Selected quad for the lemma: act_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
act_n	faith_n	heart_n	purify_v	2,568	5	11.6551	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29134	The sleepy spouse of Christ alarm'd, or, A warning to beware of drowsiness vvhen Christ calls, lest he withdraw in a discontent being the sum of some sermons upon Cant. 5th, and the beginning / by J. B., minister of the Gospel ; recommended in a preface by Nath. Vincent.	J. B. (James Bradshaw), 1636?-1702.; Vincent, Nathanael, 1639?-1697.	1667 (1667)	Wing B4151; ESTC R27223	96,463	214

company and communion with him may live in the light of his count●nance always beholding his most lovely face hearing his most pleasant voice and tasting of his most Royal dainties The breathings of a gracious heart towards Christ are the same for reality though not for degree that Christ his breathings are towards her Cant. 2.14 O my dove Let me see thy countenance let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely It was thus with David Psal 27.4 c. If he might but have one request it should be that he might dwell in the house of the Lord and that for this end that he might behold the beauty of the Lord and enquire in his Temple and whatever became of other things this as the main would he seek after But alas is it not far otherwise with us in these days and that among those that profess love to Christ if we look what most men are busie about what takes up most of their thoughts what their discourse is most about in all companies what they spend most time in and weary themselves in the prosecution of from day to day shall we not finde it rather to be the World than Christ I will not say as is said of the wicked That God is not in all their thoughts but this may be too truely said of many that their most frequent pleasant and abiding thoughts are about the world These lie down with them these rise up these go out and come in with them as if these were their onely business Doth this argue that these Hearts are open to Christ where the door is open a man may enter in without obstruction But here it is an hard matter for a serious thought of Christ to get crowded in If it come to the door it gets no further hath little or no admission into the heart and affections no abiding there We read in Scripture of many very gross sins that the servants of God for some time have been overcome by but I do not remember any mentioned in Scripture that were sincere that were overcome with the love of the World Demas indeed is said to embrace this present World but whether this be to be understood of his total apostacy from the faith or onely his deserting his publick work or station the Scripture leaves us in the dark and leaves this brand of infamy and disgrace upon him We know what the Apostle speaks 1 Tim. 6.9 10. They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition for the love of money is the root of all evil which while some coveted after they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows And the Apostle John tells us 1 John 2.15 If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him Evidently manifesting that there is not room for Christ and the World to dwell in the same heart Christ himself tells us that we cannot serve God and Mammon These two contrary Masters will be encroaching upon each other and imposing their contradictory commands So that from hence I conclude that where the world hath a great share in the heart and affections there Christs interest is but small and the door of our hearts not sufficiently opened to him I am affraid that at the great day when all hearts shall be tried and made manifest there will be many a man found who prayed for Christ had a desire of him yea and hoped that he had an interest in him and a love for him and yet through the prevalency of the world never truely opened his heart to Christ Examine your hearts therefore how the case stands with you If Christ be there and opened to as he should be how comes his mortal enemy the world to have such an interest in you and to bear so much sway with you If your hearts were opened to Christ the world would be more despised and Christs company would be more delightful and more store set by 5. And lastly If the door of our hearts be open to Christ by faith How comes it to pass that there are so few fruits of Faith to be seen There is no question to be made but where Christ the Sun of righteousness shines into the Soul the door of the heart being opened by Faith but that it will be Summer-tide with that Soul Grace will bud blossom and bear fruit And if all other Graces be fruitful why not Faith If Faith therefore be fruitful where the Heart is opened to Christ it concerns us to examine what fruits of Faith we finde in our selves For as Faith hath a large root or foundation having the whole Word of God for its object upon which it acts and from which at all times it fetcheth direction so it hath a large office and work in the soul its work being to purifie both heart and life Acts 15.9 Purifying their hearts by faith Therefore the Apostle James tells us that Faith without works is dead being alone I may well compare Faith to a large and frugiferous tree whose root or foundation is the whole Word of God recorded in the whole body of Scripture The ground or seat of Faith is the heart the commanding power of the soul the body or trunk of this tree is the habit or principle of Faith infused into us and nourished in us by the Spirit of God The several branches of this tree spreading themselves every way are the several emanations or flowings forth of Faith guided and directed by the several parts of Gods word The fruits of Faith are the several particular actings of the whole man guided by Faith according to the direction of Gods Word Now where the ground of the heart is made warm by the presence and influential beams of the Sun of righteousness being opened unto Christ at his coming the tree of Faith must needs flourish and drawing in fresh supply of sap from the rock of truth which being digested in our hearts by Faith must needs bring forth suitable and proportionable fruit of all kinds in our lives and conversations If therefore thy heart be open to Christ by Faith Where then are the fruits effects actings and flowings forth of Faith in all the parts and passages of thy life and conversation Where is thy dependance upon and embracing of his Promises relying upon his All-sufficiency Where is thy universal obedience to his commands discharging duty in every part and condition of life living by and acting according to the rule of Gods Word in every thing thou goest about leaving the issue success and event of all thy business and concerns to God to his care and faithfulness Where is thy constant watch against the deceitfulness of thy Heart the temptations of Satan the allurements and enticements of the World and thy faithful resistance of all Temptations thy deep repentance for and faithful

I believe Lord help thou mine unbelief Which manifested his sense of the difficulty of opening to Christ by Faith as he ought And truely Christians that know any thing of their own hearts as they ought finde this a very difficult work in cases of an easier nature than this here of this man was And therefore a lazy sluggish Soul is unwilling to be at such pains There are some weary steps that a believer must take to open to Christ by Faith As 1. earnest Prayer to him who is the Finisher and Perfecter as well as the Authour and Beginner of this Grace Faith in the act and exercise as well as in the habit must be obtained of Christ by earnest Prayer And to tug in this duty of Prayer as we ought is no easie work especially if Christ for some time seem to hold back and deny as he did to the woman of Canaan This puts the Soul sometimes into a sweat and therefore the easeful Soul is loath to be at this pains his patience is worn out and he faints and flags in the duty 2. Another weary step the Soul must take to get Faith into the exercise is the searching the Word and Promises and rightly applying them It is sometimes difficult to finde such promises as may rightly suit our condition When we have found them it may be something more difficult rightly to understand them according to the true intent and purport of them sometimes it may be difficult to get our hearts rightly affected with them and most of all to clear up our interest in them So that sometimes a Believer findes a promise and meditating sees it to suit his condition well enough but yet lays it aside can suck no sweetness from it because he cannot clear up his interest in it and that by reason of some particular condition or qualification annexed thereto which he findes not in himself In this case to believe seems difficult and therefore the promise is laid aside and no comfort gathered from it upon this account a lazy Soul sits down in unbelief and doth not open to Christ by faith 3. Another weary step is the overcoming that unbelieving frame of heart which we are naturally prone unto Unbelief is a sin which naturally flows from the corruption of our natures and accompanies us in some measure more or less while we are in this Vale of Tears And this part of corrupt nature poor Souls finde as much difficulty in the overcoming as any corruption And the reason is because of all corruptions none hath more to say for it self than this for the object of Faith properly is unseen things such as are not obvious to sense such as seem to thwart both sense and reason and frequent experience such things as we have nothing to bottom our faith concerning upon but the bare Word of God we are to believe in hope contrary to hope And this makes the work difficult hereupon few Christians are so resolved and industrious as to be at the pains which the Psalmist was Psal 73. to search things to the bottom and to weigh things in the balance of the Sanctuary and therefore they sit down without opening to Christ by Faith 4. Another difficulty is the griping guilt of sin and unworthiness which so looks them in the face when they should open to Christ by Faith that the eye of their Faith is dim and they cannot with any confidence look Christ in the face It is an usual saying that a guilty Conscience needs no Accuser Conscience will inwardly check the adulterous Spouse of Christ and make her blush when she should open to him and look him in the face The Psalmist complains that he was so compassed about and tormented with his sin that he could not look up Psal 40.12 It is a mistake very common in humbled penitent sinners that they must not dare not by Faith open to and close with Christ till they have attained such a measure of internal purity and Sanctity as may make them fit for and in a sort worthy of his company But these begin their work at the wrong end They should first open to Christ by Faith and then he will help them to and carry on in them this work of purity For it is his work by his Spirit to purifie and this purifying vertue we must fetch from him by Faith for It is he that worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure because without him we can do nothing Our work is first to believe and then by Faith to mortifie the deeds of the flesh Now this work is difficult to open to Christ and look him in the face by Faith with the guilt of sin upon our Consciences This goes contrary to the grain of Flesh and Blood who would gladly have something of its self and its own Righteousness in its justification Whereas our work is to disclaim all worthyness of our own and to come to Christ with Ropes about our Necks as self-condemned persons lying at the foot-stool of pure Grace and Christs Righteousness for justification and life And therefore where there remains any measure of pride in the Heart according to that measure and degree of pride Christ will be shut out The weary step of self-denial in this case the sluggish Christian is not willing to take Thus you see the work it self in opening to Christ by Faith is very difficult and hence the lazy Christian lies down upon his bed of present ease and refuseth to be at the pains to open to Christ by Faith But would the Soul but consider the amends that Christ's company would make for all his pains and how easie all these duties would be made by Christs coming in surely the Soul would never think his pains better bestowed than in opening to Christ by Faith It is he that by his Spirit helps our infirmities in prayer and helps us by his own strength to wrestle with himself and prevail It is he that brings promises to our minde helps us to understand and rightly to apply them and to take the sweetness and the comforts of them It is he that gives us a Pisgah-sight of unseen things and assures our Souls of the certainty of them It is he that helps our unbelief And it is he and he alone that by his Blood must purge away the guilt of all our sins Oh! therefore open to Christ by Faith and let not these impediments hinder you And as in Faith so in opening the Heart to Christ by Love there is great difficulty much ado to bring the Heart to open fully to Christ by Love These worldly things seem so lovely that the Heart is much stolen away by them These worldly things are so constantly present with us that it is hard to get a sight of Christ who is at a distance and seen as it were afar off These worldly things are so obvious and suitable to sense by which we too much live that