Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	abundant_a	goodness_n	lord_n	1,757	5	4.1358	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34575	The great necessity of preparation for death and judgment a sermon preached in the parochial chappel of Macclesfield, in the county palatine of Chester, at the funeral of Mr. John Corker, als Cor Cor, of Hurdesfield, on the eleventh day of November, 1693, and since revised and enlarg'd at the request of the relations of the deceased / by Samuel Corker, als Cor Cor ...	Corker, Samuel, 1645 or 6-1713.	1695 (1695)	Wing C6307; ESTC R9062	80,354	95

as a Prince thou hast power with God and with Men and hast prevailed And Elias an eminent Prophet prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it rained not on the Land of the Ten Tribes of Israel for the space of Three Years and six Months and he prayed again and the Heavens gave Rain and the Earth brought forth her Fruit. Temporal Blessings which appertain to this mortal life God hath promised upon certain conditions restrictions and limitations i. e. that if he in his infinite Wisdom see them good and necessary convenient and advantagious for us Spiritual Blessings which tend to make us happy in the future World he hath promised absolutely and in particular Peace of reconciliation with God and eternal Salvation he is ready to grant to every humble supplicant Psal 69.32 their Soul shall live that seek the Lord. They shall have inward life joy and consolation here and everlasting Life and Glory hereafter Rom. 10.13 for whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved but for these Belssings he will be sought unto both publickly and privately 1 Publickly in the Church which is the House of Prayer wherein the Primitive Christians met together in multitudes like a great Army to besiege Heaven and take it by storm Coimus in Coetum Congregationem ut ad Deum qu●si manufactâ praecationibus ambiamus Tert. for the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by storm i. e. by ardent Prayers and fervent Devotions they did send up their joint Petitions with such holy fervors that St. Jerom faith their Amen was like a clap of Thunder Certainly their Zeal is a shame and reproach to our coldness and indifferency to publick Prayers which hath been the general practice of Men of all Ages and Religion● who have thought it their duty to beleaguer the Universal Parent and Soveraign of the World and to pay him their thankful acknowledgments And therefore such as deny or neglect so faced and solemn a part of Divine Worship and so excellent a means of Holiness may justly be suspected of Atheism and Impiety Be intreated therefore dear Christians as you value the Church of which you are Members as you desire the favour of God and the light of his countenance which is better than life to attend frequently the publick Assemblies and to perform your parts in the Churches Prayers with devotion and fervency Psal 87.2 for God loveth the gates of Sion more than all the private habitations and dwellings of Jacob it is the place which he hath peculiarly chosen to exhibit himself in to all that call upon him there for the remission of their sins 48.3 God is known in her palaces for a sure refuge there is the most proper and decent place for us Christians publickly to meet in to beseech the Father of Mercies to be at peace with us But lest we should play the Pharisee and court the observation of the World with a formal and pompous shew of Religion our dearest Lord hath directed us also 2 To the more frequent exercise of Religious Adoration in private with our Families and yet more secretly in our Closet retirements where we may with greater freedom acknowledg our Guilts with all the aggravations and circumstances of our Sins to our gracious Father in order to obtain pardon and reconciliation with him to lay open our particular wants and necessities and pour out the desires of our Souls in all the threnes and sad accents of godly sorrow in all the penitential tears of Contrition and meltings of Repentance in all the endearments of Love and ardors of Affection And to avoid Hypocrisie Mat. 6.6 our Saviour hath directed us when we pray to enter into our Closets and having shut the door to pray to our Father which is in secret and he will reward us openly There we may think that we hear him kindly saying unto us as the Bridegroom doth to his Spouse the Church Cant. 2.14 O my Dove thou art in the clefts of the Rocks in the secret places of the stairs let me see thy countenance let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comly Absent not your selves dear Souls from my presence by reason of your deformities be not ashamed to appear before me but come with broken and contrite hearts with an humble boldness and confidence into my presence and make your supplications unto me for your prayers and praises your persons and Services are acceptable to me and amiable in my sight For I the Lord am gracious and merciful long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth forgiving iniquity transgression and sin of all kinds and degrees whatsoever the sin against the H. Ghost excepted So great is Gods mercy and clemency to relenting sinners that he pardons not only single acts but confirmed habits of sin and those also of several kinds and natures So that if we would seriously reflect upon the transcendent excellency of his kind and merciful nature and the tender love he bears to the Souls which he hath created this will quicken us to make our humble supplications to him to be at peace with us especially since he himself hath declared Esay 45.16 that none shall seek his face in vain And that both our Saviour and his Apostles have encouraged us with assured promises Mat. 7.7 that whatsoever we ask the Father in his name he will give it us Ask and it shall be given seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you Jam. 4.8 1 Joh. 5.14 Draw night to God in humble adoration and he will draw nigh to you in the manifestation of his grace and favour This is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask any thing according to his will he heareth us for he is more ready to give than we to ask The Lord is very pittiful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jam. 5.11 Psal 86.5 full of bowels and of tender mercies He is good and ready to for give and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon him Having therefore these promises we are encouraged to pray incessantly Phil. 4.6 7. and in every thing by Prayer and Supplication to make known our requests unto God for by so doing we may obtain peace of reconciliation with him even that peace which passeth all understanding and which shall keep our hearts and minds through Jesus Christ and preserve in our bosoms such a calmness and tranquility of Soul and peace of Conscience and fervour of affection as will make us fit to die and ready to receive with joy and gladness the Son of Man when he cometh to judg the world in righteousness But if we refuse to seek the Lord while he may be sound and let slip the present season of Grace the acceptable time and the day of Salvation in which he will be intreated and will not mind the

is a visible instruction to me really to converse with sickness and weakness and to think that it will not be long but I shall feel and endure mortal pains and the miseries of a Death bed I shall breath short feel cold sweats dying pangs My Body which I am now so indulgent and tender of shall be wrapped in a Shroud be nailed up in a Coffin Luk. 7.12 and carried forth as the Widow of Nain's Son was upon the shoulders of men to be intombed in the Grave the House of all living and my immortal Soul shall expire and go to God who gave it to be rewarded and sentenced according to the things done in the body Such serious thoughts as these will be a sovereign Antidote against all Sin and Wickedness and dispose and prepare us before hand that when the critical moment comes we may not run the great hazard of miscarrying for ever For in the day of Death we play the last Game for everlasting Felicity or endless Misery so that we had need to do it wisely and warily because an uncorruptible Crown of Life and Glory depends upon it the winning whereof will make us unspeakably happy and the losing of it eternally miserable beyond all humane apprehension Thus have I shewed at large both generally and particularly wherein this preparation does consist because the burden of the Text lies upon it II I proceed now to the second thing in order of method which is to manifest the urgent necessity of this readiness and the great obligations which lie upon us to be always prepared for death and the Son of Mans coming The omniscient God who certainly knows what is best for our present good and future happiness hath very warmly pressed it home upon our hearts by many Precepts and Commands the work it self is difficult the time allotted us to do it in is very precious life it self is very short and uncertain and Death inevitable and if we be not prepared for our change by inherent holiness and sanctification we shall fall short of happiness So that upon these accounts it is absolutely necessary that we be always in readiness 1 The omniscient God who certainly knows what is best for our present good and future happiness hath very warmly and earnestly pressed it home upon our hearts by many precepts which he hath inculcated in the Scriptures that we knowing our Duty may yield a cheerful and and filial obedience Throughout this whole Chapter of the Text we are taught that the coming of our Lord will be very sudden like Lightning which in the twinkling of an eye Verse 27. darts through the Air and surprizes the Inhabitants of the Earth before they are aware of it or can avoid it that it will be at a time when the spirit of security hath seized the hearts of Men and they are given up to sensuality and debauchery wholy unconcerned at all Gods invitations and warnings and unmindful of the great things which belongs to their everlasting Peace This was the case of the old World and of Sodom and Gomorrah Verse 37 38. Luke 17.28 29 30. in the day of Noah and Lot They did eat they drank they bought they sold they planted they builded they went on securely in their luxurious courses and lived in a careless regard of their Duty till the day that Lot went out of Sodom when God rained down fire and brimstone from Heaven upon them and destroyed them all even so shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed Now the time of his coming being concealed from us lays the greatest obligation upon us to be Vigilant watch therefore saith Verse 42. Mark 30.33 c. our Saviour watch and pray for ye know not when the time is for the Son of Man is as a Man taking a far journey who left his House and gave authority to his Servants and to every Man his work and commanded the Porter to watch watch ye therefore for ye know not when the master of the House cometh at even or at midnight or at the cock-crowing or in the morning lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping and what I say unto you I say unto all watch The design of which precept is to engage all of us to abstain from all sin and to be diligent and industrious in doing of our duty that at what time soever our Lord cometh we may be ready Luke 21.34 35 36. Take heed to your selves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with Surfeiting and Drunkenness and the cares of this Life and so that day come upon you unawares the day of particular or general Judgment For as a snare it shall come upon all that dwell on the face of the Earth watch ye therefore and pray always that ye may be able to stand before the Son of Man to stand with cheerfulness and confidence without fear of condemnation in the last Judgment for the ungodly shall not stand in judgment Psal 1.5 nor be able to lift up their heads before the presence of the severe Judge because they have not been diligent to be found of him in peace without spot or blemish The design of our Lord in the Parable of the Ten Virgins is to press upon all Christians the urgent necessity of a constant preparation for his coming and not to content themselves with having Lamps and making a bare profession of Religion but to keep Oyl in their vessels with their Lamps i. e. truth of grace fruits of the spirit and works of mercy To have their Lamps trimmed their Loins girded about and their lights burning as those that look for their Lord. Herein lay the Wisdom of the prudent Virgins they provided Oyl in store to replenish their Lamps a good stock of faith and love and other divine graces to feed and maintain their profession and they trimmed their Lamps and took care to prepare themselves for the Bridegrooms coming by which means they being found ready were at his coming admitted by him into the place of Nuptial entertainments But the indiscretion of the improvident and formal Professors lay in pleasing themselves with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a false Vnction they traded for the goodly Pearl the rich Treasure hid in a Field but they did it so unseasonably and coldly that they were not sensible of their mistake till it was too late to retrieve and amend it The Bridegroom came when they were not in a readiness to receive him and so the door was shut against them and tho' they cryed with earnest intreaties and ingeminations Lord Lord open to us yet there was no admission for them they were for ever excluded Which dismal Fate of theirs teacheth us this useful instruction To improve the present seasons of Grace and to work while it is to day For when the Night cometh no Man can work John 9 4. as the Tree falleth so it lieth if it fall toward the South