Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	deed_n	light_n	manifest_a	2,272	5	9.7572	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09971	Grace to the humble· As preparations to receive the Sacrament. Preached by the late famous preacher Iohn Preston, Doctor of Divinity, and chaplen in ordinary to his Mtie. Master of Immanuel Colledge, and sometimes preacher in Lincolnes-Inne.	Preston, John, 1587-1628.	1639 (1639)	STC 20228; ESTC S106423	39,427	175

be disgraced willing to be shifted from vessell to vessell from condition to condition so hee have God in heaven what becomes of him hee cares not He counts Christ his greatest good and sinne his greatest evill He cares not what he looseth so hee can get God such a man will deny himselfe and no man else we may see this disposition in Paul if God will not have him preach in Bithinia what desire soever he hath he will not doe it if God will have him shut up in prison hee is content whatsoever it was hee would doe it So in David we shall finde the same disposition if God will take away his kingdome from him let him doe what seemes good in his sight If God send Shimeah to curse him God the Lord hath bidden him curse David and let him doe it and when hee was loaden with reproaches hee was a dumbe man because God did it And his words to M●chal shew the reason of it I will bee more vile then this and will be low in mine owne eyes and sight This shewes he thought himselfe vile before but yet because God called him to it hee will bee more vile but take a man of a contrary disposition that hath a proud heart that will have such a thing or else all is marred such a man will not deny himselfe if God come to him aske his credit or riches or any thing else hee will not doe it hee resists God and God resists him But God gives grace to the humble that is he shews favour to him whatsoever he asketh he will grant him Secondly if you would know whether you deny your selves consider whether you doe it in time of difficultie when lust and oppertunity meete together it is no matter what you say in cold blood A Pilots skill is in time of tempest and a souldiers valour is in the heat of a battle when you have no occasion to bee intemperate it is nothing but when a faire way is layd open to you and you can deny your lust his opportunity it shewes you deny your selve To professe Christ in a wicked and adulterous generation when he hath some opposition to the contrary is a tryall to a man If a man can hate all sinnes so as hee would not commit any for the greatest gaine As David would not touch the Lords annointed for a kingdome when he would not omit the least good to avoyd the greatest evill as Daniel would not omit prayer for the saving of his honour and of his life See what you would doe when the Lord and your flesh stand in competition when the conscience shall bring you a message the Lord hath neede of such a thing and the flesh shall say I have neede of such a thing contrary to it what should wee doe in such cases Indeede it is no tryall else except a man bee earnest with himselfe when hee importunes hims●lfe when a man is easie to deny himselfe i●s no tryall set your particular humors your personall sinnes if you set your selves to deny them when God would try Abraham whether hee preferred his will before his owne will he tries him in that whereon his affections were most set the offering of his sonne Isaac and thereupon God pronounceth the sentence I know that thou lovest me seeing for my sake thou hast not with held thy onely sonne If there bee any thing on which our hear●s are more set God tries us there if we deny our selv●s there then wee have the selfe denyall Consider whether you are willing to bee fully enlightned whether you are content to have a through information to sift the matter to the branne then you have this selfe deniall but when he hath secret whisperings in his conscience and yet will shut his eyes will not see to and fro this man whatsoever he pretendeth hee sinneth against his conscience therefore consider this in Balaams case if wee looke upon Balaams carriage he seemed to deny himselfe as much as a man could doe if thou wouldest give mee this house full of gold and silver I could not doe except God commanded mee but he would not seeke this out hee sought the wages of Iniquity there was a crevis of light but hee would not search out the truth such a case was that of Iohanan hee came to Ieremiah and said unto him according to all things for which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us whether it bee good or evill wee will obey the voyce of the Lord God Ieremiah comes and tels him againe this is the businesse but withall I must tell thee you dissembled in your hearts when you sent me to the Lord your God he discovers his hypocrisie to him To bee throughly informed to sift the things before you doe it is a signe of selfe denyall it is ill halting before men but God hee knoweth the Spirit so the meaning of the flesh and mans conscience Gods witnesse will finde us out Therefore of the Ministers of the Word saith Saint Paul we approve our selves to the consciences of men not to the wits humors and wills but to the consciences and the truth will alwayes joyne together Let us not shut up this truth in darkenesse he that doth truth saith our Saviour commeth to the light that his deedes might bee manifest It is a Metaphor taken from such who when they would throughly know what cloth it is they hold it up against the Sunne to see if it bee moth eaten or not or whether it have any other fault therefore take heede of false pretences A man if hee were convinced of them hee would bee more carefull and religious in his wayes but he thinkes it superstitious hee would bee more wary of his company but hee ●akes it for morosity and nicenesse but if you would sift your selves there would be some signe of selfe denyall but now for what end is all this it is not to discourage any it is not for the end that any should bee dejected in the wayes of God it is not for destruction but for instruction It is for this that you may judge aright of your selves but now at last you will beginne to s●y I would doe this duty if I knew how to performe and therefore I will shew you how to deny your selves If you will bee enabled to deny your selves you must get another man into your selves then you have by nature If a man hath nothing but that which hee hath by nature his flesh sinne and corruption and the outward bulke of soule and body whereby he consists when there is nothing else in a man when he hath no other selfe in himselfe then it is impossible for him to deny himselfe but if a man hath another man in himselfe if hee have the regenerate part in him then this is easy let a man reckon the regenerate himselfe then hee will let all goe rather then let himselfe be destroyed

offered a masse of Gold to the building of the temple out of my poverty saith he I have offered unto thee Why because hee thought God worthy of all and more then hee had therefore he thought himselfe poore Secondly Faith labour to act that consider the reasons of those great denyers of themselves they did so more then wee because they beleeved more what was the reason of Moses selfe denyall Hee feared not the fiercenesse of the crosse because hee saw him which was invisible that is hee beleeved the anger of God was greater then the anger of Pharaoh And that the love of God was greater then the love of Pharaoh and therefore hee had an eye unto the recompence of reward Goe and sell all that thou hast and thou shalt have treasure in heaven Christ bids the young man in the Gospel if hee had beleeved he would have done it for the Saints they suffered with joy the spoyling of their goods knowing in themselves how they have a better and more enduring substance So Paul they wondered that hee had endured so much but he saith therefore wee labour and are rebuked because wee trust in the living God which is the Saviour of all men especially of such as beleeve Let a man stirre up his love that will make him move him to deny himselfe we know what is sayd of love there Love suffers long it is bountifull it seeks not her selfe it will deny her selfe for Christs sake as Paul did The love of Christ carryed him thorough all bonds and afflictions were nothing to him if a man would labour to encrease his love the more love the more selfe denyall and the more knowledge the readier wee are to deny our selves Lastly when you come to any particular case wherein you come to deny your selves bring arguments give not over till you have brought your selves to some conclusion For this consider these things First put case you deny your selves in any pleasure you gaine more pleasure by it for no man ever loosed by denying himselfe for he doth gaine peace of conscience and joy in the holy Ghost Secondly consider if you deny your selves you doe wipe away your blot and it is a great matter to keepe your selves blamelesse with God and spotlesse with the world Thirdly if you give way to your inordinate desires you shall bee subject to a hundred indigences and it is a mans happinesse that he meets as little as he can but to stand on his owne bottome Againe consider if you deny your selves in such a case you are freed from the greatest bondage that can be as Paul said you will not be brought under the power of any thing by denying your lusts you gaine the greatest freedome that can be Againe consider if you yeeld to your selves in any thing where your affection is inordinate there your crosse will be as Ammons crosse was in his Tamar Absoloms in his kingdome David in his Absolom strong affections bring strong afflictions Last of all consider if you yeeld to such a desire it will never make an end for you doe but adde fewell to the fire the greater the fire is the more fewell it requires and there is no way to extinguish our desires but to put out the very sparkes of our lust therefore in any particular case of lust never give over till you have brought your selves to this resolution whether it is best to deny my selfe or not to deny my selfe FINIS GRACE TO THE HVMBLE The fifth SERMO● LVK. 9.23 And he sayd to them all if any will come after me let him deny himselfe and take up his Crosse daily and follow me A Second doctrine is this that the wayes of God are full of crosses and difficulties for Christ would not give them a warning to no purpose hee would not tell men that they that come to him must take up their crosse daily and follow him unlesse his wayes were full of difficulties The third Doctrine is That notwithstanding this difficulty wee must goe thorough the wayes of God though they bee never so full of difficulty and crosses They are full of crosses and that in foure respects It must needes be so from Gods providence hee hath ordeined so it is his will that all those that are members of his sonne and have interest in him should bee made conformable to his sonne And hee through many tribulations entred into the kingdome so should they and if there were no other reason wee should rest in this for in many things wee have no reason but Gods will As thou hast hid these from the wise and men of understanding and hast revealed to fooles even so Father for thy good pleasure was such and partly hee doth it that there may bee a witnesse borne to the truth Now there is a twofold witnesse First a witnesse in words which may bee done without crosses Secondly a witnesse in deedes when with mans blood there is a witnesse borne to the truth and this is called a good witnesse Christs witnesse is a good witnesse before Pontius Pilate for it is better then that which is in word onely And to this end God sendeth crosses that hee might give witnesse to the truth And againe that those that are appointed might be tryed that those that are good might bee knowne As it is sayd of heresies there must be heresies even among you that they which are approved among you might bee knowne So it may be said of crosses there must bee crosses that the true members might be distinguished from the worldlings the Gold from the Copper It must needes bee so if wee looke upon the nature of the thing No duty but hath one crosse joyned with it If wee come to reprove a man which must be done yet this will bring losse of credit friends liberty and life as it did Iohn Baptist It cost him his life wee must preach and professe Christ which will bring trouble ignominy and persecution as it did Paul as it did Christ as it did Daniel wee must keepe the Commandements and walke downe right with God and yet this will breed us much trouble this will cause us to be loosers when others are gainers it will cause us to loose many advantages which we might gaine with wicked consciences It must needes bee so in regard of the world the world hates them the world loves her owne and they are opposite to them if they were not opposite to the world or able to resist their forces it might be otherwise but the Saints are of low estate and where the hedge is low every beast will leape over The godly are Antipodes to the world they are of a contrary condition and disposition to the world and therefore it fareth with them as it did with Christ when Christ is come then the thoughts of many hearts shall be opened that is to oppose for before Christ came they thought no