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
A47646	Sermons preached by Dr. Robert Leighton, late archbishop of Glasgow published at the desire of his friends, after his death, from his papers written with his own hand.	Leighton, Robert, 1611-1684.	1692 (1692)	Wing L1031; ESTC R29941	164,938	342

hath died and that stands for the Believer Whosoever flies to him and lays hold on him for life he cannot die again nor canst thou die for whom he died once or rather is risen that raises the assurance higher and sets it firmer for this evidences that in his death all was payed when he being the Surety and seized on for the Debt and once Deaths Prisoner yet was set free This clears the matter that there is no more to be said and yet further in sign that all is done he is raised to the height of Honour above all Principalities and Powers is set at the right hand of the Father and there he sits and lives to make Intercession to sue out the fulfilling of all for Believers the bringing of them home lives to see all made good that he Died and Covenanted for so now his righteousness is thine that believest any challenge must meet with Christ first and if it seize not on him it cannot light on thee for thou art in him married to him And the same triumph that he speaks Isaiah 50. 8. whence these words are borrowed that is made thine and thou mayest now speak it in him I know not what can cast him down that hath this word to rest upon and to comfort himself in SERMON XVII Rom. VIII 35 c. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or ●amine or nak●dness or peril or sword c. IS this he that so lately cry'd out O wretched Man that I am Who shall deliver me That now triumphs O happy Man Who shall separate us from the love of Christ Yes t is the same Pained then with the thoughts of that miserable conjunction with a Body of Death and so crying out who will deliver Who will separate me from that now Now he hath found a Deliverer to do that for him to whom he is for ever united and he glories now in his inseparable Union and unalterable Love that none can divide him from yea it is through him that presently after that word of complaint he praises God and now in him he triumphs So vast a difference is there betwixt a Christian taken in himself and in Christ when he views himself in himself then nothing but wretched and wretched a polluted perishing Wretch but then he looks again and sees himself in Christ and there he 's rich and safe and happy he triumphs and he glories in it above all the painted Prosperities and against all the hor●id Adversities of the World he lives in his Christ content and happy and laughs at all Enemies And he extends his triumph he makes a common good of it to all Believers speaks it in their name who shall separate us and would have them partake of the same confidence and speak in the same stile with him It is vain that men fancy these to be expressions of Revelations or some singularly priviledg'd Assurances then they would not suit their end which is clearly and undoubtedly the encouragement of all the Children of God upon grounds that are peculiar to them from all the rest of the World but common to them all in all Ages and all varieties of condition It is true all of them have not a like clear and firm apprehension of their happy and sure estate and scarce any of them are alike at all times yet they have all and always the same right to this estate and to the comfort of it and when they stand in a right light to view it they do see it so and rejoice in it There be indeed some kind of assurances that are more rare and extraordinary some immediate glances or co●uscations of the love of God upon the Soul of a Believer a smile of his Countenance and this doth exceedingly refresh yea ravish the Soul and enables it mightily for Duties and Sufferings These he dispenses arbitrarily and freely where and when he will some weaker Christians sometimes have them while stronger are strangers to them the Lord training them to live more contentedly by Faith till the day of Vision come And that is the other the less ex●atical but the more constant and fixed kind of assurance the proper assurance of Faith the Soul by believing cleaves unto God in Christ as he offers himself in the Gospel and thence is possest with a sweet and calm perswasion of his love that being the proper work to appropriate him to make Christ and in him Eternal Life ours so 't is the proper result and fruit of that its acting especially when it acts any thing strongly to quiet the Soul in him Then being Justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ and from that Peace Joy yea even glorying in Tribulation as there follows And these springing not from an extraordinary sense or view but from the very innate Vertue of Faith working kindly and according to its own Nature Therefore many Christians do prejudice their own Comfort and darken their Spirits by not giving freedom to Faith to act according to its Nature and proper Principles they will not believe till they find some evidence or assurance which is quite to invert the order of the thing and to look for Fruit without settling a Root for it to grow from Would you take Christ upon the absolute word of promise tendring him to you and rest on him so this would ingraft you into life it self for that he is and so those Fruits of the Holy Ghost would bud and flourish in your hearts from that very believing on him would arise this perswasion yea even to a gloriation and an humble boasting in his love who shall accuse who shall condemn who shall separate The undivided Companion and undoubted Helper and Preserver of this confidence of Faith is an active love to Christ a constant study of Holiness and strife against Sin which is the grand enemy of Faith that obstructs the very Vital Spirits of Faith that makes it sickly and heavy in its actings and causes the Palsie in the hand of Faith that it cannot lay so fast hold Therefore this you would be careful of yea know that of necessity it attends Faith and as Faith grows Holiness will grow and Holiness growing will mutually strengthen and establish Faith the Comforts of the Holy Ghost are holy purifying Comforts and the more the Soul is purify'd and made holy the more is it cleared and enlarged to receive much of these Comforts Blessed are the pure heart they shall see God Unholiness is as damps and filthy mists in the Soul it darkens all Hence it is evident in what way Christians may and ought to aspire to this Assurance it is their Portion and in this way they are to aspire to it and shall find it if not presently yet let them wait and go on in this way they shall not miscarry Again it appears that this assurance is no enemy to Holy Diligence nor friend of Carnal

Consider that he hath promised Life Eternal to Believing and then say Tho I saw his hand as it were lift up to destroy me yet from that very hand will I expect Salvation for I have his word engaged for it that if I believe I shall be saved I do not say that a Soul under temptation can assure it self that God is already reconciled to it and herein possibly lies oftentimes the mistake for this reflex act of assurance though it be our duty to seek after it it self is rather a gift and reward than a duty but the direct and proper act of Faith is of perpetual use and necessity and then most when there is least sense of assurance and it is no other but a recumbency or reliance rolling over of the Soul upon free mercy That which breeds us much perplexity is That we would invert God's order If I knew say some that the Promise belonged to me and Christ were a Saviour to me I could believe that is to say would first see and then believe But the true method is just contrary I had fainted says David unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord. He believed it first and saw it afterwards And in this same Psalm labouring to still his disquieted Soul by elevating it above his troubles to look upon his God he says to it Hope in him now and ere it be long thou shalt praise him for the help of his coun●enance even while his countenance is with-held And thus Faith ought to triumph over Spiritual fears and difficulties 2. How incongruous is it that outward dangers or trials should over-match it will you trust God upon his Word for Salvation and Eternal Happiness and be diffident for the safety and needful Blessings of this Temporal Life which life in comparison is but a moment and the best things of it but dross Consider that you dishonour Faith exceedingly and degenerate from the believing Saints of former Ages Indeed the Promises of this Life and that which concerns it though Godliness with them yet they are not so absolute nor are they so absolutely needful for you but considering the Wisdom and Love of your Heavenly Father learn to compose your minds by it I will not be afraid though ten thousands of the people set themselves against me round about says David Psal. 3. 6. And lest you think him singular in the 46 Psalm it is the joint-voice of the whole Church of God We will not fear though the earth be removed and the mountains be cast into the midst of the Sea Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof There is a river the streams whereof make glad the City of God The holy place of the tabernacle of the most high God is in the midst of her she shall not be moved That is the way to be immoveable in the midst of troubles as a Rock amidst the Waves When God is in the midst of a Kingdom or City he makes it firm as Mount Sion that cannot be removed When he is in the midst of the Soul though Calamities throng about it on all hands and roar like the Billows of the Sea yet there is a constant Calm within such a Peace as the World can neither give nor take away On the other side what is it but want of lodging God in the Soul and that in his stead the World is in the midst of mens Hearts that makes them shake like the leaves of Trees at every blast of danger What a shame is it seeing natural men by the strength of Nature and help of Moral Precepts have attained such undaunted resolution and courage against outward changes yet they that would pass for Christians are so soft and fainting and so sensible of the smallest alterations The advantage that we have in this regard is infinite what 's the best ground-work of a Philosophers constancy but as moving sands in comparison of the Rock that we may build upon But the truth is That either we make no provision of Faith for times of Trial or if any we have we neither know the worth nor the use of it but lay it by as a dead unprofitable thing when we should most use and exercise it Notwithstanding all our frequenting of God's House and our plausible profession Is it not too true that the most of us either do not at all furnish our selves with these spiritual arms that are so needful in the militant Life of a Christian or we learn not how to handle them and are not in readiness for Service as was the case of that improvident Souldier whom his Commander found mending some piece of his Armour when they were to give Battle It were not amiss before Afflictions overtake us to try and train the mind somewhat by supposing the very worst and hardest of them To say What if the Waves and Billows of adversity were swelled and flowing in upon me Could I then believe God hath said I will not fail thee nor forsake thee with a heap of negations in no wise I will not he hath said when thou passest through the fire and through the water I will be with thee These I know and can discourse of them But could I repose and rest upon them in the day of Trial put your Souls to it is there any thing or person that you esteem and love exceedingly say What if I should lose this Is there some evil that is naturally more contrary and terrible to you than many others Spare not to present that to the imagination too and labour to make Faith Master of it before hand in case it should befal you and if the first thought of it scare you look upon it the oftener till the Visage of it become familiar to you that you start and scare no more at it nor is there any danger in these thoughts Troubles cannot be the nearer by thus thinking on them But you may be both safer and stronger by breathing and exercising of your Faith in supposed cases But if you be so tender spirited that you cannot look upon Calamities so much as in thought or fancy how would you be able for a real encounter No sure But the Soul that hath made God his stay can do both see it in that notable resolution of the Prophet Habakkuk 3. 17. Although the Fig-tree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the vines the labour of the olive shall fail and the fields shall yield no meat the flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation The Lord God is my strength And in David Psal. 23. 4. Yea says he though I walk through the valley of the shadow of Death I will fear no evil for thou art with me thy Rod and thy Staff they comfort me You see how Faith is as Cork to