Selected quad for the lemma: father_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
father_n	abraham_n	according_a	nation_n	1,151	4	7.1950	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A16531	The vnbeliefe of St. Thomas the Apostle laid open for the comfort of all that desire to belieue. Whereunto is added a comfortable treatise for all that are afflicted in soule or body. The first armeth vs against despaire in the houre of death; the second against impatience vnder the crosse. By Nicholas Bound, Doctor in Diuinitie.	Bownd, Nicholas, d. 1613.; Bownd, Nicholas, d. 1613. Treatise ful of consolation. aut	1628 (1628)	STC 3442; ESTC S113890	68,060	212

said vnto him So shall thy seede be and Abraham beleeued the Lord. And the Apostle commendeth this faith in him so much the more because he considered not his own body Rom. 4.1 which was now dead that is voide of strength and vigour to get children beeing almost an hundred yeare old neither the deadnes of Saras wombe who was both aged and barren Both which if he had looked vnto he could haue had no sight or feeling of that that was promised for they were directly against it But he gaue this glorie to God vers 2●● that he was fully assured that he that had promised it was able to doe it and so aboue hope he beleeued vnder hope that he should be the father of many nations according to that which was spoken vnto him So shall thy seede be And so he beleeued that which he neither had nor could haue any present sight or feeling of Thus both Abraham and Sarah beleeued that which they could haue no feeling of in themselues and so must all the sonnes of Abraham and daughters of Sarah And thus to doe is not onely faith but the greatest faith For if they could haue seen how this might haue beene done and haue felt such strēgth in their bodies that they might perceiue it very likely by the course of nature then it had beene no great matter to beleeue it nay it had beene great infidelitie not to beleeue it So for vs to beleeue the promises of God when we may see and feele how they may be performed that is a matter of no moment but when all things go against them we haue no sight or feeling at all in our selues of that that is said vnto vs then to beleeue God and to giue this glory vnto him that he is able to performe it is a matter of great faith And therefore here it is said of Abraham not onely that he beleeued but that he was not weake in faith vers 1● that is very strong and constant in faith So that the Spirit of God commendeth this in him as an high degree of faith that he beleeued without sight or feeling to shew vs that faith is so many times seuered from feeling that it is thē the strongest when we constantly beleeue that which we neither see nor feele but waite vpon God for them both And this is that which was in our Sauiour Christ also who though he did alwaies put his trust in his father and was sure that he loued him and his faith this way was as pretious and pure as gold yet it did most of all shew it selfe in his full strength when he came to suffer vpon the crosse when it was so many waies assaulted that contrary to all sense and feeling he remained constant and so ouercame to succour all those that shall be oppressed with the temptations of vnbeleefe because they haue no feeling For when things did lie so heauie vpon him he beeing then to beare all our sinnes and corruptions and in them to appeare before God his father and to answer for them yea to satisfie his wrath by induring the full punishment of them first of all it is written of him that he began to waxe sorowfull ●ath 26.37 and grieuously troubled in his minde and this griefe was so deadly that he was not able to containe it in himselfe but did bewray it with most lamentable words vnto his Disciples that he might haue comfort from them saying vers 38. My soule is very heauie vnto the death tarie ye here and watch with me and then because his grief was not asswaged 39. he fell vpon his face downe to the ground and praied saying O my father if it be possible let this cuppe passe from me And thus he praied the second and third time And that it might appeare what vncomfortable striuing he had in himselfe all this while not onely with death but with the fearefull iudgement of his angrie father it is further added that he fell into a great agonie Luk. 22. ● and distraction of minde whereby all his bodie was distempered so that for anguish his sweate was like drops of blood trickling downe to the cold ground And at the last when he was vpon the crosse he was further assaulted with temptations from the speeches of men euen his enemies which reuiled him ●ath 27.39 wagging their heads and casting out many opprobrious speeches against him 40. saying If thou be the sonne of God come downe from the crosse he trusted in God let him deliuer him if he will haue him for he saide I am the sonne of God Whereby his discomforts and discouragements for our sakes were so increased that at the last he brast forth into these most lamentable words 46. and as the Euangelist saith straining as it were all the parts of his bodie and powers of his spirit hee cried with a loud voice My God my God why hast thou forsaken me All this while what present sight and feeling could he haue of Gods fauour when as not onely all things outwardly did shew but his words also did abundantly declare that inwardly he felt the contrarie Therefore his faith was now the greatest as it was meete it should be to incounter and ouercome so many and great temptations when as contrarie to all these things which he saw and felt he not only praied most earnestly vnto his father and continued therein praying three times the same words with such feruencie of spirit that beeing vpon the cold ground he sweat water and blood and he praied in faith Heb. 5.7 For when he did offer vp those praiers and supplications with strong crying and teares vnto him Luk. 22.4 that was able to saue him frō death he was heard in the thing which he feared and God sent an Angel vnto him from heauen to comfort him Whereby he came to this resolution of minde that he quietly submitted himselfe in these his sufferings vnto the will of his father saying Abba father Mark 14. all things are possible vnto thee take away this cup from me neuerthelesse not that I will but that thou wilt be done And beeing now at the point of death in the middest of all his sufferings and in the height of his temptations that it might appeare that he had ouercome all ●●k 23.46 he cried out with a loud voice straining himselfe to the vttermost when life was almost out of his weake and painfull bodie Father into thine hands I commend my spirit and when he thus had saide he gaue vp the ghost quietly died Which wordes of his beeing vttered with great zeale did shew the excellencie and perfection of his faith especially if we consider in what case he was then and so his faith was the greatest when he had the least feeling And thus no doubt the seruants of God in their seuerall afflictions of body and mind and otherwise are in measure made like

laden and I will ease you This then we see is no new thing for men not to beleeue sundry parts of Gods word brought vnto thē by the ministerie of diuers of his faithful seruants by reason of the great vnbeleefe and hardnes of heart that is in them whereby it commeth to passe that their owne vnderstanding doth more preuaile with them to distrust then the testimonie of many to beleeue How then had we neede to find out this vnbeleefe in our selues which when we haue done we are not to iudge too hardly of our selues seeing that it is so common but onely lament bewaile it seeke vnto Christ to be holpen of it who is the author and finisher of our faith ●●● 12.2 and say with the Apostles ●●● 17.5 Lord increase our faith and with the man in the Gospel ●●● 9.24 Lord I beleue helpe my vnbeleefe And if there be such great streams of vnbeleefe in Gods children till they be holpen of it what a bottomlesse sea thinke you is there of it in the wicked whereby it commeth to passe that they are filled with all atheisme and prophannes casting the word of God behinde their backs so that let neuer so many learned and godly men witnesse the truth vnto them for their amendment they will beleeue no more then they haue determined before hand with thēselues Let vs pray to God for them that they may haue better mindes euen desirous to beleeue and then shall they be holpen in time as the Apostle S. Thomas was And for our selues let vs labour to haue teachable hearts that we may reuerence giue credit vnto them who in the mysterie of our saluation know more then we doe and haue in the matter of faith a great deale more experience then we our selues That so it may come to passe of what minde so euer we haue beene before that when Gods faithfull seruants whome we should esteeme and trust they shall tell vs so and so whether for Gods iudgements or for his promises or for the direction of our liues we may beleeue and obey them Then shall we come to faith and be confirmed in it ●●● 1● 17 for he that regardeth instruction is in the way of life And if in other matters we thinke it reasonable that we should beleeue those that haue more knowledge thē our selues yea euen cleane contrarie to that that we thought before as for the matter of our health we beleeue many skilfull Physitians for the state of our bodies and many expert lawyers for the state of our lands and goods why should we not then in matters of diuinitie and for the state of our soules giue more credit to many skilfull Diuines then to our selues Especially when as the generall rule holdeth as well in that as in any other science that euery skilfull man is to be credited in his owne arte and facultie our reason is more corrupt in this then in any other thing and therefore there is more cause that we should beleeue others then our selues Therefore as in other matters when we are doubtfull we conferre with them that haue more skill and knowledge and giue credit vnto thē contrarie to our owne thoughts and we are readie to relie vpon them rather then vpon our selues So let vs doe in matters of faith and let vs not offer Gods seruants and our selues this great wrong that we wil beleeue all men in other things sauing then in this It is too much that we haue done it so often alreadie let vs not continue in it that we should come to the Church and heare Gods word preached and goe away not beleeuing it and come againe the next day and then depart away as full of vnbeleefe as before and thus from day to day so still be of this mind that whatsoeuer men say we will beleeue none but our selues thinking that we haue reason as well as they and therefore vnles we can conceiue it by reason we will not admit it whatsoeuer they say For faith is aboue reason therfore we must beleeue the seruants of God in things whereof we can conceiue no reason nay reason is against faith and there is nothing in vs more to hinder vs from beleeuing then to harken to our owne reason ●or 2.14 For the naturall man by his best reason perceiueth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishnes vnto him neither can he know them by his owne wit because they are spiritually discerned that is by a supernaturall inlightning of the sprit of God So that matters of faith we can not only not by reason comprehend thē but they seeme foolishnes vnto all thē that will no further giue credit vnto things then they be demonstrated by reason which made the Apostles when the women came from the sepulchre told them that Christ was risen not onely not to beleeue them but that their words seemed vnto thē as a fained thing Luk. 24.11 and a meere fable that had no truth in it and therefore Christ saith in the Gospel Math. 16. If any man will follow me let him forsake himselfe that is his owne reason most of all that so he may beleeue others contrary vnto it And this is that which is so highly commended by the spirit of God in our father Abraham Rom. 4.1 that he aboue all hope that reason could affoard him beleeued vnder hope that he should be the father of many nations for he considered not his owne bodie which was now dead that is void of strength and vnmeete to get children beeing almost an hundred yeares old neither the deadnesse of Sarahs wombe neither did he doubt of the promise of God through vnbeleefe but was strengthned in faith and gaue glorie to God beeing fully assured that he that had promised it was able to doe it where we see that renouncing his owne reason which would haue held him in vnbeleefe he rested vpon the truth and power of God and so beleeued aboue that by reason could be shewed him or he able to conceiue and so must we doe also ●●● 11.3 The Apostle saith that through faith we vnderstand that the world was ordained by the word of God and that the things which we see are not made of things which did appeare that is that this great beautifull frame of the world was made of nothing is a matter not to be comprehended by any reason but onely by faith which made not onely the Epicures but also some of the wisest Philosophers to hold that the world was not eternall for it was vnto them a principle in reason that of nothing ●omes nothing neither can you so multiplie nothing that there should come any thing of it Therefore the Apostle saith that he that will hold ●hat all these things which we see in ●eauen and earth were made of no●hing he must beleeue it aboue all ●eason And who can by any reason con●eiue the truth

is sufficient that we haue had them therefore if we labour after them they will returne vnto vs againe when it shall please God And thus much for this that S. Thomas in this matter of faith addicts himselfe to his owne feeling THe fourth and last degree of his vnbeleefe appeareth in this Except I see in his hands the print of the nayles and in his side the print of the speare I will not beleeue it For why should he desire this not onely to see him and to feele him but to see in his hands the print of the nailes and to put his finger into them and to see in his side the print of the speare and to put his hand into it Did he not know that these wounds and skarres were proper vnto his bodie onely while it was subiect vnto infirmitie and weaknes and that after his resurrection his bodie was glorified And so he might haue thought that though it should be graunted vnto him to see him yet he could not by any reason or groūd frō the Scripture haue hope to see him thus yet he saith Except I see the print of the nailes c. I will not beleeue it he doth not say except I see him but except I see him with the print of the nayles and of the speare I will not beleeue it This is then the nature of vnbeleefe that when it will not profit by the ordinarie meanes that God hath appointed for the confirming of faith it desireth such things whereof there is no warrant either from reason or from Scripture As here S. Thomas neglecting what Christ had saide vnto him that when he should be put to death within three daies he would rise again and that also which was tolde him by the Apostles and diuers others namely that he was risen againe and had appeared vnto such and such he saith Except I see him my selfe with the print of the nayles in his feete and of the speare in his side I will not beleeue it Concerning which poynt though Christ did rise indeede out of the sepulchre with these markes in his glorified body and did retaine them whiles he taried on the earth that thereby it might more certainely be knowne that the same body of his that was crucified was raised vp againe yet Thomas had no generall rule to leade him to thinke that it should be so but rather according to the common condition of the bodies of all the faithfull in the day of resurrection so to conceiue of the body of Christ raised vp For that which is said of the resurrection of all the faithful the members of Christs mysticall body must needes be much more true of him the head for it belongeth to them onely by vertue of his resurrection Now of them the Apostle writeth thus to the Corinthians 1. Cor. 15.42 The body is sowne in corruption and raised in incorruption that is with nothing tending thereunto as wounds doe it is sowne in dishonor hauing no glory nor beauty on it as Christs body was most of all when besides that the life was gone out of it and so it looked pale and wanne it had also many deformites by the stripes of his whippings and the crowne of thornes the print of the nailes in his hands feete and of the speare in side it is raised in glory that is with all perfection excellencie of beauty without any blemish at all it is sowne in weakenes it is raised in power and therefore without marks and tokens of weakenes infirmitie for a body sore wounded euen vnto death as Christs was hath lesse power in it then it had before Therefore seeing he desired to see Christs body raised vp he should not haue desired to see it thus and with these markes And for the further confirmation of this we may remember what the Apostle saith touching the glorious state of our bodies to be raised vp Our conuersation is in heauen ●●al 3.20 from whence also we looke for the Sauiour euen the Lord Iesus Christ who shall chaunge our vile bodie that it may be fashioned like vnto his glorious bodie according to the working whereby he is able euen to subdue all things vnto himsel●e therefore as we shall be raised vp without skarres and marks of infirmity which many haue in these daies of their pilgrimage so he had no reason to thinke but that Christs bodie should be Therefore though he would not beleeue till he sawe him he could not looke to see him after this manner that he prescribeth And though he did at the last appeare with these markes in his body both to the eleuen first and afterwards vnto Thomas yet it was not because his bodie was properly and of it owne nature then subiect vnto them no more then it was to hunger when he did eate with them Luk. 24.43 but it was by a speciall extraordinarie di●pensation as when Angels that haue ●o bodies did appeare in the shape of men Therefore this could not be ●ooked for and it was in respect of the ordinarie course of Gods dealing somewhat vnreasonable to tie the Lord vnto that for the strengthening of his faith and to say Except I see the print of the nayles and of the speare I wil not beleeue it for others had seene him and not seene him with these Ioh. 20.15 as Marie Magdalen at the sepulchre where shee mistooke him to be the gardener or the keeper of that place where Christ was buried in a garden Mark 16.12 and the two Disciples in their iourney as they were going to Emmaus Therefore we must take heede how we yeild to our vnbeleef● for it will make vs looke for and desire such things at the hand of God for the confirming of our faith a● haue no ground either from Scripture or from reason though it pleaseth God of his infinite goodnes to beare with men sometimes this way and to yeild to them either to th● strengthening of their faith or to th● leauing of them without excuse in their vnbeleefe So that as the Apostle saith of couetousnes 1. Tim. ● ● They that will be rich fall into tentation and snares and into many foolish and noisome lusts which drowne men in perdition and destruction So we may say of vnbeleefe that it causeth men to desire many foolish and vnreasonable things and such as often tende to their owne hurt Thus in the Gospel our Sauiour Christ in the parable of the rich glutton and in his person noteth out the thoughts and desires of vnbeleeuers here in this world where he is broght in speaking vnto Abraham after this manner I pray thee father Luk. 16.27 that thou wouldest send Lazarus vnto my fathers house for I haue many brethrē that he may testifie vnto them least they also come into this place of torment Thus vnbeleeuers would haue dead men come from heauen tell them what is done there and what in hell but Christ