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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	gospel_n	hear_v	word_n	3,919	5	4.5807	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34946	The new paradise of God, or, The regenerate and his fruit set forth in a sermon to the Hertfordshire-citizens at Bow-Church in Cheapside, London, July 2, 1657, being the day of their publick festival / by Isaac Craven ...	Craven, Isaac, d. 1660.	1658 (1658)	Wing C6862; ESTC R7152	19,959	32

it must either be violently forced or hypocritically feigned and so of no acceptation with God Heb. 11. 6. Without Faith it is impossible to please God Laudo fructum boni operis sed in fide agnosco radicem saith Austin k In Psal 31. I shall ever commend the fruit of a good work but faith must be the root to make it good Lastly if not rightly Scoped with respect to the glory of God and to approvable Subordinate ends for in divine morality 't is the rectitude of the ayme not the substance of the act that carries it with God l Non actibus sed finibus pensantur officia Aug. Such sinisterly intended fruit is no better then the apples of Sodom or the grapes of Gomorrah or the fruit of degenerate Israel fruit unto himself m Hos 10. 1. Israel is an empty vine he bringeth forth fruit unto himself neither acceptable to God nor profitable to the bearer Whereas contrarily if we work by rule the undefiled Law of God if we live by faith in the merits and strength of Christ if we act sincerely with intention of our Masters honour there can be no clearer evidence of a reasonable and spiritual service provided that it be performed in tempore suo in its proper Season Which is our last gradation observable in the Text his fruit in his season In his season When is that Is the doing of good at any time unseasonable Are we not all our time to continue in the service of God True for the general we are that 's without controversie and as never to give over the care of well-doing so to fasten upon it while it is called to day n Psal 95. 7. 8. not baulking the present season with presumption upon an uncertain hereafter not proroguing the practice of Christianity to the bed of infirmness and languishing with purpose then to distribute when thou mayst keep thy wealth no longer to cease from sinful pleasures when strength of pursuance fails thee a time ill chosen for repentance when with Issachar thou must couch between two burthens the burthen of sin and sicknesse No that 's only to be reckoned our day and our season wherein God requires and expects our fruit And that 's now saith our Saviour Joh. 5. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The hour is now Behold Now is the accepted time Behold Now is the day of salvation 2 Cor. 6. 2. And clearly it is the deplorable misery of all deferrers the hopes of grace to come make them gracelesse for the present and thoughts of what they will be regardlesse of what they should be 'T is true the mercies of God are great and to be admired but his judgments are just and to be feared And though true repentance be never too late yet late repentance is seldom true o In morte toenitentia est sera coacta ideoque raro vera seria sincera Corn. a Lap. in Luc. 12. The Crab in the Fable having wounded the Serpent to death in recompence of his crooked life and at last perceiving him to streak out himself At oportuit sic vixisse saith he It is too late now thou shouldst have lived so Ye may easily add the Moral Vae illis saith St. Ambrose qui tunc habuerunt terminum luxuriae cum vitae Woful is the cae of those procrastinating sinners whose lives and lusts have their ends together Wherefore knowing the dreadful consequents of neglected time say I beseech you every one in the secret of his own soul If I must once reform and break off my sins if I must bring forth fruits meet for repentance why not to day p Quamdiu cras cras Quare non modo Quare non hac hora finis turpitudinis meae Aug. Why should I neglect the time of my visitation and harden my heart by these unkind delayes Why should I boast my self of to morrow not knowing what a day may bring forth q Pro. 27. 1. When a certain City in Asia had promised King Alexander the great a part of their Lands and the half of all their goods No saith he I am not come into Asia to accept of what ye shall allot me but that your selves should take what I chance to leave r Sen. Epist Lib. 7. Ep. 54. So it were high presumption in us should we treat in like sort with God who hath all our times in his own power Nullum tempus occurrit Regi by that old rule in Law So neither youth nor age can exempt from the service of God He is Alpha and Omega ſ Rev. 1. 8. the first the last t Rev. 2. 8. and we from first to last to order our lives in his fear Thus in a general consideration even all our time is the Season for bringing forth fruit But then if we descend to particularities and consider them in their due circumstantials this seems to be the Psalmists meaning here That it is the property of a blessed man to be watchful in espying and wise in observing ut res ita tempora rerum as the matter and substance of a particular duty so the proper Season wherein to do it Which for more distinct apprehension ye may please to take up in a three-fold expression 1. In his Season that is in due place and order upon requisite and proper Antecedents The non-observation whereof is enough to deprave a pretended service so far as to deprive it of divine acceptance See it in some particulars To preach the Gospel of Christ to hear the Word of Truth to shew the Lords death in the Eucharist to administer Pastoral Consolation These and the like are works of great importance But then so to preach as without commission so to hear as without resolution so to communicate as without preparation so to comfort as without tokens of contrition Such preposterous acts as these are over-hasty for hope of speed good in themselves but as Hushai of Achitaphel's counsel u 2 Sam. 17. 7. not good hac vice at such a time not countable for good to the Agent for lack of requisite Antecedents 1 Chr. 15. 13. The Lord our God made a breach upon us for that we sought him not after the due order That 's the first Expression 2. In his Season that is answerably and suitably to whatsoever condition For as this present life is subject to variety of changes so the faithful in Christ are endued with variety of graces and like that Tree of life in the last of the Revel inabled to bear all manner of fruit and to yield their fruit every moneth As In the moneth of Abundance compassionate beneficence In the moneth of Poverty submissive contentation In the moneth of Health industrious cheerfulness In the moneth of Sickness religious patience In the moneth of Honour the fruit of noble Atchievments In the moneth of Dishonour the fruit of a meek spirit In the day of Prosperity thankfully rejoycing In

The New PARADISE OF GOD. OR The Regenerate and his Fruit. Set forth In a SERMON to the Hertfordshire-Citizens at Bow-Church in Cheapside London July 2. 1657. being the day of their publick FESTIVAL BY ISAAC CRAVEN Minister of the Gospel at Aston in Hertfordshire Cant. 4. 13. Thy Plants are an Orchard of Pomegranats with pleasant fruits LONDON Printed for J. Rothwell at the Fountain in Cheapside 1658. TO MY Honoured Friends and Countreymen of Hertfordshire inhabiting or sojourning in the City of LONDON More particularly TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFULL Sir Thomas Dacres Knight Edward Laurence Esq Mr. Francis Kirby Mr. Henry Clarke Mr. John Christian Mr. William Brewer John Jesson Esq Mr. Blunt Sadleir Mr. John Howland Mr. Dudley Short Mr. Charles Read Mr. Richard Weedon The worthy Stewards of their late FESTIVAL Honoured Sirs AN inbred affection to my Native Countrie a civil respect to your Vnanimous consent may suffice to justifie the readiness of my complyance in undertaking this late service Which having found the favour of your courteous acceptance attested by those after-intreaties in order to a publication inclines me to hope that the Doctrine then delivered will be drawn into some Vse by Your care to practice it I confesse my private genius stands little affected to the mode of appearing in print Nor do I value my pains at so high a rate as to judge them worthy of the publick view Howbeit to compleat my respects to those who imploy'd me I have so far prevail'd against all reluctancies as to gratifie Your desires though to my own dissatisfaction Beseeching the Almighty to blesse the expence of that hour with successe of eternity That it may prove in the issue as profitable to Your souls as it was judged suitable to the season And now dear Countrie-men having met with so fair an opportunity give me leave to remember You that this Your earthly Countrie can contribute nothing of it self to the illustration of Your persons a Nisi per te fulseris quid tibi lux patriae praeter tenebras allatura est Petrarch but waits to receive some rayes of splendour from the reflections of your own worth Be it therefore Your holy ambition so to excell in vertue and goodnesse that as it was anciently foretold what should be said of Rahab and Babylon b Psal 87. 4. c. This man was born there so it may reflect with honour upon the places of Your first breathing that this and that faithfull Christian was born there Nor will it a little advantage You to recount in Your meditations how in the Land of Your first Nativity Ye did but begin Your Pilgrimage Yea the World it self is but the place of Your exile c Quid aliud terra quàm Exilium Calv. Heaven onely deserves to be esteemed Your Countrie d Patriam nostram Paradisum computamus Cypr. Let Your conversation therefore be in Heaven And that You may speed in Your motions thither save Your selves from this untoward generation e Acts 2. 40. Buy the truth and sell it not f Pro. 23. 23 Maintain good works for necessary uses g Tit. 3. 14. Follow after the things which make for peace and wherewith Ye may edifie one another h Rom. 14. 19. To forbear any larger prefacing and to give You a summarie abridgement of all that I would say Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest Phil. 4. 8. whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue and if there be any praise think of these things And accept the poor endeavours of Your humble and faithfull Remembrancer IS CRAVEN THE NEW PARADISE Of GOD. OR The Regenerate and his Fruit. PSAL. 1. 3. And he shall be like a Tree planted by the Rivers of Water which bringeth forth his fruit in his season THis Book of the Psalms is a little Bible saith Luther An Epitome saith Athanasius of the whole Scripture a Ep. ad Marcellin A Compendium saith Basil of all Divinity b In Ps 1. With such high Encomiums have divers Expositors diversly magnified it none undeservedly For as the Scriptures in general are able 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make a man wise unto salvation c 2 Tim. 3. 15. So the drift and scope of this in particular is to teach us the way to be truly blessed Insomuch as this first Psalm which I take to be the Preface to all the rest begins with blessedness yea by the word there used a plurality of blessedness as the portion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the man that walketh uprightly A Psalm whose Author and occasion the Original hath not hinted there being no Title prefixt for intimation of either Indeed the very notion of a Preface is enough to discover the occasion And being a precious piece of the Divine Canon it must have the Spirit of God for its prime Author by whose inspiration all Scripture is given d 2 Tim. 3. 16. And so it hath Title enough to our faith and obedience though the Front of the Psalm be without a Title Yet rather then it should absolutely passe without Athanasius was pleased from the first word in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 blessed to intitle the whole Psalm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a Psalm of blessedness e Ep. ad Marcell Not as if the proper businesse of it were to open the nature of blessedness but because having proposed it for our encouragement in the practice of true Religion f Vt humanam infirmitatem per spem beatitudinis ad innocens religionis studium hortaretur Copen in Ps 1. de Tit. it purposely deciphers and pourtrayes the person to whom it pertains For to inform us whose portion it is the Psalmist hath most exactly charactered him 1. Negatively or by what he abandons ver 1. He walks not in the counsell of the ungodly he stands not in the way of sinners he sits not in the seat of the scornfull Neither is nor does any of these 2. Positively or by what he takes pleasure in ver 2. His delight is in the law of the Lord. And this not dimidiatim with a halving partiality like that counterfeit mother that would have the child divided g 1 King 3. 26. but in a blessed juncture of Theory and practice of contemplation and conversation both For first he delights in the speculative part In his Law doth he meditate day and night And then for the practick He shall be like a tree planted by the Rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season It is the wisdom of the Holy Ghost in the volume of holy Writ to illustrate heavenly truths by earthly resemblances partly for their easier conveyance to our dark understandings and partly for their deeper impression in our hearts and memories And accordingly the words before us are a Similitudinary