Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	love_n	receive_v	unrighteousness_n	1,627	5	10.8118	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07208	Hearing and doing the ready way to blessednesse with an appendix containing rules of right hearing Gods word. By Henry Mason, parson of S. Andrews Vnder-shaft London.	Mason, Henry, 1573?-1647.	1635 (1635)	STC 17609; ESTC S102307	184,084	830

services For what can be too hard for him in Gods commandements who hath forsaken every thing that is forbidden by them Thus the purging of the heart from all sin maketh a man ready for obedience of every commandement which is the very crowne and the glory of our hearing III. This cleansing of the soule from all sinfull lusts inviteth God to assist us with grace and to blesse our hearing with successe and to increase all his mercies towards us For the secret of the Lord is with them that feare him and he will shew them his covenant Psal 25.14 And my sonne saith Solomon if thou wilt receive my words and hide my commandements with thee c. then shalt thou understand the feare of the Lord and finde the knowledge of God For the Lord giveth wisedome out of his mouth commeth knowledge and understanding Prov. 2.1 5 6. And of Cornelius wee reade that hee being a devout man and one that feared God and gave much almes to the people and prayed God continually God was so well pleased herewith that first hee sent an Angel from heaven to direct him what course hee should take for saving of his soule and then hee sent Peter to tell him those things by which both hee and his houshold should bee saved and lastly while Peter was preaching and Cornelius was hearing he powred downe the holy Ghost upon all them that heard the word Act. 10. And so it will bee with us if wee bee like to Cornelius in devotion serving God in purity of heart we need not doubt but God will send us such Teachers as may direct us in the waies of salvation and will grant us the assistance of his Spirit to blesse our hearing with an happy successe But on the contrary if any man come to heare Gods word with the conscience of knowen sinne or with any lust that lieth unmortified within him such a one provoketh God to blind his eyes and to curse his labors To this purpose the Prophet speaketh Ezek. 14.6 7 8 9. Say to the house of Israel Thus saith the Lord God Repent and turne your selves from your idols and turne away your faces from all your abominations For every one of the house of Israel or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel which separateth himselfe from me and setteth up his idols in his heart and putteth the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face and commeth to a Prophet to enquire of him concerning me I the Lord will answere him by my selfe and I will set my face against that man and will make him a signe and a proverb and I will cut him off from the midst of my people and yee shall know that I am the Lord. And if a Prophet be deceived when hee hath spoken a thing I the Lord have deceived that Prophet c. Note here 1. the sinne that is supposed to bee in this people If they set up their idols in their heart c. He meaneth if they cherished idolatry in their heart and looked on their abominations as the thing that they loved 2. Consider the punishment that God threatneth against this sinne and that is twofold 1. That if such a one should come to a Prophet for instruction God would give him the answere and set his face against him c. that is instead of instructing him in his word hee would persecute him with his judgements and 2. that if a Prophet were deceived as some times they were God in his anger did suffer him to erre for a punishment to that man that came to heare with a polluted soule 3. Note the remedy or the meanes how to avoid this judgement and that is set downe in these words Repent and turne your selves from your idols and from your abominations Lay these notes together and then yee may see that if a man come to heare Gods word with a purpose of sin in his heart for every such sinne is his idol God will give him over to be seduced and to be plagued for his sin and that the purging out of sinne is the way to avoid all this mischiefe Agreeable hereunto is that also of the Apostle where hee saith of Antichrist that his comming should bee after the working of Satan with all power and signes and lying wonders and with all deceiveablenesse of unrighteousnesse in them that perish because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved and that for this cause God should send them strong delusions that they should beleeve a lie that they all might bee damned who beleeved not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousnesse 2. Thess 2.9 10 11. By all this we may see that if any man come to heare Gods word with a cleare conscience purged from dead works God is ever ready to teach and direct that man in the right way to heaven But if any come with a conscience defiled with knowen sinne God forsaketh that man and leaveth him to false teachers to bee seduced and mis-led to his ruine Thus the point is cleared that he who will heare with profit must first empty his soule of all sinfull lusts the uses follow Vse 1. Seeing such preparative duties are required for a profitable hearing of Gods word every wise Christian should examine himselfe how well he hath performed those duties and by them ploughed up the fallow ground of his heart that the good seed may be received into a good soile More particularly whether before his hearing hee have laboured to empty his heart of earthly thoughts that so hee might bee at leasure for God whether he have used to season his mind with heavenly thoughts at home that hee might be attentive in Gods service and whether by due examination of his wayes hee have sought to cast out all unlawfull lusts out of his soule or whether hee have not rather busied his mind with thoughts of the world when he was come before God to be instructed in his word or whether hee have not gone into Gods house without thinking whither he was a going or finally whether he have not caried some sin with him into the Church which no perswasions of the Preacher could make him to forsake Those that have prepared themselves before hand may comfort themselues with this thought that the good seede hath been sowen in good ground and therefore will bring forth fruit to eternall life But if we consider how little fruit of obedience there appeareth in the world we may well think that most men have used but small preparation before their hearing And therefore now it is high time to beginne this so necessary a work that their negligence do not make their labors fruitlesse Vse 2. Seeing the heart is not fit for the seed of Gods word till the rubbish bee weeded out and the superfluities of sinne purged away it standeth us upon to search every corner of our soules lest some lust lie lurking there which wee have not discovered nor have had