Selected quad for the lemma: love_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A90291
|
The stedfastness of promises, and the sinfulness of staggering: opened in a sermon preached at Margarets in Westminster before the Parliament Febr. 28. 1649. Being a day set apart for solemn humiliation throughout the nation. By John Owen minister of the Gospel.
|
Owen, John, 1616-1683.
|
1650
(1650)
|
Wing O808; Thomason E599_9; Thomason E618_7; ESTC R203108
|
32,151
|
58
|
to him All our Doubtings are nothing but so many Questionings of his Love We cry Lord Jesus Lovest thou us and agaiâ—â—Lord Jesus Lovest thou us and that with distrustfâ—◠〈…〉 thoughts That it is not it cannot be 〈…〉 the Vnbelieving Jews the holy Ghost tells us Jesus was grieved for the hardness of their hearts Mark 3. 5. And as it is bitter to him in the Root so also in the Fruit Our Staggerings and Debates when we have a Word of Promise is a Grief to his holy Spirit as the unkindest return we can make unto his Love 2 It provoks him How can this be sayes Zechariah that I should have a Son This shall be saith the Lord and thou thy self for thy questioning shalt be a sign of it Thou shalt be dumb and not speak Luke 1. His Doubting was a Provocation And our Saviour expresses no less in that bitter reproof to his Disciples upon their wavering Matth. 17. 17. O faithless and perverse Generation how long shall I be with you How long shall I suffer you How long shall I suffer you That is in this Unbelieving frame Poor Souls are apt to admire the patience of God in other matters That he spared them in such and such sins at such and such times of Danger but his exceeding patience towards them in their carnal Reasonings and fleshly Objections against Believing this they admire not Nay generally they think it should be so God would not have them one step further Nay they could be more stedfast in Believing as they suppose might it stand with the good Will of God when all this while this fram of all others is the greatest provocation to the Lord he never exercises more forbearance then about this kind of Unbelief When the Spyes had gone into Canaan had seen the Land and brought of the good Fruit of it then to repine then to question whither God would bring them into it or no This caused the Lord to swear in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest When God hath brought men to the Borders of Heaven discovered to them the Riches and Excellency of his Grace admitted them to enter as Spyes into the Kingdom of Glory then to fall a staggering whether he intends them an Entrance or no is that which lyes heavie on him The like may be said of all Promised Mercies and deliverances whatsoever That this is a Provocation The Lord hath abundantly testified in as much as for it he hath oftentimes snatched sweet morsels from the mouths of men and turned aside the stream of Mercies when it was ready to flow in upon them If saith he you will not believe you shall not be established Isa. 7. 9. The very Mercy but now Promised concerning your deliverance shall be with-held Oh stop not Success from Ireland by Unbelief 3 It dishonors God In the close of this Verse it is said Abraham was strong in Faith or staggered not giving glory to God To be established in Believing is to give God the greatest glory possible Every staggering Thought that ariseth from this Root of Unbelief robs God of his Glory 1 It robs him of the Glory of his Truth He that believeth not hath made him a Liar because he believeth not his Record 1 Joh. 5. 10. Let men pretend what they please as most an end we give in specious pretences for our Unbelief the bottom of all is The questioning of the Truth of God in our false hearts 2 It robs him of the glory of his Fidelity or Faithfulness in the discharge of his Promises If we confess our sins he is faithful to forgive us our sins 1 Joh. 1. 9. He hath engaged his faithfulness in this business of the forgiveness of Iniquities He whose Right it is calling that in Question calls the faithfulness of God in Question 3 It robs him of the Glory of his Grace In a word If a man should chuse to set himself in an universal opposition unto God he can think of no more compendious way then this This then is the fruit this the advantage of all our staggering we rob God of Glory and our own Souls of Mercy Vse 5 Be ashamed of and humbled for all your staggerings at the Promises of God with all your fleshly Reasonings carnal Contrivances issuing therefrom For the most part we live upon Successes not Promises unless we see and feel the print of Victories we will not Believe The engagement of God is almost quite forgotten in our Affairs We travel on without Christ like his Mother and suppose him only to be in the croud but we must return to seek him where we left him or our journying on will be to no purpose When Job after all his complaining had seen the End of the Lord he cryes out Now I abhor my self in dust and ashes You have seen the End of the Lord in many of his Promises Oh that it might prevaile to make you abhor your selves in dust and ashes for all your Carnal Fears and Corrupt Reasonings upon your staggerings When David enjoyed his Promised Mercy he especially shames himself for every thought of Unbelief that he had whilest he waited for it I said saith he in my haste That all men were Liars And now he is humbled for it Is this to be thankful to forget our provoking Thoughts of Unbelief when the Mercy is enjoyed The Lord set it home upon your Spirits and give it to receive it 's due manifestation 1 If there be any Counsels Designs Contrivances on foot amongst us that are bottomed on our Staggering at the Promise under which we are Oh let them be instantly cast down to the ground Let not any be so foolish as to suppose that Unbelief will be a foundation for quiet Habitations You are careful to avoid all wayes that might dishonor you as the Rulers of so great a Nation Oh be much more careful about such things as will dishonor you as Believers That 's your greatest Title That 's your chiefest Priviledge Search your own Thoughts and if any Contrivance any Complyance be found springing up whose seed was sown by staggering at the Promise root them up and cast them out before it be too late 2 Engage your hearts against all such wayes for the future Say unto God How faithful art thou in all thy wayes How able to perform all thy Promises How hast thou established thy Word in Heaven and Earth Who would not put their Trust in thee We desire to be ashamed That ever we should admit in our hearts the least staggering at the stability of thy Word 3 Act as men bottomed upon unshaken things that are not at all moved by the greatest appearing Oppositions He that believeth will not make haste be not hasty in your Resolves in any distress Waite for the Accomplishment of the Vision for it will come So long as you are in the way of God and do the Work of God let not so much as your Desires be too hasty after appearing Strengthnings and Assistance Whence is it that there is amongst us such bleating after the Complyance of this or that Party of the Sons of men perhaps priding themselves in our Actings upon Unbelief as though we proclaimed That without such and such we cannot be protected in the Things of God Let us I beseech you live above those things that are unworthy of the great Name that is called upon us Oh that by these and the like wayes we might manifest our self-Condemnation and Abhorrency for all that Distrust and Staggering at the Word of God which arising from Unbelief hath had such deplorable Issues upon all our Counsels and Undertakings FINIS
Scandal that would accrew Scandal to the Magistrates Scandal to the Ministers of this Generation in neglecting such an Opportunity of advancing the GOSPEL sleeping all the day whilest others sow Tares 3 Where will be the hoped the expected Consolation of this great Affaire when the Testimony and Pledge of the peculiar Presence of CHRIST amongst us upon such an ISSUE shall be wanting What then shall we do This Thing is often spoken of seldom driven to any close 1 Pray Pray the Lord of the Harvest That he would send out That he would thrust forth Labourers into his Harvest The Labourers are ready to say There is a Lyon in the way Difficulties to be Contended withal And to some men it is hard seeing a Call of GOD through Difficulties When if it would but cloath it self with a few Carnal Advantages how apparent is it to them They can see it through a little Cranny Be earnest then with the Master of these Labourers in whose hand is their life and breath and all their wayes That he would powerfully Constrain them to be willing to enter into the Fields that are White for the Harvest 2 Make such Provision That those who will go may be fenced from outward Straights and Fears so far as the uncertainty of humane Affairs in General and the present tumultuating perturbations will admit And let not I beseech you this be the business of an unpursued Order But 3 Let some be appointed Generals dye and sink by themselves to Consider this thing and to hear what sober PROPOSALS may be made by any whose Hearts God shall stir up to so good a Work This I say is a Work wherein God expecteth Faithfulness from you Stagger not at his Promises nor your own Duty However by all means possible in this Business I have strived to deliver my own Soul Once more to this of Faith let me stir you up to another Work of Love and that in the behalf of many poor perishing Creatures that want all Things needful for the sustentation of Life Poor Parentless Children that lye Begging Starving Rotting in the Streets and find no Relief Yea Persons of Quality that have lost their dearest Relations in your Service seeking for Bread and finding none Oh that some thoughts of this also might be seriously Committed to them that shall take care for the Gospel Vse 3 I desire now to make more particular Application of the Doctrine as to things purely Spiritual Until you know how to Believe for your own Souls You will scarcely know how to Believe for a Nation Let this then teach us To lay the burden and trouble of our Lives upon the right shoulder In our STAGGERINGS our Doubtings our Disputes we are apt to assign this and that Reason of them when the sole Reason indeed is our Unbelief Were it not for such a Cause or such a Cause I could Believe that is Were there no need of Faith That is Faith must remove the Mountains that lye in the way and then all will be plain It is not the greatness of Sin nor continuance in Sin nor backsliding into Sin that is the true Cause of thy Staggering whatever thou pretendest The removal of all these is from that Promise whose Stability and Certainty I before laid forth but solely from thy Unbelief That root of bitterness which springs up and troubles thee It is not the distance of the Earth from the Sun nor the Sun's withdrawing it self that makes a dark and gloomy day but the Interposition of Clouds and vaparous Exhalations Neither is thy Soul beyond the reach of the Promise nor doth God with-draw himself but the vapours of thy Carnal Unbelieving Heart do Cloud thee It is said of one place Christ could do no great Work there Why so For want of Power in him not at all but meerly for want of Faith in them it was because of their Vnbelief The Promise can do no great Work upon thy heart to humble thee to pardon to quiet thee Is it for want of Fulness and Truth therein not at all but meerly for want of Faith in thee that keeps it off Men complain That were it not for such things and such things they could Believe when it is their Uubelief that casts those rubs in the way As if a man should cast Nails and sharp Stones in his own way and say Verily I could run were it not for those Nails and Stones when he continues himself to cast them there You could believe were it not for these Doubts and Difficulties these staggering perplexities when alass they are all from your Unbelief Vse 4 See the sinfulness of all those staggering doubts and perplexities wherewith many poor souls have almost all their thoughts taken up Such as is the Root such is the Fruit If the Tree be evil so will the fruit be also Men do not gather Grapes from brambles What is the Root that bears this Fruit of Staggering Is it not the evil Root of Vnbelief And can any good come from thence Are not all the Streams of the same Nature with the Fountain If that be bitter can they be sweet If the Body be full of Poyson will not the Branches have their Venome also Surely if the Mother Unbelief be the Mouth of Hell the Daughters Staggerings are not the Gates of Heaven Of the Sin of Vnbelief I shall not now speak at large It is in Sum The Vniversal Opposition of the Soul unto God All other Sins arise against some thing or other of his revealed Will Only Vnbelief sets up it self in a direct Contradiction to all of him that is known Hence the weight of Condemnation in the Gospel is constantly laid on this Sin He that believeth not on him the wrath of God abideth he shall be damned Now as every drop of Sea-water retains the brackishness and saltnesse of the whole so every staggering Doubt that is an issue of this Unbelief hath in it the unsavouriness and distastefulness unto God that is in the whole Further to give you a little light into what acceptance our staggering thoughts find with the Lord according to which must be our Esteem of all that is in us Observe that 1 They grieve him 2 They provoke him 3 They dishonor him 1 Such a frame grieves the Lord Nothing more presses true Love then to have any Appearance of Suspition Christ comes to Peter and asks him Simon Son of Jonas lovest thou me Joh. 21. 15. Peter seems glad of an opportunity to confess him and his love to him whom not long since he had denyed and Answers readily Yea Lord thou knowest that I love thee But when Christ comes with the same Question again and again the holy Ghost tells us Peter was grieved because he said unto him the 3d time Lovest thou me It exceedingly troubled Peter That his Love should come under so many Questionings which he knew to be sincere The Love of Christ to his is infinitely beyond the Love of his