Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	apostle_n	gospel_n	preach_v	3,957	5	6.9240	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25204	Decus & tutamen, or, Practical godliness the ornament and muniment of all religion being the subject of several sermons preached at Westminster upon Titus ii, 10 / by V. Alsop ...	Alsop, Vincent, 1629 or 30-1703.	1696 (1696)	Wing A2907; ESTC R16042	63,995	144

of whom they see fitter for Bedlam than the Church If we could learn to discern the Divine Providence in Mens Provocations and that as the evil one has a hand in them the righteous God has an over-ruling hand in them too it would serve to dash the Ferment of our most boiling Passions and teach us to say with the Psalmist The Lord has ●…idden him to curse me The sense and fear of God vigorous upon our Hearts would fortifie them against the sudden eruptions of these Distempers Prov. xxiii 17. My son be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long and let not thy heart envy sinners And in a word It would abate our Passion and the Pride that feeds it did we but calmly consider that our strongest Passions are our greatest Impotencies and that whilst we indulge this last we do but make work for Repentance And what a folly is it to give way to that which must cost us bitter Tears and Sorrow before we can heal those Wounds which thereby we have given both our own Consciences and our Profession 2. Let my next Advice be to avoid all Fraud Falshood and Over-reaching in your Covenants Contracts and Dealings with your Neighbours Every Christian besides that business he has with his God and his own Soul has Affairs in this World on this side Eternal Life In all these let your Heart be true to God your Tongue true to your Heart and Heart and Tongue both true to your Neighbours Eph. iv 25. Wherefore putting away all lying speak every man the truth with his neighbour for we are all members one of another We are all Members either in the First Adam or in the Second If in the First Adam only yet why should we defraud our own Flesh and Blood If in the Second why should we wrong them that are with us the same spirit 1 Cor. vi 17. The Psalmist Psal. xv 1. Propounds this great Question and propounds it to God himself who alone could answer it Lord who shall abide in thy Tabernacle And who shall dwell in thy holy hill Who is that blessed Man whom thou wilt admit to Communion with thy blessed self in Grace and Glory And amongst other Characters that describe this person this is one verse 2. He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness that speaketh the truth in his heart And verse 4. He that sweareth to his own heart and changeth not Let others go beyond him in Temporals he will be true to his own Soul to his God to his Neighbour and the Credit of his Religion 'T is a great contradiction to Religion to use falshood in our Commerces and Converses Our God is the God of Truth his Word is the Scripture of Truth In all that Gospel which we Preach there 's not one Proposition but what is truth and the Apostle 2 Cor. i. 18 19. Purgeth himself of all Levity and Inconstancy in his Promises by the Truth of that Gospel which he Preached As God is true our word toward you was not Yea and Nay It was not Yea in Promising and Nay in Performing for saith he the son of God J●…sus Christ was not Yea and Nay Every Yea of Christ is Yea and every Nay of Christ is Nay Fidelity therefore is the Image of God and bears some strokes of his veracity as unfaithfulness bears the Image of the Devil who is a liar and the father of it and when he sp●…aks a lie he speaks of his own John viii 44. And if at any time he speaks a Truth 't is not of his own but either by an over-ruling power extorted from him or from some wicked end of his own used by him 3. Let us be jealous of and watchful over our selves in those things that lie near the Flesh our Corruptions are Tinder one spark struck into them sets all in a flame whatever things therefore are most suitable to those Corruptions must be carefully inspected Let us watch over our selves watch against the Tempter and his temptations and watch as those that watch for their Souls and then Pray that God would watch over us and all our watchings or else we wake and watch in vain The things that lie nearest our Flesh are Food and Raiment which are apt to awaken and draw out sleeping Corruption When we read of some Jude 12. That feed themselves without fear surely they know not what an Enemy they have that lies in wait to surprize them Holy Fear would suggest these Thoughts How know I but the Tempter has laid a baited Snare for me at my Table And when he is Adorning the Body how know I but I may be now preparing a Bait for anothers Soul Let every Man study his own weak point there it is the Devil will be sure to Aslault thee It was a dreadful Prophetick Curse which the Psalmist utters against some Psal. lxix 22. Let their table be made a snare and let that which should be for their good be to their hurt How sad is it to find Death in the Cup or Dish where he seeks his Life And yet how many Eat and drink their own damnation perhaps at Christ's Table and at their own The Wise Man or rather the Wise God has given us this Counsel Prov. xxiii 2. When thou sittest to eat with a Ruler consider diligently what is set before thee and put a knife to thy throat if thou be a man given to appetite And these Thoughts would mortifie the cravings of the Flesh. 1. That after all our studious Catering and Carving for the Flesh yet we must die and are now dying whilst we are Eating and Drinking perhaps whilst Sinning we are still dying the means of Life will not always prove effectual to preserve Life They that fed upon Angels Food yet dyed John vi 19. Meat for the belly and the belly for meats but God will 〈◊〉 ●…oth it and them 1 Cor. vi 13. 2. It would greatly abate the Luxury of the Table to consider that the Rich Glutton who fared sumptuously every day Luke xvi 19. was Dead Buried and in Hell where he could not by all his eloquent begging prevail for one drop of Water to cool his Tongue scorched with those Flames 3. And it might moderate our craving wandring Appetite to consider that Nature is content with little and Grace with less and whatever is beyond these comes of evil and leads to e●…il 4. And that if we cannot deny our selves in the lesser Instances how should we deny our selves in those more difficult Trials which Providence may possibly call us to How shall we be able to want Necessaries when we cannot deny these Extravagancies 5. And what a Reproach is it to a Professor to feel this raging Hunger for the Meat that perisheth when there is such a languishing affection for that which endureth to eternal Lif●… What a shame that we bring sharper Stomachs to our own Tables than to the Lord's § 2. I have given you the Advice of

God what you must Avoid if you would not Defile It remains now that I lay down those Directions which you must observe If you will Adorn the Doctrine of our God and Saviour in All things 1. And first severely Govern your selves and the whole Tenor of your Conversations by that Royal Law Matth. vii 12. All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you do ye even so unto them for this is the Law and the Prophets A Law which Christ has transcribed out of the Codè of Nature into his own A Law which once grew upon the stock of Morality but he has transplanted and inoculated into the Gospel Called therefore by the Apostle St. James ii 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture thou shalt love thy neigh●…our as thy self ye do well A Law that carries the fairest Stamp and Signature both of the Divine Nature and Authority A Law that shines with its own Light into the Soul of Man No Man would Defraud Oppress Persecute another if he would give his Conscience leave to put this Question to him Would I be thus treated thus dealt with my self A due Attendance to this Rule would not only teach us to do Justice but to shew Mercy to Others upon this single consideration I expect Justice and may need Mercy and Pity from others for certainly I am obliged to give what I expect and to shew what I my self may need And nothing would more reclaim Men from their Unchristian their Antichristian Barbarities than to put our selves into the same Condition and Case to suppose our selves chained in the same Prison labouring under the same pressures with others of our Brethren 1. Whatever Mercy Pity Charity we may possibly need in our Extremity let us learn to shew it to others in theirs If we shut up our Bowels of Compassion what may we expect but that God will shut up his and that will restrain the Bowels of Compassion of all the World to us as the first Cause either draws nigh to us or recedes from so will the second either assist or forsake us This Reason the Apostle offers Heb. xiii 3. why we should Remember these that are in bonds and sympathize with them as if we were bound with them and them that suffer affliction as being your selves also in the body Suppose we are not actually bound yet we are in the body and may be so We are not Sick as others are yet we are in the body and may be so and shall then need those Charitable Visits that Relief which we now forget or neglect to Administer Or perhaps we now abound dwell at ease yet still we are in the body and may soon in that very Kind need Compassion And this may seasonably lead us into the Admiration of the Pity Compassion and Bounty of our gracious God who being out of the reach of our Necessities yet can exercise Bowels of tender Mercy to us poor sinning and suffering Worms and into the Admiration of the pities of Christ who now upon the Throne and out of the way of those Afflictions and Temptations wherewith we are encompassed yet has not left the Humane Nature behind him but taken it with him into Heaven that he might therein compassionate his distressed Members whom he is not ashamed to call his brethren Phil ii 11. 2. This ought to teach us to do that Justice to others which we expect others should do to us for with what judgment we judg we shall be judged Matth. vii 2. This one thing would marvellously Adorn the Gospel when we can Convince all the World that our Religion has made us better Men when it made us Christians and that we brought along with us Morality when we espoused and came over to Christianity 2. Secondly Maintain a heavenly Mind and Conversation Let all see that though your Root be in Heaven yet you bring forth Fruit here on Earth It has reflected highly upon our Profession that we believe well but live ill we have got a Systeme of heavenly Truths in our Mouths but we disparage them with Earthly Lives A heavenly Mind a heavenly Frame of Heart would support a heavenly Conversation now because this is that great thing that must recover the Credit and Honour of the Gospel I will in few words shew you what it is 1. A heavenly Mind has unmoveably fixt and pitcht upon Heaven for its great and commanding end this is his Fathers House whither he is always Travelling 't is the Port for which he is Bound And because there may be a mistake in the Notion of Heaven as that it may be only a place of Ease a state of Rest from the Troubles of this Life he is satisfied that the enjoyment of God in that Place and State makes the real Heaven Psal. lxxiii 25. Whom have I in Heaven but thee 2. The heavenly Mind and Heart is always vigorously pursuing that great Design and because there are many impertinent avocations that would seduce or steal his Heart from his end he shakes them off with indignation as those that would divert him in that Holy pursuit nor does he so much consider how much of his Race he has run as he ties up himself to run the rest Phil. iii. 14. Forgetting the things that are behind and looking unto those that are before we press towards the mark for the prize of our high calling in Christ Jesus 3. The heavenly Mind endeavours especially to maintain a heavenly Temper and frame of Heart which is the life of all heavenly pursuits The Habits of Grace must be reduced into Act and Exercise and Grace must be laid out to its highest and noblest end as the best Instrument must be in Tune before the skilful Hand can make Melody upon it so must the Heart be kept in Frame suitable to the services which are proper to it 4. A heavenly Mind must Conform it self to and Exercise it self in those imployments here below which are the proper Work of Heaven always recovering it self when it deviates from its main end with this Question My soul How do the Angels and the Spirits of just Men made perfect spend their bl●…ssed Eternity above They are surely Praising Blessing Admiring Adoring Loving and Serving their God their Redeemer their Sanctifier and Comforter and why do not we Conform our selves to their Pattern The great Law of Heaven governs them and every Thought and Motion of their Wills why do we not then more fervently Pray that we may do the Will of God on Earth as t is done in Heaven With the same chearfulness and perseverance And though we come short of their Perfect Love Praise and Service yet let us be Practising and tuning our Hearts and Harps for those Hallelujahs The Work of Eternity must be begun in time upon us and done in time by us nor is there a wilder Fancy that can delude the vain Heart of Man than to