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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
word_n	faith_n	scripture_n	write_a	3,251	5	10.5364	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A74975	A manifest and breife discovery of some of the errours contained in a dialogue called the Marrow of moderne divinity. Wherein is shewen, especially the authors errour in the manner of the iustification of a sinner, and the truth cleared from all the falshoods contained in that booke concerning the same, with some other of his errours.	I. A.	1646 (1646)	Wing A10; Thomason E359_16; ESTC R11271	15,083	24

Ghost in his good time doth perswade the heart and evidence to the soule his peace and reconciliation with God and his interest in the promise of Grace through Christ Faith is the gift of God to you it is given to beleeve It is not in mans power to beleeve Beleeve it for a truth no man can possibly beleeve to justification of life nor shall ever rejoyce with the Bridgroome that hath not first mourned with the mourner I wonder these things should be unknowne to men in these dayes and that so much confusion should be amongst them in the matter and manner of the justification of a Sinner So that we cannot certainly learne by them what repentance is not what Faith is nor how it is wrought in the heart Some teaching outward dutyes and obedience to the law to the begetting of Faith and rejoycing therein that they are called legall Preachers as I my selfe have heard Others againe would be so fame from them that they will teach only as they pretend the Gospell-way and that they will do by teaching only beleeving And as for repentance the beginning of the Gospell they will not mention or very little and that then it followes justifying Faith and never goes before it and what is their reason Because say they the Gospell setts forth free Grace and requires no act of ours at all but only beleeving Well then beleeving is an act of ours here is something for us to doe But I would know of them whether beleeving to life be in their power The Apostle saith to you it is given to beleeve and that Faith is the gift of God Then there is no power in us to beleeve the very act of beleeving is of free grace And so is repentance of free grace God is the giver of repentance as well as Faith Acts. 11.18 2. Tim. 2.25 For although repentance be wrought in us and we act it yet it is God that gives it and it is nothing else but the free grace of God to perpare the hearts of Sinners for the receiving of the forgivenes of Sinnes and peace and reconciliation with God by Faith in the Lord Iesus Christ All the Prophets in the old Testament have called for repentance in the first place that so they might be prepared to receive mercy Iohn the Baptist Preached it to prepare them to receive the Lord Christ Our Saviour himselfe Preached it in the first place before beleeving The Apostles Preached it before Faith in Christ to the forgivenes of Sinnes The very truth is that the same way which was formerly to others the same way to salvation is for us now and we must goe the same way that they went which were before us new wayes are dangerous We must not looke for a nearer way to Heaven then the Saints and people of God have gone before us and though it be a narrow and a straight way yet it is a sure way it leads to happines Page 113. I may also justly except against his exposition on the 11. to the Hebrewes verse 6. without Faith it is impossible to please God that is saith he As Calvin saith whatsoever a man thinketh purposeth or doth before he be reconciled to God in Christ is accursed and not only of no value to righteousnes but of certaine deserving to damnation I must confesse I am amazed to thinke such things should be published I honour the memory of that Holy Man Mr. Calvin yet if it were his opinion I must needs say it was an errour in him for there be many things done by men before reconciliation with God that are not Sinne. For Sin is the transgression of some law but what law forbids a man to heare and read the Scriptures may it is commanded by Christ himselfe search the Scriptures Io. 5.39 Men may Sin and doe Sin in hearing and reading the word but the worke it selfe is no Sin For we must distinguish between the worke and the manner of the doing it It is no Sin for a man to humble his soule in seeking mercy and grace and favour with God which must be done before we can come to that Faith which makes our persons acceptable to God and we well pleasing unto him through Christ as Enochs Person was And indeed it is impossible our persons should be accepted or we become pleasing to God by any other way then by Faith in Christ And the reason is rendred by the Apostle in the words following For he that commeth to God must beleeve that he is a rewarder of them that dilligently seeke him which is a lesser degree of Faith then that which makes us to become pleasing in his sight through Christ Iesus Nor can we truly say that all the actions of unregenerate men are Sinne Ahabs repentance was not Sin it was no breach of any law of God nay God takes notice of it and bids the Prophet to take notice of it yea and rewards him for it in deferring the judgement pronounced but he never rewards any man for Sin but denounceth judgement against them Thus have I endevoured to pick out some of the Bones that the Authour hath left in amongst the marrow of moderne divinity and I hope I have performed it with plainnes and I have done it after a loving manner without malice to the Authour whom I know not nor yet could ever perfectly heare of by any man But that which I have writ is in the defence of the truth so much oppugned by the Authour which truth is deare unto me and so should be to all Gods people I must confesse and doe it freely that I love the Authour and am perswaded of the truth of many things delivered by him in his Booke and for which grace bestowed on him I blesse God and pray the Lord for a further increase upon him but the truth I value above all I find the Booke commended by worthy Divines whom I honour but yet my Faith is not to depend upon man but only upon the Scriptures the written word of God And I desire that this which I have written may be tryed by that touch stone and none else And then I am confident it will be found truth when that opinion of the Antinomians maintained by this Authour will be found an errour For he hath directly gone along with them in this thing namely that there is no Evangelicall preparations to Faith in Christ which is the maine thing I have now disproved and have I hope sufficiently proved that there must be such preparations to Faith in Christ And it is impossible for any other to beleeve in Christ to the saving of the soule but only such as are so prepared Christ himselfe saith non can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him Iohn 6.44 Errour is very dangerous especially in the foundation and principles of the Doctrine of Christ whereof repentance and Faith are two of the maine Heb. 6.1 And therefore with great care to be looked into and to be truly knowne and how they are to be distinguished from other the effects of the Spirit Christian Reader what I have done herein I commend unto thy wisdome and I desire the Lord to give both thee and me such understanding in the truth and wayes of God that we may not be carryed away with every wind of Doctrine from the truth to the errours of these times Now to him that is able to keepe and preserve us in his truth be all praise honour and glory through Christ Iesus for ever Amen Iames. 2.1 My Brethren have not the Faith of our Lord Iesus Christ the Lord of glory with respect of persons FINIS

lost condition none but such as are wounded will look for and highly prize the Physician to cure their poore soules Now this Grace of Repentance is purchased by Christ and admitted to poore Sinners through him and to be preached in his Name and it is wrought in the hearts of the Elect by the holy Ghost through the free grace of God and is not wrought or produced by any power that is in the creature For the truth is we are all passive in every thing that concernes our salvation we cannot repent unlesse God give us repentance we cannot beleeve unlesse God give us faith to beleeve And therefore I doe the more wonder at the Author that hath so much urged Faith and believing and yet never tells us how this so precious Faith is wrought or how wee may attaine thereunto but speakes of it as if it were in our own power I acknowledge freely that Repentance is wrought by the Word preached and Faith also But yet it is the Lord that works by the means and without which all would be unprofitable and so all is of free Grace for there is no worke that we can doe before Justification or after Justification can merit any grace for us before God Ephes 2.10 for we are his workmanship created in Jesus Christ c. And whatsoever gift of grace any man receives it is from the free bounty and grace of God in Christ And every gift so received is to be put forth by us to the glory of our God and the good of our brethren And to so forth to all men the goodnesse of our God towards us through Christ by way of thankfulnesse for mercy received and to no other end whatsoever And thus you may see I am no enemy to the doctrine of Free Grace nor to the Teachers thereof if they publish only the truth thereof without running into by wayes for feare of something which they need not if they did truly understand the truth But I desire above all things to advance the Free grace of God in Christ and by Gods help will doe it And now because the Author hath so much spoken of Faith and of beleeving yet hath not told us what this Faith is I will Christian Reader for thy help and the Authors information for downe what this precious Faith is for other Faith 's mentioned in Scripture I let passe This only is to our purpose at this time and I suppose may be thus defined To be a gracious worke of Gods Spirit wrought in the hearts of such as are Penitent wherby they are assured in their soules of the free pardon and remission of all their sins and of peace and reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ Rō 5.1 This is that speciall faith which none but the Elect are partakers of and therefore called the faith of Gods elect other faiths are common to all this only to the redeemed in Christ and this faith is never given to any but to the repentant only And this repentance and this faith are the parts of Regeneration the new birth from above spoken of by our Lord Christ John 3.5 Water and the Spirit The first prepareth the other purgeth and without which work no man shall enter into the Kingdome of heaven according to that eternall decree never to be called back which saith Except a man de borne againe of Water and the Spirit be cannot enter into the Kingdome of heaven I wonder the Author could not see this or if hee saw it would not so much as mention it in the bringing of a poore sinner home to Iesus Christ but presseth men to believe as if Faith were in mans power whereas indeed it is the gift of God Ephes 2.8 Mortification of sin and Sanctification or newnesse of lise doth alwayes follow the Justification of a sinner by faith and are some of the fruits proceeding from one that is justified and reconciled unto God through Iesus Christ for they must be first ingrafted into Christ before they can bring forth fruit in him Now the parts of Regeneration Repentance and Faith are but the ingrafting and no part of the fruit the Fruit alwayes follows the ingrafting and these are no part of Repentance if truly considered for every grace of the Spirit may be clearly distinguished each from other by the Scriptures and must not be confounded together as the manner of some is to doe who would make Repentance to consist of Mortification to sinne and newnesse of life nay some have said that Repentance consists of Faith also and so they make a great confusion and are never able to find out the truth For though Repentance doth continue in a time beleever and justified person so long as he lives here for he sins daily and therefore must repent daily And it is required of them Ephes 6.15 that they should have their feet shod with the preparation of the Gospell of peace namely Repentance yet is Repentance truly to be distinguished from other the effects of the spirit as Faith Hope Patience Love and Ioy and not to be confound one with another as some doe And by the way let this bee considered that howsoever Christ hath wrought perfect Redemption for us yet the application and the making this Redemption effectuall unto us is done by the holy Ghost every one in the undivided Trinity having his speciall worke appropriated unto him to make perfect the salvation of poore Sinners which severall workes must of necessity be distinguished And take notice of this that this speciall Faith that justifieth the beleever apprehending the grace of God in Christ is alwayes grounded upon some speciall promise in Scripture For there cannot bee this speciall faith in any soule where there is not first a promise And the promises as I have said are made only to the Penitent the broken-hearted the mourners such as are heavy laden c. Christ calls only such to him And the holy Spirit of God doth never write the Covenant of Peace with God in other hearts but only in the broken and contrite heart namely the repentant soule and they only can and doe beleeve with this speciall Faith for none else can worke that worke to beleeve in him whom God hath sent John 6.29 but only such poore soules for where there is no promise there can be no faith for though faith be the ground of things hoped for yet there must be a promise to ground that Faith on For though Abraham beleeved beyond hope yet he had a promise first made unto him by a faithfull God And therefore I pray the Christian Reader to observe what I have before set down for it is not our beleeving till wee be perswaded that we do beleeve for as I have said before so I say againe there must be first a promise for such poore Sinners to lay hold on then they finding themselves to be such penitent and broken hearted to whom the speciall promises do pertain the holy