Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	life_n	spirit_n	worship_v	1,905	5	8.8109	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27079	A testimony to the free and universal love of God in Jesus Christ to the sons of men in true love sent forth (more especially) to the inhabitants of Colchester and parts adjacent, for them to read over, and weigh with due and serious consideration, in the blessed fear of the Lord / by Thomas Bayle.	Bayle, Thomas.	1675 (1675)	Wing B1471; ESTC R11593	13,567	22

out of which there is no Redemption for mans life soon passeth away it 's said to be swifter than a Weavers Shuttle the swift passing away of which many of you have a certain knowledge of and swifter than a Post that tarrieth not and what know you who shall live until to-morrow it is said to-day whilst it is called to-day the time present is only ours all flesh is grass and the glory of man as the flower of the field and doth not the grass soon wither and the flower soon fade away even such is this present certain-uncertain state and life of ours but the word of the Lord which David said he hid in his heart that he might not sin against him endures for ever hide it likewise in your hearts that ye may have it for your friend in the most needful time which is at hand and cannot nor must not be delayed And now my mind is turned in tender love towards you O ye the people of Profession that make profession of God and Christ the holy Spirit and Scriptures of truth O that ye were found in the possession and inheritance of these things that so much barrenness of soul heaviness of Spirit and dulness of sight and hearing might not abound amongst you as there does for instead of a garden dressed by the hand of a skilful Husbandman you are as a field of a Forrest where the hedge is broken down and where the beasts of the Forrest have their repose O that I could say of you that ye are as a watered garden as a fruitful Land which the Lord hath blessed and that his dew dew from heaven is distilled plentuously into your souls that thereby your hearts are revived and made to leap for joy but I see you like many fenced Cities laid waste and like a fruitful Land turned into barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein For Friends if to the Line you be brought crookedness and perversness doth appear and the Ax must come upon you before you will be squar'd for the Lords heavenly building and when you are weighed in the ballance of the Sanctuary you are found too light so that assuredly the hand writing upon the wall is as certainly against you as it was against Belshazzer and the Kingdom will be taken from you and therefore I your Neighbour and Friend do counsel and advise you as one who hath received great mercy and kindness of the Lord to return and come from those things wherein you have exercised your selves and have a life in things without substance life or virtue unto him that searcheth your hearts that stands at the door and knocks why should he not be let in for he speaketh on this wise if any man hear my voice and opens the door to me I will come into him and sup with him and he with me and is not this encouragement enough to satisfie your souls and to answer his desire in letting him in for his presence giveth life and at his right hand are pleasures for ever more he shews unto man his thoughts and makes manifest what is reprovable I say at the door he stands and knocks open ye unto him and in the humility of your hearts and let not his wooings be any longer slighted by you yea be ye open ye everlasting gates that the holy one may enter in and dispise not his lowly appearance but sit ye down under his shaddow and his fruit will be sweet to your taste come come away from the barren Mountains where the pasture of life is not enjoyed and come taste with me and many thousands more how good he is and see and behold how lovely he is and beautiful altogether for I must tell you that your Forms your Ordinances and Observations which you have set up to worship the Lord in are lifeless sapless things empty and void of the Spirit of Life yea empty sounds and notions so that your withering is seen the covering wherewith you cover your selves is not of the Spirit of the Lord and your nakedness doth appear your darkness is felt in which you grope after that namely eternal life which you cannot attain unto therein the life is ●●●ified the holy one is ascended over it all and his cry is unto man and unto the sons of men Worship God give glory and honour unto his Name who made the heavens and the earth for he seeketh such to worship him and in the spirit and in the truth it must be performed therefore cease ye from the works of your own hands and cease ye from the man whose breath is in his nostrils for wherein is he to be accounted of truly my Friends not at all I have tryed them I have tryed them in the day of my distress when the heart-sercher found me out and when he arose to Judgment who pleads with all flesh by burning and devouring fire then my iniquity became my burthen and my soul wanted a Saviour and a thousand worlds had I had them would I have parted with for the bosom of this beloved I tryed first one and then another and found them short of giving food to my soul or Phisitians of value the best of them so accounted of then said I unto the Lord Lift up thou the light of thy countenance upon me Lighten mine eyes O Lord lest I sleep the sleep of death and whilst I read the Scriptures I did clearly see that I was short of that blessed life in which the righteous obtained the Promises and I a poor miserable captive whose captivity had been long and grievous cryed out before the Lord in distress which is unutterable and said Surely thy love in sending Jesus Christ into the world to save sinners is in vain as to me for I have not the benefit thereof a sad time it was mourning and sorrow was as my dayly food and in distress and grief I mourned out many of my dayes and nights before the Lord who alone knew my sorrow and unto whom alone my soul cryed for relief and at length he was pleased to shorten those dayes and satisfie my soul in the dayly waiting upon him with his goodness And now Friends in the holy sence and blessed effect thereof doth my soul thus labour for you that you also may be incouraged to trust alone in the Name of the Lord revealed which is not afar off but neer you and in you to work your works for you that he may deliver your souls from the pit and pluck your feet out of the mire and clay where they stick fast whatever you think and will stick fast if not unto him you answer whilst he calls who doth enlighten you that so through his heavenly shinings into your hearts you may thereby in him believe and be saved with an everlasting salvation And Friends you pretend to Reformation and to Separation but from what and to what the voice and cry of the Holy One who is going forth to slay

with the Sword of his mouth those his enemies that will not that he should reign is Come out of Babylon my people be not partaker with her in her sins lest ye also partake with her in her Judgments and be ye separated and touch no unclean thing mark that word no unclean thing and I will be your God and ye shall be my people now is it thus with you are you in such a Separation are you thus come out from amongst them or in what doth your Separation and Reformation consist can you before the Lord the Searcher of your hearts in his holy fear answer yea or are not you rather at a stand in your selves as knowing that it is not thus with you indeed but are drawing neer with your lips and your hearts in the mean time far removed from him trusting in the thoughts of your own hearts and in the Arm of flesh vain man who dawb with untempered Morter who can be removed into a corner and who to feed their own bellies starve their souls keeping you from the true Bishop and Shepherd of them if it be not thus with you and that whilst you Profess a Separation from the world you intend not from the evil of the world but live in the Love and Friendship of the world which is enmity against God and set thereby at naught him who hath the power and calls unto you to separate you by his Light and Grace in your Consciences Why are you so Conformable to this present evil world as you are in its Fashions Customs and Delights and ought you not rather to be transformed by the renewing of your minds that ye may prove what is the good will of God and learn a bridle to your tongues those unruly members which set the whole course of nature on fire and so set a watch before the door of your mouths that you may not offend in your words but be slow to speak and swift to hear him that speaks from heaven and slow to speak before him who ought of right to have the preheminence in all things in you The marks of Christ Jesus do they appear in your foreheads or his lovely-lowly self-denying Image who is meek and lowly in heart and said My Kingdom is not of this world if my Kingdom were of this world then would my Servants fight Consider well of this least yours be of this world and that your portion be in this life But my Friends much might be writ and brought to your view and consideration but the sum and that which concerns you to know experience is there ought to be a dayly watching in the light of the Lord Jesus Christ against every appearance of evil a dayly taking up the Cross to self a dayly dying and a dayly mortifying yea and a dayly quickning and a dayly renewing and a dayly growing and increasing in the grace of God that mortification may be known and lived in of the lusts and vile affections and a being born again and a dayly putting on the Lord Jesus Christ and a dayly walking not after the flesh but after the Spirit if so be that ye would come to the inheritance of the Saints in Light and to know what it is to be born again not of mortal seed but of immortal and to know that bread to eat of it which comes down from Heaven and to drink of that water which they that drink of thirst no more for it is in such as do a well of living water springing up into everlasting life and so a conformity to his holy will you ought to witness who is the salvation of God prepared before the face of all people a Light as good old Simeon said to lighten the Gentiles to lighten their feet out of the Darkness and to be the glory of his people Israel who believe in his name who walk in his Light who pass their sojourning here in his fear and in his wisdome whose conversations shew that they seek for a City whose maker and builder is God these are they who walk in the Light of the Lord and do not reject it nor stumble at it putting Darkness for Light and Light for Darkness with whom the secrets of the Lord are to whom he shews forth his Covenant and brings to his Mercy-seat feeds with his dayly bread waters with his holy dew from above watcheth over for good directs by his eye leads on by his Spirit through all temptation persecutions and afflictions and finally Crowns with his Crown his life and Glory in the Kingdome of his Father And therefore buy the Truth and give all for it without grudging for what is to be compared to it neither Silver Gold nor pretious Stones and consider ye let understanding have place in you for it is said hoe every one that thirsteth come buy Wine and Milk without Money and without Price and who will let him take of the water of life freely And now remember ye the young man and his case who came it is said running to Jesus and said Good Master What shall I do that I may inherit eternal Life and Jesus said unto him thou knowest the Commandments and he answered all these things I have observed from my youth and Jesus loved him and said one thing is lacking unto thee go and sell all that thou hast and come follow me and take up the Cross here Jesus came neer unto him now here is something which may be said to be and is your case as to the one thing lacking the selling of all following Jesus and taking up the Cross the want of which is the cause of that woful darkness worldlyness and ignorance that is amongst too many of you and hard it is to make you to believe it but it is said that the young man who came running to Jesus had great Possessions and so was sad at what was said unto him and went away sorrowful and so have you but your Possessions and his differ much and yet how unwilling are you to come to Jesus sell all take up the Cross and follow him but the man that sold all to buy the field wherein was the Pearl was a wise man and well instructed in the things which belonged to his eternal peace and you shall do well to buy Eye-salve that you may see and find white Rayment that your nakedness may be covered of Jesus Christ whilst he sayeth I counsel thee to buy of me lest ye remain in blindness and nakedness until no eye pitties you And so this is a certain living Testimoy unto the universal Love of God in Jesus Christ to the Souls of all men which I counsel you to consider of in secret or in your Closets before the Lord who searcheth the heart that so your souls may have a place to rest in which is true and in truth and abides and remains over all imaginary false and insecure hideing places which now you are short of in uncertainties doubts sometimes and fears your own thoughts and vain hopes which will prove at last as void and empty of soul satisfaction and assurance unfailable in the hour of need and great distress which hasteth swiftly upon you as sparks of your own kindling which those that kindle them notwithstanding must lie down in sorrow And is likewise my souls desire in the Lord in his Love in tenderness and plainness unto you that you trust no longer your pretious Souls short or without that great salvation which is everlasting in the Lord Jesus Christ who inlightens you that all these that believe in him might not perish but have everlasting life and remember what is written whilst you have the light believe in the Light that you may become children of the light wherein no occasion of stumbling is and I hope as concerning some of you my love herein shall not altogether be as water spilt upon the ground which cannot be gathered up again for is there not an honest heart that will consider a breathing soul that wants peace with the Lord that will consider a thirsty wounded spirit that wants true balm that will consider or a blind man that wants his sight that will consider these things will seriously ponder these things to seek and to search that they may attain unto the truth that will not be as the stony ground where no true entrance can be had nor as Subjects of the Prince of the Aire from whom these things may flee away as the wind which no man knows whence it comes nor whither it goes so inconstant and unsettled is the minds of such but rather make diligent search and seriously examine what is here in true kindness sent unto them and offered to their due and weighty consideration and wherein Gods witness answers in your hearts and consciences to the truth necessity and kindness thereof so receive ye so believe and walk that in all things which you put your hands unto his heavenly holy immaculate appearance in you may be by you eyed believed in and constantly obeyed in a holy stedfast faithfulness and diligence to walk before him in the Light as Children of the Light whereunto you are called and exhorted until you have made your calling and election sure and wrought out your Salvation with fear and trembling for know ye that our God is a consuming Fire and will in no wise acquit the wicked and ungodly but render Tribulation and Anguish to every soul that doth evil Solomon prayed for Wisdom to the Lord and was heard in that which he prayed and in his Proverbs he thus saith I passed by the Field of the Sloathful and by the Vineyard of the Man destitute of Understanding and so it was all grown over with Thorns and Nettles had covered the face thereof and the Stone Wall was broken down Then I beheld and considered it well I looked upon it and received Instruction Yet a little Sleep a little Slumber a little folding of the hands to Sleep So thy Poverty cometh as one that Travelleth by the way and thy Necessity like an Armed Man THE END