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

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96951	The only sovereign salve for the wounded spirit: approved by the author in himself Delivered by him in several sermons after his recovery: and now, published for the glory of his most gracious restorer, and for the comfort and settlement of any afflicted soul, that doth, or may labour under that weighty burden. By Richard Wortley, minister of Christ in his church, in Edworth in Bedfordshire.	Wortley, Richard, d. 1680.	1661 (1661)	Wing W3642A; ESTC R231974	144,585	300

believe this is not enough to settle the soul and to make its peace with God For notwithstanding such Faith a man may go to Hell And indeed such Faith is in the Devils themselves they believe and tremble James 2. 19. No it is a particular applying Justifying Faith which is the Soul setling and Peace obraining Faith The truth of the Word or the Word ●f Truth is the general Object of Faith But that Faith which must settle the soul and obtain its Peace must be fixed upon and eye a more particular Object namely the free Promises of Grace and Pardon in Christ which promises it layes hold upon and brings home to the soul by a particular application in assurance that the soul is a sharer and interessed in them upon which assurance all the tempests in the wounded spirit are allayed all the disturbances removed all the Fears of enmity and wrath do vanish and a sweet calm settlement and peace do follow thereupon in the soul Where I touched before upon Faith I spake of it as in its dayly exercise in the fruits of true Obedience and having its residence in a soul at peace with God which is the constant Attendant upon such Faith I now speak of it as re●iding in an unsetled soul and by reason of the folly of sin in●errupted in the exercise which notwithstanding the soul stretcheth forth as its yet benummed hand to lay hold upon the promises of the Gospel for the re obtaning of its lost Peace though it do nor as yet can apply them with the like strength of assurance as when it was more lively and the Spirit did more evidently act in it However it is living and true and may be known to be such and to be in the soul by these Discoveries Marks 1. He that hath it though it continues so weak and benummed as I said that it is not able to apply a promise yet such a man believes that his sins and follies be they never so heinous yet are pardonable that Gods Mercy to poor sinners is not limited to the number or quality of their sins but be they never so many never so heinous of never so deep a slain or loud a cry committed with never so high a hand yet the Lords Mercy is above them all And as he believes that they are pardonable so he gaspes and longs and earnestly desires that they may be pardoned and he sends up earnest and strong cries to the Throne of Grace that the Lord would pardon them Now these Gaspings Groanings Longings Desires and Cries of his soul do discover the Spirit of God to be in such a man For they proceed from the Spirit Rom 8. 26. It is the Spirit which in the sinners soul makes Intercession for him Postulat id est postulare facit It makes him send up unutterable cries and Groans unto the Throne of Grace for Mercy So S. Augusline interprets the place Now where Christs Spirit is there Christ himself is And where Christ and the Spirit are there must necessarily be Faith though but in a weak measure for they dwell not in a faithlesse soul 2. A man may know whether he hath true Faith or not by the Testimony of the Spirit which bears witness to his spirit that he is the Child of God Rom. 8. 16. This Spirit he is sealed with Eph. 1. 14. And it makes him to cry Abba Father The Spirit bears witness It perswades him to an assurance that he is Gods Child and hath Faith As if the Spirit were pleased to say to the weak Believer that doubts of his Faith Dost thou question whether thou hast Faith or not Be assured that thou hast I tell thee so who know thy heart better then thou thy self dost I tell thee so who am the Seal of thine Adoption God knows thee to be his Child by this his Mark and Se●l which he hath set upon thee even mee his Spirit without which he would never own thee as his Son Now it is thy Faith which made way for this thy Sonship Christ upon thy receiving of him upon thy believing in his Name gave thee power or priviledge and it is no mean one to be the Son of God He is however he now beholds thee with an eye of displeasure he is I say thy Father therefore go unto him and call him so and by that name sue unto him for mercy say Abba Father I have sinned against Heaven and against thee I am unworthy to be called thy Son Yet I beseech thee to have mercy upon me according to thy Fatherly goodness God delights that thou shouldst call him Father He is the Father of Mercies and will not deny Mercy to his now humbled Child 3. This Faith is known by that Confidence and boldness in a man to approach unto the Throne of Grace for the obtaining of Mercy and finding Grace to help in time of need Heb. 4. 16. The soul never stands in more need of Mercy of Grace of Help then when it lieth groaning under the burden of sin under the deep Wounds of the Apprehension of loss and fear of wrath it is then a sit Object for Mercy and Grace Now if in this distressed condition a man can come with boldness to God for Mercy and Help it is a most certain and strong evidence of true Faith When a man can take a Promise suppose this in the Text and spreading it before the Lord can press him with it and say Lord thou seest my sad condition thou knowest my soul in this mine adversity thou seest how it is perplexed and troubled I am now come unto thee for peace and settlement and I come with an assured Confidence that I shall obtain it ●or here is thy Promise of it this I lay claim to and thou canst not but perform it For thou art not as man that thou shouldst lye O be pleased then to make good this thy Promise unto me O speak peace to mine unsetled Soul and make the bones which thou hast broken to rejoyce He that can come unto God with such boldness and confidence he may assu●e himself that he hath true Faith For it is that which makes way for the souls access unto God It is that which makes the soul thus bold confident in its approaches and assurance of obtaining of what it sues for See a clear place for it Eph. 3. 12. In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the Faith of him 4. This particular Promise-applying Faith is known by th●t delight which a man takes in the Word wherein the Promises are contained It is sweeter then honey or the hony Comb to the truly Faithful Soul Ps 19. 10. There it tasts truly the sweetness of the Lord Christ Ps 3● 8. The sweetness of his Grace and Favour 1 P●t 2. 3. in those Promises which there it ●inds and meets withal When turning over the sacred Pages it l●ghts upon ● Promise and the Book of God is full

The Only SOVEREIGN SALVE FOR THE Wounded Spirit Approved by the Author in himself Delivered by him in several Sermons after his Recovery And now Published for the Glory of his most Gracious Restorer and for the Comfort and Settlement of any Afflicted Soul that doth or may labour under that weighty Burden By Richard Wortley Minister of Christ in his Church in Edworth in Bedfordshire This is a Faithful saying and worthy of all Acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief 1 Tim. 1. 15. LONDON Printed for J. Rothwel at the Fountain in Goldsmths Row in Cheapside 1661. To the Reader Courteous Reader ST Paul who had the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 7 40. having by and from that Spirit assured us 2 Tim. 3. 16 17. that all Scripture is given by Inspiration of God that it is profitable for Doctrine Reproof Correction Instruction that the man of God may be perfect through●● furnished unto all good works 〈…〉 16. That ●● Gospel is the power of God unto Salvatio●● 〈…〉 ●e that believeth ●pon the Spirit 's such assurance by him I do rely with ●●sidence And as in my soul I do believe the Scrip●●●es to be the very Word of God so as I boldly may 〈◊〉 ought taking he●d unto that sure Word of Pro●●ie 2 Pet. 1. 19. I do teach the Truths which there I ●● as Parts of that inspired powerful perfecting and ●very good work throughly-furnishing Word not ●ting to seek further or to wait for the revelation of ●● Truths not there set down lest I be found in the ●●mber of the blasphemous adders thereunto and so be●●e liable to that fearful punishment threatned against ●●h Rev. 22. 18. Moses and the Prophets are to be heard Lu. 16. 29 The Scriptures are to be searched John 5. 39. However sin● as the natural man cannot a●● 〈…〉 ●●ings wanting a spiritual eye to discern 〈…〉 ●evealed unto them 1 Cor. 2. 14. ●● the ●●generate though diligent hearers and searchers cannot clearly discern them unless revealed unto them Luke 24. 45. The Lord is pleased in such a measure as he sees fitting to give unto them the Spirit of wisdo● and revelation in the knowledge of him and to enlighten the eyes of their understandings Eph. 1. 17 18. and by the spirit of Truth to guid them into all needful Truths as he hath promised John 16. 13. This ordinary way of the Sp●rit of Truth 's enlightening to the glory of the same Spirit I speak it I have experimentally found in my soul from the time that with a total resignation I have given my self up to b●led by it Which further to encou●●● 〈…〉 a confident and chearful going on in the service of my Lord Christ in his Ministry hath late●● 〈◊〉 an extraordinary and not so usual a 〈…〉 most unworthy dust and ashes of so low 〈◊〉 ●●●●cention of my great God! been pleased not only to assure me That I have escaped the Corruption that is in the world through Lust 2 Pet. 1. 4. A blessed and most sweet assurance but likewise Clearly to manifest unto me The dangerous estate of the Natural man while such The manner of the great work of his Conversion To instruct me in the right understanding of many Scripture-truths relating thereunto To shew unto me and to all that are effectually called the path of life and by way of guiding of my steps to Heaven-ward secr●tly to say unto my soul this is the way walk in i● Isa 30. 21. Of which great Mercies with so●e other vouchsafed to him not worthy to be beloved not worthy to be minded this following Narration will more fully inform thee The Narration IN my younger years being bred up in the University and having taken a Degree there I was admitted into one of the Inns of Court Where having spent about two years Means now failing for my support and continuance in that course I was received into the Family of an Honourable Personage mine Employments being in the way of a Scholar as to write Letters to read Divinity to pen Sermons to pray with the Family in the Chaplains absence c. It pleased God so to dispose the heart of the Honourable Governour toward me that great secular preferments were endeavoured for me But none of them succeeding I was at length by Mandate from his then Majesty procured by the means of that Noble Personage replanted into my old Nursery a Fellow of a Colledge there I yearly payd mine acknowledgment by attendance where I had received so much Favour the good will and endeavour of worldly preferments for me still continuing One at last was freely offered unto me of such a nature as I most desired with visible almost certainties of great wealth and temporal advancement had it been accepted but Providence had otherwise disposed of me For when upon the offer my answer of acceptance was expected I was surprized with a sudden amazement and standing silent like a Statue had not one word to speak by way of acknowledgment of mine own unworthiness or of the greatness of the intended Favour much less to express my ready acceptance thereof and due thankfulness for it and so for some time continuing was dismissed for the present and within shorttime after became a stranger to those Relations Having after this as I esteemed it unhappy rejection spent some years in the Colledge vainly and idly enough God knows it was the Lords pleasure to transplant me into his Church abroad And having by a remarkable manuduction brought me unto the Living which I now hold he was pleased at my first en●rance by a great though not total distemper in the right use of my Reason to break and fit me in some measure for his Service there and to prepare the way for that great Work which he had to do many years after I could here tell thee how in that distemper God did set me before my self a●ter a strange manner presenting to my view my hainous sins to that time and shewing me how many deaths I had deserved by them But I have acknowledged and humbled my self for them unto him who hath graciously assured me of his Pardon Upon my recovery I had some good moti●ns and faint stirrings in my soul toward God and Goodness which so long I had forgotten and indeed flighted My first Subject which I handled was the broken heart Psal 51. 17. The way which I should have taken but neglecting it the work was not throughly wrought Though I proceeded so far as to a just restitution as near as I could call to mind where I had wronged any and I remember the f●ax beg●n to smoak in some weak dislike often sti●ring in my heart against those sins in which formerly I h●d liv●d and wherewith it was over-run and I began by degrees to break off from them I had now continued at my Living five or six years or more when I do not remember that the day before or

go near unto the Saints when labouring under the bur●en of sin they seek for him whom their soul loveth and he is gone and not to be found This this st●ikes deep and makes a wide gash and wound in the Soul Yet this is not all the misery the Lords p●ople find and feel when fallen in●o the folly of heinous sins For beside this of losse they undergo 2. The fear of wrath another smarting wound upon the soul Wrath or Vengeance or Punishm●nt follow sin as the shadow doth the body A wicked world called for a deluge of water Gen. 6. 5. The loud crying and grievous sins of Sodom and Gomorrah fetched fire and brimstone from Heaven upon them Gen 18 20. 19. 24. Job by a question sets it beyond all doubt o● dispute that destruction is to the wicked and a strange punishment to the workers of Iniquity Job 31. 3. Evil saith the Psalmist shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him Psal 140. 11. It follows a wicked man upon the sent like a Bloud hound and shall never leave till it overtake him And the Saints know that the Lord is just that though he delights not in the destruction or punishment of his Creature yet he delights in his Justice according to which punishment is executed upon sinners They know that God who is the God of Order suffers nothing to be out of order and therefore that he will bring their sins which in themselves are nothing but A●axy and disorder that he will bring them into order by punishment By sin they have run out and broken out of the order of his Mercy and now they cannot but fear that he will force them into the order of his Justice For there is no respect of persons with him but every soul that doth evil must expect tribulation and anguish Rom. 2. 9. Thus in the former wound of losse God hides his face from them and now in this they are as ready to flee from and hide themselves from him For though the eternal and secret bond of his Love of good will depending upon their Election cannot be broken Yet that of Friendship which depends upon Faith and Holiness as to sense and exercise is for the time dissolved So that while th●y continue in their sins God deals with them as with enemies and they cannot apprehend him under any other Notion then as an incensed provoked God Nor can they look for any thing from him but the dreadful effects of enmity and wrath Thus they are not only troubled with the hiding of his face from them but they likewise suffer his terrors with a troubled mind being in a manner distracted under them and cut off by them while his fierce wrath goeth over them Psal 88. 14 15 16. Ob. But if the Lord deal thus with his people Saints how doth he spare them as he promiseth Mal. 3. 17. Are these the effects of his Fatherly pity towards them Answ I answer The Lord deals thus with them for their good his punishments are unto them medicinal ●e wounds them for the health of their souls he hides himself from them That they may know what it is to want him That they mourn for his absence That being lost they may seek him with the more diligence and having found him May prize his presence May cleave more closely unto him May take heed how they lose him again He makes them sensible of his wrath That they may the more detest and more warily shun the folly of sin for the time to come which drew his wrath upon them That they may set the higher esteem upon their Peace when he hath spoken it unto their souls Use 1. Here then we may have a guesse at the infinite sufferings of the Lord Christ which in his soul he underwent for sinful man For doth the Lord deal thus sharply with his people and Saints to lay load upon them to wound them to hide himself from them to affright them with terrors and that but for some few sins it may be but for one or two What then did the King of Saints himself in our Nature undergo when he had the weight of the sins of an whole wo●ld lying heavy upon him when he was wounded for th● transgressions of an whole world of sinners When in his Agony in the Garden he sweat many great drops of blood When on the Crosse his Father had so hid his Face from him upon the Divinities momentany withdrawing the sense of its support from the Manhood that he cried out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me When he had such a true sense of his Fathers wrath due to man for sin that he might well take up those words of his Prophet Lam. 1. 12. O all you that passe by behold and see if ever sorrow were like unto my sorrow wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce wrath Did he undergo thus much for us Let not us then think any thing too bitter or sharp which we may undergo for him or for our own sins Alas our woundings are but gentle stroakings to what our Lord Christ suffered who is pleased in wounding of his people to conform them in some measure to his own sufferings that afterwards they may reign with him in Glory Rom 8. 17. Use 2. When therefore you see any of the Lords people in this distressed condition labouring and languishing under the burden of their sins passe not your censures upon them rashly as if they were distempered and beside themselves but know That they are under Gods sore pressing hand that he hath wounded them for the health of their Souls that he hath cast them into the hot Furnace of his fiery indignation that being purged and purified from the drosse they may come forth like refined Gold fit to make Vessels of honour for himself Use 3. Here let us be taught to walk warily to work out our salvation with fear and trembling to serve our God with fear and trembling to serve our God with reverence and godly fear knowing that he is a consuming fire and that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God Use 4. Doth the Lord deal thus severely with his people and Saints when fallen into the folly of heinous sins to raise such tempests in their souls Yet let them not when brought low under his heavy hand despair of Mercy The Lord is pleased somtimes to bring his own people even to the brink of despair as I could instance in a Gentlewoman I suppose the Grand-mother to a Family of good note and worth in Essex I had the Relation from a true servant of God who at that time or not long after lived in the Family And therefore I do confidently believe it and so set it down for a known truth This Gentlewoman labouring under the burden of her sins had so far cast away all hope of Mercy that having a pure Venice-Glass in her hand in

The right hand or right eye if they offend must not be spared but cut off or pulled out That soul that can mince its sins is it not a little one that can excuse its Sins it doth not truly hate them When a man can say to his before dailing sin as the Prophet commands to be said to Idolatrous Relicks get thee hence or as Ephraim repenting of his Idolatry What have I to do with Idols It discovers a hearty vehemency and earnestness in his hatred against sin 3. The Saints in their hatred of sin must beware of Inconstancy they must never again be reconciled unto it or so much as enter into a Truce or Parly with it St. Augustine in his Confessions saith of himself that his old Favourites his sins which he had left pulled him by the sleeve of his Flesh suing to be re-entertained but he shook them off There must be no more turning to the vomit of sin not only as to act but not so much as in the least unchecked reflexion of the thought Where true hatred of sin is it will be universal vehement constant Act 4. The last Act of true Repentance is contained in the changing of the mind and it is resolution against sin and for better Obedience for the time to come Without such Resolutions the m●nd is not changed but continues the same and so long it is impossible that the soul should be setled Gods Favour regained and Peace obtained This changing of the mind St. Paul cals transforming or renewing of the mind Rom. 12. 2. A being renewed ●n the spirit of our minds Eph. 4. 23. It is called a coming to a mans self Luke 15. 17. When the Prodigal came to himself he said I will arise and go unto my Father When he came to himself there was the change of his mind till then he went on in his folly and madness of sin and upon this his change he resolves within himself and saith I will arise and go c. And until it cometh to this that a mans Will is let and bent against sin and for holiness that he would not do that which is evil and would do that which is good as St. Paul speaks Rom. 7. 19. Till it be thus there is no settlement no peace to be expected A man may know whether he hath entertained such resolutions or not in his heart by these discoveries Marks 1. By the s●mness and fixedness of his resolutions He is stedfast and unmoveable 1 Cor. 15. ult He that is thus resolved it is not an easie temptation that shall unsettle him He will break through all difficulties and go on notwithstanding any opposition whatsoever No Adversaries 1 Cor. 16. 9. Not a Lion in the way Prov. 22. 13. shall daunt him to turn him back Thus Joshua was resolved I and my House will serve the Lord. So David here in the Text I will hear what the Lord will speak 2. Where the mind is thus resolved there will be a cherishing of such resolutions A wicked man may somtimes have thoughts of leaving such or such a sin but finding that it will not consist with his profit or pleasure so to do such his thoughts are soon smothered and do quickly vanish But the truly penitent soul whose mind is changed and he resolved against sin and upon better obedience he will as Paul exhorts 1 Thes 5. 19. take heed how he quencheth the Spirit in him from which he knows such resolutions do proceed 3. He will be very watchful over his enemies For he knows that though while he continued in his Folly of sin they let him alone and did not trouble him Yet now having shkaen them off he shall not be so rid of them but that they will use all the means they can to regain him into their power The Devil will tempt the Flesh dispose and the World allure and therefore he knows he must stand upon his Guard continually and watch them and their wayes of assault lest he be again foyled by them 4. A man that is thus resolved there shall hardly a word thought or action pass from him without strict examination Did I not offend God in it in such a Company at such a time did I not neglect a fair opportunity of doing good of glorifying God Did I not give occasion of scandal to the weak Did I not seem to countenance such a sin c. Thus the truly penitent soul that is resolved against sin and for holiness will call his wayes to remembrance and will sift and winnow them that if he hath done evil he may be humbled for it and may walk more wa●ily and circumspectly for the time to come 5. He will endeavour faithfully and speedily to put these his resolutions in ex●cution and to derive them into act For he knows that all a mans purposes and resolutions they are but empty nothings without practise without fruitfulness The Moralist directs that upon just and irreconcileable distast between friends they should as it were unpick their love by a gentle withdrawing of their affections from each other We must not deal so by our beloved sins but must rend our affections from them and break off from them by righteousness Dan. 4. 21. 6. He that is thus resolved being sensible of his own weakness and how easily he is foyled and overthrown unless the Lord help him he directs his Prayer unto him with all earnestness beseeching him to work for him and in him by his good Spirit to support and uphold him by his Almighty power to enable him by his Grace to do and act according to his resolutions that for the time to come he may discover temptations resist sin and walk more holily before God 7. Lastly He is exceedingly grieved that he is no better that he can ●o no better that he is so weak and so easily prevailed over He is assured that his Will is rightly disposed to will is present with him but because he finds that notwithstanding the Spirit is willing yet the Flesh is weak and he hath no power in himself to do according as he will this makes him mourn and bewail his weak condition Means 2. The second Means for resetling and recovering the wounded Spirit and obtaining its peace is Faith in Christ Sin estrangeth from God By Faith we come unto him Heb. 11. 6. By sin our Souls are defiled By Faith they are purified Acts 15 9 By sin we provoke God By Faith we please him Heb. 11. 6. By sin we make God our Enemy By Faith we are at peace with him Rom. 5. 1. Yet it is not every kind of Faith that makes our peace with God A general assent unto whatsoever God hath revealed in his Word which is called an Historical Faith For a man to believe that the Word is the very Word of God and proceeded from him that Christ came into the world to save sinners that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish c. to