Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	good_a	know_v	life_n	7,850	5	4.5045	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51697	The axe at the root of professors miscarriages in a plain detection of, and a wholesome caveat against the miscarriages opposite to faith in God / by Thomas Mall ...	Mall, Thomas, b. 1629 or 30.	1668 (1668)	Wing M328; ESTC R12069	51,837	51

getting Assurance Against want of Assurance which is called by some Divines Sensus Fidei the feeling or perceiving of Faith by others Flos Fidei the very lustre and eminency of Faith When God requires all the Act of Faith he doth not only require that we know him and believe him and consent to have him and relye upon him but he requires that we know that we do so It is true Assurance is not such a duty as concerns all men at all times and immediately it concerns only some and those in an order and mediately Though therefore it is not the sin of Vnbelievers not to know that God is their God for that cannot be known by them such are not bound immediately to be perswaded of an interest in God unless we will say that they are bound to be perswaded of a lye God being the God of Believers only yet it is the 〈◊〉 of Believers ●ickman's discourse concerning the spirits ●ealing up believers page 76 77. to let their interest in God to hang hovering and in dispute It must be confess'd that Gods not evidencing the direct Acts of Faith unto Believers is not their sin for God may refuse to evidence them out of Soveraignty or for the meer try●l and exercise of grace and nor for the Believers sins but yet for a Believer to be regardless of getting Assurance is his sin yea if God refuse for any long time to evidence the direct Acts of Faith he may thank some sin or other He that bids us Work out your salvation and make your calling and election sure would not so let us be at uncertainties concerning our selves did not we sleight some Ordinance or omit some Duty or give way to some Lust And is not this your sin still Do not you still want that feeling or perceiving of Faith which is not meerly humane and subject to falshood and delusions but from Gods Spirit perswading the Soul that it doth know believe consent to and crust in God and therefore infallible for the Spirit can no more inwardly p●rswade a soul of then he can externally bear witness to any thing that is false It is a good rule laid down by a late worthy in our Israel Burges's Res●nings c. Part 1. fol. 20 21. 〈◊〉 in all the Acts of Faith whether they be direct or reflect the firmness and certainty doth more depend upon Gods spirit confirming us then upon the clearness of the Arguments But which of us can say that we know infallibly we are believers from Gods spirit perswading us of the truth of our faith It is true no Man hath such perfection of degrees of assurance in an ordinary way Do●little in Morning Exercise at Criple gate ●●●m 12. p. 3 ● 307. as that one degree more cannot be added to the former and yet as one well reasoneth there is not any repugnancy in asserting an infallible assurance and denying a perfect assurance for I infallibly know that there is a God and that this God is good and just and yet I have not a perfect knowledge of a Deity or of his goodnes and justice for in this life we know but in part Is not your want of assurance that God is your God evidenced still in your Not being ●et above the tormenting fear of death not yet despising the perishing vi●ities of this World not yet slighting the censures of the ungodly Hickman in supra p. 135 to page 155. remaining still without an holy boldness in prayer not yet taking comfort in Word and Sacraments not yet abounding in praise and thanks giving not yet kindly mourning for your sins nor watching against them and not yet disregarding cavils against the Truth Is not God contending with you upon thi● account God hath often called upon you in the Ministry of the Word to give all diligence to make s●●e th●● you are believers and that God is your God upon your saith in him but though God hath spoken in your prosperity you have not heard Jer. 〈…〉 And is not he ●●ing his Rod to make way for his Word to enter into your hearts Is not he dep●iving you of all your outward delights Causing all your desirable things to perish at his rebuke that they may not hinder you any longer from making su●e what cannot be taken away from you that your hearts may not be taken up any longer with other enjoyments and thereupon want either time or will to pursue the one thing necessary Are not the Childs Babies taken away to make it learn its Lesson Hath not God made a Thorn to grow up with every Flower the Star Wormwood to fall into every estate you are in that you may yet at length say it is not good to be so busie to secure these bitter-sweets and careless of securing an interest in the unmixed chief good Is not God bringing you into life-threatning dangers that you might not only hear with the hearing of the ear but see with your eyes the necessity of having your interest in God cleared up unto your souls 2 Carelesness of preserving assurance Against carelesness to keep Assurance Non minor est virtus quam quaerere pa●ta ●ueri when gotten It was your duty to be as carefull to keep as to gain assurance When you had gained assurance you should have remembred that you took God to be your God to rule you and make you happy in the enjoyment of himself not to make you rich and great in this World and that therefore Gods people being in the hands of the Midiamites will not evidence that the Lord is not with them Judg. 6.13 H●●●bman c. p. 183. to 193. D●ut 26 10 11. though Gideon say If the Lord be with us why then is all this befallen us You should have remembred that sincere not perfect faith in God interests souls in him and that therefore frailties and infirmities do not dissolve the union you should have been very thankfull for the first fruits of the Heavenly Canaan Psal 85. 8. Eccl. 5. 4 5 6. you should have been very careful not to return unto folly you should not have deferd to pay your vows unto God yea you should have brought forth such fruit after assurance as you either did not or could not before assurance But have not you been careless of discharging your duty herein Have not you forgotten the termes of the Covenant you have entred into with God Have not you been unthankful even for an Heaven upon Earth Have not you been guilty of wilful Relapses Have not you refused or delayed to pay your vows Have not you done as little for God as you might have done had the light of his countenance been never lifted up upon your souls And is not God therefore angry with you Is not he greatly displeased with you That is his meaning when he saith he hath no pleasure in such fools Mat. 13.12 Hath not he taken away what you

Samaria a strong walled City though the King of Israel sent to fetch his head he said only to those that were with him Shut the door Do not some still expect that God should provide for their Bodies though they neglect the means that God hath appointed for their nourishment clothing recovery from sickness c 2 Thes 3.10 Do not some look to eat though they do not labour But do not more expect that God should provide for their Souls though they neglect the means of grace and salvation Do not you still think that your Souls shall do well enough though you take no pains about them Do not you lay all upon God and never trouble your selves about them Do not you still cry out Let us dye the death of the righteous But are not you careless of living the life of the righteous Do not you still expect help from God in sinful wayes Do not you still expect to meet with God in wayes of worship of your own devising Now therefore why tempt ye God Acts 1● 10 to put a yoak upon the neck of the Disciples which neither our Fathers nor we were able to bear In a word as to this Head Do not you still do what tends to incline God to make good his promises though you do not perform their conditions Do not you also still expect that God should not execute his threats upon you though there be that in you against which where e're it is the threatnings are denounced Do not you still expect to escape punishments notwithstanding your very sins are threatned by God in his Word Do not you still run into temptation And are not you careless to avoid occasions of sin and yet remain fearless of falling into sin though God hath threatned Ezek. 14.3 4 5. 1 Cor. 10.9 to give up such to their own hearts lusts O that this may be your sin no more O! tempt not Christ any more as you have tempted him The naturalness of this sin should make you take heed This is an humour that we are all given unto by nature to be marvellous desirous to try conclusions that are rare and unknown to contemn things common and to be fond after strange novelties It was told the Israelites as plain as could be that they should not reserve of the Mannah till morning and they needed not to have reserved it they had fresh every day and yet forsooth they would needs keep it if it were but for an experiment sake to try whether it would s●ink or no Exod. 16.20 And though they were forbidden to gather any on the Sabbath day and on the Eeven before had enough for two dayes and it was told them they should find none on the Sabbath day yet they must needs try This sin should not only be the more lamented but the more taken heed of because it is such a provocation unto God It comes from much wickedness Such an one that will undertake a new way to know the will of God is not satisfied with Gods discovery of his will in his Word yea this sin proceedeth from pride and arrogancy such a soul refuseth to subject its will to the will of God and doth seek to make Gods will subject to its lusts This sin lays you open to all manner of temptations to any wickedness whatsoever neither are we overcome by any temptation of the Devil unless we do in a sort tempt God ●nar● 8 11 12 Psal 95.11 The Lord Jesus sighed for the Pharisee tempting of God and why Because God sware in his wrath that their Fathers who tempted him should not enter into his rest It is verily height of madness to tempt God To tempt God is to put God to it 1 Cor 10 22 and do yee provoke the Lord to anger are yee stronger than he If you will needs tempt it were best for you to tempt your matches There is no dealing with Fire it is very ●langerous to make experiments thereof it will burn all that toucheth it Heb 12 29 and God is Fire yea our God is a consuming Fire 2 Not trusting in God Against not trusting in God The Hebrews express this act of faith by a word that signifieth to lean on or to cast the weight of ones body for support or stay And it shall come to pass in that day ●a 10 20 that the remnant of Israel and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob shall no more stay upon him that smote them but shall stay upon the Lord the holy one of Israel in truth But which of our souls do yet wholly rely upon God for the making good of his promises either for the bestowing or continuing of what is good or for the preventing or removing of what is evil Is not our not trusting in God still evidenced in our ignorance of God● can God be more trusted than he is known They that know thy name Psal 9 10 and they only will put their trust in thee Is it not also evidenced in our want of interest in God by reason of our not assenting and consenting to him Who is this that cometh up from the Wilderness Cant 8 5 leaning upon her beloved who can suppose God to be thy leaning-stock if he be not thy beloved May not God say with a bitter scorn Teate c page 333 334 who art thou that learned upon anothers beloved How darest thou lay thine head in his bosome unto whom thou never yet gavest the heart in thy bosome 'T is interest and only interest in Christ in God in and through Christ that gives a right to this act of leaning upon him If you still refuse to enter into Covenant with God he is so far from calling you to take hold that he will even knock off your fingers from holding upon his Covenant with what hast thou to do Psal 50.10 to take my Covenant into thy mouth I● God be thine if thou believest him and consents to have him to be thy God lean and welcome and the more thou leanest the dearer shalt thou be unto him Christ loved that Disciple best that leaned upon his bosome most John 21.20 Isa 49.5 Psal 18 ● If thou canst say with Christ my God th●● ma●st add he shall be my strength If thou canst say with David the Lord is my God thou mayst add my strength in whom I will trust But if God be not thy beloved thy leaning will be counted wantonness impudence and presumption Is not our not trusting in God also evidenced in our not keeping his way the way of his Commandments Psal 37.3 and the way of his Providence but tempting of him But of these evidences already in the former Chapters and the first section of this Once more what else do your carking cares and carnal sears argue but your distrusts of God Trusting in God will not indeed suffer you to be slothfully careless what becomes of you and