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	gracious_a	lord_n	1,650	5	4.2037	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29505	A treatise of prayer with several useful occasional observations and some larger digressions, concerning the Judaical observation of the Lord's Day, the external worship of God, &c. / by George Bright ...	G. B. (George Bright), d. 1696.	1678 (1678)	Wing B4677; ESTC R1010	210,247	475

to us in any kind when we expresly mind our selves that God seeth and knoweth it How darest thou that hast vile Thoughts Designs Affections Inclinations secret Actions all as well known to God as if they were exposed to the Meridian Sun ask any thing of him or so much as think of him And shouldest thou not fear that he should punish thee for thy Impudence and Dishonour thou doest him 3. An Acknowledgment of the Divine universal Goodness or Righteousness which in effect is all one his always doing that which is for the greatest Perfection and Happiness of all that he hath made considered together This gives us Assurance and consequently emboldens our Desires that every thing that is righteous and just a Condition we are always to remember in our Prayers shall be effected and granted And here we may take notice of the two Branches for so they are of his universal Goodness or Righteousness viz. his Justice properly so called and his Mercy The first is the Method of effecting the Universal Good by permission and in●licting of Evil. The last by bestowing of Good The good use of the former is as hath been said to engage us to all sincerity and purity of Heart when we approach him with our Prayers and Desires For he is so good to the World that when he sees fit he will also certainly punish wicked persons and sinners which may be sometimes by taking away what they have already received and enjoy but much more by the denial of their Petitions for any thing they want And so likewise God s●nercy engageth us to be good if we would have so great a favour from him as the granting our Petitions For God is no more merciful than he is just at random but so as is for the best government of the World or for the greatest good thereof and therefore he is principally so to those who are good to those who obey and serve him God indeed may sometimes see it good to bestow good things upon bad men but it is very little probable that he should give to a bad man any particular good thing because asked by him at any particular time Nay the contrary is far more probable viz. That he should deny and reject his petition as a sign of his just displeasure against him And this the consciences of wicked men very often let them know and make them afraid and ashamed to send up the least desire to God or if they do 't is with a strange faintness and indifferency as if they little hoped it should be accepted and return with success Moreover God's mercy as hath been said of his universal goodness or righteousness gives us particular assurance of his granting our desires for any thing that is good for us if it be just and consistent with or rather part of his universal Goodness or his goodness to the whole World That he is not tyrannical imperious cruel envious to the meanest of his creatures but that every thing which can and ought to be done shall be done for us Now the express belief hereof together with his infinite Wisdom and Power begets in us assured hope and trust for the granting our just Prayers and consequently enlivens and encourages them And in some cases God himself hath told us that it is just for him to hear our Prayers as when we pray for pardon of sin for Christ's sake upon our sincere repentance and for grace to repent Things of so great consequence to us that we need not be much solicitous concerning any other Where we have not the certain assurance of the justice of our desires we must only propose them with reference to the divine wisdom As it is in the case of Health Riches Honour Parts Gifts nay all instances of power or ability to do any thing whatever unless it can any where appear to us that God hath by Revelation or Reason in some particular cases promised them to us And here it may be useful and proper to reflect upon the several ways or instances of God's Mercy as they are also of his Power and Wisdom such as his making sustaining providing for all his Creatures in all respects his affording Means Helps and Assistances of being good and wise and keeping Men from being bad the external ones of Direction Instruction Example the internal of the immediate Influences of his Spirit upon Mens Understandings Consciences Affections Inclinations God's forbearance and long-suffering till Men do repent which may be more especially taken notice of And lastly all or any more particularly as occasion may be the Conveniencies Commodities good things of this Life as Health Strength Plenty good-Name Friends Deliverance from Evils or Dangers all which will still more evidently prove to us and cause us longer to attend to and more clearly to see and more sensibly and strongly to be affected with the divine Mercy and Bounty That indeed the Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works That he is merciful gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth If God be not good whence are these and all other good things to the World Since God is infinitely powerful and knowing to do what he pleaseth what can be the cause besides his goodness that there is any thing in the World but the extreamest misery Hence consequently our Faith that is our Belief and Trust and then our Desires will be strengthened and emboldned Here too we may make a Reflection upon God's Veracity or his Goodness in performing his Promises which in the Old Testament is very often called by the Names of Faithfulness and Truth We may reflect generally upon God's Goodness in the performance of what he hath said and therefore of his Promises and more especially upon those Promises which concern Persons in our particular cases if it appear there are any he hath any way by Revelation or Reason made known and signified to us Here further we may call to mind the past Instances of God's Mercy and Bounty to us and principally those which are the most like that which we now petition for The Reason is because that which hath been done or come to pass hath more of probability that it may and will be done again than that which hath not Wherefore this also will confirm our Faith and consequently encourage our Desire or Prayer Of this there are many Examples in the Scripture especially in the Psalms But besides this more proper and pertinent use and effect of the express Acknowledgment and Recital of the Divine Perfections and Attributes in Prayer and some few others mentioned we may add here in short only that it causeth us to admire the Divine Perfections to honour and reverence God in the most real and serious manner and in the highest degree we are capable of to love him freely chearfully earnestly ardently with all our souls with all our might all the strength and vigour of our spirits all which is

as the great Consequence of the things nay their Necessity which is nothing but so great a Goodness of the things as we cannot be content to want nor help it but that the want thereof will afflict and pain us Here sometimes the many good effects of the granting our desires may be more particularly reckoned up and insisted on as also the many difficulties and improbabilities of our desires being effected by an● second causes we see For these more distinctly and longer attended to do make our Prayers directed to God immediately for h● Care and Influence more strong and fervent Things judged of little moment will hardly draw any or but a slight Prayer from us Things that we see in the Power of secon● Causes which we can command to effect we judge them in a manner done and effec● already we see the thing future in the Cause and therefore rather to be praised than prayer for Things also that are easie to be done ● second Causes have a great probability of the● being done and accomplished without o● Prayer and therefore much slackens or coo● our Desires But here we must provide that all these grounds be true that the things we judg● of such particular good Consequence and Effect really be so that there is really so much Improbability Difficulty or Impossibility to us in the obtaining our Desires any other way than by God's special Influence as we say there is of which somewhat hereafter The Example of this we have in Hezekiah's Prayer before cited 2 Kings 19. Ver. 17. Of a truth Lord saith he the Kings of Assyria have destroyed the Nations and the Lands and have cast their gods into the Fire c. This seems to intimate some Danger that they might do so to him and his People too some Probability of it some Difficulty to prevent it But yet he gives himself a reason why the Lord their God could prevent it though those other Nation 's gods could not though there was Difficulty or Danger as to second Causes yet none as to the Lord Jehovah their God and therefore he prayed to him to save him out of Sennacherib's H●nds Verse 19. with this reason That all the Kingdoms of the Earth may know that thou art the Lord God even thou only This reason is an Instance of the Goodness of the thing he desires it is one good Effect and Consequence of his Deliverance by the Lord which therefore made him more bold and earnestly to desire it viz. the Knowledge and Honour of him the only true God in the World and especially in their neighbouring Idolatrous Nations In the Psalms most of which have some Prayer or other in them it is very frequent The 88. Psalm most of it is o● this Nature From the 3d Verse to the 9th is David's recital to God of his Case most in general Terms only one Verse is more particular Verse 3. My Soul is full of Troubles and my Life draweth nigh unto the Grave I am counted with them that go down into the Pit I am as a Man that hath no Strength That is his Anxiety and Grief was so great so heavy that it was near killing and oppressing him quite And Verse 7. Thy Wrath lyeth hard upon me and thou hast afflicted me with all thy Waves That is with many and many sorts of Afflictions And in the 8th Verse more particularly Thou hast put away my acquaintance far from me c. One Evil he complain'd of was that his Friends were false unconstant turned his Enemies either the● dared not or could not help him As in the 18. Verse again His Acquaintance were it Darkness viz. in Prison or Affliction o● they were gone he knew not where An● then in the 13. and 14. Verses He prays t● God for his Favour to help and rescue him From the 15. Verse again to the end he proceeds in his rehearsal of his pitiful Condition In the 10 11 12 Ver. too he mentions th● Necessity and one good Consequence of hi● Deliverance from these great Pressures Wilt thou shew Wonders to the Dead c. An● shall thy Loving-kindness be declared in th● Grave or thy Faithfulness in Destruction● shall thy Wonders be known in the dark and thy Righteousness in the Land of Forgetfulness The sense of this is That he should soon die if God did not help him and put him into a better Condition That these kinds or instances of Favours viz. Deliverance from such his Enemies and the like could not be shewn but in this Life not after Death And then again one good Effect of God's Pleasure to deliver him here would be great Thanks to him and Praises and honouring of him by his publishing and proclaiming this his especial Goodness and that in particular of his Faithfulness which would not be in the State after Death or at least his Death and Destruction by such means would be no such Argument of his Goodness to him as his Life and Preservation would be The like we have again in the 79. Psalm which is a publick Prayer and most probably was written after the Captivity of Babylon And the Title Psalm of Asaph may signifie that it was composed either by some Asaph about that time or else by some other devout Person in Imitation of Asaph From the first to the fourth Verse is a Declaration of the miserable State of the Jews O God the Heathen are come into thine Inheritance thy holy People have they defiled they have laid Jerusalem upon Heaps And then Verse 5. How long Lord wilt thou be angry for ever That is we earnestly beseech thee that thou wouldst not c. and so on in Verse 6. the rest is a mixture of those two viz. Declaration or Proposal of their Condition and Petition Only in Verse 10 and 13 are mentioned good Consequences of the granting their humble Desires as Reasons of their Hopes and Prayers viz. the Prevention of the dishonouring the God of Israel among the idolatrous Heathen Wherefore should the Heathen say where is now their God And then their Love Praise and Thankfulness to him for his Deliverance So we thy People and Sheep of thy Pasture will give thee Thanks for ever c. These are but for Instances we may observe the like in most Psalms SECT VIII THe Sixth and last Ingredient in a VI. Prayer is Petition an express Desire that God would bestow upon us some thing This I make the very essence of Prayer without which no Prayer A Prayer may be without the rest of the ingredients but no Prayer could be without this It would be called by another Name they are all principally for the sake of this as I have in every Particular shew'd They are but Helps to make this more fervent or more comprehensive particular and distinct or more continued and lasting c. Now there are two things generally herein to be considered and regarded the S●nse and the Passion together with some consequent