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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
life_n	believe_v	son_n	write_v	7,330	5	6.5418	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09970	The golden scepter held forth to the humble VVith the Churches dignitie by her marriage. And the Churches dutie in her carriage. In three treatises. The former delivered in sundry sermons in Cambridge, for the weekely fasts, 1625. The two latter in Lincolnes Inne. By the late learned and reverend divine, Iohn Preston, Dr. in Divinity, chaplaine in ordinary to His Maiesty, Mr. of Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge, and somtime preacher at Lincolnes Inne.	Preston, John, 1587-1628.; Glover, George, b. ca. 1618, engraver.; Goodwin, Thomas, 1600-1680.; Ball, Thomas, 1589 or 90-1659.	1638 (1638)	STC 20227; ESTC S112474	187,142	312

owne eyes But then some will say that it is not necessary that the preaching of the Law should goe before if the Gospell doth it Yes the preaching of the Law is notwithstanding as a preparative In all that are brought up in the Church there is some knowledge in the Law that praecedes but it is the Gospell that softneth the heart first as ice is broken in peeces with hot water as well as with hammers so is the heart with the Gospel as well as with the hammer of the Law and indeed maketh that knowledge of the Law that proceeded to bee operative and sets it a worke so as the Law in its true working cannot bee without the Gospell nor the Gospell without the Law so as to a perfect worke of the Gospell the knowledge of the Law must precede Whatsoever a mans sinnes are if hee be truly humbled for them and forsake them they shall bee forgiven him This is the maine point you may observe by the way that the Gospell was as fully preached to the Iewes as to us So you see it was here they had the same way of being saved that we have as great mercy promised and dispensed Onely these great mysteries of the Gospell wherin grace and mercy is displayed were not opened so to them as unto us they had the promises of forgivenesse as fully and clearely but knew not the grounds of them as Christs incarnation death and resurrection as wee doe nor those glorious priviledges in particular w ch wee have by Christ. For the proofe of the maine point take that one place to make it good to you Esay 1. 18. Come now and let us reason together saith the LORD though your sinnes bee as scarlet they shall be white as snow though they be red as crimson ●hey shall bee as wooll The Prophet had exhorted them to learne to doe well c. But the people might object What shall wee bee the nearer for all this if wee be such great sinners as you have even now declared us to bee to prevent this the Prophet tells them what though their sinnes bee great and bloudie sins of the deepest dye of guilt there are many kinds of red but crimson and scarlet are the highest yet you shall be as perfectly cleansed from all your sinnes as if you should see scarlet turned as white as snow or crimson as white as wooll and none of the former dy remaining and when he tells this to them marke his expression Come let us reason together as if he had said this is a point requires strong reasonings to perswade you to believe it and indeed it is a hard thing truly to believe the pardon of their sinnes and the time will come when you will finde it to be so Wee will therefore set the Lord and your consciences together and you shall see how the Lord reasoneth for himselfe and how he will make this go●d Wee will first prove it to you from all his attributes 1 From his truth the Lord hath said it and this is argument enough to perswade you And therfore having made this promise of forgivenesse in the verse before that hee would subdue their iniquities and cast their sinnes into the depths of the Sea he addes thou wilt performe the truth to Iacob and the mercy to Abraham which thou hast sworne unto our fathers from the dayes of old As if he had said you must rest persw G●d of this for he hath not onely promised it but hath sworne it and that oath not taken lately but of old there is an oth to it and an old one an oath that hath many witnesses Abraham and Iacob and all the fathers that have beene since and will he not thinke you bee as good as his word and that Acts 10. 43. To him give all the Prophets witnesse that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sinnes It is Saint Peters speech to Cornelius sayes Peter we deliver this from God to you and not only we that are the Apostles say this but to this truth doe all the Prophets Isay Ieremy and all the rest beare witnesse Now when the Lord hath said such things and made an absolute promise he expects you should believe it It is a greater sin then you imagine not to lay hold upon such promises See how the Lord reasons it 1 Iohn 5. 9. 10 11. If we receive the witnesse of men the witnesse of God is greater for this is the witnesse of God c. He that believeth not God hath made him a lyar As if he should say will you not believe If a man that is of an honest disposition should promise you a thing you would believe him and will you not believe me As if a man had more truth in him then I have yea further you make the Lord a lyar if you believe not this his record of his Son what is this record why saith the Apostle I will repeate it againe The Lord hath given us eternall life and this life is in his Sonne that is whosoever believes and takes CHRIST his sinnes shall be forgiven and he shall have life It is the pardon that brings life to the condemned traytor 2 But though he hath said this is ingaged sufficiently and this is much to helpe our faith yet when wee shall further heare and know him to bee one of a mercifull nature and gracious disposition wee will goe the more willingly to him Therefore add to this how the Lord expresseth his nature to us Exodus 34. 6 7. The Lord God mercifull gracious and long suffering and abundant in goodnesse and truth forgiving iniquity transgression and sinne As if he should have said to Moses wouldest thou know the very inward disposition and frame of my soule this is my nature to be mercifull and gracious c. this is the Lords Idea for his end here was to expresse himselfe unto us know that this is his nature and this will strengthen our faith in the promises for all his promises doe but flow from this nature of his and receive their strength therefrom and hee is rich in mercy because it is his nature 3 Adde to this the attribute of his wisdome and that will also helpe us to believe his mercies GOD that hath made these promises is exceeding wise and knowes with whom hee hath to doe hee knowes that originall corruption that is in us and is the mother of all sinne hee knowes our infirmities and what is in our hearts as hee that made us knowes what wee are as hee that makes any thing knowes the inward frame of it It is no strange thing for him to see us fall into sinne Therefore Psal. 78. 38 39. after he had spoken of those strange rebellions of the people of Israel into which they fell after their comming out of Egypt yet saith hee Hee being full of compassion destroyed them not but forgave

THE GOLDEN SCEPTER with The Churches Marriage And THE CHURCHES CARRIAGE In three Treatissis BY The late Learned Divine IOHN PRESTON D r. in D. Chap in Ordinary to his Ma tie M r. of Emmanuell Colledge in Cambridge And sometime Preacher of Lincolnes Inne London Printed by R. Badger for N. Bourne A. Boler R. Harford sould at y e Royall Exchange at y e Marigold in Paules Chu yard at y e Bible in Queens head Alley in Pater Noster Row 1639 THE GOLDEN SCEPTER held forth to the humble VVITH THE CHVRCHES DIGNITIE by her Marriage AND THE CHVRCHES DVTIE in her Carriage In three Treatises The former delivered in sundry Sermons in Cambridge for the weekely Fasts 1625. The two latter in Lincolnes Inne By the late learned and reverend Divine IOHN PRESTON D r. in Divinity Chaplaine in Ordinary to His Majesty M r. of Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge and somtime Preacher at Lincolnes Inne PSALM 45 6. Thy throne O GOD is for ever and ever the scepter of thy kingdome is a right scepter IER 3. 14. Returne O back-sliding children for I am married unto you HOS 2. 7. I will goe and returne unto my first husband for then it was better with me than now LON●ON Printed by R. Badger for N Bourne at the Royall Exchange and R. Harford at the gilt BIBLE in Queenes-head Alley in Pater-noster Row and by F. Eglesfield at the MARIGOLD in PAULS Church-yard 1638. TO THE TRVLY VERTVOVS AND RELIGIOVS Gentleman RICHARD KNIGHTLEY Esquire SIR IT hath beene our custome hitherto who were deputed by the Author to this service to inscribe or dedicate the severall tractates wee have put forth to some or other of his speciall friends as proofs of our fidelity in discharging of the trust reposed in us and speciall emblemes of the Authours great abilities For if in every triviall and small Epistle a man do exarare animam imprint upon the paper some peeces of his soule he doth it much more doubtlesse in his studied exercises wherein he cannot but conceive his memory may live and some part of himselfe be kept alive and sweet to all posterity If he could say non omnis moriar because he was a Poet and think his Poem perennius aere a monument that time it selfe would not be able to divoure how much more may he say it that drawes himselfe unto the life in an immortall Dye and writes such characters as are not subject to decay and perish For all flesh is grasse and all the glory of man as the flower of grasse the grasse withereth and the flower falleth away but the word of the Lord endureth for ever and this is the word which by the Gospell is preached unto you 1 Pet. 1. 24 25. Seeing therefore it hath pleased God to preserve these peeces yet alive and after long deferring and desiring to produce and bring them forth to publike view we have thought good in a prime and speciall manner to entitle you unto them and to send them out unto the world under the covert and shadow of your name For seeing it pleased the Authour to choose your habitation wherein to put off and lay up his then decaying and declining body why should it not bee proper and convenient to send these living and surviving peeces of his soule for to attend it considering especially how much his body heretofore had waited on his soule which otherwise in humane probabilitie might still have beene alive Neither is there any doubt but these vigorous and usefull breathings of his spirit wil find accesse and entertainment where his languid and at last his breathlesse body did Especially these which may more properly be counted his than any thing that hitherto hath seene the light and this wee dare be bold to say for these that none of them did more expresse the Authour to the life Those that did either know him in his life time or since have much and frequently perused his writings shall find these three things every where occurring The foulenesse of sinne the freenesse of grace and the fulnesse of duty which in other peeces onely scattered and sparkling here and there are here collected under proper heads and handled so professedly and clearely as nothing more concerning them can be desired In the first are the danger and deformity of sin driving the spouse to sad and low expressions of her selfe as those virgins were commanded Deut. 21. 11 12 13. Even to shave her head and pare her nailes and bewaile her father and her mother that is her naturall and inbred evils and corruptions In the second is the glorious freenesse of the grace of Christ receiving this dejected and humbled captive unto favour and with that great King Hest. 5. 2. reaching forth the Golden Scepter of his love and mercy to her not onely to the pardon and forgivenesse of all her sin but intitling also of her unto all things for all things are hers whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things prosent or things to come all are hers because she is Christs 1 Cor. 3. 21 22. In the third the fulnesse of her duty is prest upon her for the grace of God that bringeth salvation doth no sooner appeare to any man but it teacheth to deny ungodlinesse and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Tit. 2. 11 12. that as before Ahasuerus had the virgins purified that were to approach his bed with various and costly powders and perfumes Hest. 2. 12 c. so Christ when once the soule is faithfully espoused unto him perfumes and washes her in his most precious bloud and beautifies her with variety of graces that he may present her to himselfe a glorious Spouse not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that she should be holy and without blame Eph. 5. 27. And now what rests but that these Treatises crave shadow protection from you nay owne you for their Patron Doth not the low and humble posture of your mind intitle you unto the first your high opinion of free grace unto the second and your holy and spotlesse carriage to the third Having so just a title besides other ingagements by this threefold clayme 't is but justice to call your name upon it and by your acceptance of it you shall shew friendship to this Posthume and especially oblige Your already much obliged and ingaged THOMAS GOODVVIN THOMAS BALL The Contents of the first Treatise Doct. 1. GOd afflicts his owne people 3 Reas. 1. Because he loves them 4 2. That his name be not blasphemed Ibid. 3. He will be sanctified in those that draw neare him Ibid. 4. He walks among them 5 Vse 1. To feare the Lord. 6 2. Want of feare provoketh God 13 3. Gods severity to wicked men 18 4. Not to think strange that God afflicts his 19 Doct. 2. God pities his people in affliction 20 Reas. 1. He is

the fruit of Sanctification which is meant here and unto which the promise is made These goe both together in the godly and hee that hath the second never wants the first in some measure more or lesse though many have the first that have not the second Now the first is nothing else but a sence of sin and Gods wrath for it expressed to us in those former examples by being prickt in the heart it being a wounding of the heart and spirit Vnto which is joyned trembling feare with considering and comming to a mans selfe aswee have it in the Parable And this passive Legal humiliation stands in these particulars A sensiblenesse of sinne before a man is as one that is in a dead sleep what is done to him he feeles not nor what is said he heares not is sensible of nothing But this is the awakening of a man to be sensible of sinne so as now hee is wounded now he is smitten with it now he feeles it So the Goaler as the foundation of the prison was shaken so was his heart also and had an earth-quake within as well as one without and his awaking out of sleepe was a resemblance of his awakened heart This humiliation makes a man fearefull of his estate whereas before he was bold and others that are not humbled goe on boldly and are punisht as it is said of the foole in the Proverbs It makes a man consider his estate which he never did before as the Prodigall came to himselfe that is entered into a serious consideration of his estate before a man thought himselfe in a good estate little imagined hee was in the gall of bitternesse but this worke shewes him his poverty and that he is altogether naked and that hee hath nothing to sustaine him as the Prodigall saw he had not no worth at all in him And this first worke of humiliation is wrought by the Law and the curse thereof which sayes in his hearing Cursed be he that abides not in all things to doe them By the Law I say which is the rule of righteousnesse whereof all particular rules are branches and by the threatnings thereof which are all branches of that great curse The one being as the lightning to discover sinne the other like the thunder-bolt that strikes the heart with feare of Gods Iudgements the one is like the Inditement the other as the Sentence of the Judge I put both these together because both goe to humble a man The Law is like the Task-masters of Egypt that commanded the Israelites to do the worke but gave them no straw so the Law tells us this and this is to bee done and binds us to doe it but gives us no strength and so thereby discovers our sinfulnesse and unability to any good and then as the task-masters did beate them that failed of their tale so comes the curse and strikes them dead that continue not in all things to do the Law and these two put together worke this Legall humiliation neither by the Law is meant only those ten words spoken in Horeb but together with the explanation of them as wee finde them expounded in the Prophets and the whole Scriptures so that by the Law is meant that rectitude which the whole Scripture doth require Now therefore when the Scriptures are laid to our hearts the rectitude of the Scriptures is compared with the crookednes of our hearts and lives and thereby we come to see how that the least sinne is forbidden and that the least dutie must not be omitted and that we must give an account for every idle word and every lustfull thought and motion in the heart as S. Paul when humbled saw lust to be sinne and then we come to see withall the curse due to the lease This humbleth a man And unto this is further required the help of the Spirit joyning therewith without which the Law doth not humble a man who is therefore called the spirit of bondage because he enlightneth a man to see his bondage and slavery to sin and Sathan and his subjection to Gods wrath not that hee makes him such or brings bondage with it but discovers it and this not onely by shewing a man his bondage but he makes him believe it For there must be a faith to humble as well as to comfort whereas wee set light by the threatnings and believe them not for would the swearer sweare if he believed that threatning the Lord will not hold him guiltlesse that taketh his name in vaine When therefore the Spirit enlighteneth a man to see his sinnes and makes him believe the threatnings denounced against them then a man is humbled and not before And yet though these threatnings are propounded by the Word and made effectuall by the Spirit yet usually some affliction puts life into them as wee see in Manasses and also in S. Paul who was first struck off his horse to the ground and in the laylor who thought verily all his prisoners gone for whom his owne life must have beene answerable so as hee would have killed himselfe sometimes a reall affliction sometimes an imaginary one an apprehension of Judgement shame poverty misery doth God use to put life into the threatnings and they put life into the Law and then the Law is brought home to the conscience and so sinne is brought to light for when men are sensible of miseries then they are often brought to to inquiry into the Law of God to find what should bee the cause of it and when the Law is brought home to the conscience then sinne is made alive Saint Paul saies Romans 7. Sinne appeares to bee sin which before was as colours in the darke and sin being made alive then I dyed saies Paul there that is he apprehended himselfe a dead man in which is a discovery of sinne and our subjection to death for it wherein doe consist those two parts of this former humiliation which makes way for the second humiliation Thus you see what to be humbled is Now wee come to the second what it is to humble a mans selfe which begins when the other ends for then a man lookes out for the remedy as those who cryed out what shall we doe to be saved which is the second thing to be observed in those examples after the wounding of their hearts they made an enquiry what to doe to be saved For those that belong to Gods Election goe yet further there is another kinde of Evangelicall humiliation wrought in them which is a fruit of sanctification for in one whom GOD meanes to save when hee is come to this the LORD sends the spirit of adoption into his heart the spirit of grace as Za●hary calls him which gives him some secret hope hee shall bee received to mercy if hee will come in which is a worke of faith in some degree begun and then says the soule with it selfe I will

terme or object to another that is from sinne to righteousnesse from Sathan to God And because there are many false turnings and many men that wheele about and never turne truly who yet suppose that they are converted therefore we will endeavour to open to you this true turning Now it may be found out foure wayes First by the causes of it or motives upon which Secondly by the termes from which and to which we turne Thirdly by the manner Fourthly by the effects First for the causes of this solid true turning and the motives which worke upon a mans heart to turne him you must know that there are many things may cause a man to leave his evill ways for a while As it may be some present affliction for the avoyding of which a man may seeme to turne unto God Therefore God still complaines of the Iewes that they turned but fainedly unto him and not with the whole heart because when hee slew them then they sought to him and then they would turne from their evill wayes but when they were delivered they turned to their old Bias againe So Pharaoh when as he was plagued with any new Iudgement then hee would let the Israelites goe but as soone as that was off hee hardened his heart and would not let them goe As also a second cause to move men to turne may be some present commodity This doth appeare in many of those that applied themselves to Christ some did it for the loaves and some for their convenient living some for the hope of an earthly Kingdome which they thought hee would have brought but these all left him afterwards There bee many such false motives but the onely true motives are taken from the apprehension of eternall life and eternall death the conversion is not right till then and the reason is because all other motives may be over ballanced But the motives of life and death cannot be over topped by any thing If preferment be offered or what ever the world can offer but these exceed all that Sathan or the world or the flesh can suggest Therefore a man is then turned when the Lord shall enlarge his thoughts to see the greatnesse and the vastnesse of these two for then all those other things appeare but as Candles in the Sunshine So that if Sathan come with earthly honours and pleasures in his hand the answer will be easie but what are these to eternall death and everlasting life and these are not thought of nor considered by carnall men though they talke of heaven and hell yet they see not the immense vastnesse and latitude of them and therefore goe on so confidently hence Christ in Marke 16. when he sends forth his Disciples to convert men he bids them use these two arguments Tell every man if hee beleeve hee shall bee saved if not hee shall bee damned Where wee see the motives that Ministers are to use by Christs direction are eternall life and death And Saint Paul endeavouring to convert Felix told him of the Iudgement to come which made him to tremble And Christ told the woman of Samaria of that water and spring that flowes up to eternall life Consider therefore whether ever thou hadst a true apprehension of these without which a man cannot be throughly wrought upon which apprehension if true hath these conditions in it First it must be an apprehension of them as present for happily a man may have a slight thought of eternall life and death he may looke upon them as things absent and afarre off but when they are set on by God a man is pursued and brought into streights by the apprehensions of them so as he hath no rest till he be translated into another condition A carnall man on his death bed having an actuall apprehension of hell as present is strangely affected Now at conversion the apprehension of these seizeth upon a man by a work of the Spirit and compasses him about so as he cannot shake it off till he turnes to God The wise man sees the plague before hand even as present and therfore stayes not till it comes but turnes in the time of youth health and strength Secondly it must be a deepe fix'd and setled apprehension for sometimes a man that shall never be saved may be moved with the present apprehension of eternall death and life but it is as a storme soone blowne over but in him that shall be saved it is set on by the spirit of bondage and such an impression made as will never out but he still remembers it and this is that true apprehension which moves to repentance But some will say can a man be wrought upon by the meere apprehensions of eternall life and death to turne from his evill wayes without an apprehension of sin and grace When a man hath a true apprehension of eternall life and death he comes to know what sin and Grace is and never before till a man knowes eternall death he looks on sin as a trifle as a thing of nought therefore the wise man saith they despise their waies but this apprehension is it which helpes to present sin in its l●vely colours and so also the price of grace is then understood when it is apprehended as drawing with it everlasting happinesse as the needle drawes the threed The second thing is the consideration of the termes for there is no turning without going from one terme to another and there is no true turning except it be from Sathan and the creature and your owne selves to God Of this you reade in Acts 26. 18. that Saint Paul was sent to open their eyes and to turne them from darkenesse to light and from the power of Sathan unto God c. You see these the termes of true turning and this is especially to be marked for if there be no more then a turning from misery to happinesse it is not sound for if you look upon sinne and misery grace and happinesse as in themselves without respect to God you doe but turne upon your owne hinges as axle-trees you goe but different wayes to the same center that o ther wicked men goe unto so long as you looke only at the misery and the happinesse of your selves alone which is the center of all mankinde Therefore in a true conversion these motives are lookt upon in relation to God as thus if I follow my selfe and the creature they are never able to save me but if I apply my selfe to him that hath the keyes of life and death I shall be happy in him for ever therefore henceforth I will forsake Satan and every creature and apply my selfe onely to the Lord. And upon this ground a man makes this resolution with himselfe I will forsake Sathan and subject my selfe to God for he only is the author of true happinesse so that now God is made a tearme to which thou turnest and appliest