Selected quad for the lemma: father_n
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A15068
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Londons returne, after the decrease of the sicknes in a sermon (appointed for the Crosse) but preached in St. Pauls Church. Ianuary 8. 1637. By O.W. p.
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Whitbie, Oliver.
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1637
(1637)
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STC 25371; ESTC S119857
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17,928
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38
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let us returne So much for the persons and their ingenuous confession I come to the next thing the Act which they resolve upon revertamur Let us returne BVt can a man returne when he will Hath hee power as to sinne so to convert himselfe from it Are not the hearts of men in the hands of God who turnes them like the rivers of water Why then doth not the Lord say Egoreducam I will bring them backe but suffers them to take it out of his hands with a venite Come let us returne I answere they are both true and the second supposes the former our returne Gods preventing grace by which being led we freely goe and the Lord brings us backe to him yet not without our selves that is God doth so reduce man to himselfe that we are neither refractory nor idle but contribute to our owne happinesse as Ionadab the sonne of Rechab did in the 1. of King 10. when Iehu call'd to him give me thy hand ascend my Chariot so we must obey the sweet motions of precious Grace which some men resist to their owne damnation T is true the Graces of God insinuate themselves by secret wayes and the impressions of the will are extreamely nice all that past is is a dreame and the future a cloud where thunders murmure in the darke and though the matter be plaine to wit no man comes to Christ except the Father draw him Ioh. 6. yet the manner how is most hidden and secret God drawes every man yet not violently by the head and shoulders but rather by the eares with sweet and gracious perswasions I let them with the cords of love Hos 11.4 God led but they followed and leads by peacefull love no rough violence As the Sun who breaks neither doores nor windowes to enter into houses but penetrates mildly with his gentle beames so Grace finds a quiet passage into mans soule which like a chaste love being fairely woo'd is most willing to be won Indeed from the beginning it was not so in our creation there was Gods hand faciamus hominem Gen. 1. let us make man but in our conversion there is if I may so say but digitus Dei the finger of God no absolute irresistable power for then man might be saved without himselfe and all the rewards of Vertue would perish in the world But redemption was not wrought to make men idle and therefore the Scripture divides the childe sometimes it gives it to Gods grace sometimes to man working by grace I will draw them saith the Lord Chap. 11. and they shall seeke me in the vers before my Text. But to leave the dispute and come to the practise The Lord at this instant speakes to every one that heares me to returne and offers grace sufficient to all that will goe about it Will you stand still as Lots wife did and thinke to be ravished to heaven by some fatall decree fie no though mans soule bee Gods spouse as 't is in the 2. Chap. ver 19. sponsabo te mihi yet he must enjoy thy love by willing contract not by ravishment And therefore lasie Faith adew let us acquit our selves like men like Christians and use that Grace which is now offered and which exercise will improve and seeing the gracious Lord of heaven and earth knockes at the doores of our hearts to come backe let us answere him with David paratum est cor meum Domine My heart is ready O God my heart is ready and seeing he calls to us by his Prophet Iere. 3.22 O yee disobedient children returne and I will heale your backslidings let us take up that answere which the Prophet made for them Behold we come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God Thus much for the Act revertamur I come to the Object to whom that is ad Dominum Let us returne To the Lord. PEccantes recedunt a Deo affectuum non locorum spatijs saith Saint Ierome Sinners wander from God by the distance of affections not of place they may goe from his mercies they can never goe from his judgements the Prodigall childe from his fathers house went afar off but as by sinning we depart from God so by forsaking it we come backe againe neither can our conversion be right unlesse it end in him who is Alpha and Omega If thou wilt returne O Israel saith the Lord returne to me Iere 4.1 some did returne but it was not to the most High in the 7. chap. of this Booke 16. ver they returned from one sinne to another as dogs to the vomit or the sow that was washed to wallow in the mire but these are the Devils returnes a malo ad pejus ours must be to the Lord Turne ye unto him from whom ye have deeply revolted Esay 21. from whom we have strayed to him we must goe backe Against thee onely have I sinned Psal 51. and therefore to thee onely will I returne Esay 44. Well these men did so and to the honour of their faith be it first spoken that although they had sinned against heaven and the Lord of it and were of sonnes become rebels yet they knew God remained unchangeable and if they would returne he would be still their father though they had lost their way they had not as yet lost their faith they beleeved God would bee gratious though they had beene sinners And this sparke of faith did kindle in them a holy fire of Charity which is the next thing observeable in their friendly compellation venite come let us Though every man had gone after his owne lusts and scattered their wayes to strange gods Ier. 3.13 yet now they will not onely mend one but one another such is their Charity that they will not steale no not to heaven but stirre up all to go you heare no lasie Solifidians creditè nor the Centurions Ite goe thou go he but the Saints community venite come let us And this was that which proved their faith to bee quick and legitimate Faith in God neither ought nor can bee without charity to our neighbour Faith is a good huswife and lives by her worke she cryes for them as Rachel did for issue give me children or I die Non quaerit quae sunt suae saith St. Paul 1. Cor. 13. Shee seekes not her owne she was not so nobly borne to be her owne center and Divinity but like the Sun to do good to all St. Iren. cals it a present from heaven the top and Zenith of all vertues it is the gate of the Sanctuary which leades us to the vision of the Trinity 't is the double spirit which Elisha required wherewith to love God and our neighbour You are not much to afflict your selves to become perfect saith St. Augustine Love God and then doe what you will And if you would know whether your love to God be reall mark how you love your neighbour by how much the lines draw nearer to one another by so much