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	know_v	8,213	5	4.2899	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B02276	The spouses hidden glory, and faithfull leaning upon her wellbeloved. Wherein is laid down the soules glory in Christ, and the way by which the soule comes to Christ. Delivered in two lecture sermons in St. Andrewes church in Norwich. / By Iohn Collings Master of Arts, and preacher of Gods word in Saviours parish in Norwich.	Collinges, John, 1623-1690.	1646 (1646)	Wing C5340A; ESTC R174086	70,368	91

Reprobate lest you condemne the generation of the just and justifie the generation of the wicked both which things are an abomination to the Lord. A Third branch of this use may reach to the children of God those who are already marryed to this blessed Bridegroome and made honourable and glorious by such a marriage O carry your selves as the Brides of so glorious a Bridegreome as it becommeth those that should not shame their breeding that the world may say concerning you Who is this you are made glorious you were inglorious creatures First Remember what you were and carry your selves humbly Philip King of Macedon would alwayes be awaked with a momento of his mortality and Wigiliscus would delight to hear Memento quid fueris O remember what thou wert Such were some of you humbled the beleeving Corinthians though now they were washed and sanctified Quanto Nobilior es tanto te geras submissius Humility is the g●eatest Ornament of Honour Thou art admired but it is Christ and free grace that hath set the lustre upon thee and made thee admirable Admire him for his goodnesse and let others admire thee for thy humble carriage The Leper was to bring two birds at his cleansing the one was to be killed the other let go but first dipt in the blood of the dead bird The Christians heavenly life must be dipt in the blood of the bird which it hath killed Though our sins be pardoned they may be remembred so far as to make us humble Let the world for thy humble lowly carriage say Who is this Secondly Walk thankfully Thou wert not honourably clothed he hath given thee the Robes of righteousness● Thou wert without Ornaments he hath given thee bracelets and ear-rings O be singing perpetuall Hosanna's till thou shalt be translated and sing perpetuall Hallelujah Be alwayes saying Quid Retribuam O Quid Retribuam What shall I what can I render unto the Lord for his mercie O that I could praise the name of my God! whose mercie endures for ever for his mercie endureth for ever Thirdly Walk lovingly towards this Bridegroome that hath honoured thee thou wert naked He hath clothed thee with the garments of Righteousnesse and Salvation O keep it on for his sake Thou wert damned remember who saved thee for to marry thee Thou wert rolled in thy blood Remember who gave his blood to wash thee Thou wert filthy and defiled Remember who annointed thee with oyle and made thy face to shine Thou wert clothed with raggs O remember who puld off his own robes to clothe thee Thou wert poore Remember who left heaven and glory to make thee rich Thou wert starved Remember who gave thee his flesh for meat and his blood for drink Thou didst play the Adulteresse with him O remember who notwithstanding that received thee again into favour and let us all say with that Holy man Tota vita nostra conformis illi reddatur qui ex amore nostri totum se nobis conformavit Let us in all our life conforme our selves to him who out of a meer principle of love in all things made himselfe conformable unto us Art thou made a glorious creature Walk lovingly that for that they may say Who is this Fourthly Keep the garbe of of a Kings daughter walk according to thy place a Kings daughter is no conpanion for every idle woman you that are the Saints of God keep company like your selves How precious is the communion of Saints How unpleasant is the company of sinners Dishonour not your selves Fifthly Walk Dependently The Spouse leans upon her Bridegroome she drawes her very breath from Christs lungs She breaths through Christs lips She is described here to come up leaning O lean upon his arm if you be his Bride lean upon him for pardoning grace upon him for strengthning grace upon him for perfecting grace Begg not your bread out of your husbands doores it were a signe he kept too poor an house to maintain you 6. Lastly Walk chastly that the world may see that every thought of your heart is but as an arrow drawn from the Quiver of your soules and shot heavenward that your language is the dialect of Canaan and your actions all aiming at the glory of God that all the perishing profits and vanishing pleasures of the world cannot flatter downe your heavenly soule to an houres lodging But you love the Lord your Christ with all your heart and all your soule and will serve him with all your minde and all your strength Thus walk beleevingly above meanes beyond meanes with and without meanes Leane when Christ may seem to draw away his shoulder Though he kills you yet trust in him and make the world admire and say Who is this Walk humbly Remember what you were whence you are what hath saved you despising no Saint humbling your self to all that the world may admire and say Who is this Walk holily and righteously defrauding none graciously and strictly before God close with him loose to the world and make the earthly world to say Who is this Walk lovingly to your husband charitably to your brethren judging none condemning none honouring all becoming all things to all men to gain some courteously ingenuously graciously that the world may admire and say Who is this Walk finally as becomes the Brides of so glorious a Bridegroome in all places in all conditions Remembring what you are and whence you are letting your graces shine out even to your enemies till your gracious soul●s be swallowed up in glory Lastly Let it be a word of consolation to all the Saints of God that can say with Hezekiah Remember Lord how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart or with Peter Thou knowest Lord that I love thee against all the scoffs slanders and malice of the world Alas they know thee not not thy sincerity nor thy joy nor thy value nor thy glory carry thy selfe so gloriously before them that they may see the vertue that is in thee and glorifie thy Father which is in heaven then and not before will the world have a better estimate of thee And so I have done with the imperfection of the description from the interrogatory Who is this I now come to the description it selfe Cometh up from the wildernesse leaning upon her Beloved We have already taken notice of two travellers in this text Christ is a traveller for had he not come up with his garments died from Bozra we had been in the wildernesse still And his Spouse is a traveller the text saith she comes up from the wildernesse leaning upon her beloved We have took notice of her glorious garbe and her vaile she is still upon her march let us now take a more full survey of her and enquire whence she comes and who is her companion and what her posture Whence comes she E Deserto from the Wildernesse that is Terminus a quo the place from which she comes What 's her

those that know not what to doe to be saved those that feele themselves even in the jawes of hell hee makes apprehensions of his wrath precede the apprehensions of his love But woe and alas how many thinke they have a part in Christ That the Devill hath as great a part in Christ actually as they have heaven is growne the common journeyes end and let men ride which way they list Not the most debauched wretch in a Congregation but aske him what hee thinks shall become of him if he dyes in that condition why he hopes he shall goe to heaven nay I wish he doth not say he is sure of it too All men are sinners He is lost but Christ came to seek and save that which was lost Tell him of mourning for his sinnes if he meanes to be comforted of humbling himself if he means to be exalted of feeling hel if ever he means to feele heaven O then you are a legall Preacher Heare what the other side saith what those you call● Antinomian Preachers O these are the onely Gospel-preachers to them This makes them passe for such honest men O they shew a fine Cushion-way to Heaven that you shall not need wet a a foot or eye in But let them preach what they will friend beleeve him who although he knowes but little yet knowes you must goe out of the wildernesse if ever you come there The way is neither the Drunkards Ale-way nor the Adulterers uncleane way nor the Covetous man his dirtie way nor the Ambitious mans high-way nor the Hypocrites hidden way nor the Carnall-Gospellers formall way nor the Antinomians easie way It is a way through a wildernesse not a way in a wildernesse The Spouse is not described by her staying in the wildernesse but by comming out of the wildernesse Who is this commeth out of the wildernesse Secondly Doth the Spouse of the Lord come out of a wildernesse of sorrow leaning upon her Beloved First she is in then she commeth out then this reproves the folly of those that preach men found before they were lost and of those that dreame of leaning before they are in the wildernesse The Spouse leans but it is when she is comming out of the wildernesse Is there none that preacheth downe a needlesnesse of duties that mocks at mourners that learne people a way to be found before they are lost Examine the Scriptures before you trust them under a pretence of exalting Faith doe they not cry downe sorrow for sin and all preparatory duties Nay they doe cry downe the preaching of the Law to bring men to see they are in the wildernesse that they might leane Doe they make you beleeve that preaching the Law is a piece of Anti-christianisme and no one ought to preach it And for their parts they will take heed of it for feare of preaching away their hearers O beware of this leaven For my part I had rather heare them then beleeve them and yet I would not much care for that neither were it nothing but to consider First That this way of preaching hath beene that which God hath most blest by his Servants labours Witnesse our Rogers our Hooker our Pious Shepard those three to which many threes may be added thougn they will scarce come up to the first three Those three Constellations of Heaven that gave more light to darke Travellers that wandred in the night of sinne while they shined in our Firmament then all these Ignes fatui Oh! I would I could not construe it false-fires mis-leading poore Travellers Was ever any of these Leaders so honoured though they have beat up their Drums almost in every street of the Kingdome for followers as to gather such Troopes of Saints to the Christian warfare as these before mentioned Did ever God honour their labours so much as these who poore soules shone in their dayes like lights under Bushels too had onely the corner of a Pulpit or a Pulpit in some blind corner tolerated them Nay looke upon these that have lately fallen into this Veine and were Preachers of Gods whole truth before was not their first fruits better and more accepted of God then their harvest is now Hath not God distinguished which way of preaching he will most honour by making the first ripe grapes sweeter then the whole Vintage were it onely for this And Secondly For the constant experience of the Saints of God let them speake their minds freely hath not this beene the way of their conversion Have not the best Saints in Heaven cryed out of the belly of Hell before God heard their voice Was not Paul strucken downe to the earth before he went in the Triumph of Glory Did not the Gaoler come in trembling and fall at the Apostles feet and cry what shall I doe to be saved before they bid him beleeve and thou shalt be saved Neither can they evade it with saying That trembling was not an humiliation for sinne but occasioned for feare his prisoners were gone Least people should wrest it in that manner The Holy Ghost hath cleared it to their hand for before wee read of his trembling Paul had cryed with a loud voice vers 28. Do thy self no harme for wee are all here Neither do wee read that he trembled for th●t at all but like one strucke senselesse and his spirits dead as it were in a fit of desperate madnesse was about with his Sword to let out his owne blood Now I say were it no more then to heare such doctrine contrary to the Doctrine which God hath chiefly honoured in his Servants lips by making it efficacious for the salvation of their soules and contrary to the experience of the generalitie of Gods Servants if not contrary to the Preachers owne former and better thoughts and practice it would be sufficient to make me suspend my faith from being too hastie to beleeve this new way to Heaven But it is enough to confirme me to heare my Christ calling Come unto me all yee that are weary and heavy laden and I will ease you Before you are sensible of an heavy load you will need no ease and to heare my Text speaking of leaning but in a wildernesse Nay it may be noted too The Text saith Who is this that commeth Not who is this that jumpeth up from the wildernesse I cannot fancy this going to Heaven at a running jump nor can I like this pressing faith without preaching repentance also Faith is an act of an humble soule Nor can the soule apprehend the beautie of Christ and love Christ before it apprehends it 's owne miserable condition The onely harme this Doctrine doth is to make poore soules presume insteed of beleeving for alas Tell an impenitent soule of beleeving it apprehends it easie because it doth not understand it and runnes on upon a supposition that it hath faith when alas it beleeveth no more then the Divell beleeveth sorrow for sinne is better understood by a carnall heart then faith

is for the truth of it is the humbled soule onely can tell what faith is The other sees neither the want they have of faith nor yet the nature of that precious grace Shall I tell you what pious Master Rutherford sayes concerning this Faith saith he is bottomed upon the sense and paine of a lost condition Povertie is the nearest capacitie of beleeving This is Faiths method be condemned and be saved be hang'd and be pardoned be sick and be healed Faith is a flower of Christs onely planting yet it growes out of no soile but out of the margin and banck of the lake which burnes with fire and brimstone Antinomians saith he againe make faith an act of a loftie Pharisee applying immediato contactu presently his hot boyling and smoking lusts to Christs wounds blood and merit without any conscience of a precedent command that the person thus beleeving should be humbled wearied loaden grieved for his sinnes I confesse saith he This is hastie hot worke but it is a wanton fleshly presumptuous opinion that it is an immediate worke to lay hold on the promises and be saved In his Book of the Tryall and Triumph of Faith you hear the opinion of Gods Servants and the Text mentions a comming too pedetentim gradatim little by little step by step Those that come cannot goe so fast as these illegall Sectaries because they are weary and heavie loaden Those that learne people to jumppe must take away Math. 11.29 the heavie load of sinnes which the Spouse hath upon her shoulders keepes her from that hastie motion that Antinomians make I doe not speake to limit the Almighties power but to shew you his ordinarie dispensations not what he can doe but what he will doe what he hath used to doe and God ordinarily walkes in his owne paths not in the paths our fancies make for him we may looke for God in his ordinary wayes of Providence and dispensations to the soule if he comes in a new way it must be beyond our expectations though not beyond our faith that he can doe it yet beyond our faith that he will doe it When wee have no word to assure us what shall faith be builded upon God can turne mid-night into mid-day ipso facto But wee know in Gods ordinary course of Providence first comes the dawning of the day then the morning then the noone-day God can take a soule and marry it and never humble it but where hath he promised it where hath he done it or if he hath done it wee say one Swallow makes not a Summer one example make● not a Rule one president makes not a Law It is no rule for thee or me to trust in that no more then the saving of the thiefe upon the Crosse might be a safe president for us to deferre repentance tell our dying day Let thee and I learne to be humbled to get broken hearts to loath our selves see our owne misery Sorrow is the ordinary doore to joy Humiliation the ordinary step to exaltation Mourning for sinne the onely preface to Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in Gods ordinary way of dealing out grace The Latine is full Quae est illa quae ascendit that ascends from the wildernesse Our Translation commeth up implying an ascensive motion t is hard running up an hill They that runne up a mountaine if they runne too fast they may quickly runne themselves out of breath It is bad jumping over a broad ditch especially if it be drowning depth for feare if wee jumpe short wee jump our last It is a great jump from the bottome of Hel to Heaven to take it at one leape I wish those that dare take it do not fall short and drown themselves eternally I had rather go up Gods steps then make such a hasty motion God give me grace to ascend up the Saints staires to the chambers of glory Elijah was such a favourite to heaven that God sent a coach for him but those that will expect till that fiery Chariot be sent downe for them too I suppose may waite something a longer time then they desire O beg of God to humble you to powre out his spirit of mourning and supplications upon you this will learne you to beleeve friends It is the humbled soule only that can construe that word Faith it is Hebrew to others it poseth the impenitent heart Faith is a riddle to them Christ findes his Spouse in the wildernesse and there he gives her his shoulder to leane upon But Thirdly She commeth up leaning out of the wildernesse Is it the duty of a soule that is in a wildernesse of sorrow or affliction or temptation or desertion to leane upon the Lord Christ Then this may reprove those that are in these wildernesses and yet cannot be perswaded to leane upon the Lord Christ hence they cry out O faith is impossible is it possible to beleeve that Christ Jesus will save me me that have scorned his salvation and slighted his mercies And because thou hast slighted mercy wilt thou therefore still slight mercy still refuse his offer of grace Thou sinnest as much now in not beleeving there is mercy for thee that hast despised mercy as thou didst sin in despising that mercy O why is it harder to raise up then to cast downe a soule Why wilt thou not beleeve O thou of little faith Is the mole-hill of thy sins like the mountaine of his mercies doth the voice of thy sins roare like the voice of his loving kindnesse Is there any humbled soule before the Lord O do not provoke God by thy infidelity now he hath made thee capable of faith You that are Christians for shame in your severall wildernesses of afflictions temptations and desertions doe not O do not cast downe your heads and say who shall shew us any good or if you do say againe with the Saint in the ensuing words Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us Beleeve in your depths of sorrow beleeve in your most trying afflictions most sadding temptations most killing desertions beleeve me it is the greatest honour you can put upon the Lord Christ And it is the greatest dishonour you can put upon your God to have any diffidence in the Lords armes any distrust in the Lords free-grace It is the property nay it is the duty of the Spouse to come out of wildernesses leaning Fourthly Doth she leane upon God before she can come must he worke the first motion to make her willing before she can beleeve in him Then how are those to be here reproved that would make mans will to be the Author of its first motions unto God Pelagius was a great defender of it First he would hold That the grace of God was not necessary but by the law of nature we might be saved 2. That the grace of God which the Apostle speakes of was only in giving the law of nature 3. Driven from this he would maintaine that the faculties