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	lead_v	spirit_n	1,730	5	5.1942	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28911	A sermon preach'd before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor and aldermen of the city of London, at Guild-Hall chappel, on Sunday, Novemb. 13, 1692 by Richard Bowchier ...	Bowchier, Richard, 1660 or 61-1723.	1692 (1692)	Wing B3867; ESTC R19525	13,626	34

things which the Revealed Will of God requires of us may rest assured that he is in the Spirit For he saith St. John in his first Epistle chap. 3. ver 24. that keepeth God's Commandments dwelleth in him and he in him The Scriptures I say being the only Rule now left us by which we can judge of the goodness or pravity of our Actions every one may hence easily know and conclude in himself whether he is in the Spirit by being conscious to himself whether he forms his Life and Actions according to the Precepts laid down in the Gospel as the only measure of his Obedience And this I dare say that each particular Man or publick Communion of Christians of what denomination or Country soever it may be has most of the Spirit that comes the nearest to this Rule Christianity requires of us all a firm Faith and a sincere Obedience to the things it enjoyns and he that hath the first and faithfully dischargeth the latter that is he who hath a Faith to believe what is required and lives exactly according to his belief may be assured that he is in the Spirit because he does that which God requires of him and for which he shall hereafter receive that exceeding great Reward which God has promised in his Word That the governing ones Life and Actions according to the rules and temper of the Gospel is the being in the Spirit is a truth besides as safe as it is certain for he who orders himself this way will be sure never to do amiss because he will always modestly keep within the bounds which his duty prescribes him Whereas he who is led by other notions of being in the Spirit and has no other rule for his Actions but that motion and warmth he feels within him may easily by mistaking a hot and extravagant Fancy for the sacred impulse of the Holy Spirit be guilty of very bad things and thus too often be unluckily found a Fighter against God at that very time he thinks himself immediately Inspired by Him From what therefore has been said every sober and serious Man may easily know and conclude when he is in the Spirit if he shews in every thing he does that Temper which the Gospel requires of us if in a steady and regular Conversation of Life he expresseth that Love Joy Peace Long-suffering that Gentleness Goodness Faith that Meekness and Temperance Vertues against which there is no Law and that are all of them so eminently required in Christians let such a one go on as he has begun and never doubt of his being in the Spirit because he shews so much of that which St. Paul calls the Fruit of it On the other hand Gal. 5. ●2 let Men fansie what they please of their being in the Spirit if their Lives and Actions are not conformable to the Temper of that Gospel which is to be their Rule If their stiffness to their own Sentiments makes them value and consider none but themselves If their Zeal for their own Sect or Opinion makes them exclude all others from their Charity who are not of their own Communion and Party If that Love which is such a peculiar Mark and Character of a Christian is not extended even to those who perhaps may little deserve it at their hands If instead of that Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith which are all the beauties and excellencies of a Christian Life they are full of Hatreds Variances Emulations Strifes If instead of that Meekness and Temperance which are Vertues that make us easie both to our selves and others they are guilty of Envyings Murthers Drunkenness Revellings and such like In a word if Mens inward Temper or outward Deportment be such as carries them to such extreams as are inconsistent with the Duties which the revealed Will of God has enjoyned us let such of what Church Sect or Opinion soever they may be pretend to what they please and gild over their Actions with fine and godly Words they are such Ver. 19. however to whom we may justly apply that of St. Jude These be they who separate themselves being Sensual not having the Spirit And now I come 3dly to shew the Obligations which lie on us all of walking in the Spirit The walking in the Spirit being as I have already shewn the conforming our selves to the Rules and Precepts of the Gospel Our Obligations of doing this will appear 1st From the reasonableness that there is of living according to what we believe 2dly From the easiness of the Things enjoyned us And lastly Because this wholly tends to our own Interest and Advantage 1. Then I shall shew the Obligations of walking in the Spirit from the reasonableness of living according to what we believe The firm adhering to what a Man believes and the ordering his Life according to his Belief is a thing so very decent and pleasing in the Eyes of all Mankind that it is natural for one to commend such a practice even in that very Man whose Opinion we may otherwise condemn On the other side let a Man be never so Orthodox in his Faith if he is scandalous and irregular in his Life this raises such an inward scorn and disesteem in the Breast of all good and understanding Men as is sufficient to testisie what a low and mean Opinion the World generally has of such a Person For when there is not that harmony which there should be betwixt ones belief and practice when the Holiness of Mens Lives does not answer the purity of that Religion they profess it either argues a wonderful falseness and design in desiring to appear otherwise than they really are or a strange insensibility and neglect not to mind that which of all other things is their greatest concern 'T is mean and pitiful to be a bare Pretender in any thing but it is really wicked and unaccountable to be so in matters of Religion where the greatest sincerity of Mind is required and believe me all is but Hypocrisie and folly without it All Religion naturally supposes an Obedience to the Things it enjoyns and Christianity is so very exact in this above all others that whosoever shall keep the whole Law of it and yet ossend in one point he is guilty of all If those therefore who call themselves Christians are really perswaded of the truth of the Gospel is it not most reasonable they should be of that temper it requires If Men are convinced of the excellency of the Precepts which Christ has commanded is it any thing less than Madness not to follow them to the uttermost And what a strange degree of folly is it in them not to make that the constant Rule of their Lives which they themselves confess to be the only means of their Happiness But 2dly Our obligations of walking in the Spirit will appear from the easiness of the things enjoyned us Christianity is a thing so very plain and simple that never any