Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	depart_v	evil_a	unbelief_n	2,143	5	10.6595	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39261	The necessity of serious consideration, and speedy repentance, as the only way to be safe both living and dying. By Clement Elis, M.A. Rector of Kirkby in Nottinghamshire	Ellis, Clement, 1630-1700.	1691 (1691)	Wing E566; ESTC R171929	98,541	214

the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed receiveth blessing from God but that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected and is nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned Add hereunto that other place of the same Epistle Heb. X. 26 c. If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledg of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries He that despised Moses's law died without mercy under two or three witnesses of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despight unto the Spirit of Grace 'T is true these places of this Epistle are commonly interpreted of Apostacy from the Faith of Christ to Iudaism or Idolatry and it may be they were some such Apostates that gave the Apostle an occasion of writing this yet I think that hardly any considering man will deny that they are to be extended as well to all those who resolutely lead a life quite contrary to the Gospel of Christ notwithstanding that in words they profess themselves to be Christians seeing all such do equally with the other despise and trample on the Gospel and Covenant of Christ. The same Apostle Heb. III. 7 c. propounds unto Christians the Example of the Israelites in the Wilderness to take warning by in this case To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness When your fathers tempted me proved me and saw my works forty years Wherefore I was grieved with that generation and said They do always err in their heart and they have not known my ways So I sware in my wrath they shall not enter into my rest Take heed brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God but exhort one another daily whilst it is call'd to day left any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin Let us moreover read with trembling what we find to this purpose in the First Chapter of the Proverbs There we shall see the method that God usually takes with Sinners First he graciously and earnestly invites them to Repentance v 22. How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity and the scorners delight in scorning and fools hate knowledg Turn you at my reproof Behold I will pour out my spirit unto you I will make known my words unto you But Sinners turn their deaf ear to this and make no haste to return though they see God in haste to do them good How long saith he 'T is yet time enough say they But how doth God resent such an Answer v. 24. he tells them this Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded but ye have set at nought all my counsel and would none of my reproof I will also laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh Well but suppose they begin now at last to consider what danger they are in and repenting of their simplicity folly and obstinacy call upon God for help hear now what God saith to this too v. 28. Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me For that they hated knowledg and did not chuse the fear of the Lord. They would none of my counsel they despised my reproof therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices What saith Iob of the Hypocrite Iob XXVII 9. Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him He asks the question and God himself hath answer'd it Ezek. VIII 18. Though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice yet will I not hear them And saith Micah cap. III. v. 4. He will even hide his face from them at that time as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings Yea saith God Isa I. 15. When ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you when ye make many prayers I will not hear So the Psalmist tells us it fared with some that he was too well acquainted with They cried but there was none to save them even unto the Lord but he answer'd them not And all this is very just and equal and Sinners cannot expect to find any better treatment with God Zech. VII 13. As he cried and they would not hear so they cried and I would not hear saith the Lord of hosts Why should he Must vile Sinners have the command of God's Ear And must the glorious Majesty of Heaven and Earth wait on every filthy Wretch as long as he pleaseth and alway be ready at his beck and come at his call Hath not God waited to be gracious to us begged and beseech'd us from day to day even from our infancy to this hour and must he yet be made to wait longer and even as long as we please and after we have slighted his Favours and abused his Patience and put what affronts we can upon his Divine Majesty can we expect that he should not turn away from us in anger and indignation and swear in his wrath that we shall not see his face nor hear his voice any more I conclude with those words of the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. II. 20. If after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledg of the Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ they are again intangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the holy commandment deliver'd unto them When such Scriptures as these are well consider'd we shall find that a man hath great reason to doubt whether a late Repentance will be accepted or no. Wonderful indeed is the Infinite Goodness of God to Sinners he doth often more but never less than he promiseth and he doth often a great deal less than he threatneth and granteth unto us that time of repentance which we had no reason to expect from him but whilst we magnify as we are bound the Patience and Long-suffering of God we must take heed how we forget his Iustice and Truth or how we speak so of those that we know not how to reconcile what we say of them with what he himself hath said of these A very late Convert may be at last converted and upon his late conversion shall be accepted and I dare not say that if he do not come in at the first or second call the door of Salvation shall be shut against him I