Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A28583
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Christ's importunity with sinners to accept of him by S. Bold.
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Bold, S. (Samuel), 1649-1737.
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1687
(1687)
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Wing B3478; ESTC R26454
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53,458
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159
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Lord I throw my self into the Arms of thy Grace O reject me not but grant I may be found in thee and may have thy Righteousness to commend me 4. Our receiving Christ doth note our complying with his Terms Most would be willing to be saved at last provided they might have liberty to live as they list at present But Christ must be accepted on his own Terms He calls us to Repentance Faith and new Obedience If we will conclude on good ground that we have received Christ we must see to it that we sincerely forsake our former Lusts and Sins which so long separated betwixt us and our God and for which Christ did undergo and suffer such pressing and astonishing Sorrows and Punishments Let the Wicked forsake his Way and the unrighteous Man his Thoughts c. Isa 55.7 We must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ that he is the Son of God that out of pure Love he did assume our Nature that he hath performed all that is necessary to put us into a capacity of Salvation and to reconcile us unto God that he is the only Author of Eternal Life and Salvation And we must rely and depend upon him only for Mercy and Salvation We must devote our selves to live godly righteously and soberly and make Conscience of attending to and walking in all Christ's Commandments And we must take care to get all this cleared and evidenced to our selves from Scripture-Grounds Art thou truly willing to part with all thy Lust to mortify thy corrupt Affections and to die every day more and more to sin to be crucified to the World and to oppose and resist all that fights against thy Soul Do'st thou labour to exercise Faith vigorously is it thy Business to eye Christ continually do'st thou fetch all thy Strength and Supplies from Him are all thy Hopes and Expectations laid up in him do'st thou without any reservation give up thy self to Christ is it thy heartiest desire study care and endeavour continually to imitate and please Christ 5. Our receiving Christ doth import our submitting to him in all his Relations It was a great Reflection on some who followed Christ when he was here upon Earth that they followed him for the Loaves with which he fed them and not for the Miracles which they saw him work whereby his Divinity was attested and the Truth of the Doctrines he taught undeniably evidenced and confirmed And it would be as severe a Reflection upon us should Christ lay it to our Charge that though we pretend to submit to Him in one Relation yet we refuse to own and acknowledg Him in his other Relations That we are willing to admit him to be our Priest to suffer for us but will not have any thing to do with his Yoke but do resolutely cast his Laws behind our back and determine that we will not have him to reign over us But it is our Duty to be ready and willing for his sake to take up the Cross as well as to wear the Crown to submit to do his Work as well as to expect and receive the Recompences and Wages he doth bestow We must take him as our King as our Husband as our Lord and as our Owner and perform to him all those Duties which concern us as we are his Subjects his Spouse his Servants and People in whom he hath an undeniable property We should complain to Christ of our hard and inflexible Hearts our unruly and tumultuous Affections of those Lusts and Wickednesses which we find strongest in us we should be earnest with him in desiring his powerful governing Presence in and with us that our Lusts may be conquered our Affections tamed made moderate and sanctified and that our stubborn Hearts may be made soft and pliable We must take him for our Priest expecting nothing but Wrath as what is due to what we can do of our selves and therefore relying wholly on Christ We must not look for any Pardon but what Christ's Blood hath purchased nor any fellowship and communion with God but what Christ doth by his intercession obtain for us We must take him for our Prophet to teach direct and guide us and to advise and counsel us We are naturally ignorant of God and our selves and the things which most of all concern us and we cannot get a sound and perfect knowledg of them but by his instruction who is the great Revealer of them even Jesus Christ as Prophet Those who will receive Christ aright must learn to know and understand his Voice and Dialect that whensoever they hear it they may follow him John 10.4 Christ is the Truth the Way and the Life and there is no coming to or knowing of the Father but by him John 14.6 We must take him for our great Teacher we must be willing to learn whatever he shall instruct us in and embrace and receive every direction he shall give us Consider therefore with your selves whether it be thus with you Whether you have sincerely given up your selves to his Government do willingly submit to his Laws do chearfully consent that he should rule over you Do you depend only on his Sacrifice and Merits and do you rejoice in his Light Do you receive him as a Master a Father a Brother a Friend c. And do you demean your selves to him in all the Duties and Offices of your Relations as by the Obligations arising from such Relations you are bound unto Mal. 1.6 6. Our receiving Christ into our Hearts doth import our having a transcendent and extraordinary love for Christ No Man is worthy to follow Christ or be owned by him that cannot deny himself and take up his Cross for his sake Christ will not take up his abode in that Heart which is not entirely given up and resigned to him Our loving other things either with an equal or a greater Love than what we have for Christ renders us wholly unfit to enjoy him and deprives us of those special Communications he would otherwise vouchsafe unto us When Christ comes to us and calls for admittance he comes not like a Stranger to stay for a little while but as a Friend nay an Owner to take up his fixed residence and make his constant abode with us A little outward Ceremony and common Courtesy doth suffice for the entertainment of such as make Visits accidentally or for whom there is no very great respect But Love is necessary that there may be a personal constant abode and a mutual friendly converse together Christ must have our whole Hearts he cannot endure a Rival If we love other things it must be for his sake and in subordination to him or else this will exclude him and evidence that we refuse to receive him Call your selves now to an account and see whether your Hearts are free and disengaged from all other things or whether you are willing to receive Christ according to this sense of the Phrase Can you say in sincerity
things are required to and imported by our receiving of Christ according to the express Letter of the Text 1st Hearing his Voice 2dly Opening unto him But before I speak particularly to these things let me observe to you from the general indefinite Expression here used That Jesus Christ doth not exclude any one Person from enjoying Him and the Benefits of his Death and gracious Presence provided he will but comply with Him and accept of his gracious Offers He is willing to come to and dwell with any Person who will but hearken to his Voice and give Him admittance He will not refuse you for any personal unworthiness or because you have been very grievous and notorious Transgressors He would have all Men to be saved and come to the knowledg of the Truth 1 Tim. 2.4 He invites all without exception Isa 55.1 2. If any Man hear my Voice any Man though ever so poor or miserable in the Eye of the World nay notwithstanding he hath been ever so violent and fierce against me though his Sins be never so many never so great never so hainouâ— yet if he will but hear my Voice obey my Call and open unto me I will accept of him I will be his Guest and impart unto him my Self my Merits and the Comforts Satisfactions and Benefits arising therefrom We have very signal Evidences of this in the Holy Scriptures Peter after his most detestable denial of Christ is received into Favour Paul though he had been such an outragious Persecutor findeth Mercy and is made a most excellent and useful Apostle The general Doctrine of the Scripture doth confirm this Truth That Christ is ready and willing to communicate Himself and the Benefits of his Death and Passion to any that will accept of him Christ hath put no Bar no Impediment no Hindrance in any Man's way If we do not accept of Him if we reap not the Benefits of his Death the fault is our own even because we would not receive Him when he came unto us and entreated for admittance He comes to and seeks after the most unworthy Mark 2.17 He came to save Sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 He came to seek and to save the Lost He excepts none if they renounce their Wickednesses and Sins Isa 55.7 The Terms he proposeth to us in order to our reaping all this Advantage are but hearing his Voice and opening the Door 1st Hearing his Voice This imports two things 1. Attending to and taking notice of those Arguments he doth urge to obtain admittance I have given you before a short account of these Arguments But this instructs us that an heedful attentive frame of Spirit is ordinarily requisite to a due receiving of Christ into our Hearts An unruly froward temper that is impatient of Spiritual Advice Instruction Reproof c. and fumes and chafes on all such occasions and applies to any sort of courses to divert from serious considerations is a very dangerous and unhappy Temper But this is not all that hearing Christ's Voice doth import People may attend to Matters of this nature and design no more than to obtain some embellishments in their Discourse or they may have some design not truly useful and commendable Indeed God may make his Word to fasten and prove effectual to those who have none of the best purposes in hearkning to the Word of Christ and therefore I dare not discourage any Man absolutely from attending whatever he may propose to himself in so doing because the Word may take hold of him beyond expectation Mr. Bilney reports of himself that he bought and read the New Testament not because it was the Word of God but because Erasmus had translated it into excellent Latin yet it pleased God when he read 1 Tim. 1.15 that his Mind was particularly fixed on those words so that God made them effectual for his Conversion and Reformation But such Instances are something out of the usual and common road therefore we have reason to conclude that hearkning to the Voice of Christ doth note something more than bare attendance to his Voice 2. It doth note the Influence the Arguments our Saviour doth use have on our Affections and Hearts Attention is a very useful Expedient for the making of those things which are proposed unto us to have some efficacy on us When we diligently attend to any thing that is spoken we have Impressions ordinarily made on our Minds which bear some proportion with what hath been discoursed And this seems to be imported here by hearing Christ's Voice those Impressions which the serious considering what he hath propos'd occasion to be fastned on our Hearts and Minds the Affections and Dispositions of Soul which do result from our hearkning to his Voice Which is something betwixt bare hearing his Voice and opening unto him It is the Result Fruit and Consequent of the former and a good and proper Preparative to the latter 2dly Opening the Door This is the other Expression in the Text to note our receiving of Christ And it doth import our compliance with him our free and sincere resignation of our selves unto him As a Person who being in an House when another who is the right owner of it comes and knocks at the Door and declares to the Party within his claim to that House and makes it appear he is the true owner of that House and has Authority to require the Possession to be delivered up unto him the Party within hearkning to what he hath to say and being convinced and fully satisfied of his Right and Authority to make that Demand he opens the Door to him and admits him into the House not only in point of common civility but so as owning his Propriety and delivering up the Possession to him Thus opening to Christ doth note our giving up our Hearts to him and owning him for the only true lawful Soveraign Owner and Governour of them Our receiving Christ is not right till we arrive at this Point People may give attendance to Christ's Voice and have their Affections and Hearts in some measure moved and influenced by the same and yet Corruption may prevail and keep them from resigning up the Possession to him Nay it falls out too often thus with the truly Godly that they do not immediately upon some affection and sence begot in them upon their hearing the Voice of their Saviour resign up themselves and comply with his Demands as they should The Spouse Cant. 5.2 4 c. heard the Voice of her Beloved she knew it to be his Voice and seemed to attend to what he said vers 2. And though she made several Excuses yet we may easily perceive his Voice had some influence on her Ver. 4. My Bowels were moved for him Yet notwithstanding all this she did not open unto him He was provoked to withdraw and went his way vers 6. But I will not confine my self strictly to a minute enquiry into the extent of these Phrases used in the