Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	goodness_n	lord_n	merciful_a	1,997	5	8.9155	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31657	A sermon preached for the funeral of that humble and faithful servant of Jesus Christ, Mr. Nathanael Smith late of Malmesbury, in the county of Wilts. : with a brief account of his life, in an epistle to Dr. Annesley / by Henry Chandler ...	Chandler, Henry.	1691 (1691)	Wing C1927; ESTC R43079	16,505	32

Our blessing the afflicting taking God includeth our absolute Subjection to his Sovereign will Here be two things 1. 'T is our duty to believe that God ought to have an unlimited Dominion over us and ours to use and dispose as seemeth good to him this is an acknowledging of God's right Thus Job confesseth Behold he taketh away who can hinder him who will say unto him what doest thou Job 9.12 Which words describe to us not only God's irresistible Power but his unquestionable Authority none can none ought to oppose him now in our Afflictions especially we should firmly believe this That God may take away our Yoke-fellows Children Health Estates or what he please from us 't is his Right to dispose of us and ours 2. 'T is our duty freely and fully to consent that God shall exercise this Dominion over us and ours The first Particular I told you was an acknowledging of God's right This second is a rendring him his due The one we learn by the Light of Nature the other is only performed by the help of Special Grace We should unreservedly devote all our Comforts to his Sovereign disposal lay all our Enjoyments by sincere resignation at his feet as the Disciples did the Price of their Estates at the Feet of the Apostles Acts 4.35 When God cometh for any one of thy Comforts 't is thy Duty Christian like Araunah the Jebusite to give like a King 2 Sam. 24.23 unto thy King the Lord of Hosts thou shouldest say to God as he to David Let my Lord take 1 Sam. 3.18 and offer up to his own will what seemeth good unto him Thus the good old Eli replieth to Samuel It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good In which Words he doth not only submit to the slaughter of his Sons and the rejection of his Family from the Priesthood for ever a terrible Providence but also signifies that if he had yet another Comfort left the resignation of which would glorifie God that also was heartily at his service Lord how little of this is lived by the generality of professing Christians Yet this is our Duty and questionless this was holy Job's practice and it should be ours daily When God is taking away any of our Comforts we should be so far from wresting them out of God's hands that we should most unfeignedly offer them all 4. Our blessing the afflicting taking God includeth our heedful conversing with the Divine Goodness and Mercy that ever manageth all our Afflictions I intreat you let this be carefully considered All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth Psalm 25.10 unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies Even the frowns of his Providence as well as the smiles these are not only just and righteous but merciful and faithful yea the Lord help our unbelief mercy and truth in the abstract Now God expects that we firmly believe it carefully observe it and gratefully acknowledge it 1. That we firmly believe it God never deceiveth us therefore we should never mistrust him God cannot be deceived he is too wife for that he cannot deceive he is too just for that Therefore when God tells us that however he deals with us he is ever mindful of and true to his Word in every Providence we must honour him by believing we should say O my soul though thy God taketh away this and that and the other comfort yet 't is in love mercy and truth for he hath promised he will never carry it otherwise towards thee 2. That we carefully observe it That we endeavour to taste and see that the Lord is good in his afflicting us God hath said Psal 34.8 he will be good to us in every Providence therefore we should believe it God is good to us in every Providence therefore we should observe and see it 'T is as really a fault to shut our eyes as our ears When God afflicts us we observe his anger tell his strokes and pore upon his severity but neglect to heed his mercy in the Providence but this is our fault we should as impartially study the usefulness as the pain of the Affliction A wise Patient will as much consider the wholsome tendency of his Physick as its griping operation 3. That we gratefully acknowledge it 'T is our duty to thank and praise the Lord for his goodness to us in afflicting of us This indeed is difficult but 't is as glorious when done 't is a Duty 1 Thes 5.18 and must be done In every thing we must give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning us What may some say must we give thanks for our sorrows Eph. 5.20 griefs and pressures must we thank God for stripping scourging and wounding us I answer so saith the Scripture giving thanks always for all things unto God c. You 'll be ready to say this is an hard Lesson who can learn it You by the grace of God quickly if you consider and believe the reason offer'd in above mentioned 1 Thes 5. This is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you where I conceive the Apostle would have us know that every Providence the adverse as well as prosperous is the gracious management of a God in Covenant proceeding not from meer justice but love and faithfulness and that therefore the Saints are as much obliged to praise God for the one as for the other because their true interest is equally promoted by both as a man is as truly beholden to his Chyrurgion that cuts off his gangreen'd Leg as to him that lends a Fillet to help bind it up I cannot therefore but admire the profoundness of Calvin's Judgment who thinks that Chrysostome did not fully reach the Sence of the Holy Ghost in this Text who to these Words This is the will of God adds only Nempe ut gratias agamus and therefore gives a more full account of them in the following Words Ego pleniorem sensum contineri puto his verbis quod talis sit erga nos Dei affectus in Christo ut in afflictionibus quoque largam habeamus materiam gratias agendi God is most certainly kind and good to his people when he afflicts them sure then in point of gratitude they can do no less than acknowledge it to him and others 1. To him Every kindness deserves thanks Afflictions are God's Kindnesses to the Saints and therefore they should thank him for them We thank God for our Food what hinders but that we should thank him for our Physick too A good Man once put up a Bill to me to this effect Sir my Family is sorely visited with Sickness I desire you would bless God on my behalf I read the Note and being amazed at the unusualness an singularity of it did not acquaint the People with the Contents of it but knowing who wrote it afterwards asked the Person what he meant Whether he had