Selected quad for the lemma: faith_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
faith_n	church_n	invisible_a	visible_a	9,700	5	9.4455	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43768	Conjugall counsell, or, Seasonable advice, both to unmarried, and married persons directing the first how to enter into marriage estate, and the other how to demeane themselves in the Christian discharge of all such duties as that estate of life blads them to, that God may have glory, the church edification, and themselves and families, present and future comfort, tending much (by the blessing of God) to a through reformation of all the enormities of these evil times / by T.H. ...	Hilder, Thomas.	1653 (1653)	Wing H1974; ESTC R20660	113,375	218

are not only members of the visible but of the Invisible Church of Christ and that they may do this remember that I said they must feare the Lord themselves and they must have a ●ively faith or else all the faith and holinesse of their Parents at a further or nearer distance will stand them in no stead in relation to spirituall advantages But as for outward blessings ●ll the Children of the faithfull may have the greater portion of them for their faithfull Parents sake on both sides I say on the Mothers side as well as on the Fathers I have been young saith David but now am old yet never saw the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread Psal 3.7.25 Then in the 26 ver He is ever mercifull and lendeth and his seed is blessed Againe if thy wife be of the seed of the faithfull then both she and her Children are interested into the benefit of their Fore fathers prayers we meane in this place only for outward things Abraham praies unto God for Ishmael Oh saith he that Ishmael might live in thy sight Gen 17.18 Then in the 20. v. God answereth him As for Ishmael saith God I have heard thee Behold I have blessed him and will make him fruitfull twelve Princes shall he beget and I will make him a great Nation Beloved you may here note That not only Ismael himselfe shall have the benefit of Abrahams prayers but his seed also for they should be Princes and indeed a great Nation and yet they were Abrahams seed only according to the flesh but had they been his spirituall seed too these mercies might have been sanctified to them and so made the greater Indeed the Prayers of the righteous availe much Jam. 5.16 Lastly as thou desirest to have comfort in thy Wives kindred thou must labour to chuse her as one springing from the stock of the faithfull for as thou dost marry her to be thy wife so thou dost marry her kindred as I may say to be thy kindred And what comfort canst thou have when thou art of a Heavenly frame of spirit thy selfe to have society and communion with a carnall and irreligious kindred Surely but little So much also for this fift particular The sixth qualification which is necessary to be look'd after in the choise of a Wife is The sixth qualificati●n c. ● a competent outward Estate And herein I might save my labour to put this down for a direction to some for it is the first thing nay the all in all their hearts are affected with except the Amorous reflectings of their wanton eyes on some paint and Features in the Face and compleatnesse of person meerly to satisfie their wanton fleshly and sensuall appetites which in this kind is unlawfull though otherwise commendable as before discussed I would have every man in a due place and with some moderation of his exorbitant affections not only look after but labour for a convenient portion with his wife in Marriage and that as he desires her to be a meet helper And first because the things of this life are the good Creatures of God they are blessings nay singular blessings when sanctified to us of speciall use to us whilest we are in this our Pilgrimage to carry us through the world without distractions and worldly encumbrances that we may with the more enlargednesse of heart walke with our God in a holy Conversation and that with cheerefulnesse Only we had need take great heed we trust not in uncertaine Riches but in the living God 1 Tim. 6 17. and that if Riches encrease we set not our hearts upon them Psal 62.10 I say we have need to prevent these evils because all blessings both spirituall and temporall are sanctified to us but in part Againe in the second place it is lawfull for a man to mind a portion with his Wife because it is the duty of Parents to lay up portions for to give portions to their Children 2 Cor. 12.14 The Apostle laies it down positively that it is the duty of Parents to lay up for their Children though he apply the same in a spirituall sense Job gave his Daughters Inheritance among their Brethren Job 42.15 Elkanab gives unto his Sons and Daughters Portions 1 Sam. 1.4 When Galeb bestows his Daughter in Marriage to Othniel he gave him a portion with her over a Southland and after on her demand the upper and nether springs Judg. 1.13.15 In the third and last place a man may looke at portion with a wife because he cannot live at so low a rate when he is married as he could when he was a single man and his wife doth encrease or help to encrease this his Charge therefore there is all the reason in the world she should bring some additionall maintenance For Money answereth all things saith Solomon Eccl. 10.19 We have a Proverbe that Money will keep love warme I must confesse that it may be true thus that as Money answereth all things as Solomon hath before said so it takes away all distractions and perturbations from the spirit and so leaves a man free with the greater torrent of love to run into the bosome of his wife and in a Reciprocall way to receive the like from her again But Beloved I beseech thee beware of wedding a purse of Money I have acquainted thee with the casualties and dangers that may overtake those that make wealth the Object of their love And let me tell thee whoever thou art that art Muck-warme thou maiest feare that all the happinesse thou wilt meet with in thy choise of a Wife will be confin'd in a purse or in a bag of trash for so is the gold of Ophir in comparison of a vertuous wife nay her price is farre above riches Pro. 31.10 Therefore if God hath lent thee a sufficient outward Estate to carry the charge of Marriage about withall then though it may be lawfull for thee to look at some portion with a yoke-fellow and thou maiest thankefully receive what God hath provided for thee yet if the portion be but small nay if none at all but spirituall vertues even the riches of the mind let in such a case the thoughts of riches pass and accept of the woman with her inward treasure and as Mordecai said unto Hoster in another case Who knoweth whether thou art come to the Kingdome for such a time as this Hos 4.14 So I say unto thee who knoweth but that God hath given thee thy wealth for such a time as this even to enlarge the outward comfortable living of such a precious woman who spiritually doth live in the bosome of Jesus Christ We shall desist from further prosecution of this sixth qualification The seventh qualification in a woman and proceed to the next The seventh qualification or necessary engredient to make a woman a meet helper is frugality or good Housewifery and this doth in a fit place succeed the last foregoing qualification

their hearts and affections with their persons and favours then they must be frown'd upon call'd disobedient Children and disinherited cast off as if they were but a bastard Generation But if this in a speciall manner be not a provoking Children to wrath and a discouraging of them I know not what is which sin of Parents the Apostle forbids Col. 3.21 Now in the feare of God let Parents be admonished to beware of this sin of enforcing their Children to accept of such Husbands and Wives as themselves only chose without nay against the free consent of their Children But if Parents will not be exhorted to the contrary let them know that they are in a high degree accessary to all the brawlings and contentions that fall out after such Marriages betweene their Children and they must answer before the Bar of Gods Tribunall for all breach of Covenant all Marriage-bed defilement for all poysonings or other bloudy plots to take away the naturall lives of either person and they are guilty of all disorders of all non-performance of Family duties of all dishonour brought to God by their Children in the Marriage estate and so by undeniable consequence of their Childrens Damnation for such sins though the Children are accomptable before God for their owne sins too Thou that art a Father or Mother remember that saying Call the Maid and aske at her mouth Gen. 24.57 We have been larger on this particular than was at first intended but Beloved we hope for thy profit and so we conclude it and passe on The fourth qualification c. In the fourth place if thou wouldst have a meet helper thou must looke at fitnesse of Age in that woman whom thou desirest to be thy Wife Or else how canst thou expect meet helpe from her in all conditions If a man of fit age for Marriage chuse a girle for his Wife or if a Young Man Marry with an old woman and expect furtherance from such in that estate of life they befoole themselves for the Girle stands in need of a Dame to instruct her in all points of womanhood to fit her for to be a good wife and the old woman stands in need of a Nurse to waite on her in her decrepid Age. Now in this particular we shall use the more concisenesse because we have spent some time this way before yet we must confesse those lines did chiefly relate to cautionate the Man not to mind Marriage before ripe in Age for that state of life But as a man must not marry till of fit Age so neither must he chuse a wife therein unfit yet both Divinity and Philosophy will justifie that man that doth match himselfe to a Girle rather than he who doth marry an old woman for a Girle may in time become a woman fit to beare Children and guide the house as the Apostle requires 1 Tim. 5.14 which are spirituall ends of Marriage But the old woman will be more and more unfit Now though it be not convenient that a woman of eight or ten yeares older than the man should be joyn'd in Marriage with him yet no man of understanding dare deny but that it may be lawfull provided that the woman be not past Child-bearing and withall be of an able and healthfull constitution But if otherwise two speciall ends of Marriage are frustrate and then it is a sin against God and Nature too to be so joyned in Marriage But when a man about twenty sixe yeares old shall be married to a Maid of about twenty or a Man about thirty yeares old shall marry with a maid about twenty foure such Conjunctions are of good report and such persons as they are Youthfull together so they grow aged together and are never estranged in their affections one towards another if other qualifications also correspond And besides the fruit of such Marriages ordinarily by the blessing of God is to have Children betimes in youthfull daies when their Parents can best care for them and take paines with them which Children if the Lord give them grace prove as a staffe or support to their Parents under God in their old Age which is a blessing abundantly desirable But all men both Religious and Morall do condemn such men as in their youthfull daies will for any sinister end in the world joyne themselves in Marriage with women of above fifty nay Gen 18.23 sometimes above sixty yeares Old There can be no Issue from such Marriages unlesse God worke a miracle which who can expect without great presumption And besides this disagreement in yeares breeds a disagreement in life for a young man cannot entirely love a woman so much older than himselfe that when he is in the prime of his yeares and strength that then his wife should be crazie unhealthfull unhandsome for him to have neere society with and of a withered body whereby he is Obnoxious to an inundation of temptations of all kinds from his spirituall enemies even to uncleannesse to unbridled passions to Company-keeping and so to the neglect of the duties of his Calling and of his Family and so to lavish expence to the undoing of him and his thus I leave to thy selfe to judge whether a fit Age be a good qualification in a woman to make her a meet helper to thee in the Marriage estate or no. The fifth qualification c. The fifth Qualification necessary to make a woman a meet helper is to be descended from the Loines of godly Parents But before I proceed to shew thee how this is necessary I shall briefly premise one thing viz. That thou maiest warrantably take a wife from India whose Parents were Heathens from Rome from Spaine or out of any prophane and irreligious Family provided that her selfe be a sincere Convert a godly pious and religious woman for it is not her Parents and thee but she and thou that make but one flesh this premised I say it is necessary to marry a wife out of a godly Family First in relation to thy Off-spring Secondly to thy selfe First in relation to thy Off-spring for hereby the Covenant of Grace runs to them in the fuller streame the entaile is the stronger as I may say God threatens to visit the iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children but to the third and fourth Generation of them that hate him But he promiseth to shew mercy unto thousands of them that love him and keep his Commandements Exod 20.5 6. God makes a Covenant with seeds seed Isa 59.21 If thy Children can look back and upon good grounds conceive their Progenitors for many Ages past did feare the Lord they may if they fear the Lord themselves comfortably conclude that through free Grace they have an Interest in the Covenant of Grace even in that Covenant that God made with Abraham to be the God of him and his seed for ever so may comfortably improve that Covenant by a true and lively faith to assure their soules that they