Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A30290
|
The way to peace A funeral sermon on Job 22.21. Preached upon the decease of the right honourable Elizabeth, Countess of Ranalagh. By Daniel Burgess.
|
Burgess, Daniel, 1645-1713.
|
1695
(1695)
|
Wing B5719; ESTC R224017
|
30,595
|
82
|
Sin Original Sin first brake it and Actual Sin encreaseth the Breach This it doth Judicially for as it deserves God makes it to be it s own Punishment He Forsakes such as Forsake him and punisheth Strangeness with Estrangement Withholding those his Communications without which Acquaintance dies Saying of them who Perversely will not that Penally they shall not be Acquainted with him Likewise Naturally it doth it for what is Sinning but a kind of going out from the Presence of the Lord A turning away of the Simple a Departing from the Living God a saying to God Depart from us As oft as we Sin we act the part of corrupt Nature and thereby an Vnregenerate Man makes himself more a Child of Wrath than he was by Nature And a Regenerate one brings himself back in some Degree to what he was by Nature even a stranger unto God Indeed there are Degrees of Sinning the lowest is that of Infirmity the highest is sinning Wilfully and with pure Delight From this latter every Regenerate Man is freed but from the former no one is Now in the Language of the Gospel he liveth without Sin who liveth without wilful Sin and doth not Fall into Gross Sin Who so-acts-up to his Light and Grace received that though he hath his daily Infirmities yet he is bright and clean from scandalous Sins Which be they that do principally create a distance and separate between God and his Servants In short One Sin destroys much good And the exclamation is as just in this case as in any Behold how great a Matter a little fire kindleth Posit 6 Acquaintance with God is Entred by Repentance and Faith These though they are not the Causes of God's exalting us unto his Acquaintance they are necessary Qualifications in all whom He will exalt unto it Repentance includes Heart-breaking Sorrow for Sin and sincere Resolution to forsake it Necessary this is by virtue of the Divine Command and by the Condecency and fitness which it is of both unto God and unto our selves Vnto God for neither would it become his Wisdom to make us a second time his Friends without our Grief and Shame for having made our selves his Enemies nor could it consist with his Holiness to Forgive and Advance us while so Sinful and Senseless Vnto our selves also for if Unrelenting and Unreformed what so much as Inclination is in us to Acquaintance with God Prodigals never list to return to their Father till their Hearts are broken for Running away from him Again Faith in our Redeemer is no less Commanded or less Congruous A Faith seated in Mind and Heart and receiving Christ in all parts of his Office which are inseparably connexed Unto this Grace Justification is specially attributed and it 's certain that none but the Justified are Acquainted with God Eminently this Grace contains the Seed of Evangelical Obedience And is that which Crucifies our Lusts Overcomes the World Quenches the Darts of the Devil and Works by the Love of God Without which what Acquaintance with God The God who is of purer Eyes than to behold Evil and consequently Without this Faith is not to be pleased To be pleased with us or to be pleased and served by us Briefly then the Impenitent and the Unbelieving are Swine to whom the Pearl of God's Acquaintance neither is or can be vouchsafed He that Repents not must Perish He that Believeth not the Wrath of God abideth on him Posit 7 Acquaintance with God is preserved by the Vse of his Ordinances and the Exercise of our Graces Ordinances or God's ordained Means must be used Without these we are not Brought into his Acquaintance nor Kept in it It is an Acquaintance which in this Life is but Imperfect and not as in Heaven Immediate The holy Word is the Seed of which it is Begot and the Food by which it is Maintained Wherefore as all the Ordinances are propounded by God with a Promise and a Threat so they are followed by the Friends of God with Hope and with Fear Experience of Benefit by them edgeth their Appetites unto them O God early will I seek thee my Soul thirsteth my Flesh longeth to see thy Power and thy Glory so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary Psal 61.1 2. Necessity also compels them the Hunger of their Souls like that of Bodies maketh them to break thro Stone Walls to get unto Ordinances For they feel Decays and much lacking unto all their Graces and much ground lost in many of their Combates between Flesh and Spirit And they know that there is no Help without Watching at God's Gates waiting at the Posts of his Doors and it 's there they must find Life and Favour of the Lord Prov. 8.34 35. Besides there is in them a Nature and an Instinct which without such Argument carries them unto Ordinances As it carrieth new-born Children to the Dugs and Chickens as soon as they are out of the Shell to the shrowd of the Hen's Wing A Native inbred Desire carries the one and the other 1 Pet. 2.2 As New-born Babes desire the sincere Milk of the Word that ye may Grow i. e. Let internal Appetite draw you Babes are not urged to the Breast with Syllogisms In short the same thing that maketh Fishes to keep in the Waters that breed them maketh the Friends of God to keep to the Ordinances which convert them And to prefer a Threshold in them before a Throne without them It deserves our best Consideration as plain a Truth as it is that in the Ordinances we speak of in Reading Hearing the Word Celebrating the Lords Supper Meditation Prayer and holy Conference God draweth near unto Us and We draw near unto God God draweth near unto us the Ordinances are called the very Face of God Gen. 4.16 Cain went out from the presence of the Lord that is he forsook the Ordinances of his Worship The Ordinances wherein his Promise is to COME unto us Ex. 20.24 to MEET with us and COMMVNE with us Ex. 25.22 Though God be every where Present and fills Heaven and Earth with his Presence it is said of old that his Glory filled the Temple the Place of his Worship signifying his particular special Presence of Love and Grace and Influence upon Souls to be in his Ordinances These therefore are the great King's Presence-Chambers Again We draw near unto God in Ordinances also Our Worshipping in them is named our Coming and Appearing before God Psal 42.2 Worshippers are stiled a People NEAR unto Him and Men Idolatrous or Profane are said to be FAR from Him It 's true the Worst of Men are at no Local distance from God nor is it a Local nearness that we affirm God's Servants to enjoy in Ordinances but a Spiritual one He is not Far from any one of us in Him we Live Move and have our Being He is Over all by his Power Through all the World by his Providence In all his Saints by his Spirit The Spirit by