Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	great_a	life_n	love_n	7,775	5	5.2746	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31664	A brief apology in behalf of the people in derision call'd Quakers written for the information of our sober and well-inclined neighbors in and about the town of Warminster in the county of Wilts. by Wil. Chandler, Alex. Pyott, Jo. Hodges, and some others.	Chandler, William.; Pyott, Alex. (Alexander); Hodges, Jo.	1694 (1694)	Wing C1934A; ESTC R35979	36,422	93

Lusts and Affections and bring forth the Fruits of the Spirit adorning the Doctrin of God our Saviour by a Sober Godly Righteous Life are of God 1 Joh. 3.10 for herein the Children of God are manifest from the Children of the Devil Thus have we candidly though briefly exprest our real Opinion and Belief in those Points in which we apprehend our Adversaries have endeavour'd most to expose us which we hope may prove satisfactory to those who are not resolved to think ill of us But to speak fully to every critical trifling Objection were a tedious Task as well as vastly beyond the Extent of our Design We request our serious Neighbours to hear and see for themselves and not take things upon trust from others and judging the things they know not condemn us by hear-say Don't be imposed upon by those whose peevish Humours would have all do like themselves who either look not at all or but very coyly into the Books of those they have taken a Pet against whose Perswasion in some things differs from what they have pronounced Orthodox as tho' Truth were their peculiar inclosure which yet certainly argues either a great deal of Prejudice or a feeble and fleeting Judgment that dares not trust it self Were our Books stuft with such palpable Errors as is suggested surely 't were not so dangerous Reading them Who fears to read the Alchoran But on the contrary 't is a strong indication that they contain much truth for as 't is the proper Object of the Understanding so where it appears with a clear Evidence answering to Peoples own Experience 't is very forcible and prevalent upon the Minds of those who diligently seek it for love of it and willingly deposit all pre-ingagements of Mind in its disquisition Be then so just to us and kind to your selves as to relinquish all Prejudice and Prepossessions and impartially examine the truth of these things search the Sacred Scriptures diligently with an inclination rather to find and embrace Truth than to support a received Opinion try whether 't is so or not comparing it with your own Experiences and the Witness of God in your own Hearts Though our Belief in some of these Particulars don 't exactly quadrate to that of our Opposers it don't therefore necessarily follow 't is not agreeable to Truth and Scripture Nor can they give us any infallible assurance that their Conceptions are a true Standard of Truth notwithstanding they vend their Apprehensions as the only Orthodox yes and are displeased too with those that can't be determined by them We have no Design carrying on behind the Curtain howsoever our Sober Demeanour may be uncharitably not to say maliciously insinuated as only a Cover of Sheeps Cloathing upon the Wolves Nature and our most Solemn Declaration of our Belief in several Religious Points being undeniable Truths construed and suggested by some Men as only a fair Cover wherewith we guild over our Poyson that it may pass the less suspected and be the more glibly swal●owed What think you is not this ●he heighth of Prejudice and Envy in ●he abstract Would they themselves be content to be thus interpreted We have no intent to decoy and tra●an People that we should walk under a Disguise which Intreagues usually have interest at one end of them which can't be our case who neither give nor take Money for Preaching so that the increase of our Numbers won't fill our Coffers We have no other Interest to promote but the Advancement of True Piety and Christianity And having Love and Good-will to all People more especially to those whose Minds are awakened and Hearts warmed having true fervent Desires and living Breathings towards God thirsting after a nearer and more satisfactory knowledge of and acquaintance with him than barely a profession and hear-say of him and therefore what we have found advantageous assistant and satisfactory to us in our unwearied pursuit after Peace with him that we recommend to others We call People home to the Gift of God in themselves which only can do them good that every one may know the good Shepherd and Bishop of Souls for themselves and hear and know his Voice in them from that of a Stranger and learn of him and follow him who is pure and ever leads to Purity and Holiness that so his offering up of himself for them may be of benefit to them and they experience the great Salvation of God For impress this upon your Minds and take it along with you That notwithstanding our Saviour hath paid a Ransom for us and made an Atonement through the precious Blood of his Cross yet if we experience not the end of his Coming and Death effected and answered in our selves it shall avail us nothing except we know him a Saviour and Supporter near except we know a Principle of Divine Light and Life to illuminate our Minds to revive and warm our languishing Hearts to beget and increase true Love to God and the living Faith that gives Victory to convert us and govern our Thoughts to renew and regulate our Wills and limit our Desires and bridle our Tongues to excite holy Inclinations and keep up a due Heat in our Christianity and strengthen our Minds in that which is good and well-pleasing to God Except we know these things in and for our selves all our outside shew of Religion is but vain and our profession of Christ shall profit us nothing but we shall lye down in sorrow at last For none are Christ's Ro. 8.9 14. but those that have his Spirit and are influenced by it nor are any Children of God but those that are led by the Spirit of God which begets in the Mind a detestation of Sin and Evil and a love to Purity Goodness and Vertue Wherefore laying aside all Strife and Animosities all Envying and Evil-speaking let us abhor that which is Evil Ro. 12.9 and cleave to that which is Good and address our selves with a due and humble Application to the accomplishment of that most concerning and important Affair of our Lives the working out our Salvation And let every one follow the Lord faithfully according to what is made known to them knowing that we shall be judged according to our Knowledge and that 't will be happy for those whose Wills and Performances correspond with their Understandings in that Day when all must stand before the Judgment-seat of Christ and give an Account of their Deeds done in the Body and receive a Sentence thereafter either Come ye blessed or Depart from me ye workers of Iniquity It won't be then of what Congregation or Confession of Faith or of what Perswasion amongst the many wast thou Among all which there will then be but Two sorts the Sheep and the Goats those that heard the Shepherd's Voice and followed him who were guided and governed by the good Spirit of God in their Hearts and those who wrapping their Talent in a Napkin stifled Convictions and

Mat. 5.8 Heb. 12.14 that without it we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven nor see God Nor is the way broader or its Passage less strait and difficult than they imagine nay 't is utterly impossible for them to walk therein while they are immers'd in their first corrupt unbridled Nature which cannot keep the Law of God while their Lusts and Passions are rampant their Affections inordinate and Wills unsubjected and follow the Desires and evil Inclinations of their Minds without restraint But if they come to know another Principle and Power to govern their Minds to create in them new clean Hearts to regulate and subject their Wills to subdue and tame their Passions to limit their Desires and direct their Affections and Inclinations wholly after that which is good to meliorate their Spirits throughout and make them Heavenly Minded having an aversion to all Evil and a great love to Vertue and Goodness Being thus perfectly transformed where is the extream difficulty now for the good Man Mat. 12.35 out of the good Treasure of his Heart to bring forth good things Will not this new well-inclin'd inside that now detests Evil and loves and delights in Righteousness as naturally follow after and bring forth that which is Good as before he did Evil Here is no force upon Peoples Natures but they are converted and throughly leavened into another Nature and are in their measures Partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 which only can work the Will of God We request our piously-inclined Neighbours well and seriously to weigh and consider the absolute necessity there is for every true Christian thus to know their Minds moulded and fashioned anew by the Power and Spirit of Christ working mightily in them Col. 1.29 in order to their pleasing God by a Holy Righteous Life having escaped the corruption that is in the World through Lust and considering that 't is not so soon attained as apprehended in the Understanding to be necessary That with all diligence they address themselves to the performing that which is the main and proper business of our Lives Wherefore as it hath pleased the Divine Power to give us all things pertaining to Life and Godliness 2 Pet. 1.3 Tit. 2.11 12. Phil. 2.12 13. so let us with a vigilant attention to and co-working with that Grace which to that end is given work out our Salvation with a reverend fear since a good degree of attainment herein is soon lost except there be a constant sedulous watchfulness upon the Mind amidst all Business and Concerns to have a check upon our Words and Thoughts and a diligent pressing forward Mat. 26.41 For while we live in this World we are liable to Temptations and may enter there●nto also without a strict care and watchfulness our Senses presenting many Baits to our Minds on every and which Satan makes use of to ●eguile and many Provocations offer ●hemselves in our Pilgrimage 2 Cor. 12.9 against ●ll which God's Grace is sufficient Armour as our Minds are seasoned by ●t so that where any shortness is 't is ●hrough Insincerity Negligence or In●dvertency Or is it a dangerous heinous Heresie that we with very many Professors of Christianity Psal 145.9 believe the Universa●ity of the Love of God to all Mankind that God who is good to all whose Mercies extend to all the Works of his Hands is sincere in his Intention and Attestation thereof and doth not design to delude us when he affirms That as certainly as he lives he desires not the death of a Sinner Ezek. 33.11 18.23 Joh. 3.14 15 16 17. Isa 55.1 Rev. 22.17 Ro. 5.18 but rather that he would return and Live that God whose Love and Mercy is unlimited doth graciously and generously offer Salvation through Jesus Christ upon certain Conditions to be performed on our part to all Mankind to every individual Man and Woman upon the face of the Earth which is the true Gospel-message Luke 2.10 14. good Tydings of great Joy which shall be to all People Peace on Earth and good will towards Men good cause indeed to rejoyce Isa 55.7 Ezek. 18.21 22 to the end Act. 10.34 35. 1 Joh. 2.2 Heb. 2.9 that all are within the verge of Mercy and free Pardon that God is indeed no Respecter of Persons but among all Nations and People he or she that fears him and works Righteousness is of him accepted and that Christ died for the Sins of the whole World yea for every Man surely then all for whom he died Tit. 2.11 are thereby put into a capacity for Salvation 1 Cor. 12.7 See Pro. 1. from 20 to the end that Saving Grace hath appeared to all Men and a Manifestation of the Spirit is given to every Man to profit withal And that none are Reprobated but those that continue to be deaf to the Calls of this Grace Mat. 23.37 and resist the Spirit and hide and neglect their Talents till the day of their Visitation be over and Christ so withdraws himself as to cease longer to strive with them Neh. 9.20 26. so that the means being taken away they are left to themselves Isa 63.10 Psal 81.11 12 13. and given up to Hardness of Heart that being absent that should prepare tender and mollifie it that now they cannot Repent Believe and be Converted If thus to believe be a dangerous ●nd pernicious Error we confess we are Guilty and not like to be otherwise for we cannot perswade our selves to embrace that Anti-evangelical Opinion That God from all Eternity hath personally and inconditionally without respect to their accepting or rejecting the Salvation offer'd in Christ elected some and reprobated others by an immutable Decree so that those who are so elected shall certainly be saved let them do what they will for God's Decree can't be revers'd let the unstable Mind of Man vary as it will And those that are Reprobated were in in effect damned Thousands of Years before they were born so that their Salvation is put beyond all hope let them seek it never so earnestly and diligently and be never so desirous to serve and please God For besides that this sad Tidings instead of glad Tidings if it were really true in it self puts an end to the whole business of Religion by rendring all Worship and Devotion all Preaching Praying Assembling together and Holy Living as 't were useless by invalidating all whatsoever on Man's part as nothing contributing as a necessary Condition on his part to be performed or neglected towards his Salvation or eternal Destruction We dare not take up an Opinion so diametrically opposite to the very Attributes of God and his repeated Protestations to the contrary and with some Men thus presume to arraign his Justice Mercy and Goodness We cannot believe that God who is Love it self and Goodness it self and hath always manifested a wonderful Care and Concern for Man as his darling Creature Wis