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Sion's prospect in it's first view.: Presented in a summary of divine truths, consenting with the faith profess'd by the Church of England, confirmed from scripture and reason: illustrated by instance and allusion. Compos'd and publish'd to be an help for the prevention of apostacy, conviction of heresy, confutation of error, and establishing in the truth, by a minister of Christ, and son of the church, R.M. quondam è Coll ̊S.P.C.

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Title
Sion's prospect in it's first view.: Presented in a summary of divine truths, consenting with the faith profess'd by the Church of England, confirmed from scripture and reason: illustrated by instance and allusion. Compos'd and publish'd to be an help for the prevention of apostacy, conviction of heresy, confutation of error, and establishing in the truth, by a minister of Christ, and son of the church, R.M. quondam è Coll ̊S.P.C.
Author
Mossom, Robert, d. 1679.
Publication
London :: Printed by T: N: for Humphrey Moseley, and are to be sold at the sign of the Princes-Arms in St Pauls Church-yard,
1653 [i.e. 1652]
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Subject terms
Christian life -- Biblical teaching
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"Sion's prospect in it's first view.: Presented in a summary of divine truths, consenting with the faith profess'd by the Church of England, confirmed from scripture and reason: illustrated by instance and allusion. Compos'd and publish'd to be an help for the prevention of apostacy, conviction of heresy, confutation of error, and establishing in the truth, by a minister of Christ, and son of the church, R.M. quondam è Coll ̊S.P.C." In the digital collection Early English Books Online 2. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A89351.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 12, 2024.

Pages

CHAP. XII. Concerning the Author, Cause, Nature, and Adjuncts of Sin.

§. 1. THea Just and Holy God, who dothb hate,c forbid, andd punnish Sin, cannot possibly be thee cause and Author of Sin, which indeed had its firstf birth and being from the Divell, and unto which Adamg vo∣luntarily betrayed himself in the exercise and abuse of his free-will, byh consenting to the Divels sug∣gestions, which had in themselves no power to force, though permission from God to per∣swade.

§. 2. And thus by Adam sina entred into the world, upon whose fall, we find the Originall foun∣tain and efficsent (or more properly deficient)

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cause of sinne to be in our selves; for, having lost that harmony, and broken that subordination of the appetite to the will, of sense to reason, of the body to the soul, and of all to God, man is become even in his best and highest facultiesb sensuall, and carnall; so that, sense overcoming reason, and the appetite overswaying the will, the will doth over∣rule all, to a leading the whole manc captive into sin. And thus the true cause of mans sinne is in mans self; for that, d Lust conceiving in thee will's confenting, actuall sin is brought forth.

§. 3. It is not then any coaction or constraint of necessity in Fate, any force or fore-sight of Pro∣vidence in God, or any compulsion or power of Temptation in Satan, but the perversnesse and con∣sent ofa will in man, which is the proper cause of his sin. Wherefore all those places of sacred Scrip∣tures, which wicked men do wrest against truth, and blasphemous mouthes retort upon God to the ma∣king him the Author of sin, doe all declare and chiefly intimate that wonderfull wisdom and infi∣nite goodnesse of the Almighty, who, as a power∣full Disposer, not a bare Spectator, doth order the evill actions of the wicked to his glory, yet not any way partaking of the evill,b though powerfully assisting in the action.

§. 4. God it is whoa restrains the wicked from sin; so farre is he from prompting them for ward unto wickednesse: but as the Lion let loose from his chain, of his own cruell nature doth de∣vour and spoile; so theb wicked let loose by Divine Providence for the execution of Gods wrath,c of their own corrupt dispositions they rush into mis∣chief and sin:d yea, the same Actions are good and holy in respect of God, as ordered to a good end, even the advancing his Justice and Mercy which yet are sinfull and abominable in respect of

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man, as contrived to an evill end, even the satiating their malice and fury. And thus, whene wicked men are raised up to be a scourge for the punish∣ment of others, it is from Gods most just and ho∣ly will; but the malice, covetousness, cruelty, and other evils which they commit in their executing this punishment, are all from their own corrupt and vile affections.

§. 5. And though true it is, the wicked do per∣forma Gods secrets will, his will of purpose, even when they disobeyb his revealed will, his will of precept; yet because Gods revealed will is the Rule of our obedience, to disobey that, though we per∣form the other, itc is sin. So that, it can be no excuse of sin in man, or imputation of unrighteous∣nesse in God, that the wicked whil'st they sin (yet not in their sin) actually do what he by his secret counsel & eternal decree hath appointed to be done:d because they do it, not in obedience to Gods just will, but in pursuance of their own unjust wilfulnes.

§. 6. Besides, Gods purpose and foreknowledge, is not the cause of what he hath decreed to permit, but of what he hath decreed to effect; seeing God then doth not wil the commission but the permission of sin, he cannot be the cause of it. And that God should wil the permission of sin, is most just; for that otherwise he should lose the glory of his Justice; yea and of his mercy too: of this we may be confident, God is so infinitely good, that he would not permit evill, were he not withall so infinitely powerfull, as toa order that evill unto good.

§. 7. Further yet, when God is said toa harden malicious sinners, he doth it not by adding more sin, or infusing more malice, but by further with∣holding, or quite withdrawing his Grace: and so in just judgementb giving them up unto Satan, and their ownc vile affections, they truly and really

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d harden themselves. Sin then is not prompted or caused by God, but suggested by Satan, or raised by lust, and through consent of the will committed by man.

§. 8. And as sin hath no efficient, buta defici∣ent cause, so hath it no positive, but a privative Being; and so cannot properly be an action, which is a naturall good, but the obliquity and error of the action; which is a morall evill; it is not the work, but the evill of the work, in a deviation from the rule of righteousnesse, theb Law of God, which is the sin. And sin being in its proper nature thec offence of Gods Justice in thed transgression of his Law, doth bring upon man a guilt, a pollution, and a punishment.

§. 9. The guilt of sin is that wherebya man be∣comes debtor unto God, bound over unto the pe∣nalty of that law which he hath transgress'd. From this guilt doth proceed anb horror; Thec Consci∣ence terrifying the Soul with a selfe-accusing and condemning sentence,d made more dreadfull by despair.

§. 10. Besides this guilt of sin, which relateth unto the punishment, there is aa pollution, which cleaveth unto the soul. Which pollution doth make God tob b abominate and abhorre man, c hiding his face from him; and doth make mand with confusion of face to loath ande abhorre himself, and tof flie the divine presence.

§. 11. The punishment of sin; that is, ana evill of misery inflicted by God in the execution of his vindictive Justice. Which Justice, as it is provoked by sin, is call'db anger and wrath; as it is more hotly incens'd to severity, it is call'dc fury, and jealousie; as it denounceth sentence, and exe¦cuteth punishment upon sin, it is call'dd judgement and vengeance.

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§. 12. The weight of the offence committed, is to be measured according to the greatnesse of the person offended; Thea least violation then, of an infinite Majesty, must incurre the guilt of an infinite punishment, which isb Eternall Death, And thus all punishment becomes equall exten∣sively, in duration of time, though not inten∣sively in degrees of torment; yea, as is our ob∣ligation to the duty, such is our transgression of the command; and as is our transgression of the com∣mand, such is the punishment of our sin, all of equall extent; the transgression infinite, because the breach of an infinite obligation, and so the pu∣nishment infinite, because the penalty of an infinite transgression

§. 13. Thus the duration of punishment doth become correspondent to the duration of sin; of the sin, not in respect of its Act, which is transi∣ent, but of its pollution, and of its guilt, which are permanent; and soa permanent, as that they are eternall: Wherefore seeing the least sin (with∣out the grace of the Spirit to sanctifie, and the mercy of God to pardon) is eternall in its pollu∣tion and guilt; it must needs be so too in itsb punishment:c certainly excluding the sinner from life and glory, andd eternally subjecting him to death and misery.

§. 14. When Gods justice executeth the punish∣ment of wrath,a it is with respect to the guilt of sin. And therefore when Gods mercy doth par∣don the sin, heb remits the punishment, by ac∣quitting from the guilt. So that if God should require penall satisfaction when he hath forgiven the sin, it were as if a man should demand the debt, when he hathc cancelled the bond; an act this of absolute power, if not of direct injustice; and cannot be supposed in the most holy God, who doth forgive

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sin, but with respect to thed all-sufficient satisfa∣ction of Christ, who hathe born away our sin, by bearing of our punishment. So that, the punish∣ment of sin and its forgiveness are inconsistent, both in the nature of the thing, and by vertue of the sa∣tisfaction of Christ.

§. 15. The afflictions then of the godly, they are not formal punishments, because inflicted of God, not as an avenging Judg, but as aa provident Father, and so are not intended for the satisfaction of his justice (which is the nature of punishment) but either for the abolishing and preventing of sin, by wayb of correction; or for the proof and approbati∣on of grace, by wayc of trial; or for the testimony and propagation of the truth, by way ofd martyrdom. And thus the afflictions of the godly have in them the nature ofe healing medicines, not destructive pu∣nishments;f they are the issue of a fatherly love, not the effects of an avenging wrath.

§. 16. To say that God punisheth sin with sin, is a saying so improper, that unless candidly in∣terpreted (cum grano salis) with a due proportion of Prudence and of charity, it is very sinful, even unto blasphemy; for that, God, and God alone is thea prime Author of punishment, but no ways and in no sense theb Author of sin. Besides, punishment and sin are as inconsistent in their formal being, as light and darkness; for (seeing privatives are best known by their opposite positives) as the good to which the evil of punishment is opposite, and that to which the evil of sin is opposed, cannot be one and the same good; so no more can punishment and sin be one and the same evil; yea, sin is an evil as being from the will, whereas punishment is an evil altogether against the will.

§. 17. True it is, that the samea thing, which is sinful, may be the punishment of sin, yet not a

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sin as a punishment, nor yet a punishment as a sin. That any thing is a punishment inflicted, is from the just ordination of Gods Providence, but that the same thing is a sin committed, is from the evil deordination of mans perversness. Thus theb slaughter and spoil of the Caldeans was a punish∣ment inflicted by Gods justice upon Judahs sin, yet thec cruelty and covetousness of the Caldeans was a sin committed by their own malice in Judahs pu∣nishment. God then doth often punish sin with that which is sinful, but not so, as to make sin the punishment.

§. 18. Indeed, punishment being thea executi∣on of Gods Justice, and sinb the transgression of Gods law, these two cannot possibly so consist to∣gether, as to make one to be the other, and thereby God to be the Author of both, or the Author of neither, which is equally absurd and impious. Be∣sides, sin being thec disorder of the Universe, is re∣duc'd into order by punishment, God repairing the breach of his law, by the execution of his justice, the transgression by the penalty. And seeing God doth order sin by punishment, sure he doth not pu∣nish sin with sin, for that were more disorderly. No, here is the wisdom and power of God, in his provi∣dence so to order the same thing which isd sinful in respect of mans wickedness, to bee righteous in respect of his justice,f even in the just judgment of sin; and this, without any such absurdity and impie∣ty of making sin to be formally a punishment.

§. 19. Wherefore true it is, that sin, which is thea meritorious cause of punishment, may sometimes be itsb concomitant orc consequent, but not the same with it, nor yet any proper effect of it; for as darkness is the consequent, not the effect of the Suns with-drawing or with-holding his light; so is sin the consequent, not the

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effect of Gods with-drawing or with-holding his grace.

Notes

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