Selected quad for the lemma: grace_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
grace_n	adam_n	covenant_n	fall_n	2,656	5	9.6090	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12210	Yea and amen: or, pretious promises, and priviledges Spiritually unfolded in their nature and vse. Driving at the assurance and establishing of weak beleevers. By R. Sibbs D.D. master of Katherine Hall in Cambridge, and preacher of Grayes Inne London. Reviewed by himselfe in his life time, and since perused by T.G. and P.N.	Sibbes, Richard, 1577-1635.; Goodwin, Thomas, 1600-1680.; Nye, Philip, 1596?-1672.	1638 (1638)	STC 22521; ESTC S102402	91,199	446

repentance do work together for the best unto us Yea the circumstances of sin as continuance therin which much agravates the sinne when such a one truly repents and is restored to Christ it maketh him more zealous and watchfull ever after as wee see in Paul and the Thiefe on the Crosse who finding favour acknowledgeth his worthinesse of punishment reprehendeth his fellow on the Crosse justifieth Christ to have done all things well and so giving glory unto God and crying for mercy receiveth a comfortable promise of an heavenly Kingdome All things are possible to God We can never be so ill as he is powerfull and good God can bring contrary out of contrary He hath promised to poure cleane water upon us which faith sues out and remembers that Christ hath taken upon him to purge his Spouse and make her fit for himselfe Further the very relapses and back-slidings of Gods servants into sinne doe not argue no repentance but a weak repentance and therefore when they are againe rebuked and turned from sin their relapses doe make them set upon the service of God more strongly and runne more constantly in his wayes Where true grace is sinne looses strength by every new fall for hence issues deeper humility stronger hatred of evill fresh indignation against our selves more experience of the deceitfulnesse of our hearts and renued resolutions till sinne bee brought under Adam lost all by once sinning but we are under a better covenant a covenant of mercy and are encouraged to go to God every day for the sins of that day For it is not with God as it is with men who being offended will scarce be reconciled but God offended still offereth mercy He is not only ready to receive us when we returne but perswades and intreates us to come unto him yea after backsliding and false dealing with him wherein he allowes no mercy to bee shewed by man yet he wil take liberty to shew mercy himselfe as in Ieremiah If a man have an adulterous Wife and shall put her away and shee become another mans he will not receive her any more to him But saith the Lord thou hast played the Harlot with many Lovers yet turne againe unto mee for I am mercifull and my wrath shall not fall upon you I will not alwayes keepe mine anger though your sinnes be as Crimson they shall bee white as Snow and though they were red like Skarlet they shall bee as white as Wooll if yee will turne to me and wash ye and make ye cleane and cease to doe evill and learne to do well So Revel 2. Christ speaking to the Church of Ephesus saith She hath fallen from her first love but saith he Remember from whence thou art fallen and repent and doe thy first works and I will receive thee to favour by which wee see that the relapses of Gods elect as they doe not finally hinder mercy from their soules so notwithstanding the same they are still encouraged to return to God to renew their covenant by faith and repentance and cleave more strongly to him As for outward evils they are First evils of estate as want and poverty which oft fals out to be the portion of Gods children yet are they not any whit the worse hereby but rather the better in their inner man for the lesse they have in this world the greater and larger happinesse shall they partake of in another world What they lose one way is supplied another Whatsoever comfort we have in goods or friends below it is all conveyed from God above who still remaines though these be taken away The Saints see that if to preserve the deerest thing in the world they break with God he can make it a dead contentment and a torment to them wheras if we care to preserve communion with God we shall be sure to finde in him whatsoever we deny for him honour riches pleasures friends all so much the sweeter by how much we have them more immediately from the Spring-head Our riches and friends and life it selfe may soon depart But God never loseth his right in us nor we our interest in him Every thing beneath teaches us by the vanity and vexation we finde in them that our happinesse is not there they send us to God they may make us worse but better they cannot our nature is above them and ordained for a greater good they can but go along with us for a while and their end swallowes up all the comfort of their beginning Besides none have that experience of Gods goodnesse and faithfulnesse as those that are in want and misery God in his wisdome foreseeing what is best for his servants knowes that the more worldly wealth they doe abound in the lesse their estimation would be of heavenly things he sees how apt the poore creature is to be carried away with present comfort and to have his love drawne to the world from better contentments The poorer they are in worldly riches the more they seek to bee rich in grace in knowledge faith and repentance which heavenly treasures incomparably surmount the most transcendent excellency which the creature can yeeld As for the evill of losing a good name a thing oft befalling the children of God to be slandered and evill spoken of They upon every small disgrace take occasion to enter into themselves and try whether they be guilty of such hard imputations as are flung upon them And if upon a serious consideration hee finde himself disgraced for good things he weares it as a Crowne and as a Garland upon his head Rejoycing that he is accounted worthy to suffer for the Lord Iesus esteeming the rebukes of Christ grea ter treasure than the riches of Egypt A true beleever resignes his good name and all that hee hath to God He is assured that no man can take away that from him which God will give him and keepe for him It is not in mans power to make others conceive what they please of us For the evils of Body such as sicknesse and diseases of all sorts which daily attend our houses of Clay God by meanes hereof acquaints his children with their fraile condition and shewes them what a little time they have to provide for eternity thereby driving them to search their evidences to make all straight betwixt him and them outward weaknesses are oft a meanes to restraine men from inward evils God usually sanctifies the pains and griefs of his servants to make them better The time of sicknesse is a time of purging from that defilement we gathered in our health We should not be cast down so much for any bodily distemper as for sinne that procures and invenomes the same That is a good sicknesse which tends to the health of the soule Naaman the Assyrian if he had not had a leprousie in his body had continued a Leper both in body and soule all his dayes his outward grievances made him inwardly sound The very

must be in one that is first beloved hereupon comes the ground of the promises to be in Jesus Christ all intercourse between God and us must be in him that is able to satisfie God for us The Almighty Creator will have our debts discharged before he enters into a covenant of peace with us Now this Christ hath perfectly done and thereby reconciled lost sinners hereupon the promise immediately issues from Gods love in Christ to beleeving soules He must first receive all good for us and we must have it at the second hand from him The promises in Christ are as the spirits in the body they runne through al the ages of the Church without him there is no mercy nor comfort to be had God cannot look on this cursed nature of ours out of Christ and therefore whosoever apprehends any mercy from God he must apprehend it in Christ the promised seed To make it clearer our nature since the fall is odious to God a sinfull cursed nature remaines in the best of us and therefore that God may looke peaceably upon it he must looke upon it in him that hath it undefiled in him whom he loves even his only Son like unto himselfe that hath taken our nature upon him Now our nature in Christ must needs be lovely and acceptable and if ever God love us it is for Christ alone who was predestinated before all worlds to be a Sacrifice for us to be the Head of his Church he was ordained to doe us good before we our selves were ordained Christ is the first Beloved and then we God loves us in his beloved one This is my beloved Sonne in whom I am well pleased As if the Lord had said I am pleased in him and in all his in his whole mysticall body Christ is the Son of God by nature we by adoption what ever good is in us is first principally in him God conveighs all by the naturall Son to the adopted sonnes therefore all the promises are made to us in Christ he takes them from God for us He himselfe is the first Promise and all are Yea and Amen in him they are not directed to us abstracted from him but we are elected in Christ sanctified in him acquitted frō sin through him by his stripes we are healed If Christ had not satisfied the wrath of God by bearing our iniquities upon the crosse wee had beene liable every moment to condemnation If he had not been free from our sins we had for ever lyen under the burthen of them You are yet in your sinnes saith Saint Paul if Christ be not risen We are freed from our debts because Christ our surety is out of prison he is in Heaven and therefore we are at liberty The Promises are a deed of gift which wee have from and by Christ who is the first object of all the respect that God hath to us Why are the Angels attendants on us Because they attend upon Iacobs Ladder that is upon Christ that knits Heaven and Earth together So that the Angels because they attend upon Christ first become likewise our attendants we have a promise of eternall life but this life is in his Son God blesseth us with all spirituall blessings in him and makes us sons in him the naturall Sonne whatsoever prerogative we enjoy it is in Christ first and so belongs to us but no further than we by faith are made one with him How darest thou think of God who is a Consuming fire and not think of him as he is pleased and pacified with thy person in Christ who tooke thy nature upon him to be a foundation of comfort and a second Adam a publique person satisfying Divine Justice for all that are members of his body Wee may think upon God with comfort when wee see him appeased in his Christ. As long as hee loves Christ hee cannot but love us Never think to have grace or salvation or any thing without Christ. Doth God love mee doth hee doe good to my soule for my owne sake abstracted from his Sonne no surely then should I flie from his presence But he looks upon me in his beloved and in him accepts of my person therefore our Saviour prayeth I desire thee bles sed Father that the love wherewith thou lovest mee may be in them and I in them This should direct us in our dealing with God not to goe directly to him but by a Promise And when wee have a Promise look to Christ in whom it is performed If we ask any thing of God in Christs name he will give it us If wee thank God for any thing thank him in Christ that wee have it in him What a comfort is this that wee may goe to God in Christ and claime the Promises boldly because he loves us with the same love he beares to his only beloved Sonne If we get fast hold on Christ and cleave there God can assoone alter his love to him as alter his love to us his love is every whit as unchangeable to a beleeving member as to Christ the head of the body The Promises are as sure as the love of God in Christ is upon which they are founded and from which nothing can separate us For Promises being the fruit of Gods love and Gods love being founded first upon Christ it must needs follow that all the Promises are both made and made good to us through him If a Prince should love a man and his love should be founded upon the love he beares to his own Son surely such a one may have comfort that love will never faile him because it is an affection naturall and therefore unalterable he will alwayes love his Sonne and therefore will alwayes delight in him in whom his Son delighteth Now Christ is the everlasting Sonne of the Father his deare and only Sonne in whom hee is ever well pleased and through whom he cannot be offended with those that are his So surely as God loves Christ so surely hee loves all that are united to him There is nothing in the world can separate his love from his owne Sonne neither is there any thing able to separate his love from us that are one with him God loves Christs mysticall body as well as his naturall body hee hath advanced that to glory at his right hand in heaven and will hee think you leave his mysticall body the Church in a state of abasement here on earth No certainly God loves every member of his Son for as he gave us to Christ so Him hath he sealed and annointed to be a Saviour for his people This is the reason why God looks upon us with a forbearing eye notwithstanding the continuall matter of displeasure hee finds in us hee looks on us in his Sonne his love to us is grounded on his love to Christ. And hereupon comes our boldnesse with God the Father that wee can goe to him in all distresses with comfort say Lord look

temptations which hefail us in our pilgrimage A man in his pure natu rals will swell against this doctrine because he feeles no such thing and thinks what is above his measure is hypocrisie He makes himselfe the rule of other Christians to walke by and therefore values and esteemes others by his uncertaine condition but the heart of a Christian hath a light in it the Spirit of God in his soule makes him discerne what estate he is in In a naturall man all is dark hee sees nothing because his heart is in a Dungeon his eye being dark the whole man must needs be in blindnesse All is alike to him he sees no difference betweene flesh and spirit and therefore holds on in a doubting hope in a confused disposition and temper of soule to his dying-day But a Christian that labours to walk in the comforts of the holy Ghost cannot rest in such an unsetled estate he dares not venture his eternall welfare upon such infirme grounds What to depart this life and be tossed in uncertainty whether a man goes to Heaven or to Hell What a miserable perplexity must such a soule needs be in Therefore he is still working out his salvation and storing up of grace against the evill day And well may this condition challenge all our diligence in labouring for it because it is neither attained nor maintained without the strength and prime of our care for the sense of Gods favour will not bee kept without keeping him in our best affections above all things else in the world besides without keeping of our hearts constantly close and neere to him which can never bee done without keeping a most narrow watch over our loose spirits which are ever ready to stray from him and fall to the creature It cannot be kept without exact walking and serious selfe-deniall But what of that Can wee spend our labours to better purpose One sweet beame of Gods countenance will requite all abundantly A Christian indeed undergoes more trouble and paines especially with his own heart than others do but what is that to his gaines One day spent in communion with God is sweeter than a thousand without it What comforts so great as those that are fetched from the Fountaine Oh woe to him that savours not these heavenly but lingers after carnall comforts It cannot but grieve the holy Spirit when the consolations of the Almighty are either forgotten or seem nothing to us But why doth the Spirit thus establish and seale us and conveigh grace to our soules why doth that doe all Because since the fall we have no principles of supernaturall good in us and there must be a principle above nature to work grace in our barren hearts Againe there is still remaining in us an utter aversnesse to that which is spiritually good in the best therefore there must bee somewhat to over-power their corrupt disposition But why the Spirit rather than the Father or the Sonne Hee comes from both and therefore is fit to witnesse the love of both the Holy Ghost is in the breast of the Father and the Sonne hee knowes their secret affection towards us A mans spirit is acquainted with his in most thoughts the blessed Spirit is privie to the hidden love of God and of Jesus Christ to us poore creatures which we are strangers unto therefore none so fit to cheere and revive us Indeed the love originally is from the Father but in regard of application of what is wrought by the Sonne all proceeds from the Holy Ghost he receives grace from Christ for us It must needs be so because no lesse than the Spirit of God can quiet our perplexed spirits in time of tentation For when the conscience of a guilty person is affrighted what man can allay its feares That which must settle a troubled spirit must be a spirit above our owne It being no easie thing to bring the soule and God together after peace is broken we have both wind and tide against us in this businesse grace being but weak and corruption strong in the best of us We should labour therfore for heavenly spirits get somthing more than a man in us There can never be any true peace attained till the Spirit from above settle it in our souls An unsanctified heart is an unpacified heart If there be a neglect of holinesse the soule can never bee soundlyquiet where there is not a cleare conscience there cannot be a calm cōscience that is a generall rule Sinne like Ionas in the ship will raise continuall stormes both within and without a man Take away God once and farewell all true tranquillity Spirituall comforts flow immediatly from the Spirit of Comfort who hath his office designed for that purpose But how shall we know that we have the Spirit How may a man know that hee hath a soule by living and moving by actions vitall c. Even so may a man know hee hath the Spirit of God by its blessed effects and operations it is not idle in us but as the soule quickens the body so doth the Spirit the soule Every saving grace is a signe that the Spirit is in us Wheresoever the Spirit dwells hee transformes the soule changes the party like himselfe to be holy and gracious this is an undoubted symptome of the Spirits habitation Secondly all spirituall graces are with conflict for that which is true is with a great deale of resistance of that which is counterfeit the flesh still lusts against the spirit and Satan cannot endure to see any man walk cōfortably to heaven What thinks hee such a base creature as this is to have the earnest of salvation to live here as if hee were in heaven already and to defie all opposite powers sure hee shall have little peace this way I will disquiet and vex his spirit if he will goe to heaven hee shall go mourning thither This is the reasoning of the cursed spirit whereupon hee labours to shake our assurance and follow us with perplexities The grace and comfort of a Christian is with much conflict and tentations not only with Satan but with his owne heart which so long as guilt remaines wil ever be misgiving and casting of doubts there must therfore be a higher power than the soule of man to quiet and allay its owne troubles Thirdly the Spirit enables us to the practise of those duties which by nature wee are averse unto as to love an enemie to overcome our revenge to be humble in prosperity and contented with any estate It drawes our affection heavenward and makes us delight in God above all as our best portion Hee that hath the Spirit joyes in spirituall company and imployment he hates sinne as being contrary to that blessed earnest which hee hath received He looks on things as God doth and approves of the same as hee is made more or lesse spirituall thereby and so is brought neerer to that fountaine of

from doing us harme All the strength of the creature rests in the great Creator of all things who if hee denies concourse the arme of their power soon withereth It cannot but bring strong consolation to the soule to know that in all variety of changes and intercourse of good and bad things our loving God hath a disposing hand So as all blessings and crosses all ordinances and graces nay our very fals yea Satan himselfe with all his instruments being over mastred ruled by God have this injunction upon them to further Gods good intendment to us and in no wise hurt us which should move us to see his disposing hand in all that befals us We owe God this respect to observe his providence in the particular passages of our lives considering hee is our Soveraigne and his will is the rule and we are to be accountable to him as our Iudge We should question our hearts for questioning his care in the least kinde So long as God sits at the Sterne and rules all wee may bee sure no evill shall betyde us that hee can hinder Thirdly hence we may learne that there is not two but one Soveraigne head over the whole World which is plainly proved by this Text of Scripture For all things work together for the best to them that love God and things which in themselves are contraries agree together to procure their good therefore all things whatsoever are over ruled by the sole power of the Almighty The Devill himselfe although he be called the God of this World yet he is at Christs beck and could not enter into a few Swine without leave first obtained hee raiseth up hideous storms and tempests against the Saints but perisheth himselfe in the waves at last persecutions and perils may follow us but they are all limited in the doing of hurt which plainly demonstrates that there is but one main worker and wise disposer of all things Further hence observe that there is nothing in the world that to Gods servants is absolutely evill because nothing is so ill but some good may bee raised out of it not as it is an evill but as it is governed and mastred by a supreme cause Sinne is of all evils the greatest and yet sinfull actions may produce gratious effects through Gods ordering and guiding the same Againe observe that a childe of God is truly happy in the midst of all misery To prove this I reason thus In what estate soever the childe of God is it shall turn to his good therefore no affliction can make him truly miserable The proofe of this the Apostle sets downe in his owne example hee was poore yet made many rich he sorrowed yet alwayes rejoyeed he had nothing yet possessed all things he was chastned and yet not killed Gods children although to the world they may seeme to be miserable yet having communion and fellowship with him they are alwayes happy the very worst day of Gods childe ●is better than the very best day of the wicked The worst day of S. Paul was better to him than the best day of Nero was to him for the wicked in the midst of their happinesse are accursed whereas the godly in the midst of their miseries are blessed This Doctrine is a ground of understanding divers other places of Scripture as Psalme 91. The Lord promiseth that hee will deliver his from the snare of the Hunter and from the noisome pestilence and yet oft times his deere servants are in the hands of the wicked and taken away by the stroke of his judgements this truth neverthelesse remaining firme that all worketh together for their best So God teacheth us in his Word that he doth make a league betweene his servants and the creatures but all such expressions of his love we must bring to this Text and then they are true else they may seeme to bee false The plague shall not come neere thy dwelling place but only so far forth as it is for thy benefit The good Prophet was torne in pieces by a Lion and sundry holy men have received hurt by wilde Beasts whose eternall welfare were furthered thereby Therefore this phrase of Scripture that the creatures are in league is to bee understood not that they have put off their hostile nature But that they have the same issue as those that are at peace with us Here likewise is a direction for us how to pray for earthly blessings and the removall of temporall judgements often times worldly honours and riches are snares unto Gods children and temporall chastisements which wee so earnestly pray against work much good unto us And therefore it falleth out that when wee pray against temporall calamities wee pray against our owne good Being therfore afflicted we should desire not absolutely that God would remove our troubles but that hee would work his owne good pleasure upon us therby Our prayers for temporall blessings and removall of temporall crosses must alwayes be conditionall for what good will it bee for us to come out of the fire worse than we were when wee went into it If therefore God in his wisdome see it good for us to have affliction we should not desire him absolutely to remove the same till it have done us good And then Lord deale with us as seemes best in thine own eyes As for such as affect neither God nor goodnesse let them know that if all things work for the best to the Saints then they may forbeare their successesse endeavours which they daily enterprize against them in going about to hurt the godly they doe them most good for God will benefit them by their malice Their wicked practises shall not only bee made frustrate but dangerous to themselves after the chastisement of his servants for their good God will cast the rod into the fire Men may know whether they are vessells of mercy or no by the use they are put to The basest of people are fit enough to be executioners It is a miserable wisedome when men are wise to work their owne ruine Do not many spin a fine thred and weave a faire web when by their turnings and devices they turne themselves into hell What ever wee get by sinne for the present it will one day prove the heaviest businesse that ever wee undertook God is the onely Monarch of the world and makes all things and persons whatsoever service able to his owne end and his Churches good He is higher than the highest Sathan with all his instruments are but slaves to the Almighty executioners of his will Can we think that Gods children who are so neere deare to him shall alwayes bee trampled upon by the powers of darknesse No certainly hee is interessed in all their quarells and takes their injuries as don to himselfe When wee can bee more subtill than the Devill or more strong than God wee may think to thrive against them He is a wall of fire round about