Selected quad for the lemma: prayer_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
prayer_n	believe_v	faith_n	pray_v	7,954	5	6.8039	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12205	Tvvo sermons vpon the first words of Christs last sermon Iohn XIIII. I. Being also the last sermons of Richard Sibbs D.D. Preached to the honourable society of Grayes Inne, Iune the 21. and 28. 1635. Who the next Lords day follwing, died, and rested from all his labours	Sibbes, Richard, 1577-1635.; Goodwin, Thomas, 1600-1680.; Nye, Philip, 1596?-1672.	1636 (1636)	STC 22515; ESTC S102407	24,191	77

beene misdoubtings And yet if the holy Ghost sets not downe the heart and convinceth it throughly of the all-sufficiencie of that satisfaction it would never beleeve neither And therefore as ye beleeve in God beleeve also in me for I am God too We may know that Christ is God not onely by that which Christ hath done the Miracles which none could do but God but also by what is done to him And two things are done to him which shew that he is God that is Faith and Prayer we must beleeve onely in God and pray onely to God But Christ is the object of both these here he is set forth as the object of Faith and of Prayer in that of Saint Stephen Lord Iesus receive my spirit And therefore he is God for that is done unto him which is proper and peculiar onely to God That which I shall now touch upon is this we must remember what a strong foundation what bottome and basis our faith hath there is God the Father Sonne and holy Ghost and Christ the Mediator that our faith may be supported we have him to beleeve on who supports heaven and earth As in 1. Hebr. and Colos. 1. he created all things as well as the Father he is honoured of all as well as the Father he that supports the pillars of heaven and earth is able to support the pillars of thy soule But how doth faith in Christ ease the soule of trouble In a word as it carrieth the soule out of it selfe unto God in Christ and unto Christ uniting and making us one with him and so sets the soule above all trouble whatsoever for being one with Christ we are already with him in heaven And againe faith is a grace that presents things to come as present and so establisheth the soule It is the hypostasis of things it gives subsistance to them in the promise and it doth never leave to do it till the things subsist indeed It is grace that accompanieth the soule to heaven looking upon things in the word of him that is truth it selfe and so giving a kinde of being to them throughout all the way to heaven till they have a being indeed And then faith is out of office yeelding it up to sight and the full enjoyment of all But did not the Disciples beleeve already Yes they did but they had need to renew their faith as occasions were renewed and as troubles were to increase Beleeve in me it is as he should have said Now there is occasion for you to use your faith I must be taken out of your sight you must see me suffer and you had need of an extraordinarie measure of faith to see me in such abasement and yet to beleeve that I am God We must grow from faith to faith we may live by it continually and we must increase with the encrease of God that as our difficulties do encrease our strength to go through them may encrease also as they prayed Lord encrease our faith I gave some directions how we might not be troubled And first we must labour to have our part and portion in Christ else there is nothing belongs to us but trouble There are two sorts of men in the Church some that usurpe a peace and exemption from trouble as if joy and comfort were their portion Sathan is wise enough not to trouble them and they take an order with their consciences that they shall not trouble them till needs must till the houre of death or some dismall accident the onely way for such is to be troubled that their trouble may be a foundation of their comfort For to such as live in their sinnes against conscience apparantly so that every man may see it and yet are not troubled they have no interest in comfort nothing but wo and misery belongs to them Indeed Christ came to save sinners but it is broken-hearted sinners penitent sinners that are wearie and heavy laden under the burthen of sin And therefore though these speake peace to themselves yet we dare not speake any comfort to them from Christ As Iehu said to Ioram What hast thou to do with peace as long as the whoredomes of thy mother lezebel are so many Dost thou talke of peace as long as thou art a sweater a prophane liver a malitious person against all that are truly good what hast thou to do with peace Now in the visible Church there is another sort that Sathan laboureth to trouble since he cannot keepe them in the state of nature but they breake from him Christ pulling them out of Sathans kingdome by the power of his ordinances and holy Spirit he labours to trouble them in their peace all he can because they be in the world above the world he enjoyes their condition that they should enjoy that paradise which he left the comforts that he once had and therefore he labours to disturbe them in their comforts The estate of such is mixt here in this world they have that in them and without them which will alwayes be a cause and occasion of trouble They have corruption in them not altogether subdued and they have without them Sathan taking advantage against them and the world opposing them These although they have something in them that must be subdued yet something also that must be cherished and strengthened And therefore these are the persons to whom comfort properly belongs In heaven we shall have no need of being comforted for there our peace shall be to have no enemies at all our peace here is to have comfort in the midst of discomfort and an heart inlarged in troubles He speaks this to them here who were beleevers already Ye beleeve in God who he knew should not be troubled Let not your hearts be troubled So that to the end we may be subjects capable of comfort we must be such as by faith are one with Christ and so reconciled to God All motion ends in rest and all the rest of the soul ends in God the center of the soule And therefore before the soule can settle it selfe it must be brought to God through Christ that must be laid as a ground Now there is a threefold malady that troubleth us and there must be a threefold peace and ground of comfort against them First it is a trouble to the soule when once it is awakened that God and it should be in ill termes when the soule looks upon God as angry and is displeased with it Againe the soule is troubled when it looks upon it selfe and sees nothing but turmoiles and seditions there Thirdly when it looks upon the affaires of the world and accidents here below it is full of confusion for the present and it is full of feares for time to come that things will be worse and worse Thus the soule whilest it is in the world is troubled about its peace with God and with its selfe and about this evill world Now before the soule can

TVVO SERMONS VPON THE FIRST words of Christs last Sermon IOHN XIIII I. Being also the last Sermons of RICHARDS SIBBS D. D. Preached to the honourable society of Grayes Inne Iune the 21. and 28. 1635. Who the next Lords day following died and rested from all his labours 2. Sam. 23. 1. These are the last words of the sweet singer of Israel LONDON Printed by Thomas Harper for Lawrence Chapman and are to be sold at his shop in Holborne at Chancery lane end 1636. HONORATISSIMO DOMINO DOMINO ROBERTO COMITI WARVVICENSI HAS MELLITISSIMI THEOLOGI RICHARDI SIBBS S. THEOL DOCTORIS QUEM Percharum habuit cuiusque concionantis auditor erat assiduus unà cum nobilissima Familia CYGNEAS CONCIONES IN ●ENTISSIMI AVTHORIS AFFECTVS NEC NON IPSORVM SINGVLARIS OBSEQVII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 D. D. D. THOMAS GOODVVIN PHILIPPUS NYE Imprimatur Tho. Weekes R. P. EP. Lond. Capel Domest The first SERMON lOHN 14. chap. 1 verse Let not your hearts be troubled ye beleeve in God beleeve also in me HOly men as they be trees os righteousnesse and desire to be fruitfull at all times so most especially towards their end having but a short time to live in the world they be willing to leave the world with a good savour so it was with Iacob so with Moses as appeares in his excellent Song made before his death you may see it in King Salomon and David before their deaths but especially in our Saviour The nearer to heaven the more heavenly minded when grace and glory are ready to joyne the one to be swallowed up of the other then grace is most glorious All the passages of Christ are comfortable but none more comfortable then those Sermons of his that were delivered a little before his death of all words that come from loving men to those they love such are most remarkable as be spoken when they be ready to die because then men are most serious they being about the most serious businesse then they bee wisest and best able to judge for the consideration of their end makes them wise And therefore sayth God Oh that my people were wise to consider their latter end And Teach mee to number my dayes that I may apply my heart to wisedome sayth Moses And indeed there is no wisedome to that for it teacheth men to passe a right judgement upon all things in the world they be no longer drunke with the prosperity of the world they be no longer swayed with opinion but they passe an estimation of things as they are Besides love at that time is especially set on worke Therefore our blessed Saviour being now to offer himselfe a sacrifice on the Crosse he sweetly delivereth these words before his departure Let not your hearts be troubled Let us heare them therefore as the dying words of our Saviour to his Disciples and in his Disciples to us all as in the 17 of Saint Iohn I pray not for them onely but for all such as shall beleeve in me through their word for his comforts concerne us all as his prayers did This Chapter is sweetly mixt of comforts counsels and gratious promises but especially it affords matter of comfort mark who it is that gives this comfort our blessed Saviour And at what time when he was to sacrifice himselfe What admirable love and care and pitie is in this mercifull high Priest of ours that should so thinke of comforting his disciples as to forget hemselfe and his owne approaching death It is the nature of love so to do and we should imitate our blessed Saviour in it you see how he laboureth to strengthen them especially towards his end he knew they would then need it most and therfore he endeavoureth by all means to strengthen them both by counsell as here by the Passeover and by a newly instituted Sacrament But what need we wonder at this in our blessed Saviour who so regarded us as he left heaven took our nature became man put himselfe under the Law became sinne The words containe a disswasion from over-much trouble and then a direction to beleeve in God and Christ comforts must be founded on strong reasons For we are reasonable and understanding creatures and God works on us answerably to our principles He stayes our spirits by reasons stronger then the grievance For what is comfort but that which establisheth and upholds the soule against that evill which is feared or felt from a greater strength of reason which overmastreth the evill If the grievance bee but even with the comfort then the consolation workes not but Christs comforts are of an higher nature then any trouble can be for hee not onely disswades from trouble but also perswades to confidence Be of good comfort I have overcome the world The occasion of this comforting them and of remooving their discouragements was this In the former Chapter hee had told them that he should leave them and that they should leave him the best of them all even Peter should take offence at him and denie him and that all the rest should leave him From whence they might gather that the approaching trouble should be great That should cause Peter to deny him and them all to forsake him And thence must needes arise great scandalls Our Saviour saw by the power of his Godhead into their hearts and like enough in their lookeshee saw a spirit of discouragement seyzing on them for his departure and Peters fall their forsaking of him and the persecutions that would follow And therefore Christ discerning this dejection of their spirits he rayseth them by this Let not your hearts be troubled The heavenly Physition of our soules applieth then the remedy when it is the fittest season There was some good in their trouble something naturally and something spiritually good There was ground of naturall trouble at the departure of such a friend at the hearing of such persecutions For wee are flesh not steele and in that sence Christ was troubled himselfe to shew the truth of his manhood nay trouble is the seasoning of all heavenly comforts so as there were no comforts if there were no trouble and therefore this naturall trouble was not disallowed by Christ. There was likewise something spiritually good in this trouble they loved their Master who they saw was going away And they knew it was a shamefull thing for them to forsake him there was love in them towards him all this while Christ could discerne gold in ●oare some good in a great deale of ill and therefore loved them againe and manifested it by comforting them Let not your beares be troubled They were right in this principle that all comfort depends on the presence of Christ. And so the maine ground of the sorrow was good For as all heavenly light and heat and influence comes from the Sunne it being all gathered into that body so all heavenly comfort is gathered into Christ and therefore must come to us from Christs presence