Selected quad for the lemma: world_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
world_n	deny_v	live_v	ungodliness_n	2,303	5	11.2667	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61262	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 ...	Standfast, Richard, 1608?-1684.	1665 (1665)	Wing S5210; ESTC R33851	22,608	84

abundantly sufficient for the sins of the whole World yet the benefit of that Death of his is bestow'd on none but upon such conditions as God himself pleaseth which conditions for such as be of years are Faith and Repentance which if we want we shall be sure to perish in our sins not out of any defect in Christ but onely because we want those conditions whereby we come to have interest in him and to be partakers of his Merits Now that we may the better know whether we have this Faith in us yea or no and so neither be deceiv'd with vain hopes nor yet discomforted with false fears consider this which follows and see what Answer you can make to these several demands Are you sensib●e of the misery wherein you are by reason of your sins And do you finde that you need a Saviour Do you know who is the Saviour of the World Do you know in some good measure who Christ is and what he hath done for us and what the benefits that are to be had by him Do you know what a necessity there is of having of him and what a misery it is to be without him and what we must do if we would have any benefit by him And do you verily believe that Christ Iesus and none but he is the Saviour of the World and that he hath both done and suffered as the Scriptures Testifie of him Do you verily believe that there is no way to Heaven but Christ that there is no way to get Christ but Faith and that there is no part to be had in him but by renouncing all other Lords and all other Saviours and by adhering wholly unto him for all our Consolation and Salvation And do you now Desire from the heart to be made partaker of Christ and do you sincerely endeavour to accept of him and to embrace him And can you be content for his sake to forsake all things and to undergo any misery rather then to part with him Can you be content to take him as we say for better for worse and not onely for your Iesus to save you from your sins but also for your Lord to command and dispose of you at his pleasure And is it your care to know his Will And is it your endeavour to yield him an Universal Obedience And is it your practise in obedience unto him to exercise your self to keep a Conscience void of offence both toward God and toward Men and constantly and conscionably to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live godly and righteously and soberly in this present world Do you thus Accept of Christ and Submit unto him Nay is it your hearty desire and unfained endeavour so to do Then you may be sure that you have some degrees of True Faith in Iesus Christ and therefore that Christ is yours that God is yours that All is yours For this is such a qualification as hath the promise both of the Life that now is and also of that that is to come By the Questions we may examine our condition For after this manner is Faith wrought in us Such are the preparatives such is the nature and such are the effects of a True Faith as are implyed in these questions So that if we can in some good measure make understanding and affectionate answers to them all Then we may be sure that we have a True Faith in Christ But if either we know him not or desire not to accept of him or care not to obey him we have then cause to think that we do not believe in him and if we think otherwise we do but deceive our souls Now if upon examination had we finde that we want Faith we must be diligent in using the means whereby to get it which is by reading and hearing of the Word of God and conferring about it For Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word If we finde that we have this Faith we must be careful to keep it and to increase it by the Word by the Sacraments and by Prayer The Third Question UPon this that hath been spoken another question may be raised to this purpose I do in some measure know who Christ is and I do believe that he is a Saviour All-sufficient and that there is no other way to Salvation but Him and that whosoever believeth in him shall not Perish and I my self would fain believe in him But how may I know that I have right to believe in him and that the invitations to Faith do concern me How may I know whether I should be welcome or not if I should be so bold as to come unto him Answer For our encouragement herein and that we may come the more boldly unto the Throne of Grace we must know that Christ is a Common Saviour he is the Saviour of the World and in regard of the All-sufficiency of his merits there is not one of those whose nature he took unto whom his merits are not communicable neither is there any one who in that respect may not truly be said to be savable The Promise is made to You and to your Children and to all that be afar off even as many as the Lord our God shall call Acts 2 39. Now if you desire to know whether you be one of those whom he doth call to believe in him consider then whether or no you be sensible of your misery and burdened with your sins whether your desire be to be eased of your sins and to be partaker of Christ and of those benefits and comforts that be in him For if we be thus qualified we may be confident that we are of the number of those whom he doth seriously invite to come unto him and to depend upon him And hereof you have a witness in your self and Gods own hand to shew for it to your greater comfort For these are his own words Come unto me all ye that labour and be heavy laden and I will give you rest Mat. 11.28 And again If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink Iohn 7.37 Unto such thirsty souls was Christ sent he came to speak peace to such as are weary and broken-hearted and to set at liberty such as are bruised So that if we finding what a misery it is to be in sin and to want a Saviour have thereupon an earnest desire to be delivered from this misery we may be as sure that he calls upon us to come unto him as if our very Names were specified in these invitations Being thus qualified we may come boldly and upon our coming shall be sure to finde Rest But without this badge we have no warrant at all to expect a welcome They that do thus hunger and thirst after Righteousness shall be filled but they that be rich in their own conceits and are not sensible of any wants these he sends empty away The Fourth Question BUt if I finde that I want this sorrow what course

and fro throughout the whole Earth to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him The Eighth Question BUt if the Perseverance and so Salvation of such as are in deed and in truth the Saints of God be so sure and certain what mean those frequent caveats which we meet with in the Scripture What mean those frequent exhortations to Perseverance Answer The Perseverance of such is sure and certain howbeit God brings it to pass by means It is wrought in them by God and yet their own endeavours also are required And these Caveats and exhortations are the means which God hath sanctified for the exciting of their endeavours and for their preservation from Apostacy Caveats we have many and many Threatnings Exhortations many and many Promises such as are Take heed to your selves Watch in all things Be steadfast and unmovable continue faithfull unto the Death and I will give thee the Crown of Life The latter end of back-sliders shall be worse then their beginning c. By which and other like passages we are not to think either that perseverance is in our own power or that the condition of Gods Peculiar People is mutable in regard of him But they do imply how prone we are to sin in regard of our selves And they shew that our own endeavours are required for the working out of our Salvation and they are the means sanctified of God for the preventing of sin and for the exciting of our care and so for the preserving of us unto his heavenly Kingdome And whereas we are said to be kept by the power of God We may not so understand it as if we our selves might in the mean time sit still and do nothing We are kept by God and yet we also must keep our selves It is God that keepeth us and yet we also must watch and pray But we are said to be kept by God for our greater encouragement For if our endeavours be sincere though they be but weak yet they will be effectuall because we have such a mighty helper And withall it is to teach us to whom we ougth to ascribe all the glory when our endeavours become effectual It is God that must have the glory of it for it is by his power that we are kept who worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure Be strong therefore in the Lord and in the power of his might He that is with us is mightier then they that be against us And therefore we need not fear for neither the power nor the policy of Hell shall prevaile against the People of God And the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Mat. 16.18 The Ninth Question I Make no doubt of the power of God I know that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him but I doubt of his will I fear that he will not do it Answer Surely this is a needless fear for his love is everlasting his gifts and calling are without Repentance and whom he loveth to the End he loveth them And therefore Fear not the Lord will not forsake his People for his own Names sake because it hath pleased him to make you his People 1 Sam. 12.22 So that if once he hath loved us so well as to set us apart for himself He loveth himself better then to forsake us And though our unworthinesse deserve that God should deny us yet his Faithfulness is such that he cannot deny himself Think therefore upon his love Meditate upon his Power Call to mind his romise Forget not his Truth And commit the keeping of your soul unto him in well doing Care you to do well God will care for the rest For He preserveth the Souls of his Saints he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked Psal 79.10 The Tenth Question BUt seeing that mine own endeavours are required for the working out of my Salvation And seeing that my assurance of Salvation cannot be sound unless my care and diligence in the constant using of all good means tending thereunto be every way answerable Shew me I pray you by what means I may be enabled to continue patiently in well doing that so at the last I may obtain eternal life Answer Hereunto many things are useful the chiefest of which are these following 1. Labour to be sincere by considering that all our wayes are before God To walk before God is the way to be perfect and sincerity is the way to perseverance For the Righteous shall hold on his way and he that hath clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger Iob 17.6 But he whose heart is not upright before God will start aside in the time of Tryal See 1 Iohn 2.19 Labour to overcome the World that so neither the cares and glory of it may too deeply affect us nor yet the crosses and troubles of it too much affright us For each of these are great hinderances to the practice of piety Perfecution is that heat that doth wither the word and by it some are made to deny their Master And the cares of the World are the thorns that choke the Word and a means whereby it becomes unfruitfull For the love of Money is the root of all Evil which while some have coveted after they have erred from the Faith 1 Tim. 6.10 Arm your self therefore against both these and to this end consider with your self and think often upon that of our Saviour Mat. 16.26 What is a Man profited if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul And upon that Mat. 8.38 He that is ashamed of me of him will the Son of Man be ashamed c. And upon that 2 Tim. 2.12 If we Suffer with him we shall Reign with him But if we Deny him he will also Deny us And learn to discern between those things that be seen and the things that be not seen For the things that be seen are but Temporall but the things which are not seen are Eternal 2 Cor. 4.18 3. Watch in all things for our Enemies are many and security is dangerous and sin is so deceitfull that it will quickly harden us And this is certain a Man never yields to his own corrupt disposition for the committing of any evil but he is ordinarily more willing to the second act then to the first And who then can tell how far he may go astray that doth but once give way to his own Corruption 4. Labour to grow in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by considering that our Labour cannot be in vain in the Lord. This endeavour to grow in Grace is a special means to keep us from being drawn away with the errour of the wicked But standing still is in danger of turning back and lukewarmness is the way to grow key-cold 5. Despise not Prophecying if you would not quench the Spirit If we would not be weary of wel-doing we must wait upon