Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	mystical_a	person_n	union_n	3,769	5	10.8414	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65373	David's testament opened up in fourty sermons upon Samuel 23, 5 wherein the nature, properties, and effects of the covenant of grace are clearly held forth / by Alexander Wedderburn.	Wedderburn, Alexander, d. 1678.	1698 (1698)	Wing W1239; ESTC R26311	330,515	376

of you 3ly It 's remarkable the means he prescribes That ye be not slothful importing that slothfulness will hough their Assurances and that Diligence is the way to attain it here is a place that evidences that a Believer may come not only to Assurance but full Assurance and every one that is Diligent may come to it 2ly It 's evident that this Assurance is attainable in regard there are some Duties called for that were impracticable without Assurance as for Example Christ calls a man to this dost thou Believe if the man could have no Assurance nor Knowledge of the Faith the Question were impertinent he might Answer It 's impossible for one to be Assured of any Interest in Christ he would never have asked the Question if he could not be Assured and Christ hath bidden us Rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God and rejoyce that you names are written in the Book of Life and can we rejoyce in the hope of Glory or that our Names are written in the Book of Life if we could not be assured of it 3. That this Assurance is attinable is evident from this that there is a necessary Connexion betwixt the golden links of that golden Chain of Grace Whom he did predestinate them he called and whom he called them he justifies and whom he justifice them he also glorifies It 's not denyed but we may be assured of our effectual calling they say a man may have Grace but the knows not if he will persevere they say he may be in Covenant with God the day and with the Devil to morrow no there is an inseparable connexion Whom he did predestinat them he also called and whom he called them he justified and whom he justified them he also glorified so gran● that we may know our effectual calling and that we are in a state of Grace we may be assured we shall be glorified and our interest in the Covenant being once cleared it can never be disput again 4ly that this assurance is attainable it 's evident from this there are many recorded in Scripture had it and laid down inthe Grave with that Psal 16 9. My flesh also shall rest in hope Vers 10. Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell neither will thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption Vers 11. Thou will shew me the path of life Paul had it Rom. 8 38 I am perswaded that neither death nor life c. shall be able to separat me from the love of God in christ Jesus But say they will ye compare with them They had immediat Revelations and Inspirations why are ye not also Pen men of the Scriptures Why writ ye not a new Bible We answer if the grounds of this Assurance had been extraordinar Revelations we should never have pleaded Assurance because they had it but the ground of our Assurance is the love of God in Christ and the love of God in Christ is common to all Believers as well as to Paul it 's like the fountain opened in the house of David that 's opened for all the House as well as for David himself so if they had Assurance upon grounds common to all the Elect all the Elect they may attain this Assurance These things being laid together will clear this Truth that as this Assurance of a personal interest in the Covenant is necessary so it 's attainable Before I proceed to shew the Method and way how the Spirit brings up to this Assurance here ye would mark two things 1. Take notice That this Assurance of a personal Interest in the Covenant is not like the Interest it self but it differs in two things from it 1. The interest it self it 's not acquired by us it is that which is conferred on us in effectual calling when we are meerly Patients the greatest Interest in the Covenant is so made up that in effect we are meer Patients when we are interested in it it 's not so in the Assurance of an Interest I deny not but the Spirit sometimes will give a glance of Light when one will be very slothful but it 's rare we are to come by our Assurance by Diligence readily sometimes the Spirit will give extraordinary things that Mystery that Mr. Sibs reports of a woman in England when she was going to die all the Ministers that came to her as they had often discourses with her they could bring her to no clearing of her Interest or that she would come to Heaven she having a Glass in her hand she says to them I can no more be saved than that Glass can be preserved by throwing it against a Wall and she threw it against the Wall and it did rebound safe from the Wall the case of these extraordinary things is like a man coming to a deep water in a dark night where there are Steps and providentially one should hold out a Candle to him and let him see over the Steps if another should come at such a time of the night he must not think that a Candle will be holden out to him this is not the ordinary way we must not expect extraordinary things our assurance of an Interest comes in by Diligence Give diligence to make your calling and election sure so this clearing of an Interest comes in by Diligence and is not like the Interest it self which readily at the beginning is made up when we are meerly passive and in a state of nature 2ly Ye would notice another difference that of all things that ever God made a Believers interest in the Covenant is most enduring it shall be as lasting as the Union betwixt the humane nature and the Divine as long as Christ is God-man in one person as long shall the Members make up a mystical Body if the Interest in the Covenant be once secured it 's as sure as the personal Union betwixt the humane and Divine nature yet there is nothing more unsure than the Assurance of that Interest readily it will be had one day and doubted the next day And here before I open the way how the Spirit brings up one to assurance that the Lord hath made with me a Covenant I would open somewhat that hath influence on the changeableness of this assurance that we can assert at one time over the belly of all temptations and at another time the least thing will make us doubt 1. Several times a Christian comes to this assurance two ways these two ways that Christ speaks of when he is exhorting his Disciples To lay up treasures in heaven where the moth and thief will not come ye know there are many utensils and things that folk lay up that are taken away sometimes by the moth and sometimes by the thief Divines understand by the thief scandalous sins if a Christian fall in sins against his Conscience he will be sure to have his Assurance clouded he will not be able to say The Lord hath made with me a Covenant why the Thief

opens a Traffique as it 's a Transaction betwixt Lord and Servant so betwixt Flosband and Wife so it 's a Marriage Covenant and it establishes and Union and Communion Quest Before I leave this there is one question to be cleared one may ask How is it possible that there should be a Marriage Union betwixt Christ and his followers in this Convenant there may be a Treaty of Peance and War there may be a Traffique betwixt Kings and Subjects there may be a Covenant as betwixt Lord and Master but how can there be a Covenant as betwixt Husband and Wife The great reason of his difficulty is the inequality betwixt the parties he is the Potter and we are are the Clay and the Potter to Marry the Clay there is not only a physical difference but a Moral He is infinitly holy and we are exceedingly sinful and how then can it be a Marriage Covenant Answ For clearing of this I desire ye may take notice of three or four things 1. Our blood is honoured and made noble by the assumiing of our Nature into a Personal Union with the God-head this has in effect preferred our Nature to the Nature of Angels Man is now exalted above the Angels and they think it no disgrace to them they were our elder Brethren by Creation and they were more noble Creatures and we were made a little lower than the Angels but now they think it no disgrace to worship One that is Man and to follow Him where ever He goes How low soever we be by Creation yet our Blood is Nobilitat in that it 's unite to the Person of the God-head in the Person of the Mediator 2. Take notice of this That Christ has a way of purifying these that He marries the case is as it was with Ahasuerus and Esther she is pitched on to marry Ahasuerus but there must be thirty days wherein her Maids were to perfume her before she was married this was Typical and shews that though there be an inequality betwixt parties yet Christ has a way of purifying and making them that have an ill smell'd breath to give a sweet smell He has persumes that can make them sweet and odoriserous 3. Though there be a great inequality betwixt the parties yet the Covenant may drive this Marriage in regard how low soever we be by Creation we are the Father Gife in Election to the Son the Father gave Believers to the Son in Election All that the Father giveth me shall come un●● me Now how inconsiderable soever we be by Creation and how despicable a Gift yet he respects the Gift for the Given sake Lastly Christ is exceeding condesceading for as great and as noble and as eminent as Christ is yet he is o●● all the most condescending he took well with that not t● to have a hole to lay his head in and to be cruciesid betwixt t●●● thieves and no wonder he take well with it to marry a blace Bride especially since she was the Fathers Gift and he knows how to perfume her and nobilitat her blood by unting it to the God-head So that ye see the Marriage is very forcible on all these four accounts Now if ye would rightly take up this Covenant of Grace and understand what yet are doing when ye make a Covenant with Carist ye must take up the Covenant in all these four respects it 's a Covenant of Peace and War that Christ and ye shall have common Friends and common Enemies it 's a Covenant of Traffique where ye may buy and sell ye may buy fine Linen Gold Eye-salve without money and without price It a Covenant betwixt Lord and Master and Subject and Servants that ye shall serve him and in the manner prescribed in the Covenant and he shall give the greatest Reward as the Term and an Arles until it come and withal it 's a Marriage Covenant take youto the Covenant under all these formalities and ye will take it up right And that ye may be put to it take up the Covenant as a Marriage Covenant I will but give you these three Qualifications that are necessary in ones carrying a Marriage Covenant First I exhort you to pearken to Christ's wooing motions all the Sermons and Scriptures that are the grounds of this Marriage they are indeed Christ's wooing motions he would not only be at peace with them and have a Traffique with them but he would have a Marriage It 's true there are many of you ye may say as Abigail said she was married to Nabal and David se et to take her to him to wife I am not worthy to wash the Feet of the servants of my Lord yet she arose and went to meer the Messengers to go with him indeed we are not worthy to go to his Marriage-bed and to be priviledged with the priviledges of the Covenant yet entertain his wooing motions Secondly I would desire you to consider what the priviledge of such a Marriage is O such a joynture as he prepares though he get no Tocher as a wonderful joynture he gives It 's remarkable Ahasuerus had married Esther a poor maid Mordeci's Neice yet he loves her so that he says to her at the Feast of the Banquet of Wine what is thy petition Queen Esther and it shall be granted to thee even to the half of my Kingdom But these are not the Terms that he makes to his Bride they are strange offers in the Covenant concerning my Sons and my Daughters command ye me Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my Name he shall give it thee Delight thy self in the Lord and he shall give thee according to the desire of thy soul Thirdly That ye may enter this Marriage Covenant remember the Terms on which ye must enter as a Woman in Marriage does when she marries Husband she marries him for good and ill readily ye may see your Husbands interests very low but let not that dissolve the Marriage as guiltiness will not dissolve the Marriage on his part so the Cross attendig him should not loose it on our part Now they that understand the Covenant rightly and know what they are doing when they are personally Covenanting with him they do all the four they accept of him as a Friend to be at peace with him and to have common Friends and common Enemies and they accept of a Covenant of Traffique that they will buy gold and fine linen and they accept him as a Lord but especially they take him for a Husband the Covenant is a Marriage Covenant These four will sum up the great Heads of the Covenant But to go further The third thing I would open is how this Covenant is made up on all these four Heads I will not here speak of the Mediators part I pitched on that else and shewed you what the Mediator did in reference to the Covenant But for the making up of all these four sorts of Covenant there are two things necessary to make it up