Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	believe_v	faith_n	revelation_n	3,045	5	9.5466	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A95857	A charge against the Jews, and the Christian world, for not coming to Christ, who would have freely given them eternall life. Delivered in a sermon, before the Right Honorable the House of Peers, in the Abbey Church at Westminster, on May 26. 1647. being the day of their publick fast. / By Thomas Valentine, one of the Assembly of Divines, and Minister of Chalfont in the County of Bucks.	Valentine, Thomas, 1585 or 6-1665?	1647 (1647)	Wing V24; Thomason E389_6; ESTC R201520	27,808	35

and the greatest sinners that are most sensible of their miserie wil come most humblie and in much poverty of spirit no creature so wilde as a sinner in his jollitie who is as the wilde Asse in the wildernesse that runs up and down at pleasure none so tame as the penitent sinner that is taken in his moneth God hath humbled him and taken down the pride of his spirit he stood in his way as the Angel in Balaams he threatned him he had his bowe in his hand and his arrow on the string Psal 7.12 and the sinner not giving back he shot at him and wounded him and left the arrow sticking in his heart Psal 38.2 and now this wounded man he mourns inwardly and makes his moane to God Thine arrowes stick fast in me is willing to come to Christ to be healed and to have the arrow pluckt out and the wound cured Necessitie at first brings us unto Christ afterward we apprehend goodnesse and his divine perfections and we come in love to him we cannot stay away a poore man at the doore that hath scarce a ragge to cover his nakednesse not a peece of bread to satisfie nature he comes to aske for the Master not to be acquainted with him that were boldnesse but to be releived in his necessities so Christ is sought unto as a Saviour to take away our guilt to give a pardon to supply our wants and when we are sensible of our miserie we are easily induced to come to Christ But when we are justified and accepted and find the sweetnesse of fellowship and communion with Christ then we are delighted in him and if there were no necessity compelling us if no weaknesse in our faith no want in our souls yet we should desire to come to him they that have seen God in any ordinance are restlesse till they see him again Psal 63.2 David could bear well enough his banishment from the Court yet he much desired to come to the place of Gods publick worship that he might see his power and glory as formerly he had seen them in the sanctuary 4. To come to Christ is to beleeve in him and when he complains of the Jews not coming he chargeth them with unbelief He that comes to God must beleeve that he is Credere est actus intellectus assertientis veritati divinae ex imperio voluntatis motae à Deo per gratiam Aqui. and that he is a rewarder of them that seek him The Jews beleeved no such thing of Christ they did not think him to be God nor that he would reward them that come to him they gave no assent to what he spake they did not credit him Faith hath a double act one more common and generall and that is to give a firm assent to all Divine truth revealed in the Scripture Faith gives God the honour of his truth as love and hope do give him the honour of his goodnesse and bountie And truth is equally spread over all the Scriptures I beleeve as verily that Isaac was the son of Abraham as that Christ is the Son of God because Scripture affirms both and one thing cannot be more or lesse true then another one is more usefull then another Fides ambiguum non habet si habet non est fides and conduceth more to my good and in this generall act of faith I am to consider of one more then another but both are equally true but there should be nay there is no doubtihg though some men have doubted whether this or that part of the Bible were Scripture yet a beleever must not doubt whether Scripture be true that were to doubt whether God be true The truth which faith beleeves comes by divine revelation if I can prove by reason that all things that are Haereticus dubitens de uno articulo fidei opinionem habet de reliquis Biel. Gen. 1. were made by him that hath an absolute being and is the first cause of all I do not beleeve it because I can prove it but because Scripture saith it for in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth The Scriptures of the Old Testament held out clearly the Messiah and by those prophesies and promises wherin the Jews were very well verst they might know that he was the Christ and yet they did beleeve neither those Scriptures nor any thing himself spake or did And then no wonder if they fail in the second act of faith which is to relye and rest with confidence on Christ the Saviour Mar. 15.31 they were so far from this that they upbraid him at his death saying He could not save himself and therefore it was in vain to expect salvation from him Notitia assensus fiducia are made parts of Faith but two of them being in the understanding the 3 in the Will it may be doubted how one such grace can be in two faculties Schoolmen generally to salve this doubt make gne faculty subordinate to the other saying Faith is Actus imperatus a voluntate elicitus ab intellectu It is in the will ut in primo motivo in intellectu ut in proximo subjecto But the doubt is when they say it is ex imperio voluntatis they seem to give the precedencie to the will to shun such disputes we may rather call them acts in the beleever then parts of Faith But we have in these dayes all the means necessarie to work in us all the particulars required to a saving faith we have knowledge of him we question not his Divinity we beleeve he came with a commission from heaven we give a full and firm assent to whatsoever he spake as being undoubtedly true we would cast our selves with confidence into his arms that is able to save us we beleeve that God is reconciliable that sin is pardonable and this we do upon the hearing of the glad tydings of the Gospel and afterward we grow up into a greater confidence and assurance of the pardon of our sins purchased by his blood But those that do not beleeve shall have this great sin charged upon them and that we may clear Gods justice in punishing men that live in the Christian world for their infidelity it will be needfull to inquire where the power of beleeving lyes for if they cannot beleeve how is God just to require that of them which they have not power to do I answer Adam in his innocencie had a kinde of legall faith whereby he was to depend upon God for the performance of his promise for God promised him life as a reward of his obedience and he was to look for it Now what ever he had being a publick person we may be said to have it and must be accountable for it so as in him we had power to beleeve and therefore may be punished for unbelief And this Answer is given by many Reverend Divines and let it go as far as it may to the

v. 31. and read on you may find that he layes aside his own testimony and insists on five more every one of which were sufficient to convince them that he was the Son of God and that they ought to come unto him 1. The testimony of his Father ver 32.37 There is another which beareth witnesse of me and who that is v. 37. shews The Father himself which hath sent me beareth witnesse of me 2. The testimonie of John the Baptist v. 33. And ye rejoyced in him and he bare witnesse of me 3. His works and miracles v. 36. The works that the Father hath given me to finish the same works that I do bear witnesse of me that the Father hath sent me 4. The Scriptures v. 39. Search the Scriptures for in them ye think to have eternall life and they are they which testifie of me 5. The last testimonie alledged is that of Moses v. 46. Had ye beleeved Moses you would have beleeved me for he wrote of me The summe of all is I have the testimony of my Father and of John the Baptist and of my works and miracles and of the Scriptures an of Moses but none of these will convince you you will not come to me and therefore your sin is great In the text you have 1. the illation or inference and which according to the sence was formerly translated but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being often put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Beza observes 2. There is the sin reproved in the Jews You will not come 3. The person to whom they should have come but did not me 4. The end which they might have attained but did not That ye might have life And must not be understood as a copulative The sence of the text but discretive therefore in the sence it is but You will not come to me It shews the wicked and obstinate nature of the Jews though they had so many clear testimonies of Christ yet they would not imbrace him you Jews will not come therefore your sin is the greater the Gentiles have no knowledge of me it cannot be expected that they should come but you Jews that have knowledge of the prophesies and promises and of the Law that are a light to them that sit in darknes teachers of the unlearned instructers of them that lack discretion you offend the more in not coming to me You will not our Saviour saith not you cannot but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non dicit non venitis sed non vultis venire cum cos nolle dicit ignorantiae caeritatis causam pravitati contumatiae assignat Muscul you will not come the wilfulnesse of their spirits is set out there are three distinct degrees 1. Men do not come 2. They cannot come 3. They will not come to Christ The first is their carelesnesse and negligence the second is their weaknesse and impotencie the third is their wilfulnesse and great wickednesse and the last is the result of all men do not come to Christ because they will not come and they cannot come because they will not their wills must be subdued and the rebellion thereof must be removed else they neither can nor will come to Christ Not come You will not beleeve in me that 's the sin but with an aggravation you will not so much as come unto me they would not vouchsafe him any respect they would not frequent his company nor willingly be in his presence That ye might have life We must not imagine that they were out of love with life for that 's desirable by all and it cannot fall upon the reasonable creature simplie to desire not to live so as the reason of their not coming was not because he did not offer them that which was pleasing and amiable but they were so far out of love with him and so much prejudiced against him that they would not come unto him though they might have life Or else they would not come unto him for a right end that they might have life Ye will come to me for the loafes that I might feed you and for by-ends if I came like a conquering Alexander with an Army to deliver you from the power of the Romane Monarchie and to repair the glory of your decayed kingdom you would come unto me but to have life and to obtain salvation ye will not come unto me The words briefly thus explained afford two severall Propositions 1. The great condemning sin which will be charged upon the Jews and the Christian world is that they would not come to Christ 2 That Jesus Christ will freely give eternall life to them that come unto him To come to Christ is not any locall motion or change of place for go all the world over and you cannot find him he is ascended into heaven and whither he is gone ye cannot come When this was spoken it was spiritually to be understood if a man had been in Christs presence and stayed long with him nay if he had taken him into his arms if he had not received him into his heart by faith it would not have availed Therefore understand it thus 1 To come to Christ is to have recourse unto him and acknowledge him worthy of all respect all that came unto him d d not beleeve in him but these will vouchsafe him no honour they disdain him and cast scorn and contempt upon him in not coming to him Foure things move us to come to an other the command of one in authority the Centurion saith to me Go and he goeth Matth. 8 9. to another Come and he cometh Christ was a King Psal 2.6 for God set his King upon his holy hill of Sion and all power in heaven and earth was given him Kings have power Honorant ut Regem adorant ut Deum vident enim hominem agnoscunt Deum but not all power they have a conditionall temporarie externall power derived from Christ But he hath an absolute eternall primative power which all men should acknowledge and stoope unto the wise men the first fruites of the Gentiles they came unto Christ and they did acknowledge him and ask boldly Where is he that is born King of the Jews this might justly shame the Jewes they came to him while he was a young Infant and found him in a mean condition Adorant magi offerunt munera adhuc lact●nti matris ubera Bern. Parvulum non honorassent nec adorassent si parvulum tantummodo credidissent sucking of his mothers breasts they came from farre and present him with gold franckincense and mirrhe gold because he was a King frankincense as he was God for that was used in the offerings and mirrhe as he was man hereby they honoured him much and were readie to tender their homage to him but the Iewes would not come unto him 2. Necessity might have made them come unto him for he was the onely remedie that God appointed