Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A64959
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The day of grace in which the chief of sinners may be turn'd and healed / by Nathanael Vincent.
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Vincent, Nathanael, 1639?-1697.
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1669
(1669)
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Wing V406; ESTC R26347
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73,032
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192
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Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit Testa diu odorem Horat. Epist 2. ad Lollium The cask retains the scent of that a long time after which was first put into it when 't was new And in like manner if youthful years are season'd with grace the gray hairs will be found in the way of righteousness Prov. 12. 6. Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it Add also that in the time of youth sin is more easily pluck'd up because it hath not taken such deep root Age and custom will make evil like the spots of the Leopard and the blackness of the Aethiopians which no water can wash away Augustine in his Confessions l. 8. c. 5. doth make this acknowledgment Ex voluntate perversâ facta est libido dum servitur libidini facta est consuetudo dum consuetudini non resistitur facta est necessitas From a perverse corrupted will flow evil desires while evil desires are fulfilled sin ripens into custom while custom is not resisted there follows a kind of necessity and unalterableness in simming Oh therefore withstand sin betimes use the same policy in reference to your lusts which the Egyptians would have used towards Israel they feared lest the Israelites when grown might be too hard for them therefore they endeavoured in their weak infancy to destroy them To see young faces set towards Sion the way thither being diligently enquired after to behold children turn Souldiers in the spiritual warfare fighting under Christs Ensign making the Tempter flee from them taking Heaven by storm and violence what a brave sight is it 2. The Season of Health is another season to be improved Then the body is a more fit instrument to serve the soul in the Lords service The time of sickness is most commonly a time of spending therefore in health you should be treasuring up good store of Grace Now you may attend upon the publick Ordinances you may come to Gods House and sit down at his Table but sickness will deprive you of such opportunities Now you should be labouring for Grace and trying your grace that you may not be deceived with what is but counterfeit You should be so wise as to foresee the evil day of affliction and infirmity a coming and beg beforehand for such a measure of faith as may make you stand such a measure of patience and submission that there may not be the least repining thought against God but whatever your trials are that you may not faint but acquiesce in the wisdome and grace of him by whom you are chastized Beg also beforehand for a sense of his Love and when you see the rod in your Fathers hand none of the stripes will be intollerable Let health be thus improved And to perswade you consider that what you do in the day of health will be more upon choice and not upon force and consequently your sincerity will be the more evident whereas if you are forced to seek the Lord by his smiting of you whether your hearts are right may be suspected 3. The Season of spiritual Plenty should also be with care and diligence improved When heavenly Manna falls so thick about your habitations shall none at all be gathered When so much seed is sown shall the Fowls of the Air be suffered to take all away or if you do receive this seed shall it be choaked by the world and bring forth no fruit to perfection Let every one in this Assembly think thus with himself How many scores of Sermons have been preached to me how many warnings have I had how many reproofs have been given me how often have I been exhorted to obedience how many prayers have I joyned in But what fruit have I to shew of all What grace have I gotten what lust have I got the mastery over Where 's the faith the love the zeal the holiness and humility which might have been attained if these means of grace had been as they ought to have been improved Ordinances in abundance are now enjoyed shall they be but prices in the hands of fools Where the Lord gives so much to be sure he will require the more Oh lament your pass'd non-proficiency and for the future let your whole heart be in every duty be most earnestly desirous to get something from God every time you draw near to him You neglect your own interest when you do his work negligently Ordinances are the pipes through which grace is conveyed to thirsty souls there is never a duty you engage in wherein this truth should not be considered and believed In this duty God can give me that which is of greater worth then the whole world and hereupon you would not in Ordinances themselves but obtain the benefit of them 4. The Lords day is another special Season of the Day of Grace let it not be prophaned but husbanded to the best advantage They who keep holy the Sabbath day and find the Lord owning that sanctification of his day by sanctifying and quickning and refreshing their hearts upon it as they are clearly convinced so they are glad the Sabbath iâ— moral they would not it should be otherwise 'T is but reasonable they should give the Lord one day in seven and no day is so much their own so much for their spiritual which is the truest gain as this which they give to him It may not only be called the Lords day but the Souls day likewise Worldly thoughts and pleasures and employments which on other dayes are allowed be now forbidden that the Soul with greater intension may be respected and provision made for it Now Gods mouth is open he speaks to us his ear is open we may speak to him and if we hear and obey his voice he will not fail to hear and grant our requests The priviledge of enjoying Sabbaths one of our English Poets doth no less piously then ingeniously set â—orth O day most calm most bright The fruit of this the next worlds bud Th' endorsment of supreme delight Writ by a friend and with his bloud The couch of time cares balm and bay The week were dark but for thy light Thy torch doth shew the way Man had straight forward gone To endless death but thou dost pull And turn us round to look on one Whom if we were not very dull We could not chuse but look on still Since there is no place so alone The which he doth not fill Sabbaths the Pillars are On which Heavens Palace arched lies The other dayes fill up the spare And hollow room with vanities They are the fruitful beds and borderâ— In Gods rich Garden that is bare Which parts their ranks and orders Thou art a day of mirth And where the week dayes trail â—â— ground Thy flight is higher as thy birth O let me take thee at the bound Leaping with thee from seven to seven Till that we both being toss'd from
11. 30. The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Marriage And as the Wives subjection unto a tender and indulgent Husband is sweet and pleasant so and much more pleasant is the Believers subjection unto Christ Ungodly ones are strangely prejudiced against the Scepter and Government of Jesus but indeed 't is without cause they say We will not have this Lord to reign over us 'T is a mercy to be translated into his Kingdom for then you are freed from other Lords which are so imperious so cruel and will reward with death all the service which you do for them All the precepts of Christ are for your profit and he forbids you nothing but what he sees will hâ—rm you Methinks at the reading of this the most stubborn should yield and say We stood out against the Lord of life but 't was upon a mistake we did not think his service was so near a kin to freedom we once imagined his commands grievous therefore we cast them behind our backs but now we are resolved to obey no other since they are to be esteemed above gold nay the finest gold and are sweeter then the honey and the honey-comb USE III. Since our Lord is so merciful let me perswade you to the imitation of him put on as the elect of God bowels of mercies Among the company of blessed ones the merciful are numbred for they shall obtain mercy Matth. 5. 7. Your own souls and the souls of others should be the special objects of your pitty Let your own souls be wept over because guilty of so much sin and because by such prodigious defilements rendered so much unlike unto an holy God 'T was a saying of a Father Flebam merituram Didonem me mortuum non flebam I wept when I read the story of Dido about to kill her self but my own condition though quite dead in sin I bewailed not Look into your selves and you may behold matter enough for mourning fresh guilt and stains added to what were before here be liberal of your sorrow where 't is so very well deserved The souls of others too should have a share in your compassion Oh weep over kindred neighbours that still are ignorant aliens enemies and wish and pray that they may know the things which belong to their peace before they are hid from their eyes Thus of the first Doctrine Doct. 2. The second follows That the Lord does grant unto sinners a Day of Grace in which pardon and life are proffer'd to them and may be obtained by them If thou hadst known in this thy day This day we read of Heb. 3. 7 8. Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts Now Gods voice is heard and that heart is both wicked and foolish which hardens it self See also 2 Cor. 6. 1 2. We then as workers together with him beseech you that ye receive not the grace of God in vain for he saith I have heard thee in a time accepted in the day of salvation have I succour'd thee Behold now is the accepted time behold now is the day of salvation Those words I have heard thee in a time accepted in the day of salvation have I succour'd thee are spoken by God the Father unto Christ his Son Christ himself had in some sense a Day of Grace in which the Father was well pleased with him in which the Sacrifice which he offered up once for the sins of all was accepted in which his strong cryes for himself that he might be carried through the difficult work of Mans Redemption were heard and accordingly he was succour'd and enabled to work out a compleat salvation for the children of men And hence it comes to pass that unto them also a day of grace is granted in which they may be accepted and salvation is brought near them that they may lay hold upon it My work in the handling of this truth will be First to shew upon what account the Season of Grace is called a Day Secondly to declare what are the priviledges of this Day of Grace Thirdly to lay down the properties of it Fourthly I shall give some reasons why such a day is granted And then conclude with the Application First Upon what account the Season of Grace is called a Day 1. The Season of Grace is called a Day in regard of the light that then shines The Sun of Righteousness is risen and this Day is made by that Suns shining Light from the Gospel springs up unto them which else would have sat in darkness and in the region and shadow of death Matth. 4. 16. By this light things are discover'd which were hid from Ages and Generations Gods eternal counsel to glorifie his Grace in the pardon adoption cleansing and saving of men that have all sinn'd and thereby come short of his glory is by this light made manifest The light of Nature is but weak and dim and cannot make it day it gives such a discovery both of God and sin as is sufficient to leave those that sin against God without excuse Rom. 1. 20. But the way how enemies may be reconciled it cannot shew Nay because the first Covenant ran thus Do this and live the light of Nature doth strongly incline us to put a confidence in our own works then which nothing is more contrary to the Gospel of the Grace of God But though the Light of Nature be apt to lead out of the way as well as imperfect the Light of the Gospel is sufficient All that are now in glory made use of this Guide in their passage through the world David Psal 19. doth make a comparison between the Light of Nature and that of the Word From the Heavens Firmament Sun and Moon and other Creatures something of the Glory of God may be discover'd but then after he adds The Law of the Lord is perfect as if he had said From the Word shines forth a greater light then from the Sun and Moon and Stars a light which guides infallibly to the Light that 's everlasting And this Light is one thing which makes the Day the text speaks of 2. The Season of Grace is called a Day in that it is design'd for working When the day comes though the beasts gather themselves and lay them down in their dens yet man arises and goes forth to his work and labour till the evening Psal 104. 22 23. In like manner this day of the Gospel though they who are brutish lay them down in the bed of ease and fall asleep in carnal security yet such as have the understanding of men will go forth unto their work and labour and surely they who have lusts to mortifie a world to overcome a devil to resist and souls to save have work enough to do Why stand ye here all the day idle sayes our Lord in the Parable Matth. 20. 6. Spiritual sloth is now unseasonable and unreasonable Now is the time and the