Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	aaron_n	believe_v	deny_v	12	3	7.1832	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35535	An exposition with practicall observations continued upon the thirty second, the thirty third, and the thirty fourth chapters of the booke of Job being the substance of forty-nine lectures / delivered at Magnus neare the Bridge, London, by Joseph Caryl ...	Caryl, Joseph, 1602-1673.	1661 (1661)	Wing C774; ESTC R36275	783,217	917

thy mouth for ever speak not thus to God If thou art as thou canst not deny a thing formed by God then say not why hast thou made me thus And as now thou strivest with God about that which thou canst not understand so at last though now thou dost not thou shalt understand that thou oughtest not to have striven with him about it And indeed if men have a mind to strive with God they may find as many occasions for it in the doctrine of his conditionall decrees of foreseene faith repentance and persevering obedience as in his absolute We shall never want matter of quarrelling with God till we have learned simply that is graciously to submit Secondly This truth should much more quiet our spirits and stop our strivings in reference to our temporall estate And that First As wrapt up in common with others Did we consider the soveraigne power of God in ordering the affairs of Nations and Churches we would glorifie him in a gracious silence however we see things goe with them The Scripture urgeth us often to this fixednesse of mind in the midst of all publick revolutions and changes upon this only account Heare David Psal 46.9 10. Come behold the works of the Lord What works ruining works what desolation he hath made in the earth God made strange work in the World at that time Those countryes which before were as the Garden of God became like a desolate Wildernesse who was able to beare this with patience Yet the Spirit of God saith in the next words it must be patiently borne when God lets men strive and warre with one another to a common confusion yet no man may strive with God about it and the reason given why no man may is only this which is indeed all the reason in the world He is God So it follows in the Psalme Be still and know that I am God As if the Lord had said not a word do not strive nor reply whatever you see hold your peace know that I being God I give no account of any of my matters Thus the Prophet cautions the whole world Zech. 2.13 Be silent O all flesh before the Lord doe not dispute the doings of God doe not murmure at them for he is raised up out of his holy habitation That is God is going to work as a man raised out of his bed is therefore doe not you trouble your selves nor rise up against him in your words or thoughts what work soever he makes Like counsell is given Psal 75.5 Lift not up your horne on high speak not with a stiffe neck for promotion cometh neither from the East nor from the West nor from the South But God is the Judge he putteth down one and setteth up another All great changes proceed from his judgment take heed of judging the sentence of the great Judge Remember That he whose name alone is Jehovah is the most high over all the earth Psal 83.18 Againe This is as true if we respect the private or personall estate of any man If God makes a man poor in estate or despised in the World if he make him sick or weak in body he must not say unquietly why doth God thus If he taketh away our Relations if he empty our families we must not strive with him When old Ely had received one of the saddest messages that ever was sent man It is the Lord said he let him doe what seemeth him good 1 Sam. 3.18 So David Psal 39.9 I was dumb I opened not my mouth because thou didst it Psal 62.1 Truly my soul waiteth patiently upon God The word is my soul is silent before God And Psal 42.5 How doth David chide his soul for making a noyse Why art thou disquieted O my soul hope thou in God But you will say May we not at all strive what ever God doth in the World or with us must we sit downe under it or rest satisfied in it and say nothing I answer First we may and ought to be very sensible of all the dealings of God But we must not be unquiet under any of them It is one thing to feele the smart and another thing to dispute the rod. Some are under a kind of Stoicall stupidity they doe not strive with God because they doe not mind what God doth they are not sensible Others are stout sturdy and proud spirited they care not for the crosse they slight and despise rebukes Thus or upon these grounds not to strive with God is as bad if not worse then that striving with him which this poynt disswades and disapproves We may yea we ought to take notice of every stroak we receive from God Secondly As we should be sensible of the hand of God at any time upon us so we may pray for the removing of his hand 'T is not a sinfull but a gracious act to strive with God by prayer for deliverance out of trouble Thirdly A man under the Rod may use means to get it off and free himselfe from it even while he is quiet under it So then the quietnesse of mind in our afflicted condition here intended and pressed is opposed only first to fretting and repining Secondly to vexing and tumultuating Thirdly to distracting cares Fourthly to desponding fears Fifthly to killing sorrows Sixthly to uncomposednesse of spirit for our callings Seventhly to hard thoughts of God Eighthly to the using of any unlawfull meanes to help or rescue our selves out of the hand of evill And that we may be preserved from all these strivings against God and unquietnesse of spirit under any of his saddest and darkest dispensations which will certainly run us upon some of if not all those eight most dangerous rocks last mentioned Let me lay down a few considerations why we should not strive with God in such a manner And prescribe some preservatives to keep us at the greatest distance from it First Consider to strive with God dishonours God and darkens his glory for hereby we call his wisdome and goodnesse yea his truth and faithfulnesse to us in question What can be done more dishonourable to God then this God resented it as a great dishonour that Moses and Aaron did not sanctifie him that is give glory to his name before the children of Israel Num 20.12 and therefore told them Ye shall not bring the children of Israel into the land which I have given them As if he had sayd Ye have not honoured me as ye ought in this thing and therefore I will not honour you in that But what is it that Moses and Aaron did not sanctifie God in it was saith the text in not believing And what is that at best but a striving with God as to the truth of his word and his faithfulnesse in fulfilling it Secondly Such striving with God hinders the exercise of grace and stops the worke of the new creature He that striveth with God by way of murmuring can never strive with God by praying and believing

is distorted by giving the same or a-like award to those who are unlike or in their acts or deserts whether good or bad not the same To doe any of these perverse or crooked things is the doing of iniquity or the perverting of Justice All these Elihu removeth farre from God while he saith Farre be it from the Almighty that he should commit iniquity God will not cannot commit iniquity either by denying or delaying justice either by not punishing or rewarding where there is cause or by dealing out alike to those in whose doing and dispositions there is an utter unlikeness Farre be it from the Almighty that he should commit any of these iniquities Hence note First To doe any act of injustice is wickednesse Elihu taxed Job for complaining of Gods Justice v. 9. And here he saith Far be it from God that he should doe wickednesse Injustice is wickednesse against God who commandeth us to be just and it is wickednesse against man who is alwayes wronged by injustice Secondly As to that particular which Elihu chargeth Job with Note If the Lord should not reward those that serve him and delight in him he were uxrighteous Heb 6.10 God is not unrighteous to forget your labour of love He is not unrighteous to forget it that is not to recompence it by forgetting it he doth not meane the letting of it slip out of his mind but the not making a due returne to it or the not giving it a just reward It is unrighteousnesse in God not to reward those who serve him because he hath promised to reward them Say to the righteous it shall be well with him Isa 3.10 The promises run to it all the Scripture over and as it would be unrighteousnesse in God not to reward those that do well so not to pardon them that have done ill when they confesse their evill deeds because he hath promised to pardon them and therefore the Scripture saith 1 John 1.9 If we confesse our sins he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sins The Scripture doth not say he is mercifull to forgive us our sins though mercy act to the highest in the forgiveness of sin but he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sins and the reason why the Scripture saith so is because forgiveness of sin in case of confession is under a promise To come short of our promises is to be unrighteous promises are bonds upon the promiser and oblige to performance Thirdly Note The strong God the mighty God neither doth nor can doe any unrighteousnesse or iniquity I say he neither doth nor can doe iniquity God can doe no iniquity because in him there is none He is my rocke saith David Psal 92.15 and there is no unrighteousnesse in him As none can doe righteousnesse but they that are righteous so he that neither is nor can be unrighteous cannot doe any unrighteousnesse That in the Psalme is very considerable that while he saith There is no unrighteousnesse in God he immediately before said He is my rocke implying that God can no more be moved or removed from doing righteously then a rocke can be removed out of its place We find Moses also giving God the same attribute when he spake of his indeclinableness in justice Deut 32.4 He is a rocke his worke is perfect all his wayes are Judgement The wayes of God are not all judgement as Judgement is opposed to mercy some of his wayes are mercy and others of them are Judgement but all his wayes are judgement as Judgement is opposed to injustice or unrighteousnesse that 's the signification of Judgement when Moses saith All his wayes are Judgement he is a God of truth and without iniquity just and right is he The Apostle puts this denying question with much vehemency Rom 9.14 What shall we say then is there unrighteousnesse with God God forbid And 't is very considerable that the Apostle put this question with so much abhorrence presently after he had spoken of that Act of God which is so much quarrelled at by the sons of men as unrighteous and unjust Esau have I hated and Jacob have I loved and that when they had done neither good nor evill v. 11. What say some will God doe thus will he hate or love before ever men doe good or evill yeas such acts of love and hatred of election and rejection are gone out from God And because Paul foresaw that men according to their narrow apprehension would be ready to say surely God is not right in this therefore he subjoynes What shall we say then is there unrighteousnesse in God As if he had sayd I know some men will be ready enough to say so and thinke they have reason enough to say so They all must needs say so who measure God by their shallow braines such are the deepest braines compared with God and therefore Arminius with his followers that they may avoyd this difficulty carry the interpretation of this Scripture to another poynt as if it had nothing to doe with the eternall purpose of God concerning man but only respected his dealings with them about temporalls or his dealing out temporalls to them I urge that text because it hath occasion'd through mans corruption great contending and quarrelling about the righteousness of God yea some have presumed there can be no maintaining that opinion of the absolute decree without fastening unrighteousnesse upon God But the Apostle by the Spirit foreseeing this fleshly objection hath forelayed and prevented it concluding O man who art thou that replyest against God shall the clay contend with the potter c. Now as in this act of eternal Election so in all providentiall acts the Lord is infinitely unmoveably and unspottedly just and righteous he not only doth righteous things but he cannot doe any thing that is unrighteous And this seeming impotency is the reall power of God and his most glorious perfection For as 't is from the weaknesse of man that he can doe iniquity so 't is from the power of God that he cannot That God cannot lye that he cannot doe any unworthy thing is an argument of his omnipotence God can no more doe iniquity then he can cease to be God his righteousnesse his justice is himselfe the Justice of God is the just God the righteousnesse of God is the righteous God he hath not only a principle of righteousnesse in him as man may have and every Godly man truely hath but he is righteousnesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer A Heathen Poet had this apprehension of his Idol Gods They love not unrighteousnesse but honour Justice But Jehovah the true the living God doth more then affectionately love and honour Justice He is is essentially Just That man who is in a state of righteousnesse loves to be doing and will doe righteous acts things and persons are in their working as they are in their being He that doth righteousnesse is righteous 1 John 3.7 God is righteous

sight of God Jer 32.19 He is great in councell and he is mighty in working for his eyes are upon all the wayes of the sons of men to give to every one according to his wayes and according to the fruit of his doings Fourthly If the eyes of the Lord are upon all the wayes of the Children of men then the Lord will call all men to an account for their wayes Why doth he take notice of their wayes but to bring them to a reckoning That 's the Apostles conclusion Rom 14.12 So then every one of us shall give an account of himselfe to God God would not take an account of our wayes while we live if he did not intend to bring us to an account when we dye As the omniscience of God fits him to call every man to an account so it is an evidence that he will Why should our wayes and workes be strictly observed and recorded if they were not to be judged Fifthly This truth that the eyes of God are upon all the wayes of man should awaken every man to take heed as David resolved he would Psal 39.1 to his wayes Did we walke as remembring we are under his All-seeing eye O how circumspectly should we walke doth the Lord inspect our wayes O how should we inspect our owne wayes It argueth a great deale of Atheisme in the heart if not the grossest Atheisme yet Atheisme quo-ad hoc as to this or that thing while that which some are afraid to doe if a man yea if a child see them they are not afraid to doe though they heare that God seeth them To feare to doe a thing when the eye of a creature is upon us and yet to doe it notwithstanding God seeth us what is this but either an unbeliefe that the eye of God seeth us or a contempt of his All seeing eye This Divine Attribute the All-seeing eye of God wel wrought upon the heart by faith is enough to over-aw the sinfullnesse of our hearts And though the people of God have a higher principle upon which they forbeare the doing of evill then this because God will see it and punish it yet to keep the heart in a holy feare of doing evill upon that principle is both needfull and our duty The Apostle would not have servants doe their Masters commands with eye-service as men-pleasers It is indeed a baseness in a servant to doe his duty meerely because his Masters eye is upon him or to forbeare to doe what is against or beside his duty because his Master seeth him but how great is the impudence and wickedness of that servant who will not keep to his duty when his Masters eye is upon him So in this case meerely to forbeare doing evill because we heare God sees us is eye-service but how great is their wickedness who will not forbeare to doe evill though they heare and know that God seeth it Which Elihu confirmes yet further in the next words Vers 22. There is no darkness nor shaddow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves This verse holds out that truth negatively which the former held out affirmatively There Gods knowledge of mans wayes was asserted here his ignorance or nescience of the wayes of man is denied There is no darkness c. The words seeme to be the prevention of an objection For some possibly might say 'T is true indeed God hath a large knowledge his eye seeth farre but we hope we may sometime be under covert or compassed about with such darkness that the Lord cannot see us Therefore saith Elihu there is no darkness nor shaddow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves The Prophet gives a parallel proofe and testimony of this knowledge of God both in the affirmative and negative part of it Jer 16.17 where he first asserts that God seeth all mine eyes are upon all their wayes and then denyeth that any thing is a secret unto him They are not hid from my face neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes These latter words of the Prophet are of the same signification with these of Elihu There is no darkness c. We may take darkness two wayes First for naturall darkness that darkness which spreads it selfe over the face of the earth upon the going downe of the Sun 't is the privation of Light Secondly there is artificiall darkness that darkness which men make to hide themselves and their actions in from the eye of God or man many are very skillfull yea and successefull in making shaddowes to hide their actions from men They cover the evill which they have done with such cunning excuses or flat denyalls and they cover what they purpose to doe how foule soever under such faire trappings of words and specious pretenses they glosse their worst actions and intentions with such appearances of good that the wisest and best sighted men cannot finde them out When Absalon had a most unnaturall as well as a most disloyall purpose to rayse a tebellion against his king-father he coloured it with a devout profession of performing a vow This was artificiall darkness 'T is reported by the naturall Historian of a little fish which seeing its enemy neare casts out a kinde of blackness from it selfe which darkens the water and so escapes the danger Thus men indeed hide themselves from man and they would hide themselves from God too but there is no darkness neither naturall nor artificiall that can cover their wayes from his eye No Nor shaddow of death The importance of this expression hath been opened more then once in this book chap. 3.5 chap 10.21 chap. 12.22 chap. 28.3 therefore I shall not stay upon it here only consider when he saith There is no darkness nor shaddow of death by shaddow of death he means extreamest darkness If there be any darkness as Job speaks chap. 10.22 like darkness it self and whose light is as darkness that is it The metaphor is taken from the grave where the dead being buried have not the least glympse ray or shine of light coming in to them death wraps us up in extreamest darkness And we finde in Scripture the shaddow of death put first to express the extreamest of spiritual darkness or the darkest spiritual state Isa 9.2 The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light they that dwell in the land of the shaddow of death upon them hath the light shined that is they that were wrapped up in the ignorance utter unbelief of God in Christ to these is Christ the true light of God the Sun of righteousness preached and openly revealed and they pressed to the receiving of him that their souls may live further as the shaddow of death is put for the worst of spiritual evils or to note man's natural state before conversion so likewise it is used in Scripture to note the worst of his spiritual evils who being converted is in a spiritual state He that is in a