Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	believe_v	faith_n	rule_n	12,199	5	7.5465	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30582	Gospel remission, or, A treatise shewing that true blessedness consists in pardon of sin wherein is discovered the many Gospel mysteries therein contained, the glorious effects proceeding from it, the great mistakes made about it, the true signs and symptomes of it, the way and means to obtain it / by Jeremiah Burroughs ; being several sermons preached immediately after those of The evil of sin by the same author, and now published by Philip Nye ... [et al.]	Burroughs, Jeremiah, 1599-1646.; Nye, Philip, 1596?-1672.	1668 (1668)	Wing B6081; ESTC R4316	194,926	239

of God and therefore to say boasting is excluded by faith because faith is the gift of God will not serve the turn therefore the mystery of Justification is a great mystery that notwithstanding faith is such a glorious work as it is one of the gloriousest works that ever any creature did yet that this should be excluded by this I cannot but be perswaded that there is more in the work of Faith than in any thing Adam ever had and that faith the power of believing was not in Adam in the state of Innocency Why Because it is now made such a grace as excludes all kind of boasting For were it but the stirring up of any power we had in Adam it would no more exclude boasting than if God stirr'd up any other grace as Love Hope Fear and the like But that it excludes boasting this may be the most satisfactory answer Works they could not exclude boasting Why though they were from the grace and gift of God yet they belong'd to mans nature for if God will make a rational creature he must give it those perfections that are due to that nature Now the Image of God was in some regard due to such a nature But now God when he comes to give faith he gives a higher thing than ever was due to the nature of man hence there is a greater mystery in faith than in any other grace and therefore it is a great mystery that God should justifie a man by faith and yet this excludes boasting more than any other thing I but the Scripture says God imputes faith for righteousness and when God inables us to believe Is it not our own Yea when we have it it is our own and when we are justified it is imputed to us for righteousness but mark what I shall say it will be useful for the understanding that Text in Rom. 4.22 Where it says faith was imputed to him for righteousness ye must not understand it thus that is that God did through the grace of Christ now accept of Abraham's faith as his righteousness whereby he should stand to be justified by it in the sight of God he did not thus accept of faith for righteousness no not through the mediation of Christ nor by vertue of any Covenant made by God with Christ God did never make any Covenant with Christ that whereas man did owe obedience to all the Law and that should have been his righteousnes had he continued in it but man now being unable to perform it that God would be now so favourable to him as that he would accept of faith for righteousness that is not the meaning of it for the word in the Original translated for righteousness it is thus it was imputed unto righteousness it is the same word used in Rom. 10.10 With the heart man believeth unto Righteousness and with the mouth Confession is made unto Salvation Now Confession with the mouth is not made Salvation it self but unto Salvation so faith is not the righteousness it self but unto righteousness that is by faith we come to get righteousness But why says the Scripture God imputed it unto righteousness I take it thus that forasmuch as faith is so glorious a Principle infused of God above any thing of our own God is pleased to account of it as if it were our own and so imputes it unto righteousness the truth is it is not our own no not so our own as other graces are our own but God in point of Justification is pleased to impute it as our own that we may come to have righteousness by it as if it were our own Now this is a great mystery that God in the work of pardon of sin should do it by the grace of faith and that this excludes all boasting and yet righteousness imputed to it as if it were our own Hence by the way let us take heed of the Opinion of those that say faith it self is imputed for righteousness and that God through Christ accepts of faith as the matter of our righteousness The Papists say we are justified by works and that God is pleased through Christ to accept not of Faith only but of Humility Fear Love Repentance Joy c. though they be imperfect yet he is pleased to accept of these for our righteousness says the other opinion faith is our righteousness though God might require exact obedience to the whole Law yet he is pleased to accept of faith both these Opinions are besides the truth and therefore there is the same danger in the one as in the other and therefore both to avoided Of the eight Mystery God is infinitely Just and yet infinitely Merciful 8. The eighth particular is this that shews pardon of sin is a great mystery because where-ever God pardons sin he is infinitely just and yet infinitly merciful there is an admirable reconciliation between Gods Justice and Mercy which shews it to be a great mystery There are three great mysteries in Religion 1. The great mystery of the Trinity that there should be divers Persons and yet but one God The second is that in the Person of Christ there should be two Natures and yet but one Person And then the third is the reconciliation of the mercy and justice of God in the forgiveness of a sinner Many people when they seek for pardon of sin they only think of Gods infinite grace and mercy but not of his justice But certainly who ever he be that comes to be pardoned God shews himself infinitely just as well as merciful that he is merciful that is clear to every one But how does it appear he is so infinitely just for that there is a clear Text for it Rom. 3.26 To declare at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus so that God in the justifying of him that believes in Christ is just as well as merciful Now then poor sinner lay these together that God should work so strangely in bringing about the pardon of thy sin in such a mysterious way as this is certainly it does demonstrate that thou art a blessed man I beseech you think of what hath been said and lay it in your breasts go away with this upon your spirits Lord I indeed heard much of the evil of sin and that it was a greater evil than ever I thought it to be and now I have begun to hear of the mighty work of God in pardon of sin I hope I shall for ever retain higher thoughts of it than before Brethren there is nothing in the world that people have slighter thoughts of than of the pardon and forgiveness of sin they think it a slight matter But if there were any work that ever took up the heart of God from all eternity and shews God to be a God it is this about the pardon of sin this is a great doctrine the doctrine of the work of God in

repentance that is a truth Esau was very much troubled and shed many tears and yet there was no true repentance but I rather take the meaning of the Text thus he found no place of repentance in his Father Isaac his Father Isaac had given the blessing to Jacob and would not call it back though he sought it with tears there was no place for Isaac to recal it any more though he shed many tears yet he went without it so that there may be much sorrow and thou may'st seek the blessing with many tears and yet God may be so turn'd against thee that there will be no place for repentance that is God will not call in that that is out against thee And of Judas 't is said when he saw Christ was condemn'd that he repented 't is said he did repent yet Judas was not pardoned so that you see plainly there may be repentance and yet sin never pardoned Indeed true repentance hath ever pardon going along with it but the Scripture speaks of a repentance that may be without pardon therefore when thou say'st thou repentest you must not look upon it so because you repent therefore your sins are pardoned as if every repentance was true for thou mistakest in the work of repentance thou thinkest this to be repentance to Salvation for thee to be sorry at the very heart for thy sins certainly thou may'st be sorry at the heart and yet perish for all that I make no question but Judas was sorry at his heart and wisht it had never been done and if it were to do again he would never do it there is as much exprest he repented and he brought the 30 pieces again he was not only sorrowful but made satisfaction he brought the mony back again that he had got in a wicked way and therefore if you think this to be true repentance you are mightily mistaken but wherein is it that we fail It is not for me now to enter on the Doctrine of true Repentance I am to speak of it so far as to convince men that it is not a ground for hope of pardon of sin Mark it when 't is thus with thee thou repentest because thou seest that sin will bring thee into danger Now thou hast had the pleasure or the profit of it and thou seest now it will bring thee into trouble and danger thou art sorry that ever thou did'st it certainly if God would be satisfied with such kind of sorrow he might have enough of it in Hell for there is yelling and sorrow because of the troubles that sin hath brought upon them to sorrow because of the trouble that our sins bring on us is meerly natural and flows from nature it self and far from a saving work of repentance therefore the repentance many hope to have What is it when we tell them of their sins they say they hope to repent What do they mean Why they would take the pleasure of sin and when the punishment comes they would be sorry for it and repent of it the ordinary way to put men off from this plea is to tell them How do you know you shall live or that your hearts shall not be hardned but suppose you do live and that you have a heart to do as you say yet your repentance may fail you if your repentance be no other than that which comes for sorrow of sin because of the punishment it will fail you certainly that repentance that must go for current in Heaven is of another nature possibly I may shew afterwards what is true and false sorrow but for the present I shall shew where the mistake lies Whosoever therefore that builds their believing of the pardon of their sin meerly on their sorrow and such kind of sorrow they are like a man that would erect a great Building and lay the foundation of it in a quag-mire or on the sand as the Scripture speaks when storms come the building falls I shall speak hereafter to those that build on the Sand but these build on a Quagmire on a few tears sorrow and trouble of spirit they have upon the apprehension of punishment of sin this building will fall in time of straights and danger and this is the reason why people that depend upon sorrow never have peace for how can I tell the measure of sorrow I am to have before peace be spoken and then if they feel not sorrow they are questioning again it is a dangerous thing to lay the hopes of pardon of sin upon our own sorrows where or how then shall we lay our hopes why upon the sorrows of Jesus Christ there you shall find the surest ground there may be some mistake there too but for the present I shall not stay on that we must look ten thousand times more at the sorrows of Christ than at our own sorrows and therefore when your hearts are troubled and you look for mercy depend more ten thousand times on the sorrows of Christ than on all your own sorrows for your sorrows for sin cannot satisfie Gods Justice and that that must be a ground of hope for the pardon of my sin must be something that must satisfie the justice of God for though there be never so much sorrow yet it will not satisfie Gods justice and consider further True sorrow rather follows the work of Justification then preceds it as thus I am not therefore pardoned because I mourn but because I am pardoned therefore I come to mourn so stands the Truth in Divinity in point of Justification and Repentance you pervert the order if you think because you mourn and are a little sorrowful that therefore you shall be pardoned the truth is if your mourning and sorrow be a work of true saving grace you mourn and sorrow because you are justified sorrow of true repentance rather flows from pardon then pardon from it when God pardons sin he lets out the graces of his Spirit and then comes sorrow as a fruit or Evidence of Gods pardoning love and Reconciliation for though God may give outward favours to a man that is not pardoned yet God never gives his Spirit to work any saving grace in the heart till he is reconciled 't is a fruit of his pardoning grace and favour and because he has justified thee he sends his Spirit to work sorrow and repentance Many think Justification flows from sorrow but thou must come to sorrow and repentance another way know that all true sorrow flows from Justification all that sorrow before Justification it is but Legal sorrow and reveals something that may hinder the soul from Christ as sin and the terrors of the Law and the wrath of God but it does not interest the soul in Christ this I affirm as most certain Divinity that there is no sorrow whereby any soul is interested and planted in Christ the sorrow that is wrought in them before Justification in order of nature may be a means to bring them

you do not rest much upon Evidences but then at that very time think with your selves though now I have comforts I may loose them and God may call me to another condition God never granted these helps unto me for my Saviours that I should rest upon them they are but bladders to help me to swim and God may take away these and call me to live upon the meer actings of faith and not at all on sense that 's certain he may do it for when we bring these Signs and Evidences of grace as they come from faith and are effects and fruits of it they are but as bladders to help young swimmers that cannot swim without them and learn them to swim but those that have got the Art though the bladders be taken away they can swim but take them away from the others and they will sink so that these Evidences are for young and weak Christians that cannot live on primary acts of faith which a strong Christian can do when all other things are taken away and therefore when we feel the comfort of any signs depend not on this the Lord may take them away and because he delights in the meer actings of faith that is the reason why God withdraws himself from the souls of his people that they shall not have the use of Signs and Evidences as they had before because he would teach them to live on the more necessary acts of faith God loves the voice of Job though he kill me yet will I trust in him I will venture my soul upon him whatever becomes of me when there 's nothing else to rest on but God then to live by actings of faith merely on him he delights much in this and therefore take heed you do not rest so much on signs as if all your comforts were lost and you undone when you cannot have such use of them as you have had heretofore Ninthly when you have at any time lost the use of signs do not determine that all is gone and that you shall never have the use of them more this is that that mightily hinders many poor Christians that are in trouble of Conscience because they cannot find the evidence of the pardon of their sins and that God accepts of them in what they do what do they do presently they yeild to the horrible sentence of damnation against themselves Gods Spirit say they is now gone and he will return no more he will never come any more unto me take heed you do not fasten on any such kind of thoughts as those are to determine of your own estates or that Gods Spirit will not come again but do you humble your souls before the Lord and wait upon him Tenthly When at any time all Signs and Evidences fail you and you are ready to determine that all is gone yet even then keep up good thoughts of God As the Spouse in the Canticles when her Beloved was gone yet she prized him and said He is the chiefest of ten thousands in Cant. 5. when she was asked What is thy beloved says she he is thus and thus then concludes He is altogether lovely and this was at such a time as he was gone yet she retain'd good thoughts of him so 't is a good sign for any soul that when trouble of conscience is upon them or any other trouble that they retain good thoughts of God and Christ and the wayes of God when the soul says whatever become of me though I perish for ever yet God is good his Word his ways are good his Gospel and the Covenant in his Son is good and whatever troubles are upon me yet God is righteous and though God justifie not me yet I will justifie God if there be any soul that cannot find his Evidences or any of those signs before spoken of you may make use of this if you cannot find any other do what thou can'st to justifie God thou art afraid that God will not justifie thee do thou justifie him sometimes it is with many men as with some wretched servant that has dealt falsly with his Master and may be all the while he can make any advantage of his Master for his own ends he will speak well of him but if his Master turn him out of doors for his wickedness then he rails on him 't is ordinary for bad servants to do so when they are turn'd away for their wickedness and so it is with many when all goes well with them then they like well of the wayes of God but if they come to such a condition as that they think that God will cast them away indeed and that they are like to perish then they begin to have hard thoughts of God and by degrees they speak against God and his ways take heed of this although you want the Evidences of his love and mercy yet retain in your hearts good thoughts of God and of his ways and this will be a special help to bring into your souls the comfort and assurance of your Justification and now I have done with this argument I have shewed you who it is that hath his sins pardoned I have shewed the several mistakes and I have shewed you certain infallible grounds from Scripture Evidences of the pardon of sin and Rules how to make use of those Evidences and now upon what you have heard you have testimony and assurance of the pardon of your sins or you have not if you find your hearts do not answer to these Evidences or that you are afraid that your sins are not pardoned then take a use of Exhortation to put you on to seek after this blessedness CHAP. XIX Of Exhortation to seek after Pardon of Sin with Cautions and Rules how and what we are to do I Am now come to a use of Exhortation and it concerns us all either those that are not pardoned or those that have assurance of the pardon of their sins for there is none that have assurance but may make use of it Christ taught his Disciples to pray daily for the forgiveness of their trespasses as well as for their daily bread and what we are to pray for we are to seek after so that it concerns all blessedness is desirable to all it is as natural for man as a reasonable creature to desire blessedness as it is for the fire to burn only here 's the great mistake in the world all would have it but they look not for it in the right way Now after all that has been said that thou may'st not have slight thoughts of the pardon of sin and say I hope they are pardoned and the like I shall speak to awaken thee suppose thou wer 't now set on the brink of the infinite Ocean of Eternity and the bottomless Gulf were ready to devour thee and the Records of Heaven were opened and there shewed thee that thy sins were not cancelled but remain upon the file What thou would'st then do do