Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	father_n	holy_a	spirit_n	8,932	5	5.4539	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61479	The last sermon of Mr. Joseph Stephens late lecturer of St. Giles's Cripplegate, St. Margaret's Loth-bury, and St. Michael's Woodstreet. Together with I. A sermon compos'd by him a little before his death, (but never preach'd, being prevented by his last sickness.) II. A sermon concerning the hopes of the righteous at death. III. A sermon of Jam. IV. verse 17th; Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doth it not, to him it is sin. Lately preachd at the said lectures. All publish'd from his own manuscript copies, fairly written out for the press by himself.	Stevens, Joseph.	1699 (1699)	Wing S5497D; ESTC R220100	32,170	127

he made it his care and business to dress his Soul for the embraces of the Father of Spirits to think that he shall bathe his dilated Faculties in an overflowing River of Pleasures and feed upon an Happiness which is as large as his Capacity and as lasting as his Being to think that as soon as his Soul is stormed out of the outworks of Nature the Angels which are ministring Spirits will convey it into Abraham's Bosom I say such a thought as this upon a Death-bed mitigates the Ragings of an imperious Disease sweetens the bitter Cup and renders the approaches of Death less formidable and scaring Whereas when a Wicked man after repeated Provocations and wilful resistings of Divine Grace is flung by an invisible hand upon his Sick or Death-bed he is presently Arraigned by his injured Conscience and a large Catalogue of all his Sins is opened and read before him he is afraid to Dye because he has all along lived in Rebellion against God And here we may imagine what a surprize the Wretch is in to think that he must live out a long Eternity in unpitiable Sighs and Groans and endure the Vengeance of an irreconcilable God that no sooner will Death cut the Thread of Life but he enters into a World of despairing Ghosts and that at the Day of Judgment must change his unhappy condition for a much worse these are the Thoughts which usually attend ungodly men when they are making their Exit unless they are hardned or deprived of their senses through the Violence of their Distemper This is the last punishment of a vicious course in this Life And one would think that such an uncouth remembrance of things at such a time when a man is under the ill circumstance of an intolerable Distemper when Nature is almost spent the Eyes darkned like a sullied Mirror the Face besmeared with a clammy sweat the whole Body trembling under the Severity of death when the Soul as it were sets hovering upon the Lip just advancing upon the Shoar of another invisible World I say one would think that it were enough to make men afraid of Sin to be thus miserably tormented with the Reflections of it when they are stepping out of this into a wide World of Spirits where their sorrows will be Augmented and the remembrance how they have lived here will afflict them more than to be stung with Snakes whipt with Scorpions and all the Instruments of torture applied unto them And it is no less a prevalent Motive to the Study and Practice of Religion that it influences a man to generous Actions and to order his Conversation so that he shall not be ashamed nor afraid to look back upon the passages of his Life past when he comes to dye but revive his drooping Spirits with the Hope and Assurance of commencing a Happy and Joyful Eternity having in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly Wisdom but by the Grace of God had his Conversation in the World And so says Solomon in the Text The righteous hath hope in his death the consideration of his well-spent Life lifts him up at the last gasp with the confidence of living with God Angels and Saints Which words manifestly imply this Proposition viz That a truly pious and holy Life produces a happy and comfortable Death Now my Business shall be First To prove the Truth of this Then Secondly To persuade Men to the Practice of Religion from the consideration that it brings Peace at the last and qualifies their Souls for the Embraces of the Father of Spirits First then I am to prove the Truth of this viz. That a truly Pious and Holy Life produces a Happy and Comfortable Death which is the same in sense and meaning with what the Wise-man asserts in the Text That the Righteous hath hope in his Death as if he had said That man that Exercises himself daily to have a Conscience void of offence towards God and towards man who by Study and special Arts hath contracted an intire love to God and Religion and lives in a constant and unfeigned Obedience to the Institutions of the Gospel shall be so far from having any frightful Reflection upon what is past or dismal Prospect of what is to come at the time of his Death that the very consideration of his sincerity in the Practice of Religion will revive and cheer his drooping Spirit with the Hope and Assurance of a joyful Resurrection to Eternal Life through the Merits and Satisfaction of Jesus Christ by the imputation of whose Righteousness he shall be enabled to stand blameless before God How true this is our own Experience and Observation tells us When we have visited a Friend Neighbour or Relation who have had their Conversation here in simplicity and godly sincerity with what cheerfulness have they resigned to God's Will and Disposal How little have they been concerned at the Thoughts of approaching Death With what Comfort and Satisfaction have they looked back upon and remembred the general course of their Actions How have they rejoiced in the Testimony of a good Conscience How light and easy did the Yokes of Pain and Sickness set upon them being taken up with the Thoughts of a future happy Life and Established with the assurance of Reigning the Lives of Victorious Saints What Lectures of Admonishment have they delivered to their surviving Acquaintances that they would live in the fear of God and dedicate their days to his Service for that such a Conversation only will bring them peace at the last With what Courage did they meet the King of Terrors How familiar and comfortable were his approaches to them having the same mind which was in the Apostle desirous to be dissolved being confident of spending an Eternity with Christ whose Vertues they endeavoured to imitate and whose Example they made the Pattern and Model of their Actions This is the comfortable State and Condition of good Christians when lying under the unhappy circumstances of Mortal Pains or Sicknesses neither the inconvenience of a crazy and distempered Body nor the fear of Death nor all the disturbances which usually attend a death-bed can shake their Faith or remove their Hope of a blessed Immortality For the very Design and Purpose of Religion is To teach men how to dress their Souls for the embraces of the Father of Spirits to furnish them with such necessary Graces as may prepare them to stand before the Son of Man when he comes to Judgment and he that is endued with this holy Principle and by Practice hath digested it into habit has answered the great end of his being sent into the World and is fortified with considerations sufficient against the worst that may happen to him Of such an excellent and gracious Nature is Religion that it qualifies a man for all states and conditions of Life if he be Rich it instructs him to set loose in his Affections to the Goods and Affluences of this World

happy shalt thou be This says the Wiseman is a continual feast and will bear a Man up under all the uncertainties disappointments conflicts and miseries of this Life He need not resort to Drink or Company to replenish his Mind and relax his Thoughts who is thus caressed and crowned with the pleasing Ecchoes of an unprejudic'd Spirit This was Holy Job's Consolation during his Exilement from Prosperity while his Flesh groaned under a sad Catastrophe and dismal Change of Things Upon a review of his Life past he discovered that he had walked uprightly with God that amidst all the Temptations which Wealth and Fortune could caress him with he had a special regard to the thing that was just and though Providence was pleased to alter his Condition and strip him of all External Goods yet this was his Comfort My righteousness I hold fast I have hitherto retained my integrity and am resolved through the Assistance of Divine Grace that my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live Now my design from these words is First of all To shew the Necessity of Holy Resolution wherewith Job fortifies himself against the very worst that may happen to him Till I die I will not remove my integrity from me and so on Secondly To shew how far Holy Resolution is virtuous and in what sense it turns to a good account Thirdly To lay down some Motives to resolve well and timely And then conclude First then I am to shew the Necessity of Holy Resolution wherewith Job fortifies himself against the very worst that may happen to him saying in the Text Till I die I will not remove my integrity from me We all well know by experience that we are naturally depraved by the Presumption and Fall of our first Parents our Inclinations are vile and propense to Evil our Wills stubborn and irregular our Passions violent and mutinous In fine in us that is in our Flesh dwelleth no good thing at all What Motions to Evil do we ever and anon perceive stirred up within us How greedy are our Appetites of the forbidden Fruit What abundance of unbecoming Thoughts invade our Minds and invelop our Spirits in Hurry and Confusion How naturally averse are we from Holy Things How disagreeable is Duty to our Affections In a word how unsuitable is the knowledge of God and another World to us in our Natural State When a Good presents it self and uses forcible Arguments to court our Acceptance how apt are we to boggle and protract to make excuses or to give a flat denial Nay so unhappy are we that interpretatively we take more pains to damn than to save our selves For what a deal of our time do we waste in catering for our Lusts What Difficulties and Hardships do we rub through to gratify our foolish Appetites How many restless Nights and broken Sleeps do we patiently endure to bring an unmanly project to bear In fine what a train of tumultuous Noises will we charge through to oblige a fond Humour and answer a whimsical Disposition This is our Condition by Nature this our Unhappiness through the Transgression of our First Parents But this is not all As we are thus interrupted by our own corrupt Nature so we are in as much danger by Temptations from without The Devil who is rendred for ever incapable of Repentance as sinning without a Tempter envies the hopeful Condition of Man who is admitted to Sorrow and Pardon through the Merits and Satisfaction of a Saviour And therefore uses all his Art and Cunning to stain his Innocence and to bring him into the same miserable Condition with himself He has Apples to please those of tender and Gold to enchant those of riper Years he has Kingdoms to allure the Ambitious and flattering Arguments to betray the Pretenders to Reason The Apostle gives this Character of him That he goes up and down like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour and whom he exhorts us to resist stedfast in the Faith He examines and observes Mens Humours and then suits his Temptations proportionably He well knew that Cain was Proud Ambitious and Self-conceited and by degrees induced him to imbrue his Hands in the Innocent Blood of his Brother Abel He knew that Peter was fearful and pusillanimous and so tempted him to deny his Master with Oaths and Curses He knew that Judas was selfish and covetous and therefore prompted him to betay the Holy Jesus for thirty pieces of Silver He is a restless Enemy and purposes to make all he can as miserable as himself But this is our happiness though he is admitted to tempt yet he cannot sorce us to Sin he lays the bait but cannot compel us to swallow it without our consent He importuned our Blessed Saviour to cast himself down from the Pinacle of the Temple but was not impowered to do him the mischief When we stain our Innocence and lose our Peace the blame lies at our own Door the Adversary is not so much in fault It is true he used Arguements insinuated closely and left no means unattempted but it was yet in our choice whether we would hearken to and be overcome by his Allurements Nor can we lay the blame upon God in suffering us to fall but upon our selves for living careless and secure and giving the Enemy fair opportunities and advantages of committing a Rape upon our Integrity Let no man says St. James say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with Evil neither tempteth he any man But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and inticed James 1.13 14. Were we but solicitous and thoughtful aware of the Adversary sensible of our own weaknesses and furnished with wise Considerations we should not be so easily courted to lose our Innocence nor would Temptations have such Influence upon us St. Paul in this Case thus exhorts us Ephes 6.13 14 c. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand Stand therefore having your loins girt about with truth having on the breast-plate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace Above all taking the shield of faith wherewith you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the devil and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God But considering I say our natural Depravation whereby we are strongly propense to Evil and averse from that which is Good are liable to the Incursions of Satan and in imminent danger of falling as so many Victims to him what necessity is there of Holy Resolution that seeing we are set in the midst of so many and great Temptations we forthwith wisely resolve to use our utmost care and diligence to stem the tide of our evil Inclinations within and to confront the insinuating Arguments of Temptations