Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	faith_n	heart_n	spirit_n	4,438	5	4.9670	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67307	A sermon preached in Christ-Church before His Excellency the lord deputy and the honorable House of Peers, October the 8th, 1695 being the day appointed for a solemn thanksgiving for the taking the strong cittadel of Namur, and for the other happy successes of His Majesty's forces, and those of his allies in Flanders this campaign / by Edward, Lord Bishop of Down & Connor.	Walkington, Edward.	1695 (1695)	Wing W458; ESTC R38411	13,472	20

monstrous and uncouth production for which humane Nature is not accountable but it may be said perhaps that this sense of a Deity and the pious regards that have been constantly paid to it is a notion invented and instill'd into the minds of men by cunning Politicians who found it difficult to Govern the World without it I confess indeed that to Govern the World without it is not only difficult but impossible which is no disparagment but a great honour to Religion and a great Argument of the truth of it but it does not therefore follow that it was contriv'd by Politicians for besides that it is very hard to conceive that all the Politicians of every Age and Nation in the world should so luckily hit upon the same State Maxim who differ almost in every thing in the world besides I think it is sufficiently unaccountable how the most rude and barbarous Nations and such amongst 'em as never convers'd with a Polititian in their lives shou'd upon the first dawning of Reason discover this Notion in their minds and express it in their practice It remains therefore that Piety and Devotion towards God and the necessity of our Addresses to him which is the thing here exprest by the Fear of the Lord is a dictate of the Law of Nature and is indeed a Consequence easily deducible from our sense of our own wants and of the divine goodness and Power to redress ' em And that these wants are great and this goodness and Power to which we apply our selves for relief infinite are two of the first and principal truths to which the humane understanding does clearly and distinctly attain But we Christians whose understandings are assisted by an additional and greater light the Revelation of the will of God made to us in his holy Word are not only distinctly inform'd of this matter in general but the nature of our wants the several kinds degrees and occasions of 'em the misery of our Condition if they be not redress't the infinite power and unspeakable mercies of God the great and signal instances of his favour to sinful men his kind and gracious invitations of those who have provok'd him and his promise of receiving 'em as oft as they make their applications in the way that he has prescrib'd are all reval'd to us in Scripture and every one of these is a clear and forcible Argument upon us to fix in our minds this Fear of the Lord this habit of Reverence and this resolution of waiting upon him in his holy Ordinances for a supply and continuance of his benefits If we look into our wants they are such as either relate to our Spiritual or Temporal Conditions Our Spiritual Condition is very deplorable by the fall of our first Parents and by that fomes peccati as the School-men call it which they have communicated to our Natures It has like a strong disease corrupted our whole mass and spead it 's ill influence thro' all the faculties of our souls It has blinded our understandings with error and prejudice and perverted our wills with our lusts passions insomuch that scarce our most holy duties are free from some or other ill consequence of this unhappy State This is the cause why when we are about to do good evil is present with us this is the War in our members this is the Carnal lust that resists the Spirit and is at Enmity with God A sett of Expressions that do extreamly well represent the great power that this pollution of our Natures has upon us and seem to intimate that our slavery under it is so great that it comes near to destroy even the freedom of our wills In short this is it which in our Prayers deads our Faith our fervency our trust and affiance in God and our close attention upon that holy duty This is it that casts in impertinent thoughts loose desires wrong ends and the like which are as so many blemishes in our Sacrifice This is it that in our hearing or reading the divine truths possesses our minds with prejudice inadvertency misapplication and sometimes with down-right Infidelity which makes it a Savour not of Life unto Life but of Death unto Death to minds so fatally corrupted In fine this is it that in our most serious meditations upon our great eternal concern make us light and unsettl'd driving to no point or issue fixing no firm immoveable Resolution of a sincere uniforn obedience to the will of God Against this deplorable condition we have no relief but by our applications and addresses to the Throne of Grace zealous and frequent acts of which make up this habit of Piety or fear of the Lord which makes us acquainted with his great and glorious Attributes as that his infinite power makes him able and his infinite goodness willing to relieve us which he does by sending the Comforter the blessed Spirit of Grace by whose assistance and influence we have full redress of all our wants and hardships This powerful influence of the Spirit of God like a good medicine diffuses its vertue every where applys it self to every disaffected part It bears down before it the dulness and prejudice of our understandings with the strength and clearness of the divine truths and with a sweet and endearing violence it sets upon our wills and unruly affections and subdues 'em to the obedience of Faith This efficacy of the Spirit of God upon the minds of men is call'd by the Prophet Jeremiah the writing the Law in the heart and putting it into the inward parts It is call'd by our Saviour the Father's teaching the holy Spirit 's convincing men of sin of righteousness and judgment and the Apostle St. Paul calls it the spiritual revelation of Wisdom out of the Word unto the Conscience And thus I have shew'd you the reasonableness and necessity of Piety or the devotional part of Religion which is here call'd the Fear of the Lord with regard to our spiritual wants and the way of redressing ' em Our temporal wants will be considered either as we are single persons or as we are united into a Body-Politick under the same common Laws and Government As to our temporal wants which concern us as we are single persons they are such as make us to depend upon providence for the smallest things we enjoy The very preservation of our Beings is but a continued creation which makes infinite providence as necessary to preserve as infinite power to create us The common accidents of humane life are so obvious and yet so unavoidable that no man living can either by his wisdom foresee or by his power and greatness prevent ' em The health and vigour of the strong the plenty of the rich and the honours of the great and powerful are such as the possessors of 'em cannot command their stay nay whilst they do enjoy 'em they generally have those cares and anxieties to attend 'em that usually embitter the sweetest of '

em We have read indeed of a certain perfect happiness which a wise man was to create within himself even in this world without any regard to any thing without him or above him to arrive at which did sufficiently exercise the wits and expose the follies of some of the ancient Philosophers amongst whom some were to feel no pain in a fitt of the Gout or Stone nor to know any difference between Phalaris's Bull and a cool Grotto All which was but a meer notion that never came to any more than a few empty words For some of the great pretenders to it have shew'd themselves but men and weak ones too in some of the ordinary hardships and calamities of humane life Contentment with our condition tho a thing much talk'd of by many and tho many specious Rules are laid down for the attainment of it being scarce ever known on this side Heaven insomuch that nothing can possibly make any condition of life easy or supportable to any man that has not an eye to something that can ease him of the difficulties that attend the acquisition and of the griefs and anxieties that follow the loss of these worldly enjoyments and that must be no other than that great and glorious Being who commands 'em all and disposeth of 'em as seems best to his Godly Wisdom And whosoever fixeth this Principle in his mind and acts in pursuance of it that creat's case and satisfaction to himself from the knowledge contemplation of this Wise and Almighty Being and from an intire trust and dependance upon him who has commanded him to make his addresses to him and has promis'd to answer 'em that 's the wise man that 's he that observes and considers well what God commands by the mouth of the Prophet Jeremiah Let not the wise man glory in his Wisdom neither let the mighty man glory in his might let not the rich man glory in his Riches but let him that glory 's glory in this That he understandeth and knoweth me that I am the Lord which exercise Loving-kindness Judgment and Righteousness in the Earth Neither do we stand less in need of the goodness mercy bounty of God as we are united into Societies and bodies politick under the same common Laws and Government than as we are single persons Peace plenty trade and commerce fidelity justice amity union of interests and affections amongst our selves a hearty zealous concern for the publick-weal success of our negotiations with our Allies and Friends and victory over our Enemies being all the Blessings of Heaven and as needful for the support of a Kingdom or Common-wealth as food raiment health of body and tranquility of mind for the behoof of any single person To whom then are we to apply our selves for all or any of these but to that great and glorious Being who has perfect knowledge and wisdom to understand our wants unspeakeable love and goodness to incline him and Almighty power to enable him to relieve us Perfect Knowledge for his understanding is infinite unspeakable love and goodness for he has told us that his mercy is over all his works that he is the helper of the friendless and tho' our Father and Mother forsake us yet will not he and Almighty Power because we are assur'd that all power belongs to God that the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength and whatsoever he pleases he do's both in Heaven and Earth and in the Sea and in all deep places And these are the reasons directions and incouragements to this great duty of fearing the Lord or that habit of Devotion or Piety to God which is here suppos'd in those who are call'd upon to bless the Lord. We have discover'd it to be a dictate of the Law of Nature and that it is founded upon the sense of our own wants both spiritual and temporal and the wisdom power and goodness of God to redress ' em I come now to consider the Duty it self of Blessing God Concerning which I shall shew you first wherein it consists And then I shall shew you that they that fear the Lord are the only persons rightly qualify'd for the performance of this duty By Blessing the Lord then We understand in this place our doing him all possible Honour in our thoughts words and actions and zealously endeavouring every one in his station that others may do him honour The ingredients of honour are Love and Fear and its object is goodness and Power united Goodness without Power beget's Love only and Power without Goodness beget's nothing but a slavish Fear but both together beget a certain affectionate Reverence and Esteem which we call honour If this regard be confin'd to the thoughts only it is no other than a high estimation of those Excellencies and Perfections with which he is so eminently endow'd as to deserve our Love and Reverence If it break out into words it becomes either praise or thanks and these denote our design to let others know the esteem we have for the person whom we honour together with the grateful sense we have of his past Favours and our readiness to make the best returns we can for any other that he shall from time to time vouchsafe to confer upon us but when it proceeds from Words to Actions then it shews that we are in earnest then we shew the truth and sincerity both of our hearts and words and that we are resolv'd to omit no occasion of demonstrating to the World the value we have for him whom we honour And this is what is expected even by mortal men to whom we pay this regard and consequently cannot be deny'd to God in a more eminent manner that is in due proportion to his infinite power and goodness And tho that honour that is confin'd to the thoughts being no more than a due estimation of those Excellencies and Perfections that are in God especially his goodness and power does at first appear to be an act of the Judgment only and proceeding from a faculty that is not free do's not seem to deserve the name of a duty can claim no praise nor expect a reward yet such is the connexion of the will and the understanding and such is their dependance one upon another in their operations that they frequently partake of the vertues and defects of each other and not only the understanding guides the will but the will inclines and disposes the understanding to good as well as to evil acts or else why should infidelity be a Sin and Faith a Vertue but that they are so is certain For the Scripture plainly declares 'em to be such and the reason is plain for as a docile and tractable disposition of mind humility the Love of Truth and a hearty endeavour to attain it do beget Faith So Pride and ill Nature a Stupid Sloath Obstinacy Prejudice and a resolution to indulge out lusts and passions are the Parents of Infidelity We are not therefore to look