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
A77267	The penitent pilgrim bemoning his sinfull condition. Faith appeares vnto him affording him comfort hope seconds that comfort charity promiseth him in this vaile of missery to cover all his scarlett sins wth: [sic] ye white robe of mercy, & conduct him safly to ye kingdome of glory. By Io: Hall	Brathwaite, Richard, 1588?-1673, attributed name.; Hall, John, 1627-1656, attributed name.; Herdson, Henry, attributed name.; Le Blon, Christof, d. 1665, engraver.	1651 (1651)	Wing B4275aA; ESTC R224400	106,709	434

thou beleevest and tremblest and reason thou hast to tremble for how shalt thou be able to stand in his presence before whom even the heavens are uncleane O when the righteous shall scarcely be saved what wil become of the wicked when the axe of his judgement shall not spare the greene tree what will become of the dry O nothing but woe woe may befall thee miserable delinquent if hee deale not with thee in mercy but in judgement I believe in the Holy Ghost This ninth Article Saint Iames the lesse delivered And thou art taught to believe thus much by it that the Holy Ghost the third person in the blessed Trinity is the Spirit of comfort truth and unity without which it is impossible to please God For as hee promised unto his Apostles a Comforter so in the shape of a Dove and in the forme of cloven tongues there appeared unto them this promised Comforter But how is it that thou beleevest in the Holy Ghost and yet with thine hardnesse of heart and loosenesse of life grievest the Holy Spirit of God Thus to beleeve if thou be not penitent will rather bee a meanes to draw on thee then remove from thee Gods heavy judgement The holy Catholike Church This tenth Article of faith Saint Simon founded But how dost thou beleeve the holy Catholike Church or how is thy faith grounded if thou observe not what the Church has commanded How canst thou bee a Member of her so long as thou livest divided from her Or how canst thou truly call her Mother so long as thou hearknest not to her commands but becommest disobedient to her O then by a right faith knit thy selfe unto her or else disclaime thy being a Member of her But looke unto it for God thou canst not have for thy Father unlesse thou have his Church for thy Mother Neither canst thou ever hope to bee a Citizen in his Church triumphant unlesse thou bee first a Member of his Church Militant The Communion of Saints the forgivenesse of sinnes To this eleventh Article is Saint Iudas Thadaeus intitled And this Communion of Saints thou beleevest and for the forgivenesse of sinnes thou lookest And yet thou livest not as if thou desired to bee of this Communion Neither rendrest thou any such fruits of repentance as may cherish in thee the least hope of Remission The Resurrection of the body and the life everlasting Amen With this last Article Saint Mathias closeth our Creed And by it thou beleevest that thy body shall rise againe from the dust and that thy soule shall live with the just But hast thou not fed thy Body too delicately to rise againe to glory Hast thou not taken too much pleasure in sinning ever to enjoy life everlasting O thou blessed Trinity in unity and Vnity in Trinity thus have I made a confession of my Faith unto thee but my many faintings failings wants weaknesses and imperfections greatly discourage mee unlesse thou in thy mercy strengthen me I beleeve Lord O helpe my unbeleefe Give mee the shield of faith that here on earth I may acquit my selfe like a valiant Champion and in Heaven be made by thee a triumphant Citizen CHAP. 65. Having thus examined himselfe and found in the whole course of his life a fainting in faith and failing in Works He recalleth to mind those Quatuor Novissima or foure last Remembrances Memorials hourely necessary for all Christians THus hast thou laid thy selfe open to all discovery and there is no good thing to bee found in thee For in thy faith thou hast found a fainting and weaknesse and in all thy workes a failing and barrennesse Most freely went that blessed Father to worke and no lesse dangerous has beene thy walke when hee confessed himselfe in this sort Iinherit sin from my father an excuse from my mother lying from the Devill folly from the world selfe-conceit from the pride and arrogant opinion of my selfe Deceitfull have beene the imaginations of thine heart crooked have beene thy wayes malicious thy workes And yet hast thou taken the judgements of God in thy mouth Desiring nothing more then to blind the eye of the world with a counterfeit zeale But all such Hypocrites God will judge Hee will not be mocked with For as the Divell has his sive with which hee lets goe the good but keepeth the bad So the Lord has his Fanne by which he lets goe the bad and keepeth the good O when hee shall separate his goats from his sheepe his wheat from his tares when the Iust and the Wicked shall appeare before him and every man shall be put into the ballance O I feare mee then thou wilt bee found many graines too light It were well for thee then to prepare thy selfe against that great and fearefull day And to furnish thee all the better by making thee a true Convert of an impenitent Sinner recall to mind those Quatuor Novissima or Foure last Remembrances Memorials hourely to bee thought and so necessary to be reteined in thy memory as the Christian use of them may prepare thee before Death summon thee and in this vale of misery fit thee for thine heavenly voyage to eternity And yet while I speake thus unto thee I find thy condition to be wofull for if thou consider them the very thought of them cannot chuse but startle thee and if thou neglect them thou wilt stand in amaze when they encounter thee O my deare Lord remember me in thy mercy and so prepare my memory that these Foure necessary Remembrances may never depart from me Let mee be prepared for Death before it come that it may never take mee unprepared whensoever it shall come Let mee thinke of that fearefull day of Iudgement and judge my selfe before I be judged that J may not be found light in thy scale when I shall be weighed Let me O let me thinke how there is an Hell for the damned for better is it by timely fearing it to avoid it then by never dreaming of it head-long to fall into it Lastly let mee thinke of Heaven how it is the place of the Blessed and that none but those that are of a cleane heart shall dwell in it O cleanse thou mine heart that I may bee prepared for it and with much spirituall joy be received in it CHAP. 66. Death IT is strange that Death should bee such a stranger to thee when hee so daily visits those that neighbour neere thee Thou hast beene familiarly acquainted with many whose habitation is not now to bee found who have enjoyed the pleasures of sinne freely Others who have inlarged their Barnes and store-houses carefully others who have ruffled in their honours highly and could deliver a Word of Command bravely and now behold how all these being arrested at Deaths suit were enforced to veile to his surly command They have made their Beds in the darke They have left their Houses unto others they are gone unto their Graves and must

silence at my teares for I am a stranger with thee and a so journer as al my Fathers I have none to fly unto but thee and so highly have I provoked thee that unlesse thou take pitty on mee and receive mee for his blood which was shed for mee I am lost eternally O my good Shepherd call mee thy lost sheepe home for lost I am unlesse thou call me lost for ever unlesse thou save mee CHAP. 71. Faith appeares unto him with a cheerefull presence affording him comfort in his affliction BEing thus afflicted inwardly and outwardly Faith appeared to mee but alas so much was I dejected that although I might have beene moved to admiration with her goodly presence and encouraged with her affable countenance I stood still perplexed being so farre from comfort as I scarcely expected it Which Faith well perceiving shee drew neare mee and pulling mee to her with a presence no lesse gracefull then cheerfull thus encounter'd mee How now Pilgrim have you seene so many dayes and those so full of misery and and can you find ought here where you have liv'd so long and found so small comfort that may deserve your teares Is the world this empty Sponge growne so neare to your heart as it has power to draw teares from your eyes Tell mee the ground of your griefe Doe you sorrow because Old-age comes upon you and you can live no longer or if you should live you cannot enjoy that fulnesse of youthfull pleasure which you formerly tasted or are you unwilling to forgoe your possessions to take a long leave of your friends or to be stript of those goodly honours which you here enjoyed No I hope you are wiser then to become so foolish a Mourner What is it then that has thus violently wrought upon your reason and brought your disordered thoughts unto this distraction Surely it must bee of some importance that has brought you into this disconsolate anguish But this I perceive to be a distemper of your mind and it shall bee our principall care upon discovery of your wound to apply a speedy cure Goe to then disclose your griefe freely and believe her who hates nothing more then breach of faith that upon your imparting of it you shall receive this friendly office from mee either to cure it or allay it Herewith I became so encouraged as I made a free discovery of the grounds of my affliction which shee tooke so well at mine hands as presently causing me to sit by her shee begunne to comfort me in this manner You have done wel in this discovery of your grief Wounds cannot be cured before they be opened Neither doe wee feare but by ministring some fitting prescriptions our endevours wil bring forth that good effect as you shall find great ease in your afflictions You tell me how the Remembrance of your end is very terrible to you not so much in regard of your fear of Death as of that fearfull day of Iudgement after Death For you find in your selfe such an infinite and unsupportable weight of grievous sinnes pressing down-your soule even to the gates of Hell as lesse then grieve you cannot else were you insensible of the losse of a soule Trust mee Pilgrime so farre am I from sorrowing with you as I rejoyce in your sorrowing For this sense of your sinnes brings you to seeke for cure which had they not afflicted you and and brought you even to the pit-brinke had beene the least of your care It is well then for you that you are afflicted for else you might have gloried and fatned your selfe in your sinnes and so eternally perished Bee then of good comfort and suffer not Cains desperate conclusion to have any possession in you For I must tell you hee sinned more in saying Greater is my sinne then can be pardoned then in murdering his Brother For as in the one hee lay violent hand on the Image of God So in the other hee detracted from the highest and dearest prerogative belonging to God for there is no attribute wherewith hee is more delighted then to be styled a God of mercy We may safely then conclude That despaire is of a more high and hainous nature then any sin For tell me has not God himselfe with his owne mouth promised and is he not both able and willing to performe what hee hath promised That At what time soever a sinner doth repent him of his sin from the botome of his heart hee will put away all his wickednesse out of his remembrance Though late repentance then bee seldom true yet true repentance never commeth too late The good Thiefe had no sooner repented him of his sin and confessed Christ then he was even at the last hour received to mercy which example as it admits no such liberty as to encourage any to presume seeing there was but one nor to throw downe any into despaire seeing there was one Indeed there is nothing that endangers mans salvation more then by giving way to delay yet when the sorrowfull soule heartily repents him of what is past and with a constant religious resolve intends to redeeme the time to come his pious teares devout prayers holy resolves will find ready admittance to the Throne of Grace For as his mercy is above all his Workes so will hee shew it most on that worke which stands in most need of his mercy This I am sure your long experience not onely observed but plenteously tasted for else have those yeares of your Pilgrimage beene ill bestowed that hee is gracious merciful and long suffering Nay that it has been evermore the property of this good and carefull Shepherd to call home those that were wandring invite those that were withstanding expect those that were fore-slowing to embrace those that were returning Nay that it has bin ever the condition of this valiant Iosuah to exhort you to fight and so to helpe you that you might become Conqueror in that fight In one word it has beene ever his care to behold you when you were in the Battaile fighting to encourage you when you were failing and crowne you when you were vanquishing Come then tell mee are you wearied and so heavy laden that you must faint by the way if you bee not refreshed Behold how hee has invited you to come unto him where you may receive refreshment and comfort from him Bee not then wavering in the Faith but take fast hold of his promises who will not faile you and relye on his mercies which in your greatest straits will deliver you Bee faithful then unto the end and he wil give your hearts desire This Ladies exhortation afforded mee much comfort in this my affliction but much more when I knew who shee was for I had heard much of her though I was never till then well acquainted with her For so soone as I heard her name I began to be very confident that whatsoever shee spake came from good ground Nay I

her musicke or melody being his Spouse it admits harmony for so drowsie is mans zeale and affection as hee stands in great need of something to stirre up his devotion Likewise of those ancient and decent Ceremonies of the Church being discreetly and not superstitiously used I have ever reverently esteemed Neither am I ignorant how disputation in arguments of controversall learning hath beene of late yeares in more request then care of blamelesse conversation and living how indiscreet and impertinent reasoning has in many places brought that wofull effect as it hath begot many irreparable rents in Christs seamelesse Coat thus wounds left to the handling of unexpert hands became so farre from curing as they grew more dangerously spreading and desperately increasing then they were in the beginning and before they came to handling These Deficience are with pious teares and devout prayers to be repaired that men of learning may bee likewise men of living being endowed with that zeale as in all their arguments by way of private discourse or more publike opposition their sole ayme and desire may bee to propagate the Gospel and in it the glory of God with all singlenesse of mind and that without singularity of judgement being so free from all manner of ostentation or the spirit of contradiction as they may shun nothing more then popular applause nor hold any thing more deare then the Churches peace So as to compose this breach I never held those in points of Religion to be fitting Disputants who made it their onely ayme in a scholasticall manner to weave up their Arguments but such moderate spirits whose desires were rather to cleare mens consciences from inbred scruples then broach new differences With all due reverence I esteeme of those two Sacraments Baptisme and the Supper of the Lord as those two nursing brests of the Church the one to clense and purifie us at our entring the other to strengthen and sanctifie us living and to glorifie our soules at their departing As with mine heart I beleeve unto righteousnesse so with my Mouth doe I confesse unto salvation Neither doe I professe my selfe such a Soli-fidian as to hold Faith sufficient to salvation without Workes Neither such a Champion for good workes as to hold works effectuall without Faith As Faith is the root so are works the fruit Nay I hold these to have such necessary dependence one of th' other as they are ever to go hand in hand together Otherwise that fearefull curse which our blessed Saviour sometimes pronounced upon the barraine Fig-tree must be their censure And now in this day of my Change as in this confidence I have ever lived so my trust is that in the same I shall dye That in the Resurrection of my Saviour Christ Iesus is my hope and in his Ascension is my glory For I beleeve that my Redeemer liveth and that with these eyes I shall see him Thus have I rendred an account of my faith the substance whereof as I have ever professed in my life so I hope with all Christian constancy to continue the profession thereof even unto death So as though the assaults or temptations of the Devill my spirituall enemy whose practise hath beene ever by cruelty or subtilty to deprive man of his hope of glory should with all fury assaile me yet shall they never have power to prevaile against mee for the Lord who is my defence will in mercy draw neare mee and in that dying conflict give mee the victory This then shall be my clozing Resolve I meane to continue in the profession of that Faith now when I am old wherin being a child I was borne And having thus returned a due account of my Beliefe I hold it very fitting not to neglect that laudable use of disposing that estate whereof God in his goodnesse and providence towards me made mee here his Steward It were good then for mee that I remembred that message returned by Isaiah the sonne of Amos to Hezekiah Set thine house in order for thou shalt die and not live True it is when the outward house is orderly disposed the inward house cannot chuse but bee better prepared To remove then from mee the cares of this present world that I may take a more willing adeiu of the world before I leave it and so addresse my cares for a better world by waining my desires from it for live hee cannot in the Land of the living who prepares not himselfe for it before his arriving my mind and will is that my worldly substance bee disposed of in manner and forme following First then after this vessell of Earth this poore shell of corruption shall bee to earth committed and as neare to the bones of mine Ancestors as the conveniencie of the place may permit interred and that my Funerall expences shall be discharged in the performance of which Christian duty I approve of decency but in no case too much solemnity which has too often drowned the remembrance of mortality in the lees of sensuality after this I say my Will is that this small estate wherewith God hath blessed mee shall be divided in equall parts or portions amongst my Children that as they are all equally mine so they may bee equall sharers in mine Of whom I will not prophesie that they will dissipate or scatter all I leave them I have better hopes treasured in them For the portions I leave them though small yet competent if they be contented and more then I could wish them if otherwise affected A very little will suffice nature enough I leave them if well employed too much if abused May Gods blessing and mine be ever with them in their improvement of it And that I may crowne their hopes and my houres with one blessing more Blessed Spirit by which every Passenger is safely conducted from this vale of misery to the Kingdome of glory as these little ones are mine by generation so may they be thine by regeneration to whose gracious protection both now and ever I commit them Now I nominate and appoint for Surpervisors of this my last Will and Testament my deare friends Agapetus Eilicrines if they shall bee then living at my death whom I heartily desire for the loue they beare to goodnesse nay for the love they bear to him who is the fountaine of all goodnesse and as I repose much trust in them to performe this my Will And now mee thinkes all my worldly cares are drawne neare unto their period Seeing then I am sailing towards mine Harbour Let mee strike Anchor that taking the wings of the Morning I may fly to the bosome of my dear Redeemer Go forth then my Soule what fearest thou goe forth why tremblest thou Thou hast had enough of Idumaea for what foundst thou there but anguish Now then turne thy face to the Wall and thinke of the Land of Promise Thou hast but now a little time left thee the remainder whereof is justly exacted