Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	flesh_n	sin_n	soul_n	7,400	5	5.2096	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A78903	The godly mans ark or, City of refuge, in the day of his distresse. Discovered in divers sermons, the first of which was preached at the funerall of Mistresse Elizabeth Moore. The other four were afterwards preached, and are all of them now made publick, for the supportation and consolation of the saints of God in the hour of tribulation. Hereunto are annexed Mris. Moores evidences for Heaven, composed and collected by her in the time of her health, for her comfort in the time of sickness. / By Ed. Calamy, B.D. and pastor of the church at Aldermanbury.	Calamy, Edmund, 1600-1666.; Moore, Elizabeth, d. 1656?	1657 (1657)	Wing C247; Thomason E1616_1; ESTC R209627	96,958	299

to himself and rule over mee as to bee my High-Priest to make atonement by offering up of himself for mee and washing mee in his blood by which I must bee justified 6 The Lord brought mee to see a soul-satisfaction in the Lord Jesus Christ alone and I think I should bee as fully satisfied with Christ alone as my heart can desire If I know my heart it panteth after Christ and Christ alone None but Christ none but Christ The whole world in comparison or competition with Christ is nothing to mee But in him I see full contentment To see and know my interest in him and to injoy communion with him is that which if the Lord would bestow upon mee I should with Jacob say it is enough and with old Simeon Now let thy servant depart in peace for my eyes have seen thy salvation Now I desire to set down some other Scripture Evidences that I finde upon search and examination of my heart by laying it to the Rule The Word of God My Second Scripture Evidence is Evidence Second taken from Mark 2. 17. Where Christ saith They that are whole have no need of the Physitian but they that are sick and hee came not to call the Righteous but sinners to repentance Now through Gods mercy I can say that I am a sin-sick-sinner the Lord make me more sick I am not righteous in mine own eyes but a Sinner and see my self undone for ever without the righteousness of Christ bee imputed to mee and therefore I hope I am amongst the number of those whom Christ was commissionated by his Father to come to save From Matth. 11. 28 29. I am weary Evidence Third and heavy laden now Christ hath promised to give ease to such And I am willing to take his yoak upon mee and would fain learn of him the lesson of meeknesse and lowlinesse and therefore am invited to come unto him I can say with David that my sins Evidence Fourth are a heavy burden to mee they are too heavy for mee Psal 38. 4. and I can say that I mourn because I cannot mourn no more for my sins now Christ saith Blessed are they that mourn for they shall bee comforted Matth. 5.4 From Matth. 5. 3. I think if my Evidence Fifth heart do not deceive mee I am poor in spirit now theirs is the Kingdome of Heaven saith Christ From Matth. 12 20. I am a bruised reed and smoaking flax and therefore Evidence Sixth Christ hath promised hee will not break such a reed nor quench the smoak of grace if it bee true grace but hee will increase it more and more as hee saith until judgement break forth into victory And hee came to set at liberty them that are bruised Luk. 4. 18. Therefore I hope I am such a one as hee came to binde up and set at liberty yea and that hee was anointed and sent by his Father to mee and such as I am Isa 61. 1. From 1 Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithful Evidence Seventh saying and worthy of all acceptation saith Paul That Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners And so say I too it 's worthy all acceptation that Christ should come from the bosome of his Father who was infinitely glorious and happy that hee should come into the world to save mee mee a sinner mee the chief of sinners mee that if saved I do verily beleeve there is none in Heaven nor any that ever shall come thither that hath or will have the cause to magnifie and adore free grace as I shall have And herein doth God commend his love towards mee For if when wee were enemies wee were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled wee shall bee saved by his life Rom. 5. 10. I can say with Paul that I delight in Evidence Eighth the Law of God after the inward man and I am grieved that I cannot keep it I finde that spiritual war in mee between flesh and spirit which Paul complaineth of and I can say that Paul doth confess over my heart in his confessions Rom. 7. And I can go along with him there from vers 9. to the end of the chapter and from hence I gather that there is some spiritual life in my soul and an indeavour to walk after the spirit and therefore I hope and desire to conclude with him that there shall bee no condemnation to mee but that the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus shall make mee free from the law of sin and death I finde Rom. 8. 1 2. an earnest desire wrought in my soul to bee made like unto Jesus Christ and that it may bee my meat and drink to do and suffer his will as hee would have mee I can say that the Lord hath in Evidence Ninth some measure put his fear into my heart that I fear to offend him out of love to him and I love to fear him I can say with the Church to Christ Evidence Tenth Cant. 1. 7. O thou whom my soul loveth and if I know any thing at all of mine own heart Christ is altogether lovely and most desirable to my soul I think I can truly say with David that I have none in Heaven but thee and there is nothing on earth that I desire besides thee in comparison of thee in competition with thee Though all that is dearest to mee in the world should forsake mee yet if God whom I have chosen for my portion will not forsake mee I have enough 'T is my desire and indeavour more and more to account all things but loss and dung that I may win Christ I can with Peter make my appeal to him and say Lord thou who knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee and that it is the desire of my soul to love thee more and to love thee for thy self because thou art holy and good and gracious and the chiefest amongst ten thousand Yea God in Christ alone is worthy to be beloved and it is my highest priviledge that hee will give mee leave to love him who only can satisfie my soul and redeem it from death eternal who hath justified mee by his blood and sanctified mee by his spirit whom therefore I love with all my heart and all my soul and all my might and all my strength Finding therefore that God hath drawn out my heart to love him and make choice of him alone I from hence gather and ground my hope that God loveth mee according to that Scripture 1 Joh. 4. 19. Wee love him because hee first loved us I finde my heart much inflamed Evidence Eleventh with love to all the children of God because they are Gods children and the more I see or finde or hear of God in them the more I finde my heart cleaving to them and I think I can truly say with David that my delight is in the Saints and those that excel in grace not because they are friends to

better than the riches of many wicked Psal 37. 16. And the reason is 1 Because blessings given by vertue of a Promise are signes of Gods special love and come flowing to us from the same love with which God gives us Christ they are the fruit of Covenant-love 2 Because wee have them as blessings A man may have a blessing and yet not have it as a blessing The Israelites had Quails sent them immediately from God which was a blessing in it self but was not sent to them as a blessing For while the meat was in their mouthes the wrath of God came Psal 78. 30 31. upon them The wicked have blessings but not as blessings but as the cup in Benjamins sack which proved a snare to him rather than a mercy But the godly have blessings as blessings They have grace with them to improve them for Gods glory they have not only the blessings but a thankful heart for them and a fruitful heart under them which is a certain sign that they have them as blessings 3 Because they are pledges to them of better mercies and beginnings of better They are not merces but arrha not their wages but an earnest of Heaven Now a farthing given as an earnest of a thousand a year is more worth than many pounds given as a reward A wicked man hath outward blessings as his portion his Heaven his All but a godly man that hath them by vertue of a Promise hath them as a pledge of Heaven and as a beginning of eternal mercies 5 The Promises are precious because they produce great and precious effects They are not only excellent in themselves but are also very powerful and operative upon all beleevers The Promises as one saith sealed by the blood of Christ ratified by the Oath of God testified by the spirit of truth delivered by the hand of mercy and received by the hand of Faith are operative words and produce rare effects in the soul They have 1 A Sanctifying Power 2 A Comforting Power 1 A Soul-sanctifying Power Therefore they are said to make us partakers of the divine nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. I say of the divine nature not by the communication of the divine essence but by participation of divine graces Not in a Familistical sense as if wee were Godded into God and Christed into Christ but in a spiritual sense wee are by the Promises made partakers of the divine nature that is of the divine graces by which wee are made like to God in holiness The Apostle tells us that they have a power to cleanse us from all filthinesse both of flesh and spirit and to inable us to perfect holiness in his fear 2 Cor. 7. 1. 2 A Comforting Power They are able to comfort us in the worst of daies and dangers O how precious is a Promise to a distressed Christian in the hour of extreamity The Sun is not more comfortable to a man in a dark dungeon or food to a man ready to starve or water to a man ready to die for thirst The Promises of God are alwaies precious but never more precious than in times of misery and calamity and therefore let us in such times especially meditate upon the preciousness of them 3 You must meditate upon the Freeness of the Promises The Promises The third Meditation meditate on the freeness of the Promises are the outward discoveries of Gods eternal love to his people Now nothing moved God to enter into Covenant with them and to ingage himself to them by Promise and thereby to become their debtor but his free love and mercy and therefore they are said to bee given us of God 2 Pet. 1. 4. whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious Promises God promiseth in his Word not only to love us but to love us freely Hos 14. 4. I will heal their backsliding and love them freely The reason why God makes us his people is not from any worth in us but only because it pleaseth him so to do 1 Sam. 12. 22. The Lord will not forsake his people for his great names sake because it pleased the Lord to make you his people The Lord Jesus Christ who is the great and fundamental Promise the root of the other Promises is freely tendred in the Gospel and freely given Joh. 3. 16. God so loved the World that hee gave his only begotten Son c. Rev. The fourth Meditation Meditate on the stability of the Promises 22. 17. Whosoever will let him take the water of life freely 4 You must meditate on the firmness faithfulness unchangeableness and immutability of the Promises they are the Promises of that God who cannot deny himself Promissa haec tua sunt Domine saith Austin quis falli timet cum promittit ipsa veritas Heaven and earth shall pass away but one jot or tittle of the Word shall not pass There Mat. 5. 18 is no Promise which God hath made though never so improbable and impossible to flesh and blood but it shall come to pass in due time whatsoever hee hath promised in his goodness hee will perform by his power God is not a man that hee should lye neither the Son of man that hee should repent Hath hee said and shall hee not do it or hath hee spoken and shall hee not make it good Numb 23. 19. God hath promised that the same bodies that dye shall rise again at the last day This is incredible to natural reason The Stoicks and Epicures derided it when it was preached by Paul Act. 17. 32. But hath God said it and shall hee not do it Is the Lords hand shortned Therefore Christ tells the Sadduces Matth. 22. 27. You erre not knowing the Scriptures and the power of God God is omnipotent and therefore able to do above what wee can ask or think God hath promised at the Resurrection to make our vile bodies like unto the glorious body of Christ This is impossible to natural reason but mark what the Apostle saith Phil. 3. 21. Who shall change our vile bodies and fashion them like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby hee is able even to subdue all things unto himself God hath promised that before the end of the world there shall bee a national conversion of the Jews that the Kingdomes of the world shall become the Kingdomes of our Lord and Saviour And that Babylon shall fall These are the Promises of God who cannot Rom. 11. 25 26. Rev. 11. 15 Rev. 18.2 lye Faithful is hee who hath said it who also will do it 1 Thes 5. 24. though the things promised seem impossible to men yet with God all things are Mat. 19. 26 possible Therefore the Apostle proves the future conversion of the Jews by an Argument drawn from the power of God Rom. 11. 23. God is able to graft them in again The like is brought to prove the ruine of Antichrist Rev. 18. 8. Her plagues shall

properties to receive all Christ with all his appurtenances and to receive him only in every room in health and for ever And therefore let not the Devil or thy mis-giving heart or thy melancholique-phancy keep thee off from beleeving that Christ Jesus is thy portion and that thou hast an interest in the main and fundamental Promise and by that in all the other Do to Christ as the Shunamitish woman did to the Prophet lay fast hold on him and suffer not the Devil to cause thee 2 King 4. 27. to let go thy hold Oh that there might bee this day a blessed and happy marriage between Jesus Christ and every distressed Christian Object But suppose I am willing to take Christ upon Christs termes can I rest assured that Christ will receive mee Ans Yes doubtless For hee hath John 6.37 said hee will and hee is truth it self and cannot lye Indeed a poor wounded Isa 55.1 Rev. 22.15 sinner will sometimes confess that hee is willing with all his heart to receive Christ upon his own termes but hee is afraid lest Christ should refuse to receive him But this is a needlesse fear For Christ will in no wise refuse those that come to him To as many as receive him to all those hee will give power to become the Sons of God even to them that beleeve in his name Hee that beleeveth John 1. 12 hath everlasting life and shall never come into condemnation but is passed John 5.24 from death to life So much for the fourth Rule If these Rules and Directions already named will not inable thee to apply the Promises so as to keep thee from perishing in the day of distresse let mee adde Rule 5. 5 If thou canst not lay hold upon the The fifth Rule for the right Application of the Promises Promises made to those who are in the highest form in Christs school lay hold upon the Promises made to those who are in the lower forms In Christs school there are divers sorts of Scholars some are in the high form some in the middle some in the lowest some are babes in Christs school some are grown Christians some are as tall Cedars some are as low shrubs Now you must know that it is our duty to labour to bee of the highest form Hee that saith he hath Qui dixit sufficit deficit Non progredi est regredi grace enough hath grace little enough Hee that stints himself in his indeavours after grace never had true grace Wee must labour to bee perfect as God is perfect But yet you must also know that hee that is a real Scholar in Christs school is in an happy condition though hee bee not the best scholar And that it is our duty so to eye the eminent graces which are in others as to bee thereby incited to a further progress in grace but not so as to bee thereby disheartened and discouraged There are many distressed Christians like to those who gaze so long upon the brightness of the Sun that when they come into their houses they cannot see at all they pore so much upon the transcendent excellencies which are in their Brethren that they are stark blinde in their own concernments and cannot see any grace in themselves and hereupon are apt to conclude that they are out of Gods favour But this is a non sequitur The foot must not say that it is no part of the body because it is not so eminent a part as the head or heart Wee must rather say with the Martyr Blessed bee God that I am a member in Christs body though but the weakest and lowest Wee must not rest satisfied with being low Christians but yet wee must not therefore say wee are no Christians And when wee are under great tribulations and temptations if wee cannot apply to our selves for our comfort those Promises which are made to eminent Saints of the highest form let us apply those which are made unto true Saints though to such who are the lowest of the lowest form and hereby wee shall through Gods blessing finde our souls marveilously supported and comforted As for example Christ hath said Blessed are the poor in spirit Mat. 5. 3 for theirs is the Kingdome of Heaven And therefore though thou art not rich in grace yet if poor in spirit thou art blessed Christ saith Blessed are they that mourn for they shall bee comforted Mat. 5. 4 Though thou canst not live without sin yet if a mourner for thine own and other mens sins thou art blessed Christ saith Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after Righteousnesse Mat. 5. 6 c. Though thou findest an exceeding great want of righteousness in thee yet if thou hungrest and thirsteth after it thou art blessed Christ saith Come unto mee all yee that labour and are heavy laden and I Mat. 11. 28. will give you rest This Text is as an Alabaster box full of precious consolation If thy sins bee a burden to thee Christ will give thee rest if thou carriest them about thee not as a golden chain about thy neck but as an Iron chain about thy feet if thou beest heavy laden with them Christ will take them off thy shoulders and put them upon his Christ saith That hee will not break the bruised Reed nor quench the smoaking Mat. 12. 20. flax till bee send forth judgement unto victory If thou hast grace but as a smoaking flax Christ will not quench it but assist it till it come to a great flame Christ saith That the whole have no Mat. 9.12 13. need of the Physitian but they that are sick And that hee came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance If thou art a sin-sick-sinner thy name is in Christs commission hee came to save thee Christ saith The Son of man is come Mat. 18. 11. to save that which was lost If thou apprehendest thy self to bee in a lost condition thou art amongst the number of those whom Christ came to save The Apostle saith There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Rom. 8.1 who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Though thou hast much flesh in thee and art sometimes overtaken with sin yet if thou dost not walk after the flesh as a servant after his Master if thou walkest after the Spirit there is no condemnation to thee The Apostle saith If wee confesse John 1. 9 our sins God is faithful to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse If wee confesse our sins out of a detestation of sin with bleeding hearts and a sincere purpose of forsaking them God is bound by vertue of his promise to forgive us else hee were unfaithful The Apostle saith That hee that hath begun a good work in us will perform Phil. 1.6 it until the day of Jesus Christ And therefore if thou hast truth of grace though but as a grain

Disciples and makes them beleeve it is God that appears and not the Devil Thus hee appeared to Saul in the likenesse of Samuel And if God should now at this day discover his way of worship and his divine will by Revelations how easily would men bee deceived and mistake diabolical delusions for divine Revelations and therefore let us bless ' God for the written word which is surer and safer as to us than an immediate Revelation There are some that are apt to think that if an Angel should come from Heaven and reveal Gods will to them it would work more upon them than the written word but I would have these men study the conference between Abraham and Dives Luk. 16. 27 28 29 30 31. Habent Mosen Prophetas c. They have Moses and the Prophets if they will not profit by them neither would they profit by any that should come out of Hell or down from Heaven to them For it is the same God that speaks by his written Word and by a voice from Heaven The difference is only in the outward cloathing and therefore if Gods speaking by writing will not amend us No more will Gods speaking by a voice O bless God exceedingly for the written Word let us cleave close to it and not expect any Revelations from Heaven of new truths but say with the Apostle Gal. 1. 8 9. Use 2 Let us prize the Word of God Use 2 above gold yea above fine gold Let us read it diligently reverently praying to God to give us the same spirit that wrote it to inable us to understand it and conscienciously to practice it Let us make it the joy and rejoycing of our heart and as it is in the Text Let us make it our delights but of this I spake in the former point The only motive I shall now use to perswade you to make the Word your delights shall bee this in the Text. Because it will keep you from perishing in the time of your greatest affliction It will comfort you when you have most need of it that is under heart-sinking afflictions and at the hour of death and it will comfort you when all outward comforts and creatures fail It will bee food to strengthen your weak Faith physick to cure the remainders of corruptions it will bee a cordial to revive your drooping spirits and fainting souls It will make you more than conquerors over all temptations and distresses Quest But now the great question is How a child of God ought to manage and make use of the word of God so as to make it a conduit of support and comfort in the day of his greatest afflictions Answ To bee able to do this there is a great deal of spiritual wisdome and understanding required For the word to many people is like Sauls armour to David which was so cumbersome to him that hee could not wear it There are many know not how to use the Word so as to bee comforted by it As the woman of Samaria told Christ Joh. 4. 11. The well is deep and thou hast nothing to draw with So may I say The word of God is a deep well Isa 4. it is a well of salvation but it is deep and the deeper the sweeter but most people want buckets to draw with they want a spiritual Art to fetch out of these wells of salvation divine supportation and consolation and therefore to help you in this great work you must know That the word of God may bee divided into three parts Into Commanmandements The word of God divided into the commanding threatning and promising Word Threatnings and Promises And though a Christian must not neglect the commanding and threatning word yet if ever hee would make the word a channel of divine comfort hee must study the promising word for the promises are a Christians magna charta for Heaven All comfort must bee built upon a Scripture promise else it is presumption not true comfort The promises are pabulum fidei anima fidei the food of faith and the soul of faith As faith is the life of a Christian so the promises are the life of Faith Faith is a dead Faith if it hath no promise to quicken it As the Promises are of no use without Faith to apply them so Faith is of no use without a promise to lay hold on And the great reason why the people of God walk uncomfortably in their afflictions is because they do not chew the promises they are rare cordials but as a man cannot taste the sweetness of a cordial unless hee chew it no more can wee receive any spiritual refreshment from the promises unless wee meditate on them The promises are as a Mine full of rich treasure but as Mines unlesse wee digge deep into them wee can never get the gold and silver hid in them no more can wee injoy the soul-ravishing comfort of the promises unlesse wee digge into them by a serious consideration of them They are as a garden full of rare flowers able to sweeten any condition But because wee do not walk in this garden and pick out these flowers hence it is that wee live so disconsolately and dejectedly under our afflictions There are many rare stories declaring the comfort that some of Gods Saints have received from the promises in the day of their distress Mr. Bilney that blessed Martyr was much wounded in conscience by reason of the great sin hee committed in subscribing to the Popish errors but hee was much comforted by reading those words 1 Tim 1. 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of which I am the chief Beza was supported under his troubles by the words of Christ John 10.27 28 29. Mr. Bolton tells us of one that was upheld under great affliction and comforted from Isa 26. 3. Of another from Isa 57.15 I knew a young maid that went triumphantly to Heaven by the refreshing shee found in that well known Text Matth. 11. 28. and many that have been wonderfully cheared by reading the eight chapter of the Romans and by that Text 1 Joh. 3. 14. VVee know that wee have passed from death unto life because wee love the Brethren The truth is there is no promise but if God bee pleased to illighten it and shew us our interest in it will afford a harvest of joy It is with promises as it is with Sermons That Sermon which once heard did not at all work upon us the same Sermon heard at another time may exceedingly affect us And the same Text of Scripture which sometimes doth not at all comfort us may at another time convey much comfort to us Two men troubled in conscience may both of them read the same chapter and hear the same Sermon and one of them may have his troubled minde pacified and the other continue troubled and the reason is because the Spirit of God makes the Word

mee or I have relation to them in regard of outward obligations but because they bear the image of God upon them and manifest it in their holy conversation I love them whether rich or poor And though I did never know some of them but only hear of their holiness and piety yet I could not but exceedingly love such Therefore I hope that I am passed from death to life because I love the Brethren 1 Joh. 3. 14. I do not only love God and the Evidence Twelfth children of God but I labour to keep his Commandements and they are not grievous to mee But I pray with 1 John 5. 3 David O that my wayes were directed to keep thy statutes Lord inlarge my Psal 119. 5. v. 32 34 heart and I will run the wayes of thy Commandements Give mee understanding and I shall keep thy Law yea I shall observe it with my whole heart for therein do I delight I finde I am one that is very thirsty after Jesus Christ and the grace of E ∣ vidence Thir ∣ teenth Christ and I thirst to have his image more and more stamped upon mee and I would fain bee assured by Gods Spirit that I am transplanted into Christ and therefore I long and indeavour after a true and lively Faith because that Grace is a soul transplanting and uniting grace Now Christ hath promised to satisfie the thirsty Matth. 5. 6. and such Christ hath earnestly invited to come though they have nothing to bring but what may make against themselves yet to come empty and hee hath promised to fill them Isa 55. 1 2. I am willing to confesse and with all my heart to forsake all my sins I am E ∣ vidence Four ∣ teenth willing to give glory to God in taking shame unto my self I acknowledge my self a guilty malefactor and judge my self worthy of the just condemnation of the righteous Judge of all the earth And I do not only confess my sins but with all my heart I desire to forsake them and to turn to the Lord Now hee hath said he will have mercy on such and will abundantly pardon them For his thoughts are not as our thoughts nor his wayes as our wayes Isa 55. 7 8. It is my constant indeavour to dye to sin to live to newness of life And this is my comfort and hope that hee who hath begun a good work in mee will perfect it For it is hee that worketh all our works in us and for us Isa 26. 12. and hee that hath wrought in mee to will to do that which is pleasing in his fight will work in mee to do also and that of his good pleasure Phil. 2. 13. I hope I am one whom God hath taken into Covenant with himself because Evidence Fifteenth hee hath bestowed upon mee the fruits of the Covenant because hee hath circumcised my heart to love him and hath put his fear into mee and hath wrought an universal change in mee and hath given mee a new heart and a new spirit yea his own spirit which hee hath put within mee even the Spirit of Truth which will guide mee into all Truth It is his own promise to give his holy Spirit to them that ask it of him as I have done often Luk. 11. 13. and I hope that God will make it in his due time a witnessing and a comforting Spirit I will wait upon him for the accomplishment of all his promises both of grace and to grace Hee hath said hee will bee a sun and a shield hee will give grace and glory and no good thing will hee with-hold from them that walk uprightly And hee hath promised to subdue our sins for us and hath said that sin shall not have Dominion over us Rom. 6. 14. that hee will bee our God and wee shall bee his children and hee will save us from all our uncleannesses I hope I have a share in this blessed Covenant of free grace As for my Affliction that lieth upon Evidence Sixteenth mee though it bee in it self very heavy I much more desire the sanctification of it than the removal I earnestly labour to learn all those lessons which God teacheth mee by affliction I know I should not bee scourged nor bee in tribulation but that I have need of it it is for my profit to make mee partaker of his holinesse Afflictions are an evidence of Sonship Heb. 12. 6 7 8. God hath promised that all things shall work together for good to them that love and fear Rom. 8. 28. him And I have had much experience of his faithfulness who hath not suffered mee to bee tempted above what hee hath inabled mee to bear therefore I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him Hee hath chastized mee less than mine iniquities deserve Hee chastizeth mee here that hee may not condemn mee hereafter Faith is the condition of salvation Beleeve in the Lord Jesus Christ and E ∣ vidence Seven ∣ teenth thou shalt bee saved And this is his Commandement that we should beleeve in his Act. 16.31 1 John 3. 23. Son Jesus Christ Now I finde nothing so hard to mee as to beleeve aright to cast away all my own Righteousness as dung in point of justification and to cast away all my unrighteousness so as that bee no bar to mee and to role and cast and venter my immortal soul upon Jesus Christ and his Righteousnesse for life and salvation by him alone and to see my self compleat in him this is supernatural Yet I must and will give glory to God and say Lord I beleeve help thou my unbeleef And by this I prove that this precious grace of Faith is wrought in mee because Jesus Christ is to mee very precious and I finde in the Word that to them that beleeve hee 1 Pet. 2.7 is precious and I am willing to take Christ upon his own termes as hee is tendred in the Gospel and am willing to give up my self soul and body wholly to him and my love to God and to the children of God is a fruit of my Faith as also my desire to bee made like unto him For hee that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as hee is pure 1 John 3. 3. And I trust that I am kept by the power of God through Faith unto salvation 1 Pet. 1. 5. I know whom I have beleeved and I am perswadad that hee is able and willing to keep that which I have committed unto him which is my immortal soul 2 Tim. 1. 12. Thus I have according to the Apostles exhortation indeavoured to give a reason of the hope that is in mee What have I but what I have received The desire of my soul is that God may have all the glory And if I bee deceived the Lord for Christs sake undeceive mee and grant that if I have not true grace I may not think I have and so bee in a fools Paradise And the Lord that is my heart-maker bee my heart-searcher and my heart-discoverer and my heart-reformer Amen FINIS