Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
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A93756
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A sermon preached unto the inhabitants of the town of Thornbury, in Glocestershire [sic] on March 20, 1697/8
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Stafford, Richard, 1663-1703.
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1698
(1698)
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Wing S5133; ESTC R42869
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30,618
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36
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Peace when we are taught of God and chiefly we have great Peace when we obey and do according to that Teaching of his And so we hear his loving Kindness when he causes us to know the way wherein we should walk From whence observe again That when our Spirits are dissatisfied restless and troublesome it is a certain sign either of some Guilt appearing forth in them or we are not conversant about and employed in what we ought Again on the other hand as we can prove our own Work and then find rejoycing in our selves and not in another Gal. 6. 4. This is a Sign and Evidence that it is a Good and Right Work The Apostle speaks in this manner unto some to whom he writes The God of Hope fill you with all Joy and Peace in believing So the same God of Peace fills People with Peace in doing his Will which same Peace he denies them again as they neglect the doing of his Will I have experienced much of this last my self and by the Horrors and Accusings of mine own Conscience herein I can somewhat guess and apprehend before-hand what will be the pain of Loss at the great Day of Judgment The Sun rejoyceth as a strong Man to run a Race Psal 19. 5. So there is a Satisfaction in all the created Beings to move and act according to the Rule Law and Will of their Creator And again when they do not they are out of their Element and then there is Trouble Doubt and Disquiet As God asks the Question in reference to the false and idolatrous Worshippers among the Jews Should I receive Comfort in these Isa 57. 6. So it may be conceived and judged of before-hand as to our several Acts of Religion According as we find and receive Comfort in them so it is a foregoing Sign of God's Acceptance of them For as the Jewish Worshippers did hereby know that the Lord receiv'd a Burnt-Offering and a Meat-Offering at their Hands if the Fire did come down from Heaven and consume and Sacrifice and when he did shew us all these things Judges 13. 23. So even then it might be understood and also under the Gospel that God did Remember all our Offerings and accept our Burnt-Sacrifice and so what we did as pertaining to Religion and Worship if thereupon God did immediately give us the chief things of the lasting Mountains and the precious things of the lasting Hills Deut. 33. 15. that earnest and glimpse of future Glory I mean that Peace and Joy and Comfort in the Holy Ghost at the very same time and afterwards also wherein we were serving him This again is to be differenced from that fond Exultancy of Spirit and Complacency of Mind which the false and formal Worshipper may sometimes have in that in his own Imagination he hath done something for God and for his own Soul Like unto Micah who said Now know I that the Lord will do me Good seeing I have a Levite to my Priest Judges 17. 13. which yet was but a false Conceit of his own for as may be understood from Verse 5. he was an Idolater And let not such a one or any other false Worshipper think that he shall receive any thing from the Lord as to the future Recompence which he hath promised to such only who worship him in Spirit and in Truth But when we receive Comfort in our Holy Things and in our Religious Performances upon some true and assured Grounds out of God's Word This is an Evidence and Sign before-hand of our Salvation and that our Religion is a Religion to the saving of the Soul So again on the other Hand when we do not receive Comfort in our Religion but we perform it in a way of Drudgery and Task Here we may suspect our Course that as such People do not receive true Comfort in the Acts of their Religion so the great God unto whom it doth all relate and terminate doth not receive Comfort in them neither will they receive Benefit thereof hereafter Either such do not worship God in Spirit and in Truth or there is Sin and Iniquity in the Worshipper God heareth not Sinners If I regard Iniquity in my Heart the Lord will not hear me Or they do not turn unto him with their whole Heart It is only done out of Custom or as a Task that is set them which they do not mind after it is over Such will be of the number of those who shall say Lord Lord Mat. 7. 21. throughout their Life and yet shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Such do neither pray unto God for it neither doth God cause them to know the way wherein they should walk and so they neither hear his loving Kindness nor is any due and belonging unto them for this is the favour he beareth unto his People and is distinguished and peculiar to his Elect only There is a great Fear Jealousie and Doubt in the Heart of Man especially in those who prepare their Heart to seek know and please him whither we be in the way of God or not Besides the sure Word of Prophecy the certain Rule of Scripture if it be according to that and more especially by the Spirit which he hath given us We may very much conceive and judge thereof before-hand According to what Peace and Satisfaction of Mind we have if the other Signs here mention'd do also concur and agree then we are in God's way But if we are in Doubt Perplexity and Uncertainty of Soul then probably we are out of it Each Person knows his own Case and Condition herein better than all the Divines or Preachers of the World can instruct or put him in mind of To the Law and the Testimony and the Light that is in them and also within himself hereby he may know and assure his Heart before him viz. That he is in the way wherein he should be even the way which the Invinsible God his Creator would have him to be in and which leads up unto Heaven the Habitation of the most High Behold I send an Angel before thee to keep thee in the way and to bring thee into the Place which I have prepared Beware of him and obey his Voice Exod. 23. 20 21. This Angel is Conscience which also is to be ruled and guided by the written Word or that of himself which God hath implanted in Man or Woman By the Dictates and Motions whereof we may well guess whither we be in the way or not It is said The Angel before thee to keep thee in the way so Conscience is a Guide going before us and in our sight that is of the Eyes of our Vnderstanding being enlightned Which if we follow all along signified by those Words Beware of him and obey his Voice it will keep us in the way And when we are turn'd aside or out of it this will give Knowledge and Warning thereof yea and it will bring us in again if we Beware
what the Spirit saith in Eccles 8. 2. and against them that turn aside the stranger from his right Mal. 3. 5 Now the Stranger there meant was either an Heathen who also was an Idolater or a Proselyte of the Gate and here God speaks against turning him aside from his right in like manner it may be truly reason'd and apply'd against turning aside a Papist from his Right As the Prophet Malachy was no Heathen nor Stranger only because he did by the Spirit deliver and make known the Commandment of God to be on this wise so I am no Papist altho' I make known also and affirm the Will and Commandment of God to be on this wise as I have here receiv'd and learn'd it from his own Word of Truth I shall not here mention many more Particulars to illustrate and confirm the Truth of what I have written about these things But as it is written The foolishness of Man perverteth his way and his Heart fretteth against the Lord. So I would just observe That the Disobedience of many People because they have acted contrary thereunto yea of the Religious and Professors also have fretted against the Lord because he hath given such Declarations of his Will and such kind of Commandments as in Mal. 3. 5. afore-mention'd and these following To turn aside the Right of a Man before the Face of the most High to subvert a Man in his cause the Lord approveth not Lam. 3 35 36. From whence again it may be truly reason'd and inferr'd That the more like any Man is unto the Mind of God the supream and only Good thou art of purer Eyes then to behold Evil and canst not look on Iniquity the better that Man is so by Consequence we are the better Men and more like unto God and God doth better love and approve of us if we do not approve of such kind of Doings neither as the Lord approveth not for indeed it is according to the Law of God and the Laws of this Realm as also to Right Reason for this is necessarily tending unto the Welfare Peace and Order of all Communities and Societies of People living in a Nation or Countrey together that every one should have and enjoy his civil Right and respective Property both in his Lands or Goods of whatever Opinion Perswasion or way of Worship in Matters of Religion he or they be of Thou shalt in any wise set him King over thee whom the Lord thy God shall choose one from among thy Brethren shalt thou set King over thee thou mayst not set a Stranger over thee which is not thy Brother Deut. 17. 15. In all this we have not dealt falsly in thy Covenant neither have our Steps declin'd from thy way So it stands at this day I have at sundry Times in several Years preached the Word amongst ye and stretched forth my Hands unto a Disobedient and a Gainsaying People Ye know that I have kept back nothing that was profitable unto you but have shewed you and taught you publickly in this place and I would have done it from House to House but that my time was taken up in writing the Truths of God though herein again I have been guilty of many Omissions and Neglects for I might have more discoursed on that Subject as touching their not hearing the Word to those whom I have occasionally made Visits unto or been in Company with I have testified both to the Jews and also to the Greeks Repentance towards God and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ I have preached both to the Godly and to the Ungodly to the Nominal and also to the real Christians Repentance from dead Works and that they should turn to God and bring forth fruits meet for Repentance I have also preached Faith in Jesus Christ as ye are my Witnesses And so ye are likewise That I have inculcated over and over the Doctrine of Universal Obedience That is To have respect unto all God's Statutes Psal 119. 6. And to have all his Judgments before us and not to put away his Statutes from us Psal 18. 22. nor yet any of them Yea I have more than once or twice set my Seal and in this place deliver'd my Testimony against Partial Obedience that is when either Priests or People are Partial in the Law which in Mal. 2. 9. God finds fault with and reproves them for and they keep some of the Commandments of God and neglect others as the manner of many is who call themselves Christians altho it is a dangerous and Soul-destroying Deceit Herein I have been peculiar and distinct from other Congregations for this same Doctrine of confirming all the Words of God's Law to do them Deut. 27. 26. Is not so much preached therein as it should be I am sure it is not so much practised by the Hearers and Members thereof as it ought to be And now behold I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem I mean to the chief City of this Nation not knowing the things that shall befal me there save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every City saying that Bonds and Afflictions abide me I speak this by way of surmise because those things have heretofore befaln me in that place But none of these things move me neither count I my Life dear unto my self so that I might finish my Course with Joy and the Ministry which I have receiv'd of the Lord Jesus to testifie the Gospel of the Grace of God I must at length unavoidably taste of Death one way or another At first indeed I have a melancholy Prospect before me namely of Poverty and further Imprisonments for I believe this before the Scene will yet turn with me I believe God that it shall be even so as it was told me howbeit we must be cast upon a certain Island Acts 27. 25 26. I believe God that it shall be even so as hath been shew'd to me before-hand in my Mind how that it should be with me also as it was with his Servant Job and the latter end of my Life should be more than my beginning howbeit according to his Method and Workings of old I must undergo greater and sorer Troubles than I have as yet endured Before He doth quicken me again and bring me up again from the depths of the Earth Psal 71. 20. But I trust in the living God that he will proportion his Invisible Protection unto the Danger I may be subject unto and his Deliverance according to the Trouble and Suffering I may be involved in and his Relief suitable to what my Need shall be As old Hilarion did say when he was tempted to deny Christ These eighty six years I have served him and found no harm in him and shall I deny him now No I will not do it So for some Years last past I have trusted on God hitherto and it was then well enough with me blessed be his Name for it and shall I distrust him now No I