Linguistic DNA - Concept Modelling Demonstrator

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	free_a	grace_n	love_n	2,934	5	6.6495	4	true

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B02482	Christ alone exalted in the perfection and encouragements of the saints, notwithstanding sins and trials. Volume III. / Being laid open in severall sermons by the late spirituall and faithfull preacher of the Gospel, Tobias Crispe, D.D.	Crisp, Tobias, 1600-1643.; Cokayn, George, 1619-1691.; Pinnell, Henry.	1648 (1648)	Wing C6959; ESTC R233167	185,508	400

as it is set up by Satan with a terrible visage as it were to spit fire in the faces of the godly and faithfull seems very threatning and dreadfull But they are to know for certaine it is but a made thing there is no feare from the sins of Believers all the terror and fearfulnesse of sin Christ himselfe hath drunk it and in the drinking of it Christ himselfe our life was crucified and in that regard I say all the terror and gastlinesse and hideousnesse of sin as it is represented by Satan is spent and â—n it self is dead It is true indeed a living roaring Lion is a terrible creature but in a dead Lion there is no more feare then is in a stick or a stone to him that knows he is dead While sin is alive it is fearfull and corrible and deadly but when sin it self is dead then there is no more terror in it then is in a dead Lion Thus I speak concerning sin not as it smiles upon a man with a promiâ—ing countenance before it be committed for so it is most dreadfull and odious to the faithfull as that which crucified their sweetest Lord but as committed and lying upon the conscience of a Believer indeavouring to drive him to deny the love and free Grace of God to him and the all sufficiency of Christ For in this regard it is crucified by Christ and so a Believer need not be affraid of sin Indeed terrible it maâ— seem to be at first but there is no just cause of terriblenesse in it for it can doe no hurt Therefore the Apostle telling us of the Hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us and contrary to us saith that Christ hath nailed them to his Crosse So that the sins of Believers are crucified with Christ they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof We commonly understand this as if our mortification and denying of sin were the crucifying of the flesh but the Apostle speaks otherwise there and you may see he intends that they that are Christ are crucified with him as much as to say Christs dying upon the crosse for Beleevers his death became the death that is the expiation of sin for them that it should be no more terrible unto them nor affright the people of God I have inâ—isted the more upon this because indeed it is the root from whence all other feares spring For from crosses and afflictions which come upon persons of which we shall speake presently they run immediately to their sins and conceive that it is their sins that have put stings into them and makes them so bitter still therefore they are perplexed with fears as long as sin is upon them Certainly some fearfull thing wil come upon them Why they have committed such and such sins these be the cause of their fear But beloved either deny plainly that Christ dyed for your sins and that he hath borne the whole wrath of God that sin hath deserved or sit down by this truth that sin did hurt Christ so much that it cannot hurt the Believer for whom Christ did die Secondly as we should not fear our own sins being Believers and members of Christ so neither ought we to fear the sins of others Object You will say supposing there be no sins of our own to pull downe judgement yet the world is full of iniquity and abundance of sins there are upon the times that bring downe wrath from Heaven Answ Though it be true that Nationall sins bring downe Nationall judgements and wrath yet all the sins of the times cannot do a member of Christ a lot of hurt And therefore as they cannot do him any hurt so he need not be affraid of them I will make it appeare that the sins of the world the crying sins of the times can do a Believer no hurt at all Marke the plea of the Lord often mentioned in Ezekiel against the people that hit him in the teeth as if he were unjust The fathers say they have eaten sowre grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge He pleads his owne innocency in it and directly answers that the soule that sinneth shall dye As much as to say he that doth commit the fault shall bear the burthen of it thou that art not the committer of the fault thou shalt not bear the burthen of it Therefore the sins of the times that are committed by the wicked they cannot do Gods people any hurt The childrens teeth shall not be set on edge Object I but some will say I have had some hand in these sins I did not reprove these sins or I did not seperate my selfe from them Answ I answer suppose that the members of Christ are in some sort accessary to these sins yet so far as you in your owne persons have been actors or partakers of these transgressions Christ hath borne these transgressions and suffered for them It is not some sins that Christ bears and leaves some sins for Believers to bear and so also leaves some punishment for Believers to suffer for it is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world and that he doth take them all away appeareth 1 John 1.7 The blood of Christ his Sonne cleanseth us from all sins Whether then you consider every elect person as he sinneth by himselfe or as he shareth with others all these sinnes the blood of Christ cleanseth him from and therefore I say the sins of other people they shall not they cannot be imputed to him that is a Believer Object But you will say surely the Lord doth send crosses and afflictions upon his owne people as well as upon the people of the world many times and should we not therefore bee affraid of them Answ Therefore in the third place let mee tell you as there is no occasion nor need nay as people ought not to be affraid for the sins of others so ought not they to be affraid for the chastisements of the Lord upon them Consider but the true nature of feare looke upon things as they are in themselves If there bee occasion of feare in any thing that may come there must be evill in these afflictions or else there need not be feare now there is no evill in them but all are exceeding good and they work for good and that that works for good is not evill every agent produceth effects answerable to its owne nature an evill tree brings forth no good fruit no more doth a good tree bring forth evill fruit so then if there be nothing but good in all the afflictions of the people of God then there is no cause of feare there is an apprehension of evill in a thing if there be feare but there is not a just apprehension of evill in a thing that is good be assured of this there is no feare to be had of afflictions let them be never so tart let them be never so great or many Oh saith

wee should then finde the comfort of this Office of Christ to be a propitiation for us Now if you will know what this reconciliation is which is indeed an interpretation of propitiation observe I pray you beloved how the Apostle doth illustrate it in the 2. chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians and the 13. verse You that were sometimes afar off hath he made nigh by the blood of Christ Reconciliation is making nigh those persons who were sometimes afarre off and that you may the better understand this being afarre off look into the 1. chapter of the Epistle to the Colossians the 21 and 22. verses the Apostle there will tell you in what respect the members of Christ the elect are said to be afarre off You who were sometimes alienated strangers enemies in your minds by wicked works hath he now reconciled So then to be afarre off and of afarre off to be made nigh is as much as to say that persons who were alienated in respect of enmitie in their mindes in regard of wicked works these persons notwithstanding all that enmity in respect of wicked works they are made nigh they are reconciled You know well in respect of the persons of men who are elected persons they are from all eternity in the purpose of God made nigh by the vertue of the blood of Christ that in time should be shed which vertue of that blood is effectuall in the eyes and thoughts of God from all eternity so that although in respect of the nature of wicked works there be a separating and an alienating nature and quality yet in regard of the efficacy of the blood of Christ being in force with God the persons who are elected in the thoughts of God are nigh to him in purpose from eternity So that alienation and estrangement in respect of eternity against God is not to be understood as if elect persons were in very deed and properly at any time decreed to be separated absolutely from God no God had them in his thoughts as the objects of his love from eternity and these thoughts of being nigh were intended to be executed through that blood that was continually in his eye But saith the Apostle you that were alienated in your mindes through wicked works that is you who so far forth as you wrought wicked works had that in you which in its own nature was the cause of alienation and could not admit of your being neer and being in the thoughts of Gods love till there were reconciliation made by Christ hath he made nigh that is whereas these wicked works were those things that did in their own nature actually and for the present make you walk at a distance from God and so in respect of wicked works you were afarre off you are now made nigh by the blood of Christ that is Christ hath taken away sin the cause of that distance between God and you and also hath revealed himself unto you being Believers and in revealing himself to you he hath made known to you the eternall counsel of God concerning your reconciliation and that now you are actually and really in the very bowels of God and also he doth in some measure subdue and destroy the power of Satan in those wicked works so that there is now a neernesse I say there is a more neernesse even in conversation with God after calling and believing then there was before calling and the blood of Christ is that that make persons who were far off nigh again to God And this is the reconciliation namely where as there was a distance before there is now a neernesse and this neernes is by the blood of Christ as by a sacrifice of propitiation That you may the better understand the nature of reconciliation with God you must know that reconciliation properly imports thus much that whereas there is variance â—â—â—angement and a controversie between person and person a person is then said to bee reconciled when the breach is made up and the controversie is ended and the quarrell is done and the persons at variance are become friends again You know as long as there is hitting in the teeth as long as there is secret grudges as long as there is objectings one against another and prosecuting one another in respect of injuries done so long there is not reconciliation When men are reconciled they lay down the bucklers they quarrell no more they fight no more but walk as friends together And if they should walk as friends in outward semblance and yet should bear rancor in their spirits one against another this were but an hypocriticall reconciliation Inâ—cconciliation the very heart it self is made friends with persons reconciled All this imports unto us this much Christ is become to beleevers the atonement one that makes a peace with God he is he that ends the controversie and the quarrell between God and them whereas God was injured and might have prosecuted the Law with violence upon us Christ doth bring to passe that the Lord layes down the buckler to have no more to say against a person but to become friends with him You know that reconciliation is such a thing as is not only a making friends to day but a making friends so that there may be a continuation of this amity You cannot call this reconciliation when men are brought together and their controversies are ended now to day but upon the same controversie they will fall out again to morrow here is not reconciliation for in reconciliation there must be a burying of all that which was the subject matter of the quarrel So Christ being our reconciliation he making our peace with God doth not bring God to be friends with us to day so as to fall out with us to morrow again but to be friends with us for ever Therefore by the way know that every person reconciled unto God by Christ is not only a person becoming a friend of God now but a friend of God for ever And as Christ doth take away the present anger of God against him to day so he takes away all quarrels and controversies for ever So that a person reconciled shall never have God at controversie any more with him Some it may be do conceive Christ doth reconcile God and us in respect of sins that are past but if I sin anew say they God must have new controversies and new quarrels But beloved remember this he did bear all the iniquitie at once upon him and when he made the reconciliation with God he brought in all the trangressions of men from first to last and so ended the quarrel with God in respect of every transgression even for sins future as well as for those that are past He dealt so with God that he did reconcile him to you in respect of them So that Christ must either leave out those sins you think breaks the peace with God in the agreement he made or if he did

of this will adde also to the exalting and magnifying of the exceeding riches of the grace of God in Christ to men to shew what a blessed condition this Spouseship is to those that are strangers unto both hearing the Love of the Church to be the chiefest of ten thousands may by the power of the Spirit of the Lord be won to seek after-him it was the very same case in the Canticles The daughters of the world say unto the Spouse of Christ hearing her so extoll her love What is thy beloved more then other beloveds that thou chargest us Oh saith the Church My Beloved is white and ruddy my beloved is the chiefest of ten thousands now when they had heard of the excellencies of Christ they began as last to have their affections taken too and to say Whiterh is thy Beloved gone that we may seek him with thee Even so it may pleave God when by my endeavour the excellencies of the priviledges of the Spouse of Christ are set forth and the gloriousnesse of the priviledges of the Gospel manifested I say when these appear and when Christ as the chief of ten thousands is declared some may seek after him yea and imbrace him with joy But I cannot stand now to speak of them but hereafter God willing if I shall have further opportunity SERMON XI COLOSSIANS 1.18 And he is the head of his body the Church the beginning THE Apostle after his supersciption and direction of his Epistle wherein he makes mention of his commission for the exercise of his Apostolicall office and after his Apostolicall benediction given unto them comes to give an account of the cause of the writing of this Epistle It was this namely he had received comfortable intelligence and information from Epaphroditus a Minister of the Gospel that had loboured among these Colossians of their receiving the faith and of their love to the brethren This was glad news to the Apostle and therefore he tells them that he was not unmindfull or backward to return thanks and praise to the Lord for so good a work begun in them and for the joy he had received by the work among them and also to pray for them making mention of many particulars he sought of God on their behalf namely That they may be filled with the knowledge of his wil in all wisdom and spirituall understanding closing up in thankfulness in remembrance and rehersall of the fountain and rise from whence all that grace and goodnesse received flowed and sprung and that is the dear Son of God in the 13. verse Having thus let himself into his own way namely the mentioning of the dear Son of God he takes the oppertunity from an apt connexion to go on according to the main discourse of this Epistle wherein the Apostle first sorts his materials and then he falls upon his businesse The two main matters he deals upon are first the foundation and that is the Sonne of God expressed in the 13. verse Secondly the structure raised upon this foundation and that is redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins Here is the distribution of his matter Now by and by having sorted his materialls he falls to work beginning first w th the foundation which he polisheth that he puts such a lustre upon it that it shines even like the Sun yea more glorious then the Sun in beauty He sets forth Christ the foundation in so many aimable considerations as to ravish the world And the Apostle at the 15. and 16. verses begins to shew his faculty and expertnesse in this gret work that Christ did entrust him withall namely to be a wooer in the behalf of Christ to win people to him as in a former discourse upon this place I have told you and therein I say the Apostle doth most Rhetorically hold forth every thing that is of a winning and desirable nature to draw forth the love of people unto Christ If people look for beauty and that catch men the Apostle tells us here that Christ is an admirable peece of beauty there is none like to him saith the Church in the Canticles He is the chief of ten thousands but behold the beauty the Apostle mentions here He is the Image of the invisible God In the Epistle to the Hebrews in the 1. chapter and the 3. verse he speaks more fully to the businesse He is the expresse Image of his person and the brightnes of his glory Here is a face for you if you be enamored with beauty there is none like him Yea but some they look for parentage one of Noble blood and of a great House As they would have beauty so they would marry into an honourable Family Well the Apostle will tell you here is a match for you with a witnesse Here is beauty and a good race too He is not only the expresse Image of God but he is the first born of God The first begotten of every creature nay the dear Son of God In the 15. verse of this chapter here is a stock for you of the highest kindred in the world hee is the heir of glory the heir apparant that if you will match for honour if you will match into a great House here is beauty and honour too Yea but you will vay it may be he may be in disgrace it may be he hath no authority and power and ability we would have one that hath authority and power and bears rule Christ he is called such a one too the whole soveraignty of the world is at his command and disposall as you would have it to be so you have it in the next verse In vers 16. All things were made by him saith the Apostle whether things in heaven or things in earth visible or invisible principalities and powers thrones or dominions all things were made by him for him as much as to say every thing is subject unto him every thing bows their knees to him And in 2 Philip. he hath a name given to him above every name that at the name of Iesus every knee should bow whether things in heaven or things iâ— earth or things under the earth Tell me one that hath greater power and authority then this iâ— If you will therefore match with advantage to the purpose here is a match for you saith the Apostle I but some will say He may have honour enough himself but it may be he is a niggard I may be kept hard enough and poore enough Is he bountifull and free Beloved the Apostle tells us in Colos 2.10 First what he hath he is not only honourable but rich also In him dwelleth the fulnes of the Godhead bodily saith he What is that to me some will say he may hoard it all up I may have little enough of it No saith the Apostle we are compleat in him Here is the fulness of the Godhead and ye are compleat in him he cannot abide to keep any thing to himself

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