Selected quad for the lemma: judgement_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
judgement_n	action_n	case_n	verdict_n	3,368	5	11.5648	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61377	The mystical union of believers with Christ, or, A treatise wherein that great mystery and priviledge of the saints union with the Son of God is opened in the nature, properties, and necessity of it, the way how it is wrought, and the principal Scripture-similitudes whereby it is illustrated, together with a practical application of the whole / by Rowland Stedman ...	Stedman, Rowland, 1630?-1673.	1668 (1668)	Wing S5375; ESTC R22384	295,630	498

with what spiritualness and faithfulness he doth fill up his particular calling and relations When he doth take a review of all his affairs on a spiritual account As a man that hath lost any thing in his travels he goeth over them back again in his thoughts He considereth where he was such a day and what place he lay in the other night and who was in his company and where he was most likely to leave that which he misseth So doth a Christian who is serious inself-examination he doth traverse his wayes back again in his retired contemplations He bethinketh himself what indowments he hath with what circumspection he hath walked how he hath improved this opportunity and redeemed the other part of his time c. This is the first reflexine act whereof this work is compounded viz. An act of inspection or retrospection into a mans self 2. There is an act of probation and trial of amans self When a person that examines himself hath found out the particulars to be observed touching his heart and wayes he doth not rest there but immediately bringeth all to the test and touchstone that he may see of what sort his qualifications are and of what kind his actions have been whether they are of the right metal and stamp as they ought to be and as he would have them to be whether they be such as will pass for currant in the court of Heaven As a careful Goldsmith when he receiveth a sum of mony doth not only count the pieces but if any of them be suspected or look but suspiciously he trieth them whether they be such as will pass in payment So doth a Christian in this spiritual work of the examination of himself touching his union with Christ First he observeth and takes notice what is within him and what hath been done by him and then he trieth what metal they are of that is whether the graces which appear to be within him are saving graces indeed or only counterfeit coin And whether his obedience be evangelical and spiritual obedience or not And whether the sins which he hath committed be such as may be stiled The spots of God's children or no. And the reason of it lieth in this Because in soul concernments especially there is oftentimes a vast difference betwixt reality and appearance Many things at the first view seem to be right and good When upon a stricter enquiry they are found false and rotten And therefore if we would not be deceived all things must be proved and tried This is mentioned as an act distinct from the former Lam. 3.40 Let us search and try our wayes First we must labour to find out our wayes what they have been and then trie them by the light of the Word of what sort they have been wherein they accord with the rule how we have deviated from it or fallen short of living up thereunto This is elsewhere called The weighing of a mans self in allusion to the practise of Tradesmen in their negotiation and traffick They do not only view the commodities which they buy but then they put them into the scales to see if they will hold weight for what they wefe bought So doth a careful Christian as to his demeanour First he observeth his own qual fications and performances and then he he trieth whether they will hold weight in the ballance Job 31.5 6. If I have walked with vanity or if my foot hath hasted to deceit Let me be weighed in an even ballance that God may know mine integrity q. d. Let my actions be throughly fifted and exactly looked and they will be found such as are acceptable unto the Lord. This is the second reflexive act whereof self-examination is made up or compounded 3. There is a conclusive determination or the passing sentence and judgment upon a mans self according to that search and trial As it is in Courts of Judicature amongst men when the cause is throughly opened and witnesses produced and the Law consulted in the case then according thereunto verdict is brought in and sentence pronounced Why Sirs self-examination is the erecting of a Court of Judicature in a mans breast where upon trial of the matter judgment doth pass for or against the person * Conscientia respectu propositionis est lex respectu assumptionis testis respectu conclusionis maximè prop●iè Judex Therein a man doth gather a conclusion touching his own wayes that they are just or unjust pleasing unto God or provocations of the wrath of God And so concerning his person He draweth an inference and passeth sentence upon himself that he is righteous or wicked a child of God or one of his adversaries united unto Christ or still estranged from him 1 Cor. 11.31 If we would judge our selves we should not be judged And you have mention of the hearts passing sentence in both respects As 1. of condemnation upon supposal of the persons being wicked 2. Of approbation and absolution if righteous 1 Joh. 3.20 If our heart condemn us that is If upon a diligent search it pronounce sentence against us as unsound and such who have dealt falsely and unfaithfully in the Covenant of God And v. 21. Beloved if our heart condemn us not if it acquit and discharge us then have we confidence towards God Job 27.5 6. Till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me My righteousness I will hold fast and will not let it go my heart shall not reproach me as long as I live q. d. I will conclude that I am a person accepted of God and in Covenant with him that I have walked in uprightness before him whatever arguments you have urged to shake my confidence My righteousness I will hold fast i. e. I have concluded through grace that I am righteous and by this conclusion I will stick I will not pass sentence in mine own wrong This is the first conclusion asserted for opening the nature of self examination Conclus 2. The special faculty or power of the soul by which this work of self-examination is performed is the practical judgment or conscience of a man That is the reflexive eye of the soul whereby a person is inabled to look inward and to take an account of his own heart and wayes There is a twofold spiritual eye whereby a man hath preheminence above all the inferiour creatures 1. There is the eye of the speculative understanding in the exercise whereof he taketh a view of matters without himself at the remotest distance of place or time 2. The eye of the practical judgment or conscience whereby he doth reflect upon himself and animadvert upon his own spirit and wayes So that your work in this respect if you would rightly examine your selves touching your union with Christ is to labour to get an awakened conscience and a well informed conscience and a faithful conscience free from guile and self-flattery It concerneth you to take heed of deadness and security

brought to light wherein the way is revealed for restoring fallen sinners to their primitive happiness or conducting souls to everlasting bliss God hath graciously pleased to declare this way by the Scriptures and to leave it upon record in the Word of the Gospel and here we have the substance or summary of that Record viz. That God is the giver of eternal Life and that this life is in his Son c. If you examine the connexion or dependance which the words of the Text have with and upon the foregoing passages of the Chapter You will evidently find our Apostle is herein giving a succinct account of the great foundation-truths which are proposed to be the object of a Christians Faith by closing with which we do eminently and signaly advance the glory of God and by disbelieving whereof we are said to make him a lyar Our faith is to be built upon the word of the Lord to be bottomed upon the Record which God hath given concerning his Son And this saith the Apostle is the Record That God hath given us eternal Life c. The better to clear this coherence and so the genuine import and scope of these words let us a little cast our eyes back upon the context or the verse immediately preceding the Text wherein we may note two things 1. The nature and excellency of the grace of faith or believing on Christ ver 10. former part He that believeth on the Son hath the witness in himself 1. For the nature of Faith it is a believing on the Son so it is usually set forth in the dialect of the Holy Ghost Act. 16.31 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thine house Joh. 3.36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life This is the saving act of Faith which will bring a soul to Heaven a believing on the Son And therefore I might touch by the way on that common distinction as useful to be considered that there is a threefold act of Faith or three waies of Believing in reference unto Christ There is a believing 1. That Jesus is the Christ Credere Christum Christo. In Christum 2. Jesus Christ 3. On the Lord Jesus Christ 1. There is a believing that Jesus is the Christ an assent unto the truth of this principle that he who was born of the Virgin Mary is the true Messiah and Mediator sent of God to be the Saviour of Mankind So the very Devils believe As they know there is one God so they acknowledg this principle that Jesus is the Son of God and the only Redeemer of lost sinners Hence it is that they are so unwearied in their endeavors to hinder poor souls in closing with Christ and that they labour by all manner of false suggestions to draw their affections from the Lord Jesus Mark 1.24 The unclean spirit cried out Let us alone thou Jesus of Nazareth I know thee who thou art the Holy one of God And that herein the Father of lies spake the very truth you will find by the testimony of the Spirit of God himself v. 34. He cast out many Devils and suffered not the Devils to speak because they knew him 2. There is a Believing Jesus Christ i.e. a subscribing to the truth of the Doctrines that he delivered which are contained in the Scriptures the Word of Christ and Preached by Ministers of the Gospel in his name Thus a Simon Magus may believe he may own the verity of Christs Word though in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity Acts 8.12 13. When they believed Philip Preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God and the Name of Jesus Christ then Simon himself believed also Thus Nicodemus believed before he was instructed in the necessity or acquainted with the grace of regeneration he was convinced by the Miracles wrought by Christ that he was a teacher sent of God and consequently that the Doctrines which he taught were the truths of God Joh. 3.2 As a carnal person who never tasted of saving grace may have much knowledg in his understanding of the will of Christ so he may be under such convictions upon his judgment as in a sort to approve the Word of Christ Rom 2.17.18 3. But lastly there is a believing on the Lord Jesus When a man is so powerfully convinced of the evil of sin and his own obnoxiousness to the wrath of God and the heart so fully perswaded of the excellency of Christ and the sufficiency of his Righteousness together with the utter insufficiency of all other wayes of deliverance that thereupon he doth actually close with Christ upon Gospel terms and make application to him casting himself upon the Son of God for Salvation and renouncing all things for the enjoyment of him Although believing on Christ doth not alwayes signify a saving faith as see Joh. 2.23 yet for the most part it doth and so may fitly be made use of by way of distinction It being observed by some that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a phrase peculiar to the Holy Ghost and not used by prophane Authors This is the saving act of Faith A believing on or in the Son Joh. 11.25 26. He that believeth in me though he were dead yet he shall live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never dye For mark it Sirs that assent of the Judgment unto the great truths of the Gospel which is required of the Lord and is well pleasing in his sight is not a bare naked lifeless assent but a compounded and operative assent such as doth ingage the heart to comply with those truths and brings the whole Soul in subjection unto them Rom. 10.10 With the heart man believeth unto righteousness That 's for the nature of Faith It is a believing on the Son 2. For the excellency and preciousness of thus believing He that doth so hath the witness in himself i.e. in his own Soul and Spirit and Conscience He hath it graven upon the very tables of his heart But what is this witness which a Believer hath in himself Answ You may understand it either of these three waies 1. In relation to his spiritual state He hath a fundamental evidence that he is a child of God and in covenant with him here is sufficient matter if rightly improved whereupon to raise a testimony of this thing It is faith which brings a man under the favor of God and the act of believing is a sure token that the person is endowed with the grace or habit of Faith Spiritual actions as they must proceed from a Divine principle so they are evidences of that principle from whence they do proceed 1 Joh. 5.1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ not with a bare assent of the Judgment but he that believeth it with the heart as before * When a particular duty is produced as an evidence of a state of Salvation or hath a promise of grace and

himself But let every man prove his own work and then he shall have rejoycing in himself alone and not in another As if he had said It is no marvel if your hearts beguile you if you do not make a narrow scrutiny into your selves Your spirits are treacherous apt to put light for darkness and darkness for light You will be apt to entertain good thoughts and opinions of your selves when perhaps you have nothing of the life and substance of godliness and your deceitful hearts take hold of every advantage to strengthen those opinions But if you would avoid this cheat you must examine your selves Let every man prove his own work that is every one that would not be thus deceived and in order to the prevention of this self-flattery and cozenage If you were much in self-examination you would not rest in the good opinions of others nor conclude you were holy because they thought well of you or you would not determine of your spiritual estate from the lives of others that therefore you are the children of God because you are not so bad as they or that you were in Covenant with the Lord because others run faster than you in the devils service But upon the through trial of your selves it would be seen whether you have any substantial ground of rejoycing So that let me tell you again If you love your souls if you would be assured to escape everlasting vengeance that you are persons in favour with God and shall arrive with sasety at the kingdom of heaven when all impenitent sinners are bound up in bundles together and cast into hell fire make it appear that you are united to Christ Get knowledge and assurance that you have the Son and to that end be diligent in the search of your selves for self-examination is the way to know it You will say What course shall we take in the search of this matter or in what method shall we proceed in this examination of our selves that thereupon we may know whether we be ingraffed into Christ This is a work and duty in the discharge whereof eternal life it self lieth at the stake if it be not managed aright it may prove the occasion of a mans utter ruine and destruction And therefore I will insist upon it somewhat largely by passing over these three heads of particulars By 1. By shewing you the nature of this duty That you may know wherein your work lieth in this business or what this self-examination is in order to finding out whether you be knit to Christ 2. Pressing upon your spirits some of the principle motives or provocatives to quicken you to set speedily and vigorously upon the discharge of this work 3. Subjoyning in the close some special directions to guide you in the discharge of this work that you may come to a right conclusion whether you have the Son and not be deceived therein 1. To begin with the first of shewing you wherein your work lieth in this business of examining whether you be one with Christ and have the Son or what this duty of self-examination is Which is a mater needful to be a little explained Because it is to be feared that multitudes who are called Christians are much in the dark as to any distinct knowledge of the nature of this work that they are not only strangers to the practise of it but in a great measure as to any clear apprehensions concerning it But I shall not handle it by way of description at large only I will give you some hints of the most material points which have a reference to this work and that will be needful to open our way for the directions I would give you for the right management thereof All that shall be delivered under this head I have gathered into six plain conclusions Concl. 1. The first conclusion is this That self-examination as to our union with Christ is for the matter of it a compounded duty made up of a threefold spiritual and reflexive action in relation to a mans self There is 1. A search or enquiry made into a mans self 2. The probation and trial of a mans self 3. The passing sentence or judgment upon a mans self a mans self Mark it Sirs It doth not lie in one only single act of the spirit but it doth consist of several acts For as there are some complicated sins which carry many transgressions together in the bowels of them So there are some duties which we may call complicated or compounded duties And such is this of self-examination wherein there are many actions folded up together For it comprehends a threefold reflexive act 1. There is an act of inspection or retrospection into a mans self A search or enquiry made into our persons and wayes our inward qualifications and all our performances He that examineth himself must curiously pry and look into his own heart and practise into his principles and conversation and into all the workings of those principles and the manner of them He must descend into and take a narrow view of every corner of his spirit and the several parts of his demeanour As a man would look with a candle into every room and cast his eye into every hole and crany of an house for the finding out any thing which is lost You have it under this very similitude Prov. 20.27 The spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord searching all the inward parts of the belly It is the candle of the Lord that is there is a special faculty put into a mans soul by God himself whereby he is enabled to make enquiry into his innermost thoughts and and the secret operations of his own heart in the exercise whereof he may make a narrow scrutiny into himself and look wistly into what is within him or hath been done by him as a man doth that taketh a torch or candle to see that which could not otherwise be perceived * In mente hominis quasi in tabulis obsignatis conscriptum relinquitur quid fecit quo animo quod etiam tandem 〈◊〉 conscientia legitur pronunciatur Ames de consc It is sometimes stiled in respect to a mans wayes which as I shall shew you by and by are a main evidence of our union with Christ or estrangedness from him a thinking upon them Psal 119.59 I thought upon my wayes and turned my feet unto thy testimonies So that then doth a person examine himself when he sits down and looketh into his own soul what graces are there and how they are exercised what corruptions abide within him and how much force and power they have had over him and the like When he doth bethink himself as to his wayes with what care and conscience he hath sanctified the Sabbath how instant and fervent he is on the one hand or cold and careless on the other hand in the duty of prayer how often he doth read the Word and meditate thereupon