Selected quad for the lemma: grace_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
grace_n	bid_v	pleasure_n	unsearchable_a	20	3	16.8308	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41331	The real Christian, or, A treatise of effectual calling wherein the work of God is drawing the soul to Christ ... : to which is added, in the epistle to the reader, a few words concerning Socinianisme ... / by Giles Firmin ...	Firmin, Giles, 1614-1697.	1670 (1670)	Wing F963; ESTC R34439	271,866	392

pleasures for evermore Psal 16.11 Flesh bids ease and liberty from trouble Christ bids Peace in Conscience peace in Heaven pardon in bosome John 14.27 and 16 33. Flesh bids riches Christ bids unsearchable riches Ephes 3.8 Flesh bids the love and favour of great Persons Christ bids the love of his Father and his love John 14.21 To conclude to beat Flesh quite out saith God I give thee my self I give thee my Christ whatever Flesh bids make the best it is but temporary what I bid is eternal 2 Cor. 4 last The Soul being under the work of the Spirit is enlightened to see all these things in their reallity and enabled to understand the glory and good of them and thus the Lord carries away the will in triumph he hath out-bidden the Flesh the blessed Angels they rejoyce at this work Luke 15.10 There is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one sinner that repenteth But what hast thou gotten sweet Saviour that thou art so pleased in thy victory Psal 110.3 What I have got thy will A huge booty Lord not worth the taking up nor worth the ten thousand part of what thou hast offered to win it thou hast but pulled trouble upon thy self in getting it now thou hast a sinful wretched guilty peevish froward polluted wretch to pardon to cleanse to take care of one that will try thy patience small reason why thou shouldst triumph in thy winnings Be it so yet my Father hath the glory of his Grace and Mercy I have the glory of my Love and Redemption I see of the travel of my soul and I am satisfied Isai 53.11 To eternity then let thy Fathers Grace and Mercy be adored thy Love and Redemption admired Thus it is Christs out bidding of Flesh and the Creature which strikes the main stroke in the answering of the Call And now the will being renewed and the Spirit present in this work to make clear to the will the will comes off most sweetly freely never acted more freely with more sweetness than now though still there lye a corrupt old Adam that is cross to this but at this time it is so overpowred with Grace that it appeareth not in the actings of it and the dominion of it is for ever broken Jansenius moves this Question Jansen Aug. tom 3. l. 4. c. 1. Caelestis quaedam ineffabilu servitus c. Quid fit medicinale Christi Adjutorium secundum Substantiam Or thus Wherein lyeth the efficacy of that which the Schools call gratia efficax What is it that makes it so He answers in blessed Austin's words Victrix delectatio an overcoming a conquering delight or thus in his own words It is nothing else but a certain heavenly and unspeakable sweetness or spiritual delight by which the will is prevented and bowed to will and do whatever the Lord commands it to will and do He spends eleven Chapters in proving that this conquering delight and heavenly sweetness which the Lord lets in to the Soul is that which makes Grace to be efficacious in Conversion and in overcoming any temptation he that reads his Chapters will find how experimentally he writes Now if by this conquering delight and heavenly sweetness he understands the joy the rest the sweetness the Soul finds in possessing the Object which it loves and desires as when God shines upon the Soul and gives it to know his Love this is rarely found in the first Conversion now though in the Gospel-Converts it was known to commend the Gospel in the first preaching of it to fit them for sufferings for it The Apostles being to travel up and down could not abide fixed with them to help them but yet a conquering an out-bidding Good having a pleasing sweetness attends it the Lord doth present to the will which draws the will sweetly after it and makes Calling to be effectual and without it there can be no sound Conversion by this the Soul seeth a reason to move to this term unto which it is called for all that pretended good which held the Soul fast in the term from which it was called is all answered out bid and conquered This Victrix delectatio B. Austin makes so much mention of because he had found it in his own experience how the Lord took him off by it when he was under that great Conflict how he should part with his lusts Christ threw them out Confess l 90.12 and camest in thy self more sweet than all pleasure then saith he of a sudden how sweet was it for me to want the sweetness of those trifles and those which before I feared to loose it was now my joy to let them go Thus Stella interpreting those words Luke 14.23 Compel them to come in speaks most excellently How doth the Lord compel men to come in Two wayes saith he First By shewing to the will such good that the will cannot but desire it Secondly By removing and hiding all evil and whereas the object of the will is good God can represent to the will so much good that the will cannot but love that good which it seeth and this is no compulsion of the will Quia voluntas naturaliter fertur in bonum Thus we have the two last things which I opened as required to a true receiving of Christ proved and here let me only leave this word to many Christians who when they read of such a mighty power that God puts forth in the day of Conversion or of Faith closing with Christ Psal 110.3 Ephes 1.19 c. they apprehend God puts forth some strong Act whereby he bends or bows their wills and makes them by mighty power of his as it were by force to come up to his terms in offering of Christ and they have not felt such a force or powe but have found their hearts so willing to accept him upon those terms and blessing God for ever may they but have him for their Jesus and God for their God it is the best bargainn that ever they made hence not feeling such a power as they imagined their faith is not found Now this is a gross mistake yea though God wrought upon thee when thou wert adult and hadst played the Rebel against him before in thy life following thy vile lusts when God hath been preparing of thee before and thy will renewed whether mediately by working on the understanding first in order of nature though in order of time together or whether immediately I dispute not though I incline to the first thy heart comes up most freely and sweetly to thy closing with Christ as if there were no power at all put forth upon the will by God because by out-bidding of all thy lusts and setting before thy hungry will such a Gospel-Feast as I mentioned before and helping of thy understanding clearly to see it and taste it though he doth still concur with the will it comes off as freely as ever it did in making of a bargain in

it 2. Hence What necessity is there of preaching the Law to discover and open sin with the effects thereof if this be the way of the Spirits working to convince first of sin and Ministers be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 3.9 workers with God why should not they work as God works To preach the Law in order to Christ to labour to make men that lye in their spiritual Lethargies to know and feel their disease that they may see the need of and embrace the blessed Physitian is not this rational I think all men naturally stand under a Covenant of works and to make men know what that state is I think is very requisite if ever we would make them feel the necessity and know the worth of a Covenant of Grace yet I know not how it comes about of late years this kind of preaching is laid by When I consider the people then I can see their reasons why they love it not but when I think of the Ministry I know not why Ministers should so gratifie the corruptions of people So the Law were rightly preached I never knew it offend any godly and judicious Christian I remember my Father-in-law told me that Bishop Vher having once an Ague and being in Essex when Mr. Thomas Hooker preached it so fell out that my Father-in-law went to visit him a little before his fit should come they both lying on the bed discoursing I wish said the Bishop that Mr. Hooker were here to preach the Law home to my Conscience that fit they talked away he missed it By this we may read the Spirit of that highly learned and pious Bishop Thousands of Christians have wished they had felt more of it to Gospel-ends but to slight it as some cry out against it as others such will hardly approve themselves to be persons well skilled in the work of Conversion That some Ministers may be imprudent in their preaching of the Law and not carry it with that wisdom that doth become them I deny not but for the Principle it self that the preaching of the Law is necessary to make men know their sins and their woful condition by sin that thereby they may be glad to listen after and embrace the Gospel I think this cannot be denied by any judicious Divine In Physick indeed we find that those things which have gone for Principles for above a thousand years none so much as questioning them within less then thirty years are turned out of doors very few of the ancient Principles standing but if men will do so in these great points of Divinity they may prove themselves Fools but no spiritual Physitians Mr. Saltmarsh in a book of his which I read many years since but have it not now by me gives these legal Preachers a notable jeer he tells his Reader that these Preachers will preach Christ Gospel and Free-grace also but they do by these as some do by Wine at Funerals or Baptizings they offer it freely and bid the people drink but the Wine being burnt they give it so hot that the people cannot nor dare drink it for scalding their mouths So do these offer Christ Grace Gospel very freely bid people take and drink but they have so heat the Gospel with legal preaching that they are afraid to meddle with it Had there been as much Piety and Truth as there is wit in the jeer I should have liked it well I do not justifie men in their errors want of wisdom prudence in preaching of the Law I condemn them as much as he but for the Principle I do contend To win Souls to Christ by teaching them the Gospel and overflowings of Christs blood without preaching the Law to convince men of sin and make them see and feel the necessity of Gospel and Christs blood to convince men of sin by the Gospel first this I look upon as very irrational and immethodical Take my mind under these heads First It is not the proper work of the Gospel to convince of Sin but of the Remedy Paul tells us he had not known sin but by the Law Rom. 7.7 By the Law comes the knowledge of sin Rom. 3.20 For sin is the transgression of the Law 1 John 3.4 The Law then must be preached or Sin cannot be known Paul doth not say he knew Sin by the Gospel but there he found the remedy against Sin as in many of his Epistles we observe Gospel bringeth glad tidings Secondly The Gospel convinceth men of sin by consequence but the Law directly As if I see an Apothecaries Shop full of Physick and a Physitian there I can gather by consequence then there is sickness else why is all this Physick prepared why Physitian though I see no diseased person nor feel any disease my self Thus when I read of glorious Promises in the Gospel and find Christ the Physitian there I may well conclude then there is Sin and condemnation for Sin else what need of Christ and these promises of pardon and justification through his righteousness Yea I grant also by the Gospel we may argue how great an evil Sin is that must have such a Medicine as the blood of Christ to heal it but still this is by consequence The Law tells you directly what that Sin is and that condemnation for Sin Thirdly Men may be convinced of Sin without the Gospel but not without the Law God hath convinced many of Sin where the Gospel was not known or not understood The Heathen had Convictions Rom. 2.16 by a Law not written But to have men convinced of Sin by the Gospel where no Law was known I wish Mr. Saltmarsh would tell us where those persons are Tell men of the Son of God being incarnate doing suffering dying rising interceding and tell them of his righteousness obedience and blood what will you convince men of by this discourse alone unless you first teach them the cause of all this and then I am sure you must teach them the Law and this being opened and set home will soon teach them the meaning of the work of Christ in Redemption Fourthly As the Gospel convinceth of Sin only by consequence so only in general but the Law convinceth of Sin directly and in particular When the Gospel is first preached what particular Sin doth it convince a man of how doth that make him appear to be guilty but the Law will tell him his particular Sins and this must be done else men will hardly come to a thorough and saving Conviction that they are Sinners indeed After men have had the Gospel preached and refuse to embrace it then there is a particular Sin against the Gospel this is true but I think never was it heard that any man was convinced of this Sin against the Gospel who was not first convinced of Sin against the Law what cares he for the Gospel that seeth not himself in his sin and misery and condemned under the Law Grant it that Repentance to life and Faith

go on their heads but surely the will must come else there will be no coming to Christ Let him that is a thirst come and whosoever will let him drink of the water of life freely Revel 22.17 You will not come to me that you may have life John 5.40 Thirdly Faith is set out by trusting costing leaning staying to and upon another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all these we shall find belong to the will to the vital part and not the intellectual properly all of these implying it is some good they trust rest stay lean upon another for I do not quote the Texts they are known to him who observes and understands the Scriptures Fourthly Faith is the great condition of the new Covenant of the Gospel we are justified by Faith saved by Faith Shall a man be interested in the Gospel shall he be justified faved by an Act which concerns the intellectual parts only and leave out the Will the vital part That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith Ephes 3 17. With the heart man believeth unto righteousness Rom. 10.10 I know the heart doth often express the whole soul and so it doth here but not the understanding without the will Faith hath a great room in mans Soul which produce such great effects Fifthly By believing the Soul is married to Christ Married union is made up by Faith this marriage is often mentioned in the Gospel Rom. 7 4. Revel 19.7 Ephes 5.32 2 Cor. 11.2 But can Marriages be made without the wills of both parties consenting Is not that question first put Wilt thou have this man for thy wedded Husband Doth she not answer I will or else no Marriage This is as true in the spiritual Marriage There can be no union without the will receives him Sixthly God offers Christ a Person with Redemption Do we receive a thing offered with our understandings or wills With the will sure As to that Objection One Grace cannot be seated in two distinct faculties I intend not to trouble my self about it since it must first be proved that these faculties are so really distinct which Scaliger * Exerc. 307. sect 3 4 15. Vind. Gra p. 201. 205. Durandus with many others deny Hence blessed Pemble being of the same opinion against the distinction of these faculties as was Mr. Jackson saith We do not appropriate Faith either to the understanding or the will nor yet refer it to both as unto two distinct faculties but we place it immediately in the whole intellectual nature whether of mans Soul or of Angels If these faculties be found and proved by Philosophy to be distinct whence is the impossibility of one grace being in two faculties proved Not from Scripture I am sure for that gives faith to the whole Soul And why must it be thought absurd in Philosophy to say the same thing may in divers respects be referred to divers subjects as these subjects are not altogether separated but conjoyned among themselves What saith Bonaventure quoted by Vasquez of consent Bonavent existimat consensum esse concordiam quandam actus intellectus judicantis voluntatis praeoptantis adutramque facultatem intellectus voluntatis pertinere If consent may belong to two faculties why may not faith as well 12. q. 15. a. 1. Vasquez concludes well of consent Consensus denotare videtur concursum voluntatis cum intellectu ad sentiendum idem quod intellectus sentit Nor doth Aquinas deny but that one vertue may be in two faculties or powers accordingly he tells us how it may be * 12. q. 56. a. 1. Quaest Disput pag. 314. B. Austin saith of Liberum arbi●ium that it is Facultas voluntatis rationis So it belongs to both faculties * 12. q. 56. a. 1. Quaest Disput pag. 314. Aquinas answers that Austin saith so because Ad Actum liberiarbitrii homo ordinatur per utramque potentiam licet non immediate Agreeable to what others say Libertatis ex●r●itium usus est radicaliter vel directive in intellectu formaliter in voluntate But however this Objection hath nothing in it of divine strength to weaken what we have affirmed Fides qua creditur est habitus Intellectuus Voluntatis Doctor Ward Detem p. 180. See Leyden Profession Synopsis Disp 31. Thes 15.16 To leave these knots and come to our plain work we have left Faith seated in the will this is the thing which is contended about who shall have the will Lusts and the Creature or God and Christ I have seen a practise at many dinners made at Marriages after the Offerings are made the Brides Gloves are thrown upon the Table and then two of the young men who will shew their gallant spirits offer for the Gloves one offers so much the other offers more the other offers again and out-bids him so they go on till one layes down so much that the other will not out-bid him then he that offers most carries away the Gloves in triumph the standers by applauding him the Gloves not worth a quarter of the money that he hath layed down only he hath shown his gallantry got some credit a friend to the Bride this contents him This something resembles the way of God and Christ with the will in opposition to Lusts and the Creature Flesh and Christ offer for the will who shall carry it the Soul being prepared as before we have shewn there is a great advantage which Christ hath in his offering for it why he should carry it Pleasures profits riches honours are the great things with liberty and ease from troubles which Flesh doth offer for the will Yea saith Christ but who shall save thee from that wrath which is coming upon thee and which now thou art sensible of will befall thee for being a slave to thy flesh thy lusts the creature so long that wrath being infinitely more evil than is that good which Flesh offers I offer them deliverance from wrath to come 1 Thes 1. last ver this is fair bidding for the will that lieth under the fears of this wrath if God doth but cut asunder the thred of life But if this be but only prirative and you must have positive good to satisfie your hungry appetite let Flesh offer Flesh offers fair promises and what it doth is more by promises than performances Christ who is the Yea and Amen of all promises 2 Cor. 1.20 he offers exceeding great and precious promises 2 Pet. 1.4 and will perform all to a word as he did to Israel Joshua 23.14 1 Kings 8.56 Flesh offers pleasure Christ offers Redemption from fleshly pleasures thy Soul shall not any more be a slave to it I will make thee free indeed John 8.36 Thou shalt feel what a pleasure it will be to have these chains taken off and to be above thy lusts Thou shalt drink of the rivers of my pleasures Psal 36.8 even the pleasures of my Love and Grace stay but a while with patience and