Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	high_a	power_n	resist_v	1,057	5	9.4839	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A92488	The fulnesse of Gods love manifested: or, A treatise discovering the love of God, in giving Christ for all, and in affording meanes of grace to all : wherein also the 9. chapter of the Romans, and other places of scripture (usually urged against the universality of Gods love to mankind) are cleared, and divers objections of the like nature answered. / By L.S.	L. S.	1643 (1643)	Wing S109; Thomason E1158_1; ESTC R208679	71,123	180

that God by one meanes or other doth discover himself to every man to be good and gracious Now whereas it is urged that men cannot beleeve they that so affirme say in effect that men have no ground to beleeve for did they apprehend a ground for faith they would never perswade themselves nor others that they could not beleeve but if they would have men to beleeve that the truth of which they cannot evidence or demonstrate to them then it is a very proper and ready way for them to anticipate their understandings and prevent them from inquiry by telling them that they cannot beleeve and that faith is beyond reason and that God must perswade their hearts and so cause them to cease to exercise their understandings that they may worke their affections to receive and embrace it upon trust and when they have so done to tell them that God hath perswaded their hearts Men say that faith is supernaturall but how can it bee above nature to beleeve that which we see sufficient ground to beleeve and to beleeve any thing of which we have no plaine ground and reason is so far from being above nature that it is below it and proper to fooles and not to reasonable men It is true that faith is the evidence or assurance of things not seene but the certainty of the things not seene must be evidenced or manifested to us by things that doe appeare or wee cannot beleeve them the meanes of grace which we now have is not so great nor so cleare as the meanes which was afforded in the time of Christ and his Apostles and some others enjoy not so great meanes as we but God requires of every man according to what he hath and not according to what he hath not When the Authour to the Hebrewes doth declare to the Jews the danger of neglecting the Gospel he urgeth it from this Reason that it was evidently declared confirmed to them being first spoken by the Lord himself and then confirmed to them by those which heard him God also bearing them witnesse that they spake truth with signes and wonders and divers miracles and gifts of the holy Spirit according to his owne will Now how can we thinke that those men could not beleeve that had the Gospel so evidenced and confirmed before their eyes or how could the signes and miracles be an aggravation of their sinne in not beleeving if they had not been a sufficient meanes to procure their beleeving and if they were a sufficient meanes it must be so in reference to their naturall faculties as Act. 8.16 the Samaritans gave heed with one accord to the things which Philip spake hearing and seeing the miracles which hee did And againe Acts 9.33.34.35 When Peter had healed Aeneas who had been sicke of the Palsie eight yeares all that dwelt at Lidda and Saron saw him and turned to the Lord. Againe when Peter raised Dorcas from the dead it was knowne throughout all Ioppa and many beleeved in the Lord vers 42. and therefore the Disciples which Christ sent out to preach were commanded to tarry in Jerusalem untill they were endued with power from on high Luk. 24.49 which power was the gifts of the holy Spirit enabling them by signes and miracles to evidence and demonstrate to every mans understanding and conscience where they came the truth of the things they declared as Acts 1.4.5.8 compared with chap. 2. vers 3.4 so that with great power did the Lord give witnesse to the things spoken by Christ and his messengers which miracles had been needlesse if faith had been a supernaturall gift immediately infused by God We have the Scriptures we see the wonderfull works of God and partake of his goodnesse every moment and yet can we not beleeve and from thence be perswaded to love serve and obey the Lord to love serve and obey him I say for to beleeve that Christ was sent of God to dye for our sinnes or to beleeve God to be good and gracious if I am not thereby perswaded to love serve and obey him my faith is nothing it is dead being alone Now let us further consider what is written Rom. 10.14 how shall they beleeve in him of whom they have not heard and how shall they heare without a Preacher and how shall they preach except they be sent plainly intimating that there is a possibility for men to beleeve in Christ when they heare him preached by the Messengers of God and therefore in the 17. verse he concludes that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God so the gospell is termed the Word of faith Rom. 10.8 the preaching of the gospel the preaching of faith Gal. 1.23 hearing of the gospel the hearing of faith preached Gal. 3.2.5 and when the gospel was preached to the gentiles God is said to have opend the door of faith unto them Acts 14.27 and where God affoords the gospel he affoords faith as Paul speakes in the like case Act. 17.31 whereof he hath afforded faith to all men c. Againe the gospel is termed the power of God to salvation Rom. 1.16 the power of God and the wisdome of God 1 Cor. 1.18.24 and God is said to save those which beleeve by the foolishnesse of preaching vers 21. Now if the Word of God the gospel be declared unto men and yet they thereby not enabled to beleeve then how is it the power of God to their salvation they being to perish if they beleeve not Mark 16.16 for that meanes which is the power of God to an end must needs be sufficient for that end Oh. You see it was not sufficient for all did not beleeve Ans It was powerfull enough to enable all that heard to beleeve and yeeld obedience to it and so powerfull in none that it was impossible they should reject it and so the same meanes which proves inefectuall to one may cause another to believe as appeares Mat. 11.21 Object It is the power of God onely to those that are called 1 Cor. 1.24 Answ Paul speaks in this place what acceptation the gospel had amongst the sons of men how different their thoughts were of it in the 18. verse he saith it is to them that perish foolishnesse to us which are saved the power of God In the 23.24 verses he saith the unbelieving Iews did stumble at it and the unbelieving Greekes accompted it foolishnesse but the believing both of Iewes and Greekes did esteeme it the wildome of God and the power of God the unbelievers did not esteeme rightly of it the believers did but if the gospel were the power of God onely to believers and to unbelievers a dead Letter then unbelievers were as right in their thoughts to whom it was foolishnesse as Believers to whom it was the wisdome and power of God yea it had bin foolishnesse in unbelievers to have esteemed it any other then foolishnes in point of their salvation as a meanes unto which end it

considered not his owne body now dead when he was about 100. yeares old neither yet the deadnesse of Sarahs womb he staggered not at the promise through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory to God and all from this rationall consideration or conclusion that what God had promised he was able to persorme Rom. 4.19 20 21. So also when he was commanded to offen up his Sonne Isaac the child of promise in whom his seed was to be called yet he doth it readily from this rationall consideration that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence also he had received him in a figure Heb. 11.17 18 19. The service of God is a reasonable service Rom. 12.1 and Christ tells the lewes that if he had not done amongst them the works which none other man did they had not been to blame in not believing in him Joh. 15.24 and therefore their condemnation lay in this that they had seen and yet hated him and his Father when Christ blames the unbelief of his Disciples Mat. 16.8 he doth it by argument and reason O yee of little faith why reason yee amongst your selves because yee have brought no bread doe yee not understand nor remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many Baskets full took yee up neither the seven of the foure thousand and how many Baskets yee took up how is it that yee understand not that I speak not to you concerning bread when God would perswade his servants to rest on him for Food and Raiment he bids them to consider how God feeds the foules of the aire and how he cloathes the grasse of the field when we are affrighted with our adversaries he sets before us their vanity and his almighty power Isa 51.12 13. thus I say God doth alwaies endeavour to establish men upon sound and solid arguments to work on their judgments not on their fancies and God speaks not to men in a Language which they doe not understand and so onely makes a noise in their eares but in a language which is plaine easie and very suteable to them which will manifest it self to their hearts and consciences and prevaile with them if they do not resist and rebell against it If these men which perished in unbelief in the midst of means were dead and blind in such sort as men generally conceive they are how could they then be said to cloze their eyes lest they should see who were altogether blind in respect of the object they did shut their eyes against or how could they harden their hearts against the truth if the truth did not manifest it self unto or strive with their hearts how could their evill and sinfull hearts hate the light if they did not discover the purity of it Joh. 3.19 20. It were a needles thing for Satan to blind the eyes of naturall men lest the light of the glorious Gospell of Iesus Christ should shine unto them if they had no eyes to see and receive this glorious light of the gospel when it was declared to them for if it were impossible for men to receive the light of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ when it was preached to them then they were as blind as the Divell could make them in point of receiving the gospel and the Divell needed not to adde this second blindnes lest the light of the gospel should shine unto them But indeed men are not blind for want of eyes but for want of light and when light or truth is discovered to them they have faculties so suteable fit and apt to receive it that unlesse the God of this World 2 Cor. 4.4 the love of this Would and pleasure in unrighteousnesse 2 Thes 2.12 blind the eyes of their understandings and possesse them with prejudice that they will not heare nor consider nor shew themselves men Isa 46.8 Heb. 13.22 2 Tim. 4.3 4. Act. 7.57 or unlesse they willfully reject and put from them what they apprehend and see they cannot but submit yeeld obedience to it and therefore the Word of God the truth of God is full of light and power in it self where ever it comes how slightly soever men esteem of it and how meanly soever they through their ignorance speak of it as to call it a dead letter and the like it being none other then the wisdome of God Again God proceeds in such a way which the Sons of Men that are fallen even with Heathens those that never heard of the gospel that they may be without excuse For Gods doing good to men giving them Raine from Heaven and fruitfull seasons filling their hearts with food and gladnes is an evident testimonie of his love and goodnesse Act. 14.17 and Gods eternall power and God-head is clearly seen by the workes which he hath made so that all men were and are without excuse in these respects Rom. 1.20 But if when men had Christ preached to them they were unable to believe then they were not without excuse under that which was the greatest means for God required those which heard the gospel to believe it and not giving them faith they had this excuse that they could not believe and this was such an excuse as would not admit of an accusation from a God of mercie much lesse of such severe punishment as is to be inflicted on such as have disobeyed the gospel Object All men are without excuse in relation to what God gave them in Adam Answ God doth not afford men meanes now they are fallen to leave them without excuse in relation to what hee gave them before they were fallen for all the meanes which God useth with them being fallen leaves them never the more excuselesse in that respect so that the means used to such an end would be vaine and to no purpose Further consider if the losse of Adams Innocency leave all men without excuse that is bring all under the curse of condemnation in Hell then there could be no redemption for any For to the transgression of what the severity of his justice is referred to the obedience of that the goodnes of his mercy must be confined for both respect one object his mercy the obedience his severity the disobedience thereof else God would be divided in himself or rob'd of his Attributes for should he save some in respect of Christ and damne others in respect of Adam simply without respect to the denyall of Christ there could neither be mercy in the one nor justice in the other for both would be void of equity It is unequall to save for that the denyall whereof is not the object of condemnation or to damne for that the obedience whereof cannot be or salvation by it So that if the losse of the state of innocency be the cause for which the equity of his justice leaveth all without excuse and for which its severity executes eternall damnation in Hell then there can be no salvation at all for