Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n
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A67217
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Comfort for believers, or, A discourse of the duty and priviledge of being sealed by the Holy Spirit In five sermons upon Eph. I. 13-- published for the establishment of weak believers, who are fill'd with doubts and fears about their eternal state. By Nathanael VViles pastor of a Church of Christ in Shadwell.
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Wyles, Nathaniel.
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Wing W3770A; ESTC R221272
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44,526
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Spirit and through Christ to discover your state and condition to you that so you may not be deceived and go down to Hell with a Lye in your right hand Lord say to my Soul I am thy Salvation Psal 35. 3. Plead thus daily with God that so you may not lose your comfort on the one hand nor your precious Souls on the other But Fourthly Watch much over your own Hearts and Lives be very careful of your steps and how you walk that you grieve not the good Spirit Let not your Hearts run out too much upon the World and be not too careless of your steps lest you offend God Psal 39. 1. I said I will look to my ways c. That is I resoved to do so So Pray do you for to him that ordereth his Conversation aright God will shew his Salvation Psal 50. 23. Fifthly Wait humbly and patiently upon the Lord even 'till he shall shed abroad his Love in your hearts and set you as a Seal upon his heart They that wait upon God shall have renewed strength Isa 40. 29 30. Who is there among you that feareth the Lord who walketh in darkness and see no light Oh! trust in the Name of the Lord and stay and wait upon him I say to you as David Psal 27. ult Wait on the Lord and be of good courage for he shall strengthen your hearts Wait I say on the Lord waiting Christians will lose nothing Mich. 7. 9. Sixthly Mourn over all those sins that cause the Lord to withdraw and hide his Face from your Souls Isa 59. 2. Have you not grieved the Spirit and been guilty of too much Pride Passion Formality and Unbelief Oh! weep bitterly for this before the Lord look upon Christ whom you have pierced Zech. 12. 10. Sights of a broken Christ will cause a broken Heart None can look upon Christ truly without brokenness of heart he that looks upon Christ savingly will mourn for him as a Man for his only Son Mourning for an only Son is the greatest of Sorrow our sorrow for sins against God should exceed all other sorrow Though there be no merit yet there is much mercy in a broken heart Psal 51. 17. 34. 18. They that mourn shall be comforted Matth 5. 6. Seventhly In times of trouble and desertion keep up Faith and in times of Communion keep up fear when God has hid his Face and you sit in darkness then stir up Faith trust and stay still upon him Isa 50. 11. And when God shall manifest himself and shine upon you then keep up fear a fear of Jealousie not of Distrust Work out your Salvation with fear Phil. 2. 12. Blessed is the Man that seareth always Tho' my Beloved we blame the Papists for teaching People to doubt and for making that a duty which is a Sin yet we are for a narrow search and a holy Fear and Trembling in trying of our hearts lest we be deceived in the end Eighthly Make much of and cherish the holy Spirit of God Oh do not resist him but comply with his Blessed Motions it is the Spirit that is the Comforter John 14. 16. who seals up assurance to us 2 Cor. 1. 22. When good David would have assurance of God's Love that his broken Bones might be healed he prayed earnestly that God would not take his holy Spirit from him Psal 51. 11. 12. David knew that it was the Spirit only that could make him hear the Voice of Joy and Gladness O make much of the Spirit deal tenderly and kindly by him do not grieve nor quench him as too many do Eph. 4. 30. 1 Thes 3. 19. Ninthly As doubts arise in your Hearts get them satisfied and and as Sins are committed in your Lives get them pardoned Are your Hearts Christians filled with doubts and fears about the state of your Souls O cry to God to resolve and scatter them Have you fallen into any Sin thro' Infirmity and Temptation Cry for pardon through Christ who is your Advocate and Friend in Heaven and is there pleading for you Heb. 7. 26. 1 John 2. 1 2. Tenthly Keep a pure Conscience O see that no Sin or guilt lye there unrepented of remember that God Seals no Pardon before Faith and Repentance keep Conscience therefore pure and void of offence we are bidden Heb. 10. 22. to draw near to God with true Hearts and in the full assurance of Faith having our Hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience c. He that allows himself in Sin and keeps not a good Conscience cannot draw nigh to God in the full assurance of Faith But 11. Lastly Lye at the Pool of Ordinances frequent much the Word and Sacraments that are God's Appointments in which he has promised to meet his People do not stay away from Hearing nor from the Table of the Lord at no time as many do for every small frivolous thing The way to meet with God and to have an assurance of his Love to be Sealed by his Spirit is to wait upon him in his Ordinances and to remember him in his ways Isa 64. 5. The Ordinances of God are the banquetting House where God displays the Banner of his Love and seals it up to his People Cant. 2. 4. To be found sincerely in the way and use of God's Ordinances is the way to be set as a Seal upon Christ's heart 2. Branch You that are Sealed and assured by the Spirit of the love of God in Christ to you Oh! be exhorted First to endeavour to keep the assurance you have as we must labour to get it so to keep it It is a Mercy we should beware of losing it is the comfort of your life and 't will be sweet in death What comfort is there preserable to this which flows from the Sealing of the Spirit or the Assurance of God's love in Christ Now that you may have much of this Sweetness and Comfort keep and hold fast that assurance which you have through Grace obtained Question How or by what means may we do this Answer First By renewing your Repentance often for Sin you cannot live without Sin therefore live not without Repentance God often cloaths such with the Garments of Joy and Comfort who tumble themselves in Ashes as it were for their Sins Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Matth. 5 6. And that are humble for they shall he exalted James 4. 9 10. Secondly Fear the hidings of God's Face and the withdrawing the Light of his Countenance from you David feared much therefore prayed much Hide not thy Face from thy Servant c. Psal 27. 9. Fear also to offend God by doing of any Evil beware of every Sin and of every Temptation to Sin either from the Devil the World or your Hearts When tempted to Sin say as Joseph did How can I do this great Evil and sin against God Gen. 39. 9. Sin is an enemy it hides God's Face from us and wounds our Souls 't will
may know and have cleared up to them and that upon a five-fold account as First Because the Sealing of us by the Spirit is not in regard of God but in regard of our selves As for God he knoweth them that are his 2 Tim. 2. 19. But we do not know neither can we that we are God's but by the Sealing of his good Spirit and this Sealing is on purpose that we may know God is our Father and we are his Children Paul tells us Gal. 4. 6. That therefore God hath sent his Spirit into our hearts that we may cry Abba Father But Secondly Because the Scope of the Word which was Indited by the Spirit is for our comfort and that we might have hope Rom. 15. 4. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our Learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Now Beloved what comfort can a Man have in an uncertain condition wherein he knows not but he may be a Reprobate But again Thirdly Why did Christ Jesus come into the World and take our Natures upon him Why did he become a Curse for us and carry our Natures when he had suffered into Heaven there to appear before God for us 'till he has brought all home Gal. 3. 13 Heb. 9. 24. I say why hath and doth Christ all this for us but to have us out of all doubt of his Love and Good-will after once we have received him by Faith For having loved his own he loves them to the end John 13. â— Fourthly We may come to arrive at some knowledge of our state in Grace because we are commanded to make our calling and election sure Now God doth not injoin Impossibilities upon us but commands that which may be done and bids us seek after that which may be attained to 2 Pet. 1. 10. Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure But Fifthly What use are the Sacraments for especially the Lord's Supper but to confirm our Faith and seal up Christ's Benefits to us Saith Christ to the Noble Man that besought him to come down and heal his Son John 4. 47 48. Except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe Christ sets the Elements of Bread and Wine in the Lord's Supper before us that by these visible signs our Faith and Grace might be strengthened As Faith comes by hearing Rom. 10. 17. so it is confirmed by seeing Christ Crucified which by Faith may be seen in the Lord's Supper This Sacrament is not only a bare sign to represent Christ to us but it is a Seal to confirm our Interest in him He that would have his Grace strengthened must be found in this Ordinance in which Christ is set forth and as it were lively Crucified Gal. 13. 1 2. It was a saying of Bernard When my spiritual strength begins to fail I know a Remedy saith he I will go to the Table of the Lord and there I will eat and drink to recover my decayed strength God meets his at the Table and there seals up his love to them and strengthens their Graces Cant. 1. 13. While the King sits at his Table my spikenard sends forth its smell Christ's presence in his Ordinances stirred up the Spouse's Graces and put them into exercise Now after all this shall we doubt of God's love to us especially when besides the Sealing of the Promises to us we our selves are sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise Object But some may say We should not doubt did we but know this That we do Believe truly Answ As it is the Office of the Holy Spirit to work Faith and other Graces in the Soul so to reveal this Faith and Grace to the Soul The Grace of God is Light in its self because it comes from him who is the Father of Lights from whom comes every good and perfect Gift James 1. 17. And it is the property of Light not only to discover other things but it self also And observe also That the Spirit gives Light to this Light by shining on his own Graces wrought in the Soul 1 Cor. 2. 12. We have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God that we might know the things which are freely given to us of God And says Paul Rom. 8. 16. The Spirit it self beareth witness c. we are the Children of God God's Children know that he is their Father and they his Children but the remainders of sin and corruption are still breeding doubts in the Soul but it is the office of the Spirit of Faith to quell them as they arise We are too prone in a time of temptation to doubt and have great fears But Sirs we need not help the Tempter as some do by holding it a Duty to doubt of Salvation when Christ saith be not faithless but believing Oh! have a care of this and rouse up your selves and say as David when doubts arise and your Souls are disquieted Psalm 48. ult Why art thou cast down O my Soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God But Secondly From the Sealing of the Spirit I infer That Persons upon knowing their present state in Grace may be assured for the time to come For the Sealing of Believers by the Spirit is not only for the present but to the Day of Redemption Eph. 4. 30. Grieve not the Holy Spirit saith Paul whereby ye are Sealed to the Day of Redemption That is 'till they come to the full possession of that Glory which now they believe and hope for And besides this Sealing of the Spirit is for the securing of Believers for the time to come John 14. 16 17. Faith and Love and other Graces of the Spirit never sail finally but ever remain in their Habits though sometimes lost in the exercise True Faith sets us in a state of Salvation and we being put into Christ by Faith or ingraffed into him the Vine are risen with him and sits with him in heavenly places as you may see Eph. 2. 5 6. True Faith makes the things to come present for it is the substance ground or confidence of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11. 1. 2. Faith also Believes that neither life nor death principalities or powers things present or to come can never separate the Soul from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord Rom. 8. 38 39. So that Beloved the Assurance of Believers is not only for the present but for the time to come For they are Sealed up to the Day of Redemption even to that day in which Christ shall fetch them to Glory Who is there my Brethren that can reverse the Seal of God and make it void Grace is an earnest Penny for Glory and where God gives the one he 'll give the other Psal 84. 11. For thou wilt give Grace