Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A74977
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The vvorld conquered, or a believers victory over the world Layd open in several sermons on I. John 5.4. By R.A.
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R. A. (Richard Alleine), 1611-1681.
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1668
(1668)
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Wing A1009A; ESTC R230092
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210,189
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352
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can be thus bold with the Lord will be bold with all the world Brethren you that think you shall be bold for the Lord when ever you are put to the tryal that have now a forward mind to own the worship and wayes of God and have hope that in nothing you shall be ashamed but that at all times and in all things Christ shall be magnified in you whether by life or by death let me ask you Have you boldness with God Is he your friend Is it peace betwixt him and your souls How came this peace in time was when there was no peace you were Runawayes and Rebels against God your natural state was a state of enmity are you reconciled by the Bloud of Christ are you returned and become Converts to God hath the Lord been at work with your souls hath he convinced you humbled you broken you slain the enmity and brought you into a Covenant of peace with himself It s dangerous to talk of being bold with God till you are brought home unto God 't is for the stubble to be bold with the flames 't is to dash on the Rock to sleep on the Waves to take Sanctuary in wrath and fury and to trust to indignation as little succour and relief will the unconverted find with the Lord Are you reconciled are you the friends of God Are you of the acquaintance of God friends may grow strangers and strangers cannot be bold Do you use to converse and walk with God how often do you visit him is there constant entercourse and correspondence maintained betwixt the Lord and your souls Are you tender how you break your peace and lose your acquaintance is it your care to walk before him in uprightness do you not ordinarily grieve or offend or carelesly neglect the Lord Is there no allowed treachery or falshood in your hearts to him do you not suffer new quarrels to arise betwixt the Lord and you or if there be have you therein a quarrel against your selves When you offend him do you offend your own hearts Is every sin against God a wound to your own souls are you ever angry with your selves but when God is at peace Is it your constant care to keep all clear and fair betwixt the Lord and you and hereupon can you come boldly before the Throne of Grace and make known your wants and your grievances and ease your hearts by opening them and emptying them into the bosom of your friend fear not this your boldness with the Lord will give you boldness on the behalf of God how frightful soever the case may be Oh take heed that your confidence that you shall stand your ground in the day of tryal be not presumption And certainly whatever your thoughts are at present if you be not the real and inward friends of God now if you have but the name and the face of his Disciples if you follow him for fashion or for company or for novelty if notwithstanding all the regards and respects you profess to have for God and his wayes there be still a Conscience of guile and deceit within if notwithstanding all your heat and forwardness in his publick worship you are strangers to the love and life of God and are still in league with his Enemies serving your flesh and this world And hereupon whatever you do in publick yet you have no freedome in secret with God no secret familiarity no secret entercourses of love and friendship you cannot be bold and open-hearted when you have him alone if you cannot be thus bold with the Lord your promising your selves that you shall be bold for him is your presumption and will deceive you Only let me tell you for fear of discouraging such who should not be discouraged he that hath the ground of this holy boldness that through the bloud of Jesus hath peace with God whose constant care is to please the Lord and to walk before him in his uprightness though by reason of the darkness and misgivings of his troubled trembling heart he scarce dares to call God Father and can hardly at any time look him in the face without fear and shame and hereupon shakes at the fore-thoughts of the day of tryal this poor trembling soul may expect when he is put to it to be enabled to stand as Mount Zion that shall never be removed 2. Boldness in God We were bold in our God 1 Thes 2. 2. This boldness stands in a firm dependence upon God Job 13. 15. Though he kill me yet will I trust in him A resolved Christian will depend upon God for his counsel and conduct Psal 73. 24. Thou wilt guide me with thy counsell he will not lean to his own understanding he is fearful enough to walk in his own counsels he knows that 't is not in man that walketh to order his own steps but withall he knows he hath a better guide he depends on God for his aid and assistance His faith saies the same which Christ saies Isa 50. 7. The Lord God will help me therefore I shall not be confounded therefore have I set my face as a flint and I know that I shall not be ashamed He will keep his way and adventure events and issues upon God God will provide is his encouragement in his most difficult cases and hence he bears up under the most frightful aspect of his present case what ever it be 1 Sam. 30. 6. But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God He was in a great distress and in great danger but yet he bears up All is gone and worse is coming mine enemies have carried away all and my friends are become mine enemies my friends are against me and I have none to stand with me I am in great distress what shall I do But where is the Lord who is the Lord but my God O there 's enough Why art thou cast down O my Soul and why art thou discouraged within me Hope in God be strong and of good courage 3. Boldness for God There is a boldness to which God is nominally entitled which is not boldness for God but for our selves The bold asserting our own conceits and opinions for divine truths the bold imposing our own inventions as the will of God the zealous pursuing matters of religion for our own advantage and crying out over it zeal for God the intemperate insisting on the controverted and questionable matters of religion this our boldness we may call our weakness and wilfulness our pride and selfishness God will never thank you for such boldness father not your follies or phrensies upon the most high God will reward such boldness either with frowns or with fury Boldness for God stands in a constant maintaining our fidelity and allegiance to God in a resolved promoting the real interest and honour of his name and worship a boldness to pray as in the case of Daniel Chap. 6. 10. When the King forbad him a boldness to preach as