Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	act_n	believe_v	faith_n	3,882	5	5.9558	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A32783	Via lactea, or, The saints onely way to true blessedness opened in a sermon from Matth. 5, 8 : also the danger of neglecting gospel-salvation, from Heb. 2, 3 / by Thomas Cheesman ... ; with his epistle to vindicate himself from those absurdities of method and language and little less then blasphemies, with which he was abused by a mercenary pen, in the former impression.	Cheesman, Thomas.	1663 (1663)	Wing C3776; ESTC R43092	18,787	38

Secondly why we should labour to get purity of heart Thirdly what means we should use to have our hearts purified Fourthly in what particulars this purity of heart will especially discover it self I. There are many things implyed or comprehended in this purity of heart First the justification of our persons civilizing morality doth onely furnish men with some sweet sented flowers which may perfume their outward conversation rendring it more acceptable to humane society though still their hearts may continue as filthy and impure as ever they were before Moral men commonly have a high conceit of themselves and yet they may be abominable in the sight of God as Solomon speaks Prov. 30.12 There is a Generation that are pure in their own eyes and yet is not washed from their filthiness but no true purity can be effectually produced in our inward parts until we come to be sprinckled in the blood of Christ Rev. 1.5 Who hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood We can never be clensed from our sinful abominations until we be washed in the blood of that immaculate Lamb which takes away the sins of the World when the soul is brought into a state of justification it is cloathed in the wedding Garment of Christs imputed righteousness which is large enough to cover all its natural deformities and then though it were never so black and filthy before it presently appears full of amiable lustre and shining excellency bright and clear beautiful as an Angel without spot or blemish in the sight of God Secondly Purity of heart doth imply a renovation of our nature We are all defiled in our very birth and conception the poysonous Leprosie of Original sin hath spread it self over every faculty of the soul and member of the body therefore if ever we obtain any acceptable purity this corrupt depraved nature must be changed hence is that Petition of the Prophet David which you may read in Psal 51.10 Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me Tit. 3.5 we are said to be saved by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost And the Apostle Paul likewise prays in the behalf of his Thessalonians that they may be sanctified throughout both in body soul and spirit 1 Thes 5.23 The soul and the spirit are here to be distinguished The Spirit here signifies the most Noble sublime and Angelical part of man comprehending his will conscience and understanding the soul that signifies the inferiour faculties of sensitive desires and affections and the body that is the outward man the instrument of the soul In Ezek. 36.25 26. you have an excellent Gospel promise I wil sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be washed from all your filthiness and from all your Idols will I cleanse you a new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you Oh that men were generally more convinced about the excellency and necessity of this sanctifying work Thirdly purity of heart requires the casting out of defiling sins all sin is of a very defiling nature therefore it s shadowed forth in the book of Leviticus under the notion of a spreading Leprosie t is compared likewise to the vomit of a Dog and to that filthy mire which Swine delight to wallow in But more particularly sinful pleasures must be cast out of the heart In the 47. of Ezek. there you read concerning the River of the Sanctuary that is the Doctrine of the Gospel which is dispersed amidst the wilderness of the Gentiles and most places where it came received a healing vertue from it but in the 11 vers the Miry places and the Marishes thereof shall not be healed By the Marishes and Miry places some fitly understand those men women that have given themselves over to sinful pleasures these kind of persons are very unlikely to be healed by the waters of the Sanctuary what gross defilement do many contract while they let loose the raines to vile affections and drown the masculine activity of their spirit in a loathsome pudle of sensuality Also earthly-mindedness is another sin which must be cast out if we desire to have a pure heart When a thing is mingled with that which is of a superior nature it s thereby made more rich and precious as when silver is mingled with gold but if it be mingled with that which is of an inferiour nature as silver mingled with lead such a heterogeneus mixture doth debase and impoverish it thus when the soul of man is as I may so speak mingled with the graces of the spirit this makes it more Noble exalting it to a higher degree of perfection But if it be mingled with the drossy vanities of the world this makes it base and vile The Scripture tells us concerning the pollutions of the World 2 Epist of Peter Cap. 2. vers 20. and in James 1.27 saith he This is pure Religion and undefiled before God and the father to visit the fatherless and the widows in their afflictions and to keep himself unspotted from the world the things of the world they are a dirty defiling nature they are like Pitch t is hard to touch them and not contract some defilement or other How is it possible that that man should have a pure heart that can be contented from morning to night to entertain nothing but the world in his soul John 17.15 saith Christ I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil Fourthly Purity of heart requireth that we should adorn our selves with purifying Graces First Hope 1 Joh. 3.3 He that hath this hope purifieth himself even as he is pure Raised expectations of future happiness should stir up in the soul strong and vigorous endeavours after present holiness because a defiled heart and a undefiled inheritance cannot stand together Secondly Faith that 's another purifying grace as you have it Acts 15.9 Purifying their hearts by faith Those which perswade themselves that they doe believe in Christ and yet their hearts are as carnal and corrupt as filthy and impure as ever they were before They may know that their faith is but a fantastick dream or deluding shadow there is nothing of truth nothing of reality in it Faith having tied a marriage knot between Christ and the soul layes a strong engagement upon her to keep her self chast and pure till the approach of her glorious Bridegroom when she shall be taken into the everlasting embraces of his love Thirdly Repentance that is another purifying grace Repentance pulls off the mask from the face of sin causing it to appear in its proper colours so that it hath no alluring paint nor counterfeit dress by which it should ensnare or delude the soul any longer Repentance fills the soul of a sinner with hatred and detestation against sin making him restless in his desire till he can procure an

VIA LACTEA or THE SAINTS Onely VVay to True Blessedness Opened in a SERMON from MATTH 5.8 ALSO The Danger of neglecting Gospel-Salvation from Heb 2.3 By Thomas Cheesman Master of Arts and formerly a Member of Pembrook-Colledge in Oxford With his Epistle to Vindicate Himself from those Absurdities of Method and Language and little less then Blasphemies with which he was abused by a Mercenary Pen in the former Impression London Printed for the Vindication of the Author and Satisfaction of the Reader 1663. TO THE READER Courteous Reader MY poor Labours in the Gospel have been of late so wretchedly abused and falsely represented to the World as that I have been in a manner constrained to Print these following Sermons for a necessary vindication of my Ministry from the contempt of those prophane adversaries who would gladly lay hold upon any occasion to vilifie it and load it with disgraceful imputations In partieular that Sermon upon Mat. 5.8 Has been most barbarously handled and contumeliously dealt with for I dare appeal to any judicious auditor which was present at the delivery of it whither the counterfeit Copy can shew almost any thing true and genuine save onely the Text that absurd Pamphlet in which these unparalled forgeries are comprized carries a fair and plausible Title flattering the Reader into expectations of some rich spiritual treasure but he which would take the paines to search shall find his deluded hopes entertained with nothing but dross and dung the very excrements of a sottish distempered brain in a word the discourse is altogether wild brutish and extravagant as if it were ambitious to derive its pedigree from a pure frensie and were calculated for Bedlam rather then any serious Christian auditory or were penned by an author who had publiquely renonnced all congruity of language and had professed himself a sworn Enemy both to reason and conscience before he could be qualified for the work and therefore Christian Reader for the future I desire thee neither to receive or give credit to any thing that shall come abroad in the like nature as mine But I shall dwell no longer upon this unpleasing subject be it known for thy further satisfaction that what is here Printed is the same for the main substance of it with that which was formerly Preached without any considerable addition concerning the whole I shall venture to say thus much that there is the clear water of life drawn from the wells of salvation though not presented to thee in a golden cup wholesome food though the dish be not artificially garnished yet if thou be in the number of hungering and thirsting souls such as relish the simplicity of the Gospel thou wilt not stand upon niceness or delicacy I Intreat that thou do not onely read but weigh and consider never rest satisfied until the truths here contained have made some lively impression upon thy heart so this and all other discourses of the like nature may build thee up in thy most holy faith and bring thee nearer to God which shall be the Prayer of him who would gladly approve himself a faithful Witness to the truth Tho. Cheesman MAT. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God HEre is a description of happiness quite contrary to the expectation of Scribes and Pharises who being strangers to the spiritual interpretation of the Law did commonly teach their Disciples that they need not doubt of obtaining Salvation if they did but lead civil lives if they did but bring forth the fruits of moral honesty and were exactly conformable to the Tradition of their Elders But says our Saviour Do not satisfie your selves with such an empty shadow of outward Traditional and Ceremonial holiness Know it is the inward frame and disposition of heart which you are principally engaged to regard and look after Blessed are the pure in heart c. though there are many persons zealous in the observation of superstitious customes which their own fancy hath made choice of though they stand much upon clean Garments and clean Vessels Though they do much for the purifying of the flesh yet notwithstanding this their outward purity they may be objects of Gods reprobating anger they may be condemned to perish with the unbeleiving world and fall short of eternal happiness But blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God By heart here is meant all the powers and faculties of the inward man so purity of heart doth imply an understanding free from error a conscience void of offence towards God and towards man a will freed from the Dominion of sin and Satan affections clarified and refined from the dross of this present World Blessed are they that are thus pure in heart for they shall see God that is they shall enjoy him Vision is commonly put for fruition in the Scripture so in that place Heb. 12.14 Follow Peace and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord that is none shall enjoy him no man without holiness shall be admitted to tast that fulness of joy or bath in those Rivers of pleasures that are at the right hand of God or else we may understand it according to the more plain and familiar signification and thus the pure in heart shall see God in his work of creation they shall behold him in the beautiful frame of Heaven and earth every thing which they see will put them in mind of their creatours wisdom goodness and power they shall see him likewise in the works of providence taking notice of his hand in every mercy and in every judgement and they shall see him present in all his Ordinances but more especially they shall see him in the life to come they shall see the blessed person of Jesus Christ who is the glass of the Trinity and in whom those who are pure in heart shall one day behold the fullness of the God-head dwelling bodily this glass is of a transforming nature for they which see it shall be changed into the same likeness from glory to glory Thus much for the meaning of the words the pure in heart shall see God while they continue in this World by an eye of faith they shall likewise have a more clear immediate ravishing and refreshing vision of him when they are perfectly glorified in the life to come The Text may be divided into a Proposition and a Demonstration The Proposition asserts that the pure in heart are blessed The Demonstration or Argument which the Holy Ghost makes use of in this place to prove their blessedness is taken from their seeing of God blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God The principal Doctrine resulting from the words may be this That the pure in heart they and onely such as they are blessed or that true blessedness can never be obtained without purity of Heart In the Prosecution of it I shall first shew what precious ingredients are required to make up this purity of heart