Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	affection_n	love_n	love_v	1,790	5	6.3849	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49459	The chief interest of man, or, A discourse of religion, clearly demonstrating the equity of the precepts of the Gospel, and how much the due observance thereof doth conduce to the happiness and well-being as well of humane societies as of particular persons by H. Lukin.	Lukin, H. (Henry), 1628-1719.	1665 (1665)	Wing L3473; ESTC R125	65,780	204

far doth this fall short of expressing the unreasonableness of such as will rather enjoy present pleasures than prepare for future happinesse A Child is bound to an Apprenticeship and he perhaps dies before his time be out and so all his labour and charge is lost or he doth not live seven years a Freeman after he hath lived seven years in a hard service But he that gives up himself to the service of Christ let it be imagined to be as hard as some mens prejudice perswades them the sooner he dyes the sooner his service is ended and though he dye never so soon he loseth not his Freedom but is made a Citizen of Heaven and once entred there he never dyes but doth for ever reap the fruit of his labours Do we not give twenty times as much for the Fee-simple as they speak of an Estate as it will bring us in one year and according to the same rule were we sure to enjoy the pleasures of sin twenty years and could imagine them to be equal to the joyes of Heaven yet we should quit them for those everlasting pleasures which we should enjoy for ever our selves and not only for some Ages as we hope to do Estates on Earth not in our selves but only in our posterity Further yet we see it is in vain to lay a snare in the sight of any Bird. Prov. 1.17 they will not come into the Net to feed if they perceive it or swallow the bait when they see the hook yet foolish men do venture on Hell which they are told will certainly be the wages of sin and will enjoy the present pleasures of it though they have all the assurance that a man can have of any thing which he sees not with his eyes that it will cost him his life and that his Soul must rue for ever in Hell God indeed doth not manifest himself to us ordinarily here nor take us up as he did Paul into the third Heavens to shew us the Glory thereof but he will have us to exercise faith here and to take his word which he hath so fully confirmed to us that we may as certainly trust to it as if we had the clearest evidence in the world The Husband-man casts his seed into the ground without any fear or suspition of losing having been confirmed by many experiments in the hope of receiving it again with increase but a thousand experiments will not so fully perswade as a divine testimony confirmed by Covenants Oaths and Seals the ordinary wayes of confirmation amongst men so that a Divine faith founded upon the word of God is as the substance of things hoped for which are but future and makes them as it were really subsist and is the evidence of things not seen confirming them to us and as fully perswading us of them though they are not obvious to the sense as any Philosophical demonstration can confirm any truth so that notwithstanding the Apostle owns sence to be a great means to move affections in this frail state wherein we are yet faith serves believers for a sufficient foundation of love and delight Though they see not Jesus Christ they love him and rejoyce in him with joy unspeakable and full of Glory 1 Pet. 1.7 We are short sighted and cannot see a far off 2 Pet. 1.9 but faith as a perspective brings things nearer to us that we may judge of them as really present Let not our senses therefore usurp authority over Faith and Reason but lot Faith and Reason have their perfect work let not the Men of the World be wiser in their Generation than Children of light let us not be wiser in the things of the World than in the things of Heaven We chuse not the fairest of things for the most part but such as are more serviceable and durable nor the sweetest but that which is wholsom and nourishing we chuse not the cleanest or pleasantest way but that which leads to the place which we are going to So let us judge of things not according as they present themselves to our senses but as they have a real intrinsick worth to commend themselves to our judgments and let us not judge of things according to their suitablenesse to our present fancies but as they conduce to our abiding good measuring every thing not by Time but by Eternity SECT XV. Inconsideratenesse another great cause of Atheism against which the best remedies are a serious apprehension of the great moment and importance of spiritual things frequent reading and hearing the word of God Christian communion and conference about matters of Religion mutual admonition The prevalency of evil customs and habits the folly of deferring repentance ANother chief reason of that Atheism which abounds so much in the World is inconsideratenesse the most important truths do not affect us any longer than we consider them The Platonists observed this who made knowledge nothing but remembrance or an actual consideration of that which Man knows not reckoning that to be knowledge which lyes dead in the habit and doth not at all affect the Soul And we find that the Scripture layes much weight upon this consideration or remembrance yea as much as Mans salvation comes to We may observe Isa 1.3 There is an Epimone wherein the Prophet layes the sin of Israel upon this that they did not consider So 1 Kings 8.47 We may observe affliction brings men to bethink themselves that brings them to repentance and repentance is a means to obtain pardon and we find by experience that when Men are by sicknesse brought to a serious weighing of matters they are easily perswaded to make good promises and resolutions which when their minds are afterwards by the pleasures of the World diverted from the thoughts of they turn to their former course yea we see many times that Men are so ingenuous as to yield to reproofs and to condemn themselves and their own wayes when they are admonished of them as if they stood in need of no more but to be put in mind of such things as they have in their own hearts and only to have conscience awakened and we find Ezek 18.14.28 that the turning away of a wicked man from the evil of his wayes depends chiefly upon consideration I have already shewed that the Devil is the remote cause of that wickednesse and prophaneness which abounds in the World yet he useth this as the great means to draw Men from God to divert their minds from the thoughts of such things as may have an influence upon their affections and actions to make a change in them as we see plainly in the Parable of the Sower Luk. 8.12 Men hear the word then comes the Devil and takes it away out of their hearts lest they should believe and be saved First we find by experience that M●n are oft seriously affected with those things that they hear while they are lively represented to their minds and pressed seriously upon their consciences

think I might periturae parcere chartae or rather better in ploy precious irrevocable hours than in Apologizing for that which needs no defence and which there is such a reverence of so deeply implanted in every Mans nature but upon a nearer approach and exact survey of things we shall find there is nothing in the World doth either need or deserve a more serions consideration and just defence The Speculative Atheist is such a Monster that many will hardly admit of such a thing in nature And it seems incredible to them that any should doubt of a Deity yet daily experience and observation refutes our more rational and retired Speculations and hath put many Learned Men to the labour of proving that there is a God this being the utmost we are able in the Theory to make good That there are none think that there is no God but such as for whom it were well if there were none and these being judicially given up to be seduced by their own lusts first think it would be well for them if there were no God finding his commands crossing their Carnal interests and corrupt desires thence they proceed to wish there were no God and by degrees arrive at flat Atheism inordinate passions converting Desire into Opinion as we easily believe that which we earnestly desire that so having baffled their Judgments and drawn them into the same confederacy with their Lusts they may sin without their control or contradiction and avoid the reproofs of their Consciences while they give up themselves freely to satisfie their vile affections His gradibus itur I affirm the Practical Atheist is yet a greater wonder and a more horrid Monster than the Speculative Atheist As Mirandula hath well observed it is a wonder that any should doubt of the truth of the Gospel after so many evident proofs of it but a greater wonder that any should believe it and yet live as if it were not true But Affrica hath not so many monsters in nature as Europe hath in Religion How many thousands of Zealots have we that professe the name of Christ and presume violently that they shall be saved by him yet look into their conversations and you would not believe their own mouths or imagine that they are seriously perswaded that there is a God an Heaven an Hell a Judgment to come wherein they shall be sentenced to their everlasting home Nay hear O Heavens and be astonished O Earth hath any people dealt so with their Gods which are yet no Gods as Christians deal with Christ Do Turks deal so with their Mahomet Do they scorn those that are most careful to observe the Rules of his Alcoran Are they ashamed to be seen to have any respect to his Laws Yet I call Heaven and Earth to record against Christians that he that turns from his wickednesse makes himself a prey yea as Salvian complained of old Mali esse coguntur ne viles habeantur Men are fain to turn Rebels against Christ and cast off the fear of his commands to free themselves from the scorn and hatred of Christians amongst whom he must go for a Melancholick dull sot or sneaking fool and one that hath nothing of generosity that dare not set his mouth against Heaven or defie the authority of his Maker insomuch that he that cannot harden himself against scorn shall be jeared out of Heaven he shall forfeit the reputation of his breeding that shall speak a word of the Scriptures he shall passe for a silly fellow that will abandon the pleasures of Sin in hopes of an unseen-Glory and he shall be accounted importunate or uncivil that shall interrupt Mens carnal mirth by casting in the ingrateful mention of God or his commands and be thought unsit for the company of Persons of quality and breeding Of old they accounted it the sum and substance of Religion to imitate him whom they worshipped Those that adored mortal Deities such as Alexander and Caesar were ambitious to imitate their Vertues yea some Emperors have been imitated by their flattering Courtiers in their Defects and Deformities The holinesse of God is his Glory and of all his attributes propounded to us for our imitation see 1 Pet. 1.15 Exod. 15.17 and compare Isa 16.3 with John 12.40 and yet how do men glory in their shame while they are ashamed of their glory Phil. 3.29 Jer. 2.36 but that some are wiser than to be so befooled out of Heaven holynesse would be hissed out of the World How many think it a greater reproach to call one a Saint than a Drunkard a Whoremongen or whatever is evil When the Scripture makes this a title of honor and that from whence they are so denominated absolutely necessary to Salvation O let not these things be told in Gath or published in Ashkelon Let not Turks and Heathens hear such things of Christians What God dowe worship What Saviour do we own Are they like the Idols of the Heathens who as Tertullian said of old are worshipped in vain and may be abused at our pleasure Quit your selves like Men awake your reason and consider what I shall say for God and for his holy Laws which are as the Apostle saith not only boly but just and good Rom. 7.12 So that as hath been well observed by Learned Men if God had never commanded what he hath done nor made any transcript of the Eternal Law out of the Idea of his holy nature yet what he hath commanded would have been best for Mankind to observe There is not only an equity in them but they are good naturally as well as morally conducing to the welfare of Mankind the good of the Universe insomuch that if we had stood on even ground with our Maker and capitulated with him on what terms we would submit our selves to him and what Laws we would be obliged to observe we could not have made conditions more for our own advantage or if Christ should wave his authority which he hath over us to command us though the authority of the superior is more to be regarded than the advantage of the inferior he might justly counsel us as Rev. 3.18 to observe his precepts as that which would be best for our selves and if we had no respect to his soveraignty yet regard to our own welfare and happinesse might oblige us thereto And having evinced the equity of the wayes of God and the benefit Men have thereby I shall endeavour to discover and remove the causes of this Practical Atheism that reigns so much in the World and though I know after all I can say the Disease will despise any remedy yet let me tell all the prophane scorners of Godlinesse till they can deprive themselves of reason that is become beasts God and his Saints shall have a witnesse in their breasts against their own souls SECT II. The equity of Gods commands Love which is the fulfilling of the Law founded on Gods goodness Patience Bounty Fear which with that observance

it steady Angercos Fortit udinis ingenii the mettle of it to fit it for action and the Oyl of Gladnesse making the face to shine and being as marrow to the bones making our conversation more acceptable and agreeable unto others our life more pleasing and comfortable to our selves But that wherein a Christian hath the greatest advantage is Peace of Conscience the importunate sollicitations of Satan and our own Lusts to the commission of sin are not so disquieting to the Soul as the rebukes and clamors of Conscience after the commission of it The Devil is a meer Trapan that draws Men into a Plot against Heaven and when he hath ensnared them is the first that accuseth them sollicites men importunately to sin by the strongest enticements afterwards affrights their Consciences by aggravating their guilt to them and this is a preoccupation of Hell as peace of conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost 〈◊〉 the first fruits and 〈◊〉 of ●eaven As Vertue is its own reward ●o sin is its own punishment guilt followes sin as the shaddow doth the body haunting the sinner like a hideous Ghost and continually terrifying him It is true many do not feel these terrors but it is not through any true setled peace that they have but only a senselesse stupid ignorance of their own danger they are like a man asleep on the top of a Mast do but awake them to see their danger and it is enough to affright them into the infernal abyss While they go on quietly in sin they are but as a man which hath bribed the Serjeant which doth not pay his debt nor secure him against Arrests his debt increases still and he will have more to pay when he is arrested It is not a Merchants putting off the melancholick thoughts of his debts by pleasures and divertisements that will alwayes quiet his mind he doth but beguile himself and increase his debt it is the acquitiance of his Creditor that can only secure him This is the case of many that when they are haunted as Saul by the evil spirit of an accusing Conscience as he had his musick to quiet his mind they must have something to divert their thoughts from such disquieting and tormenting objects but these are but like Opiates which may stupifie for a time and free from pains but do nothing to the cure of the disease It is only the blood of Christ that can sprinkle our hearts from an evil Conscience cleanse our Consciences from dead works only an effectual Faith that applies this blood to the Conscience So that the Heathen Philosophers by all their prescriptions could never quiet the Consciences of sinners and all that peace that they had was only from ignorance of that severe inexorable justice of God which will never pardon sin without satisfaction and never be satified but by the sufferings of Jesus Christ and the nature of the Covenant of Grace or the condition of the Gospel that none should have any benefit by Jesus Christ but those who are united with him by an effectual Faith which produceth the fruits of holinesse in a blamelesse upright conversation so that as the blood of Christ is the cause of our reconciliation with God by Faith and holinesse we actually patake and are assured of the fruits thereof all these therefore are in several respects necessary to true peace of Conscience Morality therefore can never teach a right way and means of it to which the righteousnesse of faith is an hidden mystery The loose prophane Christan can never attain it while his conversation is evidently inconsistent with that true faith and Gospel sincerity which is absolutely required of all that will be saved and however they may flatter or cheat themselves into a vain presumption or shut their eyes that they may not see their danger they are continually obnoxious to the affrights and alarms of such places of Scripture as affirm that without holinesse none shall see God that if we live after the flesh we shall dye that the Gate is strait and the way narrow that leads to life and there are few that find it that many shall seek to enter and shall not be able That if any will be Christs Disciple he must deny himself and take up his Cross and follow him That whoever sayes he knows God and keeps not his Commandments or that he hath communion with God and walks in darknesse is a lyar and the truth is not in him That whoever seems to be Religious and bridleth not his tongue his Religion is vain That he that loves Father or Mother or Wife or Children or House or Lands more than Christ is not worthy of him Besides others clearly importing that a Man may have much knowledge and his judgment so far convinced as to approve of the best things may be much in holy duties take delight in them hear the word with joy do many things which he hears be blameless as to his outward carriage and yet be an hypocrite So that without daily exercising our selves to Godlinesse and a strict watch over all our wayes it is impossible to maintain a setled well grounded peace of Conscience If any object that there are none more disquieted in their Consciences than those that make the greatest shew of Religion none more melanchollick and morose in their conversation I may answer solid joy is a serious thing as Seneca could say it is not most seen in a forced laughter and jollity which is as thorns under a pot Eccl. 7.6 that for the present makes a great noise and blaze but neither heats nor lasts In the midst of it the heart many times is sorrowful and the end of it is heavinesse and as the heart knows its own sorrow the stranger intermeddleth not with its joy There is that comfort within which every one cannot observe A Godly man needs not have his heart revived with wine and strong drink and merry company like a sick Man that is forced continually to have his spirits kept up with Cordials He hath that within which is better to him than Wine and Musick It is true Godly Men have more inward conflicts in their Consciences than others but this proceeds from the sense that they have of their own danger as they say Wisdone armes misery against it self that is discovering the evils that we are obnoxious to makes a Man more timerous and suspicious whiles fools go on and are punished without any fear of danger go on as an Ox to the Slaughter a fool to the Stocks a Bird to the suare and knows not that it is for her life It is time for a Man that knows if he be not set upon the Rock that is higher than himself if he be not upon that sure Foundation Jesus Christ he hangs by the small thread of a brittle life over the bottomlesse pit to look about him and make his calling and election sure Again the greater esteem any one hath of Heavenly