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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
head_n	body_n	church_n	fullness_n	4,230	5	10.3232	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A23661	A discourse of divine assistance, and the method thereof shewing what assistance men receive from God in performing the condition of the promise of pardon of sin and eternal life / by W.A.	Allen, William, d. 1686.	1679 (1679)	Wing A1059; ESTC R17227	99,779	333

the Holy Ghost to confirm the doctrine which was preached in his name by them who proved their mission from him by signs and wonders and mighty deeds which were done in his name though as I say the repetition of these be not necessary in every Age this having been done once for all in one Age as S. Jude speaks of the Faith once delivered to the Saints yet the inward assistance by the Spirit to cause the external assistances to operate the more effectually upon the mind is still necessary and is still continued in the Church For in this respect our Saviour by his Spirit as well as by his word is with his people always to the end of the World as he promised he would and as he promised his Spirit likewise should I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of truth John 14.16 It was this presence of Christ I conceive which S. Paul desired might be and continue with Timothies Spirit 2 Tim. 4.22 The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy Spirit In this part of my Discourse concerning Divine Assistance I have endeavoured to shew that our Lord and Saviour hath the power of dispensing Evangelical and Spiritual Assistances committed to him by the Father and that that is the reason why the Father is said to give such to the Son as have heard and learned of the Father And now this high advancement of the Son and his having all power in Heaven and Earth given to him leaves no place for us to doubt of his ability to assist those to the uttermost who do not make themselves uncapable of it by refusing to make use of it and of the Fathers preparatory assistance And truly all such have no more reason neither to doubt of our Saviours willingness to assist them than they have of his power if these few things following be but duly considered 1. That Kingdom Glory and Greatness forementioned and the power of dispensing aids and assistances is given by the Father to the Son for this very end among others that he might use and manage all for the bringing men such as the Father hath given him to perform the condition of the promise in repenting in believing and obeying the Gospel Acts 5.31 Him hath God exalted with his own right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance and remission of sins The father advanced him to that high honour and dignity that he might be a publick good to mankind in assisting them to perform the condition of the promise as he had been before by his humiliation for the obtaining of the promise upon that condition that so he might be a compleat Saviour in saving us as well from sin in the power and pollution of it as from the guilt of it He ascended far above all Heavens that he might fill or fulfil all things Ephes 4.10 That he might fully dispence and bestow whatever is necessary to the perfecting of the Saints and edification of the body of Christ The Apostle having said in chap. 1.20 21. that God having raised Christ from the dead set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power might and dominion and every name that is named not onely in this World but also in that which is to come and having put all things under his feet then in Verse 22 and 23. he says he gave him to be head over all things to the Church which is his body the fulness of him that filleth all in all He did not onely give him to be the Head of his Church but to be Head over all things to the Church to the use and benefit of the Church for the fulness of this power of his in the issue and benefit of it runs in to his Church for whom he received it and in respect whereof the Church is his fulness in a passive sense for it is he that filleth all in all as S. John saith of his fulness we have all received and grace for grace John 1.16 such a fulness as holds some proportion with the fulness of such a head all the fulness wherewith all and every one of his Church are filled is derived from him it is all of his silling and that as he is Head of the Church and Head over all things to the Church For he is not onely a political Head to the Church to govern it by Laws but such a Head also as resembles a natural head by way of influence conveying by his Spirit a vital and quickning power unto all the members to enable them to obey those Laws The whole body hath from this head nourishment ministred as S. Paul shews Col. 2.19 Upon which account S. Paul could say I am able to do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me But without him as our Saviour told his Disciples ye can do nothing Now if all this fulness all this power we have been speaking of was given to the Son was put into his hands for that end that he should use it and manage it in aiding and assisting those whom the Father hath given him to perform the condition on which pardon and eternal life are promised there is no question to be made of his willingness to use it to that end especially when we further consider that which follows 2. For in the second place he is as faithful as he is able faithful to use the fulness of his sufficiency for the ends and uses for which he received it He is faithful to him that appointed him in all his house Heb. 3.2 Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it 1 Thess 5.24 All saith our Saviour that the Father giveth me shall come unto me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out John 6.37 When he was leaving the World he could with all confidence say unto his Father I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do Joh. 17. And if he did thus in the day of his humiliation and temptation it cannot be thought but that he will likewise finish what the Father hath given him to do now in the day of his exaltation and power Why do the holy Angels sing Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength but because he faithfully useth them for those noble and worthy ends for which he received them Rev. 5. When he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and received gifts for men saith the Psalmist Psal 68.18 he then gave gifts unto men saith the Apostle Ephes 4.10 When upon his glorious exaltation he had received the promise of the Father to wit the power of sending the Holy Ghost he presently pours it out upon his Disciples Acts 2.33 what he receives for us he will be sure to communicate to us If the clouds be full of rain they empty themselves upon the

towards their believing or by enabling them to believe at first Before men repent believe or begin to obey they have the Spirit at work in their minds indeed to suggest to their thoughts and considerations things of highest concernment to them and to incline them to look after them in time and before the day of grace and salvation is over and gone He then at times stands at the door and knocks and strives with every man and vouchsafes to such more and more of his assistance until they are enabled to believe who do not make fast the door against him but rather open to him and refuse not to be led on by degrees The more they attended to the teaching of the Father by his Spirit and the nearer they came to believe indeed the more frequent visits they had from him and the more assistance But after they have followed on so far and become so teachable as to believe indeed and sincerely to give up themselves to his conduct then he communicates himself more freely and more constantly to them than ever before in divine influence and assistance to root and establish them in the Christian Faith and Life and to carry them on further and further towards perfection This secondly is set out to us in another vein of Scriptures viz. such as speak of Gods dwelling in true Believers and sincere Christians and of their being the temple of the Holy Ghost of which nature are many texts Rom. 8.11 1 Cor. 3.16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you 1 Cor. 6.19 2 Cor. 6.16 Eph. 2.22 1 John 3.24 and 4.13 16. By all which is signified the more constant residence of the Holy Spirit in and with men after they believe and become true Christians to assist them in their great affairs for their souls and another World as one that is never long absent from them but ready at hand at all times to help them in doing their duty and to overcome temptations unless by grieving him they cause him to withdraw himself If a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him John 14.23 This giving of the Holy Spirit to sincere Christians to be always with them as his dwelling in them implies is not onely to help and assist them to persevere in doing onely so much as will entitle them to pardon and life barely as their performing the condition of the promise though but in the lowest sense of performance will do But Gods design in giving his Spirit to them after they have perform'd the condition in the lowest sense is to fit and prepare them for greater degrees of blessedness and glory for a higher and more glorious exaltation therein than a bare performance of the condition of the promise in simple consideration and in the lowest degree of performance will well bear Our Saviour came as he says that we might have life and that we might have it in abundance John 10.10 not barely to save us but to exalt us to such a height of glory that the glory and blessedness of his Body the Church might hold some good proportion with his own glory and blessedness as Head of it And to encourage true Christians to endeavour to excel in holiness and goodness in order to this there are other conditional promises made besides that of pardon and life upon condition of faith and repentance simply considered To such as give all diligence in adding to their Faith Vertue Knowledge Temperance Patience Godliness Brotherly kindness and Charity so that these things be in them and abound the promise is of an abundant entrance into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1. And he that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully 2 Cor. 9.6 And he that humbleth himself as a little child the same is greatest in the Kingdom of heaven Mat. 18.4 Besides the Vessels of Mercy will hold more or less glory according to their different capacities in grace and service as they are made larger or lesser By how much the more near Christians come to Christ in goodness by so much they are qualified to be the more near to him in happiness and glory But still as I say this greater and more constant presence of the Spirit is given to true Christians after they believe to carry on this great and glorious design of grace towards them to take them out of the spirit of this World and to lift them up in holiness and goodness thereby to make them capable of the greater glory and happiness To make this plain and familiar to our thoughts let it be considered that upon mens unfeigned believing follows immediately their adoption As many as received him to them he gave power right or priviledge to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name John 1.12 This is a very great advancement indeed and holds some proportion to that deep humiliation our Saviour underwent to prepare our way to it Now those whom God adopts to be sons those he adopts to be heirs also to his great inheritance and glorious estate so saith the Apostle if children then heirs heirs of God yea joint-heirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 This being their happy case the blessed God and Father who hath adopted the Believers for his children and heirs gives them his Holy Spirit to be always with them puts his Spirit within them to tutor and discipline them and to give them thereby such breeding as may sit and prepare them for so high a relation and for so glorious an inheritance as that is which he intends to settle upon them Because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts saith the Apostle Gal. 4.6 Saint Paul having spoken of the happy state which he with other the Believers expect and long for after the dissolution of this earthly tabernacle in which the soul now dwells 2 Cor. 5. saith in verse 5. Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit His giving them his Spirit to sit them for that inheritance is an earnest or pledge that he does really intend to bestow it upon them When he saith He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God we hereby see that it is the work of God by his Spirit to frame frame and fashion the Believers for that magnificent estate in the next World which is prepared for them and to which they are adopted This work of God upon them is to make them meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Gal. 1.12 These Believers are those Vessels of Mercy whom he thus afore prepares unto glory Rom. 9.23 It is the benevolent work and business of our Lord and Saviour by his Spirit so to sanctifie and cleanse the