Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	world_n	worthy_a	youth_n	24	3	8.0368	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77990	Jacobs seed or The generation of seekers. And Davids delight : or The excellent on earth. / By the late reverend preacher of the Gospel Jeremiah Burrough.	Burroughs, Jeremiah, 1599-1646.	1648 (1648)	Wing B6090; Thomason E1162_1; ESTC R210094	70,993	190

we provoke not God now but attend upon the word more then ever we did Lastly doth God say to us we shall not seek him in vain Let not God call to us in vain If when we seek God our seeking is not in vain then when God seeks us let it not be in vain There is all the reason for it in the world If God be so gracious to poor base worms sinfull creatures that if we do but chatter our prayers are not in vain is it not reason when God calls that he should not call in vain When God calls out of his word to perform such and such duties God seeks thee then make use of this text I have called upon God and I never called in vain and now I go to heare the word and out of the word he calls me and seeks me let him not seek in vain but say Lord what sayest thou to thy servant The Lord is ready to heare your cry be you ready to heare his and go on go on with incouragement the Lord hath incouraged us this day And let all your prayers and indeavours break through all difficulties and the Lords mercy shall break through all oppositions for he hath not said to the seed of Jacob Seek ye me in vain Psalme 16.3 But to the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight IN the beginning of this Psalme David prayes to God for preservation and for deliverancc out of some great evil that it seems was upon him or that he was in danger of The argument that he useth is First his trust in God In thee do I put my trust And it was not an ungrounded and unwarranted trust but that which proceeded from his interest he had in God O my soul thou hast said unto the Lord thou art my Lord thou art mine But what if David should now perish in his distresse should God be any looser by it David seems to acknowledge this that though he should not be preserved yet God was bound to preserve his own name and his own cause my goodnesse extendeth not to thee Though I should live yet it is little that I could do for thee But to the saints that are in the earth Though my goodnesse extend not to thee yet I may be usefull to thy people unto thy Saints while I live it extends to them and they are they that my soul closeth with O I desire to live and to be preserved that I may be of use to them It is a great argument to prevail with God when any of you are in danger and seek for preservation if your hearts work thus to God that the desire you have to be preserved is that whatever you are and what ever you can do may extend to the Saints that you may live to be of use and service in the world to Gods people Many of you when you apprehend your selves to be in danger you cry to God to be preserved but to what end wherefore would you be preserved wherefore would you live If we may judge of your ends according to your practise you would live that you may have more time to satisfie your lusts that you may have more time to dishonour God that you may have more time to do mischief in the places where you live There is this in the heart and God sees it God sees whatsoever will be after in your lives God sees before what was in your hearts when you cryed to be preserved But now one that is gracious he desires therefore to be preserved O that I might live to be of use in the place where God hath set me If God should take me away now my conscience tells me that it is little service that I have done for him I have been of little use in the place where God hath set me O that I might be preserved for this end that what I am or have might extend to the Saints in earth even the excellent in whom is all my delight Thus you have the scope of the words and the dependance of them And in them there are these two things First the high esteem of the Saints they are the excellent of the earth And secondly the sweet delight that Davids heart had in them in whom is all my delight For the first the high esteem that David had of the Saints and that Saints that were on earth the excellent The point is this that The Saints of God those that are godly are the excellent in the earth Then secondly from this that he saith in whom is all my delight Observe this that A gracious heart takes the most contentment in the Saints of God he is much delighted in them The first is but a preparation to the second therefore I shall passe it over briefly They are the excellent in the earth therefore my delight is in them They are the excellent in the earth Let them be what they will in regard of their outward meanness yet there is an excellency in them Job scraping upon the dunghill and Jeremy sticking in the mire in the dungeon yet they had more glory and beauty upon them then the great ones of the earth when they sate upon their thrones Though they lie among the pots as the Psalmist saith yet are they as Doves their wings are the wings of Doves whose feathers are of gold and silver Psal 77.13 beautifull and glorious You know the judgement that the holy Ghost passeth upon the Saints in old time that were outwardly mean enough there was as much meanness on them as the malice of the world could put the text saith they had tryalls of mockings of scourgings of bonds and imprisonments they were sawen assunder they were tempted they wandred in sheepskin and goats skins destitute aflicted tormented What kind of creatures were these surely they were some wretched men and women that were thus hunted up and down to wander in sheeps-skins and goats-skins destitute afflicted and tormented No such matter they were s●ch of whom the world was not worthy v. 38. that is the judgement of the holy Ghost upon such the world was not worthy of them The men of the world would have thought did think that they were such as were not worthy to live in the world but the judgement of the holy Ghost was such that the world was not worthy of them I remember Chrysostome hath this interpretation of the phrase they are such as are worth more then all the world more then many thousands of the world one of them is worth more then all the men of the world besides It is a truth so one Saint of God though never so mean one poor youth one servant that is truly gracious is worth more then all the men of the world besides that are not so All the Monarchs and Princes on earth have not that excellency in them that one poor child or servant hath that is gracious But the ordinary interpretation

is thus they are such as have that excellency as that the world is not worthy to enjoy them they are not worthy of their presence that they should so much as live among them they are rather fit to be set as stars in heaven and be before the Lord in his glory the world is not worthy of them But what is there in the Saints that makes them the excellent in the earth The Saints that are the excellent The word in the originall signifies the magnificent ones those that have magnificent spirits and are exceeding glorious There is this in them that I may briefly passe over this first They have the image of God upon them and therefore they must needs be the excellent on earth The image of God makes them to resemble God in that which the creature is able to conceive of That which is the height of Gods excellency though it be true whatsoever is in God is God himself yet we conceiving of God according to our manner there is something of God that appears most excellent and glorious And it must needs be in regard of that expression because grace is called the image of God Now when we draw the image of a thing we draw it as near as we can according to that which is the most proper excellency of that thing If I would draw the image of a man I do not draw the likenesse of a piece of flesh a beast hath that as well as a man or I do not draw feet or leggs or the back parts of a man but when the image of a man is drawn there is his face drawn that is the excellentest part and there we endeavour to expresse his life and spirit as much as can be that is the most excellent part and though the spirit cannot be drawn there can be no picture of it yet because it is shewen most in the face that is as near as we can go that is drawn there So the image of God is that wherein the creature resembles God in height of excellency and glory It is not every resemblance of God that is Gods image there are some things that set out some of the glory of God and they are but called Gods footsteps or his back-parts All the resemblance of God in his creatures and the expressions of the power and wisedome the invisible things of God that we see in the creature they are all but his footsteps and backparts they are not his image Why because they do not resemble God in that which he hath set out to us to be the height of his glory What is that The holinesse of God that is the height of his excellency Therefore it is said of God himself holy and reverend is his name Gods name comes to be reverend by holinesse were it not for his holinesse notwithstanding all the rest if it were possible to separate them his name would not be reverend Therefore when the saints in heaven glorifie God for his chiefest excellency it is thus holy holy holy We finde not in Scripture any of Gods Attributes thrice repeated Wise Wise Wise or Almighty Almighty Almighty but holy holy holy because the excellency of God consists chiefly in that Now because where grace is in the creature resembling this holinesse of God there is that principle whereby the creature is able to act as God himself acts for that is holinesse the working of God to his own end in all things sutable to his nature so when the creature works to God as his last end and in some measure is suteable to that God with which the creature hath to do here is the Image of God Therefore the scripture expresseth grace by these 4. things as The image of God The life of God The glory of God and The Divine nature There are these 4. expressions for the work of grace The image of God it resembles God in his excellency The life of God himself Ephes 4 alienated from the life of God that notes acting like God himself And then it is the glory of God himself and the divine nature Rom. 3.23 2. Pet. 1.3 So that there must needs be excellency in the Saints that have grace that is of this nature Certainly there is more of God in the meanest Saint in the meanest gracious man or woman there is more of the glory of God then in all the world besides then in heaven and earth Take all the creatures all the glory of God in the heavens in the Sunne Moon and Starres and put all into one Take all the glory of God the seas those vast oceans and put that into one take all the glory of God that appears in the earth all the riches of the earth and all arts and sciences and what you will put all into one and the meanest youth or servant that hath the least degree of grace hath more of the glory of God then all this is There is more of the shining of God in the least degree of grace in the poorest Christian in the world then there is in all these creatures If there were a quintessence of all the excellency and glory extracted and drawn and put into one yet there were not so much of God God could not see so much of himself in that one creature that should have the excellency of all creatures put together as he sees in the meanest Saint that hath the work of grace And surely then they are the are the excellent of the earth if there be so much of God in them The work of grace it is that which hath most of God and wheresoever it is it is that which is the proper work of Gods eternall love it is a beam of it therefore there is a great deal of excellency in it Take all other creatures and it is possible to enjoy all the good that is in all the creatures in heaven and earth excepting this onely the grace of God through the bounty of God and the pleasure of God There is nothing that the creature hath but may be communicated as a fruit of Gods generall bounty except spirituall blessings in Christ but where ever this is though in the least degree it is of that nature that it cannot come but onely from the eternall election of God It is that which is the principle of Eternall life wheresoever it is it is that which will grow up to eternall glory All common gifts will never grow up to glory though they grow up to the height of glory but the grace of God true grace it is of the same nature with eternall glory Therefore for the kind of it it is the greatest good that ever God did or that ever he will communicate to any creature for all eternity I say where-ever God hath municated any dramme of grace that is the greatest good that ever God did or ever will communicate to all eternity to any of his creatures therefore it is exceeding excellent Onely excepting the work of