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A44419 Golden remains of the ever memorable Mr. John Hales ... with additions from the authours own copy, viz., sermons & miscellanies, also letters and expresses concerning the Synod of Dort (not before printed), from an authentick hand. Hales, John, 1584-1656. 1673 (1673) Wing H271; ESTC R3621 409,693 508

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have sur●eited and are sick of sin by repentance we disgorge cast it up again bibit vomit sin and repent repent and sin again Thus goes our life away Polybius tells us though man be generally accounted the wisest of all creatures yet some have thought him the foolishest of all other For the Fox will never return to the snare which he hath once escaped nor the Wolf to the pit nor the Dog to the staff that hath beaten him onely Man will never be taught to beware sed peccat fere semper in iisdem though he smart never so oft yet will he return to the same offence and fault again He that should well observe the follies of men might more pardonably take them to be utterly more devoid of memory then Aristotle holds it of Bees so easily do we forget the danger of sin and being now driven of return to it again Now a great part of this our folly we owe to the doctrine of Repentance as it is commonly taught and understood For as trusting to the help of the Physicians hath overthrown the health of many while they think they may use excess take their pleasures the more securely because they see the remedy So it is to be feared that relying upon the promises made to the repentant man hath been the ruine and the overthrow of many a soul For repentance is physick and therefore to be used sparingly and with good manners lest too familiar use of it make it cease to be a duty and a cause of presumption and wantonness There is not any Doctrine in the delivery whereof we ought to walk more warily and wisely then in the Doctrine of Repentance so quickly may we make that an invitation to offend which was ordained as a Farewel turn the remedy of sin into an occasion of sinning The discipline of the ancient Church was never to admit any to publick pennance more then once and if after such kind of pennance he offended scandalously again like the Leper in the Law he was shut out of the camp never to return unto the congregation Nay in the Scriptures we shall never find an example of Repentance upon relapse and falling but into sins once repented of Do not think this fell out by chance but rather probably conclude from thence either our Fore-fathers durst not make trial of any such conclusion and to make no practise of it or if they did yet it pleased not the holy Ghost that any such example should stand upon record lest peradventure it might prove a president to posterity most men being quick scholars at such kind of lessons Will you know whether all this tends This is my meaning It is better for you to study health Custodiam then physick Repentance Labour rather in prevention not to commit it again then in repenting the same remedies afterward Think of our Saviour's counsel to one that he had cured Behold thou art made whole sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee And indeed repentance ever goes with this condition Sin no more c. He that repents and forsakes his sin shall find mercy saith the Wise-man Now therefore since Repentance at best is but a Remedy the benefit of it except we manage it wisely uncertain the danger if we use it too often may be great Let us not suffer the hope of frequent Repentance to abuse us for this is but the cold comfort of a miserable man But with our serious repentance let us take up this resolution as David did for it is folly to wound our selves that we may need the Salve again It is a good thing to seek what we have lost and this repentance doth but it is a thing of higher excellency not to be of the lacking hand but to enjoy still what we have And this the benefit of Cautelousness Dixi custodiam But leave we therefore this comparative discourse and so come in the second place to treat of this Virtue in it self Custodiam is but care wariness and he that hath this one Art needs no other The good providence and mercies of God appear in this that propounding a course of eternal life to men of all sorts he hath laid it down in such terms that nothing but negligence and uncautelousness can hazard it Might he not have done this in a more high and reserved manner with respect to some sorts and orders of men If he had done so the greatest part I will not say of mankind but of the professors of Christianity had perished finally perished If he had required great knowledge sharpness of wit what had become of slower spirits and shallower capacities But he saith Not many wise not many learned And there is some reason for it de facto as we may guess by other cases For men of low abilities are more jealous of their actions and the jealousie makes them the more cautelous And if they use the like caution with their craftiest enemy the Divil it must needs be custodiam safety 2. If God had required great strength extraordinary abilities and stoutness of men then the greatest part had perished because of weaker temper but he rather chuseth the weak things of the world to confound the strong Miscellanies Mr. HALES Confession of the TRINITY THe Sum of whatsoever either the Scriptures teach or the Scholes conclude concerning the Doctrine of the TRINITY is comprised in these few lines GOD is ONE Numerically ONE more ONE then any single Man is One if Vnity could suscipere magis minus Yet GOD is so ONE that he admits of Distinction and so admits of Distinction that he still retains Vnity As He is ONE so we call Him GOD the Deity the Divine Nature and other Names of the same signification As He is Distinguished so we call Him TRINITY Persons FATHER SON and HOLY GHOST In this TRINITY there is One Essence Two Emanations Three Persons or Relations Four Properties Five Notions A Notion is that by which any Person is Known or Signified The One Essence is GOD which with this Relation that it doth Generate or Beget makes the Person of the FATHER the same Essence with this Relation that it is Begotten maketh the Person of the SON the same Essence with this Relation that it Proceedeth maketh the Person of the HOLY GHOST The Two Emanations are to be Begotten and to Proceed or to be Breathed out The Three Persons are FATHER SON and HOLY SPIRIT The Three Relations are to Beget to be Begotten and to Proceed or to be Breathed out The Four Properties are the First Innascibility and Inemanability the Second is to Generate these belong to the FATHER the Third is to be Begotten and this belongs unto the SON the Fourth is to Proceed or to be Breathed out and this belongs unto the HOLY SPIRIT The Five Notions are First Innascibility the Second is to Beget the Third to be Begotten the Fourth Spiratio Passiva to be Breathed out the Fifth Spiratio Activa