Owen - Houston-Packer Collection BT768 .O9 1654

pfthccommination achewords, !lull dje. CAP. XVII. this mutt needes be fo,becaufe God here upon fuch a fuppofall, prbnounceth 413 fuch a man to be in the eflate ofcondemnation, what this is with other men, I knownot 5 but tome, it is no proofeat all 5 nor Mould I believe that tobe the fence of the place, though invariety of expreflions he fhould fignificantly affirme it a thoufand tinies5theReader alfo is mifinfbrmed that the Doflorat- tempts not any proof, that by death, eternal! death is not in this place inten- ded he that !hall cnnfult theplaee will finde himfelfe abufed, but wemull fpeakemore of this anon. And this is all our Authour offers as to the perlons (poker,din theplace of Scripture under confideration, wherein though hebath taken Tomepaines to little or no purpofe, to take offtheexpoliition of the words, & the defcrip- tionof the perfon given byothers, yet hehath not attempted to give fo much as one Argument, to confirme the fence he would impale on us; concerning thecondition of the perfon fpokenof; And I mutt crave leave to fay, that naked affertions be they never fo many, in the Chaire or out, weighnot fo much with ine, as one good Argument,much leffe as many. There is nothingremaines to confideration,but only theComüzinatory part 4. ;q. of the words, or the exprefììonofthe punifhment allottedof God , to fuch as walke in the wayes ofApoftafy here exprefled, in his' trefpaffe that he hath trefpafed, and in hisfsnne that hehath f nned, in them fhall he dye 5 that is, He fhall be dealt withall, as manyoftheir Nation werein the Landof Ifrael ;ny judgements thall overtake him5 it !hall not advantagehim , that either he had Godly Parents that havewalked with mee, or that he himfelfe, had fo behaved himfelfe in a way ofRighteoufneffe, as before defcribed, ifhe turne to the profanenefleand abominations , which are laid downe as the waits of wicked men, or into any paths like them, he thalleven dye, or bepunilhed for his finnes,according to the tenour of the truth,laid downe in the entrance of the Chapter, and repeatedagaine v.2o. the foule thatfcnneth it!hall dye ; But nowwhereas it might be replied, that fuch an one , notwithffandinghis de- generacy, might yet perhaps recover himfelfe, to his former way of walking, obedience, and righteoufneffe in converfation ? And is there then no hope, nor helpe for him, but having once fo Apoffatifed, hé muff fuffer for it ? To prevent any fuch tnifprifion ofthe mind ofGod, there isadded the termes of his duration in that ftateofApoffafy, that is even untodeath 5 if hecommit - eth iniquity, and dyeth in it , that is, repents not ofit, before hisdeath, this judgements ofGod fhall find himout, as was beforeexprefed 5 If by hisRe- pentance, heforevent not his calamities, he fhall end his finning indeflmecion; in which expreffions of the perlons continuance in his Apoftatifedcondition, andofthe judgements of God fallingon himon that account , there is not the leaft appearanceofany Tautology, or incongruity in the fence 5 the fame word is ufed to expreffe diverte concernements of it ; which is no Tautology though the fameword be ufed, yet the fame thing is not intended , Tautolo- gy reflehs to things not words, otherwife there muff bea Tautologywhere e- ver thereis an 7oue:s, as Phil 1.4. toeommit iniquity, and to dye therein, is nomorebut tocontinue in hisiniquity impenitently until! death ; now to fay that a man was put todeath for his fault, becaufehé committed it, and còn= tinned impenitent in it, evenunto the death, which he was adjudged to, and whichwas infli&ed on him for his fault, is an incoherent expreffion, it teems will puzle, as great amatter ofLanguage as M.G tomake good. M.G. endeavours to make the punifhment threatned in thewords (he f all dye for hisiniquity) precifely and exclufvely to fignify eternal! death (which the former interpretation doth not exclude) whichhe is no way able to make good. what heoffers See t. 3'. concerning the incongruity ofthe fence, and G g g 3 tautologic

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