Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	spirit_n	temple_n	worship_v	2,613	5	9.6572	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31107	Mercy in the midst of judgment by a gracious discovery of a certain remedy for London's languishing trade : in a sermon preached before the right honourable, the lord mayor and the citizens of London, on September 12, 1669, at the new repaired chappel at Guild-Hall / by D. Barton ...	Barton, William, 1598?-1678.	1670 (1670)	Wing B989; ESTC R37078	21,906	62

on Gods side and he pays them home in the same kind they thought in the Famine to have kept the more for themselves and they had less for keeping from him that which was his own A just hand of God upon all such who think every thing too much for his service for the most part they are alwayes in want and needy their wealth melting away like Snow before the Sun The Merchant that denyes to pay his Customs forfeits all his Commodities they forfeit their own portion who with-hold Gods from him God tames his Prodigals and starves their bodies who by neglect of his worship starve their owne souls God denies the same external things to them which they deny to Gods House But might not these Jews have pleaded against this Sentence and charged God with too much severity saying with their Forefathers The way of the Lord is not equal What is this Temple more then another place Cannot we worship God in any House as well as this Is not God a spirit and will be worshiped in spirit and truth and that we may do in any Mountain as well as this Whereunto although it might be a sufficient answer to say with S. Paul O man who art thou that replyest against God Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it why hast thou made me thus Shall sinful man plead with his Maker Yet because this malapert sauciness is the temper of many in this age as well as that that the most just God may be justified when he speaketh and clear when he judgeth we may take notice of the equity of it by a twofold consideration First Of the nature of the place and Secondly Of the nature of the punishment First Gods equity will be cleared from the nature of the place which was First A visible sign and token of Gods more immediate and gracious presence for although God dwels not in Temples made with hands that is so as we dwell in our Houses to be comprehended in them yet God is sayed to dwell there where he manifests himself and therefore what was done before the Temple was sayed to be done before God called therefore The Throne of his Glory The place of his rest The place of his habitation His dwelling place Now we know that affronts offered to the Kings Chayre of State although in his absence are as much resented as when he is present Secondly That House was the choisest and chiefest instrument of Gods worship in the Jewish administration they were to direct all their worship towards it It was the King of Heavens Court of Requests which he had appointed for the hearing their prayers and granting their Petitions and which had the priviledge of an universally gracious audience In this place will I give peace saith the Lord c. 2. 9. Now because the honour done to any part of Gods service reflects on himself as those that offered any polluted bread on Gods Altar are sayed to despise his name therefore to punish this offence so grievously could be no over much severity Thirdly That House was a type of Christ it was a sacred Mystery representing their Messiah to them who was the true Temple made without hands as himself makes the application John 2. 19. Destroy this Temple and after three dayes I will raise it up which S. John who was his beloved Disciple and lay in his bosome interprets as meant of his own body Vers. 21. He spake of the Temple of his body And this the Apostle asserts at large in the ninth Chap. of the Epistle to the Hebrews Jesus Christ was that true Temple in which the God-head dwelt bodily that is really fully substantially by the neerest union and most intimate conjuction as the soul dwels in the body and so the neglect was the neglect of Christ himself Fourthly That place was the spring-head of all their blessings God had made that the staple of all his favours In all places where I record my name I will come to thee and bless thee From whence it is that in Scripture Gods blessings are not said to be given from Heaven immediatly but from Syon the place of Gods worship There the Lord commanded the blessing even life for evermore Psal. 133. 3. And the Lord that made Heaven and Earth bless thee out of Syon Psal. 134. 3. The Ocean of blessing is in Heaven but the well-head is Syon and so by neglecting Gods House they forsook their own mercy so that the nature of the place acquits the Lord of Hosts from the imputation of over-rigorous proceeding which likewise will appear Secondly From the nature of the Judgment if we shall consider those veins of mercy which run through it which is the Second general part and is included in the scope and designe of the words of my Text. And this mercy is visible in four particulars First In the Judgment it self Secondly In the matter of that Judgment Thirdly In the measure of it Fourthly In the discovery of the cause and consequently the means of removing it First It was mercy that they were punished at all correction being a signe of Gods paternal care For every Son whom he loveth he Chastneth and Scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth Immunity from Chastisement and Correction is the Bastards not the Childs prerogative Gods forbearances are his most dreadful Severities and a prosperous iniquity is the most unprosperous condition in the world It is cruelty not mercy to suffer men to go on in sin unpunished it being that which hardens men in sin and consignes them over to ruine and reprobation It is a deplorable condition when God shall say Why should ye be stricken any more ye will revolt more and more Vis indignantis Dei terribilem vocem audire will you here the terrible voice of a provoked God Hear it saith Origen in that of Hos. 4. 14. I will not punish your Daughters when they commit whoredome Never was Jerusalem's case so desperate as when God sayd to her I will make my fury towards thee to rest and my jealousy shall depart from thee and I will be quiet and will be no more angry Ezek. 16. 42. That 's the first beame of mercy that they are punished A Second is that their Punishment is in external temporal things and not in internal and Spiritual which as they are most necessary so the loss is most dangerous Man may be happy without the one he cannot be so without the other The Lord of Hosts might instead of a famine of bread have sent a famine of the word of God which is the Souls proper food and without which it cannot live which he threatens in another Prophet as the most dreadful Famine Behold the day is come saith the Lord that I will send a Famine in the Land not a Famine for Bread nor a thirst for Water but of hearing the Word of the Lord. We never fear a dearth if we have Bread-Corne