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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	good_a	see_v	word_n	1,813	5	4.0812	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12210	Yea and amen: or, pretious promises, and priviledges Spiritually unfolded in their nature and vse. Driving at the assurance and establishing of weak beleevers. By R. Sibbs D.D. master of Katherine Hall in Cambridge, and preacher of Grayes Inne London. Reviewed by himselfe in his life time, and since perused by T.G. and P.N.	Sibbes, Richard, 1577-1635.; Goodwin, Thomas, 1600-1680.; Nye, Philip, 1596?-1672.	1638 (1638)	STC 22521; ESTC S102402	91,199	446

thereby I am taught to know thee In all troubles that befall him hee professeth that it is good for him to cleave unto God And the lesse outward wealth he hath the more he seeks for inward grace making a holy use of all things Vpon these instructions hence delivered let us take a view of ourselves and try whether we in our afflictions are such as cleave to God and are drawne neerer to him thereby call to mind the crosses wherewith God hath exercised thee and the blessings which at any time he hath bestowed upon thee and see how in both thou hast beene bettered see what profitable use thou hast made thereof for thy soules comfort Let us see how we have followed the providence of God in his dealing with us for if we have an interest in his goodnesse then will wee bee carefull as God turnes all things for our good so to follow the same together with him for the good of our souls Now because things do not alwayes conduce to the good of Gods children as outward Peace and prosperity oftentimes make them worse therefore some may object how can this be true which here the Apostle saith That all things doe worke together for the best to them that love God The answer hereunto is that for the most part the children of God doe take the good of the blessings which God bestowes on them and avoid the snares of evill which accompany the same Iob saith The things I feared are come upon me By which we see that Iob in the midst of his prosperity did feare and was jealous over himselfe But a more plainer answer of the objection is that if the good things of God as Peace Plenty and Prosperity doe fall out at the first to their ill yet neverthelesse they shall prove in the end a great gaine unto them for whereas by occasion of these they formerly fell having too high an estimation of the creature and overprizing the same they see now more into their nature and learne to contemne them Againe the outward good things of this life shew the weaknesse of Gods servants and serve to try what is in them and therefore we read of Hezekias that God left him to try what was in him the outward treasure which he had was a meanes to make knowne to himselfe and others the pride and vanity of his minde the plenty prosperity of the Saints are greater triers of them than adversities and wants For many that have comfortably gone through a low condition have yet foully failed in a full estate their corruptions breaking forth to the view of others prosperity teaches men themselves it tries their spirits and layes them open to the world Therefore it seemeth good to God to strip his servants of these outward things They can acknowledge with patience his righteous dealing knowing that mans happinesse consists not in abundance of these things but that the blessing of God is riches enough But some may object and say I have beene long afflicted and have had many crosses upon me and little good doe I finde by them I am never the better but rather the worse for all This may be true thou sayst but stay a little and consider the event howsoever by reason of the bitternesse and continuance of the crosse hitherto thou findest little good thereby yet know that God is all this while but in hammering and working of thy unruly heart thy good will follow afterwards We see by experience that sick persons while they are in their physick are made sicker and sicker but after that hath done working then the party is far better than before It is a folly to think that we should have physick and health both at once it is impossible that a man should sow and reap both together We must of necessity endure the working of Gods Physick If trouble bee lengthned lengthen thy patience when the sick humour is carried away and purged then we shall enjoy desired health God promiseth forgivenesse of sinne but thou findest the burthen of it daily on thee Cheere up thy selfe when the morning is darkest then comes day after a fight victory will appeare Gods time is best therefore wait cheerefully Oft times Gods servants under his crosse are so sore wrought upon that they have hardly leisure of making a good use of the same being distracted and dejected for the present so as they burst out rather into further evill than before But afterwards when their afflictions are thorowly digested then they begin to finde the fruit of patience humiliation and obedience and are better for the same ever after therefore wait contentedly God 's leisure thou shalt surely finde a sweet calme after the storme is over though we finde little benefit by afflictions for the present yet let us not conclude all is naught with us for tentations being bitter will not suffer men in them to lift up their hearts strait after the extremity vexation thereof is laid then ensueth the quiet fruit of righteousnesse But if all things yea sin it selfe shall turne to the best to those that love God what need we then care for the committing of sinne The Apostle S. Paul was in his dayes troubled with the like question therefore observe with what detestation he answers saying God forbid the damnation of such men is just But to answer more fully and plainly for the satisfaction of weak Christians True it is that al things even the sinnes of Gods servants shall by Gods mercy turn to their good yet never the lesse the rule of Gods Word must be ever regarded which is this we may not doe evill that good may come thereof That which is evill in it selfe must not be done no though for the doing thereof we might gaine the greatest good or avoide the greatest evill whatsoever as if it were to winne a World wee might not tell a lye because it is a breach of Gods Law Christ saith to the Devill It is written thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God Wee may not therefore by sinne tempt God so to see his goodnesse in working good out of our wickednesse If therefore upon this ground of Doctrine that all things shall turn to the good of Gods children yea even their sins themselves any of us shal commit wickednesse and displease his Majesty to try what mercy and wisdome is in him to draw good out of our evill this is a provoking of Gods goodnes and those who thus doe turne the truth of Gods Word into poyson and make even that their destruction which should build them up in grace and holinesse If we sin through weaknesse and frailty of our flesh and through strength of tentation upon repentance we may find grace but if presuming that God will turne all things to our good we break his Law what else do we but first of all make God the cause of our evill and secondly vex

is sure to have it He that will give us a Kingdome will not denie us daily bread hee that hath prepared a Country for us will certainly preserve us safe till we come there Besides that wee have here in performance wee have many excellent promises of a greater good in expectation which in Christ are all Yea Amen They are certaine though our life be uncertaine and the comforts of our life lesse then life it selfe mutable and perishing If life the foundation of outward comforts bee but a vapour what are all the comforts themselves think you It is a Christians rejoycing in the midst of all changes beneath that hee hath promises invested into him from above that are lodged in his heart and made his owne by faith which have a wondrous peculiarizing vertue to make that a mans owne that is otherwise generally propounded in the Gospell A Christian take him at all uncertainties he hath somwhat to build on that is Yea and Amen undoubtedly sure that wil stick by him I speak this to commend the estate of a beleeving Christian to make you in love with it seeing in all the changes and varieties of this world hee hath somewhat to take to In all the dangers of this life he hath a Rock and chamber of Providence to goe unto as it is Esay 26. God hath secret roomes to hide his children in in times of publike disturbance when there is a confusion of all things God hath a safe abiding place for thee I have many troubles saith David but God is my defence continually Hee i● my shield and strong Tower whatsoever I want I have it in him What a comfort is this A Christian knowes either hee shall be safe here or in heaven and therefore rests securely He that dwells in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty that is in the love and protection of God above As Moses saith Lord thou hast binour habitation from everlasting to everlasting that is thou art our sure help in the greatest extremity that can befall us in any age of the world Therefore build on his promise for God and his Word are all one If wee have nothing to take to when troubles come woe unto us In our selves considered wee are even as grasse and as a tale that is told soone vanishing But our estate in God is durable wee have here no continuing Citie sicknesse may come and death may environ us the next moment happy are they that have God for their habitation wee dwell in him when we are dead when we leave this world wee shall live with God for ever The righteous is not troubled for evill tydings hee is not shaken from his Rock and stay he feares no danger because his heart is fixed What a blessed estate is it to be in Christ to have promises in him to be protected and preserved not onely whilest wee are in this vale of teares but when this earthly tabernacle shall bee dissolved even to all eternity If our hearts be fixed on God let us heare evill tydings of Warre or Famine or Pestilence let it be what it will blessed men are wee Every word of God is tryed as silver in the fire saith the Psalmist the promises are tried promises wee may safely rest upon them But if we have nothing to take to when troubles arise we are as a naked man in a storme without any shelter incompassed round with distresse and misery The promises are our inheritance yea our best inheritance in this life though the Lord should strip us naked and take away all things else yet if the promises remain ours wee are rich men and may say with the Psalmist My lot is fallen into a good ground thy testimonies are better unto me than thousands of gold and silver For the promises are as so many obligations whereby God is bound to his poore creature And if wretched men think themselves as rich as they have bonds though they have never a peny in their purses much more may a true Christian who hath the promises of Christ for his security esteeme himselfe a wealthy person as having many bonds whereby not man but God is engaged to him that not only for temporall good things but for heavenly favours and spirituall blessings for all which hee may sue God at his pleasure and desire him to make good his word of truth There is little difference betwixt a poore Christian and him that abounds in this worlds riches onely this the one hath wealth in his owne possession the other hath it in Gods bond the one hath it in hand the other in trust As for the worldling he hath but a cisterne when he hath most wheras every faithfull soule hath the Spring head even God himselfe to flye unto in all distresses who will never faile him but be a Sunne and a Shield to defend us from all evill and preserve us in all goodnesse all our dayes But I go on Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ and hath also anointed us is God Here observe That the Christian needs not onely converting but establishing grace he that hath begun any good worke in us must perfect it the God of strength must give us his promise to support our weaknesse without which we cannot stand Peter was in the state of grace and yet when God did not stablish him wee see how he fell The weakest beleever with the establishing grace of God will stand and the strongest Christian without Divine assistance wil sink and fall away Whence this may bee further considered That the life of a Christian is a perpetuall dependant life he not only lives by faith in his first conversion but ever after hee depends upon God for protection and strength throughout his whole course God doth establish us in Christ the ignorance of this makes men subject to backsliding For when we trust to grace received and seek not for new supply we are straight of Peters condition Though all for sake thee yet will not I which occasioned his shamefull fall he had too much confidence in grace received God is therefore faine to humble his children to teach them dependance And usually where any speciall grace is bestowed upon sinners God joynes something therewith to put them in minde that they do not stand by their own strength Peter makes a glorious confession Thou art Christ the Sonne of the living God and Christ honoured him exceedingly saying Vpon this Rock will I build my Church but yet by and by we see he cals him Satan get thee behind me to teach us that wee stand not by our owne power when wee are strong it is of God and when we are weake it is of our selves Iacob Wrest led with the Almighty and was a prevailer but he was fain to halt for it though he had the victory and overcame at last yet he was stricken with lamenesse all

unbeleeving men hee is pleased to condiscend to our weaknesse hee stoops to the lowest capacity and frames his speech to the understanding of the simplest soule for which purpose this terme of earnest is here borrowed In these respects the Spirit of God together with the graces of it and the comforts it brings for they are not divided is called an earnest And thus having cleared the point we will observe this doctrine for our further instruction That a Christian ought to be and may be assured of his interest in God because as I said before an earnest is given not so much for Gods sake as for our sakes this then must needs follow from hence Either none have this earnest or else those that have it may be assured of their comfortable condition Otherwise God is fickle and playes fast and loose with his children which is blasphemy to affirme Besides if none have this earnest then the Apostle speaks false when he saith God hath stablished us and given us the earnest of his Spirit which is horrible impiety once to conceive If this be so then either such as have this seale and earnest of the Spirit may be assured of their estate in grace or not And if not where is the fault Will not God really and truly vouchsafe unto his people this earnest of the Spirit in their hearts Vndoubtedly he will he is desirous that wee should be perswaded of his love in all things and therefore we may and ought to bee assured of his favour towards us S. Iohns whole Epistle containes little else but sundry markes evidences how we may know that wee are the children of God wherefore was Christ himselfe sealed of the Father to the Office of Mediatour wherefore did he die and rise againe and wherefore doth hee still make intercession for us in Heaven that wee should doubt of Gods love when as he hath given us that which is greater than salvation yea greater than al the world even his owne Sonne no certainly can we desire a more ample testimony of his favour than he hath already bestowed upon us Is it not the errand of all Gods mercies to bring us neerer to him selfe that we should not doubt of his love but rest securely upon him why then doe we distrust the Almighty who is truth it selfe and never failed any Yet we must know that Christians have not at all times alike assurance of their interest for there is an infancy of grace where in we are ignorant of our own condition And there is a time of desertion when as God to make us looke better to our footing leaves us a little as if he would forsake us quite when indeed hee onely withdrawes his assistance for a while to make us cleave the closer to him There be also certain seasons wherin though we are assured of Gods favor yet we have no feeling or apprehension of the same which differeth in Christians much according as they are more or lesse sensible of their estates Some againe use not that care and diligence in the use of meanes which God requires whereupon they are justly deprived of that inward peace and comfort which others enjoy There is a difference likewise in growth and continuance in Christianity some are strong Christians and some weak answerable whereunto is the difference of assurance of Gods love usually in the hearts of his people Nay it s possible that for a long time the Lords Iewels his redeemed ones may want this blessed comfort For wee must conceive there is a double act of faith First an act whereby a poore distressed sinner casts himselfe upon God as reconciled to him in Christ. Secondly there is a reflect act whereby knowing that wee rely upon the truth and promise of the Almighty we have assurance of his favour Now a man may performe the one act and not the other many of the Saints sometimes can hardly say that they have any assurance but yet notwithstanding they will daily cast themselves upon the rich mercy and free grace of God in Jesus Christ. Besides there are many things which may hinder this act of assurance because together with beleeving God may present such things to my minde as may so damp and disquiet my soule that I cannot have any definitive thoughts about that which God would especially have mee to thinke upon As when God will humble a man he takes not away the Spirit of faith wholly from him but sets before such a sinfull creature his anger and sore displeasure together with the hellish torments and paines of the damned as due to his soule which makes him for the present to be in an estate little differing from the Reprobate so that he is far from saying he hath any assurance at that time yet notwithstanding he doth not leave off nor renounce his confidence but casts himselfe upon Gods mercy still Though the Lord kill him yet will he trust in him although he sees nothing but terror wrath before him This God doth to tame our presumption and prepare us for the enjoyment of his future glory If we feele not sense of assurance it is good to blesse God for what we have Wee cannot denie but God offers himselfe in mercy to us and that hee intends our good thereby for so we ought to construe his mercifull dealing towards us and not have him in jealousie without ground Had wee but willing hearts to praise God for that which we cannot but acknowledge comes from him he will bee ready in his time to shew himself more cleerely to us We taste of his goodnesse many wayes it is accompanied with much patience and these in their natures should leade us not only to repentance but to neerer dependance on him we ought to follow that which God leads us unto though he hath not yet acquainted us with his secrets These things we must observe that we give not a false evidence against our selves though wee have not such assurance as wee have had yet alwayes there is some ground in us whereupon we may bee comforted that wee are Gods children could we but search into it Let us not then be negligent in labouring for the same and in the Lords good time we shall certainly obtaine it it is the prophanenesse of the world that they improve not those helpes which God hath afforded for this purpose Nay they had rather stagger and take contentment in their own wayes saying If God will love mee in a loose licentious course so it is but I will not give diligence to make my calling and election sure I will never barre my selfe of such profits and delights nor forsake all chiefly to minde spirituall things Whereas wee ought constantly to endeavour for assurance of grace that God may have honour from us and we the more comfort from him againe that we may live in the world above the world and passe cheerefully through the manifold troubles and

to be exalted when we are poore then are we most rich and when we are dead then doe wee live For God worketh all by contraries hee lets men see his greatnesse and his goodnesse that so they may admire his works and give more glory to him he worketh without means and above meanes and against meanes out of misery hee bringeth happinesse and by hell bringeth men to heaven Which as it manifesteth Gods glory to his creatures so it serveth for the confusion of mans pride that hee may discern he is nothing in himselfe but is all that he is in the Lord. The third cause why all things work for the best to them that feare God Is Gods covenant with his Church when once this gracious covenant is made that hee will be their God and they shall be his people that he will bee their Father and Protectour must not all things then needs serve for their good When as God tells Abraham I am thy God All-sufficient only walk before me be thou perfect Doth not this engage him to set his power mercy his wisedome and providence all on work for the happy estate of Abraham When once God by his promise is become our God there is a covenant betwixt us and the creatures yea and the stones in the street that nothing shall wrong us but all conduce to our good The Angels are ours their service is for our protection safety welfare Heaven and earth is ours and all things in them for our behoofe Christ himselfe and together with him all things else are become ours in him we are heires of all What a wondrous comfort is this that God hath put himselfe over to be ours whom to enjoy is to possesse all things and to want is misery unexpressable Had we all the world without God it would prove a curse and no blessing to us whereas if we have nothing and enjoy God we have happinesse it selfe for our portion If we have no better portion here than these things wee are like to have hell for our portion hereafter Let God be in any condition though never so ill yet it is comfortable He is goodnesse it selfe And indeed nothing is so much a Christians as God is his because by his being ours in covenant all other things become ours and therefore they cannot but cooperate for our good When thou art in the fire and water I am with thee saith God And Thou art my Buckler my Glory and Shield therefore I will not be afraid though ten thousand of people shall be set me round about saith David for salvation belongeth unto the Lord. And if God be on our side who can bee against us If God justifie us who shall condemne us Can any thing hurt us when hee is become our loving Father Neither death nor life nor things present nor things to come nor principalities nor powers nor any thing whatsoever can separate us from his love toward us A fourth ground why all things fall out for the best to the Saints is The foundation of this covenant of God with his Church which is Christ Iesus who by his bloud hath purchased our peace hee being God became man and is the sole Author of all our comfort Without Christ God is a consuming fire but in him a most loving Father and ever well pleased God promiseth in Christ his Sonne to marry his people unto himselfe for ever Yea saith he I will marry thee unto me in righteousnesse and in judgement and in mercie and everlasting cōpassion Now upon this blessed contract made in Christ to his Church what followeth In that day saith the Lord I will heare the heavens and they shall heare the earth and the earth shall heare the Corne and the Wine and the Oyle and they shall heare Israel and I will have mercy upon her that was not pittied And I will say unto them which were not my people thou art my people And they shall say thou art my God Where wee see what is the reason of all their happinesse even this that God will marry them to himselfe So that this marriage worketh all our blisse our conjunction with Christ and reconciliation through his death is the cause of all our comfort in him wee have the adoption of Sonnes Hence it is that we are at peace with God and have freedom from all harmes Christ in his greatest reproach and deepest humiliation had his greatest triumph and exaltation In his death on the Crosse he vanquished Death and entred into eternall life When Christ came into the world and took upon him our nature even then the greatest Monarch in the world Augustus Caesar was at his command whom he so ordered as that by his causing all the world to bee taxed Christ was manifested to be borne at Bethlehem in Iury. How commeth it to passe that death which is fearefull in it selfe cannot hurt us The reason is Death is swallowed up in victory by his death It is Christ that sanctifieth all crosses afflictions and disgraces to the Saints advantage The evill of them all is taken away by him and turned to his peoples good How commeth it to passe that the Law cannot hurt us which pronounceth a curse against every one that abideth not in all things written therein to do them The reason is Christ was made a curse for us he was made under the Law that hee might redeeme us who were under the Law and thus is Christ a meritorious and deserving cause of procuring all good to us and removing all ill from us He doth not only overcome evill for us but also overcommeth evill in us and gives us his Spirit which unites us to himselfe whereby wee have ground to expect good out of every ill as knowing that whatsoever Christ wrought for the good of mankinde he did it for us in particular In Outward favours grace makes us acknowledge all the blessings wee have to be the free gifts of God and invites us to returne the glory to him Gods servants take all occasions and opportunities of doing good by those gifts and abilities wherewith they are endowed When Hester was advanced to great honor Mordechay told her that God had conferred that dignity upon her for his peoples welfare that she might be a means of their safety Whereas on the contrary a proud heart destitute of the Spirit of Christ ascribes all to it selfe waxeth more haughty and growes worse and worse the more good he enjoyes A gratious soule upon the sight of the evill of sin in it selfe is more deeply humbled before God and with S. Paul crieth out of his wretchednesse A heavenly minded man being smitten for his wickednesse laboureth for subjection under the hand of the Almighty and saith I will patiently abide and endure thy correction because thou Lord hast done it When the gracious man is held under the crosse and suffereth bitter things he saith It is good for me that I am afflicted for

faith In all cases of extremity we should have a double eye one to look upon our grievances and troubles and another to look upon the issue and event of them Why do men in time of dangerous sicknesse take bitter Physick which is almost death unto them Why doe they then undergo such things as they loath at other times Is it not because they rest upon the skill of the Physitian And shall we then in our distresses dist rust God for our souls when we will trust a weak and mortall man with our bodies If conceit be so strong in earthly things as indeed it is then faith is much stronger when it grounds it selfe upon the truth of the Word When God exercises us with poverty or other afflictions this should teach us submission to his providence in any condition saying Lord do with me what thou wilt only let this poore soule be pretious in thine eyes Thou hast promised that howsoever these afflictions lie heavie upon me yet in the end al shall turn to my good therefore dispose of thy servant at thine owne pleasure I resigne all to thee Here is the rejoycing of a Christian which makes him cheerefully passe through any affliction he knowes that good is intended in all that befals him with what alacrity did Ioseph say unto his brethren Ye sold me hither but God hath turned it to the best that I should preserve and nourish you all and save much people alive who otherwise were like to have perished with famine This made Iob so patiently to say The Lord giveth the Lord taketh blessed be the name of the Lord. This is the ground of all true contentation I have learned saith S. Paul in all estates to be content to be rich and to be poore to abound and to be in want and why so Whatsoever his estate and condition was God turned it to the best shall any man dare to mislike of Gods allowlowance Doth not hee know better what is good for us than we can possibly imagine what is good for our selves This likewise should teach us not to take offence at the reproach and disgrace which is cast upon Gods children for mark the righteous saith David and behold the upright the end of that man is peace The issue of their trouble is ever quietnesse take not one peece of a Christian mans life by it selfe but take it altogether and then thou shalt see the truth of this Doctrine To see Ioseph in the Dungeon and in his irons we haply may bee offended and call Gods providence in question but beholding him in his honour and advancement we cannot but conclude him a happy man So if we look on Iob sitting with sores on the Dunghill there is matter of offence but to see him restored againe and blessed with a greater estate than he had before this is matter of praising God If we consider of Christ abased hanging upon a Crosse so there will be scandall but looke on him exalted to glory far above all Dignities and Powers and then the scandall is soone taken away Let us theresore lay one thing to another when we eye Gods people and we shall see a blessing under their greatest curse Those things which are contrived by mans wit may argue great folly if one part be not annexed to the other therefore looke to the whole work towards his servants and then thou shalt never be offended at their condition This also is a ground of Christian boldnesse in holy courses when a man is fully resolved that come what will come God will turne all to his good it encourages him cheersully to go through any difficulty what is the reason of the fearesulnesse and dastardnesse of most men but only this that if wee doe this or that duty or abstaine not from this or that good action then this crosse and this displeasure by such and such a person will bee brought upon me The Wise man saith That the feare of man bringeth a snare but hee that trusteth in the Lord shall be exalted Let us not regarding the feare of man neglect our duty to God for he can turne the hearts of the Kings on the Earth to seek the welfare of his poorest creature and make thy very enemies to be thy friends He that for sinister ends will offend his Maker may well be excluded to the gods whom they have served Go to the Great men whose persons you have obeyed for advantage to your riches to your pleasures which you have loved more than God or goodnesse You would not lose a base custome a superfluity for me therefore I will not owne you now Such men are more impudent than the Devill himselfe that will claime acquaintance with God at last when they have carried themselves as his enemies all their dayes God wants not means to maintaine his without being beholding to the Devill He hath all helpe hid in himselfe and will then shew it when it shall make most for his owne glory He deserves not to live under the protection of a King that will displease him for feare of a Subject The three Children in Daniel said Know O King that our God can deliver us out of thy hands but if he will not yet neverthelesse we will not fall down and worship thine Image The righteous are bold as a Lion saith the Wise man the Lord is his strong Tower What need we feare any creature when wee have him on our side who hath both Men and Devils at his beck And if God turne all things whatsoever to our good should not wee through the whole carriage of our lives chiefly aime at his honour God writes our names in his Book he numbers our hairs and bottles up our teares he hath a speciall care of us every good deed wee doe he writeth downe to eternity yea if we give but a cup of cold water in his name he taketh notice of it and shall not wee then take speciall occasion to magnifie him in all things We pray daily Hallowed be thy name therfore ought accordingly to observe Gods dealing with us How is it possible that we should give him the glory of his mercies if we never observe them A wicked man considers this makes for my advantage and this for my profit this tends to my ease and wealth c. studying how to make friends and please persons in place above him not respecting Gods honour and glory in the least kind whereas the sincere Chri stian lookes on all things as they tend to his best happinesse and therfore fore-cast thus If I do this or that good then I shall grow in grace wisdom and knowledge but if I neglect it and be carelesse of well doing I shall hurt and wound my soule and break the peace of my conscience by this company and good acquaintance I shall be furthered in holinesse become wiser and better in heavenly understanding if I fall they may raise me