Selected quad for the lemma: grace_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
grace_n deny_v live_v ungodliness_n 2,449 5 11.2335 5 false
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A53959 A practical discourse upon charity in its several branches and of the reasonableness and useful nature of this great Christian virtue / by Edward Pelling ... Pelling, Edward, d. 1718. 1693 (1693) Wing P1086; ESTC R21750 75,615 304

There is 1 snippet containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

and wishing well to our very Enemies and by expressing our sincere Affections to all Mankind 3. These Things do naturally carry a great deal of Force with them So that if no Obligations were upon us from any Laws to this purpose the Divine Excellence of these Actions would Recommend them to our Practice because they are God-like Actions and therefore must needs be of the highest Excellence in their own Nature But besides this we are to consider yet in the third place how helpful a Spirit of Charity is to us in answering the great Ends of the New Covenant The grace of God or the Gospel that bringeth Salvation hath appeared unto all Men teaching us that denying Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World Tit. 2. 11 12. Which shews that the design of the Evangelical Covenant is to reclaim Mankind to the Love and Practice of all manner of Virtue Because God is a most perfect Being himself of infinite Goodness and Rectitude in his Nature his blessed Purpose is to imprint upon our Souls his own Image according to the Capacity of our finite Faculties And in order hereunto he hath given us by his own Son the brightness of his own Glory not only the most excellent Promises all confirm'd and seal'd with his Blood upon the Cross but moreover the most perfect Example and the most perfective Duties Now of these Duties this of Universal Charity and Love is the Chief For Love being such a Divine Affection the Fruits of it must needs be Divine too if it be sincere and zealous As for Instance If our Love to God be pure and hearty it cannot but move us to a solicitous Care of doing nothing that is repugnant to God's Will and Holiness because this Affection is naturally attended with an earnest desire to please and imitate its Object or the Party we intirely love So also if a Man's Love to himself be Rational and Regular it must needs put him upon doing himself all the Good especially all the Spiritual Good he can because his Spiritual Part the Soul is to live for ever and therefore requires his tenderest Care that it may be everlastingly Happy The same Inclination doth true Charity work in us towards all other Men to be beneficial to them likewise for it always operates according to the nature of the Thing and according to the condition of the Object It cannot possibly be of any advantage to our Maker because he is out of the reach of our Charity and too high for it Can a Man be profitable unto God as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous Or is it gain to him that thou makest thy Ways perfect Job 22. 2 3. And again If thou be righteous what givest thou him Or what receiveth he of thy hand Job 35. 7. No all our Goodness extendeth not to him Ps 16. 2. He neither needs it nor is he capable of being benefited by it because he is infinitely perfect and happy in himself But our Love to God hath this Effect it makes us admire and adore him serve and worship and endeavour to please him and to be like unto him and so it is an Instrument of Godliness as well as of Sobriety and Righteousness In this respect it may be said to be a Fulfilling of the whole Law even the first Table of it though indeed it serves most directly to Fulfil the Second And thus the Apostle argues Rom. 13. 8 9 10. He that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law For this Thou shalt not commit Adultery thou shalt not Kill thou shalt not Steal thou shalt not bear false Witness thou shalt not Covet and if there be any other Commandment it is briefly comprehended in this saying viz. Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self Love worketh no ill to his Neighbour therefore Love is the fulfilling of the Law We cannot be Injurious to our own Souls or to the rest of Mankind or to God himself but it must proceed from the want of those enlarged Hearts and those fervent and tender Affections which the Gospel requires of us all Here then we should employ our greatest Pains and use our utmost Endeavours to kindle in us a true Spirit of Charity For it is the end of the Commandment 1 Tim. 1. 5. And because it is the most Perfective Grace the Scripture sets it above all Things even above Faith and Hope 1 Cor. 13. 13. Now abideth Faith Hope Charity these three but the greatest of these is Charity The greatest not only because it is most profitable to others which the other two Virtues are not for Faith and Hope keep at home a Man believeth for himself and hopeth for himself nor is ones Neighbour the better for them 'T is this that is the active the dispensing Grace that walks about doing good and every one fares the better for it But 't is the greatest Virtue too because of the three it is the most beneficial to ones self also It gives him solid Reasons for his Hope which otherwise would be groundless and Perfection to his Faith which otherwise would be fruitless and consequently unprofitable even at home The Hypocrite's Hope shall perish And his Trust shall be as a Spider's Web Job 8. 13 14. A sorry weak Thing to bear ones Heart up especially on a Death-bed For Hope if it be right must be built upon some Promise nor can it go further than the Promise it self goes for if God hath not promised me his Mercy how can I reasonably hope for it Now it is plain that there is no Promise of that Nature but on condition of Charity on our part The Texts are so clear that they need no Comment 1 John 3. 10. In this the Children of God are manifested and the Children of the Devil whosoever doth not Righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his Brother And again V. 14. He that loveth not his Brother abideth in Death or is in a deadly State And again V. 15. Whosoever hateth his Brother is a Murderer and ye know that no Murderer hath Eternal Life abiding in him Nay to shew how extensive our Charity must be for our hopes of Mercy at God's hands our Saviour himself hath passed this Decretory Sentence That there is no Mercy for us unless we shew it our selves and that even to our Enemies Mat. 6. 15. If ye forgive not Men their Trespasses neither will your Father forgive your Trespasses As for Faith great Things indeed are spoken of it in the Scripture but withal we are told that without Works it is dead such a spiritless empty Thing without a Life of Virtue that it no more deserves the Character of a saving Faith than a dead Carkass deserves the Name of a Man Faith as it is distinguished from Works signifies here an Act of the Understanding whereby a Man owns the