Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A86062
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A funeral sermon preached at Deptford June 3. 1688 Upon the occasion of the death of Mrs. Elizabeth Kilbury, late wife of Mr. John Kilbury. By Henry Godman, minister of the gospel. With allowance.
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Godman, Henry, 1629 or 30-1702.
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1688
(1688)
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Wing G940A; ESTC R229589
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20,575
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42
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A Funeral Sermon Preached at Deptford June 3. 1688. Upon the occasion of the Death of Mrs. Elizabeth Kilbury Late Wife of Mr. John Kilbury By Henry Godman Minister of the Gospel With Allowance LONDON Printed for Nath. Crouch at the Bell in the Poultrey near Cheapside 1688. TO THE READER THat thou may'st profit by thy hearing or reading of Sermons There is a necessity of more Pastors and Teachers to open and apply the Word than one Thou must act the part of a Pastor and Teacher unto thy self and thine own Soul. The Ministers Application without thine own will be to little or no purpose When there is the Application of the Word to the heart by preaching and the Application of the heart to the Word preached by serious Meditation when I say both these meet and strike one upon the other there will by the help of the spirit who is always ready to promote his work be some sire struck and a kindling of some good things in our Souls towards the Lord our God meditate on these things saith the Apostle that thy profiting may appear Reader if thou wouldst meditate well on this plain Sermon and ponder with thy Heart and Soul on these plain truths that are here laid down thou wouldst doubtless find them to be blessed for thy Spiritual and Eternal advantage but without this all will prove but empty words and the whole Discourse but as so much water spilt upon the ground This Sermon was calculated for a plain Countrey Auditory such as it is I mean rude rough and unpolisht as it is I let it go Being importuned by the earnest desires of several persons especially those concerned for the preaching of it to send it forth And indeed to tell you the truth if I had never so many polished shafts in my Quiver as I have none I should not care to draw them out in my Ministerial work being convinced in my Soul and Conscience that there is very little work done for God or Mens Souls this way I don 't at all affect to tickle means ears with pleasing Eloquence or to humour their fancies Though the flashy Professors of our Age whose Religion lies all in their fancies memories or minds for there is little or nothing of it in their hearts like nothing else I am sure that God in the Scripture doth not labour to please mens ears nor to adorn his matter with a curious garment of words but represents the matter it self to the Souls of men as that which is worthy of all acceptation The things of God need no humane Eloquence to commend them Painting spoils Native Beauty and external Ornaments would disfigure some things that are of themselves Proportioned and Lovely It 's that preaching which the world counts foolish and which men being vain in their imaginations are ready to despise that is made mighty through God for the casting down the Devils Kingdom and the setting up the Kingdom of Christ in the Souls of men If God would please to bless these plain things for the good of any poor Souls then I should easily despise all the exceptions of the Curious and slight all the cavils of the Captious That the Lord may water these Seeds with his Blessing shall be my Prayer Farewel Psalm 73. 25 26. Whom have I in Heaven but thee And there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my Portion for ever My Beloved THIS Text was bequeathed unto me and you as I may say by the last Will and Testament of a Deceased Friend both mine and yours which the Lord can make more profitable to us than thousands of Gold and Silver And I am sure it was the earnest desire of her that left it that it might be blest to us all for our everlasting benefit In the first verse of the Psalm the sweet Singer of Israel lays down a Consolatory Proposition for the whole Israel of God to cheer up and refresh their Souls withal in their darkest and most cloudy seasons of trouble and affliction Truly God is good to Israel even to such as are of a clean heart As if he should say though God may seem by his Providence to neglect the ways of men and the worst in the view and judgment of sense may seem to prosper most and the best be of all men the most miserable yet for all this I am sure that this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation That God is good to his Israel and will do them good Then to come near to the Text he tells us that God will guide them v. 24. by his counsel and hereafter will receive them to his glory He speaks indeed in the singular number as of himself but you are to understand him in what he says as personating all the People of God Therefore it must needs be well with the People of God here since Infinite Wisdom doth guide and direct them and it shall certainly go well with them hereafter since Infinite Glory then shall crown them Which blessed Estate the Psalmist esteemed above all that this world can afford because God in that estate will be all in all in the faith hope and expectation of the enjoyment of him for ever knowing that in him he shall inherit all things he incourages and comforts his Soul in his present troubles verse 25. Whom have I in Heaven but thee And what is there upon Earth that I desire besides thee The words you see are an Interrogation which here hath the force of a Negation Thus there is nothing Lord in my Judgment either in Heaven above or on the Earth beneath that is of any real worth and value to me or affords any comfort to my Soul besides thy self Now the doctrinal Observation which I shall draw from hence is this Doct. That God is the All of a gracious and godly Soul. Other things to him are but as Cyphers that signifie nothing are but as shadows which are something in shew but nothing in substance the things that the men of the world court and adore the Trinity which the world doth worship which are earthly pelf sleshly pleasure and airy honour are nothing less than nothing and vanity in compaparison to him unto such a Soul. Take this in two or three particulars 1. This gracious Soul sees all things in God I am God All-sussicient saith God to Abraham and I see thou art so saith this Soul to God. In thy breasts are all things as the Hebrew word imports out of which we may draw and suck every thing that we need either for the vile Body or the precious Soul he sees by an Eye of Faith and the Vision of an enlightned mind that all things are in God comprehensively eminently virtually superlatively according to what we read Rev. 21. 7. He that overcomes shall inherit all things and I will be his God. The carnal heart