And it gives a very great emphasis to the Apostles Injunction and so makes our Obli●ation to the Duty much the stronger if we consider when this Epistle was writ or in what days the Apostle laid this Charge on Timothy namely in the first year of Nero's being Emperor of Rome according to Baronius in his third year say others all agree 't was under his Empire What Nero was for a Monster of a man as to all Villanies imaginable I need not speak nor will you easily think the Governours sent by him viz. the Prefects of the Army or Provinces were most of them much better than their Emperour And such a long time continued the Emperours and the other Powers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Chrysostome In loc expresses it ungodly men succeeding ungodly men so that Quot erant eo tempore magistratus tot Ecclesiae hostes atque Idolatriae As many Bez. in loc Magistrates as there were so many Enemies were there of the Church so many Idolaters and God knows vast multitudes more by their example Yet even for these did the Apostle injoyn constant Prayers daily to be made in the Church So that we must necessarily if we mind this circumstance apply hereto that of the Apostle St. Peter as to be subject to so to pray for not only the good and gentle but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the froward or perverse Yet let none by the way be so vile as to make here any misconstruction God be blessed we have no need to apply this Emphasis in our circumstances We have a King most Gracious who protects us in our Religion and has again and again promised so to do of which we have most publick and ample assurance However as long as there are such infernal Spirits in humane shape as are at this day many of the Scotch Covenanters who will not so much as say God save or God bl●ss the King to save themselves from the Gallows it was not fit to omit this observation of the Date of this Epistle For hereby let the King have been what he could be to them they are convicted by our Apostles Doctrine to have renounced their Christianity in this case with their Allegiance and Duty to their King let them dye what they would they dyed no Christians It is not impossible there are others in the world who though to

takes the Forfeiture or actually executes the Sentence of the Law in this world than in the case of doing violence to the Lives of others So far is this our Lords Speech true even as to the Event also that perhaps not one Murderer in ten dies the death of other men The sum then of what our Lord avows to back his Rebuke or the Check he gave St. Peter is this That all those who of their own accord and without due Authority attempt or take away the Life of another are before God guilty of Murder and deserve the Punishment thereof which is to fall by the Hand of Justice And for the asserting hereof I do not think it is possible I will not say to urge but even to devise any Evidence of such advantageous circumstances as this in the Text I will therefore press it more distinctly It has ever generally been esteemed lawful to repel Force with Force Now we see our Lord was here most forcibly seised and that as was evident in order to suffer all the Violence and Cruelty which Malice could exercise upon him yet never before appeared such Innocence and Holiness in humane Nature as from his very Conception and Cradle had shone in him Whether the Powers which commanded his Seisure were just or no we will not now examine it is most sure their use of their Power against him was the unjustest of any Instance assignable from the foundation of World Further St. Peter was one of our Lords Followers and if the Holy Jesus had had an House Menials Add hereto the Person in whose defence he drew was so extraordinary that not only his Words but even his Presence might seem to warrant any act that was capable of being good if done in his behalf Lastly even himself and his Brethren were in danger from that Rabble as well as his Master What a multitude of concurrent circumstances are there here to justifie St. Peters act Especially I say his own defence the defence of his Brethren nay the defence of God himself in humane Nature and all in a most just Cause against Power more unjustly and more hellishly used than ever any Power was or could be on the face of the Earth and both before and in the behalf of a person vested with Power paramount to all under Heaven Good God! can there be ever Case again like to this so much I say as imagined Yet for all this Peter is chid for his attempt Put up thy Sword into its place for they that take the Sword shall perish with the Sword No Cause then so just which can warrant private men to attempt the Life of others without Authority from them to whom God has entrusted the Power of the Sword For the further evidencing hereof I will lay down and make good the seven following Conclusions First God alone originally and sovereignly hath the power of humane Life and Death Of the truth whereof there needs no other as indeed there can no more solid reason be given than this that he alone gave or could give Life at first and still he alone preserves and continues or indeed can continue it Mille viae Mortis there are a thousand ways of extinguishing Life but either the Gift of it or the Continuance of it is alone from God We poor mortals are so far from being able to give Life to any thing that we do not yet know what it is That we live we know what Life is we know not but daily Experience in our Friends and selves teacheth us the the very preserving it in being when given at least to the term we would is beyond the power of Art Industry Strength or even that little Omnipotent as it is too usually looked upon Money it self A minute of it cannot be purchased by all the Treasures on or under Earth Psal xlix 8 9. The Redemption of the Soul that is the prorogation of Life as there the phrase most certainly signifies is precious and it ceaseth for ever None can give to God a Ransome for it that he should live for ever and not see Death Any and all the least retrievals from it are of God alone and proper to his Almighty Power Psal lxviii 20. He is the God of Salvation even in this kind and to God the Lord belong the Issues from Death Now seeing it was he alone who when he had formed the Body of the first Man breathed into him the Breath of Life so that Man became a living Soul seeing also it is he whose Visitation preserveth mans Spirit how can it in Reason or Justice be conceived that any besides him should have Sovereign Power of Life and Death How should any have right to take away what neither they by themselves nor by any principal from whence they derive could ever give God therefore alone I say has original and sovereign power of Life and Death 2. The derivative Power hereof in every Kingdom or Commonwealth is immediately in the supreme Magistrate alone that is God has in every such publick Body committed this Power to none immediately but to those whom therein he has made Supreme By the Supreme Magistrate in every Nation I mean that Civil Power whose acts are not under the Controll of another so that they may be annull'd or Summa Potestas Civilis illa dicitur cujus actus alterius juri non subsunt ita ut alterius voluntatis humanae arbitrio irriti possint reddi Grot. de Jur. Bell. par l. 1. c. 3. §. 7. made void at the pleasure of other humane Will Now such Magistrates the Apostle St. Paul uses to style Powers Rom. xiii 1 2. Tit. iii. 1. And touching such Power or which is the same for he there uses the terms Powers and Rulers indifferently for one another touching such Ruler he says expresly ver 4. He is the Minister of God Gods Agent or Vicegerent a Revenger to execute wrath upon every one that doth evil He is the Minister of God to wit He alone immediately within his Territories and no other but from by or under him Nor can there be a greater proof hereof than our Lords Practice here in the Text. Might any person not being Supreme Magistrate claim to himself a right to take the Sword how is it possible that St. Peter should have been reprehensible in drawing his Sword in the circumstances he did upon the mixed multitude of Jews and Romans sent by the Authority of the Sanhedrim and Roman Prefect If there had been any Power of this nature in any private person not derived from the Supreme Power certainly he could not have wanted it in the present juncture Yet you hear how solemnly and severely our Lord reprehends him for the Attempt And as neer as Christ was to his Death at the time of this Event in the Text before he departed out of the world he put another Seal to this truth When Pilate after our Lords first Arraignment before him and