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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	good_a	great_a	way_n	2,901	5	4.3688	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A04627	The true inquisition or The sad soules search Preached at Newport, May 29. 1632 in the primary visitation of the worshipfull Mr. Edvvard Burbye, Archdeacon of Winton. dBy W. Iones, B. of D. preacher to the Isle of Wight, and Vicar of Arreton.	Jones, William, b. 1581 or 2.	1633 (1633)	STC 14748; ESTC S119450	13,625	31

understand them how shall wee search and try them I answere when I say that every man must search and try all his wayes I doe not imagine that every one can presently understand all his errors Satan by his subrilty will so blinde us the world by evill customes will so sway us the flesh by her sweet allurements will so be witch us that though we be never so circumspect in searching some small faults will escape a long time But if wee heartily pray for the pardon of all secret faults and continue daily to use all wholesome meanes to find them out God will accept our honest endeavour But yee will say further what meanes must wee use in searching and trying our wayes Answ The Philosophers make reason the touchst one of all our actions To reason also some of the Fathers seeme to ascribe too much But the truth is humane reason is so corrupt since the fall of Adam that it is not fit to be the cheife in this buisnesse But thankes be to God wee have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a more sure word as t is called 2 Pet. 1. 19. to this if we take heed we doe well This word was given by inspiration 2 Pet. 1. 21. This word is pure inlightning the eyes Psal 19. 8. T is a light unto our paths Psal 119. 105. T is able to make us wise unto salvation 2 Tim 3. 15. T is profitable for doctrine for reproofe for correction for instruction in righteousnesse v. 16. In a word The word of God is quick and powerfull and sharper than any two edged sword peircing even to the deviding asunder of the soule and spirit and is a discerner of the thoughts intents of the heart Heb. 4. 12. Lastly we shall be judged by the word at the day of judgement Ioh. 12. 48. Ro. 2. 16. All which considered t is most plaine that the word of God is the best light and rule to search and try all our actions And now if all wee which are here gathered together should examine our waies by this word of God certainly many of them would be found very crooked It is not possible for me in the short space allotted for this exercise to touch all our wayes I will therefore meddle onely with those which are most properly inquirable at this visitation Court And because the messenger of God must bee as God himselfe no respecter of persons I will begin with the cheife and mine owne Coate and tell them wherein their wayes are thought not to be agreeable to Gods word And because Right Worshipfull you and your officers come to inquire what fame there goes of us I thinke it very requisite to informe you first what fame goes of your selves that yee may take occasion to search and try your owne wayes before ye meddle with others This then is the common fame of the country that whether it be through the fault of the cheife Magistrate and his officiall Commissary or Surrogates or Register or Sumners offenders are not ordinarily censured according to the nature of their offence And that the great and rich get through your Ecclesiastical nets as easily as hornets through the spiders webbe But that the poorer sort stand excommunicated a long time though they be never so penitent onely because they have no money to pay Moreover that in your visitation Courts most of you are more greedy of gaine than sollicitous for reformation which is the maine end of these assemblies Lastly that in your Consistory you and the Procters prolong trifling causes for the multiplying of fees and that factious plaintiffes which wage law for the vexation of their neighbours find too favorable entertainement Now for my part I doe not accuse any man but if these reports bee true then I must needes admonish you in the word of the Lord Iam. 4. 8. that yee clense your hands and purifie your hearts be afflicted and mourne and weepe And I pray you remember as Saint Paul saith Rom. 13. 4. that you beare not the sword in vaine Remember also what the rock and God of Israel said to David 2 Sam. 23. 3. Hee that ruleth over men must be just ruling in the feare of God Wherefore as good Iehosaphat said to his Iudges 2 Chron. 19. 6. Take heede what yee doe for yee judge not for man but for the Lord who is with you in judgement wherefore now let the feare of God bee upon you take heed and doe it For there is no iniquity with the Lord our God nor respect of persons nor taking of Gifts Gifts as God saith Deut. 16. 19 blinde the eyes of the wise Lastly to all the officers of this Court I say in the name of the Lord as Iohn Baptist said to the Publicans Luke 3. 13. Exact no more than is appointed you remembring that extortion is a damnable sinne And what shall it profit a man to winne the whole world and loose his owne soule sayes Christ Mat. 16. 26. In the second place touching us Ministers there bee many complaints that wee doe not according to the word of the Lord take heed to our selves and the flocks over which the holy Ghost hath made us overseers Some of us are carelesse touching our owne lives wee are not examples to our people as the Spirit commands 1 Tim. 4. 12 in word in conversation in charity in spirit in faith in purity Yea t is verified of some of us which was spoken Hos 4.9 There shall be like people like Priest Againe though the Spirit charge us all 2 Tim. 4 before God and the Lord Iesus to preach the word and be instant in season out of season to reprove rebuke exhort Yet divers of us are more carefull in feeding our selves than in feeding our flocks But above all we are said to be generally defective in that most necessarie part of our office Catechising whereunto wee have of late yeares bene so often exhorted both by our Kings and Bishops I know what most doe alleadge that parents and Masters will not cause their children and servants to come to bee Catechised but I know withall that if we had beene as zealous in the Lords cause as wee are for the most part for our owne Commodities we might have done a great deale more good this way than wee have done Wherefore my deere brethren I beseech you all in the name of the Lord Iesus who hath committed his lambes as well as his sheepe to our care let us all with one heart and with all our might set upon this most laudable and profitable exercise of Catechising without which we shall doe little good by our preaching The third sort of people that are agents in this visitation Court are the Church-wardens and Sidemen who are bound by oath to present unto the Iudge all offenders But except there bee some notorious crime which they thinke cannot ly hid they use to present omnia bene and herein they thinke they deale very wisely For

a theefe The Pharises were very strict in tything Mint Annise Cummin but if they had done this sincerely they would not have neglected the weightier matters of the Law For hee that lookes to some of his waies in obedience unto Gods Commandement for the same reason must and will looke unto all And he that hath not an eye to all his wayes in truth regards none So then let all that heare me this day take speciall notice that we are all summoned this day to search and try all our wayes I say againe wee are all bound and commanded to search and try all our wayes Though in regard of some of our courses we are applauded in the world and know that we have done worthily yet wee must proceed further and narrowly search and examine all our whole conversation and all the passages of our life 1 Sam. 15. 13. when Saul returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites he said vnto Samuel Thou blessed of the Lord I have performed the commandement of the Lord And yet yee know he had spared Agag the King and the fat cattell contrary to the commandement In like manner there bee very many in these dayes who thinke themselves good Christians because they have done do many good things and eschew many evill wayes They heare the word preached they pray they come to the Lords table they give almes they are no murderers adulterers theeues Hereupon they conclude as Saul did they have performed the commandement of the Lord whereas if they would search and try all their wayes they would see that they come farre short in other points For though they heare Gods word duly they hate to be reformed though they keepe some part of the Lords day holy they spend some other part prophanely though they often call upon Gods name devoutly they oftner take his name in vain most fearefully Though they steale not their neighbors good they rob him of his good name though they will not strike with the sword their hearts are full fraught with murderous and malicious thoughts For this cause we must search and try all our wayes we must suffer no one to escape without due examination Moreover if upon sound tryall of our own personall wayes we be able to say truely with Ezechiah Isay 38. 3. we have walked before God in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in his sight as David saith Ps 18. 23. have kept our selves from our owne iniquitie yet we must not here cease searching we must proceed to searchand try all the wayes of those that are committed unto our charge because we must answere unto God for them Iob was a man perfect and upright and one that feared God and eschewed evill by Gods owne testimony Iob 1. 8. yet Iob thought not this enough but continued sanctifying his children and offering sacrifice for them Iob. 1. 5. Goe thou and doe likewise Thou must bee as carefull in searching and trying all the wayes of thy servants and children c. as thine owne wherein because Eli fayled hee was fearefully plagued by the Lord 1 Sam. 4. To conclude this point if thou be a private man thou must not prie into the wayes of thy neighbours but concerning those abominations which are openly committed in the land thou art bound with them Ezech 9. 4. to bewaile the same But if thou art a Magistrate thou must search out and reforme all abuses in thy quarter thou must not beare the sword in vaine For thou art the Minister of God a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evill Rom. 13. 4. Lastly though this course of searching and trying our waies must be taken principally when God visiteth us with any plague or when the Civill or Ecclesiasticall Magistrate as now comes to inquire concerning our wayes yet ought it to be daily and continually used because we are apt to go astray continually to wander every moment But the most convenient time for this searching and trying all our wayes by St. Chrysostome and others is thought to be every evening Thus have I shewed unto you a point of singular wisdome to be put in practise every day by all men all the dayes of their lives Many therefore of this generation are not so wise as they would be accounted because either altogether or in part they neglect this duty of searching and trying their wayes Some let all things go how they will passe their dayes in sottish security and never say to their owne soules so much as What have I done untill with the rich glutton they bee suddenly plunged into hell Others though they be earnestly exhorted to search and try their wayes will by no meanes entertaine any counsell in this kind but go on resolutely as they have done In this ranke stand first our recusant Papists who will doe as their Fathers and Grandfathers have done tell them what ye can Secondly of this number are very many profane wretches which seeme to hate instruction and put off all admonition with a scoffe Thirdly here also may be ranged much people men and women who having entered into some unlawfull course wherein they find either pleasure as Herod in his brother Philips wife Luk. 3. or profit as the Craftsmen in making Shrines for the Temple of Diana Acts 19. 25. or honour as Naaman in going with his Mr. to his idolatrous house 2 Kings 5. cannot indure to heare that they must search and try their waies because they are resolved whatsoever they heare not to change their course Such are in these dayes our common Stage-players gamehousekeepers ministrells jesters typlers stewes vsurers c. All these abhor this searching and trying of their wayes They will not indure to have the lawfullnesse of their courses called in question Others there are which performe this duty but onely in part and of these there are divers sorts first are they which doe but talke of it as Felix Acts 24. 25. who when Paul preached of righteousnesse temperance and judgement to come trembled but said Go thy way and when I have a convenient time I will send for thee but hee never sent Even so many in these dayes when they heare a searching Sermon say here is good Doctrine t is pitty but it should be followed but after that time never thinke upon it againe Secondly some are almost perswaded to search their wayes as Agrippa who said to Paul Acts 26. 28. Almost thou perswadest mee to bee a Christian But this almost will not serve the turne Thirdly some search and try their wayes but friendly as Ahab 1 Kings 21. 27. when he heard Elias threatning rent his clothes and put on sackcloth and fasted c. But as soone as the storme was over he was the same man Even so now when God sends any judgement publicke or private there be many that will cast downe their countenance and speake humbly and mournfully but when God ceases the plague their

THE TRVE INQVISITION OR THE SAD SOVLES SEARCH Preached at Newport May 29. 1632. in the Primary Visitation of the Worshipfull Mr. EDVVARD BVRBYE Arch-Deacon of Winton By W. IONES B. of D. Preacher to the Isle of Wight and Vicar of Arreton Let every man prove his owne worke Gal. 6. 4 LONDON Printed by William Jones dwelling in Red-crosse-streete 1633. TO THE VVORSHIPFVLL MASTER EDVVARD BVRBYE Arch-Deacon of Winton Sir VPON your word this sermon was made and preached And though the importunity of some drew it to the presse beyond my intent yet it is desirous to returne unto you againe that under the wings of your protection it may remaine as a faithfull witnesse of my unfeined desire of the reformation of the whole Deanery of the Isle of Wight To which if you according to your place shal put your helping hand and deale couragiously the Lord shall be with you and we shall not cease praying that you may bee an ancient and honorable Father in Israel From my studie at Arreton June 1. 1632. Your VVorships at command in the Lord Iesus WILLIAM IONES THE TRVE INQVISITION OR THE SAD SOVLES SEARCH LAMENTATIONS 3. 40. Let us search and try our wayes and turne againe to the Lord. T IS Very probable that when the Iewes were going into captivity as t is threatned Ierm 25. then Ieremie made this booke of Lamentations wherein he first sets downe the greatnesse of Gods judgements Secondly the heinousnesse of their sinnes Thirdly he exhorts the people to repentance Fourthly he invites them to lay hold on Gods mercy by faith The words of my Text are the summe of the whole booke which may bee thus rendred in a few more words Yee see my deere Countrymen how the Lord hath afflicted us and doubtlesse the cause is our sinnes It shall therefore be our wisedome to examine our selves narrowly wherein wee have transgressed and then to returne into the path of Gods Commandements that hee may have mercy upon us and remove his judgements from us Now behold the judgements of God have long hovered over our land Wherefore as Ieremy then called the Iews to search their waies so is it seasonable for every Minister of the Gospell among us to call his people to examination of their wayes that the feirce wrath of God may be turned from us And for my part at this time I am called to make a visitation Sermon yee see the Visitors are come to inquire concerning all our wayes What fitter exhortation then can I make than this of the wise Prophet Let us search and try our wayes and turne againe to the Lord. In this exhortation I observe two parts the first stands in searching and trying our wayes the second in turning againe to the Lord. Concerning the former part in those words Let us search and try our wayes I note three particulars First who be the persons summoned in the particle us Secondly the act which is twofold search and try Thirdly the object to bee searched and tryed our wayes Touching the first the persons summoned in the particle us No question but Ieremie speakes to the body of the Iewes including himselfe For though he was a righteous man yet he knew as David saith Psal 143. 2. That in Gods sight no man living is justified To the whole Congregation of Israel therefore doth Ieremy speake including himselfe when he saith Let us search c. In like manner at this time doe I direct my speech to the whole Deanery of the Isle of Wight not excluding my selfe or any of my brethren of the Ministery Nay more including you also right Worshipfull that are come to visite us and all your officers from the highest to the lowest yea and all that have any hand in this daies visitation as Church-wardens and sidemen Plainetiffes Defendants and witnesses all that prove Wills or take upon them the administration of other mens goods in a word to you all that heare me this day as also to my selfe doe I say in the word of the Lord Let us search and try our wayes For though perhaps some among us are not such heinous sinners as others yet we cannot but confesse if wee will speake the truth that in many things we sinne all and therefore have just cause every one to search and try our wayes wherefore I say againe and againe Let us all and every one of us search and try our wayes I doe not deny but it is the part of the Magistrate and the duty of the Minister and Church-wardens and all swornemen to search and try the wayes of all that are committed to their charge and woe be unto them if they doe not But yet it is laid as a burden upon every particular person to search himselfe according to that 1 Cor. 11. 28. Let a man i. every man examine him selfe and againe Let every man prove his owne worke Gal. 6. 4. Neither shall we thinke it strange that every man is called to the strict examination of himselfe if we marke the reason For first they to whom the care of others is committed many times are carelesse Secondly no man can take notice of all anothers wandrings The heart is deceit full above measure who can search it Ier. 17 9. Thirdly Every one of us shall give account to God of himselfe Rom. 14 12. Every man shall beare his owne burden Gal. 6. 5. T is true if the Magistrate and Minister and other overseers warne not the wicked whom they espie but let them goe on in sinne God will require their blood at their hands but yet they shall dye in their sinnes and beare their owne punishment Ezec. 33. 8. Which being so every one that is wise will ponder his owne paths Every one that hath understanding will search and try his owne wayes So ye have the first particular every man high or low rich or poore learned or unlearned bond or free must search and try his owne wayes The second particular to bee considered is the Act which is twofold search and try By searching wee must understand a narrow looking into our courses by taking speciall view of them all David expresses the meaning when hee sayes Psal 119. 59. I considered my wayes that is as other translations have it I thougt on my wayes or I called all my wayes to my remembrance So then being in my text commanded to search our wayes t is as if we had beene enjoyned to ponder all our wayes or to call to our remembrance as much as wee can all our by-past thoughts words and deeds Moreover when we have searched or taken speciall notice of all our wayes we are commanded in the second place to try them that is to weigh them in the ballance of the Sanctuary and prove them by the touch-stone of Gods word whether they be good and current or not Behold then thy Duty whosoever thou art Thou must often enter into serious examination and consideration of all thy wayes thou must every day