Selected quad for the lemma: father_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
father_n	eternal_a	ghost_n	holy_a	29,948	5	5.9119	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31858	Sermons preached upon several occasions by Benjamin Calamy ...; Sermons. Selections	Calamy, Benjamin, 1642-1686.	1687 (1687)	Wing C221; ESTC R22984	185,393	504

atchieved you may find many of them recorded in the famous 11th chapter to the Hebrews where the Apostle for the encouragement of all true believers propounds to us the brave examples of the holy Patriarchs and Prophets of old who through faith subdued kingdoms wrought righteousness out of weakness were made strong were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings yea moreover of bonds and imprisonments they were stoned they were sawn asunder were slain with the sword wandred about in sheep-skins and goat-skins afflicted destitute and tormented These and many more like these were the exploits of the Saints under the old Testament who had not so clear a revelation of this eternal state as we now have under the Gospel But far greater yet and more stupendious are the triumphs of faith in the holy lives and patient deaths of the blessed Apostles and primitive Martyrs and Confessours who with invincible constancy endured pains and torments to flesh and bloud insupportable onely assisted and upheld by the grace of God and a lively faith in this promise of his son Jesus They clap'd their hands and sang praises in the midst of scorching slames they took joyfully the spoiling of their goods and gave God thanks that they were counted worthy to suffer for his name and without doubt God's grace and the same lively faith would produce in us the very same effects and enable us to doe and to suffer the same things with the same joy and resolution But farther This faith by degrees moulds and transforms the mind into a likeness to these heavenly objects it advances and raises our spirits so that they become truly great and noble and makes us as St. Peter tells us partakers of a divine nature It filleth the soul with constant peace and satisfaction so that in all conditions of life a good man can feast himself with unseen joys and delights which the worldly man neither knows nor can relish This makes him content with any small allowance of this worlds goods and glad if by any hard shift he can rub through this world till he comes to his Kingdom He is but very little concerned about these seemingly grand affairs of this life which so much take up and busie other mens thoughts and time He converseth most with invisible objects and with them finds that solid and lasting comfort which all outward things can neither give nor take away He hath something to uphold and chear his spirit under all worldly calamities and distractions and when he is wearied with the impertinencies of this life or is not pleased with things here below he can retire himself into the other world and there entertain his mind with those ravishing joys that never cloy nor satiate Nay this faith arms a man against the fear of death it strips that King of terrours of all his grim looks for he considers it onely as God's messenger to knock off his fetters to free him from this fleshly prison and to conduct him to that blessed place where he shall be more happy than he can wish or desire to be and that for ever All this and much more than I can now speak will this faith do where it is sincere and hearty It will serve us instead of sight it will afford us a fore-tast of this immortal happiness it will give us present entrance into heaven in part and at last a full and complete fruition of it Oh then let it be most plainly seen by our words by our works by all we doe whereever we are what our faith and hope is Let it appear to all men that we walk by faith not by sight or sense Sense is a mean low narrow principle confin'd to this present time and this lower earth it can reach no higher than these outward visible things nor can it look farther than things present But the just shall live by faith they steer their course and govern their lives not by what they see but by what they believe and hope for looking beyond things temporal for those things that are eternal Let us not be ashamed of this our design and aim-before all men that whatever others think or say of us for it we are resolved to be happy not onely for a few days or years but for ever that we will so use this world as those that must shortly leave it that we will so improve and husband our time as remembring that it will soon be no more but be swallowed up in eternity and did the stupid world know and believe what you doe they would no longer wonder at your being so much moved in a case of such unspeakable and everlasting consequence Blessed be God who hath set such mighty hopes before us who hath given us such glorious promises who hath made such a plain and clear revelation of this eternal life by Jesus Christ and hath by him taught us the true way of obtaining it who himself became to us an example of that holy life he prescribed to us and after he had suffered for our transgressions in our nature entred into the highest heavens to prepare mansions of glory for all the faithfull followers of him To whom therefore with the Father and Holy Ghost one eternal God be ascribed by us and all men all praise thanksgiving and obedience for evermore Amen THE END

cometh of evil i. e. whatsoever is more than bare affirming or denying any thing that is still in our communication in our ordinary talk and discourse is from evil from mens so commonly breaking of promises and speaking of falsities from whence that lewd custome of adding oaths proceeds because they cannot be believed without them Now therefore since our Saviour is here directing us how to govern our common discourse and conversation together the prohibition also in the beginning must be restrained to the same matter and so the full sense of the words seems to me to be this In your communication familiari sermone in your common talk use no swearing not so much as by any creature but let it suffice barely to affirm or deny and be always so true to your words that nothing farther need be desired or expected from you all other confirmation in such ordinary affairs is practised onely by such as are used to lie and dissemble and intend to impose upon others 3. That our Saviour did not here forbid all swearing whatever cause there might be for it as a thing in it self unlawfull we are fully satisfied from the example of St. Paul who certainly understood his Master's mind in this particular Now it is a very unreasonable thing to imagine that he should so often swear and that by the name of God too that such his oaths should be recorded in the Scriptures and that there should not be the least intimation of his sinning in so doing if all swearing was utterly prohibited by his Lord and Master I shall propound two or three eminent instances to shew that in serious and great matters of mighty concernment he made no scruple of adding the confirmation of an oath Gal. 1.20 Now the things which I write unto you behold before God I lie not He bears witness to the truth of his writings by an express oath Rom. 1.9 For God is my witness whom I serve that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers It was of great moment that in the beginning of his Epistle he should persuade those to whom he did address himself of his good-will toward them How well therefore he did wish them he calls God to witness which is the formal essence of an oath Thus again to name no more 2 Cor. 11.31 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which is blessed for evermore knoweth that I lie not which is a plain appeal to God's testimony So that when the glory of God and the publick good was engaged he thought it not unlawfull to invoke God's holy name and to call his Majesty for a witness of his truth or the avenger of his falshood Thus our blessed Saviour himself when he stood before the High-priest of the Jews did not refuse to answer upon oath Matth. 26.63 The High-priest said unto him I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ the Son of God which amongst the Jews was the form of giving an oath to which our Saviour answered Thou hast said that is upon my oath it is as thou sayst Nay to make all sure that there is no evil in swearing when it is done gravely and seriously and upon an important occasion that requires it we find that God himself hath been pleased to give us his oath Though it were impossible for him to lye yet that we might have strong consolation and full assurance to shew the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel he confirmed it by an oath and when he could not swear by a greater he swore by himself Heb. 6.13 And therefore it must be very absurd to deny amongst Christians the lawfulness of doing that though upon never so great reason which St. Paul so often did nay which God Almighty who is truth it self did yet vouchsafe out of condescension to our weakness to doe more than once Not now to mention Baptism and the Lord's Supper both of which have in them the nature of oaths and are therefore called Sacraments 4. We are to consider that swearing rightly circumstanced is so far from being a thing in it self evil and so universally forbidden that it is indeed a most eminent part of religious worship and divine adoration by which we do most signally own and recognize God Almighty to be the great Sovereign Lord and Governour of the world the highest and supremest Power to which the last and final appeal is in all cases to be made By it we acknowledge the immensity of his presence his exact knowledge and continual care of humane affairs and all things that happen here below his all-seeing eye that he searcheth into the depth of our hearts and is conscious to our most inward thoughts and secret meanings We do by it avow him as the grand Patron of truth and innocence as the severe punisher and avenger of deceit and perfidiousness And therefore doth God often in holy Scripture appropriate this to himself Him onely shalt thou serve and to him shalt thou cleave and shalt swear by his name And if this be done with that consideration and solemnity which doth become such a special part of devotion upon an occasion that doth deserve and that will in some measure excuse our engaging the divine Majesty as a witness in it I say if it be performed with due awe and reverence with hearty intention for a considerable good we do thus calling upon God when we swear by him honour and glorify his great and holy name as well as by prayer or praises or any other act of religious worship whatever 5. Add to this the necessity of taking oaths in order to civil government publick administration of justice and the maintaining of good order and peace in Societies And therefore the Apostle tells us Heb. 6.16 That an oath for confirmation to men is the end of all strife and that not by particular customs and laws prevailing in some places onely but from the appointment of God the reasonableness and fitness of the thing it self and the constant practice of all the world in all ages for as far and wide as the sense of a Deity hath spread it self hath also the religion of an oath and the final determination of matters in difference by calling to witness the Lord and Maker of all things this being the utmost assurance and the surest pledge any can give of their faith and sincerity For nothing can be imagined sufficient or effectual to engage men to speak truth or to be faithfull and constant to their promises if an oath doth not He must surely renounce all sense and fear of God all conscience of duty or regard to the Almighty's love and favour who can with open face call him to testify to a lye or challenge him to punish him if he speaks not true when yet at that very time he knows he does not This is the greatest security men can give of their honesty and