Selected quad for the lemma: act_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
act_n	assurance_n	faith_n	justify_v	2,314	5	9.2915	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20668	The collegiat suffrage of the divines of Great Britaine, concerning the five articles controverted in the Low Countries VVhich suffrage was by them delivered in the synod of Dort, March 6. anno 1619. Being their vote or voice foregoing the joint and publique judgment of that Synod.; Suffragium collegiale theologorum Magnae Britanniae de quinque controversis remonstrantium articulis. English.	Carleton, George, 1559-1628.; Synod of Dort (1618-1619)	1629 (1629)	STC 7070; ESTC S110099	65,063	183

increase and stability as in the entrance and beginning thereof Lastly if we desire to take out of the Scriptures the true formes of speaking wee ought to call the very act of perseverance the gift of God For if the Scripture doth not only call the quality it selfe of faith the gift of God but doth declare that to beleeve is given freely to men then also ought we to acknowledge as Gods gift not onely perseverance but also the act it selfe of persevering This is most manifestly taught in the place alleaged where the Apostle saith that it was given to the Philippians not onely to beleeve in Christ but to suffer for his sake Which what other thing is it then to persevere in the faith of Christ under the Crosse of persecution To this purpose Saint Anstine Wee affirme that perseverance is the gift of God by which wee abide in Christ constantly unto the end And it is reckoned among the Errors of the Massilians that they denyed that such perseverance is given to any from which he is not suffered to stray Which Error Saint Austine refutes in his booke of Perseverance chap. 6. It remaines now that we prove this gift of perseverance to spring from the fountaine of Election to the confirming of which we will produce one argument onely That which is given out of an effectuall intention to save without faile that person to whom it is given that without question doth flow from the decree of election For what is it else to elect one then to ordaine him to obtaine salvation without faile But now such is the force and nature of this gift that we cannot conceive that perseverance is ordeined or given unto any except upon a former intention both to order and bring the same man infallibly unto salvation For whatsoever benefit doth accrue unto any by any divine grace that wholly without doubt the Author of that grace decreed to conferre upon him to whom hee vouchsafed to impart the same grace But by the immoveable purpose of God whosoever shall persevere shall bee saved Therefore to whomsoever God purposed to give perseverance it is a manifest evidence that the same man was destinated to salvation by the foregoing decree of God To this purpose is that of Mat. 24.24 Where the impossibility of being seduced in respect of certaine persons knowne to God is grounded upon this foregoing Election of them and that of Saint Paul Rom. 11.5 where the remnant of those few which fell not from God is said to be caused according to the election of grace But of this see more in Saint Austine de bon persev cap. 16. Of the certainty of perseverance in respect of our selves THE FIRST POSITION EVery faithfull man may bee certainely perswaded that through the mercy of God his Father hee shall bee kept and bee brought uvnto eternall life WEE treated before of Perseverance in respect of the certainty of the object or thing it selfe Now are wee to treat of it in respect of the certainty of the subject to wit in as much as that thing which is certaine in it selfe is also by us in whom it is brought to passe apprehended as certaine and infallible We admitting every one of the faithfull into the partnership of this benefit doe avow it to be not a priviledge afforded to a few of the faithfull but a gift bestowed on all the faithfull as they are faithfull without distinction Moreover wee say rather that the faithfull may or can have within themselves this perswasion then that they are alwaies actually so perswaded because this certaine perswasion although it proceeds from the very nature of faith yet doth it not alwaies as it might and ought put forth into action but is sometimes suppressed as wee will hereafter declare Neverthelesse here wee affirme that every true faithfull man hath in readinesse at home within himselfe alwaies and upon all occasions such a foundation sure enough whereupon if he rightly weigh his owne condition and Gods promise and custody hee may build up this actuall confidence of his owne preservation in faith unto eternall life 1 First it is not enough unto God in regard of his owne glory that he preserve us unlesse he also ascertaine us of this his preservation Blessed be God by whose power wee are preserved through faith unto salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 Now we doe not particularly blesse God for those things which wee know not to have received 2 To Christ our Saviour it was not sufficient to pray that Peters faith might not faile from which prayer that gift was made certaine in it selfe unlesse Saint Peter also should know it and thereupon enjoy in himselfe the full perswasion thereof Luke 22.32 I have prayed for thee Peter that thy faith faile not 3 It is not enough for us for our comfort that we being wafted in the ship of the Church goe on towards the haven of salvation except also we be fully perswaded that we cannot by any tempest be defeated of our wished harbor It was not enough for Noah to bee shut up safe in the Arke but hee was by the promise of God secured against shipwracke for the confirmation of his confidence Gen. 6.18 With thee will I establish my covenant and thou shalt come into the Arke 4 This assurance of perswasion doth flow from the very nature of speciall faith which not onely is directly caried unto that which is promised but also doth reflect upon it selfe and its owne apprehension Of the former act are meant those speeches in the Scripture Rom. 5.1 Being justified by faith wee have peace with God Iohn 10.28 My sheepe shall never perish Of the latter those 1 Iohn 2.3 Wee doe know that we know him 1 Iohn 5.10 He that beleeveth on the Sonne of God hath the witnesse in himselfe Also 1. Cor. 2.12 We have received the Spirit which is of God that wee might know the things which are given us of God Therefore everie faithfull man through the inmost operation of his owne faith beleeves the preservation of the same faith in himselfe 5 The same is confirmed out of the testimonies of this faith Spirituall joy is a manifest evidence 1 Pet. 1.8 Beleeving ye rejoyce with joy unspeakeable and full of glory And this joy will not vanish Iohn 16.22 Your joy no man shall take away from you Also spirituall glorying Rom. 5.2 We have accesse by faith into this grace wherein we stand and boast in hope of the glory of God And this glorie is caried upon its object as present and alreadie attained although indeed it bee but future So Chrysostome upon this place Every man glories of those things which hee hath already Now because our hope of future things is as certaine and evident as of things already received the Apostle saith wee also glory of these 6 Lastly the certainty not onely of perseverance but also of the perseverer is warranted by the mutuall pledges laid downe betweene God and the

alone the Elect of God Doth God justifie Paul onely Or doth Christ make intercession for Paul alone Since therefore out of these premises common to the whole Church of the Elect Saint Paul in that place inferres that confident conclusion Who shall separate us and I am perswaded c. certaine it is that other beleevers also who have interest to the same meanes of salvation may hence deduce and apply unto themselves this full perswasion of their salvation and perseverance The same conclusion every faithfull soule is able to make out of other ordinary premises 1 From the faithfulnesse of God 1 Cor. 10.13 God is faithfull who will not suffer c. 2 From experience of his former good will Phil. 1.6 Being confident of this very thing that hee which hath begun a good worke in you will also perfect it c. 3 From the practise of good workes performed in faith 2 Pet. 1.10 If yee doe these things ye shall never fall and what those things are t is evident out of the 5. and 6. verses 4 From the testimony of the conscience 1 Iohn 3.21 If our hearts condemne us not then have we confidence toward God 5 By the testimony of former led life 2 Tim. 4.7 I have fought a good fight hence forth is there a Crowne laid up for me 6 Lastly the testimony of the Spirit doth seale all these things to us Rom. 8.16 The Spirit it selfe beareth witnesse with our spirit c. These and other evidences of the like kind are obvious to every faithfull soule and therefore likewise the conclusion But if this certainty should issue only from an extraordinary revelation Saint Peter shold in vaine exhort all the faithfull thus 2 Pet. 1.10 Give diligence to make your calling and election sure THE FIFT THat as often as any grievous carnall sinne is committed so often is the state of justification and adoption lost AGainst this opinion these arguments besides others are of force 1 Man cannot by any sinne make void any act of Gods But justification and adoption are Gods acts and those flowing from his owne good pleasure Ergo. When therefore it is questioned whether or no there may be an intercision of justifying grace caused by the sinnes of the flesh the question is not onely whether a man can lose any qualitie by sinne but we must fetch this question much further to wit whether mans sinne be of force to make void Gods acts or to alter that doome of God by which hee in himselfe hath already pronounced us just and adopted us into the right and title of Sonnes In vaine in this case some oppose against us the defect of the subject or failing on mans part Whereas God doth continually repaire the subject which of it selfe without doubt would faile by giving the faithfull perseverance that they may not faile For to the end that by faith he might keepe us he keepes also that very faith in us as elegantly that reverend late Bishop of Salisbury 2 So farre it is that every grievous sinne of the flesh should altogether devest a faithfull soule of the state of justification and adoption that on the contrary it is held especially by practicall Divines that God doth permit those sinnes very often in justified and adopted persons that both their justification and adoption might be afterward the more confirmed unto them according to that of the Prophet Psal. 119.71 It is good for me that thou hast humbled me that I might learne thy statutes This is evident in the falls not onely of David but also of Hezekias and Peter whereby occasionally the endevor of holinesse the acknowledgement of their owne infirmity and a more vehement suit unto God for the gift of perseverance were increased in them We conclude therefore that neither justification is broken off nor yet adoption lost by the falls of the Saints but that hence it comes to passe that rising againe they doe so much the more warily worke out their owne salvation with feare and trembling THE SIXT THat the doctrine of the certainty of perseverance and salvation is of its owne nature both hurtfull unto true piety and pernicious every way to Religion BOth Gods truth and mans experience easily wipe off this aspersion For this Christian perswasion of perseverance and salvation not onely in respect of its own nature But also according to the very event in the Church doth by Gods blessing produce a quite contrary effect 1 First in respect of the thing it selfe the certainty of the end doth not take away but establish the use of the meanes And the same holy men who upon sure grounds promise unto themselves both constancy in the way of this pilgrimage and fruition of God in their everlasting home know also that these are not obtained without performance of the duties of holinesse and the avoidance of contrary vices and therefore they turne not their backes from these meanes but industriously embrace and prosecute them 1 Iohn 3.3 Everie man that hath this hope in himselfe purifieth himselfe even as he is pure Esay 38.5 When Hezekiah had received that promise of God of an addition of fifteene yeares to his life he did not therefore neglect the use of medicines or meats but that this promised event might be brought into act he applied for the cure of his body the plaister which was prescribed unto him by the Prophet The Apostle doth altogether reject this consequence of carnall security imputed to this doctrine and that with a kinde of indignation Rom. 6.1 Shall we continue in sinne that grace may abound God forbid How shall we which are dead to sinne live any longer therein As if Saint Paul would intimate unto us not onely the incongruity but also impossibility of such a sequell 2 As touching the event true it is that any the most wholesome truth of God may bee perverted by the abuse of men But upon this doctrine wee cannot acknowledge that there groweth any such inconvenience no not de facto that is in the event it selfe Let us take a view of the Reformed Churches in which this confidence of perseverance and inviolable adoption is beleeved and maintained Doe we finde that thereupon the bridle is let loose unto riot That piety is trampled downe We give thankes unto God through our Lord Iesus Christ that among ours who enjoy this full perswasion of spirituall comfort and are confident that there is an inheritance which cannot bee lost laid up for them in heaven there is not found lesse care of godlinesse nor lesse endevor so far forth as mans infirmity will suffer to live an unblameable life than is to be found among any sort of those who pinne their perseverance on their owne free will and will not grant it to flow from any foregoing Election of GOD. THus have wee set downe our joynt Suffrage concerning these five controverted Articles which our judgement wee beleeve to be agreeato the word of God and sutable to