Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	wonderful_a	work_n	write_v	43	3	4.7753	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A79993	The sect every where spoken against or, the reproached doctrine of Ely. As it was held forth in several sermons in the year, MDCLI. By Christopher Cob, lay-man, minister of an united people in Ely. Collected and analized for a private use, by Hampden Reeve, Master of Arts, one of that Society, and a constant hearer. Now published by the assent of the whole Society (as a short character, at present, of them and their way, till an opportunity of a farther and fuller discovery) for satisfaction in general.	Cob, Christopher.; Reeve, Hampden.	1651 (1651)	Wing C4769; Thomason E1251_1; ESTC R209173	234,596	386

not you that sold me c. ' I sent you into the wilderness to learn you experience that when you are converted you might strengthen your Brethren Thus you may see of what use Rings are and this is wonderful that God should so adorn the hand with his Rings To be 1. Skill'd in the works of Truth 2. To be diligent in the work of Truth And 3. To be garnish'd with this to be busied about things of worth to be exercised in things that abide for ever Let all your things saith Paul be done to edification Let nothing be out of strife or vain glory but all for the building of something that shall stand for ever But yet this son is wanting still as if the Father should say What if we clothe him with the best robe and put Rings on his hands yet if his feet be not shod too how can he go Therefore 3. This is the third thing And put shooes on his feet c. Let him be shod with the Preparation of the Everlasting Gospel of Peace The feet are the Affections which are to be wrought upon 1. To go but how why Let all your things saith Paul be done in Love There 's need your feet be prepared to serve the Lord in Love And that our loves might be prepared there 's need of shooes to put on that the feet might be enabled to go upon the bryars and thorns to endure the frost and the snow need to have the Love made strong to endure hardness Love saith Paul suffereth long and is kinde envyeth not seeketh not her own is not easily provoked thinketh no evil rejoyceth not in iniquity but rejoyceth in the Truth c. 1 Cor. 13.4 5 6. It had need be shod indeed When God said to Moses Thou shalt carry this people in thy bosom as a Mother doth her child c. Alass pleads he how can I carry all this people If thou dealest thus with me I pray thee take me away that I may not see my wretchedness He had not Love enough to carry him through There 's need of great preparations if such a service be in hand And now the Prodigal shall be made to endure to bless when he is cursed because he knows now the heart of a stranger We our selves saith Paul were sometimes strangers and aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel hateful and hating one another He having a knowledg into this was made to endure Though the more abundantly I love saith he the less I be loved That there may not be a shrinking here this is one main thing he has need of of the shooes of that which may be a fence a safeguard to his feet that no fiery darts no discontents c. may stop or overturn him But then 2. The shooes are that the Love might run the swifter without fear Withhold thy Feet from being VNSHOD saith God and thy throat from thirst Jerem. 2.25 Thou makest my Feet like HINDES FEET saith David But when the Love is cold then the heart by and by waxeth feeble and faint Ezra was astonish'd and sat seven days so because he had said The Lord was able to save them therefore said he I was ashamed to go to the King for a band of men His Love began to be feeble at last And Job sat astonish'd seven days his Love was cold he could not have offended had that been alive Great Peace have they that love thy Law and nothing can offend them How do we stand and pick and choose But when we shall be made able to say as Paul I am not onely ready to be bound for the Name of Christ but to suffer death also When so shod then shall we go boldly without fear when the Love is shod with quickness then I shall run the way of thy Commands When thou hast set my feet at liberty saith David then will the Soul readily love the Lord with all the heart and all the soul and all its strength But when it 's not quick and lively there come in the miscarriages For 1. It 's not shod to endure And 2ly then it has not quickness to speed on the work but through reasoning and disputing the case the Love waxes cold And the Prodigal shall be made to see to his cost when he returns home what his Leaden-heel'd Love was But 3. The third thing that prepares the Love is singleness solidness and faithfulness these are the shooes that garnish his feet these are the Affections to be shod with The double minded man saith James is unstable in all his ways When the Prodigal comes home and sees how double he had been before in all his ways now he is made to say It was good for me that I was afflicted for thereby I learn'd thy Law Now he can say One thing have I desired which now I will seek after That I may dwell in the house of the Lord for ever to enquire dayly in his Temple c. Now the Prodigal has learn'd this He knows what it is to put his hand to the plow looking backwards Now his Love is singly fixt upon its object but when it was not single how did he soon wander from it He was bare-foot then but when he comes home then the Father puts on his shooes they were not of his putting on but the Fathers done by his command But all along while I am speaking to you and am seeing what divided hearts you come with and the great loss that is come upon you there 's great need to pray to the Father that he would bring the shooes his Love to set the Affections right to love with rightness readiness and singleness for if He bring them not this evil and hypocritical will will be our undoing But saith God You shall finde me when you shall seek me with all your heart and all your soul He will be sought to of the house of Israel And he has not said to the house of Jacob Seek my face in vain But he that offers to the Lord for a sacrifice that which is torn or lame and has a male in his flock He abhors that mans offering He will receive none but that which is without blemish and that will make our works accepted as Paul saith Faith that works by Love and doth all in singleness of Soul That will make every thing acceptable in his sight 4. A fourth thing the Soul is to be shod with is Soberness for there may be a real singleness of spirit and yet a great headiness Therefore saith Paul let your Moderation be seen in all things For if we cannot say as Job The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away and blessed be the Name of the Lord there is not a sober love Therefore Put off thy shooes said God to Moses He was yet over-heady and not fit to walk as you may see in his strait concerning Miriam because God had stricken her with Leprosie he prays Lord heal her now But as if God

day to find this City of the living God They sought a City that had foundations no other would content them They left all other dwellings all other contents delights enjoyments wherein the world live chusing rather to wander in a wilderness where there was no way till they might come to this City of habitation they rested in no place no condition nor honour nor pleasure could hold them till they might come to this City and sit down in their own house O when shall I come and appear before God! saith David Though he had a strong Army now with him of the valiants of Israel and they faithful and ready to venture their lives for him through a whole host yet he is at a strait for the Temple of God for the place where the Lord dwelt and his Name and Power and Truth lived There are many Cities in the world that are easily found Cities of wisdom and fear and rest Cities of knowledge and great enlargements but none of these will serve the true wanderers they seek a City from Heaven whose builder and maker is God Where God dwels And where doth he dwell Why where two or three are met together in my Name there am I in the midst Where Brethren live together in unity where they be of one Heart and one Soul Here he hath commanded the Blessing and life for evermore This is Sion saith God here will I take up my rest I will dwell in it for ever Now in a City three things may be considered 1 A City is an habitable place where many dwell 't is not like a waste Forrest or barren Wilderness but a place of concourse and meeting of people And thus are the people of God his City where He dwells and inhabits and all his train with him Peace Love Joy Singleness Hope Meekness c. this City is full of inhabitants It is said in the Proverbs He dwelt in the habitable part of the Earth and there dayly was his delight and he calls his people out of Babylon Come out from amongst them and ye shall be my people and I will be your God And again I will dwell in them and walk in them They are his habitation where he takes up his abode Time was when he came and went as a wayfaring man that stays but for a night and is gone and thus he is now in many of your souls he comes and goes presently but there is a time and there are a people when and in whom he takes up his abode in whom he settles never to remove more Though he may lie in the bottom of the ship lie covered up and buryed under sorrows and tryals yet he is still there I will never leave thee nor forsake thee that 's the Promise 2 A City is a place of free traffique where men may buy and sell freely without any molestation if they are made Free of the City trade where they will and when and in what they will Such a City hath God in his people such a freedom he hath to deal with them at his pleasure Sometimes he will trade in tryals and sorrows to bring forth the riches of the deeps beneath sometimes he will trade in chearings inlargings and revivings of Spirit Sometimes Gold and Silver and Pearls come out to sale sometimes Camels Hair and blue Silk as he pleaseth but some trade or other is ever going on in his City It is never left wholly desolate but he will be free to buy and sell and trade in what ever he pleaseth such a place as this he hath where he is not bound in or to any thing as we would bind and limit him to our measure we will hear him so far and come up to such a pitch but not a jot further therefore we are not this City yet he dwells not so in us though visits and passes too and fro often for the Spirit of the Lord cannot be bound it will have liberty to stir and act at pleasure he will be free to binde and straighten to loose and inlarge to raise up or cast down as he pleaseth and pleased he is sometimes to run his dearest people through wonderful strange conditions and cases to shew his great power and wisdom and faithfulness in standing to and recovering them out of all that he may bring forth all his rich wares and make his Name manifest but he dwells not in any heart where he hath not this freedom to trade in what he will sorrows and afflictions as well as inlargements and injoyments but in his own City he is free there he can trade in what he will and when he will and how he will they always submit and say Not my will but Thine they ever justifie him Good is the Word of the Lord and with Eli It is the Lord let him do what seems him good 3 A City is a place of safety and security it is expected a man may be safe from theeves and robberies there Such a City are the people of God to his Name and Honour and Truth they are bound to secure them It is expected by God as Lot saith of the Angels that came to him when the wicked Sodomites pressed to the door to do them violence see how earnest he is how he labours What will he not give to save them out of their hands Nay take my two daughters rather take all I have onely let these strangers alone disturb not them For for that very cause came they under my roof that they may be safe Where this City is indeed what will not the soul venture to keep the truth alive and safe that it suffer not and therefore the Church writes of Paul and Silas that they were men which had hazarded their lives for the Gospel nay let all go to keep this Name up I count not my life dear saith Paul to finish this course with joy Now the enemies great plot is to kill this Name of truth that the name of Israel may be no more in the earth that the devil and all his instruments aim at to destroy it root and branch utterly but I have called you friends saith Christ therefore I can intrust you with all my minde and counsels you will be faithful and not betray me not deal as the men of Keilah when David inquired of God whether they would deliver him I they will saith God but these citizens will be more faithful they will not deliver up their David their King the Lord Christ they will die rather then be false to the Lord. Such a City as this will God have such a people he seeks that will build him a sanctuary where he may be safe out of all dangers that will in deed and not in word venture their lives and all they have for his Name Oh that your souls were but taken that the desires and longings were but up in you that you might be such a Citie to the Lord and sing as Israel did when

thou do Dost thou war against I AM Thou and all Creatures all thy strength and hope and plots all the forces in which thou trustest ARE NOT and wilt thou fight against I AM He that Is strength and Power and with a word can crush thee to nothing Such a word from this poor wise man is able to overturn and shake down all the great Bulwarks of this great King But the rumor and noise of a barly loaf is heard and this wise man can so order the matter it shall skare and undo a whole Army Now for you that are indeed besieged by this great King against whom he hath raised his strong Bulwarks and fills your ears alwayes with desperate rumors and hot alarums of ruine and destruction and possesses your Souls with strange fears and perplexities and sinkings Alas what a sad case are you in if you now are to seek and know not whether this poor man be in you or no who alone by his wisdom can deliver the City These things will surely bring you to a strait when seised upon your hearts to consider 1. That for certain God hath a City a people in whom he dwells 2. this is but a little one and hard to find 3. There are but few men in it Little help to wage war and defend it 4. A great King comes against it and besieges and builds great Bulwarks against it all in appearance makes to destroy it he raises all his forces Gebal and Ammon the Philistines with them of Tyre the Ishmaelites and Hargarens all the Legions of Hell will be sure to have a throw at this City and now here will be the strait whether this poor wise man be in thee or no if he be not there it is impossible thou shouldst ever deal with this great King and his Powers they will surely undo thee but if thou canst find the wise poor man in the City if thou lightest on him happily he may help thee by his wisdom he may find out some wyle or other to draw this great King out of his Bulwarks and if he can but cast him out the unclean Spirit shall then enter no more if he can but draw him forth out of the City out of his Bulwarks then he will soon spoil the strong man of his Armor and deliver the City Bu● truly wonderfull it is that ever man or woman should be saved since the fall of man such is the ma●●gn●●y and strength of this enemy and such the mans weakness and utter incapableness to help himself All are against Truth be what they will they all agree against the Lord and his Christ a great Councel is held and great resolutions neither to eat nor drink till they have slain Paul till this City be destroyed but well there is yet hope in Israel in it was found a poor wise man c. Whence I would consider these two things 1. Where this poor wise man is to be found And that is in it in the city in the man in thy soul now shift it not off and say who shall go to heaven to fetch him thence or go down to Hell to bring him thence but the word is nigh thee It is within if it be at all The Kingdom of heaven is within you the poor wise man is in this City else it can never be saved by him And this might shew the great vanity of peoples thoughts who look for the Kingdom of God to come by observation they think to pull it to them by their huntings and seekings and endeavorings and strivings no but if ever it be to be had it is within thee truth is to spring out of the Earth the seed is there already that seed of God onely the spirit goes forth to unlock and open the ground that it may get out when it pleased the Father saith Paul To reveal his Son in me c. He was there before only now is revealed and made manifest but 2. How then shall you know whether this poor wise man be in you or not whether Christ be there or no It is not every one that saith Lord Lord that shall enter many have good words and can learn the language of truth as a Schollar learns Lattin by road but it is not their own it is not their mother Tongue in which they were born they have not a root in themselves and so the seed soon withers How then shall we know it whether Christ be in us or not 1. If Christ be in thee the body is dead because of Sin the Humanity is certainly convinced that he cannot help himself nor ever deal with this Enemy the man is cut off from ever getting life at his own hands but he cryes out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me c. that is the first work of Christ where ever he is in any Soul to be ever stopping and curbing and snibbing the man in the vain runs and promises of his heart he sets a flaming Sword that man may not put forth a hand to reach to the Tree of Life and as Job says He seals up the hand of every man He shuts up and there is no opening Now many are wearied and wearied by their own labours because they see nothing come out of all and so their hearts dye and are weak to go on in their old way but yet truth hath not cut them off Thou hast wearied thy self in the greatness of thy way saith God yet hast thou not said there is no hope hope lived still in all this I but Christ when he works cuts off all hope from man ever to deliver himself The Body is dead because of Sin c. 2. Where Christ is though the man would dye and sink and give up all and again and again run to despairing yet he cannot it is impossible to drown this truth cast it where you will it will swim and get above this seed of Life cannot quite dye Thou holdest our souls in Life saith David and again thou holdest me fast behind and before he can get out no wayes he can neither promise himself deliverance nor yet conclude destruction such a strange bond holds the Soul and I would now seriously enquire of some of you in whose souls the truth is whether ever you could say soberly in all your lives you were utterly cut off and there was no hope in God for you for as it is impossible to bring up others to this close cleaving and hanging upon truth though they seem never so high and confident and nail their God never so sure yet he will fall so impossible is it to kill this Spark of Life where-ever it is but it will hope and cleave and look towards God though it be in the bottom of Hell c. 3. as Christ saith to the Jews If God were your Father you would love me for I came from God so I say if Christ be in thee thou canst not but love Christ that of

time when he reigns after he hath bound the strong man and put down all rule and authority 4. A time of Gods reigning when the Kingdom shall be delivered up to the Father and God be all in all II. About the Devils time of reigning which was chiefly aymed at from the words these several woes observed 1. He is a strong man David and our Fathers complain of their strong Enemy who was too strong for them 2. He is throughout malignant maliciously bent against the root and branch of Truth that the name of Israel may be no more 3. Woe in that he hath a time and power given him to afflict God allows it This is your hour and power of darkness c. 4. He is in possession he keeps the house he is got into the heart out of the heart adulteries murthers c. This is a great woe 5. He hath goods in us finds of his own kinde Pride Envy Deceit Lustings that he can challenge his own goods by right 6. Besides all this he is armed he hath armor His Armor exprest under these three notions 1. A coat of mail to cover him over that nothing can touch or finde him guilty his scales so thick nothing can enter 2. A helmet of brass He can dispute and reason and plead for himself and will never yeeld nor give over 3. A spear like a weavers beam He 'l seem to be for God and Truth and by this spear keeps off all from coming nigh 7. The last woe He is desperate will venture on any desperate designes being thus armed he is safe made without fear III. A time when a stronger then he comes and overcomes him And Christ doth it by these means 1. He takes away all his armor That is first done else no entrance 2. He divides the spoyl sends all to their place as Jer. 15. 1. That which for death to death something utterly destroyed That malignant disposition which is ever bent against the Truth that must dye 2. That which for the sword to sword The sword of the Spirit the Word of God must cut through sloth and lingerings c. 3. Something to famine the ill tempers are starved by degrees 4. Something to captivity the Devil is bound and in prison though not quite destroyed but some Canaanites live c. All brought home in these four Uses 1. To examine how 't is with us whether we feel this reign of the Devil this strong malicious Enemy what goods and possession he hath 2. If we feel it then to inform what a vain thing it is for us to stir to help our selves alass man hath no might 3. To shew our way is to lie down and let all go over till Christ come 4. To encourage that a stronger then he will come Hope against Hope LUK. 11.21 When a strong man armed keeps his Palace his goods are in peace but when a stronger then he comes and overcomes him he takes away from him all the Armour in which he trusted and divideth the spoile I Have s●oke to you this last week from those words in Deut 5. where God cries out Oh that there were such a heart in then c. I told you what Heart it was that God requires and longs for to have grown up in them a Heart that will hear and do all that the Lord shall speak A heart always to feare before him and only such a heart I told you would be first suitable to God and the heavenly life secondly profitable and usefull to our brethren and thirdly peaceable to our selves and therefore ou● great happiness lyes in this in being brought up to such a heart But now to day if God wil● I shall open to you what hinders that such a heart is not risen nor can rise in us though there be longings in God and longings in the soul yet that which doth let will let till it be taken out of the way For this I would have you note that where-ever there is a longing and breathing in God after any of his People to cry Oh that there were such a heart in then there is a certain eccho lyes in the bottome of such a soule that answers this call and longs and pants also Oh that my heart were so direct to keep thy Commandments the longings and cryes are on both hands and why do they not prevaile why is not such a heart presently given no there is a block lyes in the way which will ever hinder till it be removed the strong man armed keeps the Palace and till a stronger then he come till Christ shall rise in the soul and cast him out this heart cannot get up nor arise in us the strong man rules I would in generall observe to you a fourfold time of raigning which succeed and follow one the other 2. A time of the mans raigning 2. A time of the Devils raign 3. A time of Christs raign 4. A time of Gods raign when Christ shall deliver up the Kingdom to the Father and so God become all ●n all I. There is a time of Mans reign when the man hath a great liberty and swinge to turn himself about hither and thither as he please and meets with no let nor cross nor trouble in his way When Peter is young he girds himself and walks whither he lists but when he grows old the case is altered another girds and leads him whither he would not but the man hath his day of liberty when the grass is in its prime and the flower in its full beauty the man can turn him to his ease and parts and inlargments and injoyments of truth and injoyments of creatures and suck sweet every where Thus was Iob in his day when his steps were washed in Butter and the rocke poured out rivers of oil his beauty was fresh in him and he sate as a king in the army under the flourishings and inlargments of truth he could walk and speak and act and choose and refuse exhort and incourage others and all takes and prospers and finds acceptance and here he thinks he is sure Then I said I shall dye in my nest c. And this time of greenness in the truth is yet upon some of you affords the man sweetness and liberty and how long did many of us walk in this posture coming forth delicately with Agag and saying Surely the bitternesse of death is past So have we secretly promised our selves I have forsaken the world and am come off from all the false wayes of worship and have left friends and preferments and am set down to the truth and sure now the worst is over now I am safe and in a good way and here the man sits down on a high seat above all creatures and bonds and snares takes ease and content and reigns with truth as Paul writes to the Corinthians Ye are free and reign as Kings they thought all was sure and the liberty of man would last alwayes I

one that eat of his bread and was his familiar friend as 't is expressed in the Psalmist We took sweet counsel together and walked in the House of God as friends And this is a wonderful misery to take up Had it been an enemy I could have born it but thou my friend my familiar c. This cuts to the heart This very case befalls the Soul in which Truth is There is something that sticks near to it a friend that lies in its bosom and is nursed and favoured by it something that walks in the House of God with it and pretends to be for God and Truth and pleads hard as if all were intended for the Souls good and this will be a sad day when this very thing shall be found to be the Betrayer and yet this Christ submits to when he consents Thy Will be done 2. F●rther He submits to be betrayed into the hand of Sinners And here are seven great Aggravations of misery 1. They are a multitude into whose hands he is betrayed This flattering and smooth-mouth'd Betrayer this Judas that comes with a kiss and salutes Hail Master a great multitude is at his heels he brings in a whole Troop after him Oh that you could read the thing in your selves in the work upon your own Souls For there is all this to be fulfilled if you go in the same way with Christ and tread in his steps if you drink of the same Cup as all the saved ones must for there is no other way to life but to be planted into the likeness of his death the likeness in all cases though not the very same particular Tryals that he had And now this you shall find true that when ever this Judas that betrays the Soul gets in when by his counsel or wisdom or flatterings and fair promises that cursed Betrayer gets in his foot and deceives the Soul with a kiss then he lets in a multitude of enemies against us then come in the swarmings of wickedness They compassed me about like Bees saith David Then come in all the floods of ungodliness and make the Soul afraid Then all the fountains of the great deep are broke up and come with violence ready to sweep away all before them Then the Sea brings forth abundantly all manner of creeping things Then a night presently overtakes the Soul and all the beasts of the Forrest creep forth Strange monsters and things we never saw before mire and dirt and strange wickednesses appear that we never thought had been in us This Betrayer brings out all against us We had thought we had been knowing and well seen into the ways of God but now ignorance and mists and confusion beset that the Soul cannot see nor know one distinct Truth We had thought we had been good-natured and tender-hearted and friendly however but now rage and madness and desperateness get up We had thought sure we had a will and desire towards God and were willing to be ruled and ordered by him but now the punctual fightings and opposings and resistings shew themselves that the Soul is made clearly to see it chooseth Death rather then Life All monstrous wickedness gets up when this son of perdition is to be revealed in the Soul and hath once betrayed it I would you might read these things as we go for all this a written for our learning and if this was done to the green tree then what shall be done to the dry This is no other condition then what hath befallen our fathers in their day When God hath brought them to Judgment and this work of bringing them through death to life was in hand they ever had a Betrayer that lay close and did them all the mischief and brought these Troops of Enemies against them and it cannot be prevented This son of perdition will thus act he will betray and bring the Soul to death and he lies close he is in all the saved ones and there is no other way to life but by having him cast out But he will first surely spit his poyson and play all his pranks if it were possible to undo the very Elect Such an Host such a multitude he brings with him that sometimes it agasters and amazes the man to see how he is beset what swarms of iniquities strange unthought of lusts appear And we shall all surely find this true in our selves when God shall have that work in hand of bringing us down to death the house appointed for all the living which all the saved ones must pass 2. This multitude come armed and provided against him with swords and staves and herein lies a great mystery if you were able to read it Thy rod and thy staff sustain me saith David The Enemy also he hath swords and staves to destroy and mind there are staves as well as swords Now staves are dull weapons and though they may bruise and batter yet they kill not and this is a great aggravation of the misery that the sword may not come alone suddenly to cut off and make an end but there are staves too that bruise and batter the Soul and yet touch not its life but it must hang in death And this Job cries out against O that I could find the grave then should I be at rest I but in those dayes it is said men shall seek death and it shall fly from them They cannot dye and this wonderfully adds to the misery that the Soul is wounded and cut and pierced and yet cannot reach to dye the staves keep off the sharpness of the Sword that it doth not quite kill The Sword of the spirit is the Word of God the true Light that the enemy makes use of that searches and cuts and judges and finds guilty every where and leaves no thought unjudged and this Sword would soon cut off where it let loose Thou writest bitter things against me saith Job and this though it be cruell yet it would seem easier to the Soul in that day and under that anguish if it might but go on to make an end then should I yet have comfort c. saith Job Iob 69 10. But there are staves too that keep off the blow from coming to the heart There are secret hopes from the Devil steal in and get up do the Soul what it can that so it cannot dye but lies thus miserably hattered to and fro and can get no wayes as David cries out Thou hast beset me behind and before that the Soul can neither get to God nor from God nor to death nor from death O Lord who can read the Riddle 3. This multitude lay hold on Christ and lead him away they are too potent and strong and he hath no might nor strength to withstand them This is your hour and the Power of darkness but it is the day of his weakness his wings are cut that he cannot get away He cries out I am a worm and no man a scorn and reproach