Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	call_v	father_n	son_n	22,994	5	6.0917	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A69235	A treatise against lying Wherein is shevved vvhat it is, the nature and causes of this sinne, the divers kindes of it; and that all of them are sinfull, and unlawfull, with the motives and meanes to preserve us from it, or to cure us of it. By John Dovvname, B. of D. and preacher of Gods Word.	Downame, John, d. 1652.	1636 (1636)	STC 7149; ESTC S116622	107,724	178

than truthes when hee judgeth them evill And againe certainly it is a thing intolerable to tell lyes Another telleth us that he is equally his enemy as the gates of Hell who conceaveth one thing in his minde and speaketh another thing with his mouth And that Iupiter the great father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer Iliad lib. 4. Phocyllides who helpeth all yet will not be helpfull unto lyars Another perswadeth thus tell saith hee no lyes but speake all truthes And againe doe not hide one thing in thy heart and utter another with thy tongue Another affirmeth that every prudent Cleobulus and wise man hateth a lye And the Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as before was shewed deriveth the Greeke word signifying a lye from another which signifieth a thing dishonest and worthy reprehension because every lye is of this nature Finally Plato in many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato in Theat lib. 2. de Repub. places condemneth lies and pleadeth for the truth To thinke the truth saith he is honest but a filthy and dishonest thing to lye And againe a lye is odious not onely to the gods but also to men And therefore if the Heathens could discover the fowlnesse and deformities of this vice by the dimme light of nature what a shame is it for us to bee so blinde in our understandings and ignorant as not to discerne the uglinesse of it when as we have the cleare sun-shine of the Gospell and the illumination of Gods Holy Spirit to guide and direct us But let us come more particularly to shew the §. 3. That Lying is opposite to Gods nature haynousnesse of this vice which will better bee cleared if we prove that it hath in it all relations of sinne as it is committed either against God our neighbours or our selves and is not onely a sinne in it selfe but also the cause and the effect of many other evills both of sinne and punishment as it will appeare if wee examine some particulars For first lying is in this respect a great sinne because it is contrary to God the chiefe goodnesse whether we consider his Nature or his Persons In his Nature and Essence he is in and of himselfe and the fountaine of Being and in this sense it is most true that being Truth and Goodnesse are convertible and all one He is not only True but Truth it selfe and all other things are true in and for him And thus he describeth himselfe Mercifull Gracious Exod. 34. 6. Long-suffering and aboundant in Goodnesse and Truth So Moses in his song He is a God of Truth and without Deut. 32. 4. iniquitie just and right is he So Esay Hee that sweareth in the Earth shall sweare by the God of Truth Esay 65. 16. yea hee is so essentially True as that there is none true besides him according to that of the Apostle Let GOD be True but every man a lyar and though Rom. 3. 4. it be at mans choyce to speake the truth or to lye yet truth being of Gods Essence and the Truth of God nothing but the True God hence it followeth that God can no more deny the Truth than deny Himselfe And therefore it is said that God is not a man that he should lye yea though he can doe Numb 23. 19. all things yet He cannot lye yea that it is impossible Tit. 1. 2. Heb. 6. 18. for God to lye which doth not argue any impotency in him but perfection of Being seeing if hee could lye hee could also deny himselfe and so not be seeing Truth in him and Being are all one And as the former places are affirmed of the whole Divine nature and so primarily of God the Father the Fountaine of Truth and Being so other places testifie the like of the Sonne namely that Hee is full of a John 1. 14. Grace and Trueth and that all b vers 17. Grace and Trueth come by him yea that hee is the c John 14. 6. Way the Truth and Life it selfe And so also of the Holy Ghost who is called the d John 14. 17. Spirit of Truth yea e 1 John 5. 6. Truth it selfe who proceedeth f John 15. 26. from the Father and the Sonne And those whom by regeneration hee maketh his Children g John 16. 13. He leadeth into all Truth and worketh in them all sanctifying and saving Graces and Truth amongst the rest which is therefore by the Apostle numbred among the h Eph. 5. 9. fruits of the Spirit In all which respects as it must needs follow that Truth is a Vertue most acceptable unto God as being according to his owne Likenesse so also that those best please him who resemble him in Truth by loving imbracing and speaking it approving themselves hereby to bee his Children because they are like him according to that of the Prophet Esay Surely they are my people Children Esa 63. 8. that will not lye To which purpose an Heathen Philosopher speaketh excellently who being asked Pythagoras in what thing men were most like unto God answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. if they speake the Truth And in this respect their magi or magitians affirmed that their greatest god whom they called Oromagden Serm. 11. was in his body like unto the light and in his mind or soule like unto truth as Stobaeus recordeth it And excellent to this use is the etymologie of the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which they signifie Truth which Iamblichus bringeth ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deducta sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because as the Greeke word signifying the Truth so Truth it selfe is derived from the gods although others give another Etymology deriving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the privative participle because the Truth cannot lye hid Whereby it appeareth that as Truth is deare unto God so a lye which opposeth it is a great sinne and most odious unto him seeing it opposeth himselfe and his owne nature who is a God of Truth for hee who lyeth denieth the Truth and he who denieth it denieth God himselfe Again Truth which hath its existence in the minde against which the lyar speaketh is of the Spirit of God who is the Author of all Truth and therefore what is it to lye but to make the tongue speake against the Truth ingraven in the minde by the Spirit and consequently to speake against the Holy Spirit himselfe who is the Lev. 6. 2. Author of it Secondly by lying we sin immediately against §. 4. That Lying is a breach of Gods Commandement God in that we breake and violate his Word and holy Commandements which injoine us to speake the Truth and not to lye in any thing nor at any time For in the ninth Commandement under the name of bearing false witnesse against our neighbour as in the affirmative part hee requireth all Truth so in

saying to his yong men Abide you here with the Asse and I and the lad will goe yonder Gen. 22. 5. and worship and come againe to you whereas it was his resolution to sacrifice his sonne To which I answere with Saint Augustine that Abraham was a Prophet and might speake this as a Propheticall prediction not directed with his owne reason but by the instinct and motion of the Spirit who knew what would be the issue of his action or he might speake this out of the confidence of his faith perswading himselfe that though he sacrificed and killed his son yet God was able to restore him againe to life and would assuredly doe it as being both gracious and also true in that speciall promise that he would give him Isaac and that in his seede all the Nations of the earth should be blessed And to this I rather incline because I have my warrant from the words of the Apostle who saith that Abraham Heb. 11. 17 18 19. by faith when he was tried offered up Isaac and hee that had received the promise offered up his onely begotten sonne of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seede be called accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence also he received him in a figure Secondly the example of the Egyptian midwives §. 6. The example of the Egyptian Midwives objected and answered is objected who by an officious ly preserved the yong children of the Israelites from that bloody slaughter intended and commanded by Pharaoh To which I answere first that it doth not manifestly appeare that they lyed and where things or speeches are doubtfull charity will have us to take them in the best sense It may bee that the Israelitish women having speciall strength and assistance from God that they might escape the Kings inhumane decree concerning the death of their children were delivered in their travell before the Midwives comming having also some helpe one of another a thing to bee beleeved without any great difficulty by the Irish-women and those that converse with them and know their manners who have experience of their easie labour quicke dispatch and speedy recovery And it is likely that in their case they would put themselves to the uttermost of their strength though it were with some danger to preserve their Children Neither is it improbable that the Egyptian Midwives out of their mercifull disposition faith and feare of God did them all the favour that they could by giving them secret notice of their comming that they might have time to prevent the mischiefe by hiding their Children and when they came by making a sleight or no search But though it were granted that they lyed in their excuse to Pharaoh yet this will prove nothing because they are no precedents or patternes for us to immitate in their lying seeing they might doe it through feare and infirmity And whereas it may bee objected that their faith is commended and their worke rewarded by God for it is said that Exod. 1. 20. 21. God dealt well with the Midwives because they feared God more than the King and built them houses To this I answere that their mercy faith and feare of God was acceptable approved and rewarded but not their lye and therefore graciously looking upon the better part rather than the worse God pardoned and passed by their infirmity and fayling and in his grace and mercy rewarded their faith and obedience Even as hee is said to have approved and prospered divers of the good Kings of Judah because their hearts were upright in the maine points and parts of his Service though they tooke not away the high places not because hee approoved their want of zeale in purging the Church throughly from superstition but because delighting in their integrity hee passed by and pardoned their failings and infirmities Much like unto this is the example of Rahab §. 7. The example of Rahab objected and answered hiding the Israelitish spies and telling her Cittizens that they were departed The which some would charitably excuse as though it were no lye because keping an Inne some other of her guests might depart in the Evening of whom she might truly say that they were gone And I would willingly be as charitable as they if there were any probability of truth But it is not likely that the Citizens in such a weighty businesse would make such a sleight inquiry but that shee might easily understand after whom they inquired Yea it is manifest that shee knew those whom shee had hid were the Men or else to what purpose did shee hide them And therefore for her to say that they were departed not meaning them after whom they inquired but some other who in her owne knowledge were not the Men what was it but to equivocate and lye seeing shee spoke not as the thing was nor in that sense as they asked nor yet as she desired that they should understand her and that to this purpose that shee might deceive and delude them But what of all this Is Rahabs example a priviledge against plaine precepts and a fit patterne for us to immitate who lately was an Harlot an Innekeeper having small knowledge as yet of Gods Will and now but a new convert under a strong tentation and in a great conflict betweene feare and faith Yea but the Apostle Heb. 11. 31. commendeth her faith in this act by which shee was preserved from perishing with the rest I answere that shee was saved by her faith and not by her lye and because beleeving Gods wonders done for the Israelites and his Word revealed and expounded unto her by her Guests shee had received them concealed dismissed them and preserved their lives with the hazzard of her owne and not because shee had in the manner of doing it followed her owne device which feare and not faith suggested seeing shee had no warrant for it out of GODS Word CHAP. XI Whether modest Lyes are lawfull IN the last place it may bee demanded §. 1. That modest lyes are unlawfull whether a modest lye be lawfull either when wee deny those gifts graces and good parts in whole or in part which we know to be in us or accuse our selves of those sins and imperfections of which we know that wee are guiltlesse and innocent either altogether or else in respect of that measure and degree which wee lay to our owne charge seeing this is a notable meanes to curbe and subdue our pride arrogancy and insolency and to nourish and increase humility which is a grace most acceptable unto God To which I answere that when wee are to deale with God and to humble our soules before him in the unfained acknowledgement of our sinnes and wants imperfections and corruptions it may bee lawfull and profitable to aggravate them even with hyperbolicall expressions out of a godly jealousie of our selves because our hearts are so wicked Jer.