Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	according_a	call_v	word_n	1,705	5	3.8890	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A88660	A word in season: being the commentary of Dr. Martin Luther, on three selected Psalms: viz. the CXXIVth, CXXVth, and CXXIXth. With his commentary on some part of the fourth and fifth chapters of the First Epistle of St. Peter. Being of special use for the present times.	Luther, Martin, 1483-1546.	1685 (1685)	Wing L3519; ESTC R180278	46,197	62

feet therefore he could not be counted of Ezechia others like unto grass and yet before he atchieved what he went about he was compelled not without great fear and also much slaughter of his souldiers to raise his siege and he himself most miserably perished So Pharoah seemed mightily to grow and increase not upon the earth but in the air and upon the house tops but the miserable Jews were oppressed and trodden under foot like mire in the streets This is a resemblance of grass not withering but freshly flourishing But how quickly did it wither and vanish to nothing For when Pharoah did verily think to oppress them he was suddenly oppressed himself and perished in the waters Such an image of Tyrants and Tyranny the Holy Ghost painteth out unto us in this place Why then shouldest thou fear Why shouldest thou tremble Why shouldest thou despair as though thou hadst never seen most flourishing grass within few days to wither away of its own accord or didst not know the nature of it to be such as cannot long continue Athanasius when Julianus the Emperour did many wayes afflict both him and the whole Church and fought not only with cruelty but also with craft and subtilty against the faithful insomuch that others as it were in a terrible tempest were utterly discouraged and past all hope of deliverance said that this Persecution of Julian was not a tempest but a little cloud Indeed his heart was full of faith which could believe that Julianus was like not to a terrible and a violent tempest not to a mighty black cloud wrapping all things in darkness but unto a very little cloud which the Sun doth quickly consume In like manner must we also extenuate and diminish the power of our adversaries and set at nought all their proud brags and all their cruelty not in respect of our own strength but because they are of themselves nothing else but a bubble in the water grass on the house tops and a very shadow rather then men besides this that they provoke God also against themselves whose fury cruelty compared unto his power is a thing more vain than grass on the house tops or a bubble in the water for it is nothing but a bare and a naked shew which seemeth to be something when indeed it is nothing So are all the attempts of the adversaries full of threatnings but in the end they come to nothing This is the wisdom of Christians to diminish the power of the adversaries and contrariwise to amplifie the Word and the mighty protection of the Lord. The Devil Sin Death and other spiritual tentations are great but a Christian can make a distinction of greatness For greatness is understood two manner of ways The one is according to the eye which the eye judgeth after the outward shew the other is according to the truth which the truth judgeth after the Word The greatness therefore of Sin Death wicked Kings Princes and Bishops is that which is according to the eye only For God which saith Be of good comfort I have overcome the World Also Fear not those which can kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul the same God alone I say is the very true greatness to which if you compare Satan and all the fury of the whole World what are they else but a bubble what are they else but grass but light straw and stubble But when they are considered without God then do they terrify with a false fearful shew and seem to be great indeed Wherefore Christians must judge not according to their opinion but according to the truth For an opinion is that which Reason bringeth forth besides the Word but Truth is grounded upon the Word which judgeth the fury and the cruelty of the World raging against the faithful to be like unto grass on the house tops This promise being setled and surely fixed in the mind This Judgment that the enemies are like grass and therefore shall perish he calleth a promise confirmeth the godly against the great power as to reason it seemeth of the World and Satan Like as on the other side where the word is not the mind deceived thro' a terrible shew of Truth and the judgment of Reason is oppressed with terror These things must not so be taken as tho' we did utterly condemn the power of Princes and of the World which we count to be the creature of God but their presumption and the abuse of their power is it that we condemn because they fight therewith against God and his Church Let them be Princes on the earth Let them use their Power and Authority in the World but when they will needs make War in Heaven and with their Power go about to invade and oppress the word this is horrible this is execrable and damnable And who so compareth them to bubbles to grass to stubble yea and to nothing he saith truly he judgeth rightly For why do they fight against God Think they that we know not what God is and what man is what the Creature is and what the Creator is Wherefore they are rightly compared to grass on the house tops for more contemptuously the Holy Ghost could not speak of them For this grass is such that it soon withereth away before the sickle be put unto it Yea no man thinketh it worthy to be cut down no man regardeth it every man suffereth it to brag for a while and to shew it self unto men from the house tops as though it were somewhat when it is nothing So the wicked Persecutors in the World which are taken to be mighty and terrible according to the outward shew are of all men most contemptible For Christians do not once think of plucking them up or cutting them down they persecute them not they revenge not their own injuries but suffer them to increase to brag and glory as much as they list For they know that they cannot abide the violence of a vehement Wind. Yea though all things be in quietness yet as grass on the house tops by little and little withereth away through the heat of the Sun so Tyrants upon small occasions do perish and soon vanish away The faithful therefore in suffering do prevail and overcome but the wicked in doing are overthrown and miserably perish as all the Histories of all times and ages do plainly witness Verse 7. Whereof the Mower filleth not his hand neither the Gleaner his Lap. Here the Holy Ghost maketh a comparison between Grass which yieldeth no fruit and true corn which is fruitful that thereby he may the better commend unto us the former similitude and withdraw our minds from the false dread and terror which that vain and counterfeit shew bringeth Fruitful corn saith he is such that he which moweth it shall fill his hand and he that gathereth the sheaves shall have plenty to carry into his barn Here ye see is a truth and not a vain shew But

grass on the house tops maketh a shew of that which is not true because it is fruitless So the Pope and his Prelates with other Tyrants and Persecutors have a resemblance and a counterfeit shew that they are the Church They hold and enjoy Dignities Prebends Benefices as grass hath his stalk and ear but indeed they are none of the Chrrch like as grass is no Corn for it withereth away before it can bring forth fruit For this is the chiefest argument wherewith they fight against us that for this glorious shew whereof I speak they usurp and challenge to themselves the title of the Church But we are commanded to take heed that we be not deceived by outward shews Yea and we are admonished also that such shews are oftentimes occasions of great calamities Beware saith our Saviour Christ of False Prophets which come to you in Sheeps-cloathing Also By their fruits ye shall know them Whereas then they challenge unto themselves the name of the Church and for a goodly shew which the grass also that groweth on the house tops hath as well as they will be counted good Corn this will not we grant them For if they be good Corn let them fill the hand of the Mower but this they do not They are unprofitable Grass yea worse then grass For in that filthiness of their wicked lusts and fleshly pleasures wherewith they are horribly polluted and that cruelty which they exercise against the true Church they retain not so much as the outward shew which they pretend Wherefore since there is nothing to be found in our adversaries but a naked and an hypocritical shew and the same also miserably and many ways deformed and defaced since I say there is nothing else in them but meer hypocrisy we judge and denounce them not to be the Church of Christ but of Satan Wherefore they are prepared as chaff and stubble to the fire although under a shevv and colour of the Church they afflict and Persecute us never so much Verse 8. Neither they which go by say We bless you in the name of the Lord. This also commendeth and setteth forth unto us the similitude of the grass For true Corn hath this commendation that it is the blessing of God They therefore vvhich see it grovv vvish that God vvould bless and prosper it This saith David shall not be said of that grass that is to say of the Tyrants and the adversaries of the Church but rather they shall be cursed of all men yea the malediction both of God and man shall be heaped upon them Like as it hath also hapned to the Church of Rome which before our doctrine and preaching most gloriously flourished But now that the Gospel hath plucked away her visour and sheweth that she is not without fruit all her cursed hypocrisy is bewrayed and her memory is perish'd from among the godly Thus the Prophet comforteth the faithful and sheweth that the wicked what glorious brag and pretence soever they make are indeed nothing and because God blesseth them not they shall inherit nothing but malediction and shall be confounded like as Judas the Pharisees Corinthus A●ius and Pelagius though they seemed to slourish most miserably perished with all their glory Wherefore let us whose doctrine by the grace of God is sound and agreeable with the holy Scripture remember this similitude that when we must suffer hatred slander reproaches and all manner of injuries for the Gospels sake we are not afraid but may learn hereby to judge the Pope the Bishops the wicked Princes with the tormentors and executioners of their cruelty to be nothing else but grass on the house tops which seemeth to be somewhat when indeed it is nothing and therefore it is without all blessing To such it shall be said with the rich glutton in hell Luke 16. Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy pleasures For if we consider the whole history of the Church even from the beginning of the world we shall see that God hath always so wrought by his secret counsel that as grass on the house tops withereth away before the harvest come so Tyrants are suddenly cut off and never come to their full time Wherefore let us constantly abide and endure with patience in all afflictions until the end do shew that it was nothing but grass and suddenly withered when it was most like to increase and flourish The wicked do enjoy all good things for the Churches sake like as the grass on the house tops hath the benefit of the rain and of the Sun as well as the Corn in the fields But as they shall not live half their days and as they shall see their own counsels and devices to be but vain and without success so shall they be as a perpetual shame among men insomuch that no man shall wish any good unto them As at this day the memory of Judas Pilate the wicked Jews Dioclesianus Maximinus and other Tyrants is without honour yea most execrable and odious unto all men This consolation is set forth by the holy Ghost by these gross similitudes and examples that we may conceive in our minds some shadow or resemblance of Gods Works since we cannot rightly judge and esteem the things themselves according to the truth but we judge the enemies and Persecutors of the Church by their goodly shew and outvvard appearance to be good Wheat because they prosper and flourish so long upon the earth Wherefore vve must rest vvholly in the Word which with such similitudes painteth out these things and we must with draw our senses from all outward sights and shews and judge no otherwise of the adversaries of the word then of most vile grass that groweth on the house tops and is contemned of all men For so saith the Spirit of faith tho' our senses say otherwise In like manner must we do also in spiritual tentations when our conscience accuseth us and giveth testimony against us as well in the agony and danger of death as in other conflicts Here if we follow that which appeareth to reason and our own senses to be true it shall seem unto us that our enemies are invincible and almighty and that there is no remedy but we must needs be overcome and utterly perish The sight and feeling of this greatness pertaineth to the eyes and to the senses onely and riseth of the judgment of reason and not of the truth But when we look to the true greatness which the word setteth forth unto us we are constrained to say that Death Sin Satan and the very gates of hell are indeed nothing else but grass on the house tops but stubble but a very bubble swimming upon the water vvhich vvith the least occasion breaketh and vanisheth avvay So must these things be amplified and set against all kinds of tentations vvhether they be Persecutors of the Word as the vvorld and vvicked Princes or else Sin Death and Satan All vvhich vve