Selected quad for the lemma: grace_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
grace_n	covenant_n	sacrament_n	seal_v	3,518	5	10.1195	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A23775	The whole duty of man laid down in a plain way for the use of the meanest reader divided into XVII chapters : one whereof being read every Lords day, the whole may be read over, thrice in the year, necessary for all families : with private devotions.; Whole duty of man	Allestree, Richard, 1619-1681.; Fell, John, 1625-1686.; Sterne, Richard, 1596?-1683.; Henchman, Humphrey, 1592-1675.; Pakington, Dorothy Coventry, Lady, d. 1679.	1659 (1659)	Wing A1170_PARTIAL; Wing A1161_PARTIAL; ESTC R22026	270,427	508

How much worse then his very crucifiers They crucified him once but thou hast as much as in thee lay crucified him daily They crucified him because they knew him not but thou hast known both what he is in himself The Lord of Glory and what he is to thee a most tender and merciful Saviour and yet thou hast still continued thus to crucifie him afresh Consider this and let it work in thee first a great sorrow for thy sins past and then a great hatred and a firm resolution against them for the time to come 25. When thou hast a while thus thought on these sufferings of Christ for the increasing thy humility and contrition then in the second place think of them again to stir up thy Faith look on him as the sacrifice offered up for thy sins for the appeasing of Gods wrath and procuring his favour and mercies toward thee And therefore believingly yet humbly beg of God to accept of that satisfaction made by his innocent and beloved Son and for the merits thereof to pardon thee whatever is past and to be fully reconciled to thee 26. In the third place consider them again to raise thy thankfulnesse Think how much both of shame and pain he there endured but especially those great agonies of his Soul which drew from him that bitter cry My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Matt. 27. 45. Now all this he suffered only to keep thee from perishing And therefore consider what unexpressible thanks thou owest him and endeavour to raise thy Soul to the most zealous and hearty thanksgiving For this is a principal part of duty at this time the praising and magnifying that mercy which hath redeemed us by so dear a price Therefore it will here well become thee to say with David I will take the Cup of Salvation and will call upon the Name of the Lord. 27. Fourthly look on these sufferings of Christ to stir up this love and surely there cannot be a more effectual means of doing it for here the love of Christ to thee is most manifest according to that of the Apostle 1 John 3. 16. Hereby perceive we the love of God towards us because he laid down his life for us And that even the highest degree of love for as himself tells us John 15. 13. Greater love then this hath no man then that a man lay down his life for his friend Yet even greater love then this had he for he not only died but died the most painful and most reproachful death and that not for his friends but his utter enemies And therefore if after all this love on his part there be no return of love on ours we are worse then the vilest sort of men for even the Publicans Matth. 5. 46. Love those that love them Here therefore chide and reproach thy self that thy love to him is so faint and cool when his to thee was so zealous and affectionate And endeavour to enkindle this holy flame in thy Soul to love him in such a degree that thou mayest be ready to copy out his example to part with all things yea even life it self whenever he calls for it that is whensoever thy obedience to any command of his shall lay thee open to those sufferings But in the mean time to resolve never again to make any league with his enemies to entertain or harbour any sin in thy brest But if there have any such hitherto remained with thee make this the season to kill and crucifie it offer it up at this instant a sacrifice to him who was sacrificed for thee and particularly for that very end that he might redeem thee from all iniquity Therefore here make thy solemn resolutions to forsake every sin particularly those into which thou hast most frequently fallen And that thou mayest indeed perform those resolutions earnestly beg of this crucified Saviour that he will by the power of his death mortifie and kill all thy corruptions 28. When thou art about to receive the Consecrated Bread and Wine remember that God now offers to Seal to thee that New Covenant made with mankinde in his Son For since he gives that his Son in the Sacrament he gives with him all the benefits of that Covenant to wit pardon of sins sanctifying grace and a title to an eternal inheritance And here be astonished at the infinite goodness of God who reaches out to thee so precious a treasure But then remember that this is all but on condition that thou perform thy part of the Covenant And therefore settle in thy soul the most serious purpose of obedience and then with all possible devotion joyn with the Minister in that short but excellent prayer used at the instant of giving the Sacrament The Body of our Lord c. 29. So soon as thou hast received offer up thy devoutest praises for that great mercy together with thy most earnest prayers for such assistance of Gods Spirit as may enable thee to perform the vow thou hast now made Then remembring that Christ is a propitiation not for our sins only but also for the sins of the wh●le world let thy charity reach as far as his hath done and pray for all mankind that every one may receive the benefit of that sacrifice of his commend also to God the estate of the Church that particularly whereof thou art a Member And forget not to pray for all to whom thou owest obedience both in Church and State and so go on to pray for such particular persons as either thy relations or their wants shall present to thee If there be any Collection for the poor as there always ought to be at this time give freely according to thy ability or if by the default of others there be no such Collection yet do thou privately design something towards the relief of thy poor brethren and be sure to give it the next fitting opportunity that offers it self All this thou must contrive to do in the time that others are receiving that so when the publick prayers after the administration begin thou mayst be ready to ioyn in them which thou must likewise take care to do with all devotion thus much for thy behaviour at the time of receiving 30. Now follows the third and last thing That is what thou art to do after thy receiving That which is immediately to be done is as soon as thou art retir●d from the Congregation to offer up again to God thy Sacrafice of praise for all those precious mercies conveyed to thee in that holy Sacrament as also humbly to intreat the continued assistance of his grace to enable thee to make good all those purposes of obedience thou hast now made And in whatsoever thou knowest thy self most in danger either in respect of any former habit or natural inclination there especially desire and earnestly beg his aid 31. When thou hast done thus do not presently let thy self

instructions and advices we there meet with and use them faithfully to that end of overcoming our sins Therefore when ever thou comest to the Physician of thy Soul do as thou wouldst with the Physician of thy Body thou comest to him not only to hear him talk and tell thee what will cure thee but also to do according to his directions and if thou dost not so here thou art as vain as he that expects a bare receipt from his Doctor shall cure him though he never make use of it Nay thou art much more vain and ridiculous for that though it do him no good will do him no harm he shall never be the worse for having been taught a medicine though he use it not but in these Spiritual Receipts it is otherwise if we use them not to our good they will do us a great deal of harm they will rise up in judgement against us and make our condemnation so much the heavier Beware therefore not to bring that danger upon thy self but when thou hast heard a Sermon consider with thy self what directions there were in it for enabling thee to eschew evil or to do good And if there were any thing especially concern'd thine own bosome sin lay that close to thy heart and all the week after make it matter of meditation think of it even whilst thou art at thy work if thou wantest other time and not only think of it but set to the practice of it do what thou wert advised to for the subduing sins and quickning grace in thee Finally look carefully to practice the counsel of the Apostle Jam. 1. 22. Be ye doers of the Word not hearers only deceiving your own souls To hope for good from the Word without doing of it is it seems nothing but a deceiving our selves Let us never therefore measure our godliness by the number of Sermons which we hear as if the hearing many were the certain mark of a good Christian but by the store of fruit we bring forth by them without which all our hearing will serve but to bring us into that heavier portion of stripes which belongs to him that knowes his Masters will and does it not Luke 12. 47. But this reverence which is due to Preaching we must not pay to all that is now a dayes called so for God knows there are many false Prophets gone out into the world as the Apostle speaks 1 John 41. And now if ever is that advice of his necessary To try the spirits whether they be of God But what I have said I mean only of the Preaching of those who first have a lawful calling to the Office and secondly frame their doctrine according to the right rule the written Word of God But if any man say He is not able to judg whether the Doctrine be according to the Word or no let him at least try it by the common known rules of duty which he doth understand and if he find it a Doctrine giving men liberty to commit those things which are by all acknowledged sins such as rebellion injustice unmercifulness uncleanness or the like he may conclude it is utterly contrary to God and his Word and then abhorrence and not reverence belongs to it 31. Fifthly we are to express our honouring of God by Reverencing his Sacraments those are two Baptism and the Supper of the Lord. And this we are to do First by our high esteem of them Secondly by our reverent usage of them we are first to prize them at a high rate looking on them as the instruments of bringing to us the greatest blessings we can receive The first of them Baptism that enters us into covenant with God makes us members of Christ and so gives us right to all those precious benefits that flow from him to wit pardon of sins sanctifying grace and heaven it self on condition we perform our parts of the Covenant And as for the Lords Supper that is not only a signe and remembrance of Christ and his death but it is actually the giving Christ and all the fruits of his death to every worthy receiver and therefore there is a most high estimation and value due to each of them 32. And not only so but in the second place we must shew our reverence in our usage of them and that First before Secondly at and Thirdly after the time of receiving them It is true that the Sacrament of Baptism being now administred to us when we are Infants it is not to be expected of us that we should in our own persons do any thing either before or at the time of receiving it those performances were strictly required of all persons who were baptized when they were of years But for us it suffices to give us this right to Baptism that we are born within the pale of the Church that is of Christian parents and all that is required at that time is what we can only perform by others they in our stead promising that when we come to years we will perform our parts of the Covenant But by how much the less we are then able to do so much the greater bond lies on us to perform those after-duties required of us by which we are to supply the want of the former 33. Now if you would know what those duties are look over those promises which your Godfathers and Godmothers then made in your name and you may then learn them I cannot give you them in a better form then that of our Churches Catechism which tells That our Godfathers and Godmothers did promise and vow three things in our names first that we should forsake the Devil and all his workes the pomps and vanities of this wicked world and all the sinful lusts of the flesh Where by the Devil is meant first the worshipping of all false gods which is indeed but worshipping the Devil A sin which at the time of Christs coming into the world was very common most part of mankinde then living in that vile Idolatry And therefore when Baptism was first ordained it was but needful to make the forsaking of those false gods a principal part of the vow And though those false worships are now much rarer yet there was one special part of them which may be feared to be yet too common among us and that is all sorts of uncleanness which though we do not make Ceremonies of our Religion as the Heathens did of theirs yet the committing thereof is a most high provocation in Gods eyes such as drew him to destroy whole Cities with fire and brimstone as you may read Gen. 19. Nay the whole World with water Gen. 6. and will not fail to bring down judgments and strange ones on any that continue therein and therefore the forsaking them well deserves to be look't on as an especial part of this promise Besides this all dealing with the Devil is here vowed against whether it be by practising witchcraft our selves or consulting