Linguistic DNA - Concept Modelling Demonstrator

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	ghost_n	sin_n	sin_v	1,582	5	10.1697	5	true

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

grace to be the multiplying of peace The more you multiply and grow in grace the more you will increase peace inward peace of conscience they are both joyned together You have a passage 2 Pet. 1.5 11. compared together Adde to your faith vertue c. The Apostle there urgeth our diligence to adde grace to grace that is to live in the improvement of grace And what wil follow ver 11. If you doe these things you shall never fall for so an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdome of our Lord Iesus Christ You shall not onely goe to heaven but you shall have an abundant entrance ministred before you come there you shall have abundance of assurance and inward peace before you come there And here to give you a more particular direction there are these foure graces chiefly you are to improve First Improve the grace of humility Isa 57.15 The Lord doth promise there to revive the spirit of the humble It is a particular promise to that grace that God will revive you and give you a new life if you have it And reviving there is not meant of the first life of grace but of a life of comfort They had grace before but God would give them a life of comfort he will restore your consolation to you in case you are an humble people Hence it is Iam. 4.6 The Lord gives grace to the humble Yea he gives more grace The Lord gives more grace to the humble person then to any man in the world Now the more grace you have the more comfort you must needs have Humility is a foundation of more grace therefore needs must be a foundation of more comfort That building whose foundation is laid lowest is of all the most beautiful and comely Fabrick above ground So those Christians that lay a foundation low in humility they are likely to reare up a most beautiful Building in way of comfort Secondly Improve the grace of faith in beleeving and that is the way to increase comfort 1 Peter 1.8 Whom though you have not seen yet believing you rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Though they did never see Christ yet believing in Christ and improving their faith they had not onely an ordinary measure of comfort but they had more comfort in their hearts then they could utter with their Tongue They rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory So Rom. 15.13 The God of peace fill you with all joy and peace in Believing that you may abound in hope through the Holy Ghost Believing makes you full of all joy and makes you abound in it The more you are in Believing the more you will be in assurance Thirdly Improve the grace of love to Jesus Christ John 14.23 If any man love me my Father shall love him and we will come in unto him and make our abode with him If you improve in your love to Jesus Christ God the Father and God the Son will make their dwelling in your hearts Now he must needs be a comfortable Christian that hath so good a guest as God the Father and Jesus Christ to come in and make their abode with him As you know to your bosome-friend whom you love and you know loves you you will communicate all your secrets Thus will God the Father if he knowes you are his bosome-friends and seeth you love him he will communicate all his comforts to you you shall never want comforts if you increase in love to Jesus Christ Fourthly Improve the grace of godly sorrow you will never finde sweeter musick in comfort then when you are laid down in teares As the sound of the Trumpet is never more pleasant then when they are upon the water so when God seeth you flow with the water of repentance and godly sorrow then you are likely to hear the most melodious harmony in the apprehension of Gods love Psal 126. They that sow in teares shall reap in joy You shall not onely have a dram but a handful of joy as Reapers they cut down handfuls of corn at once And as you know in seed though you sowe but one grain of corn there may a dozen eares come from that one seed so if you sowe but a little godly sorrow a grain of godly sorrow may be a root to a great deal of spiritual joy Secondly If you would improve your assurance preserve a clear conscience both towards God and man A good conscience is a continual Feast Prov. 15.15 Assurance I may say of it as the Father speaks of the Holy Ghost and the comforts thereof The Spirit of God is a very nice thing every thing will give the comforts of Gods Spirit a check and distaste now if you harbour sin upon conscience you will never thrive in comfort every thing will give comfortable motions a check And as Philosophers say when the Aire is foggy it ariseth from vapours that are exhaled from the earth which makes the Aire so cloudy as it is So it is filth drawn from our earthly hearts that makes such foggy mists to arise between our comforts and us and between God and us You must keep conscience clear else you will never keep heaven clear Heaven will be clouded if the heart be filthy Job 11.14 15. If iniquity be in thy hand put it far away If sin be upon the conscience harbour it not for then thou shalt lift up thy face before God thou shalt be stedfast and not fear You shall not onely not fear but you shall have a degree of assurance You shall be stedfast if you put sin far away from you A sullied and a polluted conscience shall never be in a Christian strong in assurance You will not grow in assurance if your conscience harbour guilt Thirdly If you would improve your assurance keep close in communion with God Nothing that feeds comforts so much as a Christians holy walking Esa 32.17 The work of righteousnesse shall be peace and the effect thereof quietnesse and assurance for ever If you walk in works of righteousnesse and in a way of keeping lose communion with God this shall be peace and this shall be quietnesse and great assurance Mark how the Holy Ghost makes a gâ—adation not onely peace and quietnesse but assurance also you shall have the highest degree of peace and the highest step of comfort if you walk diligently in a way of holinesse with your God And thus much be spoken to the first sort of men those that live in the enjoyment of the assurance of their effectual calling I have now a word to those men that live in the want of this assurance who happily have in times past had some glimmering and some dimme sight of comfort touching their everlasting estate and yet are now much clouded and eclipsed in their comforts or have lost the comforts they once hâ—d what they should do to recover it And to these I â—hall by way of direction speak

him to life and glory to live and die in opposition to the word of God Seventhly and this we may speak more confidently and positively that that man is not within the compasse of Gods election who sinnes the sin against the holy Ghost Matth. 12.32 He shall neither be forgiven in this life nor in the life to come This is an unpardonable sin 1 John 5.16 Now I know there are many men who confine this sin only to the Pharisees as if they onely were guilty of it There are others that say this sin is seldome committed and so many Divines speak favourably of it but Beloved I am perswaded this sin is oftner committed then most men in the world dream of and many men are plunged into this sin that think well of their own souls The sin against the holy Ghost is only this It is a wilful and deliberate act in a professor of Religion whereby he doth not onely fall from his profession but he runns into a course of sin knowingly against conscience obstinately against counsel and maliciously against Jesus Christ This is briefly a descrption of this sin Now I am perswaded there are many in the world that have professed Religion that are if not in this sin yet at the very next door to it And if a man be gone thus farre this is called in Scripture a sin unto death a sin which if a man fall into he may be sure he shall be damned And thus I have in breif given you an account of these seven particulars whereby every man may give a guesse in his own thoughts whether he be within the purpose of Gods election unto salvation or no. I have now from this sad Doctrine only a few comfortable positions to lay down and so conclude As 1. That though these partâ—culars may give you a guesse of those that are not within the compasse of Gods election yet no man is bound to make this sure to himselfe that he is not elected You are bound to make your election sure but you are not bound to make your reprobation sure For these heads I have given out not to make any godly man question his election but to startle wicked men who live quite contrary and opposite to the elect of God 2. That a man may come very nigh to the worst of these sins and yet may be an elected man We were saith Paul sometimes disobedient deceived and served divers lusts Titus 3.3 And Eph. 2.2 In times past you walked according to the course of the world according to the power of the Prince of the aire who worketh mightily in the children of disobedience In times past ye were children of wrath as well as others In times past before calling you may come very neer to these evils yet be within the compass of Gods election Provided that you do not live and die in those evils For if so there is no hope of mercy 3. That for men to question their election meerly because they do not finde the saving effects of election in their hearts and lives is rather an argument of their being then of their not being elected Because men not elected they never look after their election to make it sure they will trust all upon the mercy of God and grace of God and never look after holiness sin never troubles them profaneness never grieves them want of holinesse perplexes not them The questioning therefore of your election arising from the evils of your conversation is rather a sign that God hath chosen you to life and glory 4. Election it runnes often times to those that are the worst sort of men in the world Election runnes to them that have been worst in their lives before they were called And thereby God magnifies the riches of his grace Election passeth by civil honest men and ingeniouâ—â—emperate mâ—n and commonly runns to men that have been scandalous loose Atheistical profane livers before they were called Matth. 21.31 Whores and Harlots shall come to Heaven before you Manasseh that was a cruel murderer and Idolater yet election ran to him Mary Magdalen a common strumpet out of whom Christ cast seven Devils yet election ran to her Rahab a Harlot Paul a persecuter a blasphemer a man injurious to the Saints yet Acts 9.15 He was a chosen vessel unto God and obtained mercy God to magnifie the riches of his free grace le ts election run to the worst of men that are in the world And this should be great comfort to you though you have been drunkards and though you have been Sabbath breakers and adulterers and though you have been profane yet if you can but now close with Jesus Christ and look after heaven if you can but now mourn over your condition and repent of your former failings and come in to Jesus Christ Election hath run unto men as bad as you and though you may be now men profane in your lives yet you may be objâ—cts of Gods election SERMON XIV 2 Pet. 1.10 Wherefore the rather Brethren Give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure THe last Doctrin I drew from these words was this That Christians should put forth a great deal of diligence to make this sure to their souls that they are eternally elected by God to life and glory In the prosecution of which I have gone over some queries There are four difficulties or queries I am further to insist upon in treating of this point As namely First whether this election be universal or no Secondly whether a man that is once elected by God to salvation may come to be damned yea or no Thirdly whether God in electing a man to life and glory doth it out of any foresight of faith or any other grace he sees in man And fourthly whether this doctrine of election that God in his own counsel hath determined who shall be damned and who saved doth not take men off from any endeavours after their own salvation to make them desperate and neglect the use of means that they shall say if I shall be damned I shall be damned and if saved I shall be saved let me live as I lift whether this doctrine will favour this desperate conclusion yea or no First whether election be universal or no This is that the Arminians and Papists do mightily drive at And here they lay down this conclusion which they make unquestionable That there is such a thing as a certain universal election of God without limitation or restraint of persons whereby God did determine to save all mankind by Christ who were fallen in Adam This opinion was first drawn from Origen who held that all creatures should be saved and the Papists and Arminians mincing the matter to make it a little more plausible then he did they say that God in his purpose did intend to save all mankind by Jesus Christ but man falling away and walking contrary to their principles the defect lies in them that they are not saved

soul and calling him is to convince him of sin And I Remember Piscator thinks this accomplished in Acts 2.37 When they saw their sin in crucifying of Jesus Christ this is the first work of the Spirit of God in you Calling he will convince you of sin Now O Beloved to how many do I speak this day with whom God hath never taken this Method since they were born into the world How many are there that have been told of their drunkennesse and told of their lusts and of their deceits and of their licencious living from day to day and yet to this day they never saw sin to be exceeding sinful they never were convinced of sin to purpose If they did indeed see their sin 1. it was but a transient sight soon come and soon gone or else 2. it was but a general sight â—o say we are all sinners or 3. If they did see their sin it was but a confused sight no way distinct or 4. If they did see sin it was an unhumbling sight the sight of sin did never humble them in Gods sight I intreat you Beloved do not lay hold or have hopes of being effectually call'd if God hath not shewn you the hainous and aggravated nature of your sins There is a speech Job 36.9 10. He first shews to men their works and their transgressions that they have exceeded and then he opens their ears to discipline and commands them to return from evil Mark then the Lord doth it when he makes them see their transgressions that they have exceeded Now have you seen that you have exceeded in your Passions and in your Pride have you seen sin to be exceeding sinful this is Gods first work and happy are you that are brought into Christs School that Christ doth take this Method withall 2. After God hath put a light into the soul to make you see the sinfulnesse of sin then 2. God fastens these thoughts on the soul to make you sensible of the great misery that your sins have brought you into to cry out with Paul Rom. 7.24 Wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death There Paul cryes out of his wretchednesse and misery by reason of that body of death the sinfulnesse of his nature which he confesses did as much trouble him as if a dead body should be tied to his living body alluding to the custome of the Romans in punishing notorious Malefactors which he takes to be a most grievous punishment Why Beloved have you ever seen this did you ever see that misery that sin brought upon you that sin did devest you of righteousnesse did rob you of your God banish you from his presence intitle you to hell and make you objects of his wrath Now were you sensible of this misery this is Gods method to make you see your misery by reason of sin 3. God puts the soul into a kind of spiritual astonishment that the poor sinner doth not know where to go what course to take which way to turn how he may get pardon for his sin and recovery from his miserie This you finde mentioned as Gods method Acts 2.37 upon 3000 at once Men and Brethren what shall we do to be saved They were even in amaze the word wrought upon them and they saw Jesus Christ crucified to be their sin and now they crie out in great astonishment Men and Brethren what shall we do to be saved When God effectually calls a man he will leave him a little to himselfe that he knows not which way in the world to turn him Now when I speak of spiritual Astonishment mistake me not for first I presse not such a measure of Humiliation nor such a measure of trouble of minde how great it must be Nor Secondly do I presse the duration of it how long it must be that you must be so long and so long Nor Thirdly do I presse an absolute necessitie of this as if a man could not be call'd without it Indeed we read of Lydia that her heart was opened and she never troubled nor astonisht and God sometimes works thus in an extraordinary way but I presse this that ordinarily its Gods Method in some measure or other at some time or other to put his People in such a plunge that they shall not know which way in the world to turn themselves And so were those 3000 Acts 2. They could not tell what they should do to be saved And here further if you ask me With whom doth God most of all take this course to put them into such spiritual amazement to put them into horror and terror about their everlasting estate I Answer first Those that have liv'd in a course of prophanenesse before Conversion let them look to it if thou hast been a knottie and stout-hearted sinner against God God must give thee many a blow before he can hammer thee to his own will You that have been guiltie of Drunkennesse and guiltie of Adultery or guiltie of Sabbath-breaking in a grosse and licencious way that have made this world a stage to act wickednesse upon look to it boast not of your Calling if God hath not brought you in this way you have ground to suspect you are not yet call'd They that before Conversion were loose in their lives if they finde not this spiritual amazement it is not likely they are call'd And therefore I verily suspect your Call that can jump out of a course of Profanenesse into a course of Profession that can jump from a course of Malignitie to delight to hear Sermons and love Ministers You that have been opposers of godlinesse if you do not shew an eminent work in your Conversion I greatly suspect whether you are converted or no because it is Gods usual Method if men have been men of grosse lives before calling to bring them to great ashonishment when they are called 2. You that have often withstood and still withstand Gods call that Sermon after Sermon and invitation after invitation would not gain upon you Do you look about you God will give you many a blow God will send you many a sad hour before he brings you â—o your peace 3. Those that have often sinn'd against Conscience that do as it were lay Conscience wast that are prodigall of sinning not caring for sinning against never so much light and never so much conviction Beloved you shall not have so easie a coming to heaven God will first lay many stroaks upon you and draw heavie groans from you David saith By reason of thy terrors I am afraid and my bones are dried up You are subject to most horror and astonishment that do sin against Conscience Again 4. When God hath done thus made you see the aggravated nature of sin shewn you your misery by reason of sin and brought you into such a condition that you cannot tell how to be saved then 4. this is Gods Method to take you off from your own bottom beat

Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Text snippets containing the quad