Selected quad for the lemma: faith_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
faith_n	believe_v	lord_n	unbelief_n	5,320	5	10.6764	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07678	A godlie mans guide to happinesse A manuell of necessary motiues, holy meditations, and godly prayers, to stirre vp the hearts of men vnapt to pray. To the great comfort of all, that with due and holy attention will practise this most godly and Christian dutie. Written for his owne, and published for the comfort of them that long for trv[e] happinesse. by I.N.	Norden, John, 1548-1625?	1624 (1624)	STC 18608; ESTC S100057	58,821	306

remember so consider what correction is fit for my reformation for I am thine and vnder thine owne hand doe with mee what it shall please thee onely strengthen my faith that whatsoeuer thou layest vpon mee I may still trust in thee Yet Lord let not thy corrections be ouersharpe or ouer heauie or ouerlong for mee to beare for I am weake And therefore as thou increasest thy corrections so increase my strength to beare them And as my sinnes by thy Grace shall diminish so Lord with-draw withhold thy correcting hand that in what measure soeuer my troubles and tryalls bee my faith may bee so confirmed as I may bee able to beare whatsoeuer thou shalt be pleased to lay vpon me Hetherunto good Father as I haue felt thy correcting rod so also I haue found thy supporting hand thou woundest and thou healest nay rather Lord thou curest the wounds which my selfe haue made for there is no sharper sword to my soule then mine owne sinne and thy chastisements do abate the edge thereof As thou knowest my sins Lord so thou knowest my troubles I am in danger deliuer me I am in want relieue mee I haue enemies defend mee In thee I trust for there is none besides thee whom I may trust Thou art that mighty Iehouah that omnipotent God of Hostes who hast infinite meanes to helpe releeue comfort and defend those that are thine though they bee beset with a thousand miseries with sicknes with pouertie with enemies with slaunder backbiting enuy malice strife of tongues imprisonment and with what else soeuer misery that Sathan can deuise against them thou hast yet more infinite meanes to deliuer them out of all And therfore Father if all troubles crosses trialls and callamities should meete and combine in one against me I shall not assisted by thy grace be ouermuch moaned or dismayd Though trouble and affliction bring sorrow and sorrow heauines for a time yet is my heart restored againe at length as it were to life againe by thy grace nay Lord I often find ioy in thy fauour euen in the midst of misery for as thou Lord continuest not long in thine anger so is not my heart in continuall heauinesse But as by thine holy aid I increase in faith euen so decreaseth my grief and sorrow and in my greatest troubles the apprehension of thy blessed presence with mee causeth my heart to leape for ioy within mee though by nature I am weake and prone to stoope and droope vnder the least affliction yet I finde thy grace euermore ready to support and strengthen me Therefore doe I yeeld thee all honor praise thanks together with my Lord and Sauiour Christ Iesus and thy heauenly Spirit that euermore doth comfort me confirm my faith in thee Lord euermore encrease my Faith A Prayer for a man hindred by sicknesse or any kind of infirmity of his body or limbes whereby hee is disabled to follow and performe his lawfull calling fit especially for such as cannot maintaine their poore estates without performance of their honest labors O Great and most gracious Lord God mercifull and louing Father in Iesus Christ thou hast created me formed and framed me with all compleat limbs and lineaments in the beginning with all my senses perfect and aboue all with a measure of the knowledge of thee thy Christ wherein for that I haue not so walked as becommeth a sonne of so gracious and great a father but haue too much neglected my dutie and thankfulnesse erring estraying and ranging to and fro from one vanity and sin vnto another abusing al the parts and powers of my soule and body contrary to that light which thou has● giuen me defiling my selfe and polluting those parts of my corrupt flesh which thou first createdst in mee clean and free from any of mine owne actuall pollutions Thou in great mercy hast inflicted these infirmities vpon my corporall parts to cure my diseased soule my spirituall and best part imprisoned inthrall●d in a most filthy and lothsome dungeon of dark and detestable impieties Lord I doe confesse my else worthy of greater punishments for my grieuous sinnes But thou art so mercifull and so commiserate a Father that as thou knowest the qualitie of my sinns so thou well knowest what quantity of correction may be sufficient to reforme me And therefore I doe wholly and in all submission commit my selfe vnto thy mercy knowing that thou hast power to mitigate or totally to remoue the paine and misery which my sinns haue iustly drawne downe vpon me Good Father remember that thou hast promised that whatsoeuer wee shall aske of thee in the name of thy beloued Sonne Christ and wauer not we shall receiue Lord I beleeue that thou art able to cure me of whatsoeuer infirmitie let not the weakenesse of my faith hinder thy good work vpon mee let not my former sinns preuent thy mercy for I constantly assure me that thou cāst help me such is thy power and that thou either wilt helpe mee or so mitigate mine infirmities as I shall not onely bee able to beare them with patience but in a measure sufficiently follow my vocation such is thy mercy Father I haue a Mediatour with thee and such a mediator as is not ignorant of though neuer tainted or touched with any humane infirmitie he hath taken vpon him and satisfied for my sinnes and for my sinns I do acknowledge this mine infirmitie is fallen vpon mee Therefore Lord my sinnes being once sufficiently punished in him punish not me ouer-heauily for them againe I am vnfainedly sory for that I haue offended thee and doe heartily repent me of my sinnes and thou hast promised pardon to the penitent and mercy vnto such as are truly sory for their sinnes This being thine owne promise Lord and thou knowing my faith though weake and my repentance what should hinder thy mercies in forgiuing my sinns and my sinnes being forgiuen what should hinder that thy sweet saying Be thou whole and I shall be whole Lord as thou canst do all things by thy word without meanes so by blessing whatsoeuer meanes that which thou wilt shall bee done the very clay in the street openeth the eyes of the blinde thou giuing a blessing vnto it which in humane opinion should rather make blinde them that see But such is thy great power and vertue of thy word as things most contrary to humane reason obey thee and worke the effect wherunto thou appointest them as the cluster of figgs healed Hezekias and the washing in Iordan cured Naaman the Syrian of his leprosie Thou Lord art the great Phisician curing Phisicians that cannot cure themselus howe much lesse others without thee Therefore I know that nothing can hinder thy healing of mee but mine owne vnbeliefe sin which are the chiefe diseases of my soule that thus pollute my body so that soule and body being sicke I come an humble patient and petitioner desirous only to touch the hem of thy garmēt for

I belieue Lord that if my faith faile not I shal draw vertue from thee and bee either fully healed or eased Wherfore most gracious Lord God in Iesus Christ increase and confirme my faith and say vnto me Be it vnto thee as thou beleeuest then shall I be whole for I constantly beleeue that thou canst doe it but that thou knowest what is best for me In thy prouidence it befell as a token of thy displeasure for my sins that I might bee thereby continually put in mind when I intend any thing offensiue vnto thee that by my further sinning I should feare greater punishments for thou knowest my corrupt nature euer inclinable to forbidden things and therfore wilt continue thy gentle hand vpon me lest I repenting of my repentance should returne againe to new sinns which good Father I humbly pray thee in fauour to preuent If thou tarry long and delay thy helpe let not my faith falter nor faile mee nor my heart be discouraged for thou knowest better what is best for mee then I my selfe And therefore will I wayte when what and how thou wilt worke for mee nothing doubting but that in thy fatherly prouidence thou wilt prouide for mee and that thou wilt neuer faile mee nor forsake me Amen Lord increase my faith A consideration or consultation touching the estates and conditions of seuerall men their vocations manners liues lawfull and vnlawfull punishable and to bee cherished seruing also as a necessary motiue to a prayer for the blessing of God vpon the lawfull callings of men of whatsoeuer condition necessary for all men that hope of any blessing vpon their labors trauels professions arts trades or imployments IT is not enough for a man to haue or to desire a calling in the Church or Common-wealth but before he vndertake it he must consider whether it be lawfull agreeable to the word of God honest or necessary for the vse and societie of men and whether his apprehension and inclination be capable and able to manage it aright It is not lawfull though it be priuatly profitable to himselfe if a man find himselfe not fit neither is lawfully called thereunto but assumes it to himselfe neither respecting Gods glory ●or the good of others and consequently not honest for that it proceedes only respecting his owne corrupt ends of which kind may bee obserued not a few who intrude into functions and callings such as they cannot with a good conscience nor with sufficient vnderstanding performe which must rest vpon euery mans conscience for his choyce Some haue againe lawfull and laudable callings of themselues sufficient and yet may and often doe erre in the execution either for priuate profit or forbidden ends Some liue without any lawfull profession profitable to none no not to themselues but are onely Ladders to bring most plentiful mulcture to the Deuils mill their patrimonies to Tauernes Ale-houses and worse places mils that grind onely wickednesse feeding themselues and others therewith fat in impieties for the shambles of Sathan Of this are some well descended Gentlemen whose ancestors haue borne honorable praise worthy Offices both in Church Commonwealth doing good to many and to none more hurt thē vnto their dearest children to whom they haue left great earthly portions and patrimonies and no good education or profession to liue as men no not as men for all men are borne to labour in one commendable calling or another for the Church or Commonwealth to neither of which are many of these men profitable but run on in their lasciuious liues as the horse mule who yet in their kind haue more vnderstanding and are more profitable then many of these men seeme yet to be All parents yet are not much blame-worthy for some are carefull as men to prouide for their children worldly goods to maintaine them after their deaths Some as Religious men desire more the good education of their children in religious knowledge then desirous to make them great they rather endeauour to make them good which last is the worke of God without whose grace howsoeuer parents may instruct and educate their children in Gods feare and by a primary apprehension of their towardnesse in vertue yet it falleth oftentimes out that euen these full of hoped towardnesse to prooue good and vertuous and fit for laudable imployments when their parents full estates befall them they associate the company of such as turne al the good they formerly learned into euill for though the father plant the Minister waters yet if the Spirit of God confirme it not in them they will shew themselues to be but men and such as feare not God nor reuerence man but liue as if there were no law spending as boastingly they will say but their owne It were fault sufficient to consume it had it bin their owne gotten by the sweat of their owne faces but being left vnto them by their carefull fathers or louing friends it is reputed by law theirs indeed yet so as they should hold it as the free gift of God or rather lent of him rather to do good with it then with the prodigall vnthrift to consume it as these men doe vpon their lusts And hauing spent all as in Gods iust iudgment many of them doe as daily experience sheweth what becomes of them doth not like experience tell vs Many idle drones there are also that haue not that they by any colour may call their owne and yet they spend and labour not but are as the froth and scumme of a good Common wealth As touching their conuersation it is not onely idle in good things but laborious in euill they roaue and run about the citie and countrey ●ilching stealing couzening cheating rioting in all kindes of wickednesse and whose profession is only to deceiue Can these men pray for a blessing vpon their vocations and labours Nay can they or doe they pray at all They may haue and often haue the name of God and his parts in their mouthes but for a curse not for a blessing for in stead of praying vnto God they blaspheme his name It is manifestly obserued that God is abused and the Common wealth pestered and priuily endangered by the idlenesse wickednes and mischiefes of these men And yet who taketh it into consideration and endeuour to reforme it Some are in places so eminent as they cannot look so low and some are in place of Office so meane that haue a good will to put hand to helpe it but their power is weake and their countenance and aid small they dare not taxe an offender in this kind especially a Gentleman-like Roarer that can make a whole Street or a Hamlet to quake at his carriage and execrable blasphemies Some haue lawfull callings but vse them not lawfully for want of the grace of God to guide them and the blessing of God to profite the Church or Common-wealth by them because they seldome or neuer pray for a blessing Some are often seene to