Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	act_n	faith_n	word_n	2,409	5	4.5217	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60326	Comforts against the fear of death. Being some short meditations, composed by that precious gentlewoman Mrs. Anne Skelton, late of Norwich Wherein are several evidences of the work of grace in her own soul, which were the stay of her heart, against the fear of death; from which may be discerned the name of a true Christian spirit. To which is added some short notes of a sermon preached at the burial of that choyce servant of God in St. Andrews in Norwich. By John Collings M.A. and one of the most unworthy embassadors of Jesus Christ for the preaching of the gospel in the late city.	Skelton, Anne.; Collinges, John, 1623-1690. aut.	1649 (1649)	Wing S3932A; ESTC R221500	38,402	100

Yea dost thou not abhor thy self judg and pass on thy self the sentance of condemnatior to be thy due desert and that it were just with God if he had cast thee into hell long ago No no hypocrite ever was willing to have this filthy sink of his wholly laid open to God as thou my Soul art But did God leave thee in this miserable wretched desperate and damnable condition thou art in by nature since the fall of Adam whose 〈◊〉 thou wert then in and so guilty of his sin and not only so but deprived of that Image of God that there is in thee nothing that is good no● a strange averseness and unp●ness to all good and a pronness and readiness to all evil No no for ever blessed praised and magnified be my good God that out of his own free and unspeakable love infinite mercy and abundant goodness he hath found out a way and shewed thee a way and means to free thee from this misery save and make thee eternally happy that neither Angels not men could do no way whereby no ●●eature no means in Heaven or Earth 〈◊〉 do it as Acts 4. 12. Neither is there salvatiō in any other for there is no other name under Heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved Even then God manifested his superabundant surpassing unsearchable unexpressable incomprehensible love to the utmost to give his only begotten and deerly beloved Son the Lord Jesus Christ the second Person in the Trinity God to take upon him our nature and dye and shed his most pretious blood for sinners of whom thou art chief and in the Gospel God offereth his Son Christ freely to all that will come and drink of this water of Life freely as Rev. 22. 17. therefore as freely to thee as any other Yet further to heighten this wonderful Love of God consider the time when he did this even then when thou desiredst it nor nor soughtst it nay when thou wert an enemy and traytor to him and then for God so infinite in Majesty so to condescend to poor wretched sinful man that had so fal● and plunged himself into such a woful sinful and damnable condition Oh how great is the riches of his mercy and love Yet God 〈◊〉 not there but behold more in the Gospel he opens the worth Excellency All sufficiency and Fitness of Christ to save thee in particular and he helps thee with grounds and incouragements to beleeve in Christ though but weakly and he doth in some measure strengthen thee to rest and cast thy self on his mercy in Christ because of his promises yea at such times as there is a sense of the wa●● of him so David Psalm 42. 5 8 9 11. And now my Soul ●ast thou not not accepted of and imbraced this free offers or render of Christ made to thee by God thy Father in as much as the Gospel is preached to thee and that upon his own terms in all his offices applying him to thy self to be thy King and Soveraign Lord to rule and govern thee by his Laws his Word and his Spirit to be thy Prophet to discover the Coun●ile of God to thee and reveal himself to thee in his Gospel and to guide and instruct thee in his Baths Dost thee not as much and heartily desire to have Christ rule thee as to love thee or ●o●he a Priest to offer up himself a Sacrifice for thee Thou darest not thou canst not deny it A second Sign or Evidence of Saving Grace ●o thy earnest and unsatisfied restless desire of Christ Nothing but Christ can satisfie my Soul I thrist after him my hearts pants for him as the Hart after the rivers of water so panteth my Soul for thee O Lord and I will never give thee rest but will wrastle with thee as thy Servant Jacob once did I will never let thee go thou that hast promised to give Christ to them that ask till thou give me Christ and make me to know that he is mine and I am his I can in truth say so for as I can search and know mine own heart if it do not deceive me as the Apostle saith Phil. 3. 7 8. The things that wer● advantage to me I now account loss for Christs sake yea I esteem all things but as dung incomparison of Christ Dost not thou my Soul prize Christ sat afore all outward contentments Even in the height of them they are but as withered flowers to thee no pleasure not sweetness in them without Christ Nay no inward corruption but thou art right willing to part with for him It 's not the manner of Hypocrites to be thus willing to relinquish all outward contentments much less to ●a●don all inward corruptions for Christ but in them is still some private Reservation But the earnest desire of my Soul is to have all sin subdued in me Lord Lord by the power of thy holy Spirit mortifie and kill every sin Oh! let not any one sin rule in me that I should obey it in the lust of it though sin doe well in me yet let me overcome it truly it is my heavy burden that I am in yoked with sin therefore long I to go out of my self for in me is nothing that is good But in Christ is all ability to duty and against sin all life and profit from the Ordinances and Christ conveys all especially to his Members by their resting on him for it which we call beleeving Now Gods gracious invitations to come to Christ thou my Soul dost imbrace and upon the serious consideration of the all-sufficiency fitness and willingness of Christ to save thee and the infinite love of the Father to give his Son for thee and the unspeakable love of Christ in his condesc●ntion to the Father so to dye and undergo all the wrath of God and all for thee and the freeness of the mercy of God offering Christ in the Gospel and his Commandment to beleeve as 1 John 3. 23. And this is his Commandment that we should beleeve in the name of his Son Jesus Christ Also the sweetness and freeness of his promises to them that beleeve Now in obedience to the one and confidence of the other thou my Soul are at length thereby imboldened and incouraged to repair to Christ● and by the freeness of the promises art incouraged to apply them to thy self not daring to exclude thy self but dost beleeve though but weakly A third Sign or Evidence of Saving Grace is thy Faith thy full purpose of heart and setled resolutions and endevors still ever to rest and 〈◊〉 upon the Lord Jesus and his merits alone for the discharge of thy sins thy Sanctification Justification thy Souls safety and salvation this indeed is the very act of justifying Faith to which life and salvation is so oft in the word promised and shall unsailably be made good well therefore mayst thou rest satisfied in it yet I rest on him to strengthen my weak faith I

and feest it more and more vile judging thy self miserable because that which is contrary to Gods will prevails over thee And so thou dost overcome sin though oft soiled by it that which yet may stand with grace though it abide to death in thee Now my Soul dost thou not mourn under this Pray earnestly and rest withal on Christ for help and assistance of his Spirit to enable thee to overcome all thy corruptions still striving against them thou darest not deny it And with unfeigned purpose never entertaining any known evil with full consent of will but co●●ially embracing the contrary grace and command longing after more grace out of the fence of want of it This is an infallible sign of true grace as Math. 5. 6. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled Therefore my Soul apply this by faith Bless God with humility and take the comfort of it that so thou mayst walk the more thankfully and love him more who hath so loved thee and be more careful of all thy ways Another evidence or mark of true Grace is thy resolving in the sence of Gods absence yet then to stick to and rest on his mercy through Christ even unto death by his assistance Psa 13. 1. How long wilt thou forget me O Lord for ever how long wilt thou hide thy face from me Verse 5. But I have trusted in thy mercy my heart shall rejoyce in thy salvation So still continue thou testing on Christ alone as to work in thee all grace both to will and do so to strengthen and perfect it to the day of Christ as Philip. 1. 6. And begging of God his Spirit who is the Spirit of Grace to help and enable thee it being the sap to make thee fruitful for of thy self thou canst do nothing pleasing to God but all thy services as of thy self are an abomination in Gods presence But now if they come from Christ and the Spirit then God is well pleased with them and accepts them And remember God hath promised to give the Spirit to them that ask it Mat. 21. 23. Whatsoever we ask in Christs name if we beleeve we shall receive And Luke 11. 13. If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more then shall your● heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him Let that comfort thee this was as argument to David of grace in him let it be so to thee Another evidence of Grace is thy confident resting on Gods mercy because of his pror●is● it 's that upholds thee knowing he is most faithful as he cannot be deceived so he will not deceive any that trust in him So David did Psa 119. 81. My Soul sainteth for thy Salvation yet I wait for thy Word When David heart fainted this very thing stayd him namely that he trusted in Gods Word Psa 34. 8. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord. Psa 2. 12. Blessed and all that trust in him Psa 3. 18 Blessed are they that w●l● for him Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord. And dost not thou my Soul still seek wait pray hope and with on humbl● dependency desire still to trust in God always though with much opposition Yea when thou feelest no sensible evidence of Gods love and savor to thee yet even then Gods Word comforts thee thou hast given me more joy of heart then they have whose outward comforts abound as Psal 4. 7. So thy Word comforts my Soul in the midst of great doubtings distress and trouble yet thou my Soul hast still some hope by casting thy self on thy God when other hopes stil as David Psal 142. 2 3. I poured out my complaint before him though my spirit was even over whelmed Yet Vers 5. Even then said he I cryed unto thee O Lord and said thou art my hope and my portion in the land of the living Now Oh my Soul is not God thy portion also Indeed he is Hast not thou taken him so to be Yes truly even to be thy All and thou hast I hope with a cordial resignation given up all thy interest to the Lord and his service at least desirest and endeaverest so to do in thy resolutions Good Lord put forth thy mighty yea almighty power and give me thy Spirit that may reach me and enable me to walk as becometh such a one as hath given up himself to serve thee That I may in the remainder of my l●st express all sincere and humble obedience to the Word delivered O that I could Another evidence of Saving Grace is Thou dost often afresh renew thy faith and confidence in Christ and resigne and give up thy self wholly to Christ to be guided and instructed by his Word and Spirit and this purpose is firm in thee And dost thou not in bitterness of soul bewail end grieve for thy exceeding unfruitfulness and unprofitableness under such sweet precious and powerful ordinances as thou hast so long a time enjoyed and implot● the throne of Grace for the Spirit to shew forth its present vertue to make them become life and power to thee and thou usest them with hope in Christ And since that the way to make them more profitable is to be more sensible of thy particular wants and to prize the ordinances very highly as the very brests from and through which God conveys all nourishment to his Therefore quicken up thy self O my soul to use them with what care and diligence thou canst and rest on Christ rest not in the ordinance but on God Consider what God can and will do for thee expect dayly help and strength from him in the use of his ordinances and especially in that of the Sacrament act faith and reject all discouragements for they hinder the growth of grace as frosts do tender fruits Oh when shall the time be that the ordinances shall be so powerful and efficacious as to kill all my corruptions that I may 〈◊〉 the vertue of Christ his death killing the body of sin in me and the power of his resurrection raising me up to newness of life that holy frame of heart that hath been in other the servants of God Sure there hath been such a changing quickening raising comforting power attained from God in the use of his ordinances both to beget and so to strengthen and encrease Grace therefore I will never 〈◊〉 the Lord alone until he make them ●● to me seeing he hath promised Hea●● maketh shall receive Ok and it shall be given seek and you shall finds knock and it shall be opened unto you Math. 7. 7. Lord I ask I seek I knock let me obtain Lord it s thine own free and gracious promise though free thou wert not any way tyed to make it yet Lord it 's now thy promise that thou wilt give Grace to them that seek it and ask it and hunger after it Lord I