Selected quad for the lemma: knowledge_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
knowledge_n	kindness_n	lord_n	temperance_n	1,456	5	11.4306	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62326	Twelve sermons upon several occasions by Samuel Scattergood ...	Scattergood, Samuel, 1646-1696.	1700 (1700)	Wing S845; ESTC R39513	116,309	210

thing I propounded to speak of which is the Person unto whom we are invited to come for help and that is Christ And here we must understand that by coming unto Christ is not meant any corporeal approach as if we were obliged to see him with our Eyes or to touch him with our hands for alass how can we that are but worms upon earth come thus unto him who is exalted unto the Right-hand of God in the highest Heavens But though we cannot come thus to him yet we may come nearer to him than thus even so near as to be one with him to be members of his Body of his flesh and of his bones Eph. 5.30 And this is that coming unto Christ which is here meant in my Text a coming to him and laying hold on him by a true and lively faith This is the only way that we can come unto Christ so as to receive any benefit from him For as his hands were tied while he was here upon Earth so that he could not work any Miracles where he found not faith so are they tied still upon the same account now he is in Heaven so that he cannot save us he cannot ease us of our Burden except we believe we have his own word for it Mark 16.16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned And if this be all that is required of us in coming to Christ to believe that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners and to acknowledge our selves to be such who then shall not be saved surely then the way to Heaven is much easier than it is generally represented to be and few there be that shall not find it But our blessed Saviour hath assured us of the contrary and told us expresly that few there be that shall find it Matth. 7.14 And therefore it is more than a bare historical faith that is required of us if we will come unto Christ aright so as to find rest unto our souls and this is plain from the words in the Verse after my Text Take my Yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your Souls Here is something implied more than just coming unto Christ for we must not only come to him but we must resolve also to do something for him which he expects we should do if ever we look for salvation from him and that is to be obedient to those most holy Laws and to follow as far as we are able through the Assistance of his Grace that most excellent Example which in his last Will and Testament he hath left us for the Rule of our Life and Conversation I will not deny but that it is faith alone by which we are justified and saved for S. Paul tells us more than once in his Epistles that the just shall live by faith But then he tells us what this faith is Gal. 5.6 It is faith which works by love and 1 Thess 1.3 he calls it the work of faith and Labour of Love If then faith be a work it must needs be more than a bare assent to and belief of the truth of the Gospel together with a groundless application of the promises therein contained to our selves which too many men are apt to think to be a faith sufficient to salvation For what work is this to believe the truth of a Store when there are most unanswerable Arguments to prove it though indeed it is a work and an hard work too the Devils work to perswade us to apply those precious promises which are made in that sacred Story to our selves when they do not at all concern us Let us take heed therefore of deceiving our selves and thinking that we have faith when we have it not but if we desire to approve our faith in the sight of God and Men and Angels and to the quiet and satisfaction of our own Consciences let us follow the advice both of S. James and S. Peter The former tells us that Faith without works is dead and that by works Faith is made perfect And the latter upon the substantial and never failing foundation of a true faith raises a most noble Structure by which we may gradually ascend into those Mansions of Glory which our blessed Saviour hath prepared for all those that love his appearing 2 Peter 1.5 Add saith he to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity For if these things be in you and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ But he that lacketh these things i. e. any one of them is blind and cannot see a far off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old Sins Wherefore the rather brethren give Diligence to make your calling and election sure for if ye do these things ye shall never fall For so an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting knigdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ From hence ye may plainly see that the faith which is here meant by coming unto Christ is more than a bare belief of the truth of the Gospel more than a bare recumbency and leaning upon Christ for Salvation and applying his Merits to our selves as it were at a venture right or wrong whether we have any interest in him or no. Such a faith as this many men trust to that have been strangers all their life-time to the perfect Law of Liberty by which S. James tells us that we must all be judged at the last But the faith which our Saviour here requires in all that come unto him implies besides a full and steadfast belief of all that is contained in the Gospel a firm purpose and resolution and a chearful endeavour to the best of our power throughout the whole course of our Life to be obedient and conformable to all those rules and precepts and Laws which the Gospel injoyns us to perform to imitate that most holy example which our blessed Lord hath sett us striving to be perfect as he was perfect and when we have done all this still to acknowledge that we are unprofitable servants utterly disowning any Merits or Righteousness in our selves but desiring with S. Paul to be found in Christ not having our own Righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by faith Phil. 3.9 This is a true and saving Faith indeed and whosoever thus comes unto Christ may assure himself that he shall be heartily welcome he shall most certainly obtain the benefit of this invitation and shall find rest unto his Soul And this brings me to my third and last particular which is the end wherefore all that labour and