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	speak_v	word_n	3,482	5	4.1705	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19873	Seven sermons on, the wonderfull combate (for Gods glorie and mans saluation) betweene Christ and Sathan Delivered by the Reuerend Father in God, Doct. Andrewes, Bishop of Winchester, lately deceased.; Wonderfull combate (for Gods glorie and mans salvation) betweene Christ and Satan	Andrewes, Lancelot, 1555-1626.	1627 (1627)	STC 630; ESTC S119227	63,833	118

because by them their portion was fat and their meates plentuous For what saith Iob 31 27. If I reioyced because my substance was great this had beene an iniquity So that our life is not maintained by bread onely descended out of the mould of the earth The nature of bread and stones are not much vnlike they come both out of one belly that is to say the earth Iob 28 5 6. and of themselues the one of them hath no more power than the other vnto life for we know that the Israelites died euen while the flesh of Quayles was in their mouthes Numb 11 33. and Manna heauenly fare being farre better than our bread It is the deuils craftie policie to burie a mans life vender a loafe of bread and as it were to fetter the grace of God to the outward meanes whereas they of themselues are of no efficacie without the operation and grace of the word than a hammer and a sawe without a hand able to employ them Dauid saith Psal. 104 28. The eyes of all things waite on God for their meat in due season and thou fillest them With what with bread No but with thy blessing and goodnesse Our hearts must be stablished with grace not with meats Heb. 13 9. It is Gods prerogatiue that as all things had their beginning from him Col. 1 17. so he supporteth and sustaineth them Heb. 1 3. This is a further point than all Philosophy teacheth vs. For they hauing laid downe the foure elements bare and simple essences tanquam materiam by compounding and tempering of them they bring forth a cercaine quintenssence or balme full of vertue But Diuinitie leadeth so to a quintessence without which all the quintessences and balmes in the world can do vs no good To the question that Ieremie propoundeth Ier. 8 22. Is there no balme at Gilead Is there no Physitian there The answer may be Mans health is not recouered by balme or physicke onely but by euery word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God if wee weigh Christs argument aright For we may see 2 Chron. 16 12. Asa dyed for all his Physitians that were about him So if it be asked Are there no horses nor chariots in Gilead we may answer warlike victory consisteth not in warlike furniture onely but in remembring the name of the Lord God Psal. 20 7. A horse is a vaine thing to saue without the power of this word And so when a man thriues nor or prospers not in his actions it is not often for want of labour or care Psal. 127 1. tels him Except the Lord build the house c. Augustine aduiseth his Auditorie to beleeue it in time least by wofull experience they finde it to bee true when ' as they shall haue such a consumption that no meat shall do them any good or such a dropsie that no drinke shall auayle them The power and vertue of this word is called The staffe of bread Leuit. 26 26. and it is meant of a chiose staffe such a one as is set in the middest to beare vp all the Tent. The plainest similitude I can vse to make you vnderstand the force thereof is this When we goe to Physicke for any disease wee are bidden seethe such hearbs in running water and then to drinke the water we know it is not the water which helpeth but the decoction of infusion So it is not the bread considered barely in it selfe that nourisheth vs but the vertue and grace of the word infused into it We are not therefore to sticke to the meanes like the Glutton Luke 12 19. but to pray for this blessing And to this end God in the establishing of nature hath thereout reserued foure speciall prerogatiues to his Word As first with a very little of the meanes to go far in operation 1 Reg. 17 14. with a little oyle and a little wheat he fed Elias the poore widdow and her sonne a great while And Math. 17. 14. Christ made fiue loaues two fishes serue fiue thousand persons The heathen man thought no certaine proportion was to be set downe for a familie because when a heauenly hunger commeth on men they eate more at one time than at another But whatsoeuer the heathen haue spoken wisely we haue farre more wisely vttered by the holy Ghost in one place or other In Psal. 17 14. this is set downe where there is mention made of a certaine hidden treasure wherewith means bellies be filled and Haggi 1 6. saith Men eat much yet haue not enough drinke much but are not filled This is the first prerogatiue His second is he takes order as well for the qualitie as for the quantitie course meates and fine are all one with him for the Israelites notwithstanding their Quayles and Manna died and Daniel and his fellowes that fed vpon course meates looked better than all the children that were fed with the Kings owne dyct Dan. 1 15. Thirdly without meanes he worketh sometimes Therefore Asa had said little or nothing to the purpose 2 Chron. 14 1 1. If he had said God helpeth by many or few if he had not put in too and sometimes by none For there was light before any Sunne or Moone Gen. 1 3. though after verse 14 it pleased God to ordaine them as instruments And so Gen. 2 5. the earth was fertile when as then no rayne had falne on the earth nor any such ordinary meanes Let Moses be on the Mount and but heare God and he needeth no bread The fourth is that hee can bring his purpose to passe euen by those meanes whose natures tend to contrary effects as to preserue by stones Colloquintida being ranke poyson in eating whereof is present death was by the Prophet made matter of nourishment 2 Kings 4 40. So Christ by those things which were fit to put out a seeing mans eies as dust made a blinde man recouer his sight Iohn 9 6. And so doth hee make light to shine out of darkenesse 2 Cor. 4 6. One contrary out of another Thus we see the deuill answered Now let vs apply these things to our selues Christs answer doth import two words and so two mouthes and two breaths or spirits and these two be as two twinnes He that will be maintained by the one must seeke after the other The first word is the same decree whereby the course of nature is established according to Psal. 147 15. Hee sendeth forth his commandement vpon the earth and his word runneth verie swiftly he giueth snow like wooll c. Secondly the other is that whereof Iames 1 18. speaketh to wit the word of truth wherewith of his owne will he begat vs. The one proceedeth from the mouth of Gods prouidence creating and gouerning all things Psal. 33 6. he but spake the word and it was done The other proceedeth out of the mouth of Gods Prophets who are as it were his mouth Ier. 15 19. Thou standest before mee as if thou wert my mouth From

out of the fountaines of saluation Esay 12 3. When there is any ill spoken of which we are to resist then it is commended to vs as an Armory whence wee may fetch any kinde of weapon which we shall need either offensiue as a sword Heb. 4 12. or defensiue as a shield Prou. 30 5. The Scripture is the broad plate that is to beare off the darts our faith is the braces or handle wherby we take hold Ephe. 6 16. and lift it vp to defend our selues withall For the Scripture is a shield Non quod dciitur sed quod dicitur Dicitur there is the strong and broad matter fit to beare off and Creditur that is the handle or braces to it God spake once or twice I haue heard it power belongeth vnto God Psal. 62 11. So that it sufficeth not that it be spoken onely by God but we must heare it too neither must wee heare it as the voyce of a man as Samuel at the first did who when God called him thought it the voice of Eli but as the voice of God that we which were dead in our sinnes he hath quickned and forgiuen vs all our trespasses 1 Thes. 2 13. This is the perfection of our faith Generally of the Scriptures this is Christs opinion confirmed by his owne practise that if the diuell come as a Serpent here is a charme for him Psal 58 5. Or if he come as a Lyon here is that is able to preuaile against him 1 Pet. 5 8. And that the deuill knowes well enough as appeareth by bis malice that hee hath alwayes borne it before it was Scripture when is was but onely Dictum For so soone as God had said Let vs make man in our likenesse that word was straight a whetstone to the deuils enuie And after the fall when the seed was promised that was and is the cause of all the deuils enmitie Gen. 31 15. So when the promise was reitterated Gen. 22. 18. that was the cause he so turmoyled all the Patriarchs But when the word was to be written and to become Scripture then his malice began to grow very hot insomuch that he caused it for anger to be broken Exod. 32 19 For the Fathers are of opinion that all the deuils busie endeuour in making the Israelites to commit idolatry with the golden Calfe was to the end that he might so heate Moses in his zeale as that in his anger he should breake the Tables of the Law by casting them hastily out of his hands We are to note therefore that there is a forceable sound in the word which the Deuill cannot abide and not onely the sound but the sight also It is written of Augustine that lying sicke on his bed he caused the seuen poenitentiall Psalmes to be painted on the wall ouer against him in great Letters that if after he should become speechlesse yet he might point to euery verse when the deuill came to tempt him and so confute him Blessed is he that hath his quiuer full of such arrowes they shall not hee ashamed Blessed is he that hath the skill to choose out fit arrowes for the purpose as the Fathers speake out of Esay 49 2. Christ saith affirmatiuely of the Scriptures that in them is eternall life Iohn 5 39. Negatiuely that the cause of error is the not knowing of them Marke 12 24. Dauid saith it was that that made him wiser than his enemies than his teachers and than the Ancients Psalm 119 98 99 110. Knowledge of the truth is the way to amendment after a fall 2 Tim. 2 26. There is much calling now adaies for the Word and others finde fault as fast that it is no better harkned vnto For as the want of obedience and all other abuses which are so much cried out against proceede not onely from the not hearing of the word but as well from the not mingling of faith with it without which mixture it is nothing worth it profiteth not Heb. 4 2. So the error of the former times was in yeelding too farre to the deuils policie by sealing vp the Scriptures and locking the storehouse and Armorie of the people It is the policie Christ tels vs of in the 11. of Lukes Gospell 22. A strong man puts the strong armed man out of his house and takes away his armour from him then he needs not feare him The like policie we read of 1 Sam. 13 19 when the Philistims had taken away all Smithes and Armour then they thought they were safe So in the time of darkenesse the deuill might let them do their good workes and what they list and yet haue them still vnder his lure that he might offend them at his pleasure that had no armour to resist him All the Children of God had a right and property in the Law of God as appeareth by Christs words Iohn 10 34. he answered them that is the common people Is it not written in your Law As though hee should say the Scripture is yours To the young man in the tenth Chapter of S Lukes Gospell and 26. verse that asked Christ what he should do to be saued Christ answereth What is written in the Law how readest thou Whereunto the answer that we cannot read or that the booke is sealed vp Esay 29 11. is as the deuill would haue it Then hath he a fit time to offer vs stones to make bread of But this answer with our Sauiour Christ will not he allowed of Now come wee to the speciall point of Christs answer It is written Man liues not by bread onely c. Deut 8 3. There is no better kinde of reasoning than that when one grants all that hath beene said by his aduersarie and proueth it to make on his part and vpon a new conceit auoyds all that his aduersarie said Here our Sauiour might confesse all that the deuill objected as that he is the Sonne of God and admit the stones were made bread and that bread were of absolute necessity and that it were so to be come by which is vntrue were we then in good case This indeed is the deuils position wherewith he would perswade all those that haue animam triticeam as the Fathers call it that those externall things are necessary to bee had and that if they haue enough thereof they are well enough as we see it to be the minde of the rich man Luke 12 19. This man hauing a wheaten soule hauing corne enough bad his soule take rest and liue merrily for many yeeres But Christ goeth further and saith Though the stones be made bread it will not auayle except it please God by the blessing of his word to giue vertue and as it were life vnto the bread there is no difference betweene it and a stone It is not the plenty or quality of victuals howsoeuer some dote vpon such externall meanes as they did which sacrificed to their net and burnt incense to their yerne Abac. 1. 16.