Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	church_n	holy_a	word_n	6,560	5	4.2187	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49244	Grace: the truth and growth and different degrees thereof. The summe and substance of XV. sermons. Preached by that faithful and painful servant of Jesus Christ, Mr. Christopher Love, late minister of Lawrence Jury, London. They being his last sermons. To which is added a funerall sermon, being the very last sermon he ever preached.	Love, Christopher, 1618-1651.; Cross, Thomas, fl. 1632-1682, engraver.	1652 (1652)	Wing L3156; ESTC R214001	127,409	242

and designed by the Father to give out grace to his people for so Christ speaks of himself I came down from heaven not to do mine own wil but the wil of him that sent me Now it is the will of God that from Christ believers should receive both justifying and sanctifying grace Our sanctification is Gods Will and Christ came to fulfil that will of God for so speaks the Apostle Sacrifice and offering and burnt-offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not neither hast pleasure therein then said I Lo I come to do thy will Ob God by which Will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Iesus Christ once for all So that the Will of God the Father and the Will of Jesus Christ are the same in the bestowing of grace Jesus Christ received a commission from God the Father to bestow grace upon his people and will you see how that Commission runs you shal finde it in the Prophet Isaiah The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek he hath sent me to binde up the breken hearted to proclaim liberty to the Captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound Christ had a Commission under his Fathers hand and Seale For him hath the father sealed Joseph received authority from Pharaoh and it was no dishonour to Pharaoh that Ieseph was commissionated to issue out all the stores of corne to the Egyptians in the time of that famine no more is it any dishonour to the Father that Jesus Christ doth bestow and convey grace upon believers But doth not this put the Spirit out of office who is called the holy Spirit and the Spirit of grace because he doth work grace and holinesse in the hearts of the People of God What Christ is said to work that the holy Spirit also doth because by the Spirit of God Christ worketh It is a good rule that the works of the blessed Trinity ad extra are undivided all those works which are external and relative to the creatures as to create preserve redeem sanctifie c. are in respect of the things wrought equally common to all the Persons of the blessed Trinity So that we may say whatsoever things that the Father doth those things doe the Son likewise and those things also doth the Holy Ghost the work of Sanctification is equally ascribed unto all the Persons God the Father sanctifies his people God the Son doth sanctifie his members for he is their sanctifications He loved the Church and gave himselfe for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water through the Word And yet the work of Sanctification is most frequently ascribed to the Holy Ghost Goodnesse Righteousness and Truth and indeed all grace being called the fruit of the Spirit and the Spirit is called the Spirit of grace and supplication and the Spirit of holinesse and sanctification So our Regeneration is ascribed unto God the Father Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again to a lively hope And so also we are the children of Christ by Regeneration for in this respect Christ is called the Father of Eternity Behold saith the Prophet in the name of Christ I and the children which thou hast given me and that there the Prophet speaks of Christ is cleare from the application of it to him in the Epistle to the Hebrews Behold I and the children which God hath given me Neither is the Holy Ghost excluded from this working of grace regeneration in us for Christ tels Nicodemus that except a man be born again except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdome of God So it is said that God the Father blessed Abraham and yet the blessing of Abraham came upon the Gentiles through Christ that they might receive the promise of the Spirit By all which instances it doth appear that though there are divers●ties of gifts yet the same Spirit and though there are differences of administrations yet the same Lord Jesus Christ the Author of all grace through the holy Spirit 2. The reason and ground of this why Jesus Christ is the Author Purchaser and conveyer of grace to his People is 1. Because God the Father hath appointed Jesus Christ as Mediatour to transact the great work of sanctifying and saving his Elect 2. Because by this shall the reproach be rowled away from Christ who in his life time was reputed the greatest of all Male-factors and accordingly suffered death They were wont to say can any good come 〈◊〉 of Nazareth God hath therefore given him a name above all names that he should not only be anointed with oyl above his fellows by his receiving the Spirit without measure but that the oyl that was poured upon the head of our High-Priest should run down upon the skirts of his garments and that grace which was abundant in him should also be redundant to his Church and run down and diffuse it self to all his members 3. To manifest that Jesus Christ was the second Adam and came into the world to repaire the breaches which the sin of the first Adam had made For by the fall we did not only contract upon our selves the guilt of Adams sin to take off which we have need of the righteousnesse of Christ imputed but we have drawn upon our selves the filthinesse and pollution of sin to take away the power whereof only the grace holinesse and inherent righteousnesse of Christ imputed to us doth avail and as the first Adam was the Author and conveyer both of the guilt filthinesse and punishments of sin to his posterity so Jesus Christ the second Adam conveighs the life of grace into all his As the first Adam was the author to communicate natural life as he was made a living soule so the second Adam did communicate the spiritual life of grace as he was made a quickuing spirit From the first Adam by natural generation and propagation we receive corruption for corruption so from the second Adam we receive grace for grace 1. Vse of this Doctrine is for Confutation 1. Of the Socinians errour who say that all grace in Christ whether his active or passive righteousnesse was only to qualifie his person and to merit his own glorification without any reference unto us unlesse as an exemplar or patterne But this opinion is sufficiently confuted by this Doctrine by which hath been shown that as all our grace is from Christ so that abundance of grace that is in Christ is for us As the woman hath abundance of milk in her brest not for her self but for her childe and the Sun hath abundance of light not for it self but for the world So Jesus Christ is

Gods people have appealed unto God concerning the uprightnesse of their hearts meerly by their desires so saith the Church The d●sire of our soul is to thy name and the remembrance of thee and with my soul have I desired thee in the night 2. God hath made many gracious promises not only to the acting and exercising of grace but to the desires after grace Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after Righteousnesse for they shal be filled If any man thirst saith Christ let him come unto me and drink nay there is a general and universal invitation to every one that thirsteth to come to the waters and God hath promised to give to him that is at hirst of the fountain of the water of life freely The Lord hath promised to fulfil the desire of those that fear him and wil heare the desire of the humble So that by these promises it doth appear that hungring and thirsting desires after grace are graces in Gods account and acceptation Now lest men should rest in lazy and sluggish desires and thereby neglect the exercise of grace I shall give you an account in what sense the Scripture reckons upon desires after grace to be grace 1. They are supernatural desires 'T is true there are natural desires in the soul after that which is good it is the language of nature Who wil show us any good now these desires may and do arise from the motion of the natural and unsanctified will of man and these desires are after happinesse and not after holinesse such were the desires of Balaam who said Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his This was but a natural desire But true desires in the soul are after heaven for holinesse sake Bernard notably sets out these desires of natural men That they have a desire of the End and not of the Means 2. Desires after grace are joyned with holy indeavours and therefore the Apostle joyns desire and zeal together to intimate that true desires are alwayes joyned with zealous indeavours Thus the Apostle also joyneth a readinesse of will and performance together God will never accept the will for the deed unlesse there be an indeavour to performe what we say we are willing to do And therefore Solomon rightly describes how pernicious desires are without indeavours The desires of the flothfull saith he kil him because his hands refuse to labour Bernard describes the lazinesse to the life Carnal men love to obtain but love not to follow Christ they will not indeavour to seek him whom they desire so finde 3. Desires which are true and gratious are unsatisfiable thus David speaks of his desires My soul saith he breaketh for the longing it hath to thy judgments at all times yea he further describ es the ardency and unsatisfiablenesse of his desires by the Harts panting after the water-brooks The Hart is naturally the most thirsty of all creatures but this thirst is much increased when the poor beast is chased with dogs even so the true desires of the soul after grace are earnest ardent and vehement desires 4. You may know true desires after grace by their Object Desires they are not gracious if they be more after outward things then after God So David My soul thirsteth after God after the living God My soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth after thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is Thus his soul longed and did break with longing after Gods judgements Now therefore wouldest thou know whether thou hast any begining of grace in thy soul examine what thy desires are perhaps thou canst not pray but thou desirest to pray perhaps thou canst not mourn for sin but dost thou mourn that thou canst not mourn Perhaps thou dost not believe as thou fearest but dost thou desire to believe Perhaps thou canst not repent but dost thou desire to repent and dost thou labour to repent Then thou mayest conclude that thou hast some beginnings of true grace in thy soul 5. We may know the truth of grace though it be little by the earnest desire after the Word and the means of grace Thus Peter sets forth our desires As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby There is in a child a natural instinct as soon as ever it is born to desire after the mothers breast the Apostle makes it a resemblance of a spiritual man a man spiritually new born wil desire after the Word the means of grace that he may grow in grace 6. An indeared love to those that have grace By this you know you are past from death to life because you love the brethren Casuists upon this text say that love to Gods children is the first grace and first appears in young converts The natives in New England it is observed upon their conversion for God hath begun there to bring some of those poor creatures from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to himself the first appearance of grace in them is in their love and respect to those that are truly gracious Thus I have shewed you an answer to the question what are the least measures of grace without which or some of them a man cannot be said to have grace and wheresoever any of these are that mans condition is safe and these little measures of grace will bring a man to heaven I shall here lay down some cautions to prevent mis-application Though these small measures of grace are saving yet you must not content your selves with them Take heed lest what I have said for the support of the weaknesse of some Christians become not a pillow for the idleness of others But let us striue to go on unto perfection We must not sit down with any measure of grace And to perswade you hereunto 1. Consider that things meerly necessary and sufficient to maintain a natural life wil not content a man what man is content though he hath clothes enough to hide his nakedness and food enough to keep life and soul together But he desires not onely clothes for nakedness but ornament not only food for hunger and necessity but delight Now shall men be unbounden after their desires for outward things and shall they sit down and say they have enough for heavenly things 2. Consider if thou contentest thy self with a small measure of grace though thou shalt have the fruit of thy grace when thou diest yet thou wilt want the comfort of thy grace whilest thou livest It is strength of grace that gives assurance Weak grace will bring thy soule to heaven but it is the strength of grace will bring heaven into thy soul The work of Righteousness shall be Peace and the effect of Righteousness shall be quietness and assurance for ever A childe of