Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A30153
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A holy life, the beauty of Christianity, or, An exhortation to Christians to be holy by John Bunyan.
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Bunyan, John, 1628-1688.
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1684
(1684)
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Wing B5537; ESTC R30867
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84,448
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237
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run with the foremost and win the prize than come behind and lose that and my labour and all If a man also strive for masteries yet is he not crowned exâ—ept he strive lawfully And when men have said all they can they are the truly redeemed that are zealous of good works Not that works do save us but faith which laieth hold on Christs righteousness for justification sanctifies the heart and makes men desirous to live in this world to the glory of that Christ who died in this world to save us from death For my part I doubt of the faith of many and fear that it will prove no better at the day of God than will the faith of Devils For that it standeth in bare speculation and is without life and soul to that which is good Where is the man that walketh with his Cross upon his shoulder Where is the man that is zealous of moral holiness Indeed for those things that have nothing of the Cross of the Purse or of the Cross of the Belly or of the Cross of the Back or of the Cross of the Vanity of houshold affairs for those things I find we have many and those very busie sticklers but otherwise the Cross self-denial charity purity in life and conversation is almost quite out of doors among professors But man of God do thou be singular as to these and as to their conversation Be not therefore partaker with them in any of their ways but keep thy soul diligently for if dammage happeneth to thee thou alone must bear it But he that will depart from iniquity must be well fortified with Faith and Patience and the love of God for iniquity has its beauty spots and its advantages attending on it hence it is compared to a Woman for it allureth greatly Wherefore I say he that will depart therefrom had need have faith that being it which will help him to see beyond it and that will shew him more in things that are invisible than can be found in sin were it ten thousand times more intangling than it is He has need of patience also to hold out in this work of departing from iniquity For indeed to depart from that is to draw my mind off from that which will follow me with continual solicitations Samson withstood his Dulilah for a while but she got the mastery of him at the last why so Because he wanted patience he grew angry and was vexed and could withstand her solicitation no longer Many there be also that can well enough be contented to shut sin out of doors for a while but because sin has much fair speech therefore it overcomes at last For sin and iniquity will not be easily said nay It is like her of whom you read she has a Whores fore-head and refuses to be ashamed Wherefore departing from iniquity is a work for length as long as life shall last A work did I say 't is a War a continual combate Wherefore he that will adventure to set upon this work must needs be armed with Faith and Patience a daily exercise he will find himself put upon by the continual attempts of iniquity to be putting forth it self This is called an enduring to the end a continuing in the word of Christ and also a keeping of the word of his patience But what man in the world can do this whose heart is not seasoned with the love of God and the love of Christ Therefore he that will exercise himself in this work must be often considering of the love of God to him in Christ for the more sense or apprehension a man shall have of that the more easie and pleasant will this work be to him Yea though the doing thereof should cost him his hearts blood Thy loving kindness is before mine eyes says David and I have walked in thy truth Nothing like the sense sight or belief of that to the man of God to make him depart from iniquity But what shall I do I cannot depart therefrom as I should Keep thine eye upon all thy shortnesses or upon all thy failures for that is profitable for thee 1. The sight of this will make thee base in thine own eyes 2. It will give thee occasion to see the need and excellency of repentance 3. It will put thee upon prayer to God for help and pardon 4. It will make thee weary of this world 5. It will make grace to persevere the more desirable in thine eyes Also it will help thee in the things which follow 1. It will make thee see the need of Christs righteousness 2. It will make thee see the need of Christs intercession 3. It will make thee see thy need of Christs advocateship 4. It will make thee see the riches of Gods patience 5. And 't will make Heaven and eternal life the sweeter to thee when thou comest there But to the question Get more grace For the more grace thou hast the further is thine heart set off of iniquity the more also set against it and the better able to depart from it when it cometh to thee tempteth thee and intreats thee for entertainment Now the way to have more grace is to have more knowledge of Christ and to pray more fervently in his name also to subject thy soul and thy lusts with all thy power to the authority of that grace thou hast and to judge and condemn thy self most heartily before God for every secret inclination that thou findest in thy flesh to sin-ward The improvement of what thou hast is that as I may say by which God judges how thou wouldest use if thou hadst it more and according to that so shalt thou have or not have a farther measure He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful and will be so also in much and he that is unjust in the least is and will be unjust also in much I know Christ speaks here about the unrighteous Mammon but the same may be applied also unto the thing in hand And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another mans who will commit unto you that which is your own That is a remarkable place to this purpose in the Revelations Behold saith he I have set before thee an open door that thou maiest have what thou wilt as was also said to the improving Woman of Canaan and no man can shut it for thou hast a little strength and hast held fast my word and hast not denyed my name A good improvement of what we have of the grace of God at present pleases God and ingages him to give us more but an ill improvement of what we at present have will not do so To him that hath that hath an heart to improve what he hath to him shall be given but to him that hath not from him shall be taken even that which he hath Well weigh the place and you shall find
A HOLY LIFE THE BEAUTY OF Christianity OR An EXHORTATION to CHRISTIANS to be HOLY By JOHN BUNYAN Holiness becomes thy House O Lord for ever LONDON Printed by B. W. for Benj. Alsop at the Angel and Bible in the Poultry 1684. AN INTRODUCTION To the following DISCOURSE WHen I write of Justification before God from the dreadful curse of the Law then I must speak of nothing but Grace Christ the Promise and Faith but when I speak of our Justification before Men then I must joyn to these good Works For Grace Christ and Faith are things invisible and so not to be seen by another otherwise than through a life that becomes so blessed a Gospel as has declared unto us the remission of our sins for the sake of Jesus Christ. He then that would have Forgiveness of Sins and so be delivered from the Curse of God must believe in the Righteousness and Blood of Christ but he that would shew to his Neighbours that he hath truly received this Mercy of God must do it by good Works for all things else to them is but talk As for example A Tree is known to be what it is to wit whether of this or that kind by it's Fruit. A Tree it is without Fruit but so long as it so abideth there is ministred occasion to doubt what manner of Tree it is A Professor is a Professor though he hath no good Works but that as such he is truly godly he is foolish that so concludeth Not that Works make a Man good for the Fruit maketh not a good Tree it is the Principle to wit Faith that makes a Man good and his works that shew him to be so What then why all Professors that have not good Works flowing from their Faith are naught are Bramble-bushes are nigh unto Cursing whose end is to be burned For Professors by their fruitlesness declare that they are not of the planting of God nor the Wheat but Tares and Children of the Wicked one Not that Faith needeth good works as an help to Justification before God For in this matter Faith will be ignorant of all good Works except those done by the Person of Christ. Here then the good Man worketh not but believeth for he is not now to carry to God but to receive at his Hand the matter of his Justification by Faith nor is the matter of his Justification before God ought else but the good deeds of another Man to wit Christ Jesus But is there therefore no need at all of good Works because a Man is justified before God without them or can that be called a justifying Faith that has not for its Fruit good Works Verily good works are necessary though God need them not nor is that Faith as to Justification with God worth a rush that abideth alone or without them There is therefore a twofold Faith of Christ in the World and as to the notion of Justifying Righteousness they both concur and agree but as to the manner of application there they vastly differ The one to wit the non-saving faith standeth in speculation and naked knowledg of Christ and so abideth idle but the other truly seeeth and receives him and so becometh Fruitful And hence the true justifying Faith is said to receive to imbrace to obey the Son of God as tendred in the Gospel by which expressions is shewed both the nature of Justifying Faith in its actings in point of Justification and also the cause of its being full of good Works in the World A gift is not made mine by my seeing of it or because I know the nature of the thing so given but then it is mine if I receive and imbrace it yea and as to the point in hand if I yield my self up to stand and fall by it Now he that shall not only see but receive not only know but imbrace the Son of God to be justified by him cannot but bring forth good Works because Christ who is now received and imbraced by Faith leavens and seasons the Spirit of this Sinner through his Faith to the making of him capable so to be Faith made Sarah receive Strength to conceive Seed and we are Sanctified through Faith which is in Christ. For Faith hath joyned Christ and the Soul together and being so joyned the Soul is one Spirit with him not essentially but in agreement and oneness of design Besides when Christ is truly received and imbraced to the justifying of the sinner in that Mans Heart he dwels by his Word and Spirit through the same Faith also Now Christ by his Spirit and Word must needs season the Soul he thus dwells in so then the Soul being seasoned it seasoneth the Body and Body and Soul the Life and Conversation We know it is not the Seeing but taking of a potion that maketh it work as it should nor is the Blood of Christ a Purge to this or that Conscience except received by Faith Shall that then be counted right believing in Christ unto justification that amounts to no more than to an idle speculation or naked knowledg of him shall that knowledg of him I say be counted such as only causes the Soul to behold hold but moveth it not to good Works No verily For the true beholding of Jesus to justification and Life changes from glory to glory Nor can that Man that hath so believed as that by his Faith he hath received and imbraced Christ for Life before God be destitute of good works for as I said the Word and Spirit comes also by this Faith and dwels in the Heart and Conscience now shall a Soul where the Word and Spirit of Christ dwels be a Soul without good Works Yea shall a Soul that has received the Love the Mercy the Kindness Grace and Salvation of God through the Sorrows Tears Groans Cross and Cruel Death of Christ be yet a Fruitless Tree God forbid This faith is as the Salt which the Prophet cast into the Spring of bitter Water it makes the Soul good and serviceable for ever If the receiving of a temporal Gift naturally tends to the making of us to move our Cap and Knee and binds us to be the Servant of the Giver shall we think that Faith will leave him who by it has received Christ to be as unconcerned as a Stock or Stone or that it 's utmost excellency is to provoke the Soul to a lip-labour and to give Christ a few fair Words for his Pains and Grace and so wrap up the business No no the Love of Christ constraineth us thus to judge that it is but reasonable since he gave his all for us that we should give our some for him Let no Man then deceive himself as he may and will if he takes not heed with true Notions but examine himself concerning his Faith to wit Whether he hath any and if some Whether of that kind that will turn to