Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A30060
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An exhortation to trust in God, and not to despair of His help and fall from Him, in this dark time of popery that is coming upon the church written by Digby Bull.
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Bull, Digby.
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1695
(1695)
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Wing B5411; ESTC R6962
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37,239
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44
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and in one that is able to help and succour us in all our needs and wants and to save and defend us in all our straits and dangers whatsoever and to preserve and bring us to the enjoyment of his Eternal Kingdom in the World to come And therefore we may well trust and rely upon him at all times Fourthly The Lord Jehovah is a God of love and goodness and tender and compassionate of us and therefore we have the greater cause to trust and confide in him at all times His great love and goodness will be a farther assurance to us that he will be a Rock of Salvation to us in all our straits and dangers He is a God of Love and taketh pleasure and delight in all the works of goodness and mercy and is kind and benign to all his Creatures and desireth the good and prosperity of them all especially of all Mankind This St. John affirmeth that God is love 1 Jo. 4.8 He that loveth not knoweth not God saith he for God is love And so again ver 16. And this shews how full of love and goodness he is as if this were all in all And his love and goodness is diffused abroad like the light of the Sun and communicated to all his Creatures Psal 145.9 The Lord is good to all saith the Psalmist and his tender mercies are over all his works And to this purpose Wisd 11.24 For thou lovest all the things that are and abhorrest nothing which thou hast made for never wouldest thou have made any thing if thou hadst hated it His love is universal and extended to all his works and there is none of his numerous Off-spring and Creatures but shall share therein till they exclude themselves from it by their wilful transgressions and provocations and sin against him with a high hand And for all his Creatures doth he provide and take care and feeds them all This the Psalmist sheweth Ps 104.27 These wait all upon thee that thou mayest give them their meat in due season That thou givest them they gather thou openest thy hand they are filled with good And Psal 145.15 The eyes of all wait upon thee saith he and thou givest them their meat in due season Thou openest thine hand and satisfyest the desire of every living thing All his Creatures do experience his great goodness and more especially doth Man do so Our high Creation and the rich preparations that he hath here made for us do shew how full of love and goodness he is towards us And upon this account doth the Royal Psalmist cry out with admiration Psal 8.4 What is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him For thou hast made him a little lower than the Angels and hast crowned him with glory and honor Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands thou hast put all things under his feet And he proclaimed himself a gracious and merciful God to Moses Exod. 34.6 And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth And this the Psalmist doth often declare Psal 86.15 But thou O Lord art a God full of compassion and gracious long-suffering and plenteous in mercy and truth And Psal 103.8 The Lord is merciful and gracious slow to anger and plenteous in mercy And to this purpose in several other places And saith God by the Prophet Jeremiah 9.24 I am the Lord which exercise loving kindness judgment and righteousness in the earth for in these things I delight saith the Lord. These are the things wherein he delighteth and taketh pleasure And this was the Prophet Jonah's reply to God when he spared Niniveh Jonah 4.2 For I knew that thou art a gracious God and mercifull slow to Anger and of great kindness and repentest thee of the evil And saith St. Paul Eph. 2 4.5 But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were Dead in sins By these and many more places are we taught how full of love and all manner of goodness our God and great Creator is He is no cruel and merciless Being that knows not what belongs to love and goodness but a God of infinite love and kindness and is greatly delighted in doing acts of mercy and beneficence to all mankind For he doth not onely shew himself kind to the good but also to the evil as our Lord hath told us Matt. 5.45 And we may see that he is a God of great pity and mercy and tender of his People in all their sorrows and miseries He takes no delight to see them miserable and to labor and groan under any Affliction and Calamity but is troubled for them and is then forward to help them and therefore we have the greater cause to rely upon him Like as a father pitieth his children saith the Psalmist 103.13 so the Lord pitieth them that fear him For he knoweth our frame he remembereth that we are dust He considereth our weak and frail nature and what need we have of succour and relief and doth pity us as a Father doth his tender and helpless child His bowels will always yearn towards his Servants whensoever they are in any afflicted and suffering condition and he will then pity and help them Psal 12.5 For the oppression of the poor for the sighing of the needy now will I arise saith the Lord I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him And saith he to Moses Ex. 3.7 I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt and I have heard their cry by reason of their task-masters for I know their sorrows and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians Thus did God pity them and was moved with their sorrow and misery and redeemed them with a mighty hand and out-stretched arm And saith the Prophet Zechariah 2.8 For he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye So tender is he of his People And though the Children of Israel did often rebel against him yet so prone is he to mercy and pity that he was ready to help and succour them whensoever they returned and cryed to him for mercy and help This we may see Judges 10.15 And the children of Israel said unto the Lord we have sinned do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee deliver us only we pray thee this day And they put away the strange Gods from among them and served the Lord and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel And saith the Psalmist Psal 106.44 Nevertheless he regarded their affliction when he heard their cry And he remembered for them his covenant and repented according to the multitude of his mercies He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives He cannot shew himself hard-hearted towards his People when they repent and cry
will stand good against him seeing all the wisdom of others is but folly with him and he taketh the wise in their own craftiness and confoundeth the counsels and policy of the Subtle and returneth them upon themselves at his own pleasure This will be a farther ground of our trust and confidence that we are to repose and put in him In trusting in him we trust not in a foolish and unadvised Person that undertakes such a Charge that he does not well understand and is not wise enough to manage and protect But in trusting in the Lord Jehovah we trust in a God that is infinitely wise in all respects and knows how to manage all the Charges and Cares of an universal Patron and Protector and is such a God for wisdom to whom we may well commit the care of our Souls and Lives and all that is pretious and dear to us Thirdly He is a God that is Omnipotent and Almighty and can do every thing and therefore we have the greater reason to trust and confide in him He is no weak and and impotent creature but a God that is armed with all the Might and Power that can be and therefore we may well account him the Rock of our Salvation I am the Almighty God saith he to Abraham Gen. 17.1 walk before me and be thou perfect And in these two respects especially may God be said to be Almighty 1 Because all Rule and all Dominion and Power of Governing all things doth in a most absolute manner belong to him He is the great and only Monarch of all the World and all the Armies and Hosts of Heaven and Earth are under his Authority and Power and at his absolute command He is the Supreme Lord of all and all the Angels above and the Powers of Darkness and all Earthly Kings and Princes are but his Ministers and Servants and must all observe his Orders and obey his word and command For the Lord your God saith Moses Deut. 10.17 is God of Gods and Lord of Lords a great God a mighty and a terrible which regardeth not persons nor taketh reward And saith St. Paul 1 Tim. 6.15 Who is the blessed and only Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords He is the Supreme King over all the Kings and Emperors of the Earth and as he sees fit he exerciseth his Authority and Power in all the Kingdoms of the Earth and placeth and displaceth all Kings and Princes as he sees good This the Prophet Daniel sheweth Dan. 4.17 To the intent saith he that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the Kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will and setteth up over it the basest of men And ver 25 saith he to Nebuchadnezzar They shall drive thee from men and thy Dwelling shall be with the Beasts of the Field till thou know that the most High ruleth in the Kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will And saith he Dan. 2.20 Blessed be the Name of God for ever and ever for wisdom and might are his And he changeth the times and the Seasons he removeth Kings and he setteth up Kings And so saith the Psalmist Ps 75.6 For promotion cometh neither from the East nor from the West nor from the South But G d is the Judge he putteth down one and setteth up another He disposeth of the Kingdoms of the World and ordereth whom he pleaseth to rule therein and there is no man can have any Power therein except it be given or some ways granted and allowed him from above as our blessed Lord told Pilate Joh. 19.11 Jesus answered Thou couldest have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above No Man can have any Authority except it be some way allowed him by Almighty God who is the Supreme King and Disposer of all Power and Authority And he is an everlasting King and his Dominion is without end and endureth to all Eternity Jer. 10.10 saith the Prophet there But the Lord is the true God he is the living God and an everlasting King at his wrath the earth shall tremble and the Nations shall not be able to abide his indignation And saith the Psalmist Psal 145.13 Thy Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and thy Dominion endureth throughout all generations There is no end of his Kingdom and his supreme Power endureth for ever 2 God is Almighty in regard of his infinite Power whereby he is able to effect and bring all things to pass He is Almighty in Operation and there is nothing too hard for him which he cannot do and therefore he may be said to be Omnipotent He hath all power of doing whatsoever he pleaseth and all the Power and Strength that is in all Creatures is derived from him and hath continual dependance upon him and in this respect he may well be said to be Almighty It is in him that we all live and move and have our being as the Apostle affirmeth Acts 17.28 And there is no resisting and withstanding of his Power and nothing can hinder him from doing any thing that he pleaseth to do For the Lord of Hosts hath purposed saith the Prophet Isaiah 14.27 and who shall disanul it and his hand is stretched out and who shall turn it back And saith God by him Is 43.13 Before the day was I am he and there is none that can deliver out of mine hand I will work and who shall let it There is no resisting and withstanding of him but all must truckle and give way to his Omnipotent Power And saith God to Abraham Gen. 18.14 Is any thing too hard for the Lord hereby declaring that all things are possible and feasible to him And this doth Job acknowledg Job 42 2 I know that thou canst do every thing and that no thought can be withholden from thee And saith the Prophet Jeremiah 32.17 Ah Lord God behold thou hast made the Heaven and the Earth by thy great Power and stretched out Arm and there is nothing too hard for thee And the Angel declared this to the blessed Virgin Luc. 1.37 For with God nothing shall be unpossible saith he And this our Lord sheweth Matth. 19.26 But Jesus beheld them and said unto them with men this is unpossible but with God all things are possible He can turn and change every thing at his own will and pleasure He can create and form things that are not out of nothing and annihilate those that be and let them return to nothing again All things that thwart not his justice goodness and truth he can do And his power is an eternal power and will never fail nor decay He is an everliving God and his Arm and Power will never be shortened nor diminished Rom. 1.20 saith St. Paul For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal Power and Godhead But we shall the better