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	heart_n	sprinkle_v	2,758	5	11.3113	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49258	A treatise of effectual calling and election In XVI. sermons, on 2 Peter 1.10. Wherein a Christian may discern, whether yet he be effectually called and elected. And what course he ought to take that he may attain the assurance thereof. Preached by that faithfull servant of Christ, Mr. Christopher Love, late minister of Laurence Jury, London.	Love, Christopher, 1618-1651.; Calamy, Edmund, 1600-1666.	1655 (1655)	Wing L3179; ESTC R217684	182,116	237

help on Jesus Christ upon one that is mighty and exalt arguments of faith and this will much strengthen your comforts Luke 8.42 There came a ●uler to Jesus Christ and besought him for his daughter that lay a dying And while he was telling Christ this there came another messenger after him Thy daughter is dead ●rouble the man no farther What saith Christ hearing this Fear not onely b●lieve As if he should say sense and reason would have told him it were a needlesse thing to beg of Christ for his daughter when she was dead but saith Christ Doe not stoop to sense and reason Fear not onely beleeve and the work shall be done So I say to you Consult not with flesh and blood but exalt arguments of faith against present feelings and this is the way to get assurance of your comforts Secondly Keep conscience clear that no sin be harboured there and you are in the way to get your comforts full God saith David will speak peace to his people but they must not returne unto folly As if he should say though God doth speak peace and assure you of your pardon and salvation yet if you return to sin God can tell how to break your peace and turn his smiles into frowns and angry looks Take heed of sin and keep your conscience clear and that 's the way to have peace setled in thine heart Job 11.14 15. If iniquity be in thy hand put it far away and let not wickednesse dwell in thy Tabernacle What follows and then shalt thou lift up thy face before God without spot thou shalt be stedfast and shalt not fear A strange expression That if you will keep sin far away then you shall be stedfast before God and not fear that is you shall not be exposed to those fears and doubts and anxieties which other men are exposed to Heb. 10.22 Let us draw neer to God with an upright heart in full assurance of faith Now what shall a man doe to come to God in full assurance Mark the next words Draw nigh to God in full assurance of faith having your hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience Here is the way if you are sprinkled from an evil conscience you may be bold to come to God in full assurance Whereas alas if thy conscience tell thee thou art a Whoremaster and thou art a deceiver and a liar and loose liver thou canst not come with full assurance thou mayest come in presumption indeed but not with the assurance of faith and therfore keep a conscience clear from harbouring guilt upon it and that 's the way to have the heart full of joy Thirdly Be diligent in keeping company with the most godly experienced Christians where you live this is a very special way to encrease your comforts Ye read an excellent passage 2 Cor. 1.4 We are c●mforted of God saith the Apostle that we might comfort others with the comfort wherewith we are comforted of God Godly Christians they will comfort you with the same comforts wherewith they themselves are comforted If we are comforted it is for your consolation Godly men if they have any inward comfort from God they will impart their experiences to you and tell you as David did Psal 66.16 What God hath done for their soul There is no way better then this to keep in communion with godly and knowing Christians Mr. Bradford that famous Martyr who was in prison about his profession of Christ the story saith he lay a long time under trouble of minde and horrour of conscience that he could not finde a real and clear evidence of his effectual calling there came many men to him and could not settle him Yet a poor Weaver an ancient and experienced Christian that did usually accompany Mr. Bradford in prison by his frequent communion with this poor man he got more inward comfort then ever he got all his life before Beloved this I speak to you to make you the mor● to study the the worth of godly society and the more you are conversant with Christians that live in the enjoyment of the light of Gods countenanc● and in the assurance of his favour all the day long the more you are in the ready way to encrease your comforts and assurance Fourthly Submit thy selfe to the approbation of others and be willing to have them passe a verdict upon thee When thou art asleep or in a swoun then thou canst not tell thy self what thou dost but others must tell thee So it may fall out with the godly they may be in such a spiritual swoun that they are not fit judges of their own condition in this case submi● to the judgment of others they may see grace in thee when thou thy self canst not see it so Mr. Throgmorton was comforted by the testimony of a company of godly Ministers Fifthly live in the dayly improvement of grace and that 's the way to get assurance And this meanes the Holy Ghost layes down in the Chapter out of which my Text is taken Adde grace to grace And I remember that Beza upon this Text doth write that in the Greek Translations these words are put in Give diligence by good works to make your calling sure whether it be so or no I cannot affirm but this I am sure of and the context will clearly prove it that the way to make your calling sure is to adde grace to grace For after the Apostle had spoken of adding grace to grace he comes in with this Give diligence to make your calling sure Implying that the more you live in the actings of grace the more you shall live in the enjoyment of comforts Isa 32.17 The works of righteousness shall be peace Not the habit but the work if you act righteousnesse and live in the workings and thrivings in grace this shall be peace and the effect of it quietnesse and assurance for ever So John 16.24 The more you pray the more you encrease your joy So that the more you live in the improvement of grace the more likely way you are in to get assurance Sixthly If you would get assurance spend more time in strengthening your evidences for heaven then in questioning of them It is the great fault of many Christians they will spend much time in questioning and not in strengthening their comforts They will reason themselves into unbeliefe and say Lord why should I beleeve why should I take hold of a promise that am so unholy and so unmortified a creature And so by this they reason themselves to such a passe that they dare not lay hold upon Christ whereas it should be your work to reason your selves into Christ as much as you can Labour to strengthen your comforts and reason thus Why should I not beleeve in Christ Thus David did Psal 42. Why art thou troubled O my soule and why art thou cast down within me Is not the mercy of God more then sin in the creature Is not there free grace where

call As you know it is with Carpenters they give more blows to knot●y Timber then they will do to smooth and tender wood thus doth God when he meets with a knotty sinner a wretched stout-hearted sinner God must give many blows by humiliation before he will be humbled before he can bring him to be a serviceable piece in Gods building whereas Christians of a milde and softer temper they shall have fewer blows and shall not have the terrors of God stick so fast in their hearts as others shall Hence you read that phrase Hos 6.5 saith the Lord I will hew them by my Prophets c. God doth hew some men hew them with judgments and hew them with terrour Yea but others that are not so loose as they I taught Ephraim to go I led Ephraim by the Arms and I drew him with cords of a man and with the bands of love Hos 11.4 God you see would hack and hew some men with terrour and wrath but others he would draw with love and the cords of a man Now suppose God hath not hacked and hewed thee with judgments if God melt thee with loving kindnesse and if God gain upon thy soul with mercy and with love and grace thou must not blame God thou must not confine God for this is Gods way of working sometimes as well as by wrath God works upon some with wrath ●he will allure others with loving kindnesse so that you have no cause or ground of fear that you are not effectually called because you apprehend some defects in the manner of your call because it is Gods usual way to plunge them in most humiliation and most terrour that have been most wicked liv'd men before their call and so ordinarily with men religiously trained up from their youth Thirdly God when he goes to call a sinner to conversion he looks upon the temper of those that are to be called and God sees some men of a rugged temper that their tempers will not be won but by wrath and by fire and by hell and by judgment And so it 's like Felix was his temper was such that nothing could conve●t him but wrath and judgement to come terrible Doctrines Some are of this temper that nothing but wrath and hel-fire can work upon them As children there are some that are of such soft and tender tempers that the shaking of a rod may doe them good there are other children if a man should whip them every day they would never leave their childish tricks It is so with sinners God sees some of a more tender and soft temper that love will gain upon them others are of a rugged disposition that nothing but wrath can affright them Now God in the dispensations of his grace he observes their temper and if he seeth love will gain more upon them then wrath will do he will take that course but if God see nothing but wrath and fire and horrour wil doe it then he wil work that way This you read in the Epistle of Jude ver 22 23. On some saith the Holy Ghost have compassion making a difference but others save with fear pulling them out of the fire The meaning is this There are some that you must shew tendernesse and compassion to in calling and working upon them they are of a tend●r temper but others there are that you must save with fear that is preach terrible Sermons to them and fright them with hel-fire and judgment to come For God doth observe the different tempers in men and hereupon doth proceed in different wayes of Administration in working upon them Now it may be thou that dost thus complain thou never hadst these terrours in thy soul and yet art effectually called it may be God saw thy temper more to be won by kindnesse and more gained upon in a way of love therefore wrought upon thee this way God is not bound to one way And therefore we may justly count them blame-worthy who preach onely free grace and Gods love and so tie God to one Method and they are too blame on the other side likewise if there be any such that preach only terror and wrath for God observes the temper of mens dispositions some to be knotty and some soft and accordingly proceeds ceeds in his way of working with them This ground therefore for your doubts is insufficient Secondly A second ground that makes men doubt of their effectual calling is upon the apprehension of some seeming defect that may be in the means of their calling As thus Think they I have read in the Word that it doth please God to use preaching as the ordinary means to call and convert sinners to Christ It pleased God by preaching to save them that beleeve I read this also that faith comes by hearing Now many a poor soul hath this that gravels his conscience and troubles his spirit but alas I finde a defect in this means For my part I cannot say I was converted by hearing a Sermon that which did work upon me was some other means One of these three either I was converted saith one by living in a godly family among good Christians seeing their example that first gained upon me Or saith another I was gained upon by reading a Chapter in the Bible or in some good Book and that first wrought upon me Or saith a third it may be if it was the Word it was the Word preached by a wicked man that is now turned either erroneous in judgment or prophane in practice and this occasioneth a great deal of jealousie The word preacht by the mouth of a godly Minister is Gods ordinary way but I was altogether out of this way and therefore this doth make him suspect the truth of his effectual calling Now Beloved I beseech you lend me your thoughts a little for I would fain make this Doctrine as comfortable to every called one as I can I shall speak of all these in order and shew you that put case either of these have been the meanes of thy calling yet thou hast no reason to doubt of thine effectual calling First thou suspectest thy call because the means hath been sayest thou not by hearing a Sermon or the word preacht but by living among good Christians and seeing their example and their living thou camest by this means to love the wayes of God and this was the first meanes that converted thee Beloved I doubt not but I speak to a great many that cannot say a Sermon ever converted them but only that they were gained to Gods wayes to imbrace the truth this way now what shall I say to such men as these why I would say thus much that though the Lord did not use his Word preached the ordinary meanes of converting soules in calling thee yet God is not tied and bound up to his word preacht but he may use other means to convert thy soul Secondly and more particularly that living among good people and seeing of their