Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	life_n	name_n	write_v	18,504	5	6.4426	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A23661	A discourse of divine assistance, and the method thereof shewing what assistance men receive from God in performing the condition of the promise of pardon of sin and eternal life / by W.A.	Allen, William, d. 1686.	1679 (1679)	Wing A1059; ESTC R17227	99,779	333

viz. the Son of God and consequently that his doctrine is of divine authority Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his Disciples which are not written in this Book But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his name John 29.30 31. These miracles in conjunction with the nature of our Saviours doctrine in nothing contrary to natural Religion had certainly a very great tendency in them to beget a belief in him and of his doctrine or else he would never have marvelled as he did at the unbelief of those which saw them and heard him Mark 6.6 He marvelled at their unbelief Their unbelief under such circumstances is mentioned again as matter of wonder John 12.37 But though he had done so many miracles before them yet they believed not on him But this would have been no matter of marvel to our Saviour or wonder to his Disciples if there had not been a mighty power in those miracles to convirce men and to persuade them to believe To this end also served the resurrection of Christ from the dead for by that he was mightily declared to be the Son of God Rom. 1.4 And when the Apostles of our Lord were after his Resurrection sent forth to convert the World to Christianity by preaching the Gospel to them as a means to make it efficacious to this end and to procure it credit and authority in the minds of men they were endued by the Lord with a power of working miracles and of speaking with new tongues Mark 16.20 They went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following Heb. 2.4 God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will And it was in respect of these powerful confirmations of the Gospel I doubt not that S. Paul says his preaching was in demonstration of the spirit and of power and not with enticing or persuasible words of mans wisdom 1 Cor. 2.4 It was by reason of this kind of demonstration of the Gospel to be from God which was made by the miraculous operation of the Spirit by the Apostles that the Gospel was received as the Word of God and not as the Word of Man as all those Discourses of Philosophers were which had no other confirmation than what the Wit and Oratory of men could derive from principles of natural and humane Wisdom But the Apostles doctrine as it was in the nature of it above humane pitch to find out so their way of confirming of it was above all humane power and wisdom also As their doctrine was known onely by the Holy Spirits revealing so the arguments motives and reasons by which they persuaded men to believe it to be from God were fetched from the Spirits own mighty operations which were visible to men as well those that did not as those which did believe They compared and suited spiritual things with spiritual ver 13. The nature of their arguments by which they persuaded men to believe their doctrine were suited to the nature of their doctrine both being from the Holy Spirit The one by the Spirits revelation to the Apostles the other by the Spirits miraculous operations by the Apostles They proved their doctrine was revealed to them by God by the testimony which he gave that he had sent them to preach what they did preach by enabling them to do such things which none could do but by virtue of a divine power which put forth it self in them God as was said did bear them witness by signs wonders and by divers miracles which he enabled them to do and to shew And being the Gospel was upon the account of this confirmation received as the Word of God and not of Man as the Author of it therefore it was that it did operate so powerfully as it did in the hearts and lives of them that received it to the transforming them in their minds and spirits and in the tenour of their lives and actions into other manner of men than they were before By reason of which transformation the Scripture stiles them New Creatures and the man thus altered the New Man When ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us saith S. Paul ye received it not as the word of man but as it is in truth the Word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe 1 Thess 2.13 The Gospel then thus confirmed as hath been represented was and is so glorious an object of Faith and so every way sitted and prepared to command mens belief of it that S. Paul supposeth it impossible but that men should believe it unless the Devil hath strangely blinded their minds And therefore he saith 2 Cor. 4.3 4. If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of this World hath blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them And thus we see what great assistance God hath vouchsafed us for our performing the condition of the promise by giving us his Gospel The Lord by his Prophet speaking of how much he had done for his People of old to enable them to be what he expected they should be in order to the happiness he designed them saith Isa 5.4 What could have been done more to my Vineyard that I have not done in it that is What in reason could they expect he should have done more to make them become obedient and fruitful than he had done And yet he hath done much more for us who live under the Gospel than he did for them For he hath sent his own Son to reconcile us to himself and himself to us by his death He hath sent his own Son to persuade men which is more than all the Prophets which he sent before And as he is greater himself so he persuades by greater arguments than the Prophets were wont to do both in respect of what hath been done for us already to oblige us and in respect of what he will do in rewarding if obedient and in punishing if disobedient And all this lies fair before us in the Gospel by which life and immortality is brought to light and which comes to us more gloriously attested also than the doctrine of Moses and the Prophets did to them And therefore the Lord may much more appeal to us than he did to them and say What could have been done more to engage you to believe and obey the Gospel and so to perform the condition of the promise which I have not done And if so How then shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him And yet behold