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A92710
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Meanes to prevent perishing. Or, The usefulnesse of the saving knowledge of God. Discovered in these particulars; I. The blessed tendency the knowledg of God hath to bring men to salvation. II. The one-ness of the Father, Son, and Spirit. III. The excellency of Christs person. IV. The excellent nature of eternal life. By W.S. a servant of the Lord Jesus.
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W. S.
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Wing S198; Thomason E955_3; ESTC R207616
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eternal life and hinder you from walking in the path that leades unto it and so deprive you of it as unavoidably as sin it self can do it and as you are to avoid these evils on the one hand so on the other it will be meet to wait on the Lord Jesus for the sweet tastes of his love the which when you have once experience of you wil by that earnest penny know something of the riches worth of eternal life now for that end I beseech you wait attentively for the Lord in the use of al his Ordinances for there he wil be found in them in the assemblies of his people you may expect to find him because it is his walk but take notice I pray you that a negligent formal overtly use of them I do not call for but be sure you make it your business to look for him and to injoy communion with him and to tast and see as David saith Psalm 348. how good the Lord is if you look for him with that intention and desire as the Church did Cant. 5.8 you will be sure to find him he will not long hide himself from such a soul but among all other duties I could wish that you would watch to meet with him alone and there open your hearts to him freely and tell him the very worst you know by your selves and that with an intent and an indeavour to shame and humble your selves before him and be you assured that he will exalt you in due time let him know what you would have and be sure to follow him dayly consider what counsel he gives you himself Mat. 7 7 8 9 10 11. Luke 11. from the 5. to 14. the 18. the 8 first verses and if you follow this counsel you may be sure that the Lord will graciously open his heart unto you at last and give you such a taste of the water of life that will set your souls a longing for your fill thereof and that wil make you both do and suffer for Christ with much chearfulness and willingness Vse 2. The second use is this if it be so that there is so rich a portion attainable as eternal life then be sure to take a speedy course for the getting a clear assurance of your own interest in that happy injoyment do not trifle your time away any longer but set upon the work without delay and to that end that you may make sure work observe the counsel of the Apostle Peter in his second Epistle 1.5 to the 12 you shall find two things minded by Peter in this text in order to the getting of a full assurance The first of these is to lay the foundation of Christianity in true beleeving that is clear in these words Add to your faith vertue implying that faith must needs be there for it is impossible to ad vertue to it else Now therefore in the first place although you be never so impenitent and wicked yet rest upon the grace of God in Christ yea if you think also that you have attained some vertue patience or love or other fruits of the Spirit yet do not as Saints but as sinnets rest upon the blood of Christ remember I pray you that neither works done nor grace received is to be rested on for Justification but we are justified in and through beleeving and resting upon the blood of Christ who freely justifieth men as they are sinners ungodly ones and therefore note it well neither their repentance nor love but faith is imputed for righteousness look Rom. 4. And by faith are we become the sons of God Galat. 3.26 I do not say but there are some promises made to the saints as they are saints such as are in Psal 34.10.17 19 many other like there be and with these the godly may comfort themselves and none but those that are saints can claim an interest in them yet notwithstanding that translating act as I may so call it in and through which a man is made of a child of wrath a child of light I say again that thing or means that maketh him a Son of God that was none before is this act of beleeving and resting on the blood of Christ as a man considereth himself a sinner and ungodly without the least degree of worth in himself and as a beleever resteth on the blood of Christ for justification so likewise he expecteth from the free grace of God in and through the same blood sanctification glory outward things and in a word all things appertaining to life and godlyness for true faith desireth and resteth upon the Lord for the accomplishment of all the promises that he hath made as well as for any of them The second means that Peter directs us to use for the getting assurance of eternal life is to add to our faith vertue knowledg temperance patience godliness brotherly kindness and charity under which heads are concluded all the graces and fruits of the Spirit of Christ these saith he you must add to your faith these you must abound in and as it is in the 3 chap. and last verse grow in and then if you grow in grace and persevere in well-doing and abound therein more and more you shall saith he never fall but have an abundant enterance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour ver 10 11. As if he should say by this means you shall be able to keep and injoy a clear and constant assurance of eternall life and this is to be done by giving dilligence ver 10. I pray you observe it my brethren dilligence must be used it is not a lazy formal profession and an overly careless performance of duties that will either give or keep assurance of salvation a man must be ready to open to the spirit when he knocketh and to hearken to his motions and take heed of rebelling against him and labour to avoid all those unworthy courses that tend to grieve and to quench the spirit and if you thus do you may be assured the spirit will not fail to do his office but he will give unto and maintain in the soul assurance of eternal life and that will be a most sweet injoyment the man that hath it may want friends riches health and outward contentments but he cannot want comfort joy and peace his soul shall be full of consolation however the world goes with him or against him and he shall be able in the worst of times to say that both life and death shall be to him advantage Vse 3. And in the last place this may serve to reprove the folly of all those that spend all their time and strength in the pursuit of the things of this present life with the neglect of the life that is eternal and therefore well might Solomon term wicked men fools for indeed their courses are madness and folly and indeed there is no folly to be compared to this of running after the trifles and empty
best abilities that these times do afford but only for these reasons I have now done it First I find some such motions flying abroad both in discourse and in print about this subject which in my judgement savours not well Secondly I do not find able men men of knowledg such as I would be glad to provoke to this work so forward to bring forth light as others to bring forth darkness and if they have it is more than I know Thirdly the matter I have spoken to fell in my way and I thought I might do well and it was my duty to bring forth my Mite in such a time as this wherein I find so many casting vails over the Name of Christ and of the Holy Spirit now therefore I do beseech you seriously to consider of that which hath been said unto you take heed of looking upon our Lord Jesus as a meer Creature lest your Faith fail you in the day of Temptation if the work of Redemption be but considered how great it is what a price must be laid down before this work could be done and that Law which in that condition in which man once stood would have been his life now he cannot expect nothing from it as the case standeth but only death but all the life and pardoning Grace that now cometh to poor man comes only through the Blood of the Lord Jesus now except a man know the worth and all-sufficiency of Christ that he is perfectly able to remove all the Curses which his sins have deserved and also able to procure him all the blessings his soul stands in need of it will be very hard if not altogether impossible to rest upon him in the day of tryal and so likewise when a man shall come to see what a great work it is to change the heart of man to subdue sin and to sanctifie the soul and when he shall see the barrenness of his heart in the graces and fruits of the Spirit of Christ also and withall considers what a degree of perfection all those are brought unto that inherit Eternal life and then minds that the Spirit of God is he that hath undertaken to carry on this hard and to man this impossible work If now he be not established in the knowledg and firm belief of this that the Holy Spirit that carries on this work is the only true God I say except a man beleeve and know this he can have little ground to hope or beleeve that ever it will come to perfection but wherefore should any men be so hardly brought to beleeve this me thinks it is for want of consideration the scriptures you know speaks of the Spirit of God in some places and in other places of the Spirit of Christ should we therefore be so weak as to think that the Father hath one Spirit Christ another but now if we must needs understand that the Spirit of God the Spirit of Christ is but one Spirit wherefore should we not as well believe that God the Spirit of God are all one likewise then Beloved if the Spirit of Christ and the Father be one and God and the Spirit of God one then wherefore should we think that the Godhead of Christ and of the Father are more than one but I shall press this no further but come now to make some Use of it Vse 1. And if it be so that there is one and but one only true God who is the fountain and perfection of all Power Wisdom Truth and goodness who alone made Heaven and Earth the seas and all the Hosts of Creatures that are contained in them and on whose meet grace and love depends the happiness and well-being of all things whatsoever whos 's all seeing eye beholds all the secrets of all hearts and whose Eternal invisible unchangeable Almighty and Omni-present Being fills the whole Creation but is not contained in it who is worthy of all honour service praise and worship from all Creatures for evermore I say if this be so then let this God be our God let us have no other but him alone to be our God I shall not trouble you nor my self with that foolish Generation of men that use to picture him up and to set him forth by such vain Images as their hands can make I hope you are past this absurd and foolish practice but I pray you beware that you set up no. Idols of him in your minds Oh do not suffer any thought or imagination of him to come or to rest within your hearts that is low or carnall take heed that you do not liken him to any thing that ever your eyes have seen but let your thoughts be of him acording unto that glorious discription that his own boly records give of him let high reverence and honour love and holy fear accompany every thought that comes into your minds of his most excellent and glorious Name be sure you chuse him for your chiefest good let him be your only Diadem and the Crown which your hearts have chosen for your chiefest treasure be sure that you do not esteem love nor honour any relation or thing whatsoever as you do this most High and only true God for if you do you commit Idolatry against him who is a jealous God and will not give his glory to another and therefore beware for whatsoever any man doth set up and in heart esteeme love or honour above God or equall with him sets up another God and shall be reckoned amongst Idolaters and such as have committed spiritual whoredom against him when Christ shall come to judg every man according to his works But I shall more particularly come to shew you something of the honour that is due to this only true God in setting some of those duties before you which in especial you owe to him First then give him this honour to yeeld up your hearts unto him to love him above all things whatsoever this use Moses makes of this point Deut. 6.45 hear O Israel saith he the Lord our God is one Lord and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might Here you see what is due to God even love in the very height of it the whole heart soul might is all little enough for God no creature must come between the heart and God neither wife nor child nor pleasure nor profit for if there be any thing in the world that a man loves better than God or as well as he this is no less a sin than the setting up of another God therefore look to your hearts in these two special cases when the glory of God comes in competition either with a mans beloved relations or his beloved sins if he cannot cast them both away for the honour of his God he is unworthy of him see I pray you what our Lord Jesus saith to this point Luke 14.26 If any man come