Selected quad for the lemma: law_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
law_n	hear_v	lord_n	word_n	6,751	5	4.4015	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49242	The dejected soules cure tending to support poor drooping sinners. With rules, comforts, and cautions in severall cases. In divers sermons, by Mr. Christopher Love, late minister of Laurence Jury. To which is added, I. The ministry of the angels to the heirs of salvation. II. Gods omnipresence. III. The sinners legacy to their posterity.	Love, Christopher, 1618-1651.	1657 (1657)	Wing L3151; ESTC R215529	168,974	219

complain of God than to God It is the usual behaviour of the wicked to complain wretchedly against God but not humbly to God when they are in horror of conscience under the disquiet of sin Revel 16. 9. And men were scorched with great beat and blasphemed the Name of God It is said of the followers of Antichrist they were scorched with heat and blasphemed the Name of God When God doth let the fire of his wrath scorch the consciences of men with rage against the Church this doth but make them Blaspheme God As thus in Isa 8. 21. It shall come to pass that when they shall be hungry they shall fret themselves and curse their King their God and look upward They cursed their God and their King Wicked men complain of God that he is a hard Master that he loves to inflict cruel and severe judgements upon his creatures the horror of conscience makes them to expostulate with the most high as if he were unrighteous they complain of him that his decrees are partial that his mercy is defective that his justice is severe but they never humbly complain to God under the disquiet and trouble of the soul A notable text to Characterize a wicked man in Job 15. 24 25 26. verses Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid they shall prevail against him as a King ready to battel For he stretcheth cut his hand against God and strengthens himself against the Almighty He runneth vpon him even upon his neck upon the thick bosses of his buckler It is spoken by Eliphaz in a warlike phrase When a man is angry he will run at another man to doe him a mischief a wicked man in the horror and trouble of his soul will arme himself against God even in complaints this is the temper of wicked men even in horror of conscience to think ill of God to complain of him but not to him but a godly man when God lets him be troubled for sin his temper is to complain to God Lament 1. 18. The Lord is righteous for I have rebelled against him hear I pray you all people and behold my sorrow my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity There is a complaining to God but not of him thou are righteous but I have sinned Psal 51. 4. Against thee onely have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou maiest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest As if he should have said I will blame my self and I will judge my self now my conscience flies in my face but I will clear God and will not judge God this is the temper of a gracious man under trouble of mind for sin he complains to God but never of him The ninth Difference is this Wicked men in disquiet of soul for sin they are more apt to complain to men of their trouble than to God Thus Judas when had had betrayed Jesus Christ his Master it is said that Judas came to the high Priest and the Scribes and Pharisees and said unto them I have sinned in betraying innocent blood But we never read that Judas went to the Lord and said I have betrayd thy Son I have sinned in betraying the innocent blood Thus Haman was troubled when he could not get Mordecai's knee why He told his wife and friends what had befell him but never went to God Thus Saul when he was troubled and vext in spirit It is said Saul told his servants an evil spirit troubled him but we never read that Saul went to God to allay the trouble and disquiet of his heart this is the Character of a wicked man sin dogs him conscience flies in his face thus to men he can complain but never goeth to God to complain to him my soul is troubled my conscience is gauled he can never go to God pouring out his complaints But godly men do more complain to God than to men it may be in some immergent cases to satisfie doubts but God shall hear their moans and complaints in private The Psalmist doth express this notably Psal 61. 2. From the end of thē earth will I cry unto thee when my heart is overwhelmed lead me to the rock that is higher then I. Jonah 2. 7. When my soul fainted within me then I remembred the Lord and my prayer came in unto thee into thine holy Temple There was Jonah's trouble for his sin my soul fainted within me but I remember the Lord and my prayer came to him When Jonah was under soul-trouble why saith he I remembred the Lord he would commplain more to God than to men when he was under trouble Tenthly The wicked are disquieted for sin but it doth not put them upon consciencious and effectual endeavours for the effectually mortifying of those sins they are troubled for they are more troubled about the guilt of sin then about the power of sin if they can remove the guilt they never care for the power and dominion of sin this is the character of a wicked man Thus Pharach the guilt might trouble him that God did punish him but the power of his hard heart never troubled him Thus it is in wicked men there disquiet of sin never makes them put upon effectual endeavours for the subduing and mortifying of sin But godly men are of a different temper they work more to mortifie sin then to pacifie conscience more to subdue the power of sin then to remove the guilt of sin he knows he must either kill or be kill'd if he kills not sin sin will kill him therefore his work is to purifie the conscience as well as pacific the conscience to remove the power thence as well as the guilt Eleventhly Wicked men in disquiet of soul for sin they are prodigal and free in promising to leave sin whilst trouble is upon them but when trouble is over they run into those sins for which they were troubled with more vehement eagernesse and desire This is expressed unto you in Deut. 5. 27 28. verses Go thou neer and hear all that the Lord our God shall say and speak thou unto us and all that the Lord our God shall say unto thee we will hear and do it And the Lord heard the voice of your words and the Lord said unto me I have heard the voice of the words of this people they have wel said of which they have stoken When the people heard the terrible manner of God's delivering of the Law in thundrings and lightnings they made Moses a large promise What ever God commands us by thee we will observe to do it But saith God in v. 29. O that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandements always that it might be well with them and their Children for ever And it is observable that when his trouble was a little over the people were worse then ever they were before they fell to murmuring after and

sense of sin I would not so treat on this doctrine as many Libertines doe to lay aside all manner of humiliation for sin because some men are cast down too much they will not be cast-down at all for sin Use 1 Not to prosecute such a principle it is the way for to run into all manner of Licencious libertie and to be all upon the extremes Secondly labour to order the affections and passions of thy mind so that when soever you are humbled and in sorrow for sin you take heed that you doe not cast off sorrow for sin be sure that you have such a degree of humiliation for sin that it may make thee to lie at Christs feet and no lower Christ would have you to be so humble as to lie at his feet in the sight and sense of sin but the Divel would have you to be so low in your humiliations for sin as to lie in hell Jesus Christ would have thee to be sorrowful for sin that thou mightest recover out of sin but the Divel would have thee to lie so low in thy humiliations for sin that thou mightest never recover O take heed of such a sinful sorrow for sin doe not be humbled so much as the Divel and thy own evil heart would have thee and thus much for the third Question SERMON III. Psal 42. 11. Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him The health of my Countenance and my God Question 4 THe fourth Question in order to be considered is this That seeing that Gods people may be cast down too much for sin and too much humbled under the sight and sense of corruptions Then what may be the reason that wicked and ungodly men are not cast down at all for sin and seeing that Godly men may be cast down for sin here too much and not cast off for sin hereafter and wicked men that shall be cast into hell for sin when they dye yet are not all cast down for sin while they live What reasons may be given for this Answer 1 Now for the resolution of this Question I shall lay down these Six particulars by way of answer The first Reason why wicked men though they shall be cast off yet they are not at all cast down for sin It ariseth from their ignorance of the dangerous and damnable Nature of sin they have a blind mind and a dumb conscience they see not such evil in sin as godly men doe Althouch wicked men know what sin is in general yet it is but a general notion of sin in the head and they have no particular and experimental and distinct notion of the evil and dangerous nature of sin upon their hearts and consciences and therefore it comes to passe that they are not cast down for sin But this general notion of sin casts them off and doth not cast them down and this is the reason that they doe not see sin to become exceeding sinful and they doe not take notice of the evil of sin the damning nature of sin according to that expression in Jer. 2. 23. How canst thou say I am not polluted I have not gone after Baalim see thy way in the valley know what thou hast done thou art a swift dromedary traversing her waies Here the Jews they were great in sin and did abound in wickednesse yet they were ready to say that they were not sinful at least they did not know that they were so it is for want of the knowledge of their waies the sinfulnesse of their doings that they are not cast down for sin Should a man meet a Lyon in the Wildernesse he would be afraid of that and the reason is because he knows that the Lyon is hurtful but if a man sees a Lyon painted on the wall he is not afraid of that because he knows that cannot hurt him So when men shall look upon sin but not look upon it as a Lyon in the wildernesse that will certainly destroy him if he avoid it not but to look upon sin as a Lyon painted on the wall that hath no power to doe them hurt they see sin but it is generally and notionally and not particularly and experimentally The second Reason is this it ariseth from a principle of presumption of pardoning grace and mercy when wicked men hear the thunderings and curses of the Law denounced against sin and sinners delivered by the Ministers of the Gospel to awaken them from the sleep of sin and security when they hear of the severity of Gods justice and that he is a sin-revenging God and that he will by no means clear the guilty but will render to every one according to his waies and works Now what doth a wicked man doe in this case doth this awaken his conscience to see the evil of sin no but he doth the quite contrary he then from a principle of presumption of pardoning grace and mercy in God blesseth himself in his own waies and he saith I shall have peace though I walk after the imaginations of my own evil heart as if they should say Let sin trouble them that will let it cast down them that will be cast down it shall never cast down me it shall never trouble me What shall sin trouble my conscience ' or disquiet my peace for or why shall I mourn and trouble my self about that which I need not that which others seem to break their hearts for it shall never break my sleep for I hope that it shall never damn my soul btt I hope though I do commit sin yet I hope God will pardon sin and though I am sinful yet I know God is merciful and thus they doe from a principle of presumption goe on in a way of sin without any trouble for it or casting down under the sight and sense of sin at all But then Thirdly The third Reason why wicked men are not cast down for sin at all it ariseth from that obdurateness from that hardnesse that is in their hearts and from that searedness in their consciences there are a generation of men that it may be said of them as concerning sin they are past feeling according to that expression of the Apostle Eph. 4. 19. Who being past feeling having given themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness And as St. Paul said 1 Timothy 4 2. They have their consciences seared with a hot Iron When men have so accustomed themselves to sin that sin shall harden the heart and seare the conscience and then no marvel if they are not at all cast down for sin Then Fourthly Wicked men they are not cast down for sin at all it ariseth from this because that they do stifle the rebukes of conscience when it doth rebuke them and check their sin and cast them down for sin when men shall resolve that though

Now come to give you some practical instructions by way of Rules My work for this morning shall be to prescribe some Theological rules to those who are greatly troubled and disquieted in soul under the guilt of sin rules of two sorts there are Directory rules and Consolatory rules rules by way of Direction and rules by way of Consolation I begin with the first directory Rules there are eight Rules what they might doe to allay trouble and disquiet of Conscience when it is excessive and inordinate First When thou art excessively troubled under the guilt of sin take this Rule what troubled thoughts thou hast about the guilt of sin spend them upon the power of sin within thee this is a holy diversion to be always conversant about the power of sin it is an evangelical and a gracious temper if Christians were more troubled about the power of sin they would be lesse troubled about the guil of sin the Divel doth not care if Professors of Religion be terrified Christians so they be not mortified Christians Secondly Keep conscience clear that thou do not add guilt to guilt adding guilt to guilt is the way to add horror to horror and terror to terror upon the conscience guilt in the conscience doth contract dismal fear amazement and consternation of soul if conscience doth not shut sin out of doors why sin will shut peace of conscience out of doors It is a rule that Bernard gives Conscience is to be comforted but first it is to be purified and made clean this rule is laid down by Eliphaz if I mistake not Job 11. 14. If iniquity be in thine hand put it far away and let not wickedness dwell in thy Tabernacles Beloved that is the way to keep cut fear to keep out guilt if conscience be not a swept and a cleansed room it will gaul disquiet and vex thy soul to have conscience pacified when it is not purified is but to skin over an old sore which before it be healed will break out again peace saith Bernard in many men is worse then a spiritual conflict such a peace for a man to have peace in his conscience when he indulgeth guilt in his conscience expect not trouble of conscience to be allayed if thy conscience be not purified Prov. 29. 6. In the transgression of an evill man there is a snare but the righteous doth sing and rejoyce By snare Solomon there means horror of conscience it appears by the opposition Interpreters give this rule that in the Proverbs of Solomon that one opposition doth explain the other why here the righteous shall sing and rejoyce in his grace but the wicked shall have a snare in his sin he shall have horror and dread of conscience in the sight of sin Prov. 15. 15. A good and a clear conscience doth keep holy day every day of his life though he hath hardly any thing else to feed upon guilt on the conscience is the way to cause a resurrection of thy fears and doubts and to bring all thy spiritual hopes to the grave A third Rule is this Take heed thou dost not go about to allay the disquiet of thy soul for sin by sin that is a third Rule to run to vain pleasures and to sensual delights to stop and quell the voice of conscience what is this but to go to the Divel for a plaister to heal the wounds of thy soul Beloved these men that go to allay trouble of mind for sin by sin they go the way to make conscience recoyl and turn upon them with more fiercenesse and more savage cruelty It is just as a man that is a thirst he will drink a draught of poyson to quench his thirst O! when thou art scorcht with God's wrath and to allay this dost drink a draught of sin what dost thou but drink so much poyson Many men when they are under trouble of mind they will go to sin for a shelter and there a Serpent puts them to more pain A fourth Rule is this Fix your thoughts on the evidences of your graces when your hearts are overmuch disquieted in the sight of sin as trouble of conscience in the sight of sin will keep a man that he shall not be proud in the sight of his grace so the evidence or sight of grace will keep a man that he shall not be excessively troubled in the sight of sin Fifthly Ponder in your meditations the comfortable promises of the Gospel rather then the threats of the Law if I were to speak to a secure sinner I would give him a quite contrary rule that he should rather ponder on the threats of the Law then the promises of the Gospel but to a sinner greatly prest under the weight of God's wrath he must take this word rather to ponder on the promising part of the word then on the threatning part of the word Prov. 25. 12. As an ear-ring of gold and as an ornament of fine gold so is a wise reprover to an obedient ear The good word of a promise makes glad a poor soul that stoops in heavinesse under the guilt of sin A Pot when it boyls over the fire and boyls too fast cast a handful of Salt and it will allay the boyling of the Pot when thy soul boyls and is restlesse in disquiet for trouble of sin and boyling too fast cast in a handful of Salt a handful of the Promises of the Gospel this will allay the excessive trouble and disquiet of thy soul The Promises are called by one the Instruments of a Christan's peace they are called God's proclamations of pardon to a poor creature they are the character wherein he may read all his Priviledges O study them well A sixth Rule Compare the guilt of you sins with the merits of Christ's righteousnesse and you will find that there is more in Christ's righteousnesse to save then is in sin to damn Christ's righteousnesse is imputed to a believer that the guilt of sin might not be charged on him as Christ's Person is above thy person so Christ's righteousnesse is above thy righteousnesse this the Apostle layeth down Rom. 5. 15. The gift by grace hath abounded to many The gift doth exceed the sin exceed the offence compare but them in thy thoughts and that will be a means to al●ay the trouble o● thy heart Seventhly Disclose and reveal that sin the guilt whereof doth so much disquiet thy soul unto some judicious compassionate and experienced Christian giving vent to your own sorrows by complaints is a great way to ease the mind If in Innocency God thought fit that Adam should not be alone but should have a helper much more now in a state of defection since the fall do we need others help as well as our own if Jesus Christ when in an agony God thought fit to send an Angel to comfort him O then do not believers need much more when they are in their spiritual agony and conflicts and