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	word_n	2,175	5	3.9389	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56698	A sermon preached on Saint Mark's Day MDCLXXXVI in the parish church of St. Paul's Covent Garden by Symon Patrick ...	Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.	1686 (1686)	Wing P844; ESTC R7041	18,815	51

and passions be mortified and we shall not fail to know the truth nay all our differences will be at an end or if any remain they will not be destructive either to Charity or that blessed Unity which all good Christians desire to see in the Church of Christ If all will not take this course yet they who do shall stand as unmoveable as a Rock though there be never such strong Winds and violent Gusts of Doctrine abroad that would blow them about For it is only Chaff and Straws and such like light or loose things which are carried about with the Wind Solid and well-built Houses stand firm and unshaken And so will all they who are deeply grounded in holiness and humility They will be stedfast and unmoveable and never be perswaded to follow any other Doctrines than those they have received in this Church though pressed with never so much earnestness because no Doctrines whatsoever can make them better than they are and by the Grace of God intend to be And this truly is a plain Direction whereby to judge of those Doctrines which trouble the Church Do they tend to make men at all the better if they do believe them Will their hearts be more purged from all bad affections Will they become more holy more humble more meek more modest more dead to this World more kind loving and charitable to all men by entertaining those Doctrines which are superadded to the Christian Faith into which we were baptized Or on the contrary Do they not give mens vices greater liberty Do they not puff them up as all windy knowledge doth Will they not dispose us to be more highly conceited of our selves more arrogant more angry more impatient of contradiction more uncharitable and censorious more loose in our conversation more unpeaceable and ungovernable If we find these to be the Fruits of such Doctrines we are assured thereby that they are not the true Christian Doctrines which have the quite contrary effects and make men of another Spirit To conclude There is one piece of Christian piety wherewith all our works must be begun continued and ended and that is earnest Prayer to God whom we must constantly beseech to pour the Grace of his holy Spirit upon us that we may not fail to follow all these Directions and that they may be effectual for our preservation To him let us address our selves with all humility and fervent affection imploring his gracious presence with us at all times to inlighten our minds to guide us in judgment according to his promise to give us understanding in his holy Word to bestow upon us a spirit of discerning that we may clearly perceive the difference of things and not take evil for good falshood for truth but the way of lying may be removed from us and he may grant us his Law graciously But above all things let us beseech him to give us honest and good hearts unbiassed by any carnal or worldly affections Let us pray with David in the Psalm now mentioned cxix 36. that he would incline our heart unto his testimonies and not unto covetousness turn away our eyes from beholding vanity and quicken us in his way For where the love of the World prevails any gainful errour may easily find entertainment And whensoever we find our selves begin to be unsettled in the belief of that which upon the most serious and deliberate consideration we have judged to be the truth whensoever the resolution we took upon that judgment begins to waver and shake let us remember that we are under a temptation and that every temptation is a deceit and would put a cheat upon us for every man is tempted saith St. James when he is drawn away by his own lust and inticed and thereupon let us apply our selves to God with the greater diligence and earnestness for his Grace to purifie our hearts that we may not be seduced by any bad affections but building up our selves in our most holy Faith praying in the Holy Ghost we may keep our selves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life S. Jude 20 21. Finally the Church it self hath put a Prayer into our mouths in the Collect for this Day in which let us not cease to make our humble and hearty requests to Him saying O Almighty God who hast instructed thy holy Church with the heavenly Doctrine of thy Evangelist St. Mark Give us Grace that being not like Children carried away with every Blast of vain Doctrine we may be established in the truth of thy holy Gospel through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen FINIS

what to believe and what to hold and retain with a firm resolution nor exposed us without any help for it to be carried away by the errour of the wicked but abundantly provided us with all things necessary for the knowledge of the Truth and for our improvement therein unto a state of stedfast belief Which is the third thing III. We are not left by God without the means of being settled in the Faith notwithstanding the Blasts of contrary Doctrine which may be in the Church and notwithstanding the cunning and craftiness whereby they may be managed For it is the very Scope of the Apostle in this place to convince the Ephesians that God had taken such care and made such provision that they might not henceforth be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrine c. There was a remedy then against this lightness and inconstancy it was possible to discern truth from falshood the Christian Faith from the vain Doctrines which troubled the Church and if they did not continue Children they might continue stedfast in that Faith and not be moved from it by the violent Blasts of contrary perswasions God did not think fit as you have heard to lay such a restraint upon mens Spirits that none should be able to contradict the truth preached by the Apostles but permitted false Apostles deceitful Workers transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ for the tryal and exercise of the faithful whom he furnished with sufficient means to preserve themselves in a settled constant belief What those means were I shall briefly lay before you as I find them partly here and partly in other places of the Apostolical Writings and shall treat of them with a particular respect to our selves that we may be established in the truth of his holy Gospel First Nothing is to be admitted without good Proof Secondly In the Proof we make of Doctrines the holy Scriptures must be the Rule whereby we judge Thirdly In the use of this Rule we must take direction of our Spiritual Guides and Governours And Lastly We must live in the sincere practice of all other Duties of Christian Piety First The first Direction is that of this Apostle St. Paul to the Thessalonians 1 v. 21. Prove all things hold fast that which is good Which is the same with that of St. John 1 iv 1. Beloved believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they are of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the World From whence it is likely Dionysius of Alexandria formed that Precept which he calls an Apostolical voice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be ye skilful Bankers able to distinguish between good and bad Silver * Euseb L. VII Hist Eccles Cap. 7. Children indeed having not the faculty of discerning take all upon trust but it is a shame if being arrived at the state of Manhood we do not prove and try and examine as the word signifies every thing that is offered to our belief which we ought not to receive merely because confident men would impose it upon us by their Authority And if it will not abide a proof nor stand a tryal we may be certain it is deceitful Ware which they would put off in the dark and not have brought into the light Now in this proof we must be very serious for nothing can be examined thoroughly without an attentive mind Which we must awaken to ponder and consider every thing in the use of the best reason we have and whatsoever appears upon examination and proof to be agreeable to the Faith once delivered to the Saints that we must hold fast and not suffer our selves to be carried from it by any importunities of contrary affections For as we must receive nothing without good reason so we ought not lightly to forsake that which we have good reason to believe When I speak of Reason I do not mean bare natural Reason without the guidance of God's Grace For which we must heartily pray and He no doubt will readily vouchsafe unto all those who seriously seek for it with a desire to be led by it in the ways of truth and holiness For having given us his Son and by him revealed his mind and will unto us it is infidelity to think that he will not guide us by his Grace to understand his mind and will in all things necessary to our salvation Far be such a thought from our hearts which ought to rest satisfied that he will give us his Grace to direct us as freely as he hath given us his Son Christ to inlighten and instruct us He is as little sparing of his Grace as the visible Sun is of its Beams which shine into the eyes of all those who do not by wilful winking shut it out and thereby make themselves not the Sun guilty of their blindness If we love darkness rather than light or will not be at the pains to open our eyes and let it in but instead thereof give up our selves to be led about by others as they shall please to conduct us it is but just with God to deprive us of the power of judging aright and not to let us see when we would because we would not when we might He hath given us the use of Reason which if we will blindly resign to any pretended Authority what is it but to shut our eyes when we should open them or suffer our selves to be hood-wink'd when we should look about us that we be not deceived We can give no account of this to God who did not give us this talent that we should give it away to others but that we should faithfully employ and improve it our selves He never intended that we should let others judge for us but requires us to examine and judge our selves whether there be reason to receive that which is propounded to us by others This is so great a Truth that they who receive things without examination upon mere trust yet have some reason for what they do For no man trusts another till he hath reason to think he is an honest man and will not deceive him He doth not take his bare word for it that he will not deceive him but hath some ground or other to think he will be as good as his word Insomuch that they who seem least to trust to their own reason do really trust it in the weightiest matter when they trust it to chuse one for them whom they may trust They of the Roman Church I mean who would have us give up our Reason to their Authority do not pretend to perswade us to submit to that Authority without some reason for it And to be perswaded by reason as hath been long ago said that to their Authority we ought to submit our Reason is still to follow Reason and not to quit it and blindly resign it And if we must follow Reason in that why not in all things whatsoever Why