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
A26659	The church triumphant, or, A comfortable treatise of the amplitude and largeness of the kingdom of Christ wherein is proved by Scriptures and reason, that the number of the damned is inferiour to that of the elect / by Joseph Alford ...	Alford, Joseph.	1649 (1649)	Wing A921; ESTC R22399	57,799	139

them to the preconsolation of the Gentiles For I would not Brethren that ye should be ignorant of this mystery lest you should be wise in your own concei●● that blindeness in part is happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in and so all Israel shall be saved as it is written There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my co●enant with them when I shall take away their sins Which words in the original are somewhat different but it seems the Apostle followed the translation of the Septuagint in which translation the words are not so much considered as the sense These things also Mos●s Jeremiah and Ezechiel do promise to the Israelites that he will gather them out of all Nations and from the ends of the earth that he will cleanse them with pure water and purge them from all their iniquities and give them a new heart and a new spirit C. To the other things I readily assent but I do not sufficiently understand what is meant by the Deliverer M. I will shew you my Caelius This place is diversly expounded but the words of the Apostle are plain enough for when he saith he shall come it is liquid he speaketh of somewhat yet to come and when he saith the Deliverer shall come whom can you suppose to be meant but Jesus Christ the onely Saviour and Redeemer of mankind especially when he addeth out of Sion that is out of the very Nation of the Jews to whom this Prophecie doth belong But because some Holy and great man was to be sent from God for the instauration of a collapsed Church and the replantation of an extinguished Religion this doth not at all seem different from the custom of God For when things are even despaired of and grown desperate he then useth as the Prophet Malachie speaks to raise up some Elias before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord and he shall turn the heart of the Fathers to the Children and the heart of the Children to their Fathers that is he will congregate and convert the hearts of those Children to the Messiah whose Fathers have worshipped him in Spirit And that this should be performed by Elias was the opinion of Orig n Theodoret Chrysostom and Austin also which they confirm by that saying of our Saviour When Elias comes he shall restore all things Howsoever in my judgement Paul in that place means none other but Christ Jesus C. But was not Christ already come when Paul wrote wherefore then doth he say he shall come What coming doth he describe his first appearing to suffer death for us or his last coming to judgement M. Paul in his second Epistle to the Thessalonians when he purposeth to describe unto us by whom Antichrist should be revealed and by what weapons he should be overcome after that for a time he had proudly advanced himself against Christ under the name of Christ he thus writeth Then shall that wicked one be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming In which words four things are declared unto us That Antichrist shall be detected by whom he shall be brought to destruction by what weapons and lastly that the Lord himself shall come in Person against this enemy shall subdue him and scatter all his forces this shall be the means of that accomplishment Whatsoever is made manifest was first hidden and whatsoever is brought to light is made manifest Antichrist for a long time hath lyen hid like a wolf in sheeps cloathing and still had been unmanifested had not the appearance of Christ begun to reveal him by whose coming again also he shall be utterly overthrown But in the mean time it behoves us to fight manfully under Christ our King and leader against this adversary and all his adherents and least we should faint or be discouraged St. John assureth us he shall be delivered into our hands And the Lamb shall overcome them for he is Lord of Lords and King of kings and they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful But with what weapons with those wherewith men go out to battel No but with the Spirit of his mouth and the brightness of his coming C. I apprehend you with the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God that is with arguments taken out of the Doctrine of the Scriptures which he shall never be able to answer M. I deny not but the adversaries of Christ may be fought withall and brought to destruction by other weapons but Paul telleth us that Antichrist shall be put to flight by the Spirit of his mouth to exaggerate the power of Christ who is able to vanquish his enemies by the breath of his nostrels For his Spirit as the Prophet Isaiah saith is an over flowing stream he is also a consuming fire and Christ Jesus is the brightness of this fire at whose appearance the enemies vanish as the night and darkness is dispersed by the approch of the sun Now if the tyranny of Antichrist must be abolished by the Spirit of the mouth of our Saviour before his last coming to judgement which St. John foretelleth saying And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast these shall hate the whore and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and shall burn her with fire That the Gospel may be preached in all the Kingdoms of the earth another coming of Christ must yet be enquired after and this is that coming by which he hath begun to restore the preaching of the Gospel to enlighten the understandings of them that sate in darkness to confirm them by his Spirit We know well under how much blindness and ignorance the whole world in former ages hath been kept contiguous almost to the very times of the Apostles For as soon as their embassage was ended the ravenous wolves begun to enter into the fold of Christ as Paul saith not sparing the flock Thus by degrees the true Christ was taken out of the world and a supposititious Christ laid in his room in the holy place the Temple of God established in faith not founded upon any material basis In which temple he sitteth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all de●eaveableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved For they who shut their ears that they may not hear the truth it is no wonder that they delight in lies And when salvation is promised to them that believe the truth they that delight in lies may justly fear damnatiō C. If I understand you rightly you intimate that as the absence of the Gospel doth signifie the absence

hath not been revealed to them C. I confess I thought thus within my self but I was willing to hear your opinion but when you said a little before speaking of the Church that it was wheresoever men did believe or should believe wherefore made you that addition should believe M. Because at all times and in all ages many are elected to this kingdom which are not yet called not compelled by faith to enter as were Saul Cornelius the Centurion and Sergius Paulus the Proconsul and innumerable others whose vocation and ingress was by the Lord for some time deserred who because they were from all eternity appointed to this kingdom are therefore all Citizens and Members of this heavenly Common-wealth this is manifest by these and others who the goodness of God being revealed are afterwards received into this kingdom C. They say that Cornelius oponed a passage into this kingdom by his prayers and Alms-deeds and this they confirm by those words of the Angel to him Thy prayers and thy Almes are come up for a memorial before God M. The abettors of such fancies are contumelious to God and ignorant of the Scriptures they reproch God for they rob him of his Honour and give the glory to man they are ignorant of the Scriptures not discerning an open truth Their errour ariseth partly from a non-consideration of the words preceding and subsequent which if they had perpended they had never dashed against this Rock What hath St. Luke written in the beginning of this Chapter That Cornelius was a devour man and one that feared God with all his house which gave much Almes to the people and prayed to God alway Afterwards those men that were sent by Cornelius give him this Character that he was a just man feared God and of good report among all the nation of the Jews Who now doth not plainly see that his piety to and his fear of God are first commended then his Almes and good deeds are spoken of he was a Religious and a good man and therefore gave many Almes to the poor and prayed to God alway which were the fruits and effects of his piety Therefore it is said he was of good report among the Jews But from whence came these good effects Not from his good deeds for the tree must be good before the fruit can be good as our Lord saith Matth. 7. For the cause cannot follow the effect any more than a daughter can bring forth her Mother But who made him Religious and just and fearing God Who but he that circumciseth the foreskins of our hearts That taketh away our stony hearts and giveth us hearts of flesh and new Spirits Ezech. 11. He I say made Cornelius both Religious and devout and were not these things declared unto Peter by the Divine oracle of God for when he supposed that all the rest of the Nations were alienated from the benefit of the Gospel the Angel telleth him Those things which God hath purified call not thou unclean Acts 10. Here God witnesseth that he had purged prepared and consecrated Cornelius to himself And although it was spoken because of Cornelius yet the words concern all those that God hath chosen and adorned with the beautiful knowledge of the Gospel And whereas it is said that his prayers and giving of Almes went up to God as a memorial nothing more is intended but that God heareth the prayers of the Godly that their good works are acceptable to him and that he hath them in remembrance as flowing from himself the Fountain of all good gifts And where it is said that he was frequent in prayer it is evident that this proceeded from a Divine inspiration For as Paul saith We know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with unutterable groans Rom. 8. Now if he was endued with the Spirit of God as certainly he was and that his Almes-deeds and his prayers were accepted it is as certain that he had saith without which it is impossible to please God as St. Paul doth most plainly teach Rom. 10. And if he had the illustrations of Faith then his heart was purified and cleansed as Peter testifieth of Cornelius and other Gentiles in St. Luke saying That God had enlightened them by his Holy Spirit and purged their minds by Faith C. I perceive that by degrees you have come to the right explication of the truth but there is yet one thing to be enucleated for Peter saith Of a truth I now perceive that God is no respecter of persons but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted by him Act. 10. Here he sheweth that by good works a man is reconciled to God M. This speech of the Apostle meaneth nothing else but what diverse other holy sentences do teach that God in his election of and his Love to mankind hath regard onely to their goodness and glorie not to their original their pedigree their country their sex their age their merit or any other personal attributes This truth is exemplified in the person of Cornelius whom God called being an alien and dignified him with a place in his kingdom The signs of Election are an ingenuous and a reverential fear of God like to that of obedient children towards their parents from whence there ariseth in them a confidence and a stedfast perswasion of the love of God to them and from thence again groweth a delight in the Law of God a complacency in the works of righteousness he that is accepted by God he feareth he honoureth loveth and trusteth in God for it behoveth that the person of that man be gracious and acceptable whose duties or offices of Love are accepted for no performances are acceptable from him against whom we entertain a prejudice or aversation of this we have experience in the common civilities of life but with God there is no prejudice for he is the searcher of the heart And John saith Whosoever doth work righteousness is born of God Also Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ he is born of God that is therefore some men live justly some man believeth Jesus to be the Christ because he is justified by God and endued with holiness and righteousness by him for unless he thus be born of God he is unable to perform any thing justly and rightly or to believe that Jesus is the Christ This the Lord himself confirmeth upon Peters confession that he was the Son of the Immortal God Verily saith our Saviour flesh and bloud hath not revealed this unto thee but my Father which is in Heaven Now there is this difference between Divine and humane justice he that is not justified by God may execute humane justice for fear of punishment expectation of glorie or hope of other reward but no man is exercised in heavenly justice who is not first justified purged by Faith and assisted with grace Therefore it is no wonder that whosoever