Selected quad for the lemma: faith_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A43039
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The marriners card and compass. Or The best way to attain heaven amidst a sinfull and crooked generation. By William Harvey, minister of the Word
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Harvey, William, fl. 1657-1705.
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1659
(1659)
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Wing H1093; ESTC R218426
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15,444
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43
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The Marriners Card and Compass OR THE BEST WAY TO ATTAIN HEAVEN Amidst a Sinfull and Crooked GENERATION By WILLIAM HARVEY Minister of the Word AUGUST Vae etiam laudabili vita hominum si remotâ misericordiâ discutias eam Haec via ducit in urbem LONDON Printed in the Year 1659. To the right Honourable ANN Countess Dowager of SCARSDEL And To the rest of that Noble Family Grace Mercy and Peace c. Madam THe world for the most part is like the Cypress-Tree long and fruitless and like Tullies strange Soyl for all the sweet showres that fall upon it it 's still dry as dust The cause of it is either ignorance or negligence want of Knowledge in the will of God or Non-Improvement I have endeavoured to remove these Obstructions and to take the rubs out of the way There are but two extreams Presumption and Desperation which like Scylla and Charybdis make shipwrack of all the vesseds they met with Where these waters break out they beat down all before them They are alike dangerous faith Chrysost For Presumption falls him that standeth and Desperation after a fall admits no rising This small Tract Madam by Gods assistance will inform the one and reform the other It will be an eye to the ignorant and a spur to the negligent for it treats only of Christ and as the Star the Wise men will conduct them to him But I am loth to take too large a survey in so small a piece of ground They that write must not forget that Rule of the Orator ut titulum legant to read the Title of their Books least like the gates of Mindus it proves bigger then the City it self I was ambitions to dedicate it to your Honour that it might kiss your hand which hath been so often open to men of my calling and condition and in particular to my self the meanest of them who serve at the Altar Now the God of Heaven be your continual guard and guide his Blessings in a plurality light upon your Honour and your whole Family as the dew on Gideons Fleece This shall alwayes be the unfeigned Prayers of Your Honours most humble and grateful Servant William Harvey JOHN 14. 6. I am the Way the Truth and the Life THese words are an answer to the precedent verse and they are Allegoricall rately adorn'd partly metaphorically and partly Meronymically and they are brought in to inform Thomas and the rest of the Disciples more fully in the way of Salvation We know not saith Thomas whither thou goest and how can we know the way Our Saviour presently resolv's him in the words of my Text. I am the way the truth and the Life Aurea Sententia A golden Sentence The wife men of the East opened their treasures and presented unto him guifts even Gold Frankincence and Myrrh but he presents unto us guifts more precious in that they fit the Soul in her divine progress to Heaven and as the Angels Lazarus carry it into Abrahams bosome But I will come to the severall branches of the Text. And they are three Via veritis vita The way the truth and the Life First Christ is the way docendo by way of teaching because he alone instructs in the way to happiness The Law is our Schoolmaster to bring us to Christ Gal. 3.24 and Christ is our Schoolmaster who brings us to Heaven he is that pillar of a cloud and fire leading us the way to the Heavenly Canaan Exod. 13.21 St. John saith No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him John 1.18 He is the true Mercuries finger that directs the poor wandring traveller the right way to his heavenly Mansion None but he can fit us for that blessed Academy above were we shall all be Fellow-Communers with the Saints and blessed Angels Secondly he is the way promerendo by way of Meriting Conerning this notable is that of St. Paul Rom. 5.16 17 18 19. For if by one mans offence death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of grace and the guift of righteousness shall reign in Life by one Jesus Christ c. read the Text. He alone is that Sampson who hath broken the Cords of our Sins from us by which we were so fast bound and with that woman in the Gospell even bowed together That strong man Satan by him is overcome and his armour wherein he trusted taken from him and his spoiles divided Luke 11.22 The Apostle to the Colossians saith In whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of our Sins Col. 1.14 and v. 20. Having made peace through the blood of his Cross by him to reconcile all things to himself To omit a cloud of witnesses St. Peter positively thus Neither is their Salvation in any other for there is none other name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved Acts. 4.12 And thus he is the way promerendo by way of merit Thirdly He is the way applicando by way of application And that in Severall respects First by his word so the Psalmist Thou wilt shew me the path of Life Ps 16.11 And in another Psalme I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which you shalt go I will guide thee with mine eye Ps 32 8. Secondly by his Sacraments by which God hath not only saved us according to his mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour that being justified by his grace we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternall Life Titus 3.5 6 7. But also he doth Confirm unto us as by undoubted Seals and assurances the way of Salvation righteousness and eternall Life So the Apostle speaking of Abraham And he recieved the sâ—gne of Circumcision a Seal of the righteousness of faith which he had being yet uncircumcised that he might be the Father of all them that believe though they be not circumcised that righteousness might be imputed to them also Ro. 4.11 Thirdly By holy and fervent prayers According to that of St. Paul Eph. 2.18 For through him we both have an access by one Spirit unto the Father c. chap. 3.12 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him And to the Romans he saith For ye have nor received the Spirit of Bondage again to fear but ye have received the Spirit of adâ—ption whereby we cry Abba Father Rom. 8.15 To this purpose we are commanded in our Pater Noster to supplicate Almighty God in that sweet Epithete and name of Father Our Father c. * ut vere credamus eum nostrum verum parrem nosque ejus veros filios esse ut eo confidentius plena fiducia adcum accedamus eumque invoeemus quemadmodum videmus liberos certa fiducia aliquid aparentibus suis potere Luth in
Explicat Catechet that as Mart. Luther expounds it We might believe him to be our true Father and we his very Sons and that we should come unto him more confidently in a full assurance and might call upon him even as we see Children with Confidence beg any thing of their Parents For which cause he is said to be our advocate 1. Ep. John 2.1 And if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous c. And by St. Paul our Mediator 1. Tim. 25. For there is one God and one Mediatour between God and men the man Christ Jesus Fourthly and lastly per exemplum by example in shewing us the way how to live in mutual love and amity one with another For this we have a fair copy to write by John 13.15 For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you and what is that even a low descention a rare bird on the earth nigro simillima Cigno like unto a black Swan hear it If I then your Lord and Master have washed your feet what said I washed your feet O rare humility ye also ought and all the reason in the world to wash one anothers feet v. 14. Secondly In shewing us how we should undergoe and suffer afflictions and persecutions in this life Herein likewise he hath beaten our way before us 1. Pet. 2.21 For even hereunto were ye called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that we should follow his steps And now I come to application If Christ be the only way to happiness as is clear by the premises then by consequence all who affect and follow any other way beside without and against Christ cannot be saved Let the Turke dream of an Elizium and fancy what carnall pleasures he please in another world he will find one day he built but Castles in the Air and instead of sports and pastimes feel the torments of a damned Conscience then will he curse his Mahumet the day wherein he was born and the womb that bare him Quantum mutatus ab illo How is the man now changed when he seeth all his hopes frustrate and for a World of happiness falls into a deep confus'd Tophet where the breath of the Lord like a river of Brimstone doth kindle it Isaiah 30.33 No man cometh unto the Father but by me saith the Way in my text and if he gains heaven without Faith on Christ farewell thou Queen of Sciences sacred Divinity the Holy Scriptures then are but meer Riddles But O God! thy word is truth and all men besides are liars We know and believe He that believeth on â—he Son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the Son shal not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him John 3.36 And Verissimum est this is most true Whosoever denyeth the Son the same hath not the Father but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also 1 John 2.23 And again He that honoreth not the Son honoureth not the Father that hath sent him John 5.23 Where are our Jews now and Antitrinitarians those brethren in evill as Jacob said of Simeon and Levi If the great Turk cannot be saved what will be come of them 3. Mutato nomine change but only the name and there is not a pair of sheares between them Poor Jew wert thou as rich as he of Malta thou canst never obtain true happiness 'till thou believest in that God whom thy Fathers crucified All thy priviledges and prerogatives which thou so much gloriest in without faith in him will prove so many plummets of lead to sink thy floating soul to Hell Thou saist thou hast Abraham to thy Father and thinkst that shall carry it a meer flourish What armes canst thou shew of his to prove thy pedegree Hear what our Lord said to thy Country-men of old Your Father Abraham rejoyced to see my day and he saw it and was glad John 8.56 The touring Eagle ownes no bird for hers that cannot out-look the Sun Where is thy faith to make thy words good The Philosopher stared upon a Star when he fell into a pit In the next place I must say something to our Roman Catholicks who like water-men look one way and row another these set too great a price on their works and where natural beauty fails there they seek to repair by Art What with their Saints and what with their works Christ the only and true way is forgotten We confess the Mother of our Lord was a holy Virgin a rich and pure Cabinet wherein was inclosed that most precious Jewel God-Man the true Catholicon by whose blood all the diseases and maladies of our Souls occasioned by sin were perfectly cured and she now a glorious Saint in Heaven yet to make her a Saviour is high Sacriledge O my soul come not thou into their secret unto their Assembly mine honour be not thou united Hear and blush to hear it Marie is the Mediatrix of our Salvation Maria est Mediatrix nostrae salvationis c. Bernardinus in Mariali of our Conjunction Justification Reconciliation Intercession Communication Mark what result that Den of Thieves the Council of Trent give of the Saints in general Sanctos suppliciter invocare ad eorum oratione opem auxiliúmque confugere bonum utile est Humbly to invocate the Saints and to fly to their prayers for help and safeguard is good and profitable But again see how they make their works sit cheek by jowl with the merits of Christ This is all one to compare a stinking candle burnt to a snuff with the most transcendent light and glorious rayes of the Sun Behold what a train they have in this particular and with what rabble this Idol is ushered up Certainly these fellows must have a good purse to maintain so great a retinue Some by observing the prescription and rule of as they call them S. Dominick Frances Benedick and others the Saints S. Bridget and S. Clare c. others by their tedious peregrinations to this or that Saint others by their Vigils Masses Rosariorum preculis by their Rosary of short prayers others by their abstinency and fasting ciborum delectibus their choyce dishes others by a spontaneous whipping themselves others by their Alms-deeds pity so good a pail of milk should be spilt aliisque commentitiis pietatis operibus and by other counterfeit works of godliness they truly though vainly think to obtain Salvation and more then ordinary reward in Heaven But haec non est via neque est haec civitas this is not the way neither is this the city as Elisha said to the Syrians 2 Kings 6.19 This is not the way to Heaven neither will it ever bring any to that great city the holy Jerusalem descending out of Heaven from God Revel 21.10 I speak not this to discourage a holy walking with God in a mans general or particular Calling or that