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
A86726	An Humble advise to the right honorable the lord mayor, the recorder, and the rest of the justices of the honorable bench to the goodmen of the jury, aud [sic] at the Sessions House in the Old-Bayley, London, in behalf of Mr. John Bidle, prisoner in Newgate.		1654 (1654)	Wing H3396; ESTC R42339	15,114	16

or less there was persecution for Conscience it was grosly manifest that fear of loss and hope of gain were the only or chief motives to all the Informers so as at best it renders these suspected and they may be as guilty as any of the former though they themselves perceive it not for the heart is deceitful above all things nor doth any thing benum the conscience and blind the understanding so much as fear of loss and hope of gain And if these mens ways be thought on it will be more then probable that they are not clear in this matter being for the most part Booksellers it 's known that Books of Divinity are their chiefest sale both in Sermons and other Treatises and that they buy and somtimes pay dear for their Copies Now the opinions which are charged upon Mr. Bidle are cross and contradictory to the grounds of their most staple Copies and to the main part of their sale and consequently threatens their gain Is there not then a strong provocation upon their spirits to withstand such Doctrines and to take up the same course to do it by stirring up the Magistrate to imprison and put to death such Blasphemers for less they cannot call him to have him effectually silenced If it be not thus why of all sorts of men that daily have heard and read Mr. Bidles judgment without trouble or regret of mind nay though not of his judgment yet honoring and highly esteeming of him for his manifest piety of life and great learning why should the Traders in books be so violent against him as that nothing but his life will satisfie them Why have not some of those who often hear him Why not some of the private Churches that are most of them opposite in judgment Why have not they persecuted him and in detestation of his opinions forced him before the Magistrates so to prison and persecute him to the death Do they all of them and all other conscientious people want zeal to God to Christ and to the holy Spirit to set them on Nay why startle they not but on the contrary divers of the gathered Churches and other well-affected persons petition his Highness appear against his molestation and earnestly press for his liberty but because they know whatever his judgment is the way to make him of another belief is not by imprisonment or fear of death Christ nor his Apostles having left any such rule but by admitting the points in difference to be freely disputed and examined and as the noble Bereans to search the Scriptures whether those things are so or no Som what must be the matter that these Booksellers thus bestir themselves above others wherefore it is the best and safest course for the Magistrate upon such strong presumption to provide against the worst and to conclude them at best but dangerous Informers most pernicious counsellors and not in the least to be swayed by their specious pretences of zeal but to suspect all their suggestions as proceeding from covetous and corrupt hearts for were they indeed so sensible of Christs Honor as they would be thought certainly you would find them first purging their own shops of all kinds of Popish and wanton scurrilous books invented purposely to corrupt and vitiate youth or if they can excuse themselves herein which some will not credit yet they cannot but know such as those are thick and threefold sold round about them and yet their zeal burns not that way at all the reason whereof what can it be but that it opposeth not their way of gain else would not they offer one Petition more in behalf of the Protestant cause for the suppressing such Books and the imprisoning such persons as writes them who nautiate youth and hath no pretence of Conscience from the Word of God to shelter them but that I say it hinders not their way of gain as they understand M. Bidles Books Doctrins or Opinions do which makes them so maliciously zealous against him and to let the others go scot-free Magistrates were they thus rightly informed of the condition of these informers and thus strongly armed against such clamorous zealots they would not so suddenly nor so reproachfully dispose of the persons of men fearing God as throughout all former times was lamentably done and somwhat too much in Mr. Bidles case they would then have time to deliberate upon the matter before they sent a man to prison they then no doubt would exercise their own judgments as Christians and see what is alledged against any man and deal as becometh Christian Magistrates according to the known and revealed Word of Christ manifested in the holy Scriptures Which word of Truth being not yea and nay as Parliaments General Councels Synods and Assemblies have all proved in the most material points in Religion as your Honors the Bench and Jury cannot but effectually know For one Councel determining that the Son of God was the most high God another Councel as namely that of Ariminum consisting of no less then four hundred Bishops decrees point blank as we are wont to say against the former that the Son of God was not the most high God but a distinct Essence from him and subordinate unto him This instance amongst many have I produced to shew the mutability of Councels as also to shew how cautious you should be of putting to death a learned man for that opinion which so many learned and famous men not only have been but still are in the world of his opinion as you shall hear if you enquire of those who have been in Poland Holland c. This blessed unerring rule viz. the holy Scripture to Conscience being sincerely looked into it will impartially discover both to Judg and Jury what M. Bidles opinions are and how he is to be dealt withall concerning them without a single ear given whereunto the Laws of Parliaments may so on cause you all to be most grievous transgressors of the Laws of God and to be more guilty in his sight before whom one day you must all be judged then those Prisoners you condemn Whatsoever therefore the Law of the Lord sayes to your understandings in this case of M. Bidles let none by no arts draw you from enquiring into the Seriptures for satisfaction in every particular In which enquiry though your Honor Mr. Recorder and the whole Honorable Bench are all highly concerned to look unto it that you may acquit your selves before the judgment seat of Christ and be able to render an account with joy Yet you good men of the Jury are more neerly concerned to be exact and faithful therein for it s your Verdict your guilty or not guilty that saves or destroys his life which you are mainly to note and to lay to heart and to be all along mindful of it that if you pronounce him guilty which God defend you do not only find him guilty of speaking such or such words or of writing and publishing

opinions which are charged upon M. Bidle which for more easie consideration present themselves in this form That he is indicted as a Blasphemer for denying the Vnity in Trinity and the Trinity in Vnity that the Father is the most high God the Son the most high God and the Holy Ghost the most high God and these are not three most high Gods but one most high God This any man may affirm he believeth and most men do affirm they do believe it and it is like the Informers would not scruple to swear they do believe it as those of the former times no doubt would have sworn they both understood and believed the real presence in the Sacrament but dealing clearly and conscientiously with your own hearts Is not this a mystery most difficult to be understood Can any thing be more mysterious Do you imagine that one of an hundred understands it who yet through fear of the Law and awe of death sayes he believes it Is any point in Christianity more obscure in Scripture Why did not Athenasius affix those places of Scripture to his Creed upon which he grounds his judgment whereas in place whereof he gives you only this for proof That as we be compelled by the Christian verity to believe what in this his Creed he affirms ought to be believed so saith he are we forbidden by the Catholike Religion to acknowledg whatsoever he therein denies Now you know the Real Presence was a long time here taken for a main part of Christian verity and men were interdicted and forbidden under pain of death to deny it by the Catholike Religion for the Church of Rome was thought to be no lesse then the Catholike unerring Church so as this his Christian verity and this his Catholike Religion are in these times of enquiry but slender proofs and may very well admit of dispute and a demand of plain Scripture proof to prove them and it is a very hard case if men for argument sake may not deny any thing Athenasius therein affirms or affirm any thing he therein denies the purpose and intention being to see what Scriptures can be brought for full proof of the things disputed nay if any conscientious Christian shall really think Athenasius mistaken in his mysterious opinions what offence is it to declare his thoughts and to deny them Every one knows by pro and con truth comes to be established it is only error that requires no arguments or disputations but that of Law and the Sword on its side unhallowed weapons to combat with error truth being ever Vanquisher where those odds are not It is not denied that the most mysterious opinions may be true but it must be only Scripture that proves them so and then if freedom of dispute and argument be allowed the more these truths are opposed or denied the clearer the truth ever appeareth truth being like that house built upon the Rock that stands the firmer for being assaulted error like the house built upon the Sand which had need keep opposition far from her by the out works of Law and threats of death for so you see it speeds best and continues longest as that abominable error of the Real Presence which whilst hedged about by Authoriry and Law was with the slightest arguments and even with Scriptures abused able and did even in this place deprive many of Gods dear ones of their liberties yea of their very lives by the most cruel tormenting deaths their malicious Prosecutors and Informers could devise An Heretique he was that denied the Real Presence that the Parliament Law enacted and an Heretique or Blasphemer must be put to death that also the Parliament took care for They also made the poor besotted superstitious people believe that it suffized not except the Scriptures warranted it and therefore they never failed to urge the Scripture in Titus 3.10 11. A man that is an Heretique after the first and second admonition reject knowing that he that is such is subverted and sinneth being condemned of himself So then say they as some will not fail to apply it to M. Bidle the Prisoner at the Bar is an Heretique why for he denieth the Body and Blood of Christ to be really and corporally in the Sacrament so such an one is a sinner and perverted from the Christian verity and from the Catholike Religion and is condemned of him self Yes saith the Arch-bishop it is impossible but he must condemn himself his evil is so palpable only he is obstinate and will not acknowledg or confesse it Well then what is to be done with such an Heretique Why the Scripture saith after the first and second admonition reject We and our Clergy have admonished him often and again to forsake his wicked Heresie yet still he persists therefore is to be rejected that is say they and the ignorant seduced Juries of those times believed them let him be put to death yea say they the Scripture is plain Gal. 5.12 I would they were even cut off then trouble you which though every conscientious Christian knew in the Apostles sense never intended more then an Excommunication as doth also the forecited reject yet these false counterfeiting Apostles never failed to interpret a cutting off by death But to strengthen these further they urge 2 Pet. 2.1 with great vehemency against the poor innocents But there were false Prophets also among the people even as there shall be false teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction This nail they drive home into the Saints Temples crying out These are they that deny the Lord that bought them for they deny him to be corporally present in the Holy Sacrament away with them to fire and faggot for they bring upon themselves swift destruction And this place of Scripture was so violently urged in the late Parliament against Mr. Bidle and made or seemed to make so deep an impression in the very zealous part of them that they were even ready to Vote upon a swift and sudden death and were very hardly with-held from it nay had done it but that the more conscientious amongst them replied soberly that this place of Scripture could not possibly be applied to M. Bidle it being evident that he was so far from denying the Lord Jesus Christ to be the Lord that bought him or from denying him to be the Messiah the Christ the Redeemer that all the writings called his and his discourses did manifest that he did believe in his heart and confesse with his mouth the Lord Jesus to be his Lord and his God as afore is more largely expressed which if it shall please you to consider together with what in the third ver is said of the false Teachers viz. and through covetousness shall they with feigned words make Merchandize of you ye will find it reaches not Mr. Bidle in the least none in the world being more free from the loathsome sin of covetousnesse or from making Merchandize of any every one that knows him knoweth that he having food and rayment is therewithall content and that he if any one in the world accounts godlinesse with content the greatest gain in so as when all the whole Scriptures are searched for matter against Mr. Bidle let them be but impartially considered and they will appear no more in justification of his molestation imprisonment or further punishment then they were in approving the barbarous cruelties inflicted upon those former sufferers So that upon your serious consideration of all things it cannot be doubted but that Mr. Bidle is as safe whilst your Christian consciences thus rightly informed stand between him and death as if he were at his own disposing and being so through your godly care of him you will acquit your selves as wise and discreet Christians in the sight of God and stanch that innocent Blood which hath violently been let run formerly in this place upon like occasions and free both your selves your posterity and this Honorable City from Judgments and plagues due for the same Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus that great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Blood of the everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen FINIS