Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A39929
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Eternal glorification begun in regeneration, or, A discourse of regeneration intended for the profit of all, both regenerate and unregenerate persons / by Stephen Ford.
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Ford, Stephen, d. 1694.
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1675
(1675)
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Wing F1508; ESTC R27370
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134,202
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259
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sin against God or wrong their own Souls God hath promised to cause men to fear him not so much for his Judgments as for his Mercy and Coâ—dness Hos 3.5 and this fear he put into the Body of Regeneration without which it will be imperfect Seventhly Humility Meekness These Graces if they are two are parts of the New Creature they are the Beauty and Ornament of the New Creature without which it would not be so amiable and lovely as now it is We are by Nature exceeding proud rugged haughty sowre and pievish Creatures but God loves a meek and humble spirit and therefore he Regenerates some with Humility and Meekness and the more men have of these the more lovely they are to God and men the more conformable to Christ who was meek and lowly in heart Matth. 11.29 Christ will have all his Members like himself the Body must be like the Head and Christ becoming their Head in Regeneration he bestows on them his Humility and Meekness which is a part of that fulness of Grace he hath received for his Members Meekness is one of the glorious fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 and one of the Graces of Christ Jam. 4.6 By Humility and Meekness Christ prepares and capacitates men for his service and communion with himself to bow and bend them to his holy will and make them obedient unto him in all things for only the Humble and Meek are such persons and walkers Eighthly Zeal Regeneration makes men zealous against sin and for God and godliness Before Regeneration men may have a zeal for God but not the Zeal it is not according to knowledge Rom. 10.2 True gospel-Gospel-zeal is a glorious Grace of Christ infused into men in Regeneration and that in pursuance of one of the great ends of Christ his death Tit. 2.14 He gave himself to redeem us from all iniquity and to make us a peculiar people zealous of good works Before men are Regenerated they are zealous for their own gain honour pleasure and superstition but Regeneration makes them zealous for God with the Zeal of God As soon as Paul was converted he shewed himself a true and great Zealot indeed for Christ Grace Holiness and the Souls of men It is holy Gospel-zeal that makes men active for God and puts them forward to follow their Light Light in the Head without Zeal in the Heart may fill men with notions of duty but never make them Practitioners of duty they may know the Will of God but they will not they cannot be perswaded to do it 't is true that Zeal without knowledge is not good and as true that knowledge without zeal is unprofitable Christ hath a fulness of zeal for men and in Regeneration he imparts it to them Ninthly Prayer In Regeneration Christ infuses the Grace and Spirit of Prayer as soon as Paul was Regenerated behold he prayeth Acts 9.11 He had often prayed before for he was a zealous Pharisee and concerning the Law he was blameless Phil. 3.6 but he never prayed aright until he was Regenerated for then Christ gave him the grace of Prayer he could then pray with Grace in his heart and then not till then behold he prayeth There are none can pray spiritually but New Creatures for the voice of Nature is the voice of the flesh and what is of the flesh is flesh Joh. 3.6 and that voice God is not pleased with and heareth not but it is the voice of the New Creature which is formed and made up of the Grace and Spirit of Christ that God heareth and delighteth in Pro. 15.8 Therefore God promiseth to give unto men in Regeneration the Spirit of Grace and Supplication Zach. 12.10 that they may thereby be enabled to pray unto God holily and acceptably 1 Pet. 2.5 Rom. 8.26 27. God is a Spirit and will be worshipped in spirit and truth Joh. 4.23 24. and therefore he spirits them in Regeneration so to do Men may speak great and good words and make plausible and seemingly good prayers from light in their heads and other common spiritual gifts without Regeneration but they are but fleshly cold dead and loathsome prayers because they proceed not from a Divine Root and Spring they are dead their hearts are dead and therefore their prayers must needs be dead prayers which the Living God abhors Isa 1. But now Regeneration opens their hearts and tongues enlivens and quickens them puts a heavenly Principle into them so that now they can speak to God with new tongues and hearts now they can pray in Faith and Hope with spiritual and lively affections and in obedience to the Will of God Tenthly Self-denial Men are by Nature altogether selfish they are wholly devoted to the service of the flesh and set upon fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind Eph. 2.3 Rom. 8.5 Phil. 3.19 But God lays in Self-denying grace on their hearts in Regeneration so that now they can deny themselves of their ease pleasures profits opinions relations peace and all their once beloved Interests whatsoever for God Holiness Truth and the welfare of their own Souls They can and that upon choice displease themselves to please God they can willingly be nothing that Christ may be all in all things Col. 3.11 yea they would be the Footstool of Christ to exalt him and set him on the Throne Regeneration makes them account their all too little for him as before they accounted a little too much for Christ This is the great term on which we receive and believe in the Lord Jesus Mark 8.34 Matth. 16.24 Luk. 9.23 and by Regeneration he gives them power and will to do it Psal 110.3 Phil. 2.13 Joh. 6.44 45. This Regeneration wrought in Paul Gal. 1.16 I consulted not with flesh and blood says he that is as soon as he was Regenerated Christ sent him to preach the Faith which before he had zealously destroyed vers 23. and that amongst the barbarous Heathens where was much danger and in the doing of which he should meet with many difficulties as he did yet he immediately yielded up himself to the Will of Christ and laid his own in the dust So when Christ called Peter and Andrew they straightway left all and followed him Matth. 4.18 19 20. and after ward Matthew did the like he presently left his gainful Trade at the Custom-House and followed Christ Matth. 9.9 So the Disciples tell Christ Luke 18. that they had left all and followed him and the grace of Self-denial is given to all Regenerate persons in the very moment of their Regeneration Eleventhly Sincerity This is the general grace or that which is the Salt that seasons and makes as it were all other grace good and singular Gospel-sincerity is the holy spiritual Leven that runs through the whole Lump or Body of the graces of Christ given in Regeneration it is not properly one single grace but it is rather the grace of all other graces 't is that which makes
God That we are translated from Death to Life and hereby know we that we are in him 1 John 2.5.3.14.5.19 And Paul tells us that they namely he and other Regenerate Persons had received the Spirit that they might know the things which were freely given to them of God 1 Cor. 2.12 Now if it was certainly known by the Saints of old such as run their Race before us then we may obtain it now for we live under the same God Christ Grace Promises Love Spirit and means of assurance that they did and we have as much need of it as they had upon all accounts And as we have these and many other Scripture Evidences or Examples I mean the Saints mentioned in Scripture so we have had many undoubted Testimonies of it in and from many good men in our days and the latter Ages before us How that some on their Death-Beds others in the days of their prosperity others in their tryals and temptations Some in one Ordinance of God and some in another some in Prison and some at the Stake some under the loss of their Goods and Reproaches for Christs sake have gotten clear and heart ravishing Assurance of their Regeneration and blessed States I say we have this Truth confirmed to us by their worthy Testimonies and glorious Experiences And assuredly what they had we also may obtain in the same way in and by the use of the same means and in the same or like case and condition 2. God hath commanded Regenerate Persons and so hath made it their Duty to get and keep assurance of their new States and God would never have prescribed such a means and commanded our diligent use of it as our duty in order to the obtainment of the end but that the said end is attainable by and shall most certainly be obtained in the faithful constant use of it For as his commands makes the work or means our duty so the End propounded namely of the duty to be done by us is the obtainment of assurance so I say it is an object of our Faith and Hope And upon Gods propounding it to us as the end of the duty commended we are to believe and hope in the performance of the duty to obtain the end that is assurance of our being translated from Death to Life namely that God will bless his own means to effect and accomplish his own ends to and in us and he will by no means disappoint us or make us ashamed of our trusting him hoping in and waiting for him to grant us the end he presented to us commanded us to seek it that we might find it and which we have endeavoured with all our hearts to obtain in his own way Isa 49.20 Isa 54.4 Now God hath charged us to examin and prove our selves 2 Cor. 13.5 And to give diligence to make our Calling and Election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 And to worship him in full assurance of Faith Heb. 10.22 that is in the certain perswasion of Gods Truth All-sufficiency and Faithfulness in his Promises and of Christ his being a High-Priest over the House of God vers 21. So likewise of our Interest and Right to and in all 4. God hath given us many Rules and Marks in his Word to help us in our Tryals of our states and to make a comfortable and satisfactory judgment of them whether we are indeed Regenerate or no. Very much of the New Testament was written for that end that we might know we have Eternal Life saith John 1 Joh. 5.13 All which Scripture had been to little or no purpose if assurance after all were not attainable But it is evident that it is attainable and that all Regenerate persons may attain unto and obtain it because God hath given them such proper and suitable means and helps for the obtainment of it There are many of them scattered up and down the Scriptures I 'le name one or two that in 1 Joh. 3.14 We know that we are passed from death to life because we love the Brethren that is here is a certain and infallible sign or mark of a New Creature his loving of good men that is if you can really say and soundly experience that you do love a holy man or gracious men as such rightly truly heartily with a spiritual and special love because they are such and belong to Christ why then you may conclude that you are in a state of Grace and passed from death to life So that if I can make good the lesser Proposition the Gospel will prove and make good the first or greater Proposition thus He that loves the Brethren that is rightly and in a true Gospel sense is passed from death to life but I do so love the Brethren therefore I am passed from death to life Now that which we have to do in the case is this namely to get the clear proof of the second part thus I do know that I do so love the Brethren according to the true purport and meaning of that and other Texts of Scripture and then conclude from this Scripture and others of the like import that I am passed from death to life that is I am Regenerated 2. An other sign or mark of Regenerate men laid down in Scripture is this that they desire the sincere Milk of the Word that they may grow thereby 1 Pet. 2.2 Now if I am a Babe in Christ I do desire the sincere Milk of the Word of God that I may not only eat it but eat it to grow thereby to grow up in Christ Grace and in the practise and fruits of holiness and if I do so desire the sincere Milk of the Word then I am at least a Babe or young Child of God But this is not my work or present design and therefore do but little more than mention these things namely to shew that Unregenerate and Regenerate persons may know the states and conditions wherein they are the one in and by sin the other in and by Grace But I thought good to say a little of it and but a little as a preparative to that which I have further to say and which was mainly intended as the subject matter of this Chapter Q. What are some of the most certain Signs Characters or Marks of Regenerate and Vnregenerate persons or states A. Much hath been said already in opening the work of Regeneration what it was and what was contained in it as you may see in that Chapter and therefore I shall say the less here But yet I shall endeavour to present so much unto you in this Chapter or Head as shall fully answer and resolve the Question First A Regenerate person hath new life It is a New Creature Gal. 6.15 and it is a living lively Creature it is not born dead but alive it is alive to God to live unto him in newness of life Rom. 6.4.10.11 To bring forth fruit unto God Rom. 7.4 And men are created in Christ Jesus unto