Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	faith_n	good_a	shipwreck_n	6,868	5	12.4968	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53236	Blessed Paul's tryal and triumph in a sermon upon the death of Mrs. Elizabeth King / by John Oakes ...	Oakes, John, d. 1689?	1689 (1689)	Wing O18; ESTC R17578	25,131	33

benefits and blessings that he hath purchased called precious Faith the Faith 〈…〉 Pet. 1. 1. 〈…〉 1. 1. of God's Elect as peculiar to God's chosen ones This is committed to Christians by way of operation and infusion and donation By Grace ye are saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God. 2. By Faith we are to understand the Doctrine of Faith the revelation of the Divine Will in the Gospel of God's Grace which was committed to Paul as a Minister to be by him dispensed and preached to others as being the power of God unto salvation And elsewhere he tells us that Christ hath 〈…〉 m. 1. 16. committed unto us the word of Reconciliation And this is also a trust committed unto all Christians to be professed 〈…〉 Cor. 5. 19. owned obeyed believed against all gainsayers whosoever whether they be Men of unsound Minds or ungodly Livers Which some professing have erred concerning the Faith. This is 1 Tim. 6. 21 Jude 3. that Faith which we are exhorted earnestly to contend for which was once delivered to the Saints Secondly What is meant by his keeping the Faith To which I answer 1. If you take it in the former sense then it imports his constant endeavour to keep that Grace in its exercise by a constant cleaving to and relyance upon God and Christ for Life and Salvation drawing continued supplies of his Grace and Spirit for the enabling a Christian to do his present work and to fit him for his future reward and this against all the opposition that he may meet with from the slie and subtle suggestions and insinuations of the Devil who hath a special spight at the Christians Faith. 2. But if you take it in the latter sence then it imports the holding fast our profession of this both in our principles and practices against all attempts of Seducers and Persecutors and against all the enticing and alluring examples of prophane and ungodly ones Such there have been and never more than in this loose and ungodly Age in which we live When Iniquity abounds and the Love of many waxes cold When Matth. 24. 12. there are great endeavours to laugh all true Religion and Godliness in its power out of countenance and various stratagems to induce Christians to make shipwrack of Faith and a good 1 Tim. 1. 19. Conscience Thus have I given you a short account of the first part of my Text as expressive of the true Christians work a work to be done here I proceed now very briefly to Paul's prospect what he had in view hereafter relating to the Glorious Reward he was upon the matter entring into the possession of Henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness I purpose only to note a very few things and shut up the whole with a short Application First Here we have an account of that future felicity which is reserved for the Saints 't is a Crown and a Crown of Righteousness A Crown which you know is an Ensign of the greatest Honour upon Earth and an Emblem of the highest Glory in Heaven Such a Crown and such a Kingdom as infinitely exceeds all the Crowns and Kingdoms of the World 't is an Incorruptible Crown a Crown which fadeth not away 〈…〉 9. 25. whereas all the Crowns of Kings and Emperours which are so eagerly contended for by the Men of this World are poor 〈…〉 5. 4. perishing corrupting fading things 'T is a Crown of Life 〈…〉 1. 12. What shall I say T is not only a Glorious Crown but a Crown of Glory Secondly 'T is a Crown of Righteousness as peculiarly belonging to those who are clothed with the Robe of Christ's Righteousness imputed and with the fine Linnen of the Righteousness of Christ imparted And also as a Righteous but yet free Reward which the Righteous God hath promised and will faithfully perform 2. We may observe here the time of Believers entring upon the possession of this future Glory 1. In part as to their Souls Henceforth that is immediately upon their Death and Dissiolution Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth yea faith the Spirit 〈…〉 14. 13. that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them So Paul Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ 〈…〉 1. 23 In the same moment wherein they pass from Earth they go to Heaven there is no calling in at Purgatory by the way no middle state to detain the Souls of Believers in 2. Perfectly and compleatly with respect to Soul and Body at a certain day the day of Judgment which will be a day of Retribution which is called by way of emphasis in the Text That Day A remarkable day it will be when the whole World shall be determined and sent to their Everlasting abodes either of Happiness on the one side or Misery on the other Thirdly We may observe the manner of the Saints entring upon this Glorious Possession not as matter of merit but by way of free donation which God the righteous Judge shall give me says Paul here Eternal Life cost Christ very dear no less than his Life-Blood but it comes free to us without price or purchace on our part 'T is not our deserved Wages but the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 〈…〉 23. Fourthly We have here the Extent of this Gift not only to such as Paul a Believer of the highest Fourm a Star of the first Magnitude in the Firmament of the Church not to me only c. but to every true though weak Believer to all who can approve themselves such as love the Lord Jesus in sincerity and look and long for his appearing It was not the peculiar priviledge of this great Apostle but a common Salvation which belongs to all the faithful from the greatest to the least of Saints And thus I have dispatcht the Doctrinal part of this Text I shall only add a word or two for the practical improvement of it First If they and only they who have good evidence of having done and dispatcht their great Work and Business in this World can with comfort and confidence ensure to themselves the expectation of the promised Reward in the other Then hence we may infer the madness and folly of a great part of those that hear me this day Who have been so often told of this Future State and profess to believe it and by dayly renewed instances of Mortality cannot but be convinced that they are drawing near to it and perhaps may be upon the very brink of it not knowing what a day or night may bring forth and yet they have lived all their days in a total neglect of that work whose accomplishment is a necessary praerequisite to this promised Reward Who are so far from having conquered their Enemies and fought the good fight that they have not yet really listed themselves under Christ's Banner

Blessed PAVL's Tryal and Triumph IN A SERMON Upon the DEATH of Mrs. ELIZABETH KING By JOHN OAKES Minister of the Gospel being the last Funeral Sermon that ever he Preacht before Himself was snatcht away to Glory MATTHEW xxiv 44. Therefore be ye also ready for in such an hour as you think not the Son of Man cometh LONDON Printed by J. Richardson for Tho. Cockeril at the Three Legs in the Poultrey over against the Stocks-Market 1689. Blessed Paul's Tryal and Triumph A Funeral Sermon ON 2 TIMOTHY iv 7 8. I have fought a good Fight I have finished my Course I have kept the Faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto all them also that love his appearing HOW pertinent and seasonable the Words I have now read are for the solemn occasion we are met about is obvious to every Eye although I must tell you it was not the Object of my own choice but pitched upon by the Deceased whose Funeral I am now to Commemorate My Text is very copious and of too great an extent to admit at present of any Preface or to permit me to give you any account of the Epistle nor scarce so much time as to cast an Eye upon the Context Only in a word the time drew nigh when this Blessed Apostle Paul was to suffer Martyrdom and thereby Seal his Testimony to those Gospel Truths which he had preached and professed and that by the effusion of his Blood and the laying down of his Life The Enemy had got him in their Pound confin'd him in their Prison and still he was every day expecting and waiting when the Writ should be sign'd for his Execution as he tells us verse 6. I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand With this he acquaints Timothy to whom he dedicates this Epistle not by way of Complaint but by way of Encouragement he being as ready to be offered up at the Will and Call of God as they were ready to execute their Rage and Malice against him Having told us long before I am ready not to be bound only but also to dye at Jerusalem for 〈…〉 13. the Name of the Lord Jesus What were the Cordials that supported him in this fainting season and enabled him to look Death though presented in a very ghastly dress in the face with Comfort and Confidence my Text acquaints you I have fought a good fight c. In which words you have these two general parts First Paul's Retrospect viz. his serious reflection upon the by past Course of his Life that is ever since he had properly lived ever since he had been quickned by the renewing Grace of God's Spirit For all the time we remain in an unregenerate State is not time lived but time lost I have fought a good fight I have finished my Course I have kept the Faith This was the report that Paul's Well inlightned Conscience made upon this serious review and enquiry The Reflection upon which fil'd his Heart with Divine Consolation Before I proceed to the main point I intend I shall briefly offer two Notes to your serious Consideration 1. That the apprehension of the near approaches of Death doth ordinarily occasion nay necessitate Men whether good or bad to take a strict surveigh of their by past Life then Men think and enquire of themselves what they have been doing and whether they are going I say ordinarily it is so Some indeed are judiciously hardned and given up by God to a blind mind and to a feared Conscience that they are past feeling Living and dying like Beasts without any sight or sence of their Sin here or their Misery hereafter whose Eyes are not opened till they drop into Eternal Flames Except in such a case not to be mentioned without horror all Men not accidentally incapacitated by the violence of some bodily Distemper will at Death be upon a review 2. Note hence that according to the report that a well inform'd Conscience gives in at a dying hour so it will fill and furnish the Soul either with Triumph or Trouble with Joy or Sorrow If Conscience well instructed bears Witness for it that it hath done its work dispatched the business that God sent it into the World for then will it be fill'd with Songs in the Night then will it lift up its head knowing the Luke 21. 28. day of its redemption draws nigh Then next to Jesus Christ no such Friend as Death Then will it long to be dissolved to be with Christ Our rejoycing is this the Testimony of our Conscience 2 Cor. 1. 12. that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the Grace of God we have had our Conversation in the World. Self-examination and serious Reflection is a Duty though attended with great advantage that few Men understand but wholly neglect or at best are very slight and superficial in the performance of Most run away with the first over-hasty reports that may be results from a blind carnal sensual heart taking all things of that Nature upon trust rather than put themselves to the trouble of a serious Tryal but this will not alwayes do when Death hath clapt an Arrest upon thee and thou seest that thou must in good earnest put thy head into another World then matters relating to thy self and future state must pass through a finer sieve and a more severe scrutiny Oh that I could more throughly perswade my self and all you that hear me this day to be more frequent and industrious in this matter now and never leave till the great business betwixt God and our Souls be so throughly and comfortably stated that it may remain as a lasting impression when all our self-flattering glasses shall be broken in pieces and all those false measures which we have taken of our Spiritual State shall vanish and disappear Now may be any thing will stop the Mouth of Conscience and justifie such a conclusion concerning our welfare that we are Protestants that we have been Baptized that we are Members of this or that particular Church that we have been just to all or that we have been injurious to none that we have been no Persecutors that we have been charitable to the Poor that we have kept our Church that we have said our Prayers and if after all this we come short of Heaven then God help us say some though all this while totally Strangers to the work of Regeneration and Heart-Renovation For God's sake Sirs Consider and consider it in time what Christ speaks Except your Righteousness shall 〈…〉 5. 20. exceed the Righteousness of the Soribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven And in another place Verily verily I say unto thee except a Man be born 〈…〉 3. 3. again see cannot be