Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	incline_v	law_n	mercy_n	16,911	5	10.2109	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39932	Aytokatakritos or, the sinner condemned of himself being a plea for God, against all the ungodly, proving them alone guilty of their own destruction; and that they shall be condemned in the great day of account, not for that they lacked, but only because they neglected the means of their salvation. And also, shewing, how fallacious and frivolous a pretence it is in any, to say, they would do better, if they could; when indeed all men could, and might do better, if they would. By one, that wisheth better to all, than most do to themselves.	Ford, Thomas, 1598-1674.	1668 (1668)	Wing F1511B; ESTC R222667	153,768	273

raise the mist that clouds and darkens him so as to wander after vanities and lye● and forsake his own mercies And all serves as I suppose to our present purpose Men are commonly worse in their practices than in their principles as I said before and yet I deny not that they are corrupted in both For it is not to me imaginable how a man should be corrupted in one and not in the other But this we find by experience which is all I mean That men commonly have better principles than practices Hence so many that are sound in the Faith as to their perswasions of the truth of Religion in their lives are most abominable And what need we any more witnesses to convince and condemn these men Their own opinions are enough to confute their practices and prove ●hem rebels against the light And can they complain they have not light to see their way ●o Heaven They have enough and too much unless they could use it better How usual is it for notorious Sinners and most abominable vicious persons to plead for the Ten Commandments when I know no body against them but such as they and their fellows They know and can repeat the Ten Commandments and say they are Gods Commandments And yet a civil man cannot abide within the breath of these men because every other word almost is an Oath with them A man would hardly believe that men should lead their lives all the week in such excess and all manner of uncleanness and yet on Sundayes cry out so devoutly as they seem to do at the reading of every Commandment Lord have mercy upon us and encline our hearts to keep this Law Do not these men proclaim Gods commands to be their principles and yet contradict them in all their practices They dare not they cannot for their hearts say with their mouths that Swearing and Drunkenness and Adultery c. are not Sins and transgressions of Gods Laws and yet they live in a constant practice of all such abominations Now what shall we think of these men They have a Light sufficient to shew them the errour of their way They do not indeed set it on a candlestick but rather under a bushel Though it be not quite put out yet it shines not so as they can see any thing by it as they ought And I can conceive no other reason Why the light in these men is so useless but only that it was never strong enough to work an absolute thorow conviction as when Gods Spirit convinceth of Sin c. Ioan. 16.8 The lusts of these men were never subdued to the power of their principles Th●y could perhaps some of them discourse the vanity of the creature and the emptiness of all worldly things even to admiration and ye● all the while love the World and the things of the World no men more Grant that there is in such men sometimes a reluctancy it cannot but be faint and feeble and in effect as good as none at all Nay what if I say it serves only to enhance their lusts the more as weak opposition gives an enemy the greater advantage 〈◊〉 let out more of his rage and strength than otherwise perhaps he would Certainly men ●o made up of a mixture of passion and some reason are as much plung'd into all sensual and beastly pleasures as any becau●e the stream of their lusts is stronger than to be stopt by any principles they have Yea they are in a more ready way to put darkness for light and to call evil good than any men alive so as at last the light that is in them is no better than the blackness of darkness It was even so with the Pharisees Luc. 16.14 When our Saviour had most excellently discours'd the right use of all earthly riches and shew'd that men cannot serve God and Mammon They heard these things and derided him A practice too common amongst others when a savory Doctrine about some duty press'd home upon Conscience hath found no better entertainment with many of the Auditors than a dry scoff or some bitter reproachful language against the Preacher But why did the Pharisees deride our Saviour There was a reason and it is express'd in the same place They were covetous The love of money is the root of all evil 1 Tim. 6.10 There never was an Heretique or Apostate or any man reprobate to every good work that had not this or some other root of bitterness springing up and turning him aside to be hardned past all hope in his ungodly way Demas hath forsaken me 2 Tim. 4.10 And if you read on it is to be seen in the next words Why He had embraced this present World All ages afford great store of such s●d Instances Many like Ionathan as one saith follow the chase with a greedy pursuit till they light on the honey Demas had no sooner left Paul but he went to Thessalonica where he became an Idol-Priest as some report When such men have been provoked by missing of expected preferments or have had the lure of promotion flung out to them the next news you hear of them is that they are not where you left them but are gone some-where and if you desire to know look in Iud. v. 11. and you sh●ll find what way they are gone and upon what account and what will be the issue of all at last if you please to observe that also by the way They you must know hoyse up and strike sayl again as the wind serves and sometimes tack about only to steer a course that will serve for present security or future further advantages When Religion is in fashion they presently fall in with a goodly out-side profession so as few can keep pace with them But when once the wind that was on their backs begins to turn and blow in their teeth then as we say faces about and who more zealous Persecutors than such hot-spur Professors Now may I not say of these Have they not heard and known Doubtless they cannot be ignorant Balaam knew well enough that he ought not to curse Israel and yet the wretched Wizard attempted it again and again because he loved the wages of unrighteousness and Balack's proffer'd rewards blear'd his eyes as he saw not what he did see So is it with every man that hath no more grace than he 'T is no hard task for any man of ordinary understanding to conclude That the way of Uncleanness Drunkenness Swearing c. is not for professed Christians or civil rational men to walk in Yea many have sometimes resolv'd against them with vows and imprecations and yet the next opportunity of a temptation breaks all these bonds and the Doggs are turned to their vomit again The reason of all is clearly to be seen and it is this They have their lucid intervals as other madd men have and then they can see a little the baseness of their own wayes But as soon as Lust

he drives them against their wills or without their privity Hos. 2.14 I will allure her c. Though Conversion be not altogether suspended on the liberty of mans will but God undertakes for it yet his way is sweet and taking with Sinners who are allured as one observes on the place God by Grace destroyes not Nature but rectifies and perfects it whiles as Austin saith Omnipotenti facilitate ex nolentibus facit volentes He bends and enclines mens hearts as the Rivers of Wa●e● Pro. 21.1 Now Water that runs one way may be turned and made to run another way But the Water in its course alwayes runs according to its natural inclination Certainly the worst these men can say of God is That he would have turned them and they would not be turned but they resisted him in all his strivings with them And then where lyes the fault Let any reasonable man judge 3. This Argument as I said before aimes at making God to be not only such a one as our selves but much lower 4. God is just as well as mercifull and his Justice is as natural and as essential to him as his mercy And if so Why I pray may not God glorifie himself in the one as well as in the other If he may not give some reason Why. But if God may glorifie his Justice as well as his Grace I ask How God can glorifie it more beyond all exception otherwise than thus viz. In destroying those who have had all means sufficient to save them and willingly rejected all because they did not like them 5. I have yet somewhat more to say in answer to this Objection and it is so much as I hope may satisfie any that are soberly minded They who thus argue might do well to consider What that Grace is which they say is not given them For that Grace where-ever it comes in its full power and efficacy sets men at the greatest distance yea and defiance with all their wonted sinful wayes Now here may be a great mistake and these men may seem to desire they themselves know not what I believe they would fain have the Grace of God to preserve them from suffering Hell-torments when they are going out of the World never again to serve the desires of their flesh But do they desire indeed to shake hands with and to bid an everlasting Farewell to their filthy Lusts so long as they have any ability or opportunity to serve them For to this the Grace of God calls them and for this they have had many gracious earnest invitations which they have sufficiently slighted and cast off with as much scorn and contempt as could be They have never heeded what they have heard from God himself speaking and calling to them by the Commands Promises and Threatnings of his written Word or by the motions of his Spirit or the checks of their own Consciences or any Dispensations of his in any Providences Now what do these men mean in saying God hath not given them grace when they slight and set at naught all the saving Methods which he makes use of to affect their hearts and work them over to ● thorough-compliance with himself Why do not they attend their own work which is to heed what God commands promises and threatens in his Word and to reform their hearts and lives accordingly Why do they not lament and bewail the baseness of their own sinfull hearts and natures humbly acknowledging all their iniquities and loathing themselves because they are loathsome in the sight of the Lord Why do they not confess and forsake their sins that so they may find mercy as Solomon assures them Pro. 28.13 Why do they not begg of God strength to resist Sin and use the means which God hath ordered for that end viz. Fasting and beating down their bodies Why do not they avoid the occasions of Sin and keep themselves farr from those places and companies where they are sure to meet with many temptations Why do they not frequent the company of those who will admonish them upon all occasions and advise them about ordering all their wayes No They 'l do nothing of what is their duty nor what I am sure they have power to do but only sin and seek all occasions to sin and then quarrel God and say He hath not given them grace This is in effect to say They would have God to save them against their wills Obj. But God can make me willing if he please Sol. I know God hath a Soveraign power over the hearts of all men but what then Would they have God to alter all the saving Methods of his grace and force upon them what they have refus'd so often with all disdain and indignation imaginable They desire no grace but what may keep them out of Hell And scorn all grace that 's offered them for reforming their hearts and lives They are like those froward Patients that would have their Physicians cure them without any applications made to them as our Saviour heal'd the lame and the blind by a word of his mouth working wonders such as had not been heard or known Not to say that such arguings are absurd and unreasonable These men must have low thoughts of God and his infinite Excellencies who would have him shape the whole course and method of his Grace and Providence according to their sinfull Interests and Humours To say no more make it our own case When once we have done our endeavours us'd all intreaties yea and it may be added due corrections to our instructions and admonitions and waited long for a desirable issue knowing the Party we have to deal with might if he had a mind change his course we think we can acquit and clear our selves as indeed we may before all the World from having any hand in his undoing himself And will not the righteous Judge think we acquit himself at the last day in condemning all the ungodly refusers and despisers of his Grace and Mercy I shall say no more but as God said to Iob He that reproveth God let him answer it As if he should say He that reasons the case so the word may well be rendred or argues against me Let him answer if he can what I have said and have yet to say Thou Job hast been very bold and forward to question and quarrel my wayes of Providence as if they were not such as they should be But I would have thee know I am able to guide and govern the World without any assistance or advice of thine Hast thou so mean low and unworthy thoughts of me and mine infinite Excellencies as to imagine I am to learn of thee or any other how to order and dispose the works of my hands I think I have said enough to convince thee But if this do not satisfie thee I have yet more to say and beware in time to provoke me no further for if thou do thou shalt be sure to

Christ and his Word and all his Ordinances are a Light and wicked men lik● Thieves cannot abide them because they would not be discovered by them This is th● judgement that Scripture passeth upon ungodly men and if they would pass the same and s● judge and condemn themselves they might fin● peace in approaching to God But to argue an● whartle about the wayes of Gods Providence an● Grace as if they were not equal when God and their own hearts know they are passionately in love with yea and madd upon their Idols I mean their Lusts and loose practices th● will turn to no good account one day whateve● men count of now They that are so apt t● quarrel God should rather call themselves to an account and if they would be exact in this work we should have more complaints of themselves that their own wayes are unequal and all the wayes of God most equal and just and good To shut up this I shall only mention one Text Pro. 8.36 All that hate me love death They are the words that were spoken by the infinite and eternal Wisdome of God who saith a● much in effect Ioan. 3.19 20. before cited Wicked men love darkness and death They are not damn'd as they pretend to Sin and Hell against their wills but they love them and chuse them when they might forbear and avoid them They love their Sins and therefore hate their Souls They love Sin and in so doing love Death They are willing to be damn'd as willing for certain as a man that wittingly takes Poyson is willing to kill himself Obj. But some will say That few are so willfull till God hardens them and makes them to erre from his wayes Esay 63.17 Sol. For Gods making men to erre c. I think the Learned Annotator hath rightly observ'd That the Original notes only a permission and therefore might be rendred Why dost thou suffer us to wander out of thy wayes For God tempteth no man to sin Jac. 1.13 14. But a man is led away by his own lust And how did God harden Pharaoh No other way than by delivering him up and leaving him to the hardness of his own obstinate heart by Gods forbearance and mercy more and further obdurated as is to be seen in the Story God doth thus harden others and leave them to themselves and then it is sad with them as it is with a Child left to himself Pro. 29.15 But when is it Even when they give themselves up to serve their own desires and resolve to walk after their lusts hating to be reformed and casting Gods Word behind them as is to be seen Psa. 81.8 9 10 11 12. This is cleared from Psa. 95.8 Harden not your heart On which place Calvin Non ex alio fonte manare nostram adversus Deum rebellionem quam ex voluntaria improbitate dum illius gratiae aditum obstruimus Calv. i. e. Our rebellion against God flows from no other fountain than our own perversness whilst we shut up the passage to his grace that it cannot enter One thing more that may be objected must be answer'd and 't is this Obj. That the special Grace of God puts th● last difference between man and man as some say and that Grace is not given to all How then can it be said That God hath sufficiently provided for all Or how can he be clear'd 〈◊〉 his condemning some seeing these also woul● have repented and closed with Christ if th● Lord had perswaded and over-power'd them by his effectual Grace as he did others Sol. And yet God will clear himself and for this purpose consider 1. That there is little more in this Objection than in somewhat before about the Fall of our first Parents And as God was righteous in letting them fall because they might have stood 〈◊〉 they would So God is righteous in his dealing● with men notwithstanding he deny them tha● special Grace he gives to others because they might be saved if they would When I say Men may be saved if they will my meaning is That they are not saved because they will not and that their wilfullness is their condemnation For if Christ and the Word of Grace revealing Christ and all the Methods of conveying him to poor Souls and Exhortations and entreaties to accept of him be enough then God is not wanting on his part For I may now ask all who complain What is lacking to them more Were there not an all-sufficient Saviour and sufficient means of knowing him to Salvation there might be perhaps some occasion of complaint But it is farr otherwise and if men will make use of these means as they are commanded and intreated to do I am sure they shall be saved because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Never did any man dye in his sins that was heartily willing to receive Christ offer'd to him and to improve the means of grace allowed him for that end And may I not then say Men may be saved if they will They have enough to live upon for ever and when they play the Unthrifts part have they any cause to blame God and say He might have done more for them What should he have done more for them And what can they answer to this question when their own hearts know they never lik'd or lov'd Christ or any of his wayes but wilfully scorn'd and rejected all They lik'd and lov'd a Saviour to deliver them from Death and Hell after they had taken their full swinge in their own wayes and sinn'd themselves out of breath and could no longer serve their lusts But they would not have Christ to reign over them so as for his sake and at his command to deny themselves and all ungodliness and worldly lusts They know that the Power of Godliness was the thing their Souls loathed and they scorn'd it as savouring of nothing but folly and fancy calling it a Precisian nicety And when Christ called them to suffer for his sake who suffered so much to save their Souls they would not part with a penny or lose an hair of their head for him I say then in one word Look what hindred Israel from seeing the good Land which God had promised them the same hinders these men from possessing the Heavenly Inheritance Heb. 3. ult They could not enter in because of unbelief And yet as Moses tells them Deut. 9.4 The Lord had not given them an heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear 2. How would men have God to save them Would they be saved in such a way as if a Block should be lifted from the Earth and carried up to Heaven This cannot be without perverting the whole course of Gods Providence in governing his reasonable Creatures For they being made after Gods Image and acting by an inward Principle of Reason must be governed in a way and manner suitable to their Nature God indeed draws men thitherward but I never read

hearts and thoughts An awfull regard or reverential esteem of God would put a check upon mens ungodly practices and upon their malepert disputes and questions about his wayes and doings There would need no Arguments in print to confute them in what they say and do The awe of God would soon order them to another behaviour than what commonly appears in the most And therefore I say again Goe alone and seriously resolve thy self of this That there is a God who made thee and all this World which thine eyes behold And if thou art once so resolv'd thine own reason and common sense will teach and prompt thee to a further consideration That this God as he is infinitely above thee so he is to be admir'd and ador'd with all possible humble reverence such as becomes an incomprehensible heavenly Majesty If thou once resolve That he is in Heaven and thou upon Earth That in him thou livest and movest and hast thy being and that he alone disposeth of thee and all thy wayes and will one day call thee to account for all that thou hast done thou wilt then see cause enough to fear and tremble at any the least mention of his Name and Glory Thou wilt no more dispute what he is pleas'd to do but presently bethink thy self how thou mayest do in every respect so as to please aim Men talk much in ordinary discourse of serving God and a service there is done to God by many but whether any were done at all or none such as many perform may be a question as to the advantage of them that do it Where-ever God is acknowledg'd and own'd in the way of worship which he hath commanded there is an honour given him more than amongst Infidels and Idolaters But they that serve the Lord in his own wayes of worship must look further and consider whether the service be such as doth some way sute with the glory of his most excellent Majesty so as he will accept it The Iews after their return from captivity were much in Sacrifices and Offerings But yet saith the Lord Ye despise my Name because they offered polluted bread v. 7. The blind and the lame and sick v. 8. This God takes in scorn and bids them offer it to their Governour to try if he will be pleased with them v. 8. Nay he curses the deceiver v. 14. for offering a corrupt thing And why Because saith he I am a great King and my Name is dreadful among the Heathen God expects to be dealt withall in such a way as men may shew that awfull regard they have of him which when they neglect it is all one to him as if they did nothing at all The customary formal and superficial service done to God by many is of as much account with him as if they mocked him to his face And that for this reason viz. Because they shew no regard of God such as they owe to his infinite Soveraignty Power and Glory The service of God so performed shews mens prophanness and impiety more than their devotion And yet this prophane contempt of God is born with us and bred as I may say in our bones And till we be throughly convinc'd of it and humbled for it we are in no capacity to close with God so as he may be pleased with us If thou wilt serve God with acceptance resolve first of this natural enmity that is in thee against God and be humbled as low as Hell for the pride of thine heart swelling so much against him And when thou knowest indeed as thou ought'st the distance 'twixt the glorious God of Heaven and such an earth-worm as thy self thou wilt find thine heart inclin'd to more favourable thoughts of God and his wayes which is the main thing I am perswading men to in this Discourse I shall yet a little further inforce that which hath been formerly hinted more than once viz. A serious consideration of that enmity which is naturally in us against our selves and our own souls There is indeed a cursed self-love in all men by nature which causeth them to walk contrary to God yea and in some degree to despite him as the Devil doth And this appears to be the root of all mans rebellion against God in that our Saviour calling all men home to God again imposeth upon them nothing else but self-denial Mat. 16.24 But this natural sinfull self-love is indeed no other than perfect enmity to our selves so as we may truly say we are such as hate our own Souls How else do we all that we can to undo and destroy our selves and do we not thus and are we inclin'd by nature to any thing else For certain there 's no way to advance and as I may say to make our selves but by walking in the way wherein we may come to the enjoyment of God and this is not the way of our own hearts nor the way of the wicked and corrupted World of mankind for The world lieth in wickedness 1 Ioan. 5.19 or in the wicked one i. e. is wholly under the power and vassallage of the Devil And this appears by the constant inclination of all the World to walk in those wayes unto which the Devil prompts and tempts them i. e. the ways of sin and rebellion against the righteous and holy wills of God This is the way of death and destruction wherein men depart from God and so cause him at last to say unto them Depart from me c. How can we come to God but in the wayes of his Commandments this is the way wherein he hath promised to be found of us and to leave this way and go in the way of our own hearts is no other than turning our backs upon God and casting him off in hope to be happy in the enjoyment of somewhat else this is the way of self-destruction wherein men run on to ruine and perdition Now I say again consider and that sadly whether we are not all enemies to our selves and our own souls in chusing those wayes which we cannot but know have a direct tendency to our everlasting undoing True men do not consider this but that 's their folly and madness the same that is in many who never look after their worldly Estates to improve them but spend and squander them away they care not ●●ow we use to say of such ill husbands that they are enemies to themselves and will undo themselves and their Families as indeed they do according to what the Wise man saith The drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty and drowsiness or sloth shall cloath a man with rags Just so do men impoverish and undo themselves as to their everlasting estates by taking those wayes and courses that carry them on to the bottomless pit The glutton and the drunkard would not be poor nor would ungodly men go to hell yea but both the one and the other take the ready