Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	jesus_n	lord_n	spirit_n	7,577	5	4.8812	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A88994	A shadovv of the victory of Christ, represented to the Honourable House of Commons, in a sermon preached at Margarets Westminster on the day of the publick fast, Octob. 28. 1646. / By John Maynard, Minister of the Gospel at Mayfield in Sussex.	Maynard, John, 1600-1665.	1646 (1646)	Wing M1453; Thomason E359_5; ESTC R201167	22,927	30

His wrath is more dreadfull than all the rage of man Let us beg this wisdom from above that we may be taught of God in all humility to yeeld and submit to Christ If a people rising up in rebellion against the Authority of the State could be fully assured of two things first that if upon summons they lay down their Arms and submit they shall not onely be pardoned but much advantaged in their estates and secondly that if they remain obstinate it will be the ruine of themselves their families and posterities were it not meer madnesse to shew themselves wilfull We are all from our birth enemies and rebels against Christ The silver trumpet of the Gospel proclaimeth pardon mercy adoption salvation the promises of this life and that which is to come to those that have been deepest in this rebellion if they come in On the contrary it is most certain all that stand out against Christ in their naturall estate and impenitency shall be subdued to their everlasting ruine and destruction For He must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet Thirdly how carefull should we be throughly to examine our selves whether we be truly subjected to Christ or not whether His grace have bowed us that so we may be sure his power shall not break us whether we are over-powred by his love that so we may not be overwhelmed with his wrath Beloved this is one of the principall enquiries which we are to make throughout our whole lives We are fallen upon times which are full of questions and controversies I beleeve there have not been many ages since Christs ascension wherein more queries have been stirring more doubts and disputes agitated than in these dayes Now I suppose a man of ordinary observation may take notice of two sorts of people among us Galli●es meer spectators that look on and care for none of these things who mind the things of the world the main question that seemeth to stick with them is how they may compasse their worldly ends or how they may satisfie their lusts and make provision for the flesh these as they trouble not themselves to finde out the truth of things in controversie so they are securely negligent about this great enquiry whether they are subjected unto Christ or not Others are very busie in various disputs about things pertaining to religion some of whom I feare take little or no care to be resolved in this great busines whether their spirits are effectually subdued to the Government of Christ I beseech you let us in the fear of God set our selves to study this point If once we can by good evidence of Scripture rightly infer this conclusion that our souls are brought into a willing subjection to the Lord Jesus Christ that we are loyall Subjects to the King of Israel we may assure our selves that The Spirit of Christ will lead us by the light of His word into all necessary truth And though we be not able to answer every cavill and frivolous objection made against some particular truth yet if we can confute those arguments bent against the saving work of Christ upon our souls in reducing us under the Scepter of His Gospel we shall find more solid comfort and sweet satisfaction then those that tosse the word of God in restlesse and doubtfull disputes and shall be sure to have so much knowledge as may serve to light us the way to heaven 1 Then are our minds understandings and judgments subdued to the wisdom of Christ revealed in His word In reference to this head let us put our selves to these three interrogatories 1. Do we verily account all that wisdom to be meer foolishnes which lifteth up it self against any truth of Christ Do we sincerely desire and endeavour to have every thought within us captivated under the power of His truth Doe we abhorre it as no lesse than a degree of rebellion against Christ when we find any imaginations any carnall reasonings in our minds crossing the Gospel of Christ in any part For instance it is one of the great truths of Christ which the Apostle hath taught us by the Spirit of Christ Godlines is profitable unto all things having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come And first he confirmeth it as a most certaine truth This is a faithfull saying Secondly he valueth it as a most precious truth and worthy of all acceptation Thirdly he justifieth it as an approved experimented truth For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God who is the Saviour of all men especially of those that beleeve Beloved if every one here present were examined upon this interrogatory and conscience were to make the answer how few would be able to approve themselves in the sight of God as true and loyall subjects unto Christ Do not many of you entertain such thoughts as these in your hearts If I should observe the Lord His day according to the strict rule of godlines if in the course of my life I shall make godlinesse my rule in performing duties in secret in my family in publick in buying selling in all the businesse of my calling in conversing with others if I should regulate all my votes in Parliament according to the principles of godlinesse I might lose my friends my repute many advantages for my estate much prejudice if not ruin my self and my posterity What answer the tongue would give I know not but I am perswaded many an ones conscience within would plead guilty This argueth non-subjection to the Scepter of Christ and rebellion against His Soveraignty Saith Christ Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of living water springing up into everlasting life Here is a point of divine wisdom uttered by the mouth of Christ Himself Are not many that read and hear this so far from subjecting their reason to it that they are ready to scorn or slight it Let them have wine and strong drink their pleasures let their cisterns be filled with worldly abundance and they do not much trouble themselves about this living water they can live without it Their minds are not subdued to the wisdom of Christ But he that looketh upon Christ as a fountain of living water beleeving verily that if once he hath him dwelling in him he shall never be exhausted and drawn dry but that this spring of grace and spirituall consolation shall stream forth into the ocean and full sea of everlasting glory He whose thirsty soul cannot be satisfied without the saving graces and comforts of Christs Spirit fully submitting himself to this wisdom of Christ and renouncing sence and reason which seemeth to contradict it he may say I am a subject of Christs Scepter the Lord Jesus is my Christ and King Again saith Christ Enter ye in at the strait

whore But what saith the holy Ghost Rejoyce over her thou heaven thou Church of Christ and ye holy Apostles and Prophets for God hath avenged you on her And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven saying Alleluia salvation and glory and honour and power unto the Lord our God For true and righteous are his judgements for he hath judged the great whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication and hath avenged the blood of His servants at her hand They that belong to the kingdom of Christ rejoyce and give thanks in this case who are they that lament but those that belong to the prince of darknesse Fourthly This should stir up all who are loyall-hearted subjects of Christ to labour more fully to subject themselves unto him And first endeavour to take deeper rooting in Christ by faith that ye may partake more of the power and Spirit of Christ for He according to his working is able to subdue all things to Himself The more ye have of Christ the more shall your spirits be subjected unto Christ Dilate your hearts by faith in sweet and free meditations on the promises that ye may let in more of Christ into your souls His entrance into the soul is the ruine of Satans strong holds when He is exalted in the heart lust will sink corruption will be weakned Meditations on the Law and on the wrath of God may be of great use to prepare the way of Christ but it is the presence and power of Christ possessing the heart which doth the work For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil that is spoken of his manifestation to the world in generall It holdeth true in this case the more Christ is manifested to any beleever in particular the more are the works of the devil destroyed in him and the more is that soul subjected unto Christ The cause why Satans bulwarks are not more fully demolished and our spirits so little subdued unto Christ is because we have but obscure discoveries of Christ Secondly Labour to be more and more humble and sencible of your own vilenesse Self-abasing is the lifting up of Christ The spirit that stoopeth lowest is best prepared to become a throne for Christ For thus saith the High and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity whose Name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit This may seem strange that the highest place in heaven and the lowest hearts on earth should be the fittest thrones for Christ And why the heart that is lowest in humility is highest in excellency in his esteeme the spirit that is lifted up to the greatest height of pride is lowest for vilenesse and basenes in his account God resi●teth the proud because they lift up themselves against His royall Majesty and giveth grace to the humble because they yeeld him subjection Humility maketh way for more grace and so for more full subjection unto Christ They that delight to lie at the footstool of Christ in humility shall see Christ sitting in the throne of their hearts shall be exalted to sit with Christ in his throne of glory Thirdly Keep a continuall watch A Commander who knoweth many of his Souldiers to be ill affected to the cause wherein he is engaged and ready to raise a mutiny or that hath many sturdy prisoners in his Camp that wait an opportunity to act mischief had need set a strong guard upon them and keep a watchfull eye over them So a Christian finding many treacherous lusts in his heart ready upon occasion to break into actuall rebellion against Christ had need be very watchfull if he be slumbering they will soon be acting mischief Watch therfore and if they begin to stir execute martiall Law upon them presently Let them dye without mercy that thy soul may live and Christ may reign Fourthly Keep peace with God and let the peace of God rule in thine heart that so thy soul may rest in a sweet subjection under the government of Christ the Prince of peace whilest the hearts of others are hurried up and down with divers and contrary lusts being like the raging sea casting up mire and dirt As the point is of universal concernment to all degrees of persons so I have carried it on in the Application I yet desire liberty for one word to this Honourable Audience whom it especially concerneth Much honoured in the Lord I beseech You take home to your selves what hath been spoken to you and others in the Name of Christ labour to make it your own This is that which would make your memories precious to posterity and cause future generations to call you blessed yea this will enable you to give up your last account with joy if first your own spirits shall be truly subdued to the Lord Jesus Christ and then if your Parliamentary counsels and proceedings shal be such as savour of the loyalty of your hearts toward this King of Saints The Apostle seemeth to have been wonderfully affected with a work of mercy performed by private Christians in relieving the necessities of their poore Brethren For saith he the administration of this service not onely supplyeth the want of the Saints but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God whilest by the experiment of this ministration they glorifie God for your professed subjection to the Gospel of Christ How much more shall the right administration of this publick Service wherein ye are engaged and the faithful discharge of this great trust committed to You not only supply the wants and make up the breaches of Church and State but also be abundant by many thanksgivings unto God enlarging the hearts and opening the mouthes of thousands of the godly whilest by the experiment of this publick ministration they glorifie God for your professed subjection to the Gospel of Christ And if the Apostle in that case did break out so affectionately how much more shall the faithfull have cause to lift up the praises of their God and to say Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift Blessed be God for a Parliament that subjected themselves and all their power and authority to Him whom God hath set at His own right hand far above principalities and powers and every name that is named not onely in this world but also in the world to come for a Parliament who in all their legislative Acts hold respect to their subordination to that supream Law-giver who is able to save and to destroy who were tender of the glory of the Lord Jesus of the purity of his truth and worship and would not for a world infringe any of His royal prerogatives Ye have mighty engagements hereunto And therefore for conclusion let me set before you Davids case and his example It is God that avengeth me and subdueth the people under me Hath not God avenged you and wonderfully subdued the people under you far beyond the hopes of those that were most confident among you He delivereth me from mine enemies yea thou hast lifted me up above those that rise up against me thou hast delivered me from the violent man Cannot ye say after him verbatim and apply all to your selves word for word What cause have you to conclude with him Therefore will I give thanks unto the Lord among the heathen and will sing praises unto thy Name Labour in thankfulnesse to make the Name of the Lord glorious among the heathen heathenish Christians that are strangers to him in divers parts of the Land by propagating the Gospel and giving necessary encouragement to those that publish it And remember that Christs highest end in al his works and therefore certainly in such admirable works is Himself not the greatn●sse of the creature who enjoyeth the comfort of them but the honour of His own great Name Oh learn therefore to seek not your own things but the things of Jesus Christ For consider how great things He hath done for you FINIS Iosh. 5. 13 14 Theod. ● 4. cap. 6. Ver. 17. Ver. 18 19. V. 20. 21. Isa. 9. 6. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Doct. Rev. 1. 5. 7. 8. 1 Cor. 15. 24 25 Col. 1. 16 17. Heb. 1. 3. 1 Col. 2. 10 2 ● Pet 2. 4. Iude 6. Iob 2. 6 1 Cor. 6. 5 3 1 King ●9 11. 12. 2 Cor. 7. 5. Phil. 4. 22. 4 5 Dan. 2. 35. 6. Rev. 18. 24. ● Pet. 3. 6 7. V. 10 11. V. 13. 1 Cor. 15. 26. 54. Vse 1. Cant. ● 4. Rev. 16. 16. 2 Thes. 2. 8. Revel. 11. 15 16 17. Vse 2. G●n 41. 43. 1. 1 Tim. 6. 15. Rev. 19. 16. 2 1 Cant. 2. 4. Heb 12. 10. Rom. 8. Rom 6. 14. 3. 4. 5. Psal. 58. 11. Prov. 11. 18. 2 Tim. 4. Rom. 6. 22. Exod. 33. 19 20. 3. Psal. 90. 11. Luk. 19. 27. Psal. 2. 3 4 c. V. 9. 10. Vse 3. 1. 1 Tim. 4. 8 9. Ioh. 4. 14. Matth 7. 13 14 Luk. 13 24. 2. Act 11 22 ●3 3. Psal. 2. Rom. 7. Psal. 40. 8. 4. Rev. 18. 4 5. Ver 20. Cap. 19. 1. c. Vse 4. 1 ● Ioh. 3 8. 2 Isa. 57. 15 3 4 2 Cor. 9. 12 13. Ver. 15. Psal. 18. 47 48 Ver. 49. 1 Sam. 12. 24.

gate for wide is the gate and bread is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in thereat Because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it Strive to enter in at the strait gate for many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able Are your minds subjected to the wisdom of Christ discovered in these truths Are ye verily perswaded that the gate is strait and the way narrow that it requireth much striving and contending to enter that a cold sluggish common formall way of seeking will never give you entrance If not if you please your selves in your own conceits and vain imaginations contrary to the wisdom of Christ that it is an easie thing to go to heaven ye hope to be saved as well as the best though ye hold on in an easie broad way sliding down the hill carried with the streame of the world the tide of your lusts the wind of Satans suggestions and applause of the multitude assure your selves ye are rebels against Christ ye oppose your carnall conceits and exalt your blind reason against His heavenly wisdom Secondly if your understandings be subdued to the wisdom of Christ then ye will yeeld to particular truths of Christ notwithstanding former engagements to the contrary A man cannot approve his loyalty to that Prince or State to whom he oweth Allegeance unlesse he renounce contrary engagements to a forreign Prince If by education mistake weaknesse of judgement seducements of others thou hast been engaged in defence of any errour and because of such prejudice will stiffely maintain it against the contrary truth of Christ what is this but rebellion against the wisdom of Christ But that is a sweet gracious loyall spirit that is freely ready to quit all engagements for receiving of any truth of Christ and is content that all his own notions should fall to the ground that the wisdom and truth of Christ might be exalted and maintained in it just and full authority Thirdly when thy mind and judgement stoopeth to the truth of Christ held forth by such Instruments as the proud world despiseth so soon as ever thou seest the Kings stamp upon it that is so soon as thou findst Christ His authority for it not regarding by whom it is presented to thee but looking up to Him who sitteth at the right hand of God humbly subjectest thy self to his wisdom Secondly if a man be brought into subjection unto Christ then is his will subdued to and by the Spirit of Christ Barnabas being sent from the Church of Jerusalem to confirm the new converts of Antioch When he came and had seen the grace of God was glad and exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord As if he had said Brethren I rejoyce to see these happy beginnings to see the kingdom of Christ thus enlarged and withall let me exhort you that ye yeeld up your wils fully and steadfastly unto Him cleaving to Him with purpose of heart This shall be a sweet evidence to your souls that ye are indeed subjected to Him That is a reall subjection of a loyall-hearted people to Christ when they are resolvedly His not when they have some slight inclinations toward him but when the purpose of their heart is fixed upon Him and they are steadfastly resolved that Christ shall give law to them It is grievous to a loyall subject of Christ to have any thing remaining in his will that savoureth of rebellion against Christ any renitency any unwillingnesse and indisposednesse to the work of Christ Thirdly when a man is subjected unto Christ his affections are subdued to Him He obeyeth Christ and he obeyeth Him in love he shunneth sin and he loveth to avoid it He doth the will of Christ with a desire exceeding his performance and ability A carnall person not subjected to Christ his performances exceed his affections he doth many outward services to which he hath no heart Again the loyall subject delighteth in his subjection He would not for a world be free from this yoke Wheras those rebels said Let us break their bonds asunder and cast away their cords from us he saith from the bottome of his heart Blessed be God that ever He brought me under the government of his Son that instead of a slave of Satan He hath made me a subject to the King of glory As it is said of one of our English Martyrs that he kissed the stake saying Welcome the crosse of Christ welcome everlasting life So saith he whose heart is subjected to the Lord Jesus welcome the sweet yoke of Christ the very entrance into everlasting life I rejoyce in the Law of God saith Paul I delight to do thy will O my God yea thy law is within my heart or in the midst of my bowels saith David He professeth it was his delight to do the will of God and giveth two reasons the former imployed in those words O my God thou hast given me thy self for my gracious God and portion and therefore it is my delight to give up my self to thee in obedience The second expressed in these Thy Law is within my heart When the Law of God is once lodged within a man written in his heart fixed in his bowels then is he a loyall subject of Christ and goeth on in the way of holinesse with rejoycing he delighteth in godly sorrow for his disloyalties and wheras others strive to forget and shake off the fear of God he rejoyceth to find his heart over-awed by Christ It is delightfull to him to curb his lusts to controll his own will It is the joy of his heart to see these enemies of Christ within his own soul lye slain before Him Fourthly He that is a true subject of Christ rejoyceth to see the kingdom of Christ enlarged his cause prosper his implacable enemies brought under but especially to see rebels so subdued as to become loyall and obedient subjects What spectacle so glorious in his eye as to see Christ victorious to behold the Captain of his salvation on a day of triumph Those that are otherwise affected shew of what spirit they are whatever they pretend I heard a voice from heaven come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues For her sins have reached unto heaven and God hath remembred her iniquities Reward her even as she hath rewarded you and double unto her double according to her works If this be a voice from heaven what shall we think of the clamour of those that contradict it is not that a voice from hell It followeth in that place how the enemies of Christ mourned at the funerall of the whore of Babylon as many of late seemed to be vexed at the fall and weakning of them that fought for the