Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sense_n	apostle_n	reason_n	word_n	1,618	5	4.0680	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51810	Catholick religion: or, The just test or character of every person that in any nation is accepted with God discovered, in an explication of the nature of the true fear of God, and working of righteousness, with which the same is connected. In some discourses upon Acts 10. 35, 36. Wherein several important doctrinal truths, more immediately influential upon practise, are plainly opened, and vindicated from their too common misunderstanding. By William Manning.	Manning, William, 1633?-1711.	1686 (1686)	Wing M491; ESTC R217102	67,577	173

that he had commanded him of God to deliver unto him Peter goes on directly to the matter in the Words of the Text Which Words contain a general Inference from what goes before and are but introductory unto what he immediately subjoins Then Peter opened his mouth which Phrase of Speech in Scripture importeth much seriousness in the delivery of some weighty matter and he said Of a truth I perceive now I do assuredly understand What was that he was so clearly convinced of Why that God is no accepter or respecter of persons but in what regard or to what purpose is he not so Why in the point of acceptance unto Life But in every nation saith he be they Jew or Gentile Circumcised or not he that feareth him and worketh Righteousness is accepted with him It 's the latter part contained in v. 35. that I have designed mainly to insist upon and therefore shall but briefly touch upon the opening of the former in our way to give light thereunto Nor need there much to be added to what hath already been spoken for the understanding of the sense of the Apostle or for the confirmation of the Truth by him inferred and asserted in those Words That God is no respecter of persons Respect of Persons must relate to something as the Reason or Motive and that may be either something of Internal Qualification in the Subject or of Extrinsick difference of State or Condition There is also a double Respect of God unto men in the communication of his Goodness to them to be considered 1. That of his provision of a Remedy for Mankind in general in his counsel of peace Zech. 6.13 And giving of his Son unto death for them John 3.16 Heb. 2.9 Opening unto lapsed man a door of hope whilst the Angels fallen were passed by v. 16. And the conditional grant of acceptance unto all thereupon by the Gospel Heb. 9.15 This in the whole contrivance thereof was without all respect of persons absolutely i. e. without regard unto any thing without or within them lovely as the reason thereof Yea Mankind ut in esse cognito were all alike considered as Enemies and Rebels Rom. 5.6 8. No foundation was left for it So likewise for his communication of Grace unto this or that particular person However God hath constituted a Law about it habenti dabitur Matt. 25.27 29. Laid out the ordinary method of it and prescribed the means Jer. 13.27 Prov. 2.4 5 so as to leave all men without excuse that have it not to be cast by the Gospel yet hath he reserved to himself the prerogative of a Supersedeas to dispense the same to whom he pleases and this is founded in his Dominion without all respect of persons It was Typ't by Gods Election of Israel without all reason to be a people to himself when no better than any other people of the Nations Josh 24.2 3 4. Isa 51.2 Was not Esau Jacobs Brother saith the Lord yet I loved Jacob and I hated Esau and laid his Mountains wast As there is the Dominion of Providence so is there the Dominion of Grace irrespective the regulation whereof belongs to Gods Will of purpose only not of precept VVhen men have forfeited the Grace of God what now if God will do more for one than for another as in the Instance of Saul and his Companions Acts 9.3 14. what wrong to any May he not do what he will with his own in a matter of bounty Matt. 20.13 15 Moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called Rom. 8.30 ch 9.11 15. Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace 2 Tim. 1.9 what tho there be nothing Antecedently lovely in the creature absolutely considered for God to have regard to Tit. 3.5 yet may God make a person lovely to allude to that Ezek. 16.6 8. when thou wast in thy Blood I said unto thee live Behold thy time was the time of love Why may he not make a difference where he finds none This is the most absolute irrespective effect of Divine Love without all motive or reason taken from the person on whom it is terminated And altho it be not that meant in the Text yet doth it not carry any the least contradiction unto it as some would have it 2. There is yet another Respect of God unto men and that is in the Communication of his Complacential Love and the effects of it unto them in their acceptance to favour and life And this is it of which the Text speaks And this is without all respect of persons too in a limited sense but not as before for here God has a special regard to the qualification of the subject or his Grace in the Soul and has obliged himself thereunto without discrimination And for that very reason is he here said to be no respecter of Persons for that in every Nation in whomsoever true Piety is to be found such persons shall be sure to find acceptance with him as the next words do explain it The genuine sense of the Apostles assertion then is this In whomsoever the Essence of true Piety is and the fruits of it let him be of what Nation he will for that is his own instance be he Jew a Jew imported a covenant people or Greek God respects not that let him be Bond or Free Noble or Ignoble Poor or Rich yea Circumcised or Uncircumcised let his outward Condition or Religious Advantages be what they will be or Disadvantages still without Respect of Persons on any such score he shall be accepted with God If the old Man be put off and the new Man be put on why then there is there neither Greek nor Jew Circumcision nor Uncircumcision Barbarian Scythian bond nor free but Christ is all and in all the person is accepted in him Col. 3.10 11. If the uncircumcision saith the Apostle and there the stick was keep the righteousness of the law shall not it be counted for circumcision Rom. 2.26 He is a Jew that is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart v. 29. such a one was Cornelius a Jew inwardly though a Gentile outwardly and consequently no Bar could lie in the way of his acceptance with God But what advantage then hath the Jew The objection the Apostle puts ch 3.1 and answereth v. 2. much every way in the point and means he grants it but not so as if no other were capable of Salvation that he denies even then when Circumcision was in force Chap. 2.25 Circumcision availeth nothing nor uncircumcision but a new creature And as many as walk according to this rule peace be on them and mercy Gal. 6.15 16. without respect at all of persons otherwise than as they are differenced by the new Creature Yet farther to clear up this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word here used in the Greek is a Word of Assise as is noted by

Catholick Religion OR THE JUST TEST OR CHARACTER Of every Person that in any Nation is accepted with God Discovered IN An Explication of the Nature of the true fear of God and working of Righteousness with which the same is connected In some Discourses upon Acts 10.35 36. WHEREIN Several important Doctrinal Truths more immediately influential upon practise are plainly opened and vindicated from their too common misunderstanding By WILLIAM MANNING Happy is the man that feareth alway Pro. 28.14 LONDON Printed for Dorman Newman at the Kings Arms in the Poultrey 1686. ERRATA PAge 1. line 12. dele may p. 2. l. 10 d. Preached Christs Death put in proceedeth l. 17. r. the Gentiles l. 20. r. Cohort p. 10. l. 1. r. Oeconomy p. 20. l. 8. r. Mat. 7. p. 33. l. 4. r. their p. 41. l. 4. r. it meaneth p. 57. l. 25. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 68. l. 22. r. it s assigned p. 69. l. 11. r. Nation l. 27. r. Mans p. 90. l. 16. d. and p. 92. l. 12. r. now p. 93. l. 17. r. attemperation p. 98. l. 13. d. as p. 102. l. 21. r. unreserved p. 118. l. 3. r. is p. 133. l. 16. r. convert p. 153. l. 11. r. I say l. 12. r. thou p. 156. l. 11. d. but l. 12. d. that they are p. 158. l. 3. r. awaiting p. 161. l. 25. r. on p. 163. l. 16. d. nay CATHOLICK RELIGION c. ACTS X. 34 35. Then Peter opened his mouth and said Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him THIS Chapter gives us the first account of the Apostles Preaching the Gospel unto and Converse with the Gentiles amongst whom Cornelius and his Houshold are mentioned as a kind of first Fruits of them given in unto Christ The whole Story is very Remarkable and many useful Instructions doth the Context and Coherence offer to our consideration some few whereof it may may not be amiss to gather up and briefly to insist upon in our way to the Text. In the first place its worthy our notice and consideration who or what this Cornelius was the Subject immediately concerned in the Apostles Discourse since that the witness which he obtained of God touching his Acceptance of him is the Foundation whereupon St. Peter Preached Christs Death unto his General Conclusion or Inference That in every Nation c. Of that the first Verse gives us an account and therein both of the freeness and exuberancy of the Grace and Goodness of God to Sinners even of Gentiles Why he was a Roman Soldier a Centurion i. e. Captain of a Hundred Footmen of the Italian Squadron or Cohorts consisting of about Six hundred Men and which was the tenth part of a Legion They were Heathen nor was he himself Proselited to the Jews Religion as is Evident in the Sequel of the Discourse tho he might in that degenerate Age yet have help to light his Candle from them He lived in Cesaria a City of the Jews the Scepter being then departed from Judah as his Station allotted to him by the Roman Powers to keep Garison upon them and to hold them in subjection and what the Temper and Religion or rapine rather of such Military Persons ordinarily is or hath been in such circumstances all the World knows Now it 's not so much matter of wonderment that in every Nation all that fear God should be accepted of him as this that so singular Humanity Benignity Charity Piety and true Devotion should to such a Degres be found in a person of such a Nation without God in the World devoted to Idolatry in a Stranger born to the Covenant of Promise his Place or Station also considered and the disadvantage of his Education preponderating against it Surely he was more than in an ordinary way indebted to the Grace of God no less than St. Paul was who tho a Jew in Religion yet being withal a Blasphemer a Persecutor and Injurious an instance of another kind when called by the Grace of God Gal. 1.5 He could not but speak his resentment of it as superabundant toward him 1 Tim. 1.14 as was the Mercy of God which thereupon he obtained of him v. 16. Now as that so remarkable instance of the Grace and Mercy of God toward the Apostle Paul was in the intention of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for type or exemplar sake as himself noteth for a pattern to them which hereafter should believe to Life Everlasting to remove all discouragement in any in the like cases labouring under the sense of Heinous Guilt So is this Instance of Cornelius brought into Example first to shew how that God out of any Nation Kindred Quality or Condition of Persons otherwise can select a People to himself and Implant his Fear in their Heart and then that having so done he will never fail be their outward circumstances what they will to testify his acceptance of them Cornelius his Character for Piety notwithstanding the disadvantages that lay in his way summarily mentioned v. 2. will fall in particularly hereafter to be handled Gods special care in the mean while over him whilst he is found in the way of his Duty we have Exemplified v. 3 5. in his directing an Angel in a Vision to speak to him that he should send for Peter that he might open unto him more fully the way of Salvation Chap. 11.14 which as yet he was not instructed in But there was a Remora in Peters way which must be removed He could not converse with a Gentile and such a one was Cornelius The case thus stood Time was and that but now that the Jews were the only chosen People of God Deut. 7.6 7 whilst the Gentiles were no People of his They were nigh unto him these afar off Eph. 2.17 They were a People Holy to the Lord these a People common and prophane Gal. 2.15 They a peculiar Covenant People Rom. 9.4 we Gentiles aliens to the advantage thereof Eph. 2.12 Consequently they were nearer to Salvation than we comparatively Salvation was of them John 4.22 whilst we were without hope Eph. 2.12 beyond the Line sitting in darkness and in the shadow of Death Luk. 1.79 1 Thes 2.16 nor were there any Commissionated to gather in the Nations of the Gentiles then This Difference the Pious Jews and even the Apostles themselves thought should continue yea and such a distance as that they thought they might not Lawfully eat with a Gentile This was a common received opinion among them and known to other Nations as appears by the Woman of Samaria her Reply to Christ John 4.9 tho but of Ecclesiastical Constitution that we find how severely did the Apostles and Brethren they of the Circumcision contend with Peter after this about it Chap. 11.2 they were of opinion that under the Messias the Jews Church-State was to be continued and enlarged that men must

others under his blood-guiltiness or whilst in the pursuit of it 2 Sam. 11.15 was indeed pardoned but only wanted the sense thereof in his own Soul as some distinguish Or that the depths or perplexity that his conscence might be cast into thereupon before his return to God Ps 32.3 5. was only a dereliction or on a misprision or mistake God not speaking peace to him while his word nevertheless did or that the arrows of God shot into his soul Ps 38.2 were not pointed or sharpned with any word of his Or that his fear of the loss of Gods favour must be but infidelity added to his former sin and to fear where no fear was who dare to think this Nor can the decree of God touching the recovery of his elect from such relapses help out here if that be thy case who ever thus objectest if as yet thou art not humbled nor brought back to God That thou can'st not at present have or keep any evidence of thy acceptance with God all do grant it impossible and I have assigned the true reason thereof from the tenor of his Covenant Nor can'st thou now know that thou art elect or be assured that thou wert once effectually called nor consequently that thou shalt ever be renewed again to repentance whilst thou art not in the way of it Nor which is more thou art not sure to live to another moment of time in order to it say if thou beest assured of it David was aware of this when he cried unto God O spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more Ps 39.13 he knew he was not fit to die nor yet certain to live neither Dismissing then the Objection which I have thus largely answered for that I have not found it by any fully spoken to tho I have found the consequent of it dangerous to many that have insisted on it Let me once again exhort thee if thou beest one who retainest the fear of God at the bottom to walk in his fear and to abound in the fruits of righteousness which is the just Character of one accepted with God Cast not off the Authority of his Law on the one hand to aw thee to it on the other hand account it not mercenary to lay hold of the promise of the Gospel to encourage thee therein even that of the Text Of acceptance with God Nor don 't think that thou hast no need of either diligence in the exercise of Grace is the only method prescribed by God for the making thy calling and election sure to thee 2 Pet. 1.5 10. No wonder if thou beest at a loss about thy condition and afraid to appear before God if thou hast been or art neglective in the sear of him and the fruits thereof which have been insisted on Acquaint thy self with God keep the eye of thy soul fixed towards him set him always before thee in thy mind as the rule and measure the record and witness the scope and end the judg and final rewarder of all thy actions always that is habitually as the Traveller thinketh of the place he is going unto so often tho not every instant of time as not to lose his way at any turning and this fear will preserve thee in the path way of righteousness and at length will safely conduct thee to blessedness Ps 37.31 37. Nor be discouraged at thy own weakness or the rubs in thy way For tho the youth shall faint and be weary and the young men utterly fall they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength Is 40.31 they shall neither faint fall nor give over I shall wind up all in the words of the Preacher Ecc. 12.13 14. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole of man For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil God is no respecter of persons c. FINIS