Linguistic DNA - Concept Modelling Demonstrator

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	faith_n	heart_n	purify_v	2,229	5	11.5400	5	true

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A02746	A touch-stone of grace Discouering the differences betweene true and counterfeit grace: laying downe infallible euidences and markes of true grace: seruing for the triall of a mans spirituall estate. By A.H. Bachelor in Diuinitie, and Minister of Gods Word at Cranham in Essex.	Harsnett, Adam, 1579 or 80-1639.	1630 (1630)	STC 12876; ESTC S114563	72,897	335

affections Psal 51. 6. passeth by all outward failings where the heart is vpright before him sincerity being a grace which makes al obedience sauour vvell to the Lords pallat Therefore that thou mayest be drawne to such a kinde of obedience consider of these motiues First know that vntil thou findest thy heart inclined and thy wil framed to this obedience which I haue formerly spoken of thou art no friend of Christs Yee are my friends saith Christ if ye do whatsoeuer I command you Many can bee content to receiue good by Christ and to account him their Iesus but few returne loue and duty vnto Christ by acknowledging him their Lord in keeping his Word obeying his wil doing whatsoeuer hee commandeth them Secondly thou wantest as hath beene formerly proued sound euidence of thy regeneratioÌ„ for whom God reneweth he sanctifieth throughout he fills him with the seeds of righteousnesse so as his life is fruitful in obedience Thirdly the richer thou art in obedience the more bountiful wil the Lord be in rewarding He that gained fiue talents had the rule ouer fiue Cities For euery one shall receiue according to his worke Rom. 2. 6. Fourthly and lastly this wil procure as you shal heare by and by outward prosperity it wil fetch in a rich portion of outward benefits and blessings Esay 1. 19. If yee be willing and obey yee shall eat the good things of the Land Now then to draw to a conclusion of this point seeing you haue heard of these euidences of true grace let me in the bowels of the Lord Iesus beseech you my brethren to goe home to your own hearts make there a diligent scrutiny and narrow search whether you finde these euidences in your possession or not Are the eyes of your vnderstanding enlightned with sauing knowledge Is thy knowledge rightly qualified Is it practicall or is it meerely theorical Is it a transforming knowledge moulding thee to the Word Is it such a knowledge as vents it selfe continually for the glory of God and the good of others Dost thou find thy heart by beleeuing knit vnto God through Christ louing him and fearing him for his owne sake as well as for his Christs sake Dost thou find the throat of thy corruption cut in thee and thy sins bleeding to death and gasping in thee Is thy heart set against euery euil way and thy soule delighted in the practice of that which is good Doth thy heart stoope to GODS Word and thou yeeld vp thy selfe to be at his command and that willingly cheerefully and in singlenes of heart fearing God Then blessed be the time that euer thou wert made acquainted with these high prerogatiues God hath done more for thee than if wanting these he had put vpon thee all the honour pompe and glory of the world But woe and alas how few are there in whoÌ„ these euidences are to bee found Oh that such as want them had but eyes to see their misery and hearts to consider how full of vnconceiueable horror their consciences will one day be when they come to bee awakend perceiue how they haue trifled away the day of grace turned the grace of God into wantonnesse receiued the grace of God in vaine so as they haue no part in the inheritance either of grace or of glory Know and beleeue deare brethreÌ„ that things will not alwayes stand at this stay with you A day is comming wherein yee must lay down these earthly tabernacles of yours with them all your pleasures profits and honours when none of all these will stand you in any stead or afford you any comfort but will rather wanting grace to vse them aright increase your griefe sorrow A day will come wherein if these euidences be not in thee thy conscience will not spare to tell thee to thy face that wanting grace thou art a vessell of wrath ordained and prepared for destruction Oh the troubles sorrowes and feares into which in that day thy poore soule will be plunged for want of grace Oh what wouldest thou not then giue for one dram of grace How happy wouldest thou take thy self to be if thou hadst but a little time to redeem wherein thou mightest come to partake of the meanes of grace which formerly thou hast slighted ouer making no more account of them than of thine old shooes Thou wilt then cease to wonder at Gods faithful Ministers so inueighing against the neglect of grace and so vehemently pressing and vrging the necessitie thereof Thou wilt then say that a little grace were more worth than all the world beside and that they are only happy that doe partake of it Whereas the childe of God hauing tasted of Gods goodnesse and made partaker of his grace is filled with vnconceiueable ioy comfort finding himselfe deliuered from the power of darkenesse and translated into the Kingdome of Iesus Christ His conscience being purged froÌ„ dead works by the bloud of Christ his heart purified by faith he can looke death in the face take him by the hand and bid him welcome he can lye downe and rest in peace and in full assurance or if any doubtings through Satans malice do arise in hope of eternall life through Iesus Christ And this shall suffice to haue spoken of the euidences of true Grace I now come according to the method and order which in the beginning I propouÌ„ded to lay downe some grounds and reason Why Grace is the best thing we can partake of First because it is the onely thing which giues content to the heart and minde of a Christian in euery estate and condition whatsoeuer God hath placed him Contentment is the thing which euery one aymes at and desires in all his courses Why do men toile and moile in the world early and late thorow thicke and thin but to satisfie their minds in these outward riches Why do people follow and with vnwearied and vnlimited desires and affections hunt after the honors and pleasures of this world but to satisfie their desires and as they suppose to giue themselues content But this is a meere imposture of our wicked heart falsly thinking that our desires are satisfied with desiring when as the truth is they are increased Why doe men and women deck and adorne as they thinke whereas indeed they deforme their bodies with strange attire with costly ornaments but to giue themselues content and to please their mindes For if you aske them a reason of their practice they will tell you it is their pleasure so to doe But they deceiue themselues in looking for content in worldly things or to be satisfied with theÌ„ as appeares Esay 55. 2. Wherefore doe you spend money for that which is not bread and labour for that which satisfieth not Is it possible that vanity and vexation of spirit should giue content to the heart of man All things vnder the Sunne are no better no other than vanity if wee will beleeue the Preacher Eccles

the Word as Rom. 10. 17. First the Law conuincing vs discouering vnto vs our sins Rom. 7. 7. shewing vs both the nature the danger of them and our misery into which sinne hath plunged vs and not onely so but an vtter impossibility of our selues either to satisfie the iustice of God for the least transgression or to bee freed from that wrath vengeance which hangs ouer our head by reason of our sins The consideration whereof terrifying and afflicting a poore sinner makes him to cry out as the Iews did Act. 2. 37. What shall I doe Then commeth in the Gospell the Word of comfort and the message of reconciliation which discouers and prescribes a remedie whereby a poore sinner may be brought into fauour with God and accepted with him come out of the snares of the Deuill and be freed from the curse and malediction of the Law and that is by receiuing of the Lord Christ in whom all the promises of God are yea and Amen And by whom wee haue redemption through his bloud euen the forgiuenesse of sins Ephes 1. 7. Whereupon he begins to hunger and thirst after Christ seeing and knowing no other way no other meanes whereby he may be saued or haue his spirituall wants supplied As the prodigall saw no meanes of comfort but starue he must vnlesse hee get home againe and bee receiued into his fathers family so the poore sinner knowes his soule will famish if he get not into Christ and therefore hee labours to bee made one with Christ his soule hungers and thirsts after nothing so much as Christ all the world is dung vnto him in comparison of Christ Oh that he may be found in Christ to liue or die Christ is all in all vnto him hee layes hold vpon his righteousnesse and shrowds himselfe for comfort vnder his wings and as Ioab laid hold vpon the horns of the Altar saying I will die heere 1 King 2. 30. So the poore beleeuer layes hold vpon the Lord Christ resteth onely vpon Christ and if he perish he will perish at the feet of Christ whereas the faith of vnbeleeuers and hypocrites ariseth either out of their education common illumination or from some vaine perswasion of some good in themselues for which they are perswaded God loues them or else hee would neuer haue bestowed so much vpon them haue done these or these things for them So that their faith is no other than a faithlesse coÌ„fidence a vaine presumption or some Satanicall illusion neuer wrought in them by the Lord Christ the Author and finisher of our faith Heb. 12. 2. by the ministry of his Word For they were neuer throughly huÌ„bled or if they were it was but for a while a little Sermon-sicke their consciences wambling while the Word was deliuered vnto them and no longer If this mans faith had bin begun or hee begotten again of the Word of God as a new borne babe hee would more and more desire it that hee might grow thereby 1 Pet. 2. 2. for wee are nourished with that by which wee are begotten but he finds no sweetnesse takes no true content in the Word any further than he is sensible of some art or some noueltie in the same which doth affect and delight him Tell mee then thou that boastest or presumest so much of thy faith how thou diddest attaine vnto it when it was first wrought in thee which if thou canst not thou hast iust cause to fear thy faith is but thy fancie Heere a question will fall in very fit to be answered and that is whether euery one that beleeueth can tell when or how faith was wrought in him This scruple and scrutiny hath troubled many a deare childe of God who hath been ready to questioÌ„ the truth of their faith because they cannot precisely lay downe the time when or the meanes how faith was wrought in theÌ„ For their education and bringing vp was alwayes godly and religious from their child-hood they haue entertained the Word of God they haue alwayes borne a good will to godlinesse and loued the professours of the truth alwaies approued of the best things and therefore question the truth of faith and grace in them For the coÌ„fort of such let me first of all tel them that if all were not well twenty to one the Deuil would not be so busie with them to perplex trouble them with these pious feares holy doubtings We seldome heare or reade of any but the Lords people that haue these troubles or that put these doubts questions But for the satisfying of thy scruple consider first what Christ said to Nicodemus Ioh. 3. 8. The wind bloweth where it listeth c. The meaning of which words is to teach vs that the operations of grace are sometimes as it were hid from the regenerate themselues neither knowing the time when they first began to work nor wheÌ„ce they sprung nor to what measure they will grow Therefore though thou canst not tell by what meanes or at what time the Spirit of God commeth into thine heart or how at first its quickning and sanctifying presence gaue spirituall life vnto thy soule yet blessed and happie is thy coÌ„dition if thou now findest faith to bee wrought in thee which thou mayest be assured of if thou findest thy soule enlightned with the sauing knowledge and vnderstanding of the truth if thou hast been abased and humbled vnder the hand of God in the sight and sense of thy vnworthinesse and if thou prizest Christ aboue all the world labouring to winne him and desiring to be found in him not hauing thine owne righteousnesse but that which is through the faith of Christ euen the righteousnesse which is of God through faith Phil. 3. 9 10. But if thou findest not these to bee in thee then thou mayest well question the truth of thy faith A second difference lies in the fruits and effects of faith Where grace is faith workes by loue Gal. 5. 6. A heart knowing and beleeuing what the Lord hath done for it cannot but loue much Luke 7. 47. being so dearely beloued And this loue of God workes the heart to a hatred of all things displeasing vnto God Psal 97. 10. and to a practice of that which he requireth Psal 26. 3. Thy louing kindnesse is before mine eyes therefore haue I walked in thy truth Wheras the faith of the vnregenerate works no change in him makes him no better than hee was vnlesse it bee in shew and appearance Confidence of Gods loue emboldens him to wickednesse and makes him to sin more and more as Ier. 3. 4 5. rather then abate sin in him Certainly if euer the Lord speake peace to thy soule through Christ hee will so inflame thine heart with the loue of his truth his Image his ordinances that these will so take vp thy heart that thou shalt not turne againe vnto euill Psal 85. 8. Thirdly and lastly faith

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