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	reveal_v	5,457	5	8.8529	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67286	The preciousness of Christ to the believing-Christian Plainly and briefly set forth for the edification and consolation of believers in, and lovers of the Lord Jesus Christ. In a sermon on I Pet. 2. 7. By William Walker, B.D.	Walker, William, 1623-1684.	1667 (1667)	Wing W432A; ESTC R219919	23,737	44

whom some account as unfit to live as the Jews did our Saviour to whom it would be the greatest pleasure in the world to have the power opportunity of serving those servants of the high God as Hanun the Ammonite did the servants of King David 1 Sam. 10. 4. or putting any other as ill or worse indignity upon them I could tell also of your tender Care for any poor afflicted Member of Jesus Christ that comes under your notice relieving them both spiritually and corporally as their wants are which is not at any time the least commendation of a Christian Lady but the greater now in regard of the deplorable neglect thereof that is generally observable in most places and persons so that instead of going to visit and relieve Christ in any of his afflicted distressed Members too many of us I fear should Christ come himself to us in his own person in any afflicted condition for comfort and relief to him in his distresses I say I fear too many of us would let him go away from us unrelieved even as cold and comfortless hungry and naked as he came These and many more things excellent things I could tell of your Ladyship which would be very much to your honour but I forbear because they would be no less to your envy and leave them to God who sees them in secret to reward them openly only wishing here withall that those that do themselves see the excellencies that I have mentioned in you or by report from others shall hear them of you may so glorifie God by a diligent imitation of them that they may hereafter be glorified by God in an abundant compensation for them And now that my Pedestal prove not too big for my Pillar nor my Epistle too large for my little Book I will dismisse your Ladyship from this trouble and leave you to the more delightful contemplation of the preciousness of him whom your soul loves And as I have in my preaching commended him unto you so I shall in my prayers recommend both you and all that is yours unto him and rest MADAM Your Ladyships most devoted as most Obliged servant Will. Walker From Colsterworth in the County of Lincolne Decmeber 1. 1666. The Preciousness of Christ to the Believing-Christian 1 Pet. 2. 7. Vnto you therefore which believe he is Precious THE Apostle having in the third verse of this Chapter proposed the graciousness of the Lord appearing in those precious sweets and rich advantages designed unto Believers by the Gospel as an Argument to move these Christians to whom he writes this Epistle to reject those Heretical Gnostick Doctrines whereby the deceivers of those times went about to infuse into the minds of men villany deceitfulness and hypocrisie maliciousness and reproachfulness which he exhorts them to in the first verse and with the sincere and earnest desire of new-born Babes to suck and drink in the pure Milk of the Word that sound and wholesome Christian Doctrine which by the Orthodox Teachers of the Gospel was afforded to them as being the meanes whereby they should grow in grace unto glory which he exhorts them unto in verse the second he goeth on in verse the fourth and fifth to exhort them to come and conjoyn themselves unto Christ and build themselves upon him as living stones on a living foundation and to become both a spiritual House and an holy Priest-hood both Temple and Priests to offer up spiritual Sacrifices prayers and praises unto God proposing as an argument thereunto the acceptableness thereof unto God through Jesus Christ and that confirmed by a Text of Scripture verse the sixth Behold I lay in Sion a chief corner stone elect and precious and he that believeth on him shall not be consounded Which is as if he had said The Lord Jesus Christ is so sure and steady so choice and precious a foundation-stone to whatsoever is built on him that he that buildeth on him shall never have cause to repent of or be ashamed of his building as they are used to be whe having built on an ill foundation live to see their buildings buried in their own ruines What is built on Christ will abide what is offered unto God by him will be accepted Now Christ being this to the Believing soul it rationally follows that such an elect foundation-stone as he is should be very highly esteemed by it and be very dear and precious unto it And accordingly it follows in the words of my Text unto you therefore which believe he is precious In which words are set forth unto us two things The First is what Persons they are unto whom Christ is precious and they are Believers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith our Apostle unto you that believe he is precious where by the opposition of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 them that believe unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the disobedient in the immediate following clause it is evident that by the Believers unto whom Christ is precious the Apostle did mean obedient Christians such Believers as do obey the Gospel of Christ obey it in cordially assenting to the truth of the things revealed in it obey it in hopefully expecting the fulfilling of the things promised by it and obey it in sincerity performing the things commanded in and by it This is the first The Second is What Christ is unto those that believe on him and that saith our Apostle is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the Original Text Precious according to our Traslation of it This word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath two significations which are Rivals in contest for place in this Text. Those significations are Honour and Price First it signifies Honour as in Joh. 4. 44. where our Saviour testifies that a Prophet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath no honour in his own Country so Rom. 13. 7. where the Apostle appoints that Christians should render to all their dues and particularly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 honour to whom honour is due Secondly it signifies Price as in Mat. 27. 6. where the money for which Judas sold his Master is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the price of blood So 1 Cor. 6. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye are bought with a price Now because that which gives a price is in its degree and kind precious therefore by an Enallage of the Substantive for the Adjective it may also signifie precious To be sure all the words in the New Testament which are so rendered viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are derived from it in this signification Now according to this variety of acceptation of the word is the Text expounded by several men after a several manner St. Hierome Beza and Amesius take the word in the first sense and so render it as if the Text were to be read unto you therefore which believe he is an honour And this very reading is so far favoured by our Church as to be admitted into the Margent of our Bibles Again Piscator

it self which you are not contented to part withall for Christ I shall leave it unto your selves to consider whether Christ be precious unto you or no. It is not precious which one would not part with a Vanity for And what is the best of earthly comforts and enjoyments more Vanity of vanities saith the Preacher Vanity of vanities all is vanity Eccl. 1. 2 Sixthly They to whom Christ is precious having got him are careful to keep him When the Spouse in the Canticles had found him whom her soul loved O how careful was she to keep him I held him saith she and would not let him go until I had brought him into my Mothers house and into the Chambers of her that conceived me Cant. 3. 4. Christ when once gained is too precious the believing-soul thinks for her to be ever willing to part with again and therefore she useth no less care to keep him than she took pains to get him O how she clings to him and clasps about him with the powerfullest arms of purest Love No man is more careful to preserve a Jewel than a believing-soul is to keep its Jesus She Cabinets up this Pearl of inestimable price in the innermost Closet of her heart And as if she could never think him safe enough she is continually visiting of him there Like the man in the Comedy that had found and hid a pot of Gold her eye or mind is seldom off Plaut Aulut from him Nor will she upon any terms do any thing that may vex him thence as well knowing that if once upon any unworthy usage he withdraw himself it is no easie matter to recover him again Here therefore she bestoweth all her care here 〈◊〉 exerciseth all her skill how she ma● 〈…〉 her Beloved how she may everlastingly enjoy her Dearest one And how is it now with you Brethren are you so careful to keep your Christ are you so fearful to lose your Jesus are you so cautious not to do any thing whereby he may be provoked to withdraw himself from you If so then it is a sign he is precious to you But if you have small or no regard to the holding of so precious a possession as Christ is if you slight such a Friend when he is come to you if you abuse him or by any unworthy carriage towards him do provoke him to depart from you then it is a sign you do not much esteem him that you set no very great value upon him Not very precious are those things to us which when we have them we care not whether we lose or keep them I may yet over and above all these Notes add in the seventh place That they to whom Christ is precious do preciously esteem of any thing that is Christs any thing that bears upon it the stamp and signature of Christ any thing that hath relation unto Christ as the Members of Christ the Ministers of Christ the Word of Christ the Name of Christ the Day of Christ and the House of Christ They to whom Christ is precious will have a precious esteem for all these His Members they refresh as his own bowels his Ministers they receive as his own self his Word they hear as his own voice his Name that Name which is above every Name his Name Jesus they do account with St. Chrysostome to contain a thousand treasures of good 〈◊〉 4. in 〈…〉 things and will not hear it named especially in Divine Service without some token of an especial 〈…〉 His Day with St. Ignatius and Gregory 〈…〉 they account 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Queen and highest of all Dayes and call his Sabbath a delight And for his House with the Patriarch Jacob they account it no other but the House of God and the Gate of Heaven Now Brethren how is it with you as to these things Have you such dear affections for any thing that is Christs Have you so precious an esteem for any of the Relatives of Christ If so 't is well it is a sign of a good esteem that you have of Christ himself and that he is precious unto you But if not and there be too many that with their mouths do shew much love to Christ who in their hearts have love little enough for the Members of Christ lesse for the Word of Christ and least of all for the Ministers of Christ too many there be that pretend to be great honourers of Christ that shew no more respect to the Name of Christ than to any other Name not much more respect to the Day of Christ than to any other day and as little if not less respect to the House of Christ as to any other house I say if that be not precious to you which is Christs it is to be feared that you do but pretend all the while that you say That Christ is precious unto you And now Brethren if upon examination of your selves by these Notes you find that Christ is precious unto you ye may comfort your selves with a confidence of your being in the Faith of Christ For unto those that believe in him he is precious But on the other side if upon this examination you cannot find Christ precious to you ye may do well to consider whether ye be in the faith or no. If he be precious unto those that believe on him then how can those be thought to believe on him to whom he is not precious And therefore to proceed in the second place from Examination unto Exhortation to the end you may be able to assure your hearts of the truth of your faith that ye do in truth believe in Jesus labour O labour that Christ may be precious unto you He is infinitely precious in himself O never leave till he be answerably precious unto you These two are very distant things for Christ to be precious in himself and to be precious unto us VVe cannot make him more precious then he already is in himself To that which is infinite can nothing be added to make it more infinite and 't is infinite the preciousnesse that is in Christ But we may make him much more precious unto our selves then as yet he hath been to us The Jewel in the Table was perfectly possessed of all its genuine native worth at the same time when the dunghil-Cock preferr'd a barlie-corn before it The Lord Jesus Christ was the brightness of his Fathers glory and the express image Isa 53. 2. 1 Pet. 2. 4. Isa 53. 3. of his person Heb. 1. 3. even then when in the sight of men he had no form nor comliness nor beauty that they should desire him He was chosen of God and precious even then when he was despised and rejected of men He was the Lord of glory even then when the Jews his own people denyed and crucified him That therefore being precious in himself he may be precious unto you