Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	according_a	believe_v	scripture_n	1,612	5	5.8214	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A23663	A discourse of the nature, ends, and difference of the two covenants evincing in special, that faith as justifying, is not opposed to works of evangelical obedience : with an appendix of the nature and difference of saving and ineffectual faith, and the	Allen, William, d. 1686.; Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.	1673 (1673)	Wing A1061; ESTC R5298	108,111	235

believe so far as to assent in their minds that Christ was no Impostor but one that came from God and that therefore his Doctrine must needs be true but they did not believe so as to be converted in their Wills to consent to part with their carnal interest of honour and reputation with their party the Pharisees which they must have done as the case then stood if they would have confessed him openly which to do was necessary to make them capable of the Promise of Salvation by him Ioh. 12. 42 43. Among the chief Rulers many believed on him but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him lest they should be put out of the Synagogue for they loved the praise of Men more than the praise of God These had more understanding than the common people who as they said knew not the Law Ioh. 7. and yet not so many of them as of the people believed on Christ so as to confess and follow him because their wordly interest being greater it held them faster and had the greater power over their Wills The unbelief then of Men where the Gospel comes is generally to be resolved into the obstinacy of their Wills in opposition to the convictions of their Understanding Iohn 5. 40. Ye will not come to me that ye might have life How oft would I have gathered you and ye would not Mat. 23. 37. O that my people had hearkened to my counsel but Israel would none of me Psal. 81. 11. They did not chuse the fear of the Lord Prov. 1. 29. They chose their own ways their Souls delighted in their abominations Isa. 6. 3. Thus much in general But I would shew yet more particularly how the Will doth obstruct the perfecting the work of Faith after it 's begun in the Understanding And it doth it as I conceive I. By calling off the Understanding from a frequent consideration of that evidence by which it was first convinced of the Truth of Gods Testimony touching the Promised Benefits and the Condition and Means of obtaining them and from a frequent application of it to the Will and this the Will can do For as the Understanding hath a power over the Will so far a to represent it's apprehensions to the Will in order to its acting thereupon according to a Man 's own concerns therein so also the Will hath ak●nd of power over the Understanding both to put it upon frequent consideration to strengthen it self in the belief of that which the Will would have to prove true and to be believed and also to call it off from so doing when there is a great reluctancy in the Will against having that prove true which the Understanding represents as true And if the Understanding be taken off so that it hath not frequent recourse to that evidence which first procured its assent unto the Truth of God's Testimony in the Gospel that it might be thereby nourished strengthened and maintained that Faith in the Understanding will languish and grow weak and so have no powerful operation upon the Will to change and renew it and to procure its effectual consent to perform the Condition of the Promise when the Will stands disinclined of it self to the Verdict of the Understanding Besides if the Understanding doth not ply the Will and frequently inculcate upon it it s own apprehensions concerning God's Testimony and the consequence and concernment of it to a Man 's own self thereby to make the Word believed to be an ingrafted Word it will not not work any Cure upon it or any through change in it The unwillingness in Men to have their Minds ingage in the consideration of God's ways and their own is the reason of their turning back from him Io● 34. 27. They turned back from him and would not consider any of his ways As on the contrary the Scripture represents the conversion of a sinner as proceeding from the consideration of the bad tendency of his evil ways Ezek. 18. 28. Because he considereth and turneth away from all his transgressions which he hath committed he shall surely live he shall not dye And our Saviour seems to cast mens profiting or not profiting their belief or not belief by hearing Gods Testimony in the Gospel upon their considering or not considering of it Mark 4. 24. And he said unto them consider what you hear so Dr. Hammond reads it for with what measure ye mete viz. in considering or not considering it shall be measured to you again in profiting or not profiting which is to be understood according to God's ordinary proceeding with men The reason why the Faith of those resembled by the stony ground doth not abide or come to perfection is because they have no Root in themselves and that comes to pass for want of much consideration and a frequent working the first conviction of the mind from the evidence of Truth into the Will Affections by a constant Consideration and close Application of it Acts 17. 11. They searched the Scriptures daily whether th●se things were so and therefore they believed 2. When men hold fast their lusts out of their great love to them notwithstanding their conviction in their Understandings and are ●ot willing to part with them upon any terms the Fumes of those lusts continually ascending will cloud and darken the Understanding as a thick Fogg doth the Sun and by degrees make it less capable of discerning its Object viz. saving Truth in its clear evidence and proportionably hinder in its that opperation upon the Will The cares of this World and the deceitfulness of Riches and the lusts of other things choaked the Word and it becometh unfruitful Mar. 4. 19. He that hateth his Brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whether he goes because darkness hath blinded his eyes 1 Joh. 2. 11. 3. Sinful Mens understandings are ●ot so uncorrupt but that they are apt to be bribed by their Wills to cast about and devise how to evade the force and edge of their own notices and Dictates and to attempt and baffle their former apprehensions and convictions to the end they may still retain their lusts without any great disturbance from their Understandings This when it is yielded to and put in practice is that which in Scripture is called Mens closing their eyes le●t at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and should be converted and healed Mat. 13. 15. And when this takes place in Professors of Christianity that do believe that Faith Repentance and Obedience are necessary to Salvation as the Condition on which it is promised the way by which they u●ually deceive their own hearts is by perswading themselves that they do perform the Condition of the Promise in these when indeed they do not but frame to themselves Notions of saving Faith Repentance and Obedience different from the Scripture Notions of them as I shall shew in

sometimes described by an assenting to the truth of one single Proposition yet then it implies the belief of many more and such a belief as draws in the Will to act according to the import and concernment of the thing believed As for instance The belief of this Proposition That Christ Iesus is the Son of God by which Faith is sometimes described doth include in it a belief of the truth of his whole Doctrine both concerning God's Grace and Mans Duty and the Will 's concurrence as to its concernment in it For if he be the Son of God then he cannot lye or deceive in any thing he hath said And again the belief of this Proposition That God raised Christ from the Dead by which Faith is also described Rom. 10. 9. includes in it a belief that all that Doctrine which he taught is undoubtedly true For if it had not God would never have wrought such a Miracle as to raise Christ from the dead to confirm it The belief then of such single Propositions include a belief of the whole Doctrine of the Gospel which is the Proper Object of the Christian Faith and for that cause is frequently stiled Faith or the Faith in the New Testament But if we respect the nature of Faith in general as answering the different degrees of God's Revelation of his Will in several Ages of the World both under the Gospel and before I do not know how better to define it than thus Faith is such a hearty belief of God's Declaration concerning his own Grace and Man's Duty as doth effectually cause a man to expect from God and to act in a way of sincere Obedience according to the Tenour and Import of such a Declaration Or if you will take in the belief of God's threatnings against sinners into the definition then it will be thus Faith is such a hearty belief of God's Declaration concerning his own Grace and Displeasure and Man's Duty as doth effectually cause a man to expect from God and to act in a way of sincere Obedience according to the Tenour and Import of such a Declaration Faith thus defined we have already seen exemplified in Abraham who is the great Exemplar of believing and the Father of Believers And that it was his belief of God's Promise or Declaration of grace and favour to him as it was practical in producing Repentance Self-denial and sincere Obedience by which he was justified and made happy appears farther not only in that it 's said by St. Iames that his Faith wrought with his Works and was made perfect by them and that he was justified by Works as well as by Faith of which more anon but also in that it 's said that he received the sign of Circumcision which was the Condition upon which God covenanted with him to be his God and upon the same terms to be the God of his Seed a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had while he was yet uncircumcised For supposing which is not denied Circumcision to be an outward Sign of inward Grace of the Circumcision of the Heart consisting in Mortification or a Penitential change of the Heart which is the effect of Faith his Circumcision as such was a Seal of confirmation to Abraham that it was upon his former so believing God upon his Promise as thereby to be induced to leave the evil Customs of his Countrey and his Countrey it self with his Kindred his Fathers house that God would be his God indeed In which Promise was implicitly promised all that would make him eternally happy And God's further design of giving to Abraham this Covenant of Circumcision as a Seal to assure him the enjoyment of the benefit wrapt up in that Promise upon the terms aforesaid was that he might be the Father of all them that believe whether literally circumcised or not that is that he might be a great Example and Pattern to all others of obtaining the same benefits in the same way and so might be a means of begetting others to believe in God and to obey him as he had done to be a great Instrument to propagate the kind of new Creatures of Men renewed to God to the end they might be blessed as he was This or somewhat to this effect is doubtless the meaning of Rom. 4. 11 12. And he received the sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had being yet uncircumcised That he might be the Father of all them that believe though they be not circumcised that Righteousness might be imputed to them also And the Father of Circumcision to them who are not of the Circumcision only but also walk in the steps of that Faith of our Father Abraham which he had being yet uncircumcised and it is not unlikely but that as Heart-Circumcision under the figure of Literal-Circumcision was together with Faith made the condition of the Covenant then so Spiritual Baptism which is a death unto sin and a living unto God is under the Figure of Water-Baptism joyned with believing as the condition of the Promise of Salvation now Mark 16. 16. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved According to which St. Peter having spoken of Noah's Ark saith The like figure whereunto Baptism now saveth us not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience towards God 1 Pet. 3. 21. Now as it was in Abraham such a belief of God's Declaration of Grace and Favour as did effectually induce him to love and obey God by which he was justified so I shall shew afterwards it was the very same kind of Faith working after the same manner by which the Saints under the Law of Moses were saved But Faith as Evangelical and Christian is such a hearty assent and consent unto God's Declartion in the Gospel by his Son concerning Christ himself and his Grace and Favour towards Men by him and concerning their own duty as causeth a man to expect from God and to act in a way of duty according to the Tenour of such a Declaration and his own concerns in it And Faith thus defined is fully agreeable to the Tenour of the Gospel Mark 16. 15 16. Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every Creature He that believeth and is Baptized shall be saved He that believeth What Why he that believeth that Gospel which was to be preached to every Creature Which Gospel contains a Declaration of God's Grace Man's Duty of his Wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men. For 1. It declares from God that he hath given his Son Jesus Christ to be the Saviour of the World by being a Propitiation for the sin of it in becoming a Sacrifice to expiate sin 2. It declares that God upon account of his Sons giving himself a Ransom for all hath made and doth establish a New Covenant with the World to pardon and eternally to save as

many as shall believe in his Son and repent of their sinfulness in changing their Minds and reforming their Lives and becoming new men in yielding sincere obedience to the Precepts of the Gospel 3. It declares that those that believe not shall be damned and such as repent not shall perish and that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God This summarily is that which the Gospel declares concerning God's grace and displeasure and Mans duty Now it is the Practical belief of all this that is the saving Faith It is not the bare belief that God hath given his Son to be the Saviour of the World and a Propitiation for the sin of it Nor is it a bare belief that he will for Christ's sake pardon and save as many as truly repent and amend their lives and become new Creatures unless they so believe all this as seriously and heartily to Repent themselves of their former folly and to return to their duty in new Evangelial Obedience For otherwise for a Man barely to believe all this and not to act according to his own concerns in it will be so far from being a believing to the saving of the Soul as that it will rather plunge him the deeper in destruction for living and acting contrary to his own light and belief as holding the truth in unrighteousness the wrath of God being revealed from heaven against all such Rom. 1. 18. A man of this practical Faith which I have described eyes as well the condition upon which the saving Benefits are Promised through Christ as the Promise it self of those benefits and expects the enjoyment of those benefits upon God's Promise and Christ's purchase no otherwise than as he with the assistance of God's grace is careful to perform the condition Which belief of his makes him as careful to perform the condition in discharge of his own duty therein as ever he hopes to enjoy the promised pardon of Salvation by Christ and to escape the damnation threatned against those who perform not the condition So that a Man by this Practical Faith belives one part of God's Declaration in the Gospel as well as the other and his own duty to be as well necessary to his Justification as the condition appointed by God as the Grace of God through Christ it self is upon another account And by this belief he is effectually moved as well to act in a way of duty to God as to expect mercy from him considering how his happiness is concerned in both when he hath the whole of God's Declaration in all the parts taken together in prospect as the Object of his Faith When he hears that God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life When he hears that God hath set forth Christ to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood And when he hears again that God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them he believes all this to be true as coming from God that cannot lye and accordingly is incouraged to hope in God's mercy and is comforted thereby But then when he hears again that except we repent we shall all perish that except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God That without holiness no man shall see the Lord and that the pure in heart shall see God That not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of the Father which is in Heaven That the Lord Iesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire to render vengeance to all those that know not God and which obey not the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ But that he is the Author of eternal Salvation to all those that obey him I say when he hears all this he as verily believes this part of Gods Declaration in the Gospel to be the faithful and true sayings of God as he accounted the other to be And accordingly doth as seriously and sincerely set upon the work of Repentance and as carefully useth God's appointed means for the changing of his Heart and renewing of his Nature for the purifying of himself as God is pure and doth as carefully obey all the Precepts of the Gospel as he hopes upon the account of Christ's sufferings and God's Promise to be pardoned and saved as believing that those Benefits are neither promised nor can be obtained but in this way of performing the Condition And I doubt not to say this practical Faith as it respects God's Declaration touching Mans duty in conjunction with his own Grace in Christ is where the Gospel comes the only saving justifying Faith 3. Come we now to shew Reason why Faith is made the Condition of the Promise 1. It is of Faith that it might be of Grace saith the Apostle Rom. 4. 16. It is that the Grace of God to miserable Men might the more shew it self For so it doth not only in promising unspeakably great things through Christ to Man who is not only un-deserving but ill-deserving also but also in that these are promised upon such a possible practicable easie condition as Faith is considering the means and assistance promised by God to work it And considering also that the Promise is made to the truth unfeignedness and sincerity and not to perfection of Faith Repentance and new Obedience in their utmost degree So that Christ might well say my Yoke is easie and my Burden light Matth. 11. 30. Whereas the old way of promising the Inheritance on the Law terms would have been to have promised it upon impossible conditions as the case now is with fallen Man And if God should Promise never so great things to Man in his impotent and miserable state upon an impossible condition he would have been so far from manifesting abundance of Grace Compassion and Love to him in that condition as that he would rather have seemed to insult over him in it And therefore if the Promise should have run upon the Law-terms and not of Faith it would utterly have frustrated God's design of manifesting his grace to Man and of recovering Man's Love and Loyalty to him thereby Rom. 4. 14. If they which are of the Law be Heirs Faith is made void and the Promise made of none effect But it is of Faith that it might be by grace to the end the Promise might be sure to all the Seed not to that only which is of the Law but to that also which is of the Faith of Abraham ver 16. 2. This may be another reason why such a Faith as I have described is made the condition of the Covenant of Salvation viz. Because it best answers God's design in this Covenant of renewing the nature of Man in Holiness and Righteousness and by that means restoring it to happiness For by Faith Men are born of God or