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	word_n	14,132	5	4.8692	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29531	Tears for Jerusalem, or, The compassionate lamentation of a tender hearted saviour over a rebellious and obdurate people a subject entered upon on the late day of solemn humiliation, December 6, 1655, afterwards prosecuted, and now published as useful at all times, but very seasonable for the present / by John Brinsley.	Brinsley, John, 1600-1665.	1656 (1656)	Wing B4731A; ESTC R210555	79,536	150

the figtree withered away Thus though God may for time spare some and seem to repent of what he hath threatened concerning them yet as he will not ever do so to any so neither will he doe so to all He that spa●ed Israel at that time yet afterwards sware in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest And he who spared Aaron at Moses request when he was angrie with him to have destroyed him as you have it Deut. 9.20 would not spare Korah and his Companie of whom you reade Numb 16. Upon their Rebellion against Moses and Aaron there was a suddain and dreadful execution done upon them The ground clave a sunder that was under them And the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up c. So as They went alive into the pit v. 31.32.33 And so for those others who at the same time usurped the Priests Office taking upon them to offer Incense presently There came out a fire from the Lord and consumed them v. 35 As it was also with the Sonnes of Aaron Nadab and Abihu they daring to offer strange fire before the Lord presently there went out a strange fire from the Lord and confounded them Lev. 10.1.2 Thus however God belong suffering towards some yet not so to all And however he doth as it were repent over some yet not over all Cain Esau and Saul could finde no place for such repentance And what knowest thou who takest up this plea but that this may be thy case thy lot whereupon mans repentance God will alwaies repent Obj. why but hath not God ingaged himselfe to doe the like to all that shall repent and turne to him This is that which Ieremie assures the Princes and all the people of Israel Ier. 26.13 Amend your waies and your doings and obey the voice of the Lord your God and the Lord will repent him of the evill which he hath pronounced against you And what he promised them he likewise assureth unto others all others in the like case Cap. 18.7 8 Where the promise is indefinite At what instant I shal speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdome to pluck up and to pull down and destroy it If that Nation against whome I have pronounced turn from their evill I will repent of the evill which I thought to do unto them If they repent of the evill of sin he will repent of the evil of punishment And if it be thus with a Nation why not with particular persons Repentance not in mans power A To this I answere as before True it is so vpon mans repentance God will also repent But how knowst thou as before I sayd whether ever God will give thee that grace or space to repent How knowest thou but that in his just judgment he either already hath or suddainly may give thee up to that impenitent heart that shall not that cannot repent Not repent truely and sincerely Possibly in an hypocriticall or Legall way thou maist So did Cain so did Esau so did Saul so did Iudas being sensible of what they had brought upon themselves they bewailed their condition yet were far from true repentance Theire countenance was changed as it is said of Cain Gen. 4.5 his countenance fell but not their hearts And so may it be with thee True Repentance Repentance unto life and salvation is Gods gift which he bestoweth freely upon whome he will and when he will And being so he may justly deny it which hold it from those who have sleighted and dispised his grace when it was offered and held forth to them To all such this doctrine upon this account speakes abundance of terrour Vse 2 Take heed of receiving the grace of God in vaine by hardning the heart against it Which let it serve in the next place as a Needle to draw in a thread after it making way for and now letting in a word of Advise and Counsell and that to all that are here this day before the Lord. Take you heede that you doe not receive the grace of god in vaine This is Paules Obtestation to his Corinthians 2. Cor. 6.1 Wee then as workers together with God beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vaine And let it now be mine to you all and every of you who heare me this day I as a poore Minister of Christ working together with him as his unworthy Instrument exhort and beseech you that you receive not the grace of God in vain this Gospel grace the offer of grace mercy held forth ūto you in the Ministerie of the word see that you do not receive it in vaine by onely giving it the hearing and so letting it dye and perish in the eare not having any such affect in and upon you as is intended by it viz. to bring you home unto God and Jesus Christ to receive and embrace him as your Saviour and Lord to beleive on him to submit unto him This is the end of all our preaching thus to some this good seede as the doctrine of truth is called Math. 13.24 the seede of the word for the begetting of faith and obedience in the hearts of those that hear us Now see you to it that this seede doe not fall like that in the Parable which fell by the high way side Math. 13.4 where the ground being hardned by the feete of the Passengers the seede cannot enter but lyeth above ground and so is sowen in vaine being spilt and lost Take heede that the word be not so spilt upon any of you that your hearts be not hardened against it that you should not receive it into them This is that which the Apostle presseth upon his Hebrewes Heb. 3.7.8 wherefore as the Holy-ghost saith To day if ye will heare his voice harden not your hearts And let me press the same upon you To day if you will heare the voice of the Sonne of man the voice of Jesus Christ so heare it as that you may live doe not harden your hearts doe not oppose doe not resist the call of God by shutting the word out of your hearts This did the Israelites in the wildernesse When God spake unto them by his servant Moses they hardened their hearts not regarding what was sayd to them But what was the issue Hereby they exceedingly provoked God against them This was a day of Provocation as the Apostle there calleth it Harden not your hearts as in the Provocation c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S●ch was that day of Temptation in the wilderness the time wherein the Israelites tempted their God by not hearkning to his voice it was a day of Exacerbation and Exasperation So it was not onely to Moses betwixt whome and the people there was a sharpe contention as we find it Exod. 17.2 But also unto God who by that their not harkning to his voice was exceedingly greived as it there followeth Heb. 3.10 yea so provoked and exasperated that he sware

injoyed the meanes of grace and salvation in a plentiful manner So as in this respect they may be called Children of the light and Children of the day And yet for all that they walk in darkness the things which belong unto their eternall peace are hid from their eyes They do not see because they will not see They have no desire to be acquainted with the myste●ie of salvation and so continue strangers to it A most deplorable state and condition So let it be looked upon by others by those whose eyes God hath opened to see what they do not A thing to be lamented by others Whil st they see these things hid from them which God hath revealed to themselves let them blessing God for this his free grace which hath caused them thus to differ in imitation of their blessed Saviours pittie and compassionate this their wilful obstinacie and blindnesse This we may find the Lord somtimes sadly bemoaning in this his people the people of the Jewes Jer. 4.22 my people is foollish they have not known me they are sortish children and they have no understanding And the like wee may hear the Prophet doing in the Chapter following Jer. 5. where complaining of the incorrigiblenesse of that people the generality of them under the Judgment of God how notwithstanding God hath strucken them yet they were not sensible they had made their face harder then a Rock as he speaks ver 3. he then bemoaneth and pittieth this their condition in the next verse Therefore I sayd surely these are poor they are foolish c. of all follie none like this when men do as it were sanis insanire they are wittingly mad or fool●sh They will not see what belongeth to their peace O pitie we them that are in this condition And O that they might be perswaded to pitie themselves Much more by themselves to mourn over this their desperate obstinacie This they shall do sooner or later it may be when it is too late So they may hear some of their Companions doing as viz. that impure Adu●terer whom the Wiseman speaks of Prov. 5. Who having given his honour unto others and his years to the cruel as the 9 ver hath it having spent both his reputation and estate and strength upon Harlots who seeking nothing but themselvs care not how they make a prey of others oft-times with their honesty putting off also all kind of humanitie then he cometh to mourn at the last when his flesh and bodie are consumed as it followeth ver 11. finding nature decaied and spent and his bodie it may be seized upon by some foul and loathsome disease some of which it may seem were wont to attend this sin in those times as well as in these feeling his hones full of the sin of his youth as Zophar speaks Job 20.11 now he cometh rugire in novissimis as the Original hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rugiit proprie Leonum Bux torf At his last seeing how he hath by his lewd and dissolute courses brought himself to an untimely and infamous end now he roareth roareth as a Lion as the word there properly signifieth Seeing himself ready to go to hell now his soul is filled with more horror then ever his bodie was with pleasure And mark what followeth ver 12. And say How have I hated Instruction and my heart despised reproof And have not obeied the voice of my teachers nor inclined mine ears to them that instructed me Lo here the true original of all his miserie which though before he would not yet now when it is too late he is brought to acknowledge even his not hearkning to Instruction O take heed that it may never be so with any of you that you be not at your latter ends brought to mourn upon any such account Instruction and reproof not to be slighted Which that you may not do not any longer what he did hate instruction despise reproof Do not stop your ears against the truth of God held forth unto you in the Ministerie of his Word discovering unto you the sinfulnesse of those waies and courses wherein you have walked and shewing you how you ought to walk so as you may please God do not shut the counsel which the word giveth you out of your hearts Do not any longer say unto God Depart from us This do all obstinate sinners who living under the means of grace do yet go on in their sins So Job describeth some of them Job 21.13 14. They spend their daies in wealth living in jo●litie and mirth pleasure happily injoying an interrupted course of prosperiti● not being acquainted with those crosses and afflictions which befall others Therefore they say unto God depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy Law This do too many even among our selves though with their tongues they dare not yet with their hearts and in their lives they speak as much plainly m●nifesting to the world by their words and actions what the thoughts of their hearts are viz. That they do not d●sire to have any acquaintance with God or his Word to know his minde and will that they may do it And thus are the things which belong unto their everlasting peace hid from their eies O most sad and deplorable condition The desperate contion of obstinate sinners what hope can there be of such an one Upon this account our Saviour here looketh upon Jerusalems estate as most forlorn and desperate She neither had nor would see what belonged to her peace So as through her wilful ignorance this was hid from her eies And therefore let her now make account of what followeth The daies shall come upon thee when thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee c. And even such is the condition of all wilful and obstinate sinners who shut out the light of Gods truth out of their hearts will not give way to the admonitions directions convictions of the Word and Spirit so as to be wrought upon by them to be changed and reformed in their hearts and lives let them make account that the like daies shall come upon them daies of blacknesse and darknesse daies of judgment and vengeance it may be temporal which they have just cause to fear continually hanging over their heads however eternal And O that now the terrour of the Lord might fall and take hold upon every one of you An alarum to such whose condition this is that being awakened you may be also perswaded to open your eies to set open the doors and windows of your souls to let in the Sun of righteousnesse to let in that heavenly light which shineth forth unto you that so the things which belong unto your peace your eternal peace and happinesse they may be no longer hid from your eies which if they still be through your obstinacie and wilfulnesse for other cause you can assign none then take heed lest that God whose

hearts Thus the Lord is said to have done Pharaohs Exod. 4.21 And the like is said of Sihon King of Heshbon that refused to let Israel passe by him Deuteronom 2.30 The Lord thy God hardned his spirit and made his heart obstinate that he might deliver him into thy hand This hee did not onely by with-holding his grace from them but by delivering them up unto the perversnesse of their own spirits and to Satan to bee acted by him unto their ruine and destruction And after the like manner may God bee said to have hardned the hearts of this people the people of the Jewes not onely by with-holding his Spirit from them but also giving them up unto their own hearts lusts as rhe Psalmist hath it Psal 81.11 12. My people would not hearken unto my voice and Israel would none of mee So I gave them up to their own hearts lusts or as the margin readeth it to the hardnesse of their hearts and they walked in their own counsels and to the power of Satan to bee acted by him to bee blinded and hardned by him Yea even giving Commission to his Word to have such an accidental effect upon them even as the Sun hath upon the Clay to harden it So much wee may learn from that Text of the Prophet Isaiah cited by our Saviour Isaiah 6. ver 9 10. Where the Lord giving him his Commission to go unto that people hee bids him or rather foretelleth him what hee should do that hee should make their heart fat Make thou the heart of this people fat and make their ears heavie and shut their eies c. Now how shoula hee do this Why onely by preaching the Word to them But what then had the Word any such proper operation of it self Not so neither had the Prophet any such intention in the preaching of it but through their obstinate tempers it become so to them an occasion of their further blinding and hardening God in his just judgment suffering and ordering that his Word should have such a direfull effect upon them as that they should grow worse and worse by it untill they should attain to that height of impenitencie as should bee irrecoverable This it is The Word will have it work one way or other beeing as the Apostle saith the favour of life or of death 2 Corinth 2.16 Where it doth not open and clear the eye it will close and blinde it Where it doth not soften the heart it will harden it And in this way and by this means doth God in his most righteous Judgment hide from the eyes of men the things which belong to their peace which they have refused to see To these I might adde his sending of False Teachers Sending false teachers among them such as those the Prophet Jeremie speaketh of who cried unto the people Peace Peace where there was no peace Jeremiah 6.14 So lulling them asleep in carnall securitie that they shall not see what belongs to their peace in truth As also his sending of strong delusions Strong delusions that men should believe a lie because they have not received a love of the truth as the Apostle hath it 2 Thes 2.11 Sending a Spirit of Errour a lying spirit to them such as that was which seduced Ahab to his destruction 2 King 2.22 These and many other wayes God hath to carry on this his most just and righteous design But herein I shall follow him no further That which hath been spoken may be sufficient for doctrinal Confirmation and Illustration What now remaines is Application Where in the first place let me design you to make a stand a little Applic. Application to the Nation in general and look upon this Nation wherein we live as our Saviour did here upon this City Jerusalem and see whether there be any just cause to do what he did to weep over it mourn over it upon any such account Touching which let me first declare for my self that not having my Saviours eyes a prophetical eyeas he had I dare not pronounce the like sentence upon this that he doth upon that viz. that the things which belong unto Englands peace are now hid from her eyes No as my prayers have been and shall be so my hopes yet are to the contrary that God will yet be merciful to this Nation and I want not some grounds to bottom these hopes upon But yet let me shew you what two just causes of fear may be apprehended Her sad prognosticks paralelled with Jerusalems that God hath a sad controversie with it In the declaring whereof I shall as far as I may parallel it with this City of Jerusalem which I shall do altogether upon a Religious account not medling at all with the Civil of these sad prognosticks I might reckon up diverse But. I shall content my self to single out some of those which are most obvious 1 Not seeing what belonged to peace in his day Among which let the first and principal be our not seeing the thing which betmged to our peace in our day Where I shall not do what happily with too much evidence of truth I might descend to those particular times and seasons wherein mercy hath been held forth and offered unto this Nation in a more signal and remarkable manner Surely such Criticall daies England hath had and some of them within our mememorie seasons and opportunities which had they been laid hold of and improved as they might how happy might she have been I shall content my self with generalities Onely taking notice of that long day of grace and mercy which this Nation hath had during which the light of the Gospel hath shone forth to it and that in so clear and glorious a manner as I suppose without flatterie I may speak it it hath not done to any other nation under heaven Now have we in this our day known the things which belonged to our peace Hath Christ and his Gospell found that intertainment among the generality which he expected and it deserved The Generalitie I say True it is some there have been and at this day are who have sincerely imbraced both And so there were in Jerusalem some that cryed Hosanna to the Some of David Hosanna in the highest Matth. 21.9 15. But how is it with the greatest part do not they yet love darknesse rather then light setting light by the light of the Gospel and the Ministery thereof even Gadarene like preferring their swine before Jesus Christ A charge wherein I wish there were not too much truth Such sleight and slender entertainment hath the Gospell with the faithful messengers thereof found among the greatest part of this Nation A sad prognostick Specially if it be considered to what a height this disaffection is at this day improved Disaffection to the persons and Calling of Ministers a sad prognostick and risen even to the disclaiming and crying down of the Ministery it self So is it with some and not