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	lord_n	merciful_a	1,635	5	8.8351	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93724	The wels of salvation opened or, a treatise discovering the nature, preciousnesse, usefulness of Gospel-promises, and rules for the right application of them. By William Spurstowe, D.D. pastor of Hackney near London. Imprimatur, Edm. Calamy.	Spurstowe, William, 1605?-1666.	1655 (1655)	Wing S5100; Thomason E1463_3; ESTC R203641	126,003	320

not prescribe and limit any in their choise but leave them to the free use of such Scriptures and promises as themselves by experience have found to be full of life and sweetnesse yet it will not be amisse to recommend the use of some few eminent promises of divers kinds out of the full store-house of the Word which may serve as so many meet cordials to revive the spirit of drooping Christians amidst the several kindes of necessities that may afflict them Are any burthened with the guilt of sinne so as that their soule draweth nigh unto the pit of despaire What more joyful tidings can ever their eares heare then a proclamation of free mercy made by the Lord himselfe unto beleeving and repenting sinners What more glorious and blessed sight can their eyes ever behold then the Name of God written in sundry of his choice attributes as in so many golden letters for them to read The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodnesse and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sinne Exod. 34. 6 7. He is the Lord who only hath jus vitae necis the absolute power of life and death in his hands but he is the Lord God merciful who far more willingly scattereth his pardons in forgiving then executeth his justice in condemning like the Bee that gathers honey with delight but stings not once unless she be much provoked He is gracious not incited to mercy by deserts in the object but moved by goodnesse in himself his love springs not from delight in our beauty but from pitty to our deformity He is long-suffering bearing with patience renued and often repeated injuries which he might by power revenge upon him who is the doer He is abundant in goodnesse grace overfloweth more in him then sinne can do in any Sin in the creature is but a vicious quality but goodnesse in him is his nature He is abundant in truth as he is good in making the promises so is he true in performing them when men deale unfaithfully with him he breaks not his Covenant with them He keeps mercy for thousands former ages have not exhausted the treasures of his mercy so as that succeeding generations can finde none there are still fresh reserves of mercy and that not for a few but for thousands He forgives iniquity transgression and sinne not pence but talents are forgiven by him not sinnes of the least sise are onely pardoned but sinnes of the greatest dimensions And as this promise in which the Name of God is so richly described doth fully answer the hesitancies doubts and perplexities of such who fear their iniquities for number to be so many for aggravation to be so great as that sometimes they question Can God pardon sometimes Will he ever shew mercy to such a wretched Prodigal So likewise may that blessed promise made unto beleevers Hos 14. 5 6 7. exceedingly support such who mourne under their want of holinesse and complaine of the weaknesse of their grace fearing that the little which they have attained unto goes rather backwards then forwards God himself having promised that he will be as a dew unto them which shall make them to put forth in all kindes of growth They shall grow as the lilly and cast forth their roots as Lebanon their branches shall spread and their beauty shall be as the Olive-tree they shall revive as the corne and grow as the vine What more comprehensive summary can there be either of Gods goodnesse or of a beleevers desires then there is in this one promise wherin he hath promised to make them grow in beauty like the lilly in stability like the Cedar in usefulnesse like the Olive whose fruit serves both for light and nourishment in spreading like the vine and in their encrease like the corne God himselfe being both the planter and waterer of all their graces To them who are full of fears through the approach of dangers which they have no hope to avoid or power to overcome How full of encouragement and comfort is that promise of protection and safety When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee Isa 43. 2. Water and fire are two evils in which none can be with their nearest friends without perishing with them Who can save a Jonah when cast into a boisterous sea but God And who can walk in the fiery furnace with the three children and not be consumed but the Son of God In the prison one friend may be with another in banishment he may accompany him in the battel he may stand by him and assist him but in the swelling waters and in the devouring flames none can be a reliefe to any but God and he hath promised to beleevers to be with them in the midst of both these that so in the greatest extremities which can befall them they may fully rest assured that nothing can separate God from them but that he will either give them deliverance from troubles or support them under troubles Martyres non ●ripuit sed nunquid descruit saith Austin He did not take the Martyrs out of the flames but did he forsake them in the flames Lastly to them the meannesse of whose condition may seeme to expose them above others to hunger cold nakednesse evils that make life it self far more bitter then death how full of divine sweetnesse is that blessed promise of provision The young lions do lack and suffer hunger but they that seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing Psal 34. 10. The Septuagint renders it the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great wealthy men of the earth who like beasts of prey live upon spoile and rapine who think that in the hardest times that can come they shall be eaten up last they shall be bitten with hunger and perish by famine when they who fear the Lord shall be in want of nothing The widows little barrel of meale in the famine yielded a better supply then Ahab his storehouse and granary her cruse had oile in it when his Olive-yards had none Oh! how securely and contentedly then may a beleever who acts his faith in such promises lay himself down in the bosome of the Almighty in the worst of all his extremities not much unlike the infant that sleeps in the armes of his tender mother with the breast in his mouth from which as soon as ever it wakes it draws a fresh supply that satisfies its hunger and prevents its unquietnesse SECT 3. Rule 8. Consider of the examples to whom promises have been fulfilled The eighth direction is in the making use of any promise to parallel our condition with such examples which may be unto us as so many clear instances of the goodnesse and faithfulnesse of God in his giving unto others the same or

carry should refuse to do the one that they might thereby be enabled to do the other What is it else that God and Christ do require of men to the receiving of the promises but only that they would disburden themselves of earthly incumbrances which hinder the reception of spiritual mercies that so with hearts emptied of worldly affections and cares they may be qualified for the fulnesse of heavenly riches When Joseph invited his father and brethren to come down into Egypt he bids them not to regard their stuffe for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours Gen. 45. 20. So the true heavenly Joseph when he invited men to come unto him he bids them not to set their hearts on things on the earth because all the riches of his Kingdome are before them and by his promises made over to them How inexcuseable then must their neglect be who do not with answerable hearts and desires embrace such precious offers SECT 5. A fifth aggravation is taken from the command of God and Christ We are not onely invited to take hold of the promises but we are commanded to believe the excellency of them This saith the Apostle is his commandment that we should beleeve on the Name of his Sonne Jesus Christ Joh. 3. 23. That is we ought so to beleeve his promises his sayings as to count them worthy of all acceptation As we assent unto them for their truth so are we to embrace them for their preciousnesse and worth Our faith must work by love it must put forth it self in the strength of all affection by our esteeming and prizing of them above the most desirable things of the world Thus David did when he said Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever for they are the rejoycings of my heart Psalm 119. 111. Gods promises he made as his lands as his goods as his all They were more dear to him then all his temporal things whatsoever When therefore they are not thus honoured both in the hearts and in the lives of beleevers the great Commandment of the Gospel is violated the disobedience of which will be recompenced with more heavy and sore judgements then the breaches of the Law CHAP. XVIII Foure differences between the promises of God and Satan THe second Application from this truth That the promises of the Gospel are precious shall be to acquaint us with the wide differences that are between the promises of God and the promises of the Devil who is the great deceiver of the whole world Rev. 12. 9. Sinne which Satan by all his arts endeavoureth to make men guilty of that so they may be as miserable as himself is in it self so full of deformity and uglinesse as that if it were but seen in its true shape there could not be a more effectual argument to keep men from the commission of it then it s own monstrosity There are three things say the School that cannot be defined Dei formositas materiae primae informitas peccati deformitas The Amiablenesse and beauty of God the informity of the first matter and the deformity of sin Now to hide and cover this misshapen monster Satan useth not a few devices Sometimes he makes it to appear in the habit and likenesse of a vertue and thus he tempts men to covetousnesse under the notion of frugality to riot and prodigality under the colour of liberality Sometimes he varnisheth it with the specious shews of profit and gaine and promiseth large rewards to them that will but comply with his suggestions and counsels And this is one of the most subtil artifices that he useth to withdraw a man from any good to entice and winne him to any sin Thus he tempted Balaam to venture upon the cursing of Gods people by the promise of honour and preferment Micha's Levite with a small augmentation of his stipend promised unto him he tempted both to theft and idolatry Judas upon the promise of thirty pieces of silver which the instruments of the devil make unto him he tempts to sell the life and blood of his blessed Master yea by a franke and large promise of all the kingdomes of the world he tempts our Lord and Saviour to the highest act of idolatry that is imaginable to fall down and worship him not despairing by the greatnesse of the offer to hide the foulnesse of the sinne though it be with scorne and indignation rejected by Christ Mat. 4. 10. Because therefore that the most of men are ready to be deceived by the speciousnesse of the devils promises and to give more heed to what he speaks then to the good Word of God I shall in four particulars set forth the difference between the promises of God and the promises of Satan The first is the difference between the persons that make them Promises are like bonds which depend altogether upon the sufficiency of the surety If a beggar seal to an instrument for the payment of ten thousand pounds who esteems it to be any better then a blank But if a man of estate and ability do bind himself to pay such a sum it is looked upon as so much real estate and men dovalue themselves by such bills and bonds as well as by what is in their own possession God who hath made rich promises to beleevers is able to performe what he hath spoken He is rich in mercy Eph. 2. 4. Abundant in goodnesse and truth Exod. 34. 6. He is the God of truth Psalm 31. 5. The Father of mercies 2 Cor. 1. 3. But the devil is a Beggar an outcast one that hath nothing in possession nothing in disposition He is a lyar and the father of it John 8. 44. A deceiver Revel 12. 9. A murtherer from the beginning who killed not one but all in one Joh. 8. 44. How then can his promises be a foundation of support to any that have no other word to build upon but his He hath never kept his promise and God hath never broke his promise There hath not failed one word of all his good promise which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant 1 Kings 56. A second difference is in the matter of the promises Let us weigh the promises of the one and of the other in the balance of truth and we shall finde that the promises of God are gold and the promises of the devil are Alchimy such which though they glitter much have no worth or excellency in them Or that they are as Aristotle calls the Rainbowe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an appearance only and not like the cloud which he stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a true and real substance God's are substantial realities and his vanishing and fleeting shadows windy and swollen bladders which but a little prickt do quickly fall and grow lank Stobaeus out of Herodotus tels a story of one Archetimus who had deposited moneys in the hand of Cydias his friend who afterwards requiring them again of