Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
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A30272
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Characters of a godly man both as more and less grown in grace / by Daniel Burgess.
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Burgess, Daniel, 1645-1713.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing B5697; ESTC R23829
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60,242
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145
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and acceptably unto God you are void of Grace Young Joseph hath ability to repel Temptations and Older David hath ability to comply with Temptations Satan cannot force us unto Evil and the Holy Ghost doth not ever force us unto Good it is voluntarily that we do all the Evil and the Good done by us Grace doth find us sinful Men and free unto Evil and it makes us sincere Christians and free unto Good It doth not as Glory doth take away our possibility of sinning in Mind Will or Work Our state on Earth is one and that in Heaven is another 3 Your Duty of Duties it is therefore to make the best use of your Liberty To side with the Spiritual Principle against the Carnal To take the part of Purity against Impurity And strain hard to live according to the Spirit in every Walk not allowing the Flesh one step To keep the Candle of the Lord your internal Light shining And the fire on the Altar of your hearts your holy Zeal burning To see that your Minds be blinded by no Objections and your Wills blunted by no Oppositions and your Lives blackned by no avoidable Abominations For why God rewards Grace with Grace and your Obeying the new Nature in you strengthens it And the strengthning thereof is the weakning of Sin its opposite It doth make and shew it to be weak But on the other hand let it be awefully considered It is a frightful Sin to receive in vain the offer of Grace in the Gospel and far worse it is to make vain and not improve the very Work of Grace in one's Soul This is no less than going about to destroy that which is Conceived in us of the Holy Ghost For the new Nature in us like a new-born Child quickly languisheth if it be not tenderly cherished And besides the Holy Ghost who is the Parent of it will be more than a little incensed if it be but little made of and not by all possible means nourished wherefore blessed are they who set not themselves to gratifie but to crucifie their Senses Appetites and Passions And content not themselves to Possess unless they do also exercise and Increase their spiritual Gifts Graces and Comforts Going forward in them and going apace so and that sensibly and visibly Knowing that shortly I must put off this my Tabernacle I have thus endeavoured that ye may be able after my Decease to have these things always in remembrance For if these be in you and abound they make you that ye shall not be Barren nor Unfruitful in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ And an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into his everlasting Kingdom Amen and Amen Bishop Wilkins his Character of the best Christians is here added for your Profit and for the shame of such as traduce us for New-fangled Opinionists and contrary to all the Learned of the Church of England THey are Persons of a Moderate and healing Temper of Catholick and Comprehensive Charity They do not Baptize their Religion with the Name of a Sect nor Espouse the Interest of a Party but love all Good men that Fear God and work Righteousness They are not guilty of the Corinthian Vanity in crying up a Paul an Apollos or a Cephas but look upon it as the great Design of Christianity to make men good and where it hath not that Effect they know it matters not what Church such a Man is of because a Bad Man can be saved in none They shun the dangerous Extreams and keep the Regular mean and in Divine Worship prefer a reverend Decency before pompous Superstition or popular Confusion neither bowing down to the Altar of Baal nor Admiring the Calves of Bethel They are true Primitive Christians and think it lawful to hold Communion with any true Church of Christ that is sound in the Substantials of Religion notwithstanding some Circumstantial Differences in the External Modes of Administration And they suspect it sinful and Schismatical to separate from any true Christians who Agree in Apostolical Doctrine and maintain the Discipline of the purest Ages They prove all Things and hold fast only that which is Good and are perswaded those Christians are most in the Right who choose out of all Parties whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just c. and not they that think every thing to be so that 's maintained by their own party They place Religion more in the serious practice of Piety than in the Observance of Ceremonious Forms they are neither fond of needless Rituals nor yet molested with groundless Scruples but long for the Philadelphian State of the Church wishing that all the World might with one mouth glorifie the Eternal God They pay a great Deference to Antiquity yet they are not so fond of Error as to fall in love with it meerly for its gray Hairs but make use of their own Reason to judge of the Reasonings of other men Though they apply themselves to spiritual Guides yet they love to enquire the Way to Sion and not follow them in the Dark except they carry a Lanthorn in their hands They refer the Decision of all the Differences amongst good Christians primarily to the Sence and Meaning of the Holy Scriptures And they know every man must Judge for himself therefore where they see men do all they can to find out the Truth to please God and to save their own Souls they give them a Liberty of Interpreting as knowing themselves not to be Infallible They know there are many Controversies amongst Christians of that Intricacy that the Day of Judgment must determin who are most in the right therefore they dare not judge of mens final Estates or of the Sincerity of their Hearts by their speculative Opinions or different Relishes of things because every man must believe what he can and not what he will They admire to see some Christians so egregiously mistake in the Notion of true Catholicism as to confine Salvation to their particular Communion and they think it strange to hear men contend for an Infallible Guide when Moses and the Prophets Christ and his Apostles do with one consent declare that the way to the Blessedness of the Righteous is by observing the Rule and Exercise of Holy Living from a Principle of Divine Life They never charge other mens Doctrines with such odious Consequences as they never intended nor Asperse their Persons with such invidious Names as they never deserved but make charitable Allowances for their different Educations Constitutions and Apprehension of things supposing that other men may differ from them with the same Sincerity that they differ from others and sometimes from themselves They are for a Religious Loyalty and prefer the Wisdom of Publick Authority before their own private Judgments in all such Matters as are not Determined by the Soveraign pleasure of their Maker And if in any thing they differ from the Wisdom of their Superiours they do it with great Modesty and Reservation and are always ready to change their Minds when better Information leads them to it not thinking they undervalue their Judgments by so doing They are afraid of being infected with the Heresie of Bigottism and have great cause to fear that if the merciful God should damn us all for such things for which strait-laced Christians condemn one another none could be saved They think there is no particular human Form of Ecclesiastical Polity so acceptable to the great God as the Exercise of Mutual Charity under our different Forms They neither make their Opinions Articles of Faith nor their Modes Terms of Communion but believe those Principles and practise those Precepts which wise and good men are all agreed in well Knowing if they should happen to be mistaken in those things wherein they differ they could not lose the Way to Heaven whilest they sincerely love God believe in Christ and obey the Motions of the Holy Spirit They are of peaceable and Reconciling Dispositions and neither call for Fire from Heaven nor Kindle Fires upon Earth to destroy all those that follow not them as well knowing that Truth cannot be engraven in the Minds of Men with the Points of Swords nor can their Understandings be illuminated with flaming Faggots They neither make the Way to Heaven Broader nor Narrower than the Head and Pillars of the Universal Church have made it And they walk on soberly righteously and godly in that Path which upon great Consideration they take to be the Right without rudely Justling those whom they fear to be in the Wrong They think the best way to find out to what Mother the Child of Truth belongs is to make use of Solomon's Test viz. To give up the Cause to them that first lay down the Sword of Division When one Party saith Lo here is Christ in this Church and another saith Lo he is there they Believe what Christ himself hath told them That where Two or Three are met together in his Name there is He in the midst of them They do not think their Zeal Luke-warm except it burn up their Discretion but can joyn the Prudence of the Serpent with the Innocency of the Dove and are grieved to observe men contend so Eagerly about the Pinnacles of the Temple as that they threaten to overturn the Foundations of the Church They take more pains to make good their Baptismal Covenant than to dispute about the Manner of its Administration as if they were Baptized with the Waters of Strife and they are more frequent in a Devout Participation of the Lord's Supper than in Metaphysical Contests about the Real Presence They Know there 's nothing required of Man as Necessary to Salvation but what is clearly Revealed and beyond all Dispute They choose rather to take up the Cross of Christ than wrangle about it and more sollicitously observe the Complexion of their own Souls than the Colour of Ministers Garments Nor do they so contend about the Number of the Elect as to Reprobate themselves for want of Charity but endeavour to perform the Whole Duty of Man in so doing they know they are in the Way to the Saints Everlasting Rest FINIS
come to the Lord's Supper desiring God to seal unto him the Promise which he layeth hold on and to promote his cravings for Christ as a fountain of both Pardoning and Purifying grace They that rashly deny this do audaciously and most barbarously exclude from the Lord's Table all Christians under desertion and doubting all bruised reeds which it may be are the sittest as well as neediest of any Souls for the holy Banquet I will be the shorter in the remaining Duties because in a manner all are comprehended in this first A second Duty which the Holy Ghost doth often make a means of working Assurance in Believers is Self-Examination Not all that Men will call by the name hereof but that which really is so that which is strictly managed and is as constantly issued That wherein a man sets God before him and having beseeched his gracious Conduct and Counsel falleth to compare what he Hath done and Doth do with what the Gospel Requireth and he Ought to do Examineth his Actions and especially the sincerity of the same q. d. Have I Repented or do I and is my Repentance sincere Have I Believed on Jesus Christ or do I so and is my Faith sound and unfeigned Have I begun or am I beginning a life of Repentance Faith and New Obedience and is it in truth and integrity that I do so Speak out Conscience for judge thou must and conclude one way or other And I will not sleep till thou tellest me what thy Sentence is At least what it is that thou inclinest to believe of my Actions of the soundness of them and of my state thence to be judged of If thou dost say I do not Repent Believe and Obey the Gospel or that I do not sincerely so do I will not build upon a present rotten title I will beg for God's Spirit and a new Heart by him wrought and new Acts by him excited and a new Claim will I make e're I stir out of this place If thou O Vicegerent of God within me if thou sayest that upon thy utmost search things appear better unto thee and that by the Scriptures judging thou believest me to be a true Penitent sound Believer sincere Obeyer of the Gospel I will not give way to importunate scruples and refuse all comfort and be afraid to bid my Soul bless the Lord and all that is within me Magnifie his Name I will humbly Hope in his grace and loudly Praise him in that hope Vncertainty or somewhat worse must be theirs who will not thus Examine themselves But of Souls well informed about the Covenant of Grace and qualified for Self-Examination and much Exercising it in this manner they are few if any that do long endure tormenting uncertainty Vain are all Trials indeed that are not brought unto an Issue and utterly unqualified they are for trial of their states who are unacquainted with the Covenant of Grace the Law and rule of Trial. A third Duty is Putting our one Talent to use with Thankfulness for it and without murmuring against God for want of Assurance Repent as much as thou canst Believe and Obey so and it is more than probable thou shalt soon discern thy self to Repent Believe and Obey Especially if thou art thankful for the little light that keeps thee from very Distraction and Horrors as bad as Francis Spira's it 's very like that God will encrease it unto the light of Noon-day A fourth Duty is accumulated diligence in all Ordinances Fervence in Prayer loosed Peter's Bonds it made Hannah's Countenance to be sad no more c. Accurate Reading and Hearing the Word hath done as great things and so has holy Conference of which I have lately Printed much in a little room Spiritual singing of Psalms is notably commended by devout Ancients and our Modern Divines for this purpose A fifth Duty is Abounding in such acts of Obedience as do most singularly thwart flesh and blood e. gr Full often doth God hasten to make known his Mercy to them who resist carnal temptations and exceed in mercy towards men Isai 58.7 to the 11th To them who run the hazard of their Names and Estates in reproving Sinners To them who bring their bodies into most subjection and make least of carnal Pleasures for the sake of God's spiritual Consolations To them that unweariedly promote Peace though ill requited by the Parties differing Mat. 5.9 To them that resolutely and painfully against the grain of corrupt Nature do love their Enemies and pardon their Injuries and pray for their Salvation A sixth Duty is a most peculiar War against that one sin which above any or all others causeth a Man to doubt of the love of God Some one such there is And when once that capital Make-bate is with a due specialty of care and pains resisted Assurance may be soon expected God useth to command a Calm as soon as such Jonah's be cast overboard A seventh Duty is Bearing in Mind the many Arguments which we may Plead humbly with God before we get Assurance of his Love e. gr 1 His Names Long-suffering Of great Mercy Forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin 2 Our own Extremities these Heman did Plead and we ought to Plead Psal 88.14 15. 3 Our Readiness to forgive others their offences against us Luk. 11.4 4 Our Ministers and Friends Compassions and Prayers Alas shall Men's iron Bowels yern and shall the Lords gracious ones be restrained Psal 80.4 5 The ill use that ill men and good ones too are like to make of our horrors and tremblings Psal 69.6 6 Lastly and principally The universal offer of Grace by Christ Jesus made and of all sinners unto heavy laden ones and weary of their sins and of such lives as sin do make them In a word The gracious Man layeth up these things in his heart Indeed he finds not in his Bible that God hath promised that every one that is a sound Believer shall some time or other in this World be made sure that he is so And he thinks it possible that a man may be saved without Assurance Nevertheless he cannot be content with the Possession of Godliness without the Assurance and certain Persuasion of it As we see Men use not to be quieted with Bread and Water though they be enough to keep Life and Soul together no but all do employ their thoughts for further Provisions He is one that wou'd be able to do the things which without Assurance cannot be done To Despise the World to Bear its Reproaches to Die for Christ's sake to be Bold at the Throne of Grace to have the Word and Sacraments as honey to his Taste to be enlarged in Thanksgiving and Praise to be furthered in Repentance to be fortified against Errors c. And in order to these if he hath never gain'd Assurance he is seeking it if he hath it he is diligently maintaining it if he hath lost it he is at work to regain it And one Cordial he hath