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book_n	old_a	testament_n	write_v	6,343	5	6.0837	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A90350	The inseparable union between Christ and a believer, which death itself cannot sever, or, The bond that can never be broken opened in a sermon at the funeral of Mrs. Dorothy Freeborne, who was interred at Prittlewell in Essex on 24 of August, 1658 / by Thomas Peck ...	Peck, Thomas.	1671 (1671)	Wing P1039B; ESTC R29381	36,989	123

a follower of Christ to endeavour after a further and greater knowledge of God and of his Son whom to know is Life Eternal All knowledge and all Sciences invented and revealed by the wise men of the world without the knowledge of Jesus Christ by whom remission of Sins and Eternal happiness is obtained are vain and unprofitable What doth it avail a man to know the height of the Heavens the bredth of the Earth the depth of the Sea and the course and influence of the Stars if in the mean time he is ignorant of God and the weighty concernments of Eternity and his Conscience tells him he is unworthy of the Earth and without a right to Heaven Suppose a man could Compose and take a view and have perfect knowledge of this Terrestial Globe and all things in it and after that as the Devil proffered our Saviour enjoy it and all the Kingdoms and Glory of it for the time of his Life if yet he were ignorant of heavenly things and had not by Christ a title to a more enduring substance he were of all men most miserable and in truth knew Si Christum nescis nihil est si caetera ai ces Si Christum disces nihil est si caetera nescis nothing enjoyed nothing The knowledge of Christ therefore is to be prized and preferred which only can make the souls of men truly happy for the excellency of this knowledge St. Paul counted all things but loss and dung The like esteem I hope Phil. 3 7 8. you have of all things here below in comparison of this divine and saving knowledge You go down into the Sea in Ships and see the wonders of the Lord in the deep O! Let the wonderful Visions which you behold and the wonderful deliverances which you often receive augment your awe of his dreadful Majesty and cause you to walk humbly and thankfully before him undertake all in his name and for his glory jo may you be assured of success and inriching returns Forget not when you are in the depth of the Sea with Jonah to make your prayers to him accomplish and fullfil all your Vows and Promises made to the Almighty in times of danger and extremity that so he may be your deliverer again in time of need And when by his providence he Calls you Swit Christ mans Call 2. p. 477. forth to your Lawful employments then do you and all that Embark with you take faith for your guide Scripture for your Compass an holy fear for your sounding line the Son of Righteousness for your Loadstar Hope for your Anchor the white linnen of the Saints imputed Righteousness with a Red Cross in it of precious blood for your Flagg with this Motto Save us Master or we Perish And I beseech the God of the Sea and Dry Land to be your continual Convoy his Spirit to be your Pilate in all your Courses that so at last after all your tumblings and tossings hazzards and hardshaps in the toublesome Sea of this world You may arrive with top and top gallant richly laden with Spiritual good things at the blessed harbour of everlasting rest Heaven and receive for your reward Love Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen So prayeth Your obliged Loving Friend Samuel Peck August 18. 1671. The Inseparable Union between Christ and a Believer c. Opened from that Text ROM 8. 38 39. For I am perswaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor Height nor Depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. AS among Pearls which are all excellent some excell others So in Books of Holy Scripture as in the Old Testament the Book of the Psalms containing an Anotamy of the Soul in the New Testament after the divine History of our Saviour the Epistles among the Epistles St. Pauls among St. Pauls this to the Romans is most excellent which contains a methodical Catechise wherein the grounds of Theology are laid down in most excellent order As 1. The misery of man by nature 2. The means of delivery by Christ 3. How man comes to be partaker of Christ viz by faith whereby he is justified in the sight of God 4. He shews that this man that is thus justified is also sanctified Chap. 6. 5. That his Sanctification though it be throughout yet it is not so perfect but there is a remain of Corruption in him which doth much perplex and disquiet a Child of God as the Apostle sheweth in his own person Chap. 7. 6. Here in this Chapter he makes an end of the point of Justification and shews that though there remain Corruption in Gods Children yet seeing they walk not after it but after the Spirit it shall not prejudice their salvation verse 1. there is therefore now no Condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus who walk not aftr the flesh but after the Spirit This eighth Chapter placed in the midst of the Epistle is called by some Divines a pleasant knot of the Garden or Paradice of God for the faithful to delight themselves in a breast full of the milk of Consolation for such as are born again to suck and be satisfied with It consists of three parts 1. The First part contains matter of Consolation against the remainders of Sin and Corruption in us from 1. to 17. verse 2. The Second affords true Consolation against the manifold afflictions to be endured in this Life to the 29. and 30. verse 3. The Third part is a Conclusion full of all Comfort drawn from the immutable love of God in Christ to all the faithful causing them to triumph like conquerours in the midst of their tryalls ver 28 29. I am perswaded that neither death shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. He whom God loves is happy though he knows it not he that knows God loves him knows himself to be happy this happy knowledge our blessed Apostle had which made him in his own name and in the name of all the beloved of God to make this glorious insultation over all the enemies of his and their happiness that they could not separate him or them from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus In the Words you have 1. His and their Assurance 2. The ground of it 1. The assurance is of the immutability of Gods love to the faithful from whose affection nothing can make separation I am perswaded that neither Death nor Life c. 2. The ground of this assurance because the free love of God to the faithful is founded upon Christ Jesus whose merits are infinite and whose efficacy is omnipotent therefore Gods love is immutable and can never fail In the first you have 1. An enumeration of some particulars nine in number which if any thing could separate us from Gods love it

so shall he have rejoycing in himself and not in an other 5. Another sort that boast of false assurance are false believers temporaries who having by some common work of the spirit some common gifts and graces wrought in them some illumination convictions joy in the word and some partial reformation are presently so full of assurance that they have not any doubts and imagin they are able to judge and determine concerning others whether they have grace or no. But 't is a sign of a bad building that hath a weak or no foundation and it was a sign Jacobs venison was not right because it was so quickly catched so this assurance is too quickly gotten to be good and for the most part comes to nothing like Jonahs Gouard sprong up in one night and withered in another or like the stony ground hearers that received the word suddenly with joy and for want of a depth of Earth in time of temptation fell away All these assurances which men boast of are false and it apears by the fruits of them By their fruits ye shall know them saith our Saviour of the false Prophets Mat. 7. 20. So Mat 7 20. by their fruits ye shall know these false assurances or perswasions which make men never the better work no change in their lives no care to please God no fear to offend God nay they work contrary effects they harden mens hearts and keep them from sorrowing for sin Isa 57. 10. thou saidst not there Isa 57. 10. is no hope therefore thou wert not grieved nay they can commit very hainous sins and never be troubled at them Psal 64. 4. they shoot in secret Psal 64 4. at the perfect yea suddainly doe they shoot at him and fear not they incourage themselves in an evil way Farther this assurance they talk of doth inbolden them to commit sin Jer. 3. 4. didst thou not cry thou art Jer. 3. 4. my Father but they do evil more and more And in Hos 8. my God we Hos 8. know thee yet they have rejected the thing that is good Now how many are there whom Satan hath over thrown with this false perswasion yet men and women will goe away with it dreaming their case is good let such know as true assurance of salvation is a great mercy so false assurance is one of the most grievous judgments that can befal a man in Isa 29. 9. when Isa 29. 9. the Lord had sayd stay your selves and wonder in v. 10. he adds v. 10. this to be the judgment they should wonder at the Lord hath covered you with a spirit of slumber or hath powered upon you the spirit of a deep sleep he hath closed your eyes Of the two it is far better to be vexed with continual fears than to be lulled asleep with a false assurance for besides that it keeps a man from seeking to God it will not hold but certainly faile a man when he hath most need of it as Zophar saith in Job 11. 20. The eyes Job 11. 20. of the wicked shall fail and they shall not Escape and their hope shall be as the giving up of the Ghost that is as the Soul and body part with great pain and horror so shall he and his hope as the Soul departs suddainly so shall his hope leave him in a moment and as the Soul returns not into the body any more in this life so he and his hope take an everlasting farewel each of other his Soul and his hope depart together never to meet more therefore let me invert the words of the Apostle concerning true confidence Heb. 10. 35. and say concerning this Heb. 10. 35. cast it away cast away your confidence for it shall have no recompence of reward Thus much for this second use by way of reprehension III. Use Let it serve in the last place for Exhortation Is it so that a Christian in this life may be perswaded and assured he shall be saved then let this perswade and stir up us to labour for this assurance let us not run blundering on in an uncertain opinion or a wavering hope but strive after this sound perswasion you have heard 't is attainable others have actually injoyed it and we are injoyned to seek it and if the fault be not our own may obtain it and to make you the more earnest and diligent in the persuit of it consider these motives briefly 1. Mot. Nothing else can be assured are not riches honours possessions relations and all worldly injoyments uncertain is there not vanity written upon them all and are they not all subject to variation and loss such uncertain beings they are that the wise man saith they are not Pro. 23. 5. they are but Pro. 23. 5. like a flock of birds in a mans yard which he cannot call his own for they soon take to themselves wings and flee away but whoso is sure of his salvation sure of the love of God and his interest in Christ is sure of that which he can never loose this is an abiding substance an enduring inheritance which the iron teeth of time can never destroy nor eternity it selfe wear out 2. Mot. 'T is your indispensable duty to labour to be assured of Gods love and your own salvation God hath often charged his people to contend for the security and assurance of their spiritual Estates 2. Pet. 1. 10. 2 Cor. 13. 5. and in Heb. 2 Pet. 1. 10. 2 Cor. 13. 5. Heb. 6. 11. 6. 11. we desire that every one of you doe shew the some diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end And this commandment is for our good 3. Mot. This knowledge and certainty is naturally desirable Every man would faine know things to come ●especially concerning themselves If there were a book written that would tell men what should certainly befal them in this world to their last breath O how desirous would people be to procure and read it now is it so desirable to know our destiny to heare and know prophecies what shall hapen to us in this life and is it not as desirable to know and be assured what shall be our portion to all eternity what we must trust to and look for what state and place we must be in for ever why there is a book will tell you this the written word of God and this you may know if you will labour for it 4. Mot. This certainty of our salvation as it is very desirable so beyond expression comfortable Though not the being yet the well being the comfort of a Christian depends upon it and if ever God bestow this blessing of assurance upon thee whatever thy condition be in the world thou wilt account thy self the happiest man upon earth therefore this full assurance is called riches Col. 2. 2. Riches serve to Col. 2. 2. make the life of man Comfortable and put a great deal of joy into mens hearts