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	heart_n	word_n	1,814	5	3.8480	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96941	A modell of the government of the church under the gospel, by presbyters, proved out of the holy scriptures, to be that one, onely uniform government of the universall visible church, and of all nationall, provinciall, classicall and congregationall churches: which is according to the will and appointment of Jesus Christ. Which may serve to stay such as are doubting, with hope of full satisfaction, and clear demonstration of this truth, shortly to be made by the reverend Assembly of Divines. / Composed by a Presbyterian minister of the city of London, and approved by divers of his learned brethren, and at their request published.	Walker, George, 1581?-1651.	1646 (1646)	Wing W362; Thomason E342_3; ESTC R200927	24,926	36

A MODELL OF THE Government of the Church under the Gospel by Presbyters Proved out of the holy Scriptures to be that one onely uniform Government of the universall visible Church and of all Nationall Provinciall Classicall and Congregationall Churches which is according to the will and appointment of Jesus Christ Which may serve to stay such as are doubting with hope of full satisfaction and clear demonstration of this truth shortly to be made by the Reverend Assembly of Divines Composed by a Presbyterian Minister of the City of London and approved by divers of his learned Brethren and at their request Published LONDON Printed for Tho. Vnderhill and are to be sold at his shop at the signe of the Bible in Woodstreet 1646. To the Honourable City of London and all the Inhabitants thereof who sincerely seek and desire a true reformation of the Church according to the Word of God GIve me leave most famous and renowned City and ye the Right Honourable Lord Major the Right Worshipfull Aldermen and religious Common-Councell and Commoners to congratulate and rejoice with you for that honour which the Lord hath laid on you in these daies of great confusion You under God have been the guard of this present Parliament by which so great things have been done for the safety and defence of three Kingdoms Your free contributions of your wealth and substance have been the sinews of this warre undertaken for the defence of our Religion Laws and Liberties Few Counties in this Kingdom have been able to defend themselves much lesse to help others except those whom you have encouraged and set on work by your example and to whom you have been a bulwark against the enemies who by you have been terrified from invading them All the associated Counties have cause to blesse God for the vicinity and neighbour-hood of London And all the rest of the Kingdom may say If the Lord had not helped us by the Forces Arms and supplies of men and money from London we had been utterly destroied and laid waste But the chief glory bestowed on you by God is your courage for the truth and true Christian Religion your earnest study and constant endeavour for promoting an happy Reformation of the Church in Religion Dostrine Worship and Discipline according to the Word of God your zeal against Sectaries Schismaticks Hereticks and Blasphemers who labour cunningly to corrupt your servants to steal away the hearts of your wives and children to pull many fair feathers out of your wings and to draw Disciples after them and your standing steadfast in the old paths and walking in that good way Ier. 6. 16. which the Lord Christ by his Apostles hath praescribed to the Vniversall Church In which all the pure primitive Churches of old and all the best reformed Churches have walked from the daies of your Fathers untill this day God hath inabled you wonderfully by his grace to resist the subtle temptations of the world and the Devil I know when you were courted with offers of greatest honours and priviledges to withdraw you from your purpose and resolution of standing for the common weal of State and Church and of supporting and upholding of the props and pillars of this Land when it trembled and was ready to be dissolved I cannot forget that sad time full of fears and dangers when the chief command of your City being in the hand and power of Malignants who had also a strong faction by which they attempted to overthrow you it was the opinion and profession of some of the most faithfull Patriots and wise members of Parliament that unlesse God did put into your hearts a resolution to stand up for them they had small hope of saving either the Church and Kingdom from ruine or our Religion Laws Liberties and their own lives from destruction and in that juncture of time the Lord did put such a spirit of courage fortitude and holy zeal into you who were the main body of the City that you stood up and appeared openly for the worthy Patrons of your Religion Laws and Liberties whereby they were animated to proceed vigorously in their wonted course of justice to the terrour and astonishment of all the enemies and disturbers of our peace After this you have been strongly assaulted by spirituall wickednesses divers waies First by cunning seducers who usurping the name and outward shew of rare Saints have stollen away the hearts of many and with feigned sanctity and large promises of a pure platform and modell of Church-Discipline and perfect Reformation according to Christs own institution have drawn them into Schisme and separation from their own Congregations But you by your wisdom have quickly smelled out their fraud and vain boasting of great things which they can never perform and bring to passe Secondly you have been tried when Scriptures failed them and favoured not their modell with bold pretences of new lights which you have scorned as wise men are wont to scorn and not vouchsafe to look after those ignes fatuos wandring lights and night fires by which fools who follow them in the dark are lead into dangerous pits boggs ditches and downfalls Thirdly they have represented unto you Presbyterian Government as a Bugbear and cruell monster worse then Popery and Prelacy unto which if you submit you and your children are made slaves for ever to the lust of proud peevish tyrannicall Priests And allthough many credulous fools and unstable souls are hereby terrified and skared out of their wits and run wilde after severall dangerous sects and know not where to rest Yet you are no such strangers to the Gospel nor so little acquainted with the Scriptures of the New Testament as to be moved with such skarecrowes but rather by such rabid railing against Government of the Church by Classicall Presbyteries you have been moved and stirred up after serious consideration and consultation had with your godly Pastours and Teachers diligent searching of the Scriptures and good assurance of understanding of divine truth gained to your selves to be more earnest and importunate in promoting that Presbyterian Government besides which there is no mention of any other in all the writing of the Apostles nor any other acknowledged or received in any well reformed Churches in all the Christian world The Apostolicall Church at Jerusalem consisting of many thousands and ten thousands of beleevers and so many particular Congregations was altogether governed by the Apostles and Presbyters Assemblies Synods and Presbyteries as appears Act. 11. 30. and 15. 6. and 21. 18. The Christian Church of the Gentiles gathered unto Christ in severall Nations Countries and Cities by Paul and Barnabas had every one their Presbyters ordained to have rule over them in the Lord Acts 14. 23. The Church of Ephesus that great City of Asia had also divers Presbyters whom the Holy Ghost had made overseers to watch in common over it Acts 20. 17 28. And of them S. Paul speaks 1 Tim. 5. 17. saying

Let the Elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour Also S. Paul left Titus in Creet and appointed him to ordain Presbyters in every City and such overseers as were fit to rule the Church Tit. 1. 5. Peter and Iohn were Presbyters and called themselves so as they with others governed severall Churches 1. Pet. 5. 1. John 2. 1. and John 3. 1. Wherefore ô London thou that hast chosen the best part rejoice in the Lord thy God who hath made his glory to rise upon thee and his light to shine upon thy grave Senatours thy religious Common-Councell and all thy true hearted Citizens and hath led them into those waies which be in Christ which Saint Paul taught every where and in every Church 1 Cor. 4. 17. For the encouraging of you worthy Citizens in your constancy and for the confirming of them that are weak and wavering I have framed out of the Scriptures this brief discourse concerning that one uniform Church-Government which Christ by his Apostles ordained and appointed to be set up in the whole universall Church and to be observed in all other Churches members of the universall Here you have the Heavenly patern shadowed out in a small compasse of that Government for the establishment whereof in this City and Kingdom you have stood up and appeared openly at severall times If the Lord be pleased to blesse you with courage for his truth and with constancy and perseverance till you obtain your desire which is the desire also of all Orthodox faithfull Ministers in the Land then shall London be called The City of the Lord the Zion of the holy one of Israel And they who despise her and stand up against her to hinder the work of God in her hands shall bow down at the soles of her feet and her enemies shall lick the dust even lick up the dust of her feet for they shall not be ashamed who wait for the Lord Isa. 49. 23. This is the praier of your servant in the work of the Lord and humble suppliant for your prosperity at the throne of grace G. W. A Modell of the Government of the Church under the Gospel by Presbyters proved out of the holy Scriptures to be that one onely uniform Government of the universall visible Church and of all Nationall Provinciall Classicall and Congregationall Churches which is according to the will and appointment of Jesus Christ THe holy Scriptures of the New Testament do speak most plainly of a Church Government and of ruling and rulers which the Lord Jesus Christ hath appointed to be in his Church visible on earth in the times under the Gospel the patern and platform of this Government together with a commission to govern the universall Church in all Nations according to it he gave to his Apostles by word of mouth in the time of his life as the Gospel in divers passages doth testifie and after his passion when he shewed himself alive unto them and was seen of them fourty daies speaking the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God Act. 1. 3. And that the Apostles by word and writing and by their example and practice might infallibly instruct all Churches by them gathered unto him in all Nations and might deliver unto them so as they had received from the mouth of him the supream Lord that one uniform Government He filled them with extraordinary gifts and sent unto them the holy Ghost the Comforter to lead them into all truth Joh. 16. 13. to teach them all things and to bring all things to their remembrance whatsoever he had said unto them Joh. 14. 26. And that Government which they partly by word and writing and partly by their example and practice did prescribe uniformly in all Churches is of divine instution and to it all Orthodox reformed Churches in all the Christian world at this day have submitted themselves acknowledging it to be the onely Government Ecclesiasticall which is Jure divino and by the will and appointment of Jesus Christ And yet in this unstable and wavering age and generation and in this unsetled state and land full of confusion as the giddy-headed multitude which are like clouds without water carried about with every winde of Doctrine and dream of new lights beginning to appear do call into question the saving doctrines of aeternall truth and the chief Articles of the Christian faith firmly beleeved constantly professed and never doubted of by any true Christians So also many of the wisest Statesmen who are esteemed the pillars of the Kingdom and the stay of the State do doubt and make question whether there be any Church Government Jure Divino and by the will and appointment of Jesus Christ What that Government is Who are the Governours And by what rules and laws they ought to govern And how farre and in what things matters and causes power is given to them by Christ to rule and govern in the Church For the answering of all such questions and removing of all such doubts and scruples I will endeavour out of love to the truth and zeal to the honour of Christ and the advancement of his Kingly power in his Church to lay down some sure grounds of Doctrine gathered out of holy Scripture and proved by clear testimonies of Gods spirit speaking in the infallible written word And first I take this as an undeniable principle That whatsoever Christ hath with his own mouth commanded or by his spirit moved his Apostles to teach by writing and word or by example and practice concerning the well ordering and Government of his Church in any place which is as usefull in all places and the reason of it stands firm in all ages and it may be practised profitably by ordinary Pastours Also whatsoever is necessarily presupposed or included in any thing which Christ in the Gospel commandeth or of necessity must follow thereupon is Jure divino and by the will and appointment of Jesus Christ Secondly because the main question which comes to be answered upon which all the rest do depend is Whether there be any proper and particular Church-Government distinct from Civill Government The answer is easy and such as may fully satisfie any reasonable Christian For first in every Nation Kingdom and state wherein Christian Religion is publikely and generally professed all the people are to be considered two waies First as men and members of a civill society or Common Wealth Secondly as Christian men and members of the Church the mysticall body of Christ As they are members of the Common-wealth they are to be ruled by the laws of men which are there in force and do binde them to obedience in temporall things to their Kings and Civill Magistrates and to good order and behaviour among themselves for the peace and safety of humane society and of the civill State And this Government may be among them who are Turks Heathens and nor Christians for it is common to all men of all Nations States