Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	let_v	people_n	pharaoh_n	1,979	5	10.4708	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A87179	Good news to all people. Glad tydings for all men. God good unto all, and Christ the saviour of the world: or, The general point faithfully handled by way of exercise: or A sermon preached at Buckingham upon the 25 of March, being (as so called) Easter-day. By William Hartley.	Hartley, William, of Stony-Stratford.	1650 (1650)	Wing H974; Thomason E594_11; ESTC R206917	25,853	32

knowledg so God gave them over to a reprobate sence c. And touching Pharaoh the Scripture readeth thus And when Pharaoh saw there was respite He Hardened his Own heart Exod 8.15 and hearkened not unto them c. Unto which you may add the argument that the Priests of the Philistines used to their Princes about sending away the Ark of God to its own place Iudg. 6 6. Wherefore then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts and would not let the people go c. By the harmony of these Scriptures you plainly see That the evil qualification viz. hardness in Pharaohs heart did arise from the aversness of his own will and as the Wrath of man shall turn to the praise of God so the Lord got him a name upon Pharaoh and his Host and rewarded their stubbornness in the Red Sea and so I hope my Doctrine will appear firm viz. It is the good Will and c. If God gave Christ to All and Christ dyed for All 6 Object then All of necessity must be saved for GOD or CHRIST did nothing in vain I reply That although God gave Christ to All Answ and Christ dyed for all yet the benefit of this act in Gods Love and Christs indefinite Tender of Salvation is appropriated only to Believers such persons as through faith apprehend the same God so loved the World that Whosoever Believeth Iohn 3.12 c. By these words you may perceive that although the act in God was free and Tender in Christ Universal yet the benefit is conditional through believing As for instance * Simile God hath placed the Sun in the Firmament to be a light to all the World and there is sufficiency of light distilled from the Sun for the whole Universe doth it therefore follow that men closing their eyes or walking under ground in dark places receive the benefit of this light And thus I hope you see the vanity of this Objection 7 Object Well suppose it be granted That Gods Love or Christs Tender be proposed indefinitely to All yet when you say the benefit thereof is conditional on believing doth not this Doctrine establish Free-Will Answ I humbly conceive there cannot be imagined to be in any creature such a thing as Free-Will being God alone is Independent acting from a principle of his own Mind For Who hath been his Counsellor but man mediately from a power of God Work out your own Salvation with fear and trembling for it is God that worketh in you Phil. 1. c. Here the creature is concerned in action and God in power A Tree is concerned in fruit-bearing and the planter in manuring of the same Take a similitude of the Vineyard spoken in reference to the children of Israel in Isai 6. which after God had planted hedged and manured putting it into a capacity of bringing forth good grapes complaint is made of the Vineyard that it brought forth wilde grapes By this allusion you may gather That God giveth man a capacity to act and man according to this capacity is to make improvement Mark it well you never read of any condemned for want but mis-use of power as you may observe from the Parable of the Talents in the Gospel 8 Object If GOD be good unto All why then doth He condemn some Answ The condemnation of ungodly persons is no diminution of his goodness no more then the just expulsion of a prophane person in a godly family doth prejudice the reputation of the religious governor thereof The wickedness of the creature cannot prevaricate the goodness of God as the Apostle hath it in another sence Vnbelief cannot make the promise of none effect * Simile A General is good to his Army though he sentenceth death to the Mutineers thereof In all humility I leave my Answer to these Objections to be seriously ruminated according to the strength of your understandings in the things of God and crave favour to be patiently heard in what shall be offered in the applicatory part of this Discourse Thus far we have gone viz. Text. And the times of this ignorance God winked at Sum of all but now he commandeth all men every where to repent Doctr. It is the good will and pleasure of Almighty God that every Creature should come to the attainment of Life and Salvation 1 Reason grounded upon Gods Propriety in all Creatures 2 Reason grounded upon the several Invitations of God to Mankinde 3 Reason grounded upon the sorrow God is said to take up upon the Creatures ruine The Objections with their Answers you have heard now I come toVses As Observation is the life of Understanding so Application is the very Marrow of all preaching As every line points at the Centre so all Sermons centre in Application Now if it be an undeniable truth That it is the good will and pleasure of Almighty God that every Creature should come to the attainment of Life and Salvation what Use then may you and I gather out of this First This may be an Application of Comfort to every Soul here present when he considereth the extent of the goodness of God 1 Vse Is God good and good unto All Did Christ suffer and suffer for All Oh what comfort may the consideration of this be to our Spirits How should we be ravished with admiration as Paul was of his thoughts of these words viz. That God had concluded all under sin that he might have mercy upon All Oh the heighth and the depth of the goodness of God! How unsearchable is his wisdom and his ways past finding out Now we may say with Peter God is no Respecter of persons for he is not the God of the Jews only but of the Gentiles also What say you to this ye fleshly Abrahamites Cease your boasting The partition wall is broken down She that was desolate hath more children then she that hath an husband which children cry Abba Father the Spirit witnessing with their spirit that they are the sons of God if sons th●n heirs of God and co-heirs with Jesus Hallelujah 2 Vse In the second place May not this reprove the generality of the Clergy so called whose teachings are That God is good indeed but it is but to some Christ dyed indeed for the whole world but it is to be understood for some of the world which had a prerogative before they were born If the Apostle Paul or Peter when they went forth to preach the Gospel should have told their hearers My Masters We are sent to preach the Gospel of Salvation unto you but there is not one amongst ten that is permitted to receive the benefit thereof we are commanded to declare Jesus Christ unto you to be the Saviour of the world but you must understand he dyed only for a few persons that were elected from all eternity I marvel what entertainment or comfort such a

thy sight are but as yesterday And again One day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day Now to the Creature a thousand years are a thousand years and one day is one day but with God it is not so All times persons and actions whether past present or to come are as at one instant in his view as you may instance * Simile A man standing upon a hill and an Army marching in the Vale to them that march some are in the Van some are in the Rear some are in the Battel but the person on the hill seeth them all at one prospect So to us mortals one generation passeth another followeth a third hasteth after but all in Gods view at once Times of ignorance That is when persons are unacquainted with the knowledg of Christ though never so wise in other things yet their life and time is a life and being in ignorance When the Apostle accounted all things as dung and dross in comparison of the * Phil. 3.8 Excellency of the Knowledg of Christ we cannot imagine that he excluded worldly wisdom for he that will be wise in the sight of God must become a fool that he may be wise Secondly What we are to conceive of Gods winking 2. How to understand Gods winking In the times of this ignorance God winked Praeterire fecit Deus saith the Original a Metaphor taken from our vulgar expression Sir you are to wink at or take no knowledg of small matters Thirdly What it is to repent 3. What it is to Repent He commandeth all men every where to repent Repentance in the proper signification of the word doth imply a change of the minde Contrition weeping or sorrow for sin is a sign or fruit of repenting but not Repentance it self Sorrow was found in Judas as well as Peter and profane Esau shed tears when Englishman-like he was wise afterwards A Malefactor at the Bar takes on heavily for fear of punishment when haply his heart sits as close to his lust as ever for being let loose he followeth his old trade afresh True Repentance is Conversion of the heart * Acts 3.19 Repent and be Converted which properly consisteth in renovation of the minde * Rom. 12.2 Be ye transformed by renewing of your mindes which is pertinently set forth by the Apostle Rom. 6.19 As ye have yeelded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now yeeld your members servants to righteousness unto Holiness In the times of ignorance c. The subject matter of this Text may be this Ye men of Athens that do so desire after news I declare unto you That ye have spent your time in ignorance and blinde devotion which God is willing to pass by provided ye be converted and changed in your mindes which thing God commandeth to be done by you and all men every where in the world This being considered we shall draw this general Conclusion from the words of the Text Doctrine It is the good will and pleasure of Almighty God that every Creature should come to the attainment of Life and Salvation That which is spoken of the Peace of God is most true of his Goodness It passeth all understanding that is the narrow capacity of the Creature is not able to comprehend the infinite love and kindness that is in God It is too much given to the Creature to limit the goodness of God and when Gods universal Love unto all Mankinde is declared then are arguments drawn of improbability not unlike that of Abrahams Gen. 17.7 Shall a childe be born unto him that is an hundred years old And shall Sarah that is ninety years old bear That God should manifest love and kindness unto good and godly men an account is easily rendred but that God should declare his mercy and compassion to the ungodly that cannot be understood although the Parable of the lost sheep be read unto them every Sabbath day The sick are the proper object of the Physicians cure Christ came not to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance The Doctrine of Predestination viz. That God before all Eternity did elect and choose some persons to Salvation and themselves included in the number pleaseth very well but that God chooseth only through faith and reprobates none but in reference to disobedience of faith is not relished notwithstanding they know the Scripture where it is said He that believeth shall be saved he that believeth not shall be condemned John 3 18. because he believed not in the only begotten Son of God That Jesus Christ came into the world to redeem some and they the persons is well resented but that Jesus Christ came into the world to save All yea that which was lost is not so well approved of The Prophet David speaking concerning the goodness of God Psal 145.9 informs how far it doth extend The Lord is good unto All and his tender mercy is over All his works It doth not read good unto some or exercising mercy unto part of his works as divers would give it out Our Saviour in his Sermon upon the Mount Mat. 5. concludeth the Chapter with these words Be ye Merciful as your heavenly Father is Merciful Which perfection did consist in loving our enemies doing good to them that hate us and it is thus reasoned That if we love our friends that love us or do good to them that do good to us Heathens Publicanes are capable of such a * Ingratus est qui gratiam degree of righteousness But the Saints of God must go further their love and goodness must not only extend to friends but enemies also and that from a president in God their Father Who maketh his Sun to rise upon the evil and on the good and sendeth rain upon the just and on the unjust that is to say upon All as was minded before from the Psalmist His tender mercy is over All his works This tender mercy I offer my judgment hath relation unto Jesus Christ who is proposed or set forth by God the Father an Universal Tender of Love to the whole * By Creation or Creature understand Mankind Creation The Argument Paul gives why prayers for Kings and such as were invested with authority though as we have ground to believe were for the generality wicked and ungodly persons was acceptable in the sight of God is concluded from Gods indefinite love to mankind 1 Tim. 2.4 Who will have All men to be saved and come to the knowledg of the truth For there is one God and one Mediator betwixt God and man even the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for All c. And as the Apostle renders it in another place * Heb. 2.9 That he to wit Jesus Christ through the grace or free gift of God tasted death for Every Man whether Jew or Gentile bond or free male or

his own Essence can produce effects of anger or hatred * Simile A prisoner at the Bar looks upon the Judg as angry and hasty to destroy his life when the Judg as he ought is of the prisoners counsel and out of love and tender pity to the prisoner sheweth him all the favour the Law will admit We Adamites through guilt of our own consciences for breach of a righteous Law behold God as angry or displeased but the Lord is Kind and Merciful and of his Goodness there is no end * Simile In gloomy weather we are apt to say the Sun hath not shined when Clouds and Vapours only interpose the Sun being wholly composed of light never ceaseth to put forth his beams If we taste not of the loving kindness of God or behold not the comfortable light of his countenance our iniquities are the clouds that separate these good things from us and not the Will or Ordination of Almighty God who is Goodness it self and How often would I and ye Would not c. Again If you take up from these words viz. Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated this conclusion That Jacob and his posterity simply as persons fore known were the objects of the Love of God and consequently appointed for Salvation and Esau with his posterity objects of Gods Hatred and so undoubtedly reserved for destruction I pray my Masters give me your thoughts of these Scriptures Isaiah saith Though Israel be as the sand on the Sea yet a Remnant shall be saved Our Saviour saith That Many shall come from the East and from the West and from the North and from the South and sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and the Children of the Kingdom shall be thrust out To which I add that of Paul Jew and Gentile male and female are All One in Jesus Christ Which as to other Nations so to us Englishmen is a comfort though we should be of the race of * Certain it is we are not of Jacobs posterity Esau And thus I hope I have plained this Mountain which so frequently with such confidence is set in opposition to the Doctrine viz. It is the good Will and Pleasure of c. But the whole substance of the Chapter doth imply Election and Reprobation of persons 4 Object as Vers 15. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion Vers 18. Therefore he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth I give my judgment Answ That the main drift and scope of the Apostle in these words is to take off the self-conceit or priviledg that the Jews took to themselves touching their descent from Abraham with their imaginary righteousness by the works of the Law and to fix them upon expectation for righteousness from free grace in Jesus Christ and that no action of the creature can merit or challenge any priviledg in the favour or love of God because when we have done All We are unprofitable Servants which the Apostle doth illustrate from the Speech of God to Moses when he desired to see the face of God Exod. 33.19 I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful I will be gracious unto whom I will be gracious We may apprehend that the words were spoken to declare That although Moses was a faithful Servant in all his house yet the favour granted him was not out of consideration of any merit in Moses but an act of grace from God for saith the Lord I will be gracious unto whom I will be gracious c. and for the positive conclusion viz. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth To prevent the preposterous administration of Love and Judgment which from these words many conclude to be in God Exod. 20. the Scripture shall unty this knot The Lords will and pleasure is to Have Mercy on such that fear him and those that like not to retain God in their knowledg 2 Command such he is said to harden Rom. 18. or rather giveth them up to a reprobate sence to perish through their wickedness 5 Object But is it not in express words said GOD hardened Pharaohs heart Answ Cooks Instit pag 27. I make answer to this Objection as a learned Lawyer did of the Law When any point through Nicety thereof doth admit of a doubtful interpretation such a construction is to be made as may avoyd absurdity All you that hear me will go along with me in this That it was an evil in Pharaoh to have a hard heart against the Commands of Almighty God if so will it not be absurd to conclude God the Author of this evil Again you all grant That it was just with Almighty God to destroy Pharaoh for his hard heart against the Israelites and will it not be preposterous for you to make God the Author both of the evil and the punishment * Simile If a Colonel should command a party of his Regiment to march out upon a design and afterwards cause them to be condemned at a Councel of War for being out of their Quarters were not this unequal My beloved Friends That Moddel of Righteousness and Justice which is in Mankind is but a glimpse or beam of the God of Righteousness placed in the creature having allusion to the Apostles words The Foolishness of God is Wiser then the wisdom of men then I say That the unrighteousness of God if such a thing could be imagined is more righteous then the righteousness of men So then you may perceive how obscaene and absurd it is to conclude God the Author of sin and punishment in the Creature this is the only property and practise of Satan mans adversary and not of God who is a Lover of all mankind And I give my judgment That the Lord cannot be said without absurdity to harden Pharaohs heart as by putting therein a malevolent disposition contrary to his will but the Lord ceasing to exercise further patience and his goodness standing in the abstract unto Pharaoh in that sence God is said to harden Pharaohs heart * Simile A man that is towing a Barge up the river letting go the cord is said to send the vessel down the water but it is the stream that carryeth the Barge away So the Lord ceasing to draw or make use of cords and administrations of his Love the creature being left in the corrupt channel of his own affections is hurried down the stream to destruction by force of the strong current of his lustful inclinations Neither do we read that the Lord doth inflict this Judgment of desertion upon Pharaoh or any others till a manifest opposition doth appear against the way and light of God made known in them Take the Apostles words before cited Even as they did not like to retain God in their own