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	faith_n	good_a	7,533	5	4.0940	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93124	Two sermons preached in St. Maries Church in Cambridge. By Robert Sheringham, Master of Arts, and Fellow of Gunvil and Caius Colledge.	Sheringham, Robert, 1602-1678.	1645 (1645)	Wing S3239; Thomason E285_1; ESTC R200065	41,774	103

to equall those worthy examples of repentance for I think it not onely lawfull but commendable for every one to desire the best gifts wee may desire to equall and if wee can to excell David Mary Magdalen or any other provided alwayes that wee submit our wils to the will of God and when wee see that it is not his pleasure to conferre upon us such gifts as he conferred upon them wee must not therefore murmure against him nor work our owne disquiet and trouble by making such unprofitable comparisons but giving thanks to God for what wee have let us comfort our selves with that considering alwaies that all sorrow whether it be in a great or small quantity if it proceeds from grace is able to save our souls And this is the second condition necessary to a true confession that is sorrow and true contrition of heart The third condition necessary to a true confession is amendment of life Although a man confesseth his sins every day yet if hee forsakes them not his confession is but a meer formality and this condition is required in many places of the Scripture but I will onely name a place or two In the 28th chapter of the Proverbs and the 13th verse it is said Hee that covereth his sinnes shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy Not every hypocrite that makes a formall confession but he that confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have mercy And again Ezra 10.11 Ezra saith unto the people Now therefore make confession unto the Lord God of your fathers and doe his pleasure and separate your selves from the people of the land and from the strange wives Hee doth not onely stirre up the people to confesse their sins to God but to doe his pleasure also and to separate themselves from the people of the land with whom they had contracted affinity and to put away their strange wives without which their confession had been but vain It is I know a common opinion at this time that an actuall amendment of life is not necessary and essentiall to confession but that a purpose of amendment with faith in Christ Jesus is sufficient and although they commit the same sins every day yet if they resolve to amend after they have committed them many think themselves if they should die after such resolutions in a good and safe condition But this beloved is a grosse and manifest delusion and contrary to those places of Scripture that have been already alledged and to many other which might be alledged to this purpose It is true indeed that faith in Christ Jesus if it could be in any man without an actuall amendment is able to save him but herein they deceive themselves in that they think true faith consistent with bare and naked resolutions and not alwayes accompanied with an actuall amendment for true faith will shew it selfe in action and cannot be perfected and known by bare and naked resolutions Whatsoever is born of God saith Saint John overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith 1 John 5.4 By true faith therefore a man overcometh the world now how can hee be said to overcome the world that hath not forsaken his sins for a victory is won by action and not by bare and naked resolutions Have drunkards think you overcome the world Have adulterers unclean persons swearers and usurers overcome the world No they are overcome themselves and have not overcome the world Take heed therefore yee deceive not your selves think not yee have faith before yee find the fruits of faith in your life and conversation I presume there are none here but will say they have faith but I pray God many amongst you be not deluded Should I demand of you whether you beleeve in God or whether ye beleeve an heaven and an hell and a resurrection from the dead I dare say you would all answer Yes But then if I could look into your lives and see your secret practices I am afraid I should find many of you to be such as if yet beleeved no such matter I say If I could look into your lives I am afraid I should find many of you to be such as if yee beleeved neither heaven not hell nor the resurrection of the dead nor any other article of faith for wherein doe many amongst us exceed an infidell that beleeves none of these things Is it possible that infidelity should produce as good effects in them as faith in you Is faith so sluggish a vertue that it can he still and not be active No be sure if thy faith breaks not into action it is but a dead faith In the 11th chapter to the Hebrews there are many commended for faith but they are all said to have done something by it It is said By faith Abel offered a better sacrifice then Cain and so of all the rest it is said they did something by faith but there are none which are said to have made good resolutions by faith and to have kept none of them True faith therefore must be known and perfected by action and not by bare and naked resolutions And this is the third condition necessary to a true confession that is amendment of life The fourth condition necessary to a true confession is satisfaction I shall not need to prove this condition necessarie because it is manifestly included in the former for there can be no amendment without satisfaction he that doth wrong another and doth not repair the injury cannot be said to amend but sinneth against justice for justice giveth to every one his due which he refuseth to doe that will not restore his neighbours goods or his neighbours credit when hee hath wrongfully deprived him of them Now therefore let every one examine his confession and see whether it hath all these conditions or no First whether hee hath made a diligent examination of his whole life and confessed all his particular and individuall sins as far as hee is able Secondly whether his confession be joyned with true sorrow and contrition of heart Thirdly whether hee hath for saken the sins which hee hath confessed Fourthly whether hee hath made satisfaction as far as hee is able for all the wrongs and injuries he hath done if his confession hath all these conditions it is good but if it want any of them hee hath but plaid the formall hypocrite And so much of the second part of Davids confession which is his confession in respect of the act I come now to the last part which is his confession in respect of the object I have sinned against thee The object against whom this sin was committed is not exprest in the words of my Text but is implied in this word thee yet wee shall not need to goe farre to seek it for it is expressed in the same verse I said Lord be mercifull unto mee beale my soule for I have sinned against thee It is