Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	believe_v	faith_n	justify_v	5,380	5	8.8463	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A90897	God the father glorified: and the worke of mens redemption, and salvation finished by Iesus Christ on earth. Opened in a sermon before the Right Honorable the Lord Major, and the Right Worshipful the sheriffes, aldermen, and recorder, of the Citie of London, the second day of the tenth moneth (called December) 1649. / By Vavasor Powell, a willing (though weake) labourer in Christs Vine-yard in Wales.	Powell, Vavasor, 1617-1670.	1649 (1649)	Wing P3087; Thomason E584_15; ESTC R206284	43,217	67

for me he would answer It is for you that are Prisoners without acception if you accept of it A Pardon is now sent unto you that are finfull men and women who are Prisoners under the power of Satan and sinne I say to you all the Lord Jesus hath sent forth his pardon which runs thus I the Lord Iesus the Son of God and the Saviour of sinners out of my free grace and mercy rich love and pity am willing to pardon and forgive the sinnes and transgressions of you all and this I will doe really if you will come in and lay hold of this pardon and of my righteousnesse Will a sinner now say doth Jesus Christ meane me seeing he saith whosoever comes unto me I will in no wise cast him out and whosoever believes on me he shall be pardoned and saved This word whosoever comprehends all and excludes none therefore object not against your selves neither refuse your owne salvation Obj. Oh! but though Christ invites all and makes promises to all that doe come yet he intends not that all should be made partakers thereof Ans My beloved thinke you that Christs intentions and his expression are not one as reall as another I tell you and you may believe that he intends to pardon all and to save all as he expresseth it He saith not the words only but his heart is so also But marke it well and mistake me not I doe not meane that he saith absoluely I 'le pardon all and save all and no more oh no but he speaks conditionally I 'le pardon you all and save you all if you believe on me and accept of my pardon Obj. But alas he were as good never tender me a pardon nor make me a promise upon those tearmes for of my selfe I cannot believe nor receive his pardon and grace Ans It s true of your selves you cannot believe nor receive his pardon and grace though tendred to you yet as I said before cry upon him to give you eyes to see him and his grace and feete to come to him and hands to take hold upon his merits and righteousnesse He promiseth largely and freely peradventure now while the word is speaking God will be working these things in you Obj. But he doth not give this grace to nor worke this grace in all but to few therefore doe I feare least I should not be one of them Ans Though he doth not give grace to all for he hath not tyed himself so to doe neither is the cause in God why men want grace for he gave sufficiently at first yet you are bound to seek and the promise is made to Seekers nay I may speake more the Lord is found of some that seeke him not Prov. 18.4 Jer. 29.13 Rom. 10.20 Ezek. 34.6.11.12.16 Obj. But peradventure another here may further object and say I have long sought and I am even weary of seeking yea I am ready to conclude that if I had belong'd to God I should have found grace in his sight ere now Ans Oh deare soules conclude nothing neither against your selves nor against the Lord for he hath sought you longer then you sought him And you have not yet been thirtie-eight years waiting at the waters Christs Ordinances as that weak and impotent man Oh soule peradventure the Lord is now asking thee as he did this man John 5. ●5 Wilt thou be made whole If he be so make him answer and say Lord I am weake but yet waiting oh help me and heale me Lord. Thus much for the first use Seeing Christ hath glorified his Father Use 2. and finished the worke of mens Redemption and Salvation this then directs and teaches men what they should not doe and also what they should doe First what they should not doe In the first place First they should not goe about to worke their owne Redemption and Salvation againe for if Christ hath wrought it already then it s in vaine yea its ignorance and folly to think of doing any thing towards your owne Instification and salvation Object Sure there be none that thinke to doe any thing for and towards their justification and salvation unlesse they be Papists Answ Oh yes there be many besides Papists thot doe so for doe but aske many Protestants how they thinke to be justified and saved they will tell you by their good works and well-doing If we doe well say they we shall have well and if we doe ill we shall have accordingly Yea this is apparent in men both living and dying In their life time they will say if we can but keep the Commandements viz. to love God above all and our Neighbours as our selves then we hope it will goe well with us Then at their death they thinke that to build an Hospitall or to doe some such charitable worke will save their soules Marke this it is easier to doe good works then to undoe our selves from them and to have no confidence in them Phil. 3.3 and to be able to say as the Apostle said in him i.e. Christ I desire to be found not having my owne righteousness v. 9. Secondly Secondly on the other hand men should not rest and sit still and content themselves with this bare notion that Christ came to redeeme to and save sinners and that if he died for them then they shall be saved Oh! what are you the better that he dyed for sinners unlesse you know the death of Christ in the worth and efficacy of it and unless you have it apply'd it to your selves in particular and be able upon good grounds to say as Paul said Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief 1 Tim. 1.13 Gal. 2.20 and Christ loved me and gave satisfaction for me this particular faith you stand in need of Object I do beleeve that he dyed for me in particular Ans But upon what ground do you beleeve it what promise have you to build your faith upon there is a kind of * Luk. 8.12 Act. 8.13 Hystoricall beleeving or assenting unto this truth that Christ died for sinners which is not a lively but a dead faith which may rather be called a fancy then a faith this is but a conceit that arises in your hearts like the dreame of a sleeping man alas alas be not deceived for if every one did beleeve that doth say he doth beleeve the numbers of beleevers would be far greater Object I am sure my faith is as good as most mens faith Ans I tell you most mens faith is not worth a farthing for it is but Copper faith and carnall faith a faith that they had they know not how nor they know not when such a faith as they wil pawne for a penny 2 Pet. 1.1 Act. 15.9 Eph. There is a great deale of difference betweene your faith and the faith of the godly for your faith I meane you that are as the most are carnall is not

soone as Jeaus Christ went up the spirit immediately comes downe and the counsell of the Lord begins to be revealed in a marvellous way unto men This is an absolute and cleare signe the work was done for said Christ (w) John 16.7 except I go away the Comforter cannot come I say it 's a sign Jesus Christ hath finished the work for do you thinke the Lord would have sent his Gospel to men to tel men or his spirit to assure men it was done if it had not been done and thus much now concerning the reasons of the point Before I come to the application of the Doctrine give me leave to answer one or two objections 1 Object The first objection is this If Jesus Christ had finished the worke of mens Redemption and of mens Salvation upon earth why then are men commanded to worke out their owne salvation if the work be already done what need the debtor be exhorted to pay if the surety have already paid for him 1. The Apostles meaning in exhorting men to work out their salvation is this That they should persevere in the way they did professe not fall from the truth or as the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a working through and so it 's to be understood for a persevering work Secondly when men are called to doing or to worke they are not called to do that they might have life or be justified but men are called to do because they are (x) Tit. 3.5 6. justified and because they are saved i. e. in a state of salvation because they have life and not that they may have it for the Lord never in the Scripture maketh works the cause of Justification or the cause of Salvation no it is a subsequent and an effect and that which followes a mans justification or that which floweth from a justified person For here is the difference between works as they are done under a covenant of workes and under a covenant of grace works when they are done under a covenant of works they are done to seek justification salvation they are done to work righteousness for man to keepe him out of hell But workes done under the covenant of grace they are done out of (y) 2 Cor. 5.14 love to Christ done to the (z) 1 Cor. 10.31 glory of God done to expresse that we are (a) Col. 3.1 Christians and that we are (b) John 8.31 and 15.8 Christs Disciples and so to doe works as the covenant of grace requires workes as the duty of Christians but to doe workes as the covenant of workes requires workes either upon paine of damnation or upon promise of salvation this is to be shunned by Christians 2 Object The second Objection It is true as you say that Jesus Christ hath glorified the Father and finished the worke of mens Redemption and Salvation but you have not shewed upon what grounds the Lord did this peradventure he might do it upon some grounds that were not advantagious to us There were two maine grounds moved him to do this his love and affection to men was one and the great necessity of men was the other Upon these two grounds Jesus Christ came forth from heaven to worke this worke 1 First it was his love and affection unto men the heart of Jesus Christ was towards men upon earth you may reade as soone as ever they were made yea Jesus Christ his delight was with them In the eighth of the Proverbs saith he My delights were with the children of men Prov. 8.31 If his delight was so then much more was it when the time of their redemption drew near and most of all since he suffered If Jacobs love were so great when he first saw Rachell how much more did his heart go out to her when that she was neete to be his wife If Jesus Christs heart went out when he first saw men upon earth how much more went his heart out towards them John 15.13 Gal. 2.20 when the time was come to be married to them This doubtlesse was the first and maine cause why Christ did worke this worke of Redemption and Salvation The 2d was mens necessity thi did move Christ to do it there was indeed a necessity for Christ to come to worke this worke for had there been any other way doubtlesse that way would have been taken the Father would never have lost such a deare Sonne if there could have been any other means of saving men without him No he would never have parted with such a companion that he had so much content and comfort in if Angels might have done the worke but he looked upon his right hand and upon his left hand and there was no helper Then sayes God My owne right hand or my (c) Isa 63.5 arme wrought salvation That is my (d) Isa 53.1 Luke 1.51 Sonne Jesus Christ he wrought salvation If you understand this Text in a spirituall sense Thus having removed the two objections now I come to the uses of this point I shall make but three uses of it and then conclude remember the observation The businesse of Iesus Christ upon earth was to glorifie his Father and to worke the worke of mens redemption and the worke of mens salvation and this businesse he hath finished 1 Use The first use is a use of great incouragement unto sinfull men Is the work of mens Redemption already fulfilled finished and already wrought O what great incouragement is this unto you that are sinfull and that are ungodly men it is incouragement unto you that cannot worke here is a worke already wrought for you it is wrought to your hand I may say to you as it was said in the Gospell to the men that were invited to the Feast Loe all is ready Math. 22.4 come I tell you here is all ready here is the work of redemption and salvation wrought every thing is prepared come The Spirit saith come the Bride saith come the saints say come the Gospell saith come every thing saith come Oh come here is great incouragement for you to come I beseech you heare without doubt there be this day in this place many sinners and many that stand in great need of Jesus Christ here be many poore soules that stand looking they cannot tell which way to go but like a boule the least thing that toucheth it will make it turne this way or that way you are looking which way you shall be saved some men are great and grosse sinners men that delight in sinne and sport in the day and make it their whole businesie to dishonour God as Christ made it his businesse to honour him Well what shall I say to you I desire to open the gate of Gods grace and God open you hearts that you may heare what he saith unto you the door of his mercy is open to you already Encouragements for sinners to come into Christ and to believe