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	ground_n	scripture_n	2,053	5	6.1062	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A78621	Faith in Gods promises, the saints best weapon: or, The great use and availableness of faith, both for the support and growth of saints in times most perilous. Plainly discovering that the want of faith in the way of Gods promises, is the great cause of the want of Gods presence. With several considerations for the encrease of faith, tha[t] henceforth the saints may by faith so draw nigh unto God, and in faith so wait upon God, as with certainty of receiving from him. Whereunto is added something concerning the great errour and mistake of many men concerning the true Christ, and how he is said to be in his people; with other things very necessary to be known in order to saints resisting the temptation of the present times. / Set forth as (useful for all people, but) especially intended for the good of such as are returned to the good old way of the Lord, by Matthew Caffyn ...	Caffyn, Matthew, 1628-1714.	1660 (1660)	Wing C207; ESTC R170345	46,339	55

with as its constant companion a serious and constant waiting to receive from God what is prayed for alas there may be by you words uttered proceeding from a meer notion which may be exercised as upon narrow search may be seen to find out words and expressions and to utter them in such a way manner as may to the eyes and ears of men render you fervent and zealously affected after the things prayed for rather than from any real and internal sence begotten in you of God leading you up nearer to God your words may be importing more longings after Grace than really is in you and greater desires and larger affections after the Wisdom and Power of God than indeed and in truth is in you your words may be importing also more detestation of sin and transgression than may be true from your hearts and if so What shall I say of this Is it an acceptable service in the sight of God Nay it is in truth a speaking lyes before the Throne of Grace a dead work timely to be repented of Moreover when you for some time neglect Prayer probably are somewhat troubled but then coming to a more frequent practice thereof you thereupon put the trouble from you and seem to be satisfied though for a long time you experience no answer to your Prayers which proves that your satisfaction is not in that which is bread indeed Yea doth it not prove that either yet you have not attained unto the New Birth or if you have that it is now even languishing and almost senceless for that if in health will not be satisfied with asking for the bread which is from above unless it also receive it no more than the birth which is after the flesh will be satisfied with asking for outward bread unless it be also received and enjoyed within Moreover when you joyn with others Praying in publick it may be a small occasion as a persons coming in or going out or the like trifles presently causes the ear to listen and the eyes to gaze up and down which if so account not that an acceptable approaching to God What no more reverence in speaking to the Almighty No more sence of your conditions and of the necessity of receiving from God to keep your minds more close to God In the true fear of God consider these things Neither think to say within your selves because you sometimes praise God and give thanks unto his Name that therefore you have ground to believe the Promises of God reaches you for this may you do as Israel did and yet far from that kind of praising God which God accepts of and which glorifies his Name which proceeds from a true knowledge and sence of mercies received and so hearty desires thereupon to set forth his praise you being it may be onely led forth to speak words of praise possibly the very same which the sensible man doth from a naked apprehension that such a thing is spoken of in the Scriptures and that others do so and therefore you cannot quiet Conscience unless you do so too and it may be herein also utter expressions importing a greater and larger receiving from God than indeed and in truth you have received which to do is hypocrisie and iniquity Neither think to say within your selves because you sometimes read the Holy Scriptures that therefore with what is above said you have ground to believe the Promises reaches you for so did the sinful Jews do yea thought that they had in the Scriptures Eternal Life who nevertheless were such to whom Christ said How can ye believe that receive honour one of another John 5.39,44 And may I not say to you touching this your practice as touching the rest of your performances That is to say when you read not then are you disquieted but when you sometimes read then the trouble is removed and you at quiet though little or no experience of profit reaped thereby which is the proper end thereof should you not even as your principal care when you read Commandements have an eye open within to see whether you have obeyed them and kept close to them yea or nay And when you read Promises to consider whether you have or still do believe them with all the heart yea or nay Most surely this becometh such as wait for the real substance of things Neither think to say within your selves Because when you at any time sin against God you can remember that there was something within you that testified against the sin and opposed it and so judge your selves in Pauls condition Who did that which he would not that therefore you have ground to believe the Promises of God reaches you as well as they did Paul for alas how great may be your mistake herein the ground of your confidence of being in Pauls condition it may be no more than what the Drunkard may have to say that he is in Pauls condition who purposing to go to a merry meeting is warned by his Friend not to go who nevertheless with full purpose of heart goes and is drunk with the drunken yet may he say and truly too that he was warned not to go and that his friend opposed it which may be is all you can say even that the Word of God in your hearts testified against the sin which you were tempted unto who nevertheless with full purpose of heart committed the sin without the drawings back and contradictions of any regenerate part in you but onely the knowledge you have that such and such things are sin and evil contradicted it which even the wicked and abominable in some measure have Which if so you are not able to say with Paul from sure experience that your inward man delighted in the Law of God Rom 7.22 And that you were carried captive to the evil by the Law in the members ver 23. And that you were overtaken with sin Gal. 6.1 And not that you overtook sin though possibly you may have these words in your mouths but alas if they are not true as to your condition you do but deceive your selves thereby thinking your selves to be what you are not Neither think to say within your selves Because you do nothing but that you are able to shew some seeming ground and reason for your so doing that therefore you have ground to believe Gods Promises reaches you for that you may be able to do as could Saul and the people with him for their sparing the best of the Sheep and Oxen and yet nevertheless live after the flesh the which whosoever doth shall die eternally My meaning in many cases of this nature more clearly you shall understand by this one instance namely A certain carnal man beholding a very new and curious fashion in matter of Apparel presently falls in love with it enters into Bed and commits Adultery therewith but having received some Light from the Word that Saints should not fashion themselves according to their former

desiring of God the blessing of Remission of sins thou desirest not more of him than what he did freely for thee before thou desiredst it of him yea when thou wast an enemy to him And with these Considerations consider That if you shall distrust his mercy it renders you altogether uncapable to please God For without Faith 't is impossible to please God for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him From these and such like considerations how may you be encouraged to throw your selves upon Gods Grace rejecting all fleshly staggerings at the Promises of God through unbelief that you may receive what is promised by Faith in the Promises even the sure and certain Pardon of all your sins that the hands which have hung down by reason of sin laying upon the Soul may be lift up with praises to God and the feeble knees now made strong and lively in the true sence of the Fathers love shining to the Soul and then Oh! then with what boldness courage and confidence may you go to God for the manifold Operations and Discoveries of his Holy Spirit your sins being pardoned and your iniquities washed away by Faith in Christ What state or condition is there that possibly you can fall into through the utmost rage either of the world or Satan or both wherein there is not a Promise of God either to be delivered out of it or wonderfully to be supported and comforted in it All which Promises lyes before as tendred to such that by Faith are justified from sin whereon they by Faith may take hold and so therein rejoyce for evermore in all conditions If at any time the believing man fall into calamity and great tribulation he presently considers where his Refuge is and believes in God who hath said that he will be with his People in all their troubles and so during his continuance in the tribulation he experiences the truth of that within himself which he hath read was in others even tribulation working patience in him and patience experience in him and experience hope in him which makes him bold and not ashamed before all those that trouble him Rom. 5. and at length possibly is delivered from all his troubles and so made able to say with the Prophet I trusted in the Lord and he hath delivered me If at any time the believing man through the unexpected events of things come to be clouded with many piercing cares and Soul-vexations he considers that 't is written we should cast all our care upon God for he careth for us 1 Pet. 5.7 And through Faith he receives this word and so it becomes to him an engrafted word planted in his understanding concluding that he having on his side a word from God to care for him hath more on his side to free him from those piercing cares than if all the world were joyned together for his freedom so mightily doth he magnifie Gods Word in his heart Thus he believingly commits all and casts all his cares upon God and while others onely talk and read of being careful for nothing this believing man experiences the condition being supported in his serious consideration that God who hath declared himself willing to care for his People is every way more able to care for them than they for themselves And also how unsafe it is for them to trust to or lean upon their own understandings as former experiences sufficiently declare therefore this man believing in God is delivered and cared for by God and so made able to say what the Lord hath done for his Soul If at any time by reason of Wars and rumours of Wars or the great frowns of great men many fears shall assault the believing man he well remembers that these things must first be before the possession of the Kingdom and he while others that are not in Davids integrity and so not in his Faith yet talks much of his words but out of his life I say he even the believing man truly in both Davids Integrity and Faith in Davids words boldly saith The Lord is my Light my Strength and my Salvation of whom shall I be afraid though an Host should encamp against me my heart shall not fear though War should rise against me in this will I be confident Psal 27.1,2,3 If the believing man at any time fall into reproaches persecution for Christs sake by Faith he takes hold of the good and powerful hand of God to support him and in the greatest of afflictions to comfort him Faith so acquaints the Soul with the unspeakable riches and glory of Christ in the time of his suffering for him as that Moses-like he esteems the reproaches of him greater riches than the pleasure of sin for a season so he endures the persecution by Faith seeing him and his glory which he hath promised even him who is invisible If the believing man fall into temptation he remembers how 't is written 1 Cor. 10.13 that God is faithful and so will not suffer his People to be tempted above what they are able to bear Which word while among others onely talked of this man embraces often considers upon it leans and in it is comforted not suffering the violence of the temptation nor any unlikeliness of deliverance by other means to take the least place in his heart which is not an evil heart in departing from the living God Heb. 3.12 but a true heart drawing nigh unto God Heb. 10.22 whereby that should make the word of Promise of no effect but rather considers that God knows how to deliver the godly and that he is every way able to deliver them out of temptations If at any time Trading fail or loss of Goods come or Lands and Livings be taken away and he that is the believing man thereby come to be indebted yet he considers that Gods Promises fail not though all these things somewhat frown upon him and therefore he shelters himself in Gods most holy Word and waites patiently by Faith yea though he may see little or nothing in sight yea and no wayes able to conceive how he shall be in a capacity to live for the future which more than a little will trouble flesh and blood which would live by sight all which makes not him stagger or if stagger he do yet he falls not but keeps close to Gods Word magnifies it greatly in his heart knowing no reason why he should more esteem Gods Commandements than his Promises he therefore prises them above Gold yea fine Gold concluding that they are a more surer maintenance than the possessing of Kingdoms and so speaks peace and much satisfaction to himself through believing taking joyfully the loss or spoiling of goods rejoycing that he hath a merciful God on his side that knows all his wants yea and that is able to make that little Pot of Oyl which yet onely remains so wonderfully to encrease

as that he therewith may be able both to pay his debts and to live comfortably on the rest 2 Kings 4.2,7 Wherefore he makes it his great work to seek first the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof being that which is required on his part in the doing of which he believingly waits for the fulfilling of that promised on Gods part namely that he will add all such things being also encouraged in this his confidence with those weighty considerations published by the Lord Jesus for that very end to beget Faith in his Disciples namely that God doth feed the Sparrows and richly cloath the Lillies of the Field and therefore surely will much more take care for those that are his adopted children for whom he spared not his own Son to do them good and therefore as the Apostle reasoneth most surely will with him the mercy of mercies freely give all other good things Also this believing man considers that if he should care and carp doing what possibly can be done yet cannot add one cubit to his stature as Christ witnesseth as his own former experiences witnesseth and as the apparent event and issues of mens carping cares and intemperate thoughts witnesseth therefore he with all seriousness and readiness of mind commits his condition to the gracious God who hath promised never to leave nor forsake his People so that he boldly prayes to God for his daily bread and as confidently expects it of him yea and as certainly receives from him which he receives with thanksgiving being one of them that believes and knows the truth And thus while others depend upon visible things and so have them to wit Lands Livings Tradings Relations Powers often in their minds affections and consequently under many piercing cares and Soul-vexations while depending thereupon while others I say are thus the believing man whose dependance is not upon things that are seen but upon the Lord contrariwise hath the Lord often and much in his mind for men are apt to mind that which is their constant help and so this man having the Lord much in his mind is thereby wrought into his fear kept tender of his glory and greatly affected with and much desirous of the much-wanted presence of his good Spirit and thus his mind and the Meditations of his heart is much in Heaven with God in Faith praying unto him for the same and much there expecting what in Faith he hath prayed for and having received much there also in praysing his Name therefore by all which he is become much heavenly-minded spiritually framed able to say as they of old My conversation is in Heaven when others onely reads of it and talks of it but knows it not in themselves O therefore how much more blessed is it to live by Faith than by sight it being both a God exalting and a Creature-comforting state and condition But why do I speak these things Not because I think that any will say in words that 't is better to live by sight than by Faith But alas What is it for men to acknowledge what is best and yet still abide in what is worst For I would pray you to consider whether or no it be not some visible thing in present being that gives you your hopes of daily bread rather than the sure Promises of God Is it not both your words and in your inward thoughts that you hope to live comfortably and to bring the year well about in that you have either Lands in possession as your own or a good Farm or good Trading or good Friends or the like If not so I would know what means then the usual complaints discontents great fears and vexations of spirit when at any time these outward things fail or begin to fail If your hopes did arise from the onely pure fountain to wit Gods gracious Promises Why then should you be so disquieted For the decaying or failing in measure of these outward things doth not make Gods Promises to be no Promises he abideth faithful and all his Promises are Yea and Amen in Christ You indeed may sometimes in the time of need and in the day of trouble pray unto God that he would give you daily bread and that he would deliver you out of trouble it being generally known that Saints should do so and from hence conclude that your dependance is upon God and possibly you may be a telling others that you desire and Oh! how good a thing it is to trust in God and rely upon him in all conditions c. When alas and for the Lords sake consider it you all that while may be far from trusting in God indeed and even such who draw nigh to God with your mouths when your hearts may be far from God even depending upon and trusting in things visible instead of a heatty believing in God whom you pray unto with a serious and constant waiting upon him for to receive that which you have asked of him Contrariwise as the Faith of the Faithful renders them happy and in all conditions comfortable so the Unbelief of the Unbeliever renders him miserable and in all conditions comfortless it being a most bitter root from whence springs many yea a very great multitude of corrupt branches the fruit whereof hath so mightily corrupted the earth for the purging of which there is but little hopes till such time the bitter root to wit Unbelief be plucked up out of the hearts of the Sons and Daughters of men which remaining in the hearts of the Children of Israel kept them out of the promised Land for although their sins were many bearing divers names yet by the Apostle Heb. 3.19 't is said They entred not 〈◊〉 because of their unbelief as if that were the root or cause of all or most of the rest And again those that did enter in in after-times were broken off because of unbelief Rom. 11.20 In some certain places Christ did not do many mighty works because of their unbelief Mark 6.5 Mat. 13.58 He that believeth not is condemned already because he believeth not in the onely begotten Son of God John 3.18 For what consider I pray you is the cause of mens so dishonouring God by transgression Hath not Israel heard doth not Israel know Yes verily they have both heard and known but the Word preached doth not profit them not being mixed with Faith in them that hear it Heb. 4.2 They well know that they should improve their time to the best advantage sometimes in the Closet in serious and sober Meditations sometimes in solemn Prayer and Supplications to ●od and sometimes in Praying with Fasting but alas Unbelief riseth up and too much keeps under the Light of Truth in their Souls filling them with distrustful thoughts even how then they shall live and maintain their Families Wherewith to eat and wherewith to put on if thus they should spend their time And so it comes to pass that men too too much are found dwelling