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grace_n covenant_n promise_n seal_v 2,532 5 9.8875 5 false
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A53719 Phronēma tou pneumatou, or, The grace and duty of being spiritually-minded declared and practically improved / by John Owen ... Owen, John, 1616-1683. 1681 (1681) Wing O792; ESTC R32198 236,039 359

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in them and dis-esteem the chiefest Benefit which is to be obtained by them whence should Zeal for them delight in them or diligence in attendance unto them arise Let not any please themselves under the Power of such decayes they are Indications of their Inward Frame and those infallible Such Persons will grow cold careless and negligent as unto the Duties of publick Worship they will put themselves neither to Charge nor Trouble about them every Occasion of Life diverts them and finds ready Entertainment in their Minds And when they do attend upon them it is with great Indifferency and Unconcernedness Yet would they have it thought that all is still well within as ever it was they have as good a respect unto Religion as any But these things openly discover an ulcerous Disease in the very Souls of Men as evidently as if it were written on their Foreheads what ever they pretend unto the contrary they are under the Power of woful Decayes from all due regard unto Spiritual and Eternal Things And I would avoid the Society of such Persons as those who carry an infectious Disease about them unless it were to help on their Cure But herein it is that Affections Spiritually renewed do manifest themselves When we do delight in and value the Duties of Gods Worship because we find by Experience that they are and have been unto us meanes of communicating a Sense and renewed Pledges of the Love of God in Christ with all the Benefits and Priviledges which depend thereon then are our Affections renewed in and by the Holy Ghost Secondly They come for Supplies of Internal Sanctifying strengthning Grace This is the second great Design of Believers in their Approaches unto God in his VVorship The want hereof as unto Measures and Degrees they find in themselves and are sensible of it Yea therein lyes the great Burden of the Souls of Believers in this VVorld All that we do in the Life of God may be referred unto two Heads First The Observance of all Duties of Obedience And Secondly The Conflict with and Conquest over Temptations About these things are we continually exercised Hence the great thing which we desire labour for and pant after is Spiritual Strength and Ability for the Discharge of our selves in a due manner with respect unto these things This is that which every true Believer groaneth after in the inward Man and which he preferreth infinitely above all Earthly Things So he may have Grace sufficient in any competent measure for these ends let what will befal him he desireth no more in this VVorld God in Christ is the only Fountain of all this Grace There is not one Drachm of it to be obtained but from him alone And as he doth communicate it unto us of his own Soveraign Goodness and Pleasure so the ordinary way and meanes whereby he will do it are the Duties of his Worship Isaiah 40.28 29 30 31. Hast thou not known Hast thou not heard that the Everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the Ends of the Earth fainteth not neither is weary There is no searching of his Understanding He giveth Power to the faint and to them that have no Might he increaseth Strength Even the Youths shall faint and be weary and the Young Men shall utterly fail But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their Strength they shall mount up with Wings as Eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint All Grace and Spiritual Strength is originally seated in the nature of God v. 28. But what relief can that afford unto us who are weak feeble fainting He will act suitably unto his nature in the Communication of this Grace and Power v. 29. But how shall we have an Interest in this Grace in these Opperations wait on him in the Ordinances of his Worship v. 31. The Word as Preached is the Food of our Souls whereby God administreth Growth and Strength unto them Joh. 17.17 1 Pet. 2.23 Desire sayeth he the sincere Milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby But what Encouragement have we thereunto if so be sayeth he you have tasted that the Lord is gracious If in and by the Dispensation of this Word you have had Experience of the Grace the Goodness the Kindness of God unto your Souls you cannot but desire it and delight in it And otherwise you will not do so When men have fate some good while under the Dispensation of the VVord and in the enjoyment of other Ordinances without tasting in them and by them that the Lord is gracious they will grow weary of it and them Wherefore Prayer is the way of his Appointment for the Application of our Souls unto him to obtain a Participation of all needful Grace which therefore he hath proposed unto us in the Promises of the Covenant that we may know what to ask and how to plead for it In the Sacraments the same Promises are seal'd unto us and the Grace represented in them effectually exhibited Meditation confirms our Souls in the Exercise of Faith about it and is the especial Opening of the Heart unto the Reception of it By these meanes I say doth God communicate all Supplies of renewing strengthening and sanctifying Grace unto us that we may live unto him in all Holy Obedience and be able to get the Victory over our Temptations Under this Apprehension do Believers approach unto God in the Ordinances of his Worship They come unto them as the meanes of Gods Communication unto their Souls Hence they cleave unto them with Delight so far as their Affections are renewed So the Spouse testifyeth of her self I sate down under his Shadow with great Delight Cant 2.3 In these Ordinances is the protecting refreshing Presence of Christ. This she rested in with great Delight As they come unto them with these Designs and Expectations so they have Experience of the Spiritual Benefits and Advantages which they receive by them which more and more engageth them unto them in their Affections and Delights All these things those who have a Change wrought in their Affections but not a Spiritual Renovation are Strangers unto They neither have the Design before mentioned in coming to them nor the Experience of this Efficacy now proposed in their Attendance on them But these Benefits are great as for Instance when Men find the worth and Effect of the Word Preached on their Souls in its enlightning refreshing strengthening transforming Power when they find their Hearts warmed their Graces excited and strengthened the Love of God improved their Disponding Spirits under Trials and Temptations relieved their whole Souls gradually more and more Conformed unto Christ when they find themselves by it extricated out of Snares Doubts Fears Temptations and brought unto Satisfaction and Rest they cannot but delight in the Dispensation of it and rejoyce in it as the Food of their Souls And it is a great Hinderance unto the Encrease of Spiritual Life and