Selected quad for the lemma: life_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
life_n	believe_v	eternal_a	salvation_n	6,307	5	7.0259	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85329	Londons gate to the Lords Table. Where the eldership doth sit doing their office aright, in discovering and shutting out the ignorant, prophane, and meere civill honest man : in suspending the suspected formall, legall, and antinomisticall professor, and in drawing in the weakest humble beleeving soule. In a dialogue betweene a minister of the Gospell. Alexander an ignorant prophane man. Simon a proud professor. And Matthias an humble penitent. Imprimatur Edmund Calamy.	Fisher, Edward, fl. 1627-1655.	1646 (1646)	Wing F995; Thomason E1213_1; ESTC R210120	58,722	302

he conceives him to be in a fit and sutable disposition to receive him and so accounts him worthy of him and therefore we read in the tenth Chapter of St. Matthewes Gospell that when our Saviour sent forth his Disciples to preach the Gospell that is to say the glad tidings of Justification Sanctification and everlasting Salvation by Jesus Christ he said unto them verse the 11 Into whatsoever City or Towne ye enter enquire who in it is worthy and there abide And if we compare this verse with Luk. 10. 7 8 9. we shall perceive that they and only they were those worthy ones which testified their sight and sence of their owne misery and their desire to receive Christ into their hearts as their only remedy by receiving his Disciples into their houses counting their feet very beautifull for preaching the Gospell of peace and bringing unto them glad tidings of good things these are those poore ones whom our Saviour saith Receive the Gospell Matth. 11. 5. and these are they who mourne under the sight and sence of their owne spirituall wants unto whom he promiseth comfort Mat. 5. 4. and these are they that hunger and thirst for Christs Righteousnesse whom he promiseth to satisfie Matth. 5. 6. Mat. But Sir doe you not thinke that my neighbour Simon hath this fit and sutable disposition wrought in him Min. No I feare not for it doth appeare to me that his owne spirit hath taken occasion from his great knowledge to puffe him up as the Apostles phrase is 1 Cor. 8. 1. yea and it doth appeare to me that it hath taken occasion from his owne righteousnesse to move him to put confidence in himselfe and so he is hindered from seeing and feeling his owne need of Jesus Christ to be made unto him of God wisdome 1 Cor. 1. 30 righteousnesse sanctification and redemption Mat. But Sir how can such a disposition be said to make him unworthy to be admitted to the Lords Table Min. Why even as we when we see a stout and lusty Begger come to crave an Almes and heare him flourish in his Rhetorique and not speake Pro. 18. 23 with suplications as the wise man saith the poore man doth then we doe conceive he is not in a meet and sutable disposition to have an Almes bestowed upon him and therefore we use to say concerning such a one He is not worthy to have an Almes bestowed upon him Even so when the Lord sees a man proud of his knowledge and confident of his owne righteousnesse and deservings and sees not his need of Jesus Christ and so consequently not to desire him then he lookes upon him as one who is in an unfit and unsutable disposition to receive him and therefore accounts him unworthy of him and therefore we read in the 13. Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles that when Paul and Barnabas were in the City of Antioch and preached the glad tidings of the Gospell as the Apostle calls them verse 32. It is said vers 45. that the Jews spake against those things which were spoken by Paul contradicting and blaspheming whereupon Paul and Barnabas waxed bold saith the Text verse 46. and said It was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you but seeing ye put it from you and judge your selves unworthy of everlasting life loe we turne to the Gentiles Thus you see that these Jewes who doubtlesse were very knowing men in all points of their Religion and also very holy and righteous according to the Law yet because they were proud of their owne knowledge and put confidence in their owne righteousnesse and saw no need of salvation by Christ and so were not in a meet sutable dispositian to receive him the Apostles counted them unworthy of him So likewise we read in the 22. Chapter of St. Matthews Gospell that there were some that were invited to a feast which the King made at the marriage of his Sonne and it is said verse 5. That they made light of it as if they had said taking it in the spirituall sence as the meaning is what tell you us of Christ or of Justification or Sanctification or eternall Salvation to be had by beleeving on Christs name we are Abrahams children we are the people of God we are a righteous Nation and therefore sure of eternall life already and have no need of any such offer whereupon the King said verse 8. The wedding is ready but they that were bidden were not worthy whereby you may also perceive that this unmeet and unsutable disposition in not seeing a want of Christ and so not desiring him did render them unworthy of him Sim. Well Sir I see that you are still falling foule upon me surely Sir I thinke it is strange that you should altogether discourage me and altogether incourage him Min. Why truly neighbour Simon it appeareth to me that you have taken occasion from those good gifts and parts which God hath given you to be puffed up and incouraged in your selfe and it doth 〈…〉 me that he hath taken occasion from those weakenesses and wants that are in him to be cast downe and discouraged in himselfe and therefore I have conceived it very needfull that you should know that Christ accepts none for greatnesse of parts that you may not continue lifted up as you have been because of that which is of so little esteem with him and I also see it very needfull to let him know that Christ refuseth none for weakenesse of parts that he may not continue cast downe and dejected for want of that which Christ doth not so much regard wherefore neighbour Mathias I beseech you to consider what hath been said and take it home to your selfe for your comfort and incouragement Mat. But Sir did not you say to our neighbour Alexander that knowledge must of necessity goe before faith Min. Yea I said so indeed Mat. Why then Sir me thinkes our neighbour Simon should have a great measure of faith because he hath a great measure of knowledge and me thinkes I should have little or no faith because you know I have little or no knowledge and then me thinkes he should be very fit to be admitted to the Sacrament and I very unfit for I remember you said That it is faith that ma●●s a man fit to receive the Sacrament aright Min. I but you must know that this rule holds not touching the measure of knowledge onely except it be also true and sound so that although our neighbour Simon have never so great a measure of knowledge yet if it be not true and sound as I feare it is not then hath he no true faith and therefore is he not fit to be admitted to the Sacrament and although you have but a very small measure of knowledge yet it being true sound as you know I have proved then have you a true faith and therefore are fit to be admitted to the Sacrament Mat.

pray you Sir let me know who these Professors be and what they doe that so I may know whether I be one of them or no. Min. Why one sort of them of whom I thinke meet to speake first are such as may be truly called Antinomisticall Professors who confound the righteousnesse of Sanctification with the righteousnesse of Justification in making them to be both one for they will have that righteousnesse which is inherent in Christ to be the righteousnesse both of their Justification and of their Sanctification they will have all righteousnesse to be inherent in Christ and no righteousnesse to be inherent in themselves they will have God to impute all righteousnesse unto them but not infuse any righteousnesse into them they will apply a perfect righteousnesse unto themselves by faith when as they have neither faith nor righteousnesse they will have Christ without his Spirit and so indeed have neither Christ nor his Spirit you shall heare these men and women in their conference with others about these points will be ever uttering these or the like speeches As for me truly I have nothing in me that is good but am wholly sinfull neither doe I looke for any thing else to be in me but sinne and yet I doe verily beleeve that I am perfectly righteous in the sight of God through Christ or in Christ being cloathed with a garment of Salvation and covered with a robe of Righteousnesse so that I am all faire and cleane and there is no spot in me These men and women because they are not to looke for any good in themselves as a ground or cause of their faith they will not looke for any good in themselves as an evidence of faith because they are not to looke for inherent righteousnesse before they have by faith apprehended the imputed righteousnesse therefore they will not looke for any inherent righteousnesse at all because they must not looke for inherent righteousnesse to move them to beleeve therefore they will not looke for it to assure them that they have beleeved Sim. Surely Sir these men and women are much mistaken but what doe you thinke is the reason of it Min. Why truly I have thought upon three Reasons of it as first because that they have either by meanes of hearing reading or conference been instructed in the law of faith onely without instruction in the law of workes going before or the Doctrine of the Law of Christs following after or else in the Doctrine of the law of workes and the law of faith without the Doctrine of the Law of Christ My meaning is they have been instructed that they of themselves are altogether unable either to doe or suffer that which the law as it is the covenant of workes requireth and that they are therefore in a damnable condition and that yet notwithstanding if they truly beleeve and so apprehend the Righteousnesse of Jesus Christ they shall have life and salvation but they have not been instructed that if they doe truly beleeve then they doe hereupon become subject and obedient to the minde and will of Christ revealed in his Word they have been instructed that he is Jesus a Saviour but they have not been instructed that to whomsoever he is Jesus a Saviour he is also to them Christ a Lord. The second Reason is because they take faith to be nothing else but a meere notion of Christ and his Righteousnesse swimming in their braine or at the best but a meere apprehension thereof in their minds which is but a faith of their own forging so they think they have a strong faith when as indeed they have not the least measure or degree of a true weake faith they thinke they have Christ in their hearts when as indeed he is but in their heads they thinke they have him in their wills and affections when as indeed they have him but onely in their understandings And a third Reason is because they mistake the meaning of the Apostle 1 Cor. 1. 30. where he saith that Christ is made unto us of God both righteousnesse and sanctification for whereas they doe thence conclude that Christs inherent righteousnesse is not onely that righteousnesse whereby a Beleever is justified but also that righteousnesse whereby he is sanctified and that in a Beleever there is no inherent righteousnesse nor sanctification as I have heard some have affirmed the meaning of the Apostle is not so but his meaning is that God hath not onely ordained that Beleevers should be justified by having the righteousnesse which is inherent in Christ imputed unto them but that Christ also should by his Spirit infuse righteousnesse into them and so sanctifie them he having not only by the merit of his Death procured the one but also by the vertue of his Death procured the other and so indeed is made unto them both righteousnesse and sanctification and thus have I shewed you the first sort of those Professors who confound his two-fold righteousnesse and how they doe it Sim. Well Sir I thanke God I am none of this sort and therefore I pray you shew me also who are the second sort and how they doe it Min. Why the second sort are such as are truly called formall or legall Professors who confound the righteousnesse of justification with the righteousnesse of sanctification making them to be both one for they will have that righteousnesse which is inherent in man himselfe or rather those righteous actions which are performed and done by himselfe to be not only that righteousnesse wherby he is sanctified but also that righteousnesse whereby he is justified and hence it is that such men doe labour and endeavour to reforme their lives and their waies and to performe good duties both towards God and man and also to the end they may have a ground to build their faith upon and so farre forth as they can see a righteous disposition in themselves and righteous and religious actions performed by themselves why so farre forth they will beleeve that they are justified in the sight of God and no further Sim. And I pray you Sir shew me also the ground and reason of this their mistake Min. Why truly I have also thought upon three Reasons of this whereof the first is because they either by meanes of hearring reading or conference have been instructed in such a manner in the Law of the ten Commandments as if a man in the time of this life were able to keepe and doe them perfectly and so might be justified in the sight of God by his owne obedience to them and they have not been condemned and killed by the Law in having it made knowne unto them in the purity and perfection of it The second Reason is because they have had little or no instructions in the Doctrine of the Law of faith or Covenant of promise especially betwixt that covenant and the covenant of workes or betwixt the righteousnesse of Justification and the righteousnesse of

diseased soule Now these being the ends for which Christ did institute and ordaine the Sacrament I beseech you let your comming thereunto be to obtaine these ends and doe not you come for forme and custome sake neither yet for your credit sake amongst your neighbours neither yet out of a conceit that your very presence there and your very performance of the outward acts is well pleasing and acceptable to the Lord as I feare me many ignorant people have thought in former times neither yet doe you conceive that for your so doing the Lord is ingaged to forgive you your sinnes and give you eternall life neither yet doe you imagine that the bare outward actions and elements are able to sanctifie you in a word beware of conceiving too highly of the outward acts and outward elements but rather look to the inward invisible matter and vertue of the Sacrament which is Jesus Christ alwayes remembring that he is all in all in every action and in every element and therefore when you are at the Lords Table as I hope you will be very shortly and there see the Bread and Wine separated by consecration unto this holy use and these blessed ends then remember Christ and thinke how he was fore-ordained and Pemble on the Sacraments p. 8 fore-appointed by his Father from everlasting unto the accomplishing of our redemption by his death and blood-sheding and when you see the Bread broken and the Wine poured forth then remember Christ and thinke how he was torne and rent in his precious Body with stripes and wounds and pained even to the death in his most holy Soule full of the wrath of God and the indignation of the Almighty by whom he was smitten for your sinnes and plagued for your transgressions and when the Minister offereth unto you the Bread and Wine then remember Christ and thinke how he is given to you of God freely yea and freely gives himselfe to you if you will receive him and when you receive the Bread and drinke the Wine then remember Christ that living Bread and thinke how he himself hath said Ioh. 6. 5. 5. My flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drinke indeed and beleeve that thereby hee gives life unto your soule and will preserve it to all eternity in a word consider how God the Father did by this death and bloodshed of his Sonne thus represented in the Sacrament fully answer and satisfie his owne justice to the end he might set open a doore of mercy to all humble penitent hearted sinners yea and doe you thereupon assuredly beleeve that you have thereby tendered unto the Justice of God a full and perfect satisfaction for all your sinnes and that therefore now it is a meet and equall thing with God he having received and accepted this full satisfaction to pardon and forgive you all your sinnes according to his promise Mat. 26. 28. yea doe you beleeve and assuredly perswade your heart that for this satisfaction sake you are reconciled unto God according to his promise Col. 1. 21 22. yea doe you beleeve and assuredly perswade your owne soule that for the obedience and satisfaction sake of Christ you are justified in the sight of God according to his promise Rom. 5. 9. yea and doe you then beleeve and make no doubt of it but that for this satisfaction sake of Jesus Christ you shall be sanctified by his Spirit according to his promise Hebr. 13. 12. and have your heart of stone taken out of your bowels and a heart of flesh given unto you according as it is promised Ezek. 36. 26. and have strength and vigour to all holy performances according to that promise Heb. 13. 20 21. yea doe you beleeve and make no question of it but that for this satisfaction sake of Christ you shall have eternall life according to Christs owne promise Ioh. 6. 51. This you see is the Covenant of promise this is Christs last Will and Testament these are the riches which he hath left and bequeathed to all such as you are this is Christs owne hand and deed and by the Sacrament duly administred and rightly received he sets too his seale and so confirmes it fully wherefore I beseech you when you are at the Sacrament yea as oft as you shall be there present at any time hereafter speake to your faith as Deborah did to her self Iudg. 5. 12. and say Awake awake O my faith and now bestir and rouze thy selfe up to do thine office in receiving Christ now offered in whom all these ● Cor. 1. ●0 promises are Yea and Amen Lift up thine eye to see Christ reach forth thine hand and lay hold on him and receive him set thy mouth to him and feed on him eat and drink Christ by sucking these breasts of consolation and thus would I have you in the act of receiving the Sacrament by Faith to knit your heart unto Christ and throw your selfe into his armes stretched out on the crosse to imbrace you and wash your soule in his Blood that you may be cleane and by Faith apply his Blood to your soule for the healing of all your infirmities say in your heart Hath my Saviour died for my sinnes and shall not I die unto sinne shall I live any longer therein Rom. 6. 2. no God forbid and by this meanes ye shall finde your sinnes weakned and the graces of Gods Spirit revived and strengthned yea you shall finde the Sacrament to become a good corasive to eat out your corruptions and as physicke to heale and cure you of all your infirmities yea you shall finde it to be by meanes of the acting of your faith as a Conduit pipe which being set to the Fountaine of grace Christ Jesus shall convey grace from that holy Fountaine Christ into the cisterne of your soule and like a soveraigne medicine you shall finde it to become beneficiall to all the parts of your soule making you apt and ready to every good worke and therefore I beseech you to receive it often Mat. Truly Sir by meanes of these your speeches my judgement is much better informed touching the use and end of the Sacrament and I am hereby much incouraged to approach thereunto but Sir because you doe exhort me to receive it often I would gladly know the reason why we must receive that Sacrament of the Lords Supper often seeing we are to receive the Sacrament of Baptisme but once in all our lives Min. The Reason is because the sacrament of Rogers on the Sacrament p. 360. Baptisme is the sacrament of our Regeneration or new birth and the sacrament of the Lords Supper is the sacrament of our spirituall nourishment and growth and therefore we are to be baptized but once because we are borne but once but we are to receive the sacrament of the LORDS Supper often because that after wee are borne wee stand in need to be often nourished and fed that so we may grow in grace for

Sanctification and therefore being not able to distinguish betwixt them they doe confound them together And a third reason is because man naturally sees no other way to be justified and saved but onely by his own workes and performances for as Luther saith It is the generall opinion of the whole world that righteousnesse is gotten by the workes of the Law and thus have I also shewed you the second sort of them that confound this two-fold righteousnesse and how they doe it Sim. But Sir as I doe conceive he that doth confound this two-fold righteousnesse this latter way doth not so ill nor is not in so bad a condition as he that doth it by the former way Min. Yea indeed for ought I see he doth even every whit as ill and is every whit in as bad a condition as the other for as he that confounds the righteousnesse of Sanctification with the righteousnesse of Justification doth thereby destroy them both to himselfe and so indeed hath neither of them so he that confounds the righteousnesse of Justification with the righteousnesse of Sanctification doth thereby destroy them both to himselfe and so indeed hath neither of them Sim. Indeed Sir it is evident to me that he who hath not the righteousnesse of sanctification hath not the righteousnesse of Justification and so indeed hath neither of them but Sir me thinkes he who hath the righteousnesse of Sanctification should also have the righteousnesse of Justification and so indeed have both of them Min. No you are deceived it is not so for as he that thinkes he beleeves and so hath the Righteousnesse of Christ imputed unto him for his Justification deceives himselfe except the righteousnesse of the Spirit of Christ be afterwards infused into him for his sanctification even so he that thinkes he leades a godly and righteous course of life and so hath the righteousnesse of the Spirit of Christ infused into him for his sanctification deceives himselfe except the Righteousnesse of Christ hath been before imputed unto him for his justification Sim. Sir I grant it that a man may thinke he doth beleeve when he doth not and therein deceive himselfe because that he cannot see his faith but me thinkes a man should not thinke he lives a godly and righteous course of life when he doth not because that is to be seene Min. O but let me tell you as there is a forme of faith without the power of faith which caused the Apostle to pray for the Thessalonians that God 2 Thess 1. 11. would grant unto them the worke of faith with power even so is there a forme of godlinesse without the power of godlinesse as you may see 2 Tim. 3. 5. And as this forme of faith is nothing else but a faith of a mans owne hammering or of his owne acquiring and so is but an acquired faith and not an infused faith even so this forme of godlinesse is nothing else but a godlinesse of a mans owne hammering or of his owne acquiring gotten by the improvement of his Naturall and Morall abilities and so indeed is but a godlinesse acquired and not a godlinesse infused Sim. Then Sir it seems that a man cannot by having the one be assured that he hath also the other Min. No indeed if he have them not both he hath neither of them for as there is no imputed righteousnesse going before where infused righteousnesse followeth not after so is there no infused righteousnesse following after where imputed righteousnesse hath not gone before so that if either of them be wanting and beare not witnesse to the other and that in its due place according to Gods owne order and as his owne distinct actions they are neither of them true Sim. Then Sir I pray you tell me how a man may know that he hath them both and that they doe beare witnesse either to other and that in their due place according to Gods owne order and as his owne distinct actions Min. Why if a man have truly seene and considered that in regard the Lord did in Adam Create all men righteous and able to yeeld perfect obedience to his Law they having all of them in him transgressed his Law it is a righteous thing with God to require a full satisfaction to be made to his Justice by a perfect obedience to his Law both actively and passively before he doe forgive any mans iniquity or cover any mans sinne and so pronounce him just And that in regard of the infinite exactnesse the glorious purity and absolute perfection of the Law of God he see an utter impossibility in himselfe to yeeld a perfect active obedience unto it and that in regard of that infinite Majesty that is offended there is an infinite suffering required which must either be an eternall punishment or that which is equivolent to eternall And that man being a finit Creature can doe it no way but by an eternall punishment and that therefore he sees no way for himselfe but Hell and Damnation and if then it hath been revealed unto him that Jesus Christ the Sonne of God and of the Virgin Mary was both God and Man in one Person and that therefore his Divine nature did so sanctifie his humane nature and did adde such dignity worth and excellency to it that he was thereby made a person of infinite value and so by his holy and righteous course of life in the dayes of his flesh he fulfilled the Law perfectly and by his Death and Blood-shed made an infinite satisfaction to divine Justice and all this as a Surety and in the place and stead of all those that truly beleeve on his name and if he have thereupon truly beleeved that all this was as truly done and suffered for him as if he himselfe had done and suffered it in his owne Person and that he is thereby justified in the sight of God then may he be sure that the righteousnesse that is inherent in Christ hath been imputed unto him and apprehended by faith and so hath gone before as an Antecedent And if he have thereupon seene considered and felt the great and free love and Rom. 5. 5. favour of God in Christ shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost then given unto him so as that his heart hath been thereby moved yea and constrained to love God 1 John 4. 19. because he hath loved him first and out of love to desire and endeavour to keepe his Commandments so that whereas before this time he either lived a prophane and sinfull course of life or a meere civill honest course of life aiming onely or chiefly at his owne credit and profit in this world or a religious honest course of life onely or chiefly for his owne eternall welfare in the life to come If this grace of God or this free love and favour of Tit. 2. 11 12. God in Christ hath so appeared unto him as that it hath taught him to deny ungodlinesse and worldly