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
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