Selected quad for the lemma: earth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	grace_n	heaven_n	lord_n	5,528	5	3.6383	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29501	The faith by which we are justified, in scripture-sense according to Scripture, opened, explained, and applied, on Rom. 5, I : in six sermons.	G. B. (George Bright), d. 1696.	1695 (1695)	Wing B4673; ESTC R36513	77,408	77

Promise if it be so that Heaven is the Promise For I would ask any Man that gives Reverence to this word of God Do you Believe that Enoch Noah Abraham Isaac and Jacob Moses Samuel David c. Do you think they are now in Heaven And yet saith the Apostle expresly they went away out of this World and left a great Fame and Honour and record of themselves behind them but did not receive the Promise Did they not receive the Promise immediately when their Spirits went out of their Bodies to Heaven Can it be said They Received not the Promise if Heaven were the Promise intended And yet the Apostle saith They received not the Promise God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect Therefore I say That Glorious Kingdom of Jesus Christ That Visible Glory of Saints both in Body and Spirit That they did not receive The New Heaven and the New Earth they did not receive which the Apostle Peter says We look for according to promise they have it not yet tho they have been in Heaven for so many Ages And therefore Faith is on purpose for this Kingdom of Jesus Christ among the things that are to come Among them I say and as a Principal of that World to come whereof we speak I shall therefore add at this time by way of Recollection and so conclude with Application a recollection of all that I have spoken of the great excellency of Faith And I beseech you in the First place Let this be a general Position concerning Faith That Faith is proper to that New Creation from first to last that comes in by Jesus Christ It is as really a New Heaven if I may so represent it to you a New Heaven of Grace As that New Heaven the Apostle Peter and John speak of shall be a New Heaven in comparison of that we have now The Heaven we have now declares the Glory of God It is one of the wonderful Works of God The Sun Moon and Stars How wonderful are they And yet for all this there shall be a New Heaven God does not like the Heaven that is now as sufficient to declare his Glory For if there had been no fault found with the Heaven and Earth that are now what place had there been for a New Heaven As the Apostle Argues in the Case of the Covenant I beseech you consider it is the Apostles own Argument in another case Heb. 8. 7. For if that first Covenant had been faultless then should no place been sought for the Second And in that he saith A New Covenant He hath made the first Old Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away I would but apply it to the New Heaven and New Earth If there had been no fault found with the present Heaven and Earth tho they declare the Glory of God what place had there been for another Heaven and Earth For the Second Heaven and Earth and why are they said to wax Old but that they are to vanish away Surely the Apostles Argument is very Substantial according to the Discourse here But the thing that I intend it for is just as the New Heaven and the New Earth that God will make just such is the Faith that God hath brought in That great Grace of Faith It is as New as the New Heaven and the New Earth It is a way of Salvation a way of Righteousness a way of Holiness a way of Eternally making Happy As new as the New Heaven and the New Earth And therefore it is no wonder that Men boggle at Faith so and that they make such a stir about it and are such Enemies to it That no Discourse that is found in the Gospel will please them or serve their turn It is because God hath Created a New thing It is not of the First Creation but a New thing Grace of a New Erection of a New Extraction O Blessed are they that have it For it is as much above Nature as the New Heaven and the New Earth shall be above the present Heaven and the present Earth It is prepared and fitted on purpose by the Mediator To give it you in another Expression And I beseech you rest upon it And that you may have it ready to Discourse when any Assail the Doctrine of Faith that you may have it fitted within your Lips as Solomon saith I say again Just as the Righteousness of the Second Adam exceeds the Righteousness of the First just so does the way of Faith exceed the Integrity and uprightness of Adam in the First Creation wherein he was Created You 'll say How can you make this appear There is a plain Scripture for it I appeal to all the World upon this Scripture against the greatest Enemies of Faith Therefore it is of Faith that it might be by grace to the end that the promise might be sure to all the Seed Rom. 4. 16. As much therefore as Grace excels the Righteousness of Man in his first Creation so much does Faith excel all Natural Power And as the certainty of Grace excels that of our Doing So much does Faith excel the First State in which Man was Created For It is of Faith that it might be by Grace And then that it might be sure It must be of Grace I say therefore I beseech you conceive right of the excellency of Faith by what I have spoken to you out of this very Scripture Rom. 4. 16. And have it in your Mouths as that word of Truth by which you may Answer any that Reproach the Holy Doctrine of Grace and Faith in the Gospel But I would add but briefly of the Excellencies of Faith wherein God hath magnified Faith above any other Grace And yet I shall shew you in the next Discourse if the Lord will give me leave to do it that notwithstanding all this excellency of Faith It cannot in the least be said to Justify by it self but only by that hold it has of Christ and of the Righteousness of Christ But I say at the present First of all here 's the excellency of Faith That Faith hangs only upon God and Christ and that which is Divine and Eternal it will not venture upon any thing that is Created And if you come once to true Faith you hang only upon God and Christ and the Spirit of God A great deal of difference when a man hangs by this and that Title that he thinks is well grounded and is in himself and in the Creature He has nothing then of Faith For Faith hangs wholly upon God and Christ and the Spirit and Grace and what is Divine and Eternal In the Second place Faith it gives all the Glory to God It must needs do so when it hangs all upon him gives Glory to God and Christ and Grace Gives Glory wholly to him as Rom. 4. You know Abraham was strong in Faith and gave glory to God

of Holiness it comes by Jesus Christ He hath as the Apostle saith implanted the Law by himself And the Law is written in the Hearts of his Servants by and through the Grace of the New Covenant as you know that great Place Heb. 8. 10. How comes the Law to be written in the Hearts of the Servants of God It is because of the New Covenant of which Jesus Christ is the Surety and the Mediator This is the Covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those days saith the Lord I will put my Laws into their Mind and write them in their Heart All the Holy Laws of God they are written in the Heart and Mind through the New Covenant of which you know every where the Apostle declares Christ to be the Surety and the Mediator and the Testator of So that if there be any thing that is well spoken in the whole World of Morality it is properly transplanted under the Influence of Jesus Christ the Son of Righteousness and the great Sanctifier of his People And so if we take those Places of Scripture to be sure Holiness and Sanctification in the strict Sense is not to be excluded That he might Sanctifie his People with his own Blood For their Sake I sanctifie my self That they might be Sanctified through the Truth Now Faith is that as I shall shew you by which we derive from Jesus Christ All Sanctification in what sense soever I come to the fourth thing in which I would shew the excellency of Faith and that it is all in and through Christ. And that is those Heroick Acts those extraordinary Acts that the Servants of God have done in the World at any Time they have been done by the Power of Faith as that Power has been received by Faith from Jesus Christ In Heb. 11. We have a great Record of those things that the Servants of God have done in the several Ages of the World the great many things they have done those mighty Acts that they atchiev'd as you see all along in that Chapter The Apostle begins with Abel and so he comes down to Noah and to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and then to Joseph and to Moses and then to the Servants of God together as you find verse 33. Gideon and Barak and Sampson and Jepthah and David and Samuel and the Prophets it comes down to Who through Faith subdued Kingdoms wrought Righteousness obtained Promises stopped the Mouths of Lions quenched the violence of Fire escaped the edge of the Sword out of weakness were made strong waxed valiant in Fight turned to flight the Armies of the Aliens Women received their dead raised to life again and others were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better Resurrection And others had Tryals of cruel Mockings and Scourgings yea moreover of Bonds and Imprisonments They were stoned they were sawn asunder were tempted were flain with the Sword they wandred about in Sheeps●skins and Goat-skins being destitute afflicted tormented And these all saith the Apostle verse 39. having obtained a good Report Indeed a good Report are Words in our ordinary use of them too low For the Apostle means they obtained a high Renown for they are words of a celebrating Nature they are of a Holy great Fame they obtained a great Fame that 's the meaning of it they are spoken of with great Honor in all Ages And all this was by Faith And their Faith it rested upon Jesus Christ For as a Captain as he spoke to Joshua who is here referred to he appeared Nay saith he Captain of the Lords Host am I now come and now thus appear unto thee It is very remarkable that all the great Acts that the Servants of God have at any time done they have done it by the power of Faith and that Faith in Christ Josh 5. 13. And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jerico that he lifted up his Eyes and looked and behold there stood a Man over against him with his Sword drawn in his Hand and Joshua went unto him and said unto him art thou for us or for our Adversaries And he said nay but as Captain of the Host of the Lord am I now come And Joshua fell on his face to the Earth and did worship and said unto him what saith my Lord unto his Servant Now this we know is not what any Holy Angel would accept And therefore it is certain it was Christ He fell down and worshipped But when the Angel in the Revelation was offered to be worshipped you know he said see thou do it not for I am but a fellow Servant But saith Joshua What saith my Lord unto his Servant And the Captain of the Lords Host said unto Joshua loose thy shooe from thy foot for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground and Joshua did so I speak this only as an evident Argument that this was Christ And it is evident that he is the Captain of the Lords Host in any great thing that his Servants do And therefore when any of the Servants of God in the old Testament did extraordinary things it was by the Power of their Faith and their Faith it was a Faith in Christ And therefore certainly if we had the power of Faith there would be great things that we should do We do but very little things because we have very little Faith But if an abundance of Faith was given to us we should be able to do the great things that the Servants of God have done heretofore And when ever such things as I cannot but upon all Occasions say to you I hope the time is near that great Things shall be done they shall be done by the Power of Faith and by the Captain of the Lords Host appearing and coming on our side And as a further proof if there needed any but I think there needs nothing more to be said The Captain of the Lord's Host was Christ The Apostle takes that very Expression surely we have Reason to think so For Scripture delights in its own Language and to refer to it and to speak like it self Heb. 2. 10. For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many Sons unto Glory to make the Captain of their Salvation perfect through sufferings the Captain of the Lord's Host So that I say all the great things that have been done by the Servants of God have been done by the power of Faith Such things had never been done if it had not been for the Power of Faith coming in by Jesus Christ It is certain such things had never been done so as to give glory to God in the doing of them Indeed I know you may be ready to say why the Enemies of God have done great things Have we not heard and read of great Alexander Of the great Caesars of the World Of the great Princes of the Turkish Army They have done great things