Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A39884
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The Christian directed in his race to heaven, or, A short account of that knowledge and practice that leads thither by James Forbs.
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J. F. (James Forbs), 1629?-1712.
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1700
(1700)
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Wing F1442; ESTC R29428
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47,247
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90
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raised from the Dead according to my Gospel wherein I suffer as an evil-doer even unto bonds but the word of God is not bound Therefore I endure all things for the elects sake that they may also obtain the Salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal Glory Phil 2.17 Yea and if I be offered up upon the Sacrifice and service of your Faith I joy and rejoyce with you all 1 Tim. 12 13 14. 2 Tim. 1.8 Be not ashamed of the Testimony of our Lord nor of me his Prisoner but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the Gospel according to the Power of God Are you now Members of a Gospel-Church and in Communion with Saints Consider the Duties of this relation 1. In Reference to God and the dignity of a Church state 2. To those that are over you in the Lord. 3. One to another Duties of the first sort are these 1. God hath made over himself by a most solemn covenant-engagement unto you put a high estimate upon this more than ordinary privilege and make a due improvement thereof let the thoughtful remembrance of this overaw you to a constant walking in his Holy ways and observation of his Statutes Deut. 26.17 18 19 20. Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God and to walk in his ways and the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar People and that thou shouldest keep all his Commandments and to make thee high above all Nations in Praise and in Name and in Honour that thou mayest be a Holy People unto the Lord thy God Let the memory of this be always recent and fresh upon your Spirits and it will much influence persiverance in Holiness and prove an excellent Antidote against Apostasy 2. The Gospel Church is often called the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 3.2 and 5.19 and 11.12 and 13.14 and 16.19 And if God hath made you Members hereof it is a vertual declaration of his Mind and Counsel concerning your Election from Eternity and Salvation to all Eternity which calls aloud upon you for Spiritual Rejoycing more than if you had been made Earthly Kings and Queens Luke 10.20 In this rejjoyce not that the Spirits are Subject unto you but rather rejoyce because your Names are written in Heaven 2 Thes 2.13 14 15. We are bound to give thanks unto God alway for you Brethren Beloved of the Lord because God hath from the beginning chosen you to Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the Truth whereunto he called you by our Gospel to the obtaining of the Glory of our Lord Jesus Ephes 1.4 5 6. 2 Tim. 1.9 10. 3. Though once ye were Darkness yet now ye are all the Children of Light and of the Day Therefore sleep not as others but watch and be sober 1 Thes 5.5 6 7. They that sleep sleep in the Night and they that are Drunken are Drunken in the Night but let us who are of the Day be sober putting one the Breast-plate of Faith and for a Helmet the hope of Salvation Rom. 13.12 13. The Night is far spent the Day is at hand let us therefore cast off the works of Darkness and put on the armour of Light let us walk honestly as in the Day not in Rioting and Drunkenness not in Chambering and Wantonness not in Strife and Envying but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the Flesh to fulfill the Lusts thereof 1 Pet. 2.9 10. Ye are a chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood an Holy Nation a Peculiar People that ye should shew forth the praises of him that hath called you out of Darkness into his marvellous Light which in time past were not a People but are now the People of God which had not obtained mercy but have now obtained mercy Dearly beloved I beseech you as Strangers and Pilgrims abstain from Fleshly Lusts which war against the Soul having your conversation honest among the Gentils that whereas they speak against you as evil doers they may by your good works which they shall behold Glorifie God in the day of visitation Math. 5.16 4. You are made sharers and copartners with Christ in all the Privileges and Precious things which he has purchased with his Blood 1 Pet. 1.18 19 20. And wherein will you testifie your thankfulness to him Has he Died for you and will not love constrain you to live unto him 2 Cor. 2.5 14. As he Died for your sins so he Rose for your justification Rom. 4.25 And will not you Dye to Sin and ascend in your Hearts after him Will not you study to know the Power of his Resurrection and the Fellowship of his Sufferings being made conformable to his Death Phil. 3.10 11 Rom. 6.10 11 12 13. In that he Died he Died unto sin once but in that he Liveth he Liveth unto God Likewise ye also reckon your selves to be Dead unto Sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord Let not Sin therefore reign in your Mortal Bodies that ye should obey it in the Lusts thereof neither yield your Members as Instruments of unrighteousness unto Sin but yield your selves unto God as those that are alive from the Dead and your Members as Instruments of Righteousness unto God He hath now broke the Serpents Head triumphed over Principalities and Powers taken away the Hand-Writing of the Old Covenant that was against you Nailing it to his Cross has conquered the World and delivered you from it Has made Death stingless and has swallowed up the Grave in victory has abolished the condemning Power of the Law himself being made a curse for you What hinders then but that you take up that Apostical Triumph Rom. 8. to the end Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect It is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth It is Christ that Died Yea rather that is risen again who is even at the Right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Who shall separate us from all the Love of Christ shall tribulation who are the Enemies and what are the evils which the Church redeemed with the Blood of God should be afraid of Heb. 10.19 21 22. Having therefore Brethren boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he has consecrated for us though the Veil that is to say his flesh and having a high Priest over the House of God let us draw near with a true Heart in full assurance of Faith having our Hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our Bodies washed with pure water with the thing it self that was signified by legal washings 5. God has reposed this great trust in you to be Instrumental conservators of his Truths and Ordinances Rom. 3.2 1 Tim. 3.15 Shew fidelity in preserving truth among your selves keeping your Understandings and Judgments untainted with errours and heresies Acts 20.19 30 31. Eph. 4.14 Heb. 13.9 Be not carried about with strange Doctrines
where is the House that ye build unto me and where is the place of my rest Psal 145.3 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised and his Greatness is unsearchable 1 Tim. 6.16 O let Holy David's practice be yours that so his expierience may be yours also Psal 16.8 I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved 5. Survey him in the bright shining beauty of his Holiness Revel 4.8 Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come This will make you with Isaiah say Chap 6. v. 5. Wo is me for I am undone because I am of unclean Lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean Lips for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts And with Job Chap. 42. v. 5.6 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now mine eye seeth thee wherefore I abhor my self in dust and ashes This will take you off from stinting your selves to any Scanty measures of Holiness making you persue after it to be Holy in all manner of conversation as he that has called you is Holy Levit. 19.2 1 Pet. 1.15 I might go over the rest of the Attribute Mercy Grace Love Longsuffering Infinite Power All sufficiency and Faithfulness But from what is already hinted the Way is in some measure made plain how you may mannage such Meditations Thirdly what hitherto has been mentioned is little more than what is attainable by an improved Heathen I must therefore call aloud upon you to soar yet higher in your contemplations of God in Christ And here you may see that which is and will be to all Eternity matter of admiration to Men and Angels 1 Pet. 1.12 Here you may see God Reconciling an apostate and perishing World to himself 2 Cor. 5.19 Here you may see a most noble unparallelled contrivance of infinite Wisdom and free Grace hatched in the womb of Eternity how the Sons and Daughters of Adam that by Sin had debased themselves as low as Hell might be advanced to a state of Royal dignity as high as Heaven Here you may see the Creators condesinsion in stooping so low as to cloth himself with Mans Nature that Man might be made partaker of the Divine Here you may see Mercy and Justice reconciled Righteousness and Truth kissing each other So great is his Justice that Sin shall not pass unpunished no not in his own dear Son though a Sinner only by imputation and having no personal pollution And so great his is Mercy to most miserable sinners that they have what of God is communicable and what they are capable to receive Grace and Glory upon free cost Justice is satisfied to the full as if there had never been any offence and the ransomed of the Lord are restored to a better estate than Adam's was before the Fall Behold here the reason why the World has stood near this 6000 years it s by Christ all things consist Col. 1.17 Come and behold an unspeakable union of hearts and affections between God and sinners Angels and sinners sinners and sinners and of the whole Creation Behold what encouragement the greatest of sinners have to come unto God with hopes of access and acceptance and O what invincible obligations do all of us ly under highly to honour adore fear reverence worship love serve pray unto praise and confide in this God! O my Soul and all that 's within me magnifie the unsearchable riches of the glorious grace of this God and let the whole Creation concur with me in celebrating his praise-worthy name Luke 1.68 69. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and Redeemed his People and hath raised up a horn of Salvation for us that we should be saved from our Enemies and from the hand of them that hate us that we might serve him without fear in Holiness and Righteousness before him all the days of our life Revel 5.11 12. I beheld and heard the voice of many Angels round about the Throne and the Beasts and the Elders and the number of them was ten thousand times ten Thousand and Thousands of Thousands saying with a loud voice worthy is the Lamb that was Slain to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Srength and Honour and Glory and Blessing And every Creature which is in Heaven and on Earth and under the Earth and such as are in the Sea and all that are in them heard I saying Blessing Honour Glory and Power be unto him that sits on the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever Fourthly Rest not satisfied with a rational head-knowledge of the most sublime Gospel Mysteries without some practical and experimental knowledge of the effectual heart-renewing and Soul-Sanctifying operations of the Spirit of God upon your Hearts study a translation from Death to Life from Satan to God from the power of darkness into the Glorious Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Put off the whole old Man with all his deceivable Lusts and put on the Lord Jesus Study Regeneration know what it is to be be born from above by the Word and Spirit John 3. Begin That you may say with those Tit. 3.3 4. We our selves also were sometimes foolish disobedient deceived serving divers Lusts and pleasures living in Malice and Envy hateful and hating one another but after that the kindness and love of God appeared not by works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly that being justified by his Grace we should be heirs according to the hope of eternal life And Ephes 2. Begin Even when we were Dead in sins hath he quickened us together with Christ and hath raised us up together and hath made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus we are the Workmanship of God Created in Christ Jesus unto good works which were before ordained that we should walk therein O take heed of being mistaken in the business of Gospel-conversion it concerns no less than the eternal Salvation or Damnation of your immortal Soul it s something else than a bare literal knowledge civility morality partial reformation having some flashes of good desires and resolutions and something else than a bare outward profession saying Lord Lord Know once what it is to have Heaven-born principles in your heart what it is to have the old stony hard carnal unclean covetous proud impenitent and unbelieving heart with all old things done away and all things made new 2 Cor. 5.17 New understanding new will new conscience new affections Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure and it will much conduce to your comfortble walking throughout the course of your conversation Fifthly In order hereunto I commend to you that of Heb. 6.1 Lay such a foundation of Repentance from dead works and Faith towards God