Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	work_n	world_n	worst_a	34	3	8.0905	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30920	Sermons upon several texts of Scripture by George Barker ...	Barker, George, B.D.	1697 (1697)	Wing B768; ESTC R22629	136,325	300

my self will send it A word of Commemoration to drive all home did I say I would Curse you ye may well trust me for I have already begun and that upon your neglect herein If Judgments threatned cannot awake you pray let Judgments inflicted do it though you may put by your Feares sure you cannot put off your feeling too But least all this should be too little to work them up to a real Reformation he goes two steps further 1st The threatening which he seemed to suspend the execution of untill he had made some tryall whether they would heare or no here he denounces absolutely without any Reserues least they should at least delay Setting in good earnest to return to their duty out of hopes that Judgment would however be deferred if it could not be reversed 2ly That they might be more fully possest with distinct apprehensions of their danger he represents it at large in two particulars which touch nature where it has the quickest sense 1st Of pain which unavoidably follows upon the Cutting of all hopes of not only the Comforts but the Necessary supports of nature while he threatens to Corrupt the very first principle the seed of these 2ly Of shame when that which should be the highest Honour Proves the Greatest disgrace and dung is as it were taken from their Sacrifices and thrown in their very faces Now least God in this way of Proceeding should be taxed of too much severity he for the Vindication of himself declares 1st That there is Love in all this and great Love too The design of all his threatnings and Chastizings being only to reduce them to their primitive purity and to interest them in those priviledges which the Tribe of Levi did at first enjoy 2ly However there is Justice in it for if the Priests by their unfaithfulness in their place suffer the People to run into sin and when they have done so never lay it to heart nor endeavour to reclaim them it is but Just they should smart for it Well therefore may I proceed thus rigorously against the Priests For they ought to keep knowledge where in the whole Verse you have 1st The Priests dignity declared for the sence is Retrograde to the Words as despicable as he Looks in the eyes of the proud profane Worldlings he is no mean one in the Judgment of the wisest best and greatest God himself pitches upon him as one of such Qualifications and hopes as render him fit to be trusted in an Imployment of highest Consequence a message from the King of Heaven unto the greatest on Earth and such a Message also as concerns them more then all their Comforts in this Life as much as their Souls their very Souls and their unspeakeable unconceivable happiness or misery to all Eternity is worth Men count it an Honour to be made use of as an Ambassador or Envoy to a forrain State by one who setting aside his clothes and titles is but Flesh and Blood like themselves one whose approbation of a Mans abilities and Faithfulness is no certain Testimony of them his Judgment being liable to a double miscarriage The one by mistake while he presumes the Man to be endowed with those vertues and accomplishments which he is really without only hath the shadow of them The other by mis-valuing while he over values his indifferent parts and makes small of his notorious Vices but here is one approved by the God of greatest understanding and Wisdom imployed by one who is LORD not in title but in reality One who has the command not of one small Army but of all the forces on Earth yea in Heaven and Hell too The Generalissimo of all who has them absolutely at his book 2ly You have upon this a double duty founded 1st Of the Priest therefore it is expected from him to preserve Knowledge Even in the most corrupt and degenerate age let him Remember whose business he is about whose dependent he is and let him not be Afraid of Speaking seasonable and vsefull truths tho' they may thwart the Interests of the very Greatest and Provoke their Indignation against him and so Expose himself unto Hazards the Lord of Hosts whose Messenger he is Is able to protect him in the Work he sets him about let the whole World and Hell too do its worst and he will do it in spite of them 2ly Of the people it is Justly expected from them that they should not onely give the Minister an hearing when he comes to seek them but they should also seek him that they May hear at his mouth what is the Message he brings from Heaven and what the Lord requires at their hands If they dare venture to put an affront upon the Lord of hosts and an high one too and Engage him against them they may Suffer him to send on purpose to them about their greatest concerns and declare to the World that they neither Value him nor his Messenger nor his Message any more then if it came from a vain weak Foolish mortall Inconsiderable man like themselves nay not so much they 'l not stir to the door to hear it And all this is suggested to Justify God in the severity he seemes to make Vse of while he punishes and threatens the Preists so very sharply Well may God make them smart with a witness while they suffer the People to dishonour him and undo themselves which possibly might have been prevented if they Would be mindfull of their duty in Letting the People know theirs and the great danger they run upon in neglecting it Which they were much obliged to do being so greatly confided in by the high God to be Employed by him about such a message and concerned to do least they incur the displeasure of the great God the Lord of Hosts And pray what danger had they run upon if they had been ingenuous and Faithfull Need they have feared to be the least harmed by feeble man having the Lord of Hosts in whose Message they were employed standing at their back to defend them So that 3ly Ye have the Improvement made of both by Application to the present occasion Doct. It is one of the main Dutyes of the Ministers to preserve Knowledge by their Lips If by their Unfaithfulness in the discharge of this duty they Suffer people to dishonour the great God and ruine their Poor Souls they have no reason to Quarrel with God if he make their lives Miserable and their Persons despicable Ver. 3. 1st I do not say that it is the duty onely of the Minister No every Particular person has a Soul a precious Soul to look after which without knowledge and real powerfull Knowledge is like to be miserable unto all Eternity and if it be so he 'l find that he himself is the most to blame He therefore should get knowledge and preserve it in himself whatever it cost him Every Master of a family should preserve the Knowledge which is according to

he might take Notice where the mass of Corruption lies Partly because then he had very small light to discern any but gross Corruptions Whereas the most abominable and Mischeivous lusts are more refined and spirituall and so scape the observance of his dull eye partly because he has forgotten the more particular Aggravations of his sinfull courses Partly because since his Conversion there are new Aggravations which Increase the sinfulness of his wayes what he do's being done against light and strength and Resolutions and promises wherewith he has obliged himself and mercies wherewith God has Obliged him When God do's overflow a man with his grace so that he easily keeps at under his Corruptions and finds little disturbance by them in the way of duty he is ready to conceit himself to be far more pure then God knowes him to be and then he 'le find himself to be and its Impossible to beat him out of this proud conceit but by giving him to find it confuted by reall Experience 2ly That he by Trying his own strength may be feelingly convinced of the weakness of it for at the First whatever God helps him to do he is ready vainly to fancy that he can do that well enough of himself and so whatever is well done by him he imputes it to himself Like the Child when his father or Master has guided his hand to write will bragg of his fair Writing One who is full of grace Assisting him is ready to presume he Can do all things but when he comes to know himself aright and to understand that the grace which helped him was none of his own but God's and such as God does Arbitrarily Communicate and may withdraw at his Pleasure he modestly adds through Christ that strengthens me Phil. 4. 13. Otherwise he finds he is not Sufficient of himself to think any thing as of himself 2 Cor. 3. 5. He cannot restrain his Corruptions he cannot resist his Temptations he cannot discharge his duty he cannot bear his Cross he cannot Improve his advantage It is from hence that those Persons who have much of God in them have far worse conceits of themselves then the Vilest sinners have not that they are really worse but because they see more of their own badness they have a light set up in them to see by and by this Desertion they have an advantage whereby feelingly to Distinguish betwixt Christ in them and self betwixt the good which is in them by grace and the Evill which is in them by nature to men altogether Unexperienced of this Condition What St. Paul Avouches is a very Paradox Rom. 7. 18. For I know that in me that it in my flesh dwelleth no good thing c. So then this do's very much conduce nay is absolutely Necessary to work men into those self abasings which the Humility of the Gospell prompts to they could never see what sinfull Creatures what Foolish and weak Creatures they are otherwise God orders those outward Affliction which his People meet with from men and Devils 1st That they may find the Workings of those Corruptions which the man would never have suspected himself enclined to had he not been brought into an Afflicted Condition wherein there is Temptations to them As a man would not know that there is any thing of Impatience or unbelief in him was he alwayes in prosperity for who cannot trust God when he sees him or who will not take every thing well at Gods hands when God pleases him in every thing 2ly That the Corruptions which are stirring in them whereby they are Vehemently and Impetuously carried out after the Vanity of the World may Receive an Effectuall check when men have every thing according to their will and meet with no Troubles they are very apt to be proud and to despise those who are in an Afflicted Condition they are apt to be worldly and to please themselves with the pomp of the World and the Friendship of the World they are apt to be sensuall and to wallow in brutish pleasures they are apt to Neglect God finding no great need of him and to concern themselves little about the interest of their Souls not knowing the poverty and danger they are in It is only Affliction which when grace is low keeps Corruptions at under and restrains the Soul from running out into those Extravagancies which otherwise it is over prone to 3ly That the Soul may be kept in its motion Heavenwards Because grace is very low the Soul is not carried so much after the things which are aboue as it once was and it still should be and therefore it had need to have a Spur to quicken it in its Motion and the Temptations it meets with serve to this use For when it can meet with nothing but Vexation every where on this side Christ it 's Necessitated for its own ease to seek for Rest in Christ But why do's the Devil Tempt those whom he is not like to hurt by his Temptations but rather to Advantage 1st He knows not but he may remove them off the Foundation as he do's some who are not Closely 〈◊〉 to it Hebr. 6. 2ly If he cannot ruine them he would however ●fflict them so long as it is in his power for he knows that will not be long And he knows he can afflict them most when they have least faith and patience to deal with him 2ly If he cannot any way prejudice them however the pleases himself that he has done his utmost against them But why do men molest those who live innocently by them 1st A Christian being left by God unto himself it may be he may not be every way so innocent and blameless as becomes his profession but may by his indiscretion and Corruptions give ●●o great offence to those that watch for occasions against him he may though not in deede however in words and carriages offend 2ly Severall men are Crosgrain'd Naturally some are thwarted in their Interests by these some spire them because either by their doctrine or Example they reprove their Irregular Course some think to shew their wit in scoffing them or their power in breaking them The Devil has severall wayes to engage his Servants in his work which is to decry and Suppress all impertiall followers after truth and Righteousness Vse 1. Let none that seek after God be discouraged if they meet with these Temptations and find God hiding his face Corruptions abounding Afflictions pressing the Devil rageing and the World persecuting with black mouths and Bloudy hands These are but the wayes which God takes to try the strength of this Building as the ship when it s throughly equip'd is put out to Sea to see how it will abide in a storme 2ly None should presume their case is any whit the better for their being altogether unexperienced in these Tryalls they may flatter themselves as they please but they can be none of Gods People of whom it may not be said