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	holy_a	scripture_n	2,400	5	5.5262	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59072	God, the king, and the church (to wit) government both civil and sacred together instituted ... and throughout all, the Church of England ... vindicated : being the subject of eight sermons, preached ... / and now published by George Seignior ...	Seignior, George, d. 1678.	1670 (1670)	Wing S2417; ESTC R19835	158,466	284

have kindled this shall you have of my hand you shall lie down in sorrow Would we examine and try our own or the spirits of others whether they be of God or no the Word of the Lord is sharp and piercing it divides betwixt the marrow and the bones it searcheth out the depths and secrets of the heart That fire cannot be a flame of holy incense to consume the Sacrifice and to render it acceptable which has no regard to the Holy Oracle of God Here that zeal is reproveable which spends it self either in decrying the sacred Scriptures as useless or in preverting the Scriptures making them of private interpretation to speak what they never intended such who wrest them to their own destruction First They that decry the Scriptures as useless since we are now not to be directed by a line or by precept but we are all to be taught of God of this sort are they who think themselves above Ordinances waiting only for some secret instincts some impetuous raptures to carry them they know not whither to do they know not what such who have laid aside the first Principles of Godliness they are not to be dealt with you shall never argue them into a better temper so long as this melancholy dumpish humour doth transport them they have this still for a refuge that they are not free to hear or to answer you But as for our selves that we be not led away by the errour of these wicked men it may be urged and I cannot urge it too often the Articles of our Creed into which we were baptized that as in our Profession we do believe the Holy Ghost to be the Lord and giver of Life and so a spirit of illumination unto the Sons of Men so we do believe that he the same Spirit spake by the Prophets He the same Spirit does assist in the Communion of Saints and therefore we are not to neglect the assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is Secondly As for that other sort who have made themselves the only perpetual Dictators in Religion whose humour is the only Light they have for the interpretation of the Scripture who make the Scripture to be of a private interpretation speaking what it never intended who have against the continued practices of Christianity in all ages found out a new clew of thread to extricate themselves and others out of some Labyrinths of controversie of their own devising and do thus betray the simple and ignorant into not onely foolish but dangerous errors these men act as if they had forgot those Scriptures which they pretend for to interpret those that tell us that the Spirits of the Prophets must be subject to the Prophets especially when they are met together in a holy Communion They who would take heed to a sure word of Prophesie must know this first of all 2 Pet. 1.20 That no Prophesies of Scripture are of private interpretation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is of a mans conceited enthusiastical and sudden explication 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Mar. 4.34 It was the onely prerogative of Christ himself when he was alone for to interpret but as to us the word of Prophesie is not thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the will of man we must take in along with us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Analogy of our Common Faith and the sacred authority of the Catholick Church as knowing that whatsoever seemed good unto the Holy Ghost as it is revealed in the word seemed good likewise to the same Spirit as it is explained by the Church and proposed to those who will receive the truth in the love of it to be matter for their Faith wherefore the Scripture hath said I mean St. Paul in whose writings there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some things hard to be understood which the Pride and Tyranny of the Church of Rome on the one hand and the unstable peevishness of our Classical Brethren from their Consistory on the other have wrested two contrary ways yet between them both the word of God abideth sure to wit that Scripture which refers us to an Interpreter for all the rest 1 Tim. 3.15 The Church of the Living God in all things necessary to salvation as the words following do imply is the onely pillar and ground of truth and then he adds the fundamental articles of our Christian faith without controversie great is the mystery of Godliness God was manifest in the flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels c. That zeal then is truly commendable just holy and good which is a Zeal according to the Scriptures a contention for the Faith of God in them revealed as they are by the Church delivered to the Saints which whilst it doth coufess the Holy Ghost to rule in the hearts of all Believers does not too hastily pass over the two next Articles of our Christian Faith in which we also do believe a Holy Catholick Church and in the Vnity of that Church do joyn with the Communion of Saints such a Zeal as this is good that is guided by a good rule by the word of God as it is proposed and said open by the Church to be a perfect Canon an exact prescription to tell us what ought to be our Faith and to guide us in our manners in all holy Conversation and Godliness Secondly Zeal is good in Relation to the Object of it if it be managed upon a good matter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon a good thing which bears its due proportion to that rule This is that which St. Paul tells us is the result of the Grace of God bringing salvation and appearing unto all Tit. 2.14 In that our Saviour gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works The people are then peculiar and the zeal is singular when by the blood of Christ we are cleansed from all iniquity so that our works are good Having once submitted our selves to the obedience of Faith and publickly owned it in the Unity of the Church every man has so far a Judgment of private Discretion and possibly not in many cases besides as to examine his own Actions by that Rule of Righteousness which he hath received and the rectitude of which he must not in the least dispute Saul forgot himself and God also when in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah he slew the Gibeonites 2 Sam. 21.2 These Gibeonites though but hewers of wood and drawers of water in the sanctuary were to be preserved because of the Oath of God Joshuah 9.3 17. They who were for exterpating root and branch amongst us though they had formerly given up their names to God and to his Church in their Promissory Subscriptions that they would conform to and not endeavour the alteration of the Religion established and yet after all this in their zeal unto the people did lift up

their hands to the most high God in a most wicked and seditious Covenant though by Oath they were obliged to a Canonical Obedience that they would not onely destroy the hewers of wood and the drawers of water from amongst us but sacrilegiously take away both wood and water from the sanctuary leaving us nothing but a strange fire that would have consumed every thing that was sacred from the midst of us These men were like Saul of old of a most bloody house O my soul come not thou into their secret unto their Assembly let me not be united Cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruel in their anger they flew a Man a Man that was worth ten thousands of men nay two Men unto which the Ages before did never shew the like Moses and Aaron fell both under the same stroke in their self-will they digged down a wall broke through all inclosures to lay our Sion waste and for these sins unrepented of and still persisted in has not our Jerusalem been made a heap of Stones But blessed be our God who raised up Jacob when he was small and have we not seen with our eyes the reward of rebellious sinners God hath scattered them in Jacob they are at this day divided in Israel thus their sin of Division and Separation is the worst of judgments from Gods permission upon them whilst their hearts are hardned through their Disobedience and Vnbelief These are not like David men after Gods own heart the Zeal of Gods house devoured him yea and the Son of David when he twice whip'd the the Buyers and Sellers out of the Temple but their Zeal has been to consume the house of God either to brake down the carved work thereof with Axes and Hammers to destroy all the Synagogues of God in the Land or to prophane those they leave standing some evil Angel or other appointed to hover over the Mercies Seat the Houses of Prayer made so many Dens of Thieves in a word these are like Saul in the New Testament before his conversion Philip. 3. As concerning zeal persecuting the Church not like St. Paul having embraced the Faith of Christ Zealous toward God in that which is good herein always exercising himself to have a conscience void of offence toward God and toward all men That in this Digression whither our unreasonable Zealots as evil workers have carried me I may not loose the scope of my Text These seditious Gnosticks who disturbed the Peace of the Church by obtruding upon the Disciples Mosaical rigours and so bewitching these foolish Galatians from the stedfastness of their obedience both Schism and Rebellion are as the sin of witchcraft had a Zeal for God St. Paul bears them witness but it was not according to knowledge or if they had as their very compellation signifies nothing less then Science yet it was falsly so called the understanding of all mysteries and of all knowledg neither was their Zeal mistaken or blind so much the worse for it was not according to Godliness since they were not careful to square their actions by that Rule of obedience which they did profess They were zealously affected but not well Bu● on the contrary while St. Paul fights it is the good fight of Faith does he contend earnestly It is for the word of truth which he had received for and delivered to them according to the Scriptures while he does withstand the adversaries to the face it is not his forward zeal or his pious eagerness but their back-sliding their frowardness and peevishness their Dissimulation and Hypocrisie was to be blamed for this he had secured in the first place that the thing for which he contended was just and good and this he was assured of to the last that having no sinister or by designs it was good to be always zealously affected which is the Third and last Thing In which zeal is good in relation to the Object when it is rightly qualified and stated directed to a good end because where there is such a pious care that the thing contended for be good there likewise we do charitably believe that the zeal is guided by a good intention not being over-byassed or over-ballanced by any sinister or by-respects The Pious Zealot is many times counted singular this may be a more charitable reason for the compellation then is usually urged He is indeed singular that is he is neither double-tongued nor double-minded the preparations of his heart are from the Lord. Some mens Zeal is not from an inward principle of Conscience but some outward reason or motive to incite them as was hinted in the close of the former Discourse either the thing for which they are so zealous makes for their interest or else they will make it so while their design is to get a name and to appear some-Body in the world or as bad nay worse then both these because it comprehends them both a sordid and an unworthy compliance for there is a kind of zeal in luke-warmness it self a Complemental congenial Religion in suiting our selves to the company with whom we converse changing faces with every one we meet is an hypocritical principle by which too too many act and walk amongst us These are they who would fain have every ones good word care not much to venture their credit to be evil spoken of in the cause of Piety they are altogether for a good they cannot go thorow a bad report and it is observable that such persons who do thus ambire famam court every ones applause seldom speak well of any but those with whom at present they are conversing their Detraction is as notorious as their flattery and be it for their advantage to steal into the heart to win upon the affections of some leading men of whatsoever Perswasion they are as good at their Satyricks as at Panegyricks they are furnished at all adventures and can as smartly declaim against as possibly not long before to another company they did ingeniously commend the same thing And sad it is but too notoriously apparent that such a humour as this doth transport many men in Religion it self who because of advantage can have Schism and Faction in admiration Men who have as different Behaviours as they have Habits suting themselves to the untowardness of those with whom they have to do rather then to the strictness of that profession to which they are obliged by all the ties imaginable these can urge the severity and Letter of a Law though it be for Uniformity strain it contrary to its meaning against any that will not comply with them in their luke-warmness that so they may have the less disturbance in the promotion and strengthning of schism and sedition This is their keeping wind-ward of the Law It is but their moderation to deviate from an established Rule pro hic nunc according to time and place to sute themselves to the humours of

their people for without a little Dissimulation their could be neither Living nor Livelinood But certainly God has no need of such mens Hypocrisie to Manifest his Glory nor the Church of their Dissimulation to preserve its peace He that is a Friend to all Religions or to all perswasions in Religion so far that according to the circumstances of his life he can ingage in or defend any of them is in truth of no Religion at all he is ready to Apostatize with Julian and should there arise an eleventh Persecution against Christianity he is never like to be either a Resolute Confessour for the truth he has own'd or a Faithful Martyr for the Faith into which he was baptized but this will be his sad Conversion quite contrary to the blessed alteration which was in St. Paul Is not this he that preached Christ but now he destroys all those who call upon that name delivering them up to bonds and imprisonment even to death it self God grant that we may never know such times as will put these men to their tryal and he preserve and continue his Church in Unity and Uniformity amongst us that it never stand in need of them to be Champions for its Faith or Discipline But whither such an eager industrious sollicitude of being indifferent of appearing all things to all men wresting St. Pauls practice as bad as they have done his writings out of a desire not to gain Proselytes but credit and profit to themselves I say whether such a zealous studious luke-warmness in things sacred and holy is not in the direct consequence of it a pre-requisite disposing a man to turn Jew Turk Pagan Infidel any thing does not in the formal notion of it promote Atheisme both in practice and speculation I leave this to the Disputers of this World to the curious speculative heads of our times seriously and soberly to consider But as for us let us be careful of a Temporary Faith of a Religion ours in the profession of it only because suited to the Climate we live in and the air we breath in to the popular breath we daily suck to the soil of the Countrey to the humours of Multitude Let us be stedfast in our holy Profession persevere in the way of Godliness as knowing that Pure Religion is to keep our selves unspotted from the World it is Heaven-born God on high is Worshiped and man upon Earth is saved in the celebration of it this being our Assurance that we are accepted and a comfortable satisfaction to us that our zeal is rightly qualified when in the integrity of our hearts and the uprightness of our soul it is as permanent as it is passionate it is the same continued flame bright and pure to the last bending it self one way tending upwards though it be fire it is not seated beneath the concave of the Moon I mean spent upon sublunary changing perishing Designes but it is cherished by influenced upon and clothed with the Sun of Righteousness and the reward of its Constancy shall be Everlasting Felicity for him who is thus piously zealous unto Death there is laid up a Crown of Life And so I pass to the 2. Reason of this Apostolical approbation and that Taken from the habit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It must be alwayes And here as in the Application of the first Discourse was mentioned we must be careful that we distinguish the habit of zeal from the constitution of the Body whether it be not the overflowing of the Gall rather than the result of Grace from the heart True indeed being called unto Grace and Holiness whatsoever were our passions before they are Crucified now with Christ in mortification and with him they are risen again and sanctified unto his service and so our zeal may at the same time be in some sort the natural temper of our Bodies and the pious frame of our Minds but then in other circumstances of life our zeal for Charity must alwayes take place of Passion neither must the Sun at any time set somnum nec rixa facit nor are the shadows of the night to be spread over our wrath So then be our Constitution what it will if in the personal occurrences of our lives our Moderation be known unto all men our zeal for God and Religion because perpetually the same is therefore Good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it must be Alwaies Thunder does root up Foundations the effects of it are as dreadful as the noise is terrible but then the Lightning which doth accompany it is momentany it is but a sudden flash and we see it again no more There is a Madzeal or a Phrenzy rather like Thunder it pretends that it will clear the air when it makes the earth to tremble nothing but Desolation and overturning where-ever the Bolt lights it makes havock of all before it be it never so pleasant or desireable but the Lightning transcient the promising overtures are but some sudden glances which have more of terror and amazement than of comfort and refreshment we see them indeed or hear of them no sooner are they seen or heard but no where are they to be found whereas a Holy zeal is like the Sun breaking through a cloud though intercepted with the mists and foggs of errour and seduction yet it will make its way and spread the day where e're it comes it ariseth in its strength and in its beauty and rejoyceth to run its course it s going forth is from Heaven and its Circuit to the end of it again and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof such a thing is a pious zeal like unto the Ordinances of Heaven abiding the same for ever day after day tells the World its Piety and night after night in a satisfactory contemplation upon its own constancy sheweth unto the Devout Soul that such a zeal thus fixed and unalterable is according unto Godliness True zeal is not like Herods Devotion who sometimes heard John Baptist gladly and for his sake when the humour took him did many things that were good it is not like Agrippa's half Perswasion and yet not perswaded to be a Christian very near and so the farther from the Kingdom of Heaven it is not like Felix his pannick fit of trembling while he hears St. Paul reasoning of Temperance of Righteousness and of Judgment to come soon shaked off in a colder Dismission go thy way for this time when I have a more convenient season I will send for thee it is not a sudden motion an ecstatical rapture an impetus that may cast Saul himself amongst the Prophets it is not a hot burning fit which comes and goes as some unhealthy humours ferment more or less in the Body or wild fancys work disturbedly and confusedly in the brain such a zeal as this which is not constant to it self is not unlike to Sauls evil Spirit when the Lord was departed from him it wants Davids Harp the sweet Singer of Israel the