Selected quad for the lemma: water_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
water_n	blood_n	john_n	spirit_n	3,921	5	5.9402	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A97232	Chonoyterion he Sion. The refinement of Zion: or, The old orthodox Protestant doctrine justified, and defended against several exceptions of the Antinomians, methodically digested into questions, wherein many weighty and important cases of conscience are handled, concerning the nature of faith and repentance, or conversion to God: of his eternal love, and beholding of sin in his dearest children: of justification from eternity, of of [sic] preparations to the acceptance of Christ, of prayer for pardon of sin, and turning to God: of the gospel covenant, aud [sic] tenders of salvation, on the termes of faith and repentance. For the establishment of the scrupulous, conviction of the erroneous, and consolation of distressed consciences. By Anthony Warton, minister of the word at Breamore in Hampshire.	Warton, Anthony.	1657 (1657)	Wing W987; Thomason E914_2; ESTC R207476	171,315	250

in Christ by Gods Judgments 2 Chro. 33.12 13. Luke 15. wherewith he hath visited them and awakened their consciences and by meditating of the shortnesse and uncertainty of their life here in this world and by other the like morives and considerations And it is manifest that not a few but many have extraordinarily been prepared unto Faith in Christ by miracles and strange works Mark 16.20 John 11.45 20.31 which have been wrought by God for the confirmation of the Gospel Lastly It is not to be denied that God both can work Faith yea and that he hath extraordinarily and most marvellously wrought it in some without any precedent qualifications or preparations at all To teach the contrary is to deny Gods power Luke 1.44 and to contradict the holy Scripture Quest 8. Whether we are made the Sons of God by Faith in Christ or but declared so to be Reconcil of man to God pag. 66. Gal. 3.20 MR. D. his peremptory resolution is We are not made the Sons of God by Faith for we were before reconciled unto him and were his sons And whereas S. Paul saith ye are all the sons of God by Fa●th in Christ Jesus he will have the sense and meaning hereof to be That we are declared to be the sons of God by Faith in Christ Jesus But the Apostle saith you are and not are declared to be the sons of God though that be true also He speaketh therefore of the essence of son-ship and not of the manifestation or appearance hereof only Object But here it will be said Were all the Galathians that made profession of the Faith of Christ the sons of God really Answ It is not likely they were St. Pauls words therefore must be understood per reduplicationem to wit thus you are all the sons of God that is all of you who are the sons of God are his sons by Faith in Christ Jesus Or else we are to say that he speaketh of them according to the judgment of charity when he saith ye are all the sons of God presuming them to be so and then specifieth the means how they came to be his sons when he addeth by Faith in Christ Jesus But if they he will not admit of this Exposition I would know of him what it is that maketh a man to be a son Is it not his parents begetting of him Sure I am that is fundamentum hujus relationis the foundation of this relation Now St James telleth us That God hath begotten us by the word of truth Jam. 1.9 1 Pet. 1.23 St. Peter also saith that we are renati born again not of mortal seed but of immortal by the word of God Whence it followeth necessarily that we are not the sons of God until we do hear his word and are thereby converted to the Faith and obedience of Christ But Mr. D. t●inketh to avoid and put off this also by saying that the Apostles do say Object that we are regenerated and born again by the word because we are declared so to be and not that we are in deed and in truth regenerated by the word But this will not serve his turn Answ for the word being made effectual by the spirit is that which begets faith in us for Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of of God Now it is absurd to say that a man is regenerated while he liveth in infidelity or incredulity and is void of Faith Again until men hear the word their minds are blined with ignorance and their lives are full of impurity and uncleanness And hereupon St. Paul saith that God sent him unto the Gentiles to turn them from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan unto God that is by his preaching Gods word unto them which they had not heard before Yea our Saviour's own Disciples were unclean as all men are by nature until they heard the word as those words of Christ do testifie Now ye are clean through the word that I have spoken unto you They were not so therefore before and how then could they be said to be regenerated without the word For by regeneration men are made partakers of a new nature which they had not before St. Paul also speaking of the whole Church of Christ in general saith that he sanctifieth and cleanseth it with the washing of water by the word All therefore generally and ordinarily without the word are unclean and unregenerated Object But let us see how Mr. D. endeavoreth to prove that we were the sons of God before we did believe The Holy Ghost saith he declareth son-ship to be the cause of giving the Spirit when he saith Because ye are sons Gal. 4.6 God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying Abba Father Seeing therefore a man cannot believe without the grace of the Spirit it followeth necessarily that we are the sons of God before we do believe Answ But hereunto I answer that the Spirit is given diversly First to regenerate us for we are born again not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man John 1.13 but of God by the powerful operation of his Spirit Even as our Saviour himself also teacheth when he saith Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit John 3.5 he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Thus the Spirit is not a consequent of our regeneration whereby we are born the sons of God but a precedent cause thereof 2. Again the Spirit is also given to increase Faith and holinesse in us and to strengthen and establish us in grace after we are regenerated For as Christ by his Spirit beginneth the good work of grace in us so doth he by his Spirit perfect the same Phil. 1.6 2 Cor. 3.5 and not we our selves by any power of our own Lastly After we are born again the Spirit is also given to comfort us and to assure us of our Adoption by crying in our hearts Abba Father Thus as Mr. D. saith son-ship is in some sort the cause of giving the Spirit But otherwise we are not sons before and without any work of the Spirit at all for he is the Author or principal efficient cause of our being regenerated and born again the sons of God Another of Mr. D's Objections is this The Apostle saith Object that God the Father hath predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself We were not therefore begotten in time by the word but it is an eternal grace Whereunto I answer that he might as well infer Answ and conclude that we are alteady glorified and in actual possession of Heaven For God hath predestinated us to be made partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light It 's strange that he cannot distinguish between the Decree of Election it self which is eternal and the effects thereof that is to say the things whereunto we are Elected

rise in their mindes that they cannot say nor they cannot assure themselves that they do repent and believe Now what comfort can it be unto them that every one that repenteth and believeth hath his sins pardoned when they know not themselves to be of this number Answ Concerning such I say that they may take much comfort from this Doctrine which I have taught and delivered for let them use the meanes of their salvation constantly as they do and continue their striving against sin and endevouring to obey God according to all his Commandements and then although through multitudes of doubts and fears which do encounter them as this is the case of those that are troubled with melancholy and hideous tentations they cannot firmly believe or be perswaded that their sins are pardoned yet let them cast themselves into the arms of Gods mercy through Christ and it will not be possible that they should miscarry For as all those were cured of their bodily diseases and infirmities who came unto Christ and believed and relied upon him for help so if these men and these women of whom I now speak do relie on Christ both for the pardon of their sins past and for their sanctification and whole salvation he will uphold them against all their spiritual adversaries and bring them safe through all difficulties to the possession of his glorious Kingdom Unto all such therefore I say as the holy Prophet Isaiah doth Isa 50.10 Who is there among you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voyce of his Servant that walketh in darkness and hath no light Let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God Thus I have shewed how the Children of God are to be dealt with that they may receive comfort from the holy and heavenly Doctrine of Christ which is taught by all Orthodox Protestants Quest Now I know it will be demanded what comfort this Doctrine of ours can afford to wicked and ungodly men that live in sin and do not yet repent Answ Whereunto I say that such may turn this Doctrine to their great comfort For albeit they finde their carnal lusts whereof they are held captive to be too strong for them to subdue and overcome yet let them not through despair give over themselves to the power of the Devil but let them humble themselves before God acknowledging their deserved condemnation and when they have done this let them set upon their sins as David did on the great Goliah not in their own strength but in the name of the Lord that is in faith and confidence 1 Sam. 17. that God through Christ will make them conquerors of all the infernal powers of darkness if they do not voluntarily cast away their Weapons and resign and yield themselves captives to their lusts but fight and strive against them in a constant use of the meanes of their conversion and salvation with prayer We read in the fifth of St. Johns Gospel that a multitude of impotent people of blind halt and withered lay by the Pool of Bethesda waiting for the moving of the waters For an Angel went down at a certain season into the Pool and troubled the water whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had After the like manner ought all sorts of sinners to relye upon Christ in the use of the meanes of grace waiting for the powerful working of the spirit in their hearts whereby they may be freed from the servitude of their carnal lusts and enabled to serve God acceptably according to his word and will Thus may the wickedest sinners that are through Gods grace convert and turn this Doctrine to their comfort But if any one shall here say Object This can be no comfort at all to such as are not willing nor have any desire at all to leave their sins To such a one I say Let Mr. D. and his Novellists Answ if they list comfort such and tell them they are to believe that their sins are forgiven them and that they are justified and reconciled unto God by the death of Christ If I say they have a minde thus to comfort them let them take this to themselves and rejoyce in it as in a peculiar prerogative of their own For surely those that are faithful to Christ dare not comfort such knowing that the terrors not the comforts of Gods word do appertain and belong unto them and yet lest such carnal minded men should presumptuously hope for mercy while they continue in their sins and have no purpose to reform their lives I must tell them that the comfort which Mr. D. and such others do reach out unto them with the one hand Doct. of J. Baptist pag. 27. they dash and overthrow it with the other For having taught their hearers that they are justified and reconciled to God before they do believe even while they live in their sins Yet * Recon of God to man Pag. 32 33. Ib. p. 44. Recon of man to God p. 60 61. afterwards they tell them that a final infidelity will damn them and that if they do not love God and leave sin they can have no hope of Heaven Good Christian Reader I have I think met with and confuted the most material errors which Mr. D. hath scattered here and there in his three Treatises especially those wherein he doth oppugne the Orthodox and ancient Protestant Doctrine There are indeed besides these divers novellous most strange and forced expositions of Scripture to be found in those Treatises whereof I will only give thee a taste by instancing in a few of them Mat. 6.14 First of all then whereas our Saviour saith If you forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you But if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses Recon of God to man p. 25 He saith that forgiveness is here to be taken not properly but for the manifestation of forgiveness As if our Saviour should have said Except ye forgive men neither will your heavenly Father so fully declare and manifest himself unto your Consciences A worthy Exposition for will it not hence follow that a man may have his sins pardoned and forgiven by God though he never forgive those that offend him but this will not be so evident to his Conscience Yet for confirmation of this his Exposition he alledgeth those words of our Saviour Luc. 7.47 unto the penitent woman Her sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much And hereupon inferreth and saith forgiveness in this place includeth the manifestation of forgiveness But I answer Forgiveness is here taken really and properly and her great and abundant love to Christ was the evidence and manifestation thereof As if I should say The Sun is risen for it shineth upon the wall In this speech the meaning is that the Sun is really