Selected quad for the lemma: woman_n
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A28620
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The dead saint speaking to saints and sinners living in severall treatises ... : never before published / by Samuel Bolton ...
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Bolton, Samuel, 1606-1654.
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1657
(1657)
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Wing B3518; ESTC R7007
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442,931
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486
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from the Death of inward Troubles As the sense of Gods Love the apprehension of his favour is the life of the Soul Psal 30.5 In his favour is Life So the sense of Gods Displeasure is the Death of the Soul Psal 88.10 Shall the Dead arise to praise thee Hee speaks of that spiritual Desertion in which hee was labouring under the sense of Gods wrath and displeasure which hee calls the Death of the Soul Shall the Dead arise to praise thee Shall my Soul dead and sunk with discouragements and apprehensions of thy wrath Shall it arise to praise thee So that this is the Death of the Soul Now Faith doth raise the Soul up from this Death When the Soul seems to bee sunk and buried under the apprehensions of Gods displeasure is slain with discouragements lies gasping and breathing for comfort The least touch of the Promise by Faith doth raise up and revive the Soul and fetches a man to life again All the while that sense works a man sinks deeper and deeper into this sad condition But let sense sit still and Faith come in and act its part and the Soul cannot lye so low in Trouble but it will raise it up Psal 77.10 I said this is my Death yet will I remember the years of the right hand of the most high c. What a precious thing is Faith It is call'd precious Faith And so it is indeed that is able to work such wonders in the Soul in an instant What a Cordial is this when a man is in swounding and fainting-fits that one taste of the Promise by Faith will fetch him to life again when the soul lies in the dust under sad apprehensions heavy Agonies sinking and dying one dram one grain of Faith will fetch him to life again set him on his feet again walking and leaping and praising God This is precious Faith indeed Now for the manner how Faith doth work for the raising up of the Soul from under these spiritual Troubles wee will only adde these particulars 1. Faith doth in this condition look back upon soul-raising-Experiences It causes a man to consider the dayes of old the years of ancient time as David did in the same condition Psal 77.5 It makes a man revive those former experiences of Gods Love those former workings those fore-past evidences those broken Rings Pledges Love-tokens which have passed betwixt God and the Soul Such a time hee took mee up into his Chariot and spake friendly to mee Such a time I sate down under his shadow and his Banner over mee was love Such a time hee took mee down into his Winecellar staied mee with Flaggons Such a time hee brake into my soul discovered himself to mee a Reconciled God gave mee an earnest of his love a testimony that hee manifested himself to mee came and supped with mee gave mee the White stone the Hidden Manna the New Name c. This is the Act of Faith Thus doth it produce the former evidences and experiences of Love and from these doth take up arguments to raise the Soul in this dark condition Why will Faith say Once a Father and ever a Father Once a Friend and never an Enemy Though wee change yet God doth not change With him there is no variableness nor shadow of change His carriage may alter his heart cannot His expression may vary his Affections cannot God hath spoken Peace and hee will never unsay what hee hath said Hee hath given mee sure evidences and hee will never take them away again though hee may withhold the comfort of them Hee that hath been gracious will bee gracious Men shut their hands because they have opened them but because hee hath once opened his hands hee will never shut them 2. Faith looks upon Soul-raising-Promises Such as are not only made for support but for deliverance I will not contend for ever nor will I bee alwayes wroth least the Spirit which I have made should fail before mee and the Soul which I have created I was angry with him I hid my face from him But I will heal him I will lead him also and restore comfort to him and to his mourners Isa 57.16 17 18. For a moment I have forsaken thee but with everlasting kindness have I had compassion on thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer c. Isa 54.8 9 10 11. Zion said the Lord hath forsaken mee My God hath forgotten mee Can a Woman forget her child that she should not have compassion on the Son of her womb Yea they may but I will never forget thee Behold I have Graven thee upon the Palms of my hands thy ways are ever in my sight These and such like promises Faith looks upon It doth not so much look at the Face of God Gods outward carriage and expression in the condition as at the Heart of God and his inward affection which lyes in the Promise Full well Faith knows The Ground of Comfort doth not lye in the Face of God the aspects of God If so then our comforts could not bee stable This alters as wee alter changeth as wee change But the ground of Faiths comfort lyes in the Promises and thither it hath recourse when from Outward appearance it can get no comfort Sense looks upon the face of God onely upon his outward presence But Faith looks upon the Heart of God in the Promise where it sees a Calmy heart under a Stormy countenance inward Smiles though outward frowns Inward Affections of Love under Outward expressions of displeasure As Joseph had the affections of a brother under the expressions of an Enemy Hee could put on expressions of an enemy An angry countenance but yet not put off Affections of a brother A loving heart so is it often with God And therefore Faith doth view him in The Promise hath recourse thither as you see poor David had in the like case Psal 77. to the tenth verse Hee was in sad Conditions and nothing could raise him God absented himself from him Hee fell to Praying to Complaining but yet no comfort came Hee complained and his spirit was overwhelmed Hee was so farre from Ease by this that his Spirit was more opprest Nay Hee cald to remembrance times past All this whie comfort came not in At last hee betakes himself to the Promise hath recourse to the Covenant and then his Soul revived ver 10. Thus Faith looks upon the firmness of the Covenant the stability of the Promise and is raised revived Read Isa 49.14 15. Isa 54. from seven to eleven which are Soul-raising-promises 3 Faith lays hold upon a soul-raising-Christ Upon whom whosoever doth lay hold hee will pull him out of the deepest waters If a man under water have hold of any thing above him it will pull him out hee shall not sink So here when wee are overwhelmed in these deep waters if by Faith the Soul lay hold on Christ it will bear him up and bring him forth John 12.46 I am come a
earth fainteth not neither is weary hee giveth power to the faint c. Do you doubt of his power why hee is the everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the ends of the earth and hee can pardon c. What though thy sins bee great yet hee tells thee hee will abundantly pardon Isa 55.7 8 9. Let the wicked man forsake his wayes and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and hee will have mercy upon him and to our God for hee will abundantly pardon the word is multiply to pardon as thou hast to sin But you will say how can this bee this is far above the thoughts of a Creature Why but saith hee in the next verse My thoughts are not as your thoughts neither are your waies my wayes saith the Lord for as the Heavens are higher than the earth so are my wayes higher than your wayes and my thoughts than your thoughts But alas there are such and such conditions required Why but saith hee Ho! every one that thirsteth come Revel 22.17 Do you doubt of his will Why hee tells you It is not the will of your heavenly Father that any of these little ones should perish Matth. 18.14 You think it is but Christ saith it is not hee knows the thoughts hee thinks to thee they are thoughts of peace and not of evill c. Jer. 29.11 And how doth hee say As I live I do not delight in the death of him that dyes turn you turn you and live Oh why will yee dye Ezek. 18.31 32. And God would have all men saved by comming to the Knowledge c. 1 Tim. 2.4 Yea but this Covenant is not firm I may sin away mine own mercy See what God saith Isa 54.10 the Mountains shall depart and the hills shall bee removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the Covenant of my Peace bee removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee It is more firm than the Covenant of the day and night Jer. 33.20 21. can a Woman forget her sucking child that shee should not have compassion on the Son of her womb yea they may forget yet will not I forget thee Isa 49.15 This with abundance such like Rhetorick God useth to draw a poor humbled doubting sinner to beleeve and why should God use such Rhetorick to perswade with men if it were so easy a matter as men make it to beleeve This shews the difficulty of Faith 4. If you consider the way that God takes to confirm the Covenant of mercy and pardon to Beleevers Hee gives you his Promise his Oath his Seal heaps Mountains upon Mountains and all to confirm it hee layes Heaven and Earth at stake nay hee pawns his Truth his very being and all to perswade with unbeleeving men to beleeve God needed not to do this in respect of himself his purpose was as good as his promise his Promise as good as his oath his oath as firm as his seal hee needed not to do this in respect of himself as if that his oath would binde him more than his promise But God hath done this in respect of us to strengthen our Faith that wee might bee stedfast in God when wee stagger in our selves that wee might bee strong in God when weak in our selves As the Apostle in Heb. 6.16 17 18. That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lye c. God hath thus condescended to all this to beget Faith in unbeleevers that if his promise would not perswade with you then his oath if not that yet his seal The great Seal of Heaven You could not desire more of the most faithless and dishonest man in the World than God hath condescended to who is yet the faithfull and unchangeable God You have a Promise will not that do Vae nobis si nec juranti Deo tredimus you would have an Oath will not that do you have a Seal witness all And what doth all this but plainly demonstrate the greatness of the difficulty to beleeve Frustra fit per plura quod fieri potest per pauciâ—ra Wee say it is in vain to do that by more which may bee as well done by lesse If Promise would have done it the Oath added had been in vain but shall wee think that any thing of this was in vain that wee cannot Entia non sunt multiplicanda sine necessitate And was all this then required would no lesse serve the turn Tell mee then whether this do not fully enough demonstrate the difficulty of Faith Thou that thinkest Faith so easy thou that never found the difficulty of it mayest well think thou hast no Faith In this God shews the difficulty of beleeving that his Promise his Oath c. are all ingaged to work and confirm it 5. If you consider the complaint of the Preacher You hear Isaiah complaining Isa 53.1 Who hath beleeved our report or our Doctrin as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may import And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed And Christ complains of the same Joh. 12.37 38. Though hee had done so many miracles before them yet they beleeved not on him that the saying of the Prophet might bee fulfilled viz. who hath beleeved our report And Paul hee takes up the same complaint as you see at large Rom. 10.16 17 18 c. And wee our selves may take up the same complaint Wee have spent our strength in vain and our labour for nought Though wee have declared the wonderfull things of the Gospel the freeness vastness greatness of the love of Christ the preciousness of Promises yet men beleeve not Oh that I could not complain of those c how many offers of Christ have you had how many tenders of mercy How often hath Christ unbowel'd himself to your souls in the Promise how often hath God invited intreated beseeched called Hoe every one that thirsteth come But yet senselesse people do not thirst and thirsty people do not come c. Oh! here is enough to demonstrate that wee are slow of heart to beleeve 2. Wee come to the second What are the grounds c. And wee will reduce them to these three general heads 1. There are some grounds from Satan 2. Some from our selves 3. Some which are taken from others which do foreslow the heart from beleeving in the Promise You must know I speak of men awakened and convinced of their miserable condition not such as go on with a high hand in their sins I speak of men humbled 1. Then the reasons or grounds why wee are so slow c. From Satan are the delusions and false suggestions of Satan You must know there are two main stratagems which hold up Satans Kingdome in the World 1. Is to keep presumptuous sinners from being humbled 2. The other is to keep humbled sinners from beleeving The first of these is by keeping of presumptuous sinners from being