Selected quad for the lemma: grace_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A44118
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A vvord to the saints from the watch tower. By a faithful embassadour, in bonds for the gospel divers years. F. H.
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Holcroft, Francis, 1629?-1693.
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1668
(1668)
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Wing H2374A; ESTC R216408
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7,204
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28
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healed as it 's said by the Prophet Ieremiah Chap. 50. In those dayes and in that time saith the Lord the Children of Judah shall come they and the Children of Israel together amongst whom there had been much bitter and lasting strifes for ages and generations they shall come going and weeping they shall go and seek the Lord their God they shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thither-ward saying Come and let us joyn our selves to the Lord in a perpetual Covenant that shall not be forgotten Holy Brethren Let our hearts desires and prayers be instant with the Lord still that this grace shewed us from our God may teach us to deny those worldly Lusts and Covetings and ungodliness for which our God hath thus wasted us and that we may be more taught now by the grace of God that brings Salvation the grace by which we are saved that which the Holy Ghost calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The grace of God that is saving or that brings Salvation Bygrace saith the same Apostle again are you saved 2 Eph. and also by this grace of God in giving us this reviving to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world waiting and looking for the Blessed Hope and the glorious appearings of the great God and our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ But I pray let us return again to the Word of God Now for a little space grace hath been given us from the Lord our God to leave us a Remnant to escape and to give us a little reviving in our Bondage Further Observe this word little and weigh it well It is here twice repeated And therein our God as by a Watch-word speaks to you in London and to us all for I am prone to hope that this grace may yet reach further to you and to your Brethren then yet it hath done this grace given he speaks of is but for a Little Space and to give us a Little reviving in our Bondage in brief thus I have not been alone perswaded of it from sundry weighty grounds taken from sundry weighty grounds taken from the word of God that the fiery Tryal that waits yet for us is not over yet are the ways of our God in the deep and he oft repents him graciously of â—he evil he threatens and so I or others I judge ought not to speak peremptorily in these secret things which belong to God But I oft have thought that word of God is for us that in Ier. 9. after the Prophet had cried out against the great sins of Gods own Children vers 7. saith thus Therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts Behold I will melt them and try them for how shall I do for the Danghter of my People But now as the Lord speaks by anothe Prophet And because I will do thus prepare to meet thy God O Israel I am prone to think and believe that grace is now given us in this little space and little reviving from our Bondage that is come and may be yet coming For this very end that Israel may be prepared to meet God in that fiery Tryal that may yet be viz An hour of darkness before the utter downfal and judgment of the Whore which also hasteth greatly when God shall avenge the bloud of his Servants at her hand after which there shall be heard as the voice of many waters viz. Peoples and Kindreds Saying Alleluja for the LORD GOD Omnipotent reigneth as saith the Apostle Iohn Rev. 19. Then God will hasten the Coming in of that fulness of the Gentiles which shall be before the Iews be converted For blindness saith the Apostle Paul in part is happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in and so all Israel shall be saved And the fulness of the Iews Rom. 11. shall be also the Riches of the Gentiles as was their Fall and Diminishing Then the Kingdoms of this world shall become the Kingdoms of our Lord and Christ and he shall Reign for ever and ever And after this spreading of the Kingdom of God and the Grain of Mustard-Seed to which the Lord Christ compares his Kingdom shall be grown and that Least of all Seeds shall become the Greatest among Herbs and become a Tree so that the Birds of the Air come and lodge in the branches thereof After this shall come as it is written The Time of the Dead that they should be Iudged and God shall Give Rewards to his Servants the Prophets and to the Saints and to Them that Fear his Name small and great and he shall Destroy them that corrupt the Earth Till which time of the Resurrection of the Dead and of the Eternal Iudgment I thank God I dare not I do not with Gods Church of old look for any Personal appearing of Christ For any Third Personal Coming of the Son of man on Earth which I judge to be as Apocryphal and a dangerous Error touching those grand Fundamental Principles of the Oracles of God viz. The Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Dead and of the Eternal Iudgment Vnto them saith the Apostle that Look for him shall He Appear the second time without sin unto Salvation Dangerous and contrary to Scripture it is to expect any end to be put to the Ministration of the Spirit the Comforter in this World before the End of it He is now now come now Iesus the other Comforter is Gone away and now He the Spirit on earth continueth to bear witness with the Water and with the Bloud For these three bear witness saith the Apostle Iohn on earth And they agree in one I say dangerous is it to suppose a Coming of the Son of Man in Person that either shall not put an end to the administration of the Lord the Spirit here in the Church see 1 Tim. 6.14 and 1 Cor. 11.26 or that shall put an end to it before That moment the Apostle Paul speaks of when the Trumpet shall sound and the Dead shall be raised incorruptible and the Harvest comes which Christ calls the end of the World how unsafe I say either of these Assertions be let those that fear God judge viz. the Children to whom it is given to understand the Mysteries of the Kingdom Now dearly beloved Brethren let us mind what now lies before us and whatever our hand finds to do in this little space of reviving from bondage let us do it with all our might for I am prone to think the night comes again wherein little work will be done Now I shall conclude in the name of our Lord Christ earnestly admonishing you to redeem this season of Grace Let the Ministers of God the Dressers of Christs Vineyard that have by Jesus Christ prevailed for the Fig-Tree that it should not be Cut down but be let alone this year also Let us Brethren call to mind our Vows and Promises in the dayes of our wrestlings how that if God would trust us again with an Harvest-Season that