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	hear_v	word_n	5,231	5	4.7330	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A76068	A sermon shewing the meanes how we may escape the damnation of Hell. To which end it was preached and is published by N.B.	Basely, N.	1649 (1649)	Wing B1012; Thomason E579_4; ESTC R206165	14,766	23

death not the death of any man not the death of a wicked man Those Infidels that will not believe God upon his word may heare him confirme this truth with an oath Ezek. 33.11 As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turne from his way and live It is Gods wil that all men should Escape this damnation that some Escape it is his great mercy but that many fall into it Wisd 1.13 Vers 16. is from their owne hard and impenitent heart which will not lay hold on Christ and use those meanes which God mercifully affordeth unto them God made not death neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living But ungodly men with their works and words called it unto them And as for Hell it was prepared not for us men * Primarily but for the Devil and his Angels It is the observation of one of the antient Fathers upon those words of Christ Mat. 25.41 So generall that it is contradicted by none of them all But I may seeme to wrong this Christian auditory in that I insist upon the confirmation of that which I am perswaded none here will because I am sure none should deny This I dare assure you confidently that there is not any one of you to whom I speake but may Escape this damnation if he will use the meanes requisite thereunto And that is the next and last particular of which I am to treat How we may Escape c. IV. I doubt not but that this point of doctrine will be glad tidings to every Christian's heart Every one that believeth as every Christian ought to believe that there is a Hell would be very willing to escape the eternall damnation of it And the first meanes to escape this damnation Hell is this 1. Stedfastly to believe that there is such a place of torments where all wicked and impenitent Sinners shall be punished eternally Let it not seeme strange to any that I propose the beliefe of Hell as a meanes to avoid it For certainly if men did stedfastly believe that there are eternall torments prepared for the wicked they would not live thus wickedly It was a just complaint of one of the Heathen that in his time when wickednesse did greatly abound the opinion of Hell was accounted as a Fable onely to affright little Children And it is to be doubted that even among them that professe the Name of Christ there are too many who would willingly perswade themselves that the torments of Hell are but a fiction a thing invented onely to deterre men from sinne For can we imagine that a foule Adulterer a prophane Swearer a common Drunkard a covetous Usurer or any the like wicked man who perseveres in his knowne sinnes would commit those sinnes if he did seriously believe that he should suffer such punishment Would he incurre the eternall paines of Hell for a moment of sinfull pleasure Doubtlesse he would not commit the one if he did believe the other 2. Especially if he did Often and seriously Meditate upon it Which is a second and that a very soveraigne meanes to Escape this damnation of Hell For certainly as I have told you already a very effectuall meanes to prevent our descending into Hell in body and soule is Often to descend thither in our thoughts and meditations He that doth stedfastly believe that there is such a place of torment prepared for the wicked and also frequently meditate upon the eternall horror of that place can hardly commit that finne which should bring him into that place of intolerable and endlesse torment It was the just complaint of Saint Cyprian in his time and it will fit ours much better Nemo futurorum metum cogitat c. No man doth thinke upon the feare of those things that are to come the day of the Lord and the anger of God No man doth consider the punishments which shall be inflicted on the wicked and the eternall torments which are appointed for Vnbelievers Which our conscience would fear if it did believe Because it doth not at all believe it it doth not feare But if it did believe it it would beware of it if it would take heed of it it would escape it Where you see that a good meanes to escape Hell is to believe that there is such a place of horrible torments and often to think upon the horror thereof This if any thing will prevaile with us is most likely to restraine us from sinne and consequently preserve us from damnation For I am strongly of Saint Bernard's opinion that nothing doth preserve us so free from sinne as doth the Love of God and the Feare of Hell As one naile doth drive out another so the fire of Hell doth oftentimes expell the fire of lust and suffers us not to commit that which would make us liable to eternall damnation If we would often call to mind and seriously ponder in our hearts that question which is asked by some Isa 33.14 Who among us shall dwell with the devouring sire Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings It is very likely that we would use all possible meanes to escape that devouring fire those everlasting burnings And let no man thinke it an irksome thing to meditate upon so dismall a subject It is much better to be troubled with the thought of it here than to be stung with the torment of it hereafter For if it be grievous to thinke on it onely how intolerable will be to suffer it for ever Thinke upon Hell often and you will not so often commit sinne By frequent and serious meditation upon Hell you are in a right way to avoid sinne and by avoiding sinne to escape damnation Often present unto your selves the dreadful countenance of that just and angry Judge who will condemne all impenitent Sinners to suffer eternall torments Thinke upon that countenance at which the Angels themselves cannot chuse but tremble Consider the unspeakable paines of that devouring fire those everlasting burnings and above all consider that they are everlasting that shall never have an end Meditate upon these things often and consider them seriously and this meditation will prove a soveraigne preservative against sinne and damnation 3. But you must be carefull to use your utmost endeavour to eschew all the allurements of the Devill whereby he laboureth to draw men into perdition Luke 13.24 and strive you must to enter in at the straight gate which leadeth into the kingdome of heaven how straight so ever it be Let not the honours wealth of pleasures of this world divert you from that way and draw you into that broad way which leadeth unto destruction This is a most profitable and necessary meanes to avoid the damnation of Hell when we shun all those things which are likely to bring us thither He that will escape the eternall torments of the life to come must carefully avoid the

properties If you aske me Who they are that shall suffer this Damnation of hell I will tell you in brief not only who they are but also why they are Damned Who they are that shall suffer these paines of hell the Prophet David tells us in generall terms Psal 9.17 The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the people that forget God All wicked and impenitent Sinners shall be Damned because they forget God and neglect to serve Him and fulfill his commands But to speak more particularly The first that was cast into hell was Lucifer And the cause why was his disobedience of God arising from his abominable pride The Devil was the first Rebell and for that rebellion lost his part in the unconceiable joyes of heaven and suffered the eternall paines of hell And they that take part with him in that or any other sinne shall be sure to suffer the same punishment that he and his Angels doe Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels That is the doom of the wicked pronounced by our Saviour at the last judgement as you may see Mat. 25.41 It was prepared for the Devil and his Angels even all those that disobey God's commands and preferre their owne will before His. For The whole and onely cause of Damnation saith Tertullian is Perversa administratio conditionis à conditis the ill-managing of the Creation by the Creatures that they are the things of this world not according to God's commands but according to their owne will Which gave just occasion to one of the antient Fathers to say That nothing doth burne in hell so much as the stuborne will of a Sinner And hence it is that the sinne of an obstinate and impenitent mind is punished eternally although committed in time and that perhaps a short time because that which was short in acting was long in respect of his stuborne will So that if such Sinners should never die they would never leave off to sinne yea they would alwaies live that they might alwaies sinne As in this life they would not cease from sinne although God did exhort threaten intreat and use all meanes possible So in the other life God will not leave off to punish them although they howle and lament grievously But that which makes the torments of the Damned to be endlesse is a continuall hatred which they have of Almighty God whose justice thus punisheth them And as long as they continue to hate God what mervaile is it if God persevere to punish them As their sinne is so likewise is their punishment without any end Then shall that be truly fulfilled which is written Revel 9.6 In those daies shall men seek death and shall not find it and shall desire to die and death shall flee from them Never was sleep so welcome to a drowsie head Jer. 51.57 as death such as the Prophet Jeremie calls a perpetuall sleep would be to those tormented soules It would be as Justine Martyr calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an unexpected gaine For never did any condemned wretch at the houre of death so much desire life as the Damned amidst their everliving torments doe desire death such a death as might deprive them of all manner of beeing They would most willingly cease to Bee on condition that they might not be thus miserable Faction may drive men into strange opinions little lesse than blasphemie such as their's is who affirme that it is better to be eternally miserable than not to be at all But our Saviour's doctrine will alwaies be true Mat. 26.24 that it had been good for such men if they had never been borne that they never had any beeing at all It is in a case farre more tolerable onely in respect of the miseries of this life that Job wisheth Job 3.16 That he had been as an hidden untimely birth that he had not been as Infants which never saw light Accounting it much better not to have been at all than to suffer the miseries of this short and transitory life How much more were it to be desired by the Damned that they had no beeing at all than that they should alwaies suffer the unspeakable torments of endlesse burnings It is not more certaine that I speake or that you doe heare than it is sure that there is such a Damnation of Hell and that the paines thereof are more dreadfull than any tongue is able to utter or any heart to conceive But the greatest of all those torments is that which I have already told you and doe willingly touch it once againe to the end that you may alwaies remember it That after many thousand millions of ages the Damned are no neerer to the end of their torments than they were the very first minute that they entered into them Once into Hell and never out Then we cannot but now we may Escape this Damnation of Hell III. For unlesse there were a possibility for them to whom Christ spake to Escape this damnation of which He speaketh He would never have preached this Doctrine to them The end of Christ's preaching was the same which ought to be of all ours not to tell men that they are unavoidably damned but to teach them how they may be saved to shew them the meanes how they may escape this damnation The manner of speech which Christ here useth by way of question doth not argue an absolute impossibility but onely a a great difficulty to Escape this damnation of hell Although straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life Mat. 7.14 and few there be that find it yet some there are that find it and our fault it is and onely ours if we be not some of those few who find that way to heaven and so escape this damnation of hell For God would have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth They are Saint Paul's owne words 1 Tim. 2.4 Seing his will is that all men should be saved questionlesse he hath not absolutely decreed that any man should be peremptorily damned These two imply no lesse than a meere contradiction God forbid that Satan should so farre possesse the heart of any man as to perswade him that it were impossible for him to Escape the damnation of hell this were to make him cast off all the meanes which God in his word hath prescribed to that end This were to make all the exhortations admonitions promises and threatnings of God to be of none effect For why should God propose unto men or why should they use the meanes of obtaining salvation if it be not possible for them to Escape damnation God's promises are true and his threatnings serious As he is not mocked so neither doth he mock any man when he tells him Ezek. 18.28 that if he resent and turne from all his transgressions he shall surely live he shall not die God doth not will