Linguistic DNA - Concept Modelling Demonstrator

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	david_n	heart_n	smite_v	1,341	5	9.6931	5	true

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

no good thing Psal 84.11 and doth not he assure us that he that spared not his Son but delivered him up for us all will also with him give us all things that may be good for us Rom. 8.32 Do you think to live more to your own pleasure contentment or comfort Is it not in his presence that there is fulness of joy and at his right hand that there are pleasures for evermore Psal 16.11 Is it not in him alone that the Soul and Conscience can have true peace and a calm and that when nothing but storms and tempests are without read John 16.33 Tell me who but Christ can put your Soul into Davids frame of Spirit when in Davids condition Psal 63. banished hunted persecuted in the Wilderness destitute of maintenance friends a resting-place Ordinances every hour in jeopardy of his life and yet his Soul filled as with marrow and fatness in the company and enjoyment of God there could he sing and give â—raise In such a condition also was he when he penned Psalm 57. and yet his heart was fixed to sing and give praise If you think you can â—ive more profitably or more pleasantly without Christ in worldly and sinful ways and courses let me desire you to take a view of your time carriages and manner of life that that is by past And let me ask you the same question that the Apostle doth Rom. 6.21 What fruit had you then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed This I will assure you that either in respect of profit pleasure honour or comfort no company is like to Christs Oh! therefore let not him stand without while worse company is entertained in your hearts What is the reason why Christians hearts are so full of guilt doubts fears and dissatisfactions of every kinde but for want of the company and presence of Christ If this Sun of righteousness did but with healing under his wings arise upon and shine into our hearts he would quickly dispel and scatter all those midnight fogs and terrours that do so disturb and disquiet us and render our lives so uncomfortable 2. Suppose that you could live well enough without Christ while you live in this world Let me ask you what you will do or how you will make up your accounts at Death and Judgment without him You know that It is appointed to all men once to die and after death the judgment You know also that we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ for God hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world by Jesus Christ Acts 17.31 and that in that day We must give him account of all that we have done in the flesh whether good or evil whether secret or open whether in thought word or deed there then we cannot avoid the meeting with Christ how then do you think that Christ the Judge will look upon you at that day who have so slightly looked upon him when he stood knocking at the door of your hearts Read with seriousness Prov. 1.24 to the end Matth. 25.11 12. Oh! the countenance and looks of Christ which to you now is despicable but to the Saints lovely will to you then be most dreadful and terrible Then will you cry to the mountains and hills to fall on you and to hide you from the presence of the Lord and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of his wrath is come and who is able to abide it 3. Let me further ask you What is it that hinders you from opening to Christ at present Is it any thing that hath the colour or face of reason in it If not why do you suffer it to hinder you If it have let us examine it and see what strength of reason may be in it I can but at present call to minde these Three great and main hinderances that keep men off from opening to Christ at his call 1. The low and mean esteem which persons have of Christ's company feasts and banquets The generality of the world are clearly for some sensible good thing Who will shew us any good thing Psal 4.6 Something that may yield them some present advantage that may advance their estate their credit pleasure or honour something that they may see with their eyes or handle or taste c. something that is obvious to sense but as for invisible things an interest in Christ in the Covenant of Grace a future reward in another Life only for the present to be received and apprehended in the promise these things are little store set by If Christ would give them of these worldly good things then they would set store by him But if he tell them of spiritual Feasts of a Treasure in Heaven of a Crown of Glory and such like things these are not much taking with the generality of the world And therefore Christ his Feasts Company and Benefits being spiritual are little store set by by carnal hearts and when they are called upon to open to him they make light of it as not judging him worth the opening to But that this is a great mistake I might easily demonstrate for we have little reason to have so low an esteem and value of Christ his Benefits and Banquets if we do but rightly understand our selves We will suppose a man to have all that the world can afford him both in respect of profit pleasure and honour and yet want true peace of conscience true comfort in his Soul can these things give him this without Christ But where a Soul hath Christ he may have peace in his own Soul and Conscience in the absence of these worldly enjoyments David in a wilderness Paul and Silas in a dungeon with their feet fast in the stocks their stripes and wounds unwashed can sing praises to God with a merry and chearful heart Nay my Friends it is impossible for me to express that quietness and serenity of Spirit that abundant peace of Conscience Joy of heart contentation and satisfaction which a Believer enjoys in the company of and communion with Christ therefore it is called a Peace which passeth all understanding Phil. 4.7 It is called A Joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.8 It is not what a man hath but what gives true Peace Satisfaction and contentment to the Soul that makes a man happy and this none but Christ can do And therefore his company and banquets must needs be not so despicable as many men account them But alas it is their ignorance and want of experience would they but be perswaded to open to Christ and make trial of the excellency of his company and rarity of his banquets they would have a more venerable esteem for Christ than now they have 2. Another grand hindrance that keeps us off from opening to Christ is the urgency of other business When Christ comes and calls persons are so crowded with other business that they cannot be at leisure to open to him or give

your requests to Christ saying Tell me Oh thou whom my soul loveth where thou feedest and where thou causest thy flocks to rest at noon c. Oh that I might enjoy powerful Ordinances and meet with the power and presence of Christ in them that mine eyes might see my teachers and mine ears hear a voice behind me saying This is the way walk in it Such-like Prayers as these you have been ever and anon putting up and in answer to these your Prayers Christ is come and stands knocking and calling Open to me my Sister my Love my Dove and my undefiled Those calls of Christ which are according to your real desires and in answer to your Prayers must needs be eminent and remarkable 8. Are not you the professed Spouse of Christ that have professedly given up your selves by a solemn Marriage-Covenant unto Christ engaged and swore that you will be his and at his service What deeper obligation can you lay upon your selves than you have done In your Baptism and renewed covenanting at the Lords Table and by solemn Vows and Covenants upon several occasions So that none in the world can be more solemnly engaged to open to Christ than you are And in regard you expect his coming every hour doth it not stand you upon to be always upon your Watch-tower waiting when your Lord will come that you may presently open to him And now when he both knocks and calls is not this a sufficient summons to you to open and let him in Every call of an Husband especially such an one as Christ is should have so much weight in it as to command the obedience of the Wise And therefore if not to others yet to you this call should be sufficiently eminent and remarkable or else your Husband may charge you with disloyalty and breach of covenant 9. Did ever Christ use more earnest intreaties and sweet compellations than he doth at this day Doth he not say as to the Spouse Open to me my Sister my Love my Dove my undefiled Do not the sweet expressions of his love in suffering bleeding dying for you speak thus much Doth not the sweet voice and loving intreaties of Christ by his Word and Messengers speak this language Doth not his constant care about you and providential kindness unto you in every respect and according to what your hearts could wish bespeak you in this loving manner Do not all these lay that Christ speaks like a most sweet loving tender and kind-hearted Husband to you Open to me my Sister c. and surely these soft words might break the bone and force open the doors of our heart without any delâ—â— I am sure Christ hath manifested as much love and dealt with as much tenderness towards us as ever he did towards a people And therefore his calls are loud enough to be heard 10. Is not his head filled with dew and his locks with the drops of the night If we take these words in a good sense that he comes fully fraught and furnished with all fulness and plenitude of blessings and benefits that our Souls can desire or stand in need of I appeal to any of your souls that ever did open to and let in the Lord Jesus Christ whether ever you found any want in him or were streightned in him whether he brought not more comfort and benefit with him than ever you were able to contain though you opened your mouths never so wide Hath he not fully answered and over-answered your most enlarged expectations so that you might have eaten and drunken far more abundantly if you had been able to contain it Every hair of his head hath a drop of some kinde of refreshment hanging at it which you might be welcome to And therefore his call is loud enough when he tells you what he hath brought with him But take the argument in a bad sense for the sufferings and afflictions of Christ and they are a loud call Hath not Christ suffered enough in his humiliation in making way to receive you into favour with God and into covenant with himself but you must put him to new pain and trouble by making him to stand waiting and dancing attendance at your door while you are snorting and stretching your self upon your bed of ease and security Was not his once offering up himself a Sacrifice for sin sufficient but you must crucifie him afresh and put him to new pain by your slothful and sluggish delays and unreasonable excuses Doth not Christ suffer enough in his Name and Honour from wicked blasphemous wretches who rend and tear his very Name wilfully reject him and will not have this man to rule over them but must he also be slighted and undervalued by you must he suffer in his Ministers by the revilings evil-speakings and persecutions that they endure in and from the world and is not this sufficient but their Hearts also must be made sad by your refusal to open to Christ The weight of this Argument makes this call to be very loud and especially at this day under the circumstances that we now are And therefore I desire it may be seriously considered By these enquiries we may see that the call of Christ at this day is very eminent and remarkable and therefore it concerns us to enquire what answer we make to this call Whether we have done and really do open to this call or no which is the 2. Enquiry which we proposed to make and I beseech you let us be serious in it It is a matter that greatly concerns us since Christ his calls are so eminent and his stay hath been so long at the door of our Hearts What answer have we made to the calls of Christ have we heartily sincerely and readily opened the doors of our Hearts that the King of glory might enter in But alas if we deal faithfully in the examination of our own Hearts and in the account which we give in this case it is to be feared that Christ hath had no better if so good an answer from us than he had here from his Spouse As will appear if our hearts make but true and faithful answer to these following Queries 1. If we have truely opened to Christ how comes it to pass that convictions are so ineffectual and fruitless as they are at this day We finde in the course of our Ministry the word of God sometimes working by way of conviction Persons are convinced by the word that they are the persons so and so guilty are a little startled and affrighted are pricked at the heart their Consciences smite them and tell them as Nathan did David Thou art the man to whom this reproof comes that art thus and thus guilty of sin art in a state of nature and unregeneracy in the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity and that if thou diest in this estate thou art undone for ever That there is no way or course left to avoid this but by opening to

Jesus Christ repenting of and forsaking thy sin turning to God with all the heart and taking up a new course of life Fleeing unto Christ alone for justification in a sense of thine own utter unworthyness Entering into covenant with him taking him for thy Prophet Priest and King giving up thy self unto him in all humble hearty and sincere submission to his will and obedience to all his commands This the word dictates and Conscience sets in with it and seconds it And to make up the conviction more full the Spirit of God comes in and tells thee that this condition thou art in is not to be rested in thou must either turn or die To day if thou wilt hear the voice of God then harden not thy heart ere long it will be too late thy Sun will be set thy day of grace over and these things will be hid from thine eyes Hereupon thy Conscience is startled and thou beginnest to think with thy self what thou must do and it may be hast some sudden earnest motions purposes and resolutions to turn and to break off from thine old ways and courses to become a new creature But alas how suddenly are all these vanished and gone again and thou fallest fast asleep again in security Convictions wear off Affections cool Fears abate Sin looks not so terrible thine own estate and condition not to dreadful and hopeless Death not so near the flames of Hell not so hot and scorching and so the wook is laid aside and left undone and thou returnest with the dog to the vomit and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire Or at most if these continue still thou goest with an inward griping wounded Conscience and dost not really come out of thy self unto Christ for healing Christ is little store set by or sought after but thou patchest up a Plaister for thy wounded Conscience of some pitiful poor and imperfect righteousness of thine own takest up some small formal Profession of Religion and thus stoppest the clamours of thy Conscience and Christ is shut out and stands without still Nay may I not say of some that instead oâ— opening to Chrst they are hardned in theiâ— sins and grown Sermon-proof the Word oâ— God affects them not takes not hold upoâ— them as sometimes it hath done but theâ— with less pain and torture of Conscience caâ— turn off reproofs than formerly they coulâ— have done and sit more quietly and undistuâ—bedly under Ordinances and that not becauâ—â— they are in a better condition than formerly for they are the same both in heart and life that they were before but because their hearts are more hardened and their consciences more brawny and their souls more sluggish and sensless than they were before Is this thy opening to Christ Is this the entertainment which Christ finds when his head is filled with dew and his locks with the drops of the night Oh consider this before it be too late before Christ be withdrawn and gone We have a sad complaint which God makes against Ephraim Hos 6.4 c. O Ephraim what shall I do unto thee For your goodness is as a morning-cloud and as an early dew it passeth away A morning-Cloud seems to promise rain but as the Sun ariseth it vanisheth away an early Dew seems to moisten and refresh the earth but when the Sun comes to be hot the dew is quickly gone and the grass scorcheth so much the more so was their goodness very vanishing and unconstant They seemed to take notice of Gods words to be affected with them and to promise and purpose amendment but alas their promises and purposes quickly vanished and came to nothing according to what you finde Psal 78.34 35 36 37. Hath it not been too much your case Under convictions you have seemed to promise God fair things and there hath been some hopes of your conversion and change But no sooner hath the heat of conviction been over but all these things have quickly vanished away and come to nothing Is this the entertainment that Christ hath found Blame him not then if he depart and make you seek him before you finde him But further since it is the Spouse of Christ that is here spoken of let me carry on this Query about Conviction a little further You who really are Believers and have entred into covenant with Christ and stand in a Covenant-relation to Christ Have you opened to the calls of Christ Hath there not been many strong convictions upon your spirits in many particular cases wherein you have been faulty and your Consciences have smitten you and yet for all this you have stifled these convictions and have not opened to Christ you have many times been convinced of your Pride Worldly-mindedness Vanity and Unsavoriness Sloath and Luke-warmness Backwardness to Duty Deadness in Duty Unbelief and distrust of God and of his Care and Providence and such like things and yet your hearts have not been willing fully to open to Christ in these things and to let conviction have its perfect work in order to your reformation you have heard the Word and known your selves to be guilty of such things as the Word hath reproved Conscience hath spoken and the Spirit of God hath spoken and yet you have not hearkned to the counsel and dictates thereof but have turned a deaf ear and gone on in your sin still Is this your opening to him who is the wonderful Counsellor who is your Lord and Husband and whose commands should have influence upon you Oh my friends we may all sadly complain that in this respect we have all of us made excuses and kept Christ out of our hearts 2. If the door be not shut against Christ how comes it to pass that the Ordinances of Christ are so little prized so little store set by at this day We told you in the opening of the Doctrine that one way of Christ his calling was by his Ordinances In and by them he convinceth of and reproveth sin directs in and encourageth unto duty communicates grace affords his company gives in nourishment refreshment strength and comfort unto the hungry panting Soul These are the Wells of Salvation and Waters of the Sanctuary that are for the refreshing the City of our God Where these therefore are slighted Christ must necessarily be shut out and not opened to We have the Spouse Cant. 1.7 8. enquiring where she may meet her beloved And he tells her she may finde him in his Ordinances and in the assembly of his Saints there he records his Name and there he meets his people and blesseth them And therefore they that carelesly turn their backs upon the Ordinances of Christ turn their backs upon and shut the door of their Hearts against him Persons may and often do frequent the Ordinances of Christ and yet keep the door of their Hearts fast shut against Christ But they are utterly out of the way of opening to Christ yea out of the ordinary way

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