Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A56802
|
The best match, or, The souls espousal to Christ opened and improved by Edward Pearse.
|
Pearse, Edward, 1633?-1674?
|
1673
(1673)
|
Wing P971; ESTC R33034
|
147,229
|
280
|
at once the Law and Christ but he must be dead to or divorced from the one e're ho can be married to the other Observe ye are dead to the Law What is it to be dead to the Law or divorced from the Law To be dead to the Law is to have no hope no expectation of Life and Righteousness by the Law 't is to be sensible that the Law cannot save us yea there is more in it than so To be dead to the Law is to see our selves dead by the Law 't is to see our selves lost and condemned by the Law for sin as the transgression thereof and thus we must all be dead to the Law or divorced from the Law or we cannot be married to Christ Now this the Spirit of God effects by a work of the Law upon the Conscience He divorces the Soul from the Law by the Law i. e. by bringing home the Law to the Conscience This the Apostle felt in his own Soul I through the Law sayes he that is the Spirit of God bringing home the Law to my Conscience am dead to the Law Gal. 2.19 So again Rom. 7.9 I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandment came sin revived and I dyed I was alive without the Law once that is I thought my self to be alive I apprehended my state to be good and happy but this was without the Law i. e. before the Spirit of God by the ministry of the Law convinced me of my sin and misery therefore it follows when the Commandment came sin revived and I dyed i. e. when the Law came in its convincing power through the Spirit upon my Soul then I saw my sinful dead and miserable state thus was he himself divorced from the Law that he might be married to Christ the sum is this the Spirit of God comes and shews the Soul the strictness and holiness the purity and spirituality of the Law and makes him sensible how large the Duty is that it requires how impossible it is for him to keep it and how many wayes he has broken it he withal lets him see the dreadfulness of that curse and condemnation it has justly laid him under for the breach thereof and thus he is divorced from it and this is all one with the Spirits convincing us of sin and our lost and miserable condition by reason thereof which is you know his first work in order to Faith and so to our espousing to Christ John 16.8 Thus by the Spirit of God the Soul is divorced from the Law he is taken off from all expectations of life and happiness by that and is made to see his own sinfulness and so his infinite need of Christ whereby he is fitted for this other and better Husband II. The Soul being thus divorced from the Law and so fitted and prepared for Christ then the Spirit of God reveals and offers the Lord Jesus Christ in the promise of the Gospel as a better Husband to him Now the blessed Spirit comes and does as Abrahants Servant did who was sent to take a Wife for Isaac he told Rebecca of his Masters Greatness of his Flocks and his Herds his Silver and his Gold his men servants and his maid-servants and withal that he had given all to Isaac Gen. 24.35 36. So the Spirit of God now sets before the Soul the riches and the greatness the beauty and the excellency of the Lord Jesus Christ he tells him what a full what a sweet what a rich what an amiable one he is and withal tenders him to his embraces he reveals and offers him to him as one full of Grace and Truth as one that has all fulness dwelling in him all fulness of Life and Peace or Righteousness and Salvation as one every way able to save him to the very utmost which is that which Christ calls his convincing the World of Righteousness John 16.9 he reveals and offers him to him in the transcendent Beauty Excellency and Amiableness of his Person on the one hand as also in the glorious fulness largeness sufficiency of his Grace and Righteousness on the other hand Thus I say he reveals and offers Christ unto the Soul and withal opens his Glory and causes it to shine forth before him so that now the Soul sees that in Christ that fulness that beauty that love that amiableness that sweetness which he never saw before Christ is now another thing in the Souls eye than ever before he was Now the Soul as those John 1.14 Beholds his glory as the glory of the onely begotten Son full of grace and truth Yea not only does he thus reveal Christ unto the Soul but withal fixes the Souls eye upon him He makes him to pore and gaze upon Christ as the most excellent and amiable Object and as one infinitely needful for him and this is called a seeing of the Son and that in order to believing whosoever seeth the Son and believeth on him shall have everlasting life Joh. 6.40 The blessed Spirit deals by the Soul herein as God by the Angels did with Hagar Gen. 21.19 where 't is said He opened her eyes and she saw a Well of Water for her relief She was in a very distressed condition as you may see vers 15 16. full of bitterness she and her Child both in a perishing condition being in the Wilderness and her Water in the Bottle being spent Now God shews her a Well of Wate whence she fetches a full supply So here the poor Soul having been under the convincing power of the Law sees himself in a woful miserable distessed condition whereupon he is full of bitterness crying out with Hagar How shall I see the Child die How can I bear it to perish eternally But now the Spirit of God comes and opens his eyes and shews him Christ and Christ as infinitely sutable to him Look sayes the Spirit to the Soul being now desolate and undone look here is a Saviour for thee a Husband for thee another and a better Husband than the Law could ever have been even the Lord Jesus Christ who is infinitely able to pay all thy Debts to supply all thy Wants to heal all thy Wounds to relive all thy Distresses to pardon all thy Sins to satisfie all thy Desires to answer all thy Love and to give thee perfect happiness and satisfaction in and with himself for ever Look here he is here he is in the Promise here he is in the Covenant here he is in the Tender Invitation of the Gospel here he is at the very door of thy heart knocking and calling for admission thereunto Rev. 3.20 Here he is with his Arms wide open to receive and embrace thee and that notwithstanding all thy vileness finfulness and unworthiness Look therefore to him and be saved III. With this Tender and Revelation of Christ unto the Soul the Spirit of God comes and works a secret love and longing in the Soul after Christ he
Christ hath given us his Bond his promise and that feal'd with his Blood and to all added his Oath for the further incouragement of our Faith and what can we desire more If you have a mans promise to you for the performance of this or that you think you are well you judging him to be both able and Faithful but if you have his Seal added to his promise then you look upon your selves secure of the business indeed but if to both these you have his Oath added then you look on the business past all doubt and you dare not question it why lo Christ has given poor Sinners all this to assure them that he will imbrace and accept them coming to him and Oh how firm may their Faith stand upon all this and what horred wickedness must it be so much as once to question it true neither his seal nor his Oath addes any thing to the truth and certainty of the promise in it self 1a dco tam dicere quam jurace immntabile est sed en quam indulgenter ut oâ—timum paâ—â—em decet se deus accommodet nostrae tarditati qtoia nos videt simplici suo sermoni non acquiescore ut cum plenius sanciat in cordibus nostris addit jusjuraudum Cal. in Locum but to our sense and apprehension it does and meerly out of indulgence to us our weakness is the one and the other added so the Apostle tells us Heb. 6.17 18. God willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his Councell confirmed it by an Oath that by two immutable things wherein it was impossible for God to lye we might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us Mark 't was not to confirm or add any thing to the truth and certainty of God's councell or Covenant that his Oath was added but 't was to confirm and incourage our Faith Thus you see Christ is under Bonds to receive and accept of sinners if they come to him and are willing of an Espousal with him and how much does this argue his heart to be in the business O let none ever say will Christ accept and receive me coming to him for indeed Bonds bind him so to do The truth is were he under no bonds we need not question it for his bowels would constrain him and had he no Bowels we need not to doubt it for Bonds would bind him to it Christ must deny his Word Promise Seal Oath and all if he refuse any soul that indeed comes to him and desires to close in a Marriage-Covenant with him Oh what encouragement is this 5. Such is the heart of Christ and so set upon an Espousal with sinners as that he has given them a full and unquestionable assurance that nothing what ever shall stand between him and them nor prejudice their acceptance with him in care they be willing to be Espoused unto him should a man not onely make love to a person wait long upon her in the tenders thereof and the like but also given full assurance that nothing shall stand between him and her to hinder the Match in case she be willing to accept of him this would argue his heart to be much upon het indeed Now his also Christ hath done He hath given sinners a full and firm a urance that nothing shall prejudice their acceptance with him nor hinder the Match between him their souls in case they be willing of it and is not his heart then much upon the business this is no other then what he himself declares Jâ—l 6.37 And certainly he doth not delude souls with vain words Him that cometh an 〈◊〉 Saâ—â— he i.e. He that believeâ—h on me he that is willing to be mine him I will iâ— no wise cost out in no wise or by no means upon no accounts whatever Nothing shall obstruct his acceptance with me but I will receive him with a notwithstanding notwithstanding all his Vileness all his unworthiness all his unâ—indness all his unsuitableness Notwithstanding all that either Men or Devils Law or Conscience can charge upon him yea or that unbelief its self can preâ—end or alledge be it what it will notwithstanding all I 'le receive him into the Bosome of my love Christ language to poor sinners in this promise of his and many more of like import is such as this come poor souls be not afraid of me what ever your condition be and how ever things stand and are stated with you yet if you have a mind to me and an Espousal with me assure your selves that nothing shall obstruct your acceptance with me nothing shall shut up my Bosome against you but I will betroth you â—o my self for ever Oh what encouragement is here Come to Christ and close with Christ in a Marriage-Covenant who would not do that may some say but alas there are a thousand things that will hinder the Match and stand between him and me should I go to him poor soul this is apparently the plea and Language of unbelief and let it be silenced for ever Christ having as thou seest fully assured us of the contrary But besides what is it that thou fearest or that any soul can fear will stand between Christ and thee to hinder an Espousal with him Bring forth thy strong pleas and see if they will bear any weight in the Sanctuary-ballance 1. Is it outward meanness and baseness possibly thou art low and mean and base in the World thou art a poor forlorn despicable Creature and this thou thinkest will stand between Christ and thee surely sayest thou Christ will never take such a Contemptible Worm as I am into such a Relation with himself But sinner this shall not hinder in the least for Christ is no respecter of Persons High and Low Rich and Poor Bond and free are all one in Christ and to Christ Gal. 3.28 Yea does not the word tell us that he chooses the poor of this World Heires of the Kingdom and rich in Faith Jam. 2.5 And again ye see your calling Brethren Says the Apostle how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many Noble are called but God chooses Foolish and weak and baseoneâ— 1 Cor. 1.26 27 28. As greatness is no furtherance so meanness and baseness is no hinderance in this case Men indeed mind Honour and greatness they will have such as are sutable to themselves But 't is otherwise with Christ Poor sinner though thou beest never so low and mean and base in the World though thou shouldst be cloathed with Rags yet if thou hast a mind to Christ he will accept thee and Marry thee to himself yea and thy soul will be as dear to him and as precious in his sight as the soul of the greatest Prince or Monarch in the World 2. Is it inward Blackness and desormity perhaps sinner if thou art not outwardly mean and base yet