Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	gift_n	life_n	wage_n	3,267	5	10.5376	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A32052	Saints memorials, or, Words fitly spoken, like apples of gold in pictures of silver being a collection of divine sentences / written and delivered by those late reverend and eminent ministers of the gospel, Mr. Edmund Calamy, Mr. Joseph Caryl, Mr. Ralph Venning, Mr. James Janeway.	Calamy, Edmund, 1600-1666.; Caryl, Joseph, 1602-1673.; Venning, Ralph, 1621?-1674.; Janeway, James, 1636?-1674.	1674 (1674)	Wing C263; ESTC R13259	89,295	292

live is Christ but to dye is gain The children of this World may be cast out but the heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven shall be as Olive-plants about the Table of the Lord. To commit sin is the part of an humane Nature to lament for sins committed is Christian-like but to continue in sin bidding defiance to the Divine powers is Diabolical There are three sorts of Faith the Faith of Sence which is seeing the Faith of Reason which is knowing and the Faith of Revelation which is believing And this last is properly called the Gospel-Faith Believe in the Lord your God so shall you be established believe his Prophets so shall ye prosper We ought seriously to consider two things the sin of our Nature and the Nature of our sin The Natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neican he know them because they are spiritually discerned But he that is spiritual judgeth all things yet he himself is judged of no man Let us follow after Christ he is our guide and will not shake us off but if we do not follow him we despise him and our own salvation Be ye therefore followers of God as dear Children If the heart of man be hard and stony it makes the softer cushion for the Devil to sit on To day if ye will hear the voice of the Lord harden not your hearts as in the provocation Since the days of mans life are as a shadow our suffering will be sudden and our sinning short We are but of yesterday and know nothing because our days upon earth are a shadow If man be for us God may be against us but if God be for us who can be against us If we are among our friends without God we are in continual danger but with God a man is safe though in the midst of enemies Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell The Saints ought to do more for God than others because as they are expected to be the best servants they are like to have the better wages The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is Eternal life through Iesus Christ our Lord. A modest behaviour and a portion of Morality without Holiness is but a golden Incredulity But sanctifie the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every one that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear Let young Women put on Piety instead of Paints Sanctity instead of Sattin Modesty for their Morning and dayly dress so shall God and every good man love them more and more Let Women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shame fac'dness and sobriety not with broidred hair or gold or pearls or costly array But which becometh Women professing godliness with good works As God made man without the help of man so will he likewise save them that come unto him by his own Almighty power Hear how familiarly he invites them Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest And ye shall finde rest unto your Souls If we endeavour for Salvation it is God must give it but if we do not endeavour he will shorten his own hand though we cannot do it For thus saith the Psalmist with thee is the Fountain of Life in thy light we shall see light How lovely is God in all his Creatures how much more lovely in his Ordinances but most lovely in Christ who is the God of love Brethren be perfect be of good comfort be of one mind live in peace and the God of love and peace shall be with you The Christian hopeth for the world to come but the sinner feareth it For every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour Not to be chastened is an ill signe but not to bear a chastening is a worse Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest O Lord and teachest him out of thy Law He that hath a tender Conscience will not be prodigal of his Credit for a good Conscience is a continual Feast to a chearful heart So likewise he that hath a good name hath the savour of a pretious Oyntment which gives a chearfulness to his countenance He that detaineth a penny from the poor puts a Plague into his own purse He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker but he that honoureth him hath mercie on the poor Let the precepts of God be neer to our hearts lest he stop his ears to our Prayers Who so stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor he also shall cry himself and shall not be heard In prosperity we forget the threatnings of God and in adversity we are apt to forget his promises The prosperity of fools shall destroy them If we intend to suffer evil for God's sake in the day of Adversity let us do good for God's sake in the day of Prosperity Here lies the true point of Gentility to fear God scorn the World and conquer Sin Nay in all these things we are more than conquerours through him that loved us Doth any man fear to dye it's an easie thing to live slaves and beasts do so but it ought to be every mans study to live and dye well Man's life is more full of grief than glory and it is a seasonable time to dye in when to live is rather a burthen than a blessing Be obedient and do good they are the works and the wages of a Christian and he will delight in doing good though he doth it only for his delight Gathering of Riches is a pleasant torment the trouble of getting the charging of the conscience the care of keeping and the watching over them when gotten takes away a great part of the expected enjoyment Wherefore if Riches increase set not your heart upon them A gratious person is usually as apt to desire to understand what he is to do as what he is to enjoy The work of a Christian while he lives in the body is to crucifie the body of death Man is God's creature God formed man of the dust of the ground Sin is man's creature Man is like to vanity his days are as a shadow which passeth away Misery is sins creature The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is Eternal life through Iesus Christ our Lord. God made man in his own likeness man hath made sin in his likeness and sin hath made misery in his own likeness Adam who was the Father of mankind was of earth and therefore earthy Our Saviour who was the Redeemer of mankind and the second Adam was from Heaven and therefore Heavenly As is the earthy such are they

not expect to be told thee in a Pulpit all that thou oughtest to do but be studious in searching the Scriptures and reading good Books what thou hearest may be forgotten but what thou readest may better be retained Take heed of giving thy self the liberty of committing one sin for that will lead thee to another till by an ill custom it becometh natural That disease is desperate which to keep is death and to part with is impossible To begin an evil is of ill consequence it teacheth one to shake hands with shame but to continue in it hardens the heart and leads it till it be past grace To begin a sin is to lay a foundation for a continuance this continuance is the Mother of Custom and Impudence at last the Issue Fly evil society as an infectious Plague for ill Company is the corruption of good manners Take heed of those Doctrines that oppose the Magistracie or Ministry and endeavour to promote prophane Liberty and cast down good works by crying up of free grace In Nature 't is an observable Maxime The Masters commands must be obeyed according to his own will shall we not then be as obedient to our Spiritual Master as our Temporal one God forbid If we intend to serve God he expects we should serve no other God Our God is a living God and loves not dull and drowsie Saints we must not only serve him in this life but we must have life in our service Hast thou sinned repent behold the Lord holds a bottle for thy Tears Call no sin little it will require a great stock of Penitence take heed of purchasing a sin till thou knowest the price Prayers and Tears are the sinners best Embassadors to the Throne of Grace To sin is the frailty of the Nature of man but to glory in sin is bruitish like the Swine that understands not that clean pasture is better than a Ditch Make not Religion a Cloak 't is Diabolical to Honour God with our lips and dishonour him in our lives Such are the paths of those that forget God and the Hypocrites hope shall perish It is in vain to dissemble with God for the Hearts of all men are in his hands and the Hypocrite shall not come before him And what comfort is there in Hypocrisie when we consider that The Triumphing of the wicked is short and the joy of the Hypocrite but for a moment And where is the hope of the Hypocrite though he hath gained when God taketh away his Soul In Humane affairs Reservedness is Wisdome but Dissimulation is in all things Hateful To be Lip-holy and Heart-hollow is a brief Character of a Hypocrite A false Friend is to be abhorr'd above a mortal Enemy This is the Fate of an Hypocrite when once known he will not be believed when he speaketh truth If Hell hath one place hotter than another it is called Locus Hypocritarum the place of Hypocrites The Malitious man dissembleth with his Lips and harbours deceit within him When thou givest Alms sound not a Trumpet as the Hypocrites do their folly is their reward And beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees which is Hypocrisie No Serpent hath more Poyson than sin it is a thief in the house and a sword in the heart of a Nation God and Mercie will not stay where sin is the obstinate Governour To fast till we are Anatomies to pray till our knees are fixed to the ground is nothing if we do not fast from sin Erroneous times may unsettle truth but the Conscience of a good man is firm The Cap and the Knee are but outward Ceremonies but he that avoids Iniquity is the best Christian The Wages of sin is death but to mortifie sin is eternal life Gods care is concerned in Sparrows how much more in the least concerns of his Children Forsake not the publike Worship of God lest God forsake thee not onely in publike but in private In your Repentance remember Church-sins Sermon-sins Sacrament-sins lest the Church give you up to Satan for your sins Let not Whoremongers and Adulterers boast for those sinners God will judge The Usurer is stuft with earth in this World He hath the Grave for his Landlord but no God for his Father The fashions of other Nations have made us slaves to them but our pride may expect a greater doom Love not the World for it 's a Moth in a Christians life Nothing is more prejudicial to a Christian then a carnal love When you rise or when you go to Bed let your Meditation be what shall become of your Soul this minute Is your Heart devoted unto Christ live to him and you shall live with him For know God is a Guest that requires the upper Rooms that is the Head and the Heart And it is the pleasure of a devout man to promote the Interest of Almighty God He that will be false to God can never be true to man It is good to be of a true Religion but it is ill not to be true in that Religion If God be against you who then can take your part Will God that made you save you if you will not serve him Consider it was Christ that dyed for you it is he that either saves or condemns you flatter not your self with a vain conceit can man be more merciful than God The Epicure that delighteth in the variety of dainties of this World little thinketh that those very creatures will one day witness against him The Gallant that glories in the pride of his Habit will likewise be tried by his Garments The heaps of Treasure which the worldling hoardeth up will be an evidence against him Time will be when Time shall call the Drunkard to account for his waste of time Fornicators and Adulterers will at last with sorrow remember the date of their former sins The consequences of a sinners life will appear against him charging him with the ruine of Wife and Children disquieting of Neighbours and impoverishing of other Families It is better to be a Lazarus in poverty and to want the relief of this World than to be richly habited to fare deliciously and hereafter to want a drop of water to quench the flames of an incensed Mercie The way to live in Heaven is to live heavenly upon Earth Do not pretend to believe more than you do believe and live according to that belief If you would be wholly God's give him your heart and live wholly to him Better it is to serve God than man purity is better than impurity feasting is noysome because it makes you sick Why do ye wallow in the mire because ye have the natures of Swine The Lord hath made the world and us that we in it may serve him and that is the duty of man The sinner will be accused not onely by his own conscience but his familiar companions Grieve not the Spirit now lest it grieve you hereafter Your intentions to Repentance and

all the Mirth Sin is against the Beauty of man it takes away the loveliness of mens very Complexions Sin is against the loving cohabitation of Soul and Body it hath sowed discord betwixt them Many a falling out is there between Soul body between Sense Reason they draw several ways Sin is against man's relative good in this world That which was made for a help proves but too often an hindrance Sin hath spoil'd Society One man is a Wolf yea a Devil to another Sin will not let Husband and Wife Parents and Children to live quietly Sin breeds Divisions Factions in Church and State that there is little of Union or Order Sin is against the very being of man How many doth it strangle in the Womb How many doth it send from the Cradle to the Grave And after a few days which are but as a span sin lays all in the dust Sin hath reduc'd man's Age from almost a thousand to seventy He that 's born to day is not sure to live a day Sin is against all the good of man in this life Sin hath degraded man by defiling him and almost unman'd him Man was a very noble thing made a little lower than the Angels but alas by sin he 's made almost as low as Devils Sin hath rob'd man of his primitive Excellence of a Lord he is become a servant yea a slave to Creatures to Devils and Lusts of all sorts Sin defiles his Body The Flesh is filthy the Body is a Body of sin the Members are servants to uncleanness Take man from head to foot from the crown of that to the sole of this there 's no whole because not holy part in him Their Mouth is full of cursing and bitterness with their Tongues they use deceit the Poyson of Asps is under their Lips their Throat is an open Sepulchre Eyes full of Adultery Eye-lids haughty Ears dull of hearing yea deaf as the Adder the Forehead impudent as a Brow of brass both Hands are employ'd to work Iniquity Belly an Idol-God the Feet swift to shed blood Look within their inward part is wickedness the Gall is a Gall of bitterness the Spleen is affected yea infected with Envy and Malice Sin defiles the Soul God's Image was more in and o● the Soul than Body of man and Sin 's Ambition and Envy is to deprive the Soul of this Image Righteousness and Holiness were stamped upon man's Soul but sin hath blotted this Image and Superscription which once told from whence it came It must be new created or renewed before God own it for his because till then his Image is not legible The Flood which washt away so many sinners could not wash away sin the same heart remains after the Flood as before Sin hath deceived the Heart hardned Obstinacie vain Folly and Madness vain Thoughts and Villanous bubble and break forth from this corrupt Fountain that sets the Tongue on fire from Hell The Conscience is become evil and in many feared Sin hath almost put out man's eye and even extinguished the Candle of the Lord. Sin hath dimmed and benighted man's leading faculty the Understanding which should shew a man the difference between good and evil Sin blinds the sinner and makes him grope as the blinded Sodomites to finde the door of Hope Man hath lost his way since he lost his eyes poor man catcheth at every straw grasps every trifle Sinners are ever and most stumbling at Christ Jesus they are offended at him but cannot tell for what Would a man be led by a Dog if he were not blinde Blinde Guides dumb Dogs false Prophets lead sinners into theDitch of Sin and the Dungeon of Hell Till a man fear God he doth but play the fool he is as the Prodigal beside himself The representative of sinners and converts Man's folly to think like a fool unsteadily and rowling independantly and broken at random and rovers Sin hath made man like a beast yea not like to but a beast the Man of sin the great Antichrist is called a beast and the great ones that Daniel saw in his Vision are called beasts Sinners in Scripture are call'd ten or eleven times brutish Sinful man is like the beast in ignorance Man though he sit at the upper end of the world as the Antichristian beast doth is but a bruit that hath no understanding Sinful man is like the beast in sensuality as if he were onely Belly-wise and had no Soul to minde Sinful man is like the beast in his unsociableness and unsuitableness for Society and Communion with God and men Good men are as shie of conversing with such as with beasts Sinners are likened to the worst of hurtful beasts such as in Scripture are call'd hurtful beasts to Lyons Tygers Boars and Bears the ill-qualited and ill-condition'd Creatures Wicked men are likened to Goats for lustfulness and wantonness so are sinners the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye are the things they are taken with Wicked men are likened to Goats for stinking a Goatish smell is a stinking smell Wicked men are likened to Goats for their bold and adventurousness they climb Rocks and Precipices to brouse and feed on what they can get with hazard and in this sinners are like them too in running hazards Sinners are likened to Dogs and 't is a common name to sinners Without are Dogs Sin separates the sinner from God they are without God sinners are said to be afar off for they depart from God and go into a far Country Sin separates the sinner from the sight of God Our happiness lies so much in the sight of God that it hath the name of the beatifical Vision Sin hath separated the sinner from the life of God such a life as God lives Sin hath separated the sinner from the love of God and made him the object of his wrath Sin hath separated the sinner from Communion with God God and man kept company while man and holiness kept company Sin hath separated the sinner from Covenant-relation with God They are without God Promise and Covenant Sin in robbing man of God it hath robbed him of all things God hides his face from sinners whose loving kindness is better than life The sinner turns the back to God and God turns the back to him God hears not the sinner's Prayers God is a God hearing Prayers but sin shuts out their shouting and howling The sinner is without strength man's great strength is in Union with God separation weakens him To be a sinner is to be without strength Man was once a Sampson for strength but having parted with his Locks his strength is departed from him Man by Reason of sin is in death often in this life but in the life to come he 's in death for ever God damns no man but for sin death is but sin's wages Heaven and Salvation is not more surely promis'd to the one than Hell and Damnation is threatned to and shall be executed on

that are earthy and as is the heavenly such are they that are heavenly What God gives us for our good we ought to employ for his glory He that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. When our Saviour was buried it was the Body of the Lord not the Lord of the Body was laid in the Sepulchre If we set our affections on what we have when we have it not it adds the more to our affliction But the peace of Heaven surpasses the troubles of this world A Saint may be sad that he is no better but will inwardly rejoyce that he is no worse That man that deserves nothing ought to be content with any thing God is pleased with the free offerings of his Saints and they are pleased with the free gifts of God To be sorrowful for sin is good but that sorrow must continue or else the sorrow will be sin it self What is all this world but a world of nothing at all Whosoever can withstand the corruptions of gain gains by the corruptions Is it pleasure to the Almighty that thou art Righteous or is it gain to him that thou makest thy ways perfect The men of this world pray to one another but the children of God pray to none but to the God of men The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light But the sorrow of this world worketh death Man is no sooner born but he begins to dye so uncertain is the life of man that none knows whether he that is born to day shall live till to morrow If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable Trust not in endeavours lest you neglect God but use endeavours lest you despise God But work out your salvation with fear and trembling Christ is the Physitian of our Souls his comforts are cordial but miserable comforts are the Physitians of the Body So said Iob to his friends Ye are all Physitians of no value Let us beware of the evil of sin for it leads us to the evil of suffering Wherefore Follow not that which is evil but that which is good He that doth good is of God but he that doth evil hath not seen God We may do those things which please God and yet displease him in the doing But Blessed are the poor in heart for they shall see God We perform our duties in a right measure when in seeking for mercies we study to please God rather than our selves God so loves his own that he will not depart from them and they that truly fear and love him have not the power to depart from him It was holy Ioshua's resolution As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. It is at present heaven with us to enjoy God and Christ What will it then be when we worship him with his innumerable company of Angels When we pay our devotions to God we should lay aside all worldly affairs lest they distract us in our duty It is a great offence against the Almighty to be interrupted when we walk with him See then that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise redeeming the time because the days are evil A Christian hath but two things to fear God and Sin As it is writ of Ioseph How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God! The three Divine Vertues are Faith Hope and Charity but the greatest of these is Charity The three humane Vertues are Friendship Credit and Conscience but the greatest of these is Conscience Conscience was Paul's glory when he said Herein do I exercise my self to have always a Conscience voyd of offence toward God and toward Men. When thou sinnest repent betimes lest thou plunge into a custom of sinning and always remember God hath a certain custom to punish sinners Thus saith the Lord of Hosts Turn ye unto me and I will turn unto you But except ye repent ye shall all perish God is the way and the life if we walk after his way we shall finde life if not we erre from the way of life Jesus saith I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh to the Father but by me Serve God in secret as well as in publike worship and he that seeth in secret shall reward thee openly What deceitful pleasures are those that require either Repentance or Damnation As the Jews did by our Saviour so should we do by the world the flesh and sin that is crucifie them They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts The disingenuity of others towards us is a scourge to us for our disingenuity towards God If God denies the desires of thy heart learn to want with patience it will teach thee when God is pleased to bestow his blessings to receive them with chearfulness We ask the Lord for our dayly bread but he knoweth our wants before we ask We desire Health Wealth c. but the measure of those blessings is in God's hand and he knows how to carve for us better than we could for our selves Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him It is the duty of a Christian to wait God's leasure there is no mercie worth the praying for but it is certainly worth the waiting for We are all born to dye let us so dye that we may be born again Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin If thou canst hear and bear the Rod of affliction which God shall lay upon thee remember this Lesson Thou art beaten that thou mayst be better There is no better defence against our own Infirmities and the scandalous reproaches of others than the Sincerity of our own hearts Grace be with all them that love our Lord Iesus Christ in sincerity God is love and we ought to serve him in fear and love No service can be better done than that which is done in love God dwelleth in that servant and that servant in him Why doth a wicked man envy the welfare of a man more righteous than himself because it is a terrour to his Conscience to see the Image of Vertue in another man he having defaced it in himself Where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work All the Pomps and Gayeties of this world are not to be compared to a grain of distressed Vertue Wherefore adde to your Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledge Though I give my body to be burnt and have not charity it profitteth me nothing but to mortifie my sins and to deny my self submitting to the will of God is more than Martyrdom Let not the world overcome you but fight under the Banner of that great Captain the Lord Jesus Christ so shall you with him overcome the world Who is he that overcometh the world but he that

he hath sent empty away When God sends mercie we should not onely thank the donor but welcome the messenger for they both come from God How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of Peace and bring glad tidings of good things The proud man exalts himself against all that is good therefore the Lord thinks good to take down his pride Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. The world cannot exalt a proud man so high but God will bring him low neither can all the world so debase an humble man but God will exalt him The world may strive to pull him down But God will raise him to a Crown In the seed-time of your life let your Holiness be sown that so you may reap Blessedness in the Harvest of Eternity He that will put Piety in practice must set his heart to practice Piety The Lord seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart My Son give me thine heart and let thine eyes observe my ways Ungodly men grow rich yet godliness with contentment is great gain There is a kind of Divine husbandry saving grace is a heavenly thirft and doth so improve that it makes us Burgesses of the Holy City Wherefore Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Iesus Christ. A friend may commit an errour in love but he is an enemy that loves his errour The covetous man cannot enjoy what he hath got through the greediness of his desire to get more He coveteth greedily all the day long but the righteous giveth and spareth not To have faith in Christ is well-pleasing to the faithful God for he is the Father of the Faithful The Lord is God the faithful God which keepeth covenant and mercie with them that love him and keep his Commandments to a thousand generations The Righteous man hath grace beyond expression the Hypocrite hath expression beyond grace The tongue of the just is as choice silver the heart of the wicked is of little worth God doth sometimes deliver men up to Satan that they may be delivered from Satan Deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Iesus Can a man be an empty Vine and yet bring forth Fruit Israel is an empty vine bringing forth fruit unto himself Christ is the Son of God and yet he is called the Son of man The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth The Almighty's permission of sin is no warrant for the sinners commission of sin Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin Our Saviour had a Father and a Mother and yet he was from the beginning In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God This is Solomon's advice Be not righteous overmuch However it is the duty of a Christian to cloath him with Righteousness as with a Garment The Saints have no greater joy than to enjoy God and to rejoyce in him He that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. As it is hard to bend a well-grown Stick so is it difficult to work upon the heart of a desperate season'd sinner for he runs on in his wickedness and is deaf to all good instructions They have ears to hear and hear not for they are a rebellious house Onwards they run a ready pace Plainer's the way than that to grace A Saint will not sin though he knows that sin may work for his advantage All things work together for the good of them that love God We are commanded to love Peace and follow after Righteousness and yet the Saints themselves are in continual War fighting the good fight of Faith Above all things take the sheild of Faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked The Salvation of a Saint may be sure yet may not he be sure of his Salvation Wherefore the rather brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure for if ye do these things ye shall never fall Blessings if abused may be turned into curses and curses are oftentimes turned into blessings Saith the Lord of hosts I will even send a curse upon you I will curse your blessings If any man would be rich he must be diligent but notwithstanding that let him remember Paul may Plant and Apollo may Water but it is God that giveth the blessing He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand but the hand of the diligent maketh rich The blessing of the Lord that maketh rich and he addeth no sorrow with it The Righteous man makes godliness his gain the Wicked man makes gain his godliness He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house but he that hateth gifts shall live The Soul is above the reach of any weapon but sin and that pierces like a sting Sin is a raging torment in the Conscience A wounded Spirit who can bear Let not the best of men think they were ever good lest their Conscience shall tell them they were never good Be not wise in thine own eyes fear the Lord and depart from evil Some men will pretend to abhor such a sin yet hug it in their bosom such sinners sting their Consciences to magnifie their Credits If by suffering for Christ we loose all that we have in this world we are sufficient gainers when we save our own Souls Paul that Pious Apostle saith Doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellencie of the knowledge of Iesus Christ my Lord for which I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ. A repenting Penitent though formerly as bad as the worst of men may by grace become as good as the best God who is rich in mercie for his great love wherewith he loved us Even when we were dead in sins hath quickned us together with Christ by grace ye are saved The Devil is indifferent whether we go to Hell in the frequented road of Profaness or in the smooth way of Hypocrisie It is the power of godliness not the form that directs the way to Heaven as the power of ungodliness leads to Hell Lovers of Pleasures more than lovers of God Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof from such turn away Beware of impenitence and of late repentance true repentance cannot be too late but a late repentance is rarely true Wherefore the real Christian should say betimes with holy Iob I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes It is one thing to hold the truth and another thing to hold it in sincerity we