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

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A79526	Two treatises. The first, The young-mans memento. Shewing [brace] how why when [brace] we should remember God. Or The seasonableness and sutableness of this work to youth. The second, Novv if ever. Proving 1 That God gives man a day. 2 That this day often ends while the means of grace continues. 3 That when this day is ended, peace is hid from the soul. Being an appendix to the former treatise. / Both by John Chishull, minister of the Gospel.	Chishull, John.	1657 (1657)	Wing C3904; Thomason E1684_1; ESTC R209165	115,394	265

more fear he hath Spiritual mercies for your souls Psal 130.4 There is mercy with thee that thou mayest be feared It is impossible that the true fear of the Lord should bee planted and advanced in the heart without this consideration this mercy is pardoning mercy it is Soul mercy other considerations with this are usefull to ballance the Spirit but this is principally attractive this is the very door of the fear of the Lord where this is shut there is no way unto repentance Jerem. 2.25 But thou saidest there is no hope for I have loved strangers and after them I will go And Chap. 18.12 And they said there is no hope but wee will walke after our own devices and wee will every one do the imagination of his evil heart If God had no mercy for men it would be vain to perswade them to fear if men had not some kind of hope they would be hellishly wicked And that I might yet advance this Motive in your Souls take these particulars 1. He is willing to be reconciled to thee although he can destroy thee 2 Cor. 5.20 Now then we are Embassadours for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ that you be reconciled to God he hath ways enough to make thee stoop without wooing of thee and can dash thee in pieces when he pleaseth yet he beseecheth thee he intreats thee though hee hath no need of thee but thou hast need of him what need hath God of thee more then of the Heathens or Indians or Turks who know him not he could as easily have invited them as thee at this day he invites thee though thou art as the damned thy nature is as corrupt as theirs and thy sins as great as others before they were cast in there Rom. 3.22 23. There is no difference for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God O what impression should these have upon thy soul if thou wouldest give them their full allowance upon thy soul in meditation 2. He moves them to fear him by his mercies he might require it by his power without mercy hee might have called for as much duty and have given no encouragement at all unto it but beloved what heart-ensnaring language doth he speak Isa 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon The Lord might have chosen another manner of Stile then this 3 He offers thee better termes then thou art like to meet withall else-where the world cannot bid so faire nor perform so faithfully as he doth See that Promise which the Lord makes to the returning sinner Isa 55.1 2 Ho every one that thirsteth come yee to the waters and he that hath no money come ye buy and eat yea come buy wine and milk without price vers 2. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Hearken diligently unto me and eat yee that which is good and let your soul delight in fatnesse c. Search and finde where the Devil the World and Sin promiseth and when and to whom he gives such a thing as is held out attainable in following God 4 If thou hast tasted of mercy thou canst not but acknowledg that it is an engaging thing Tit. 2.11.12 For the grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared unto all men teaching us that denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world 5. If thou pretendest to Saintship and are not drawn by mercy surely thou hast a frame of spirit much different from the Saints of old for the love of God constrained them 1 Cor. 5.4 they had beseeching spirits which were very much affected with such arguments as I shewed you Rom. 12.1 6. If these are not perswasive motives how then art thou under that promise Hos 3.5 Afterward shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God and David their King and shall feare the Lord and his goodnesse in the latter dayes 7. Is it not reason that thou shouldest do Gods work when he hath provided one to do thine he hath sent a Christ unto thee who offers himself to be thy life and thy strength and he tells thee That he hath left Heaven for a time that he might come down and make such an offer of himself to sinners and wilt thou not leave a little of the world to offer up thy self to him Shall the kind proffers of Christ in the Gospel meet with no returns Canst thou do lesse then offer up all that thou hast or art as a reasonable sacrifice to him who so freely offers thee himself in his Son to be thy righteousnesse wisdom sanctification and redemption In a word to be all and in all to thy soul Canst thou deny him thy time who offers thee Eternity Is thy present time and condition and ability too good to give out to him who offers thee more in Christ then thy present condition is able to bear more then can enter into thine heart to conceive Reserve nothing from him of thy little who gives thee with a reserve for this reason because thy present condition is not capable of all he intends thee Sixthly Consider how quick the Lord is with some men to cut them off without giving them many warnings or suffering them to grow up to such a measure of sin as he does others as he did Nadab and Abihu And that Gods coming to Judgement will appear quick when ever it comes 1. Though thou mayest have a smooth time in sin yet when that time of pleasure in sin is past it will seem very short Ask the old man and he wil tel that his Youth was quickly gone and Age came suddenly upon him Is not the life past like a tale that is told If God should suffer thee to live a full age and then cut thee off in thy sin wouldest not thou seem to go down quickly into hell 2. If you compare the time past with Eternity God is not slack concerning his comming saith the Apostle you will finde him quick enough when he comes Art thou come say the spirits to torment us before the time as some say before the end of the World and I exclude not that but how did the Divel know the end was not yet But it intimates that although the Divel had so many thousand years to tempt yet he thought it too soon to be troubled 3 He may be quick in that he wil be unwelcome and unwelcom guests when ever they come wil come too soon 4 When he cometh latest he will come before thou lookest for him he will come unawares and so wil be quick with thy soul notwithstanding all this patience the evil servant said not I have no Master nor that his Master wil

God who made thee willing in the day of his power Who hath made thee to differ Is it not the Lord oh take heed of diminishing the grace of God When thou deniest the distinguishing acts of it you do eclipse the Glory of it So much as you take from the Corruption of the Wil so much you take from the eminency of grace Let those who pretend to Regeneration bless the Lord not as having received grace in Common with others but as having received grace in special above others Even as they did Rev. 5.9 They bless the Lord for redeeming them out of the tongues and out of the Nations c. That God vouchsafed more to them then to those amongst whom they lived Oh you may say It was mercy that God offerd us Heaven upon any terms and if he had gone no further it had been enough to convince us that he was gracious Oh but he hath given us what he never gave them viz. hearts to believe and close with his gracious tenders or else we had withstood them also He gave them the Law but he put it in our hearts all our desires after grace are from his superabounding grace and what we are more then others that we are from what God did vouchsafe unto us more then unto them It is not from the improvement of the same Talents and means which he had with others nor from a Compliance with that general Gospel grace which was given to them and us But it was from additional mercy this was distinguishing mercy 'T is by this grace that we are what we are So we can say as the Apostle Gal. 4.9 Although we know God yet it is more proper to say we are known of God Therefore let him have the honour of his own work upon your hearts in converting and turning them to himself let the work be acknowledged his from the beginning to the end of it look on him as the author and finisher of your faith If God hath moved thy heart towards himself and hath met thy endeavours with successe and thou art able in thy experience to say it is good to draw nigh to God take heed of setting up an high opinion of thine own free Will as if that had moved God rather then God had moved it as if what thou hast were rather the recompence of improved Abilities then the fruits of Gods distinguishing Grace If ever you would honour free grace keep up in thy heart a deep sense of its distinguishing acts Vse 6. If it be thus Then above all things look to your Wills and try them whether they be set for heaven and holiness or not And in pursuing this minde these three things First Get a thorow sense of the Corruption of thy Will naturally and of its indisposition to Good For want of the knowledge of the malignity of the will causes deepe security amongst many they think their hearts are as good as any when indeed the reason why they account them good is because they did never yet study the evil of them and many poore souls goe blinded to Hell with the Good opinion of their own Wills Secondly Goe to the Lord and intreat him to take the worke into his hand if the business of thy Salvation be left upon the motion of thy Will thou are lost Tell him that thou hast found which way the Wil of man does naturally bend and if he should leave thy Will to it selfe thou art likely to make the same choyce that others have done who have been so left Tell him thou hast so much Experience of the Corruption of thy Will that thou darest not trust it nor venture thy Eternal interest upon it And whereas others dispute to get the work into their hands do thou pray as hard to get it into the hands of God Thirdly Above all things beg a Will of him Pray earnestly that he would not only put forth his power in Illumination and bare Convictions but that he would reveale this power in bringing over thy Will to himselfe Plead out this above all that he would Convert thee that thou mayst be Converted that he would Incline thy Will unto his Testimonies and that he would draw thee that thou mayst run after him And tell him often that thou standed in need of nothing more then a Will for him and if this be not given in thou art lost Follow the Lord with continuall complaints against the Corruption of thy Will and never leave him till he set up his Image in that till he hath bowed that to his Commands and when thou canst say his Will is thine and thy Will is his then thou art a happy Man or Woman Application of the second Doctrine This day is not measured by the length of our lives but the meanes outward or inward Learne hence that there is more hopes of a people although ignorant and prophane to whom the Gospel is coming then of those who are more knowing from whom the Gospel is departing Gods withdrawing of publick meanes helps of this nature speake his displeasure against a people eminently and tel us plainly that there is but little hopes of such When the Gospel is coming into a dark ignorant prophane place and declares that God hath a people there the day is dawning to them But when it is going away from a people It either argues that God hath no people there or none more to gather or that his work is almost done It argues that the Gospel hath been abused or slighted and that the day of grace is drawing apeace to an end to such a people Secondly it in forms us that they who live unprofitably under meanes are in a farre worse condition then those who live without meanes There was more hopes of the F●gtree although it were unfruitfull before it was drest then there was afterwards Before it was dressed the keeper of the Vineyard was in hope that if it were digged it would bear fruit but when the means was used and no good comes of it it leaves him hopelesse Thus when we see men wicked and prophane who live without the Gospel we say oh if God would vouchsafe these poor souls the Gospel there were hopes of them But we know not what to say nor how to hope comfortably concerning those who continue the same persons they were notwithstanding the Gospel which is vouchsafed them There is more hopes of a drunkard and swearer in the dark Corners where they have not the light of the Gospel then there is of such who continue in these things in the very light of the Gospel For there is hope of the drunkard and swearer who hath lived in darkness that his day is not yet begun and that God may give a day yet But we fear that many of you who continue drunkards and swearers c. have past your day that is worn out and yet your souls are not healed Thirdly See here a sad mistake under which many