Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
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A61262
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A little handful of cordial comforts scattered thorowout several answers, to sixteen questions, and objections following : intended chiefly for the good of those that walk mournfully before God ... / by Richard Standfast ...
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Standfast, Richard, 1608?-1684.
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1665
(1665)
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Wing S5210; ESTC R33851
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22,608
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84
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the heinousness of his sins hath any just cause to despair of mercy For though our sins be many yet the mercies of God are more though they be great yet his mercies are above them He is rich in mercy yea his mercy is infinite so that though he have spent much mercy already upon our Fore-Fathers yet he hath mercy enough in store for us also with him there is plenty of forgiveness and his mercy endureth for ever And the merits of Christ are of the same nature for he is Mighty to save and he is the same for ever and through the riches of these merits of Christ there is a way set open even for the worst sinners to become partakers of the riches of the mercies of God Now if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins c. 1 John 2.1 2. And though the time of his abode upon Earth in the day of his flesh were but short though his sufferings were but for a season yet such was and is the dignity of his person being the Eternal Son of God that his Sufferings and Obedience are infinitely meritorious and his blood is able to clense us from all unrighteousness So that we may well say with the Apostle Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that dyed or rather who is risen again and now maketh Intercession for us Rom. 8.33 34. But let no man turn this doctrine of comfort to a liberty of sinning against the greatest sins there is hopes in Christ for penitent Believers But because there is mercy with God shall we therefore go on in sin God forbid there is mercy with him and therefore he must be feared But if any man shall presume to sin because there is mercy with God through Jesus Christ instead of mercy that man is like to meet with nothing but Justice For as mercifull as God is and as all-sufficient as the Death of Christ is there is no mercy for such as go on still in their wickedness And thus you see that Christ is mighty enough to save us from all our sins and to reconcile us unto God Now that we may have benefit by this sufficiency of Christ we must lay hold upon it by a lively faith This is that which unites us unto Christ and makes us one with him This is that which gives us interest in him and makes us partakers of his merits This makes the death and obedience of Christ as verily our own and as effectual for the pardon of our sins and the salvation of our souls as if they had been performed by our very selves So that if we do truly Believe in the Lord Jesus then is God well pleased with us for his sake and by virtue of his merits being made ours by faith our sins are all pardoned and our souls and bodies shall be Eternally saved And so much the Scripture doth plainly testifie in several places As John 3.16 God so loved the World that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have Life Everlasting And again Acts 10.43 Through his Name whosoever believeth in him shall receive Remission of Sins be they never so many never so heinous And again Acts 13.38 39. Be it known unto you that through this Man is Preached unto you the Forgiveness of Sins And by him all that believe are justified from all those things from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses By the Law of Moses we could never have been acquitted either from the Guiltiness of Sin or from the Wrath of God But we are delivered from both by Faith in Christ for by it we obtain the forgiveness of our sins and the salvation of our souls And thus it is manifest That Christ is the Way by which we are to obtain the pardon of sin and peace with God and that Faith is the way whereby we are made partakers of the merits of Christ for our Justification and Salvation Proceed we now in a word to shew that nothing but Christ can reconcile us unto God and that nothing but Faith can make us partakers of Christ for our Reconciliation There is no way whereby to come unto God but onely Christ It is onely in Christ that God is well pleased neither is there salvation in any other For there is no other Name under the Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved Acts 4.12 Neither is there any other means on our part whereby to receive Christ but onely Faith And yet unless we do receive him we get no benefit by him and therefore unless we do believe in him we shall perish in our sins And to this purpose speaks our Saviour John 3.36 He that believeth on the Son hath Everlasting Life and he that believeth not the Son shall not see Life but the Wrath of God abideth on him See the summ of all this in that place of St. John 1 Epist 5. Chap. 11 12 and 13 Verses God hath given to us Eternal Life and this Life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life These things have I written to you that believe in the Name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have Eternal Life and that ye may believe in the Name of the Son of God By which place it is plain that there is a way to Life that Christ is the way to it that Life is so in him that it is in no other but him that it is so in him that by believing in him we obtain Life and that it is so in him that without believing in him we get no benefit at all by him And thus you have the truth of the former Answer Enlarged and Confirmed according to it 's severall Branches by which it is manifest That Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and nothing else but onely Faith in him can help us to the pardon of sin the Love of God and the Salvation of our Souls Hereupon it may be thus replyed The Second Question IF I cannot obtain the pardon of my sins and the Favour of God without Faith in Christ I doubt my condition is woful and that I am yet in my sins and liable unto wrath For I fear that I have not this Faith in Christ and that I do not as yet believe in him Shew me therefore I pray you how I may be comforted against this fear and how I may know whether I do believe in Christ Yea or No Answer Doutless if we do not believe in Christ our condition is woful For there is no salvation in any other and without Faith in him we get no benefit by him but we are in our sins and the obligation unto wrath is in full power and force against us For though the ransome which Christ paid by his Death upon the Cross be a ransome
own ease to submit unto him when once we have found him Now when we can be content to accept of Christ upon any terms then are we ready for him then are we fit to be admitted into him And when we do seek unto Christ for this admission he regards not so much how long we were at School under the Law how often we were lashed by it or how sorely we have smarted under it But all that he looks after is whether we be fit to come unto him Consider therefore with your self had you ever such a sight and sorrow for your sins as made you weary of them and out of love with them and willing to be eased of them and desirous of Interest in Christ and ready to accept of Christ upon any Terms rather then to goe without him Is it your grief that you cannot be more sorrowfull and do not you desire as much to be kept from sin for the time to come as to have all that pardoned that is past Surely if you stand thus affected then are you fitted and made ready for Christ and whether your sorrow were great or little yet it is a token that it was a true and a godly sorrow because it worketh repentance unto salvation never to be repented of It may be yet further objected Thus The Sixth Question I Confess that I have been grieved for my sins and I have been desirous to believe in Christ But I fear that my Sorrow is not good nor my Faith sound because my obedience is so faulty For I am not so willing to forsake all my sins nor so carefull to yield Christ Obedience as I should be or if I am willing so to do yet mine infirmities and my failings are such and so many that I fear my sorrow and my faith are not such as they ought to be Answer Certain it is that sorrow for sin will nothing avail us without amendment of Life The wicked must forsake his wayes if he expect pardon Isa 55.7 And it is he that confesseth his sins and forsaketh them that shall find mercy Prov. 28.13 If we willingly allow our selves in the practice of any thing displeasing unto God our condition is dangerous If we say that we abide in Christ we must walk as he walked or else we deceive our own souls 1 John 2.6 If we say that we have fellowship with God and yet walk in darkness we lye and the truth is not in us 1 John 1.6 And if it be not our study and exercise to yield Christ an Universal Obedience our Faith is but Presumption our Peace is but Security our Hopes are but Shadows and our Expectation will Perish But if we have an hearty desire and a sincere endeavour in all things to live honestly we may not from our failings and imperfections presently conclude that we are not sanctified at all that we have no Faith no Interest in Christ no love of God in us For perfection is not to be attained unto while we be in the body But sincerity is that which may be had and affords unto us matter of comfort For the Lord loves them that do follow after Righteousness Pro. 15.9 And they whose sincere desire and endeavour it is to have respect to all the commandments are accepted of him If it be our unfained desire study and endeavour in Obedience unto Christ to do whatsoever he commandeth If it be our care to cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit and to perfect Holiness in the fear of God and not wickedly to depart from him in any thing I say if it be our unfained desire study and endeavour so to do we may safely conclude notwithstanding all our imperfections that our sorrow is good and our faith sound and that our sins are pardonable and our service is accepted and our souls shall be saved For in Gods account and acceptation that goes for a clean life which is not stained with wilfull pollutions and whose obedience is extended to the utmost of his knowledge and hath withall a purpose to amend what God shall hereafter make him know to be sinfull to that man is allowed the opinion of gracious See further of this point in Answer to Objection 16. The Seventh Question IF these things be so I find then that my condition at the present is good And if I were sure to dye in this Estate I make no doubt but I should be happy But I fear that I shall not continue in this Condition For my Enemies are Many and Mighty and Crafty and Watchfull and I myself am prone to Sin and apt to fall from my own Steadfastness And I finde by experience that many who have begun in the Spirit have ended in the Flesh and their latter Ends have been worse then their Beginnings This makes me to fear that I shall not continue faithfull unto the death And yet without this continuance I shall never Obtain the Crown of Life Answer All these things I confesse are true such are our Enemies such is our Weakness and the Misery of those that do turn back from the Holy Commandment given unto them is such that it had been better for them not to have known the way of Truth 2 Pet. 2.21 For they shall lose those things that they have done and their portion shall be with unbelievers So that a Man cannot chuse but have cause to fear Nevertheless there is comfort in God against this fear also Yea This very fear of Falling Away hath in it matter of consolation for it is a means to keep us from departing from God Ier. 32.40 And I will make an Everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me Many there be that having begun well do yet at length grow weary of well doing and so lose what they have done And therefore let him that thinketh that he standeth take heed least he fall But yet let not our hearts be troubled let us not be dismayed with fear for the perseverance of such as are justified and sanctified in deed and in truth is certain and the foundation of God standeth sure the Lord knoweth who are his and he knoweth how to deliver them out of Temptation In further Answer to this Objection and the better to comfort us against this fear take special notice of these Texts of Scripture 1 Pet. 1.5 Who are kept by the Power of God through Faith unto Salvation ready to be revealed in the last time John 10.27 28 29. My Sheep hear my Voice and I know them and they follow me And I give unto them Eternal Life and they shall never Perish neither shall any Man pluck them out of my hand My Father which gave them me is greater then all And no Man is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hand 2 Chro. 16.9 For the eyes of the Lord run to