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	jesus_n	lord_n	1,817	5	3.2256	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A03104	The mirror of pure devotion: or, The discovery of hypocrisie Delivered in sixe severall sermons, in the Cathedrall Church of Chichester, by way of an exposition of the parable of the Pharises and the publican. By R.B. preacher of the word, at Chidham in the county of Sussex.	Ball, Robert, fl. 1635.	1635 (1635)	STC 1323; ESTC S113587	64,577	210

cover his face bee it never so brazen l●st at one time or other it might blush Hee flies like the Owle by night and like a Lyon seekes his prey before the Sun-rising Every one that doth evill saith our Saviour Ioh. 3. hates the light neither comes hee to it lest his deedes should bee reprooved But hee that doth truth commeth to the light that his deedes might bee made manifest that they are wrought according to God Pharisaicall hypocrisie is as naked as Adam after his fall so miserably ashamed of himselfe that he runs into the bushes at the voice of God The truth is as naked too but as Adam in the estate of innocencie and therefore the bolder to appeare at the first call with Samuell Speake Lord for thy servant heareth Or to joyne in that grand challenge with Iesus his authour and finisher Quis ex vobis arguet Which of you can rebuke mee of sinne If I speake the truth why doe yee not beleeve mee veritas non quaerit angulos truth seekes no corners I have spoken openly in the world and in secret have I said nothing O Pharisee pharisee doest not thou know that our Saviour commands thee Matthew 10. to Mate 10. preach that upon the house top which thou hearest in the eare Why doest thou then detract from the doctrine of the truth in corners and carpe at the good life of thy brother in conventicles without all question Magna est veritas praevalet Great is the truth and will prevaile though some as Seminaries amongst their Massemongers brag against us and say that we have a slight Apology for our faith But as the King of Israel to Benhadad so may I say to these braggards Let not him that 1 Kin 20. girds on his harnesse boast like him that puts it off it must needes bee a silly triumph that is proclaimed before victory Some as Marcionites a generation that hath not set their heart aright and whose spirit cleaveth not stedfastly unto God Like as the children of Ephraim which being harnessed and carrying bowes turned themselves Psal 7. 8. backe in the day of battell Crowing in their Pulpits a far off like cockes as Theodoret makes the comparison and busling their feathers like Turkies in their parlours That would faine bind our Kings in chaines and our Nobles in linckes of iron and make Our Priests beleeve that God hath not spoken by them As Numa Pompilius wrot his Lawes in Closets and fathered them upon Vesta so they paint opprobrious libels and contentious bookes in corners with Venus Mahomets Alcaron was published in the night and Prodicus his mysticall communion men and women together was celebrated when the candle was put out When every man must have a private Ephod with Gedeon or a whispering Levite with Micaiah Religion must needes fall to Idolatrie with Ieroboam In such a case it is high time for Sampson a famous Iudge and Worthy of Israel to tie his Foxes not onely by the tayles but also by the heads together in unitie and veritie of doctrine as one of the Rabbins Ben-sira divinely adviseth that they may burne up the weedy corne of the Philistims with the fire-brands of faith and truth lest they take both life and strength from Sampson himselfe Correct a wise man with a nod saith Salomon but a foole with a club Cave nè circulus in sylvam gutta in mare scintilla in slammam excreseat It is wholsome counsell from a Father to beware that a small waste increase not to a vast wildernesse a drop to a Sea a sparke to a flame One jarring string marres a whole consort of musicke one rift hazzards a whole building and a little leaven sowres the whole lumpe for if severitie of discipline turne once into libertie edification will presently run into destruction costome into corruption law into contempt mercy into derision godlinesse into hypocrisie preaching into silence the savour of life into the savour of death an● everlasting destruction Thus farre you see wee have traced the Pharisee by his inward profession in matter of Church doctrine in a metaphoricall sense now the Text leads us to follow him a step or two by his outward gesture in matter of Church discipline in a literall sense for certainely they are both the true meaning of the Holy Ghost and ought to bee urged both as most profitable and naturall to the analogy and proportion of faith Where still we shall bee sure to find him a true Pharisee a man divided for hee divides himselfe from his brethren even in the Congregation too He is too well acquainted with discord and yet many times hee runs and out-runs himselfe upon a point of division At a Feast hee will be sure to take the upper roome till hee bee bidden with shame to sit lower In the market hee mightily affect● respective greetings And in the T●●ple hee stands up by himselfe like a Noune Substantive amongst the Eight parts of Speech or an I per se I amongst the five vowells as if his neighbours adjective devotion could not stand by i● selfe without his Substantive bu● were altogether inarticulate as a sentence wholly composed of consonants without his vocall assistance or assistant vocalitie and why because hee thanke●s his God he is not as other men are This arrogant presumption and presumptuous arrogancy se●● him upon his tip-toes and makes him as stiffe in the joynts as an Elephant that hath no joynts at all He stands when he should kneele at prayer he sits when he should stand at the Creed and either he sits or stands when hee should kneele at the Sacrament To be sure to avoide artolatry hee will not sticke to commit autolatry he is mightily afraid where no feare is to worship the bread but hee feares not his owne proud insolent carriage whereby in-stead of God he worships himselfe In all the parts of Divine worship both inward and outward he is all upon contraries The Church by her leave shall prescribe him no forme hee will have a will-worship by himselfe and why because hee thankes his God he is not as other men are Indeed he is not nor as himselfe should be neither by Scripture precept nor Scripture president which plead both for kneeling in Divine worship A Scripture precept we gather 1 King 19. 18. Where God expects from all trùe Israelites the bending of the knee only to himselfe Will the Pharisee beleeve God thinke you if he binde it with an oath I referre him then to Esay 25. 23. I have sworne by my selfe saith the Lord there that unto mee every knee shall how If the Pharisee dare attempt in vaine to make God forsworne God shall sweare once more and hee shall not repent This many fortie yeeres have I beene grieved with the stubborne generation of this Pharisee and therefore now will I sweare in my wrath that neither he nor any of his shall ever enter into my rest Should I muster

me a sinner The event in the former part of the 14. verse 14. I tell you this man departed to his house justified rather then ●●● the other The Application in the latter part of the same verse For every one that exalteth himselfe shall be brought low and he that humbleth himselfe shall be exalted The Preface admits of a threefold Quaere The first is what may be the meaning or signification of the word Parable The second is what may be the reason why our Saviour so often in the Gospel spake unto the people by parables The third and last is what may be the occasion why he spake and delivered this parable which appeares by the Text to be a discoverie of three grosse corruptions in certaine of his auditours The first was a presumptuous self-confidence by reason of a fond conceit of merit in their owne workes They trusted in themselves That presumptuous selfe-confidence begat an arrogant conceit of inherent righteousnesse that they were just And that arrogant conceit of inherent righteousnesse hatched the third generation of the viper That they vilified and despised others Also hee spake a parable to certaine that trusted in themselves that they were just or Righteous and despised others The first Quaene leades us to the Etymologie or signification of the word Parable which is taken either in the worser or in the better part When it is taken in the worser part it signifies a by-word a word of reproach or a fable As the Israelites Psal 44. 14. in the Psalme Posuisti nos Domine in parabolam Thou hast ●●ade us O Lord a parable or a proverbe or a by-word amongst the heathen So the Lord by his servant Moses threatens a rebellious Deut 28. people that They shall become a wonder a proverbe and a by-word amongst all nations So that holy man Ioh complaines in Iob 17. 6. the heate of his miserie that God had made him a proverbe or a by-word of the people And so not onely David the type but the Psal 69. 12. sonne of David the substance complaines that he became a parable or a proverbe unto the people and that the very drunkards made songs upon him When it is taken in the better part it signifies either some grave and weighty matter such as David uttered upon his Harpe Or else Psal 49. 4. some short and sweete sentence such as Salomon delivers in his Proverbes Or else some darke obscure or figurative speech when the truth is wrapped up in a similitude or a comparison as in a riddle Thus the Lord commanded the Prophet Ezechiel to speake a parable Ezek. 24. 3. unto the rebellious house and say Prepare a pot and put water in it c. Ezechiel 24. 3. Vnder which shaddow is represented both the sinne and the punishment of impenitent Ierusalem And in this sence our Saviour tels his Disciples Matth. 13. Matth. 13. That hee spake unto the people by parables that seeing they might not see and hearing they might not heare neither understand that the Prophecy of Isaiah might bee fulfilled upon them And this must needs be the most genuine and proper signification of the word parable from the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assimulare being nothing else as Thomas Aquinas notes but Sermo similitudinarius qui aliud dicit aliud significat A comparative or an Enigmaticall kinde of speech speaking one thing and signifying another as it plainly appeares not onely in this but in all the parables of the Gospell The second Quaere leades us to the reason why our Saviour so often in the Gospel spake unto the people by parables which I find to be threefold First for the accomplishment of Scripture-prophecies This was our Saviours owne reason Matth. 13. before mentioned therefore doe I speake to them in parables that the prophecy of Isaiah might bee fulfilled upon them Secondly for the confirmation of other Scripture-prophecies to give us to understand that Christ spake not onely by the same spirit but with the very mouth and phrase and language of all the holy Prophets that ever were since the world beganne whose writings are full of comparisons similitudes and parables Thirstly and lastly That the mysteries of the Kingdome might be hidden from the wise and prudent of this world and onely revealed unto babes in Christ that to them onely might bee given to know the secrets of the Kingdome but to others in parables And therefore the holy Scripture is aptly compared by Saint Gregory unto ●o flumen in que agnus ambukt Elepha● na tet Ep. ad Leand. a flood wherein the Lambe may wade and the Elephant swim Though parables are darke mysteries unto the proude and skornefull yet they are made ●pert and plaine unto the humble and meeke Our blessed Saviour in his infinite wisedome conceived it to bee the quaintest and most profitable kind of teaching to instruct the simple people by similies and parables which being once truly understood doe mightily delight the understanding helpe the memory move the will captivate the affections cast downe the imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ How strangely did Nathans parable winde it selfe secretly into the heart of David convincing him so modestly and so strongly too that his owne mouth condemned him to be that man of blood the parable intimated Our Saviour 2 Sam. 12. caught the Iewes in the very same trap by putting a question unto them in the parable of the Vineyard and ungracious husbandmen When the Lord of the Matth. 21. 20. Vineyard shall come saith he what shall hee doe to these husbandmen They themselves replye and plead themselves guilty in the very answer following Hee will cruelly destroy those wicked men and let out his Vineyard to others Wherupon our Saviour inferres most bitterly but most justly Therefore I say unto you the kingdome of God shall be taken from you If Seneca held the use of parables Epist 59. so necessary to wade through the shallow studie of humanitie that hee calls them Imbecillitatis nostrae adminicula props and supporters of our weakenesse how much more needfull are these bladders to beare us up in the maine Ocean of Divinitie they may be something windy but exceeding profitable Discentem et audientem in rem praesentem adducunt saith Seneca Plaine similitudes familiar examples and homely comparisons doe force more doctrine into vulgar apprehensions then subtill reasons solid arguments or accurate discourses When every Mechanicke is argued withall in his owne language every Tradesman in his owne occupation and every countrey Swaine in the naturall dialect of his owne barbarisme it must needs informe the understanding reforme the will and so mightily edifie the whole man that it wil even pierce through to the dividing asunder of the soule and of the spirit of the joynts and of the marrow nay it will dive