Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	abundant_a	goodness_n	lord_n	1,757	5	4.1358	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26832	Vulgar errors in divinity removed	Battell, Ralph, 1649-1713.	1683 (1683)	Wing B1150; ESTC R10796	49,392	154

to love God and to give him thanks to hate God is so intrinsically evil that it is impossible but that it should be forbid If it were possible for this not to be forbid it were possible for this to be lawful for where there is no Law there is no Transgression but it is utterly impossible it should be lawful therefore it must be granted there is an evil in order of nature before the prohibition of it and so some things must needs be good in their own nature as bearing a resemblance of the Image and goodness of God before any external Law pass upon them These things premised my answer is Although the Will of God be a rule of justice to us yet it is not a rule of justice to himself but his justice is rather a rule of his Works and of his Will and he works all things according to the Counsel of his Will and that Counsel adviseth nothing rashly or unmercifully unreasonably or unjustly but according to the greatest Equity and Chancery in the world and therefore cannot without the greatest violence to Reason and Religion be thought to make irrespective Decrees to torture for ever the greatest part of mankind chiesly for the pleasure of his Will Again they say Omnipotent Power authorizes all actions Now if God will make Vessels of wrath what hath any one to do with it May he not do what he pleases with his own Creatures My answer is we must not magnifie Gods Power so much as to eclipse his goodness or his truth which doth assure us that he is loving unto every man and that he delights not in the death of any sinner These men make God a Tyrant rather than a King and attribute such Prerogatives to God as are broadly inconsistent with his nature Acts of Power are not good in themselves but as they are accompanied with Justice and Mercy otherwise they are bad and lay a mans honour in the dust we must not so magnifie one Attribute in God as to justle out all the rest The Lord proclaimes his name to Moses Exod. 34.6 after this manner The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin Now Gods name is every ways agreeing to his nature which is rather than his Creature should perish to forgive iniquity transgression and sin and not to decree everlasting fire to it without the intuition of sin Let us not therefore entertain any hard thoughts of Almighty God Rev. 20.12 13. when the earth and the Sea gave up their dead they were all judged according to what was found in the Books and those Books were written only according to their works Conscience is one of those Books which shall be opened at the last day and it will acquit God of all hard dealing towards men that perish When Moses prayed thus Exod. 32.32 Either forgive this People or blot we out of the Book which thou hast written The Lord said Whosoever sins against me him will I blot out of my book Where you see sin only blots out of Gods Book and not any Fatal Decree If it should happen to men according to their Lots to be under such or such a Decree and not according to their Works there would nothing be remaining for us to do but only patiently to obey Fate for if an irrespective Decree do shut up the most of men under Condemnation can any one of those men by all his industry alter his Destiny Surely no unless he were stronger than he that made that Decree To what purpose then were all his endeavours or to what purpose should we beat the air and persuade him to impossiblities Yes to good purpose say the Abettors of such a Decree because no particular man knows under which Decree he is I confess this answer is the best they have to give but it nothing enervates the Argument for it is not the knowing of a Decree or the being ignorant of a Decree makes any thing to the altering of a Decree for neither if I know it will it be repealed neither if I be ignorant of it will it cease to be accomplished Now then although no particular man knows under which Decree he is yet he must needs know he is under one of them if there be such Decrees and under which soever he be he is bound with an Adamantine Chain unto it and his end is fixt by reason of it as unalterably as the Laws of the Medes and Persians Who then believing this can believe that his fasting weeping or mourning renting heart or garment can avail any thing to the altering of that Decree under which it was his Lot to be born So that he that hath imbibed this Doctrine hath cut the Sinews of all industry if he acts consequentially to what he himself doth believe Nay but the means are ordained as well as the end may some say True they are so But to the far greatest part of men if their opinion were true God should command them to seek his face in vain for those means could never attain the end for which men should use them namely the Salvation of their souls For never any man from the foundation of the world under that Decreo was sav'd neither indeed can be though Moses and Samuel should pray for him or an Angel from heaven preach unto him he could not believe To what purpose now was the means ordained to these or the use of them Nay to what purpose should God wish the conversion of such sinners send his Embassadors to intreat and beseech them expostulate the case with them Why will ye die swear unto them As I live I had rather you should live if in the mean while he hath decreed their death before they did good or evil and in order to that Decree was resolved never to afford them power to perform any one act of saving grace Now whether there be insincerity in these Expressions or in their Opinions judg ye Nay let God be true and every man a liar Let us heartily believe that every mans destruction is wholly from himself and not from any fatal Decree of God Lastly it is objected the seventeenth Article of the Church of England says God hath decreed before the foundations of the world were laid by his Counsel secret to us to deliver from Curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankind From whence they thus argue Before the foundations of the world were laid no man could do good or evil but even then some were chosen and consequently some not therefore those that were not chosen were rejected before they had done good or evil To this I answer as some were chosen in Christ and consequently others not chosen before the foundations of the world were laid so known unto God were all things before the foundations of the world were laid He knew the first man would fall

opinion Have they never read that when it was in force according to the Letter a man was stoned for gathering sticks on the Sabbath day But if the Equity only of that Law be in force at this day why are we accounted as Transgressors by them whilst we keep it according to the Moral Equity and the Precepts of the Church The truth is they are superstitious in the one and prophane in the other Can these men see that a Day may be holy because set apart for the service of God and can they not see that a Place likewise may be holy which is consecrated to his Worship Even the light of nature taught the Heathen if once a Thing was dedicated to God if it were a gift to devour that gift was Sacriledge and brought a Curse with it witness their Proverb concerning the Gold of Tholoss if it were a Place to prophane that place was sinful Procul hinc procul este prophani Conclamat vates and that they think so still I call the Morocco Embassadour to witness If it be said those times for Publick Worship are appointed by Gods immediate command as Moral and so are not publick places and in that respect we honour one more than the other I answer it is one thing to say it and another thing solidly to prove it for the set times appointed by God in the fourth Commandment were the seventh days from the Creation which on all hands is confest we keep not Again in what time soever the Church began to omit the last day of the Week and keep only the first that Week there was no seventh day Sabbath which could not lawfully have been done if one day of seven be moral and of perpetual Equity for what is Moral is unchangeable The truth is the fourth Commandment enjoyns us to set convenient times apart for Gods Service and that is a moral duty but our Lords Day is not appointed by that but by the Traditions of the Apostles and the Precepts of the Church Now we have not only the Precepts of the Church to esteem reverently of Gods House but the Precepts of the Apostles to do all things in Gods service decently and in order and when they did not St. Paul chides them thus What have you not houses to eat and drink in If any man hunger let him eat at home The dishonour that is done to God's House reflects upon God himself When Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel they brake down the house of Baal and made it a draught-house And so it must needs tend to the dishonour of Almighty God when we dishonour the place dedicated to his publick Worship Learned Mr. Mead did believe the instinct of nature taught the very Heathen that the Worship was dignified by the peculiarness of the place and the Magnificence of the Temple appointed for it It is likewise a Vulgar Error that possesseth the minds of many that to hear Preaching is the chief end of coming to God's House whereas joyning together in Prayer is to be preferred before it that which carries the denomination of a house is certainly the chief thing that is to be done in that house Now Gods House is not called the house of Preaching in Scripture but the house of Prayer I confess Preaching is a great Ordinance yet Prayer is a greater how meanly soever it is esteemed by many If there were nothing but Preaching they would come but if nothing but Praying they will not come But blessed Hannah was not of their mind she never refused to come to the Temple when there were Prayers there Surely the Error in this point is very great and one main cause I conceive is this people are lazy in the duties of Christianity and will not strive to enter in at the streight Gate now to hear a Sermon puts them to no great labour Nay happily the novelty of the Matter the variety of the Phrase may deceive that little toil of sitting and listening to it But Prayer is a lifting up of the Soul to God and our Souls are naturally tending downwards so that we may find it a weighty matter to lift them up long together and we are quickly weary of that work A righteous mans Prayer doth not avail much unless it be fervent now fervency cannot be unless our Hearts pant after God as the Hart after the Rivers of waters And to bring our hearts to this will cost us some pain unless we sigh and groan and so Gods Spirit helps us to do unless we mourn and weep so David often unless we wrestle with God as Jacob who wept and made his supplications unto him which things since they are so no marvel though a carnal heart had rather come to Preaching than to Praying 't is a great deal the easier duty take heed the Devil don't perswade you 't is in a manner the only duty lest he keep you with a form of Godliness without the power of it all your days When Joseph brought his two Sons to Jacob to be bless'd he thought his Father had been mistaken in preferring Ephraim before Manasses and he went to remove his Fathers hands saying Not so my Father this is the Elder lay thy right hand upon his head but he answered and said I know it my Son I know it he shall be great but truly his Brother shall be greater While some people think we are mistaken in preferring Praying before Preaching they are mistaken themselves and we may answer them We know not what we affirm we know it Preaching shall be accounted a great Ecclesiastical Ordinance but truly Prayer shall be a greater And as Publick Prayer hath a more especial promise to be heard than Private so likewise Prayers put up in Gods House have a more peculiar promise than if put up elsewhere Exod. 20.24 In all places where I record my name I will come unto thee and will bless thee All Objections to the contrary are but like those made against the waters of Jordan by Naaman Are not Abana and Pharphar Rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel may I not wash in them and be clean No the Promise is made to the waters of Jordan and not to those Now as the waters cleansed not the Leprosie by any Physical operation but by way of blessing so neither do our Prayers prevail for their worthiness but are heard for his Promise sake and his gracious goodness The Jews when they prayed at home were wont still to spread forth their hands towards the Temple 1 Kings 8.38 So Daniel his Windows being open towards Jerusalem he kneeled on his knees three times a day and prayed Dan. 6.10 Neither are people less mistaken concerning their Praises than concerning their Prayers in Gods House whilst they cry out of the Organ the Lute or the Harp as if it were sinfully ceremonious to sing Praises after that manner The Ceremonial Law was given by Moses but this was not given by Moses therefore