Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	account_v	chief_a	great_a	46	3	2.0729	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A05093	A treatise of the excellencie of a christian man, and how he may be knowen. Written in French by Master Peter de la Place, one of the Kings counsel, and chiefe president of his court of aides in Paris. Whereunto is adioyned a briefe description of the life and death of the said authour, to the end that euerie one may knowe what he was. Translated into English by L. Tomson; Traité de l'excellence de l'homme chrestien et manière de cognoistre. English	La Place, Pierre de, 1520-1572.; Tomson, Laurence, 1539-1608.; Farnace, Pierre de. aut	1576 (1576)	STC 15231; ESTC S106746	64,194	137

goodnes honestie before men labouring by his good conuersation to edifie all men to the aduancement of their saluation And all this he doeth because he feeleth within hym selfe that he is called to so high a degree of honour as to be the childe of God which moueth him with great earnestnes and zeale of spirite to do an infinite sort of good workes to the glorie of God and to frame himselfe to be manered and facioned as becommeth so high a state as he is placed in And though these markes may seeme to be sufficient to knowe a true Christian by yet notwithstanding beside those markes of holines and charitie there is the marke of the crosse farre more apparant and to be perceiued in the sight of man to teache vs more plainely that the knowing of a Christian mā standeth in the mortification of the outward man outwardly as the former did in the inward man And yet both the one and the other proceede out of one head which is the felowship we haue with Christe which can not be separate frō the crosse For this cause the doctrine of the Gospel is called the word of the Crosse because the worlde doeth for the most parte hate it as the wisdome of mā is wholly cōtrarie to the wisedome of God the one seeking Gods glorie the other the glorie of the flesh which is so much the more enemy to the first because the light of that Gospel discouereth the darknes of it the trueth of the Gospel maketh manifest and bringeth to light the errours and lies of the flesh And because the world can not indure it seeth that it can not mainteine it self in credit by the may of trueth and peace it striueth to do it by the way of lying cogging and violence as it is in deede a lier murderer so that they that are accompted and taken for the wisest the discretest of greatest power and holines are sometimes the first that band them selues against the trueth of God as they that feele them selues most greeued And therfore the Iewes did more hainously a great deale persecute Christ then the Gentiles amongst them the Pharisies and high Priests more then the common people and so at this day the chiefest among the false Christians and members of Antichriste are enemies to Christ more than other so that the saying of saint Paule is found true in all times That they which are after the flesh alwayes persecute thē that are after the spirit for though they do not imprison all nor banish all nor confiscate all Christians goodes nor burne all or behead all or hang all yet at the lest wyse there are fewe that scape their scoffes and mockes their reuiles and tantes their gnashing of teeth and shaking their heads at them for this is a sure saying and worthy to be receyued that all that will liue faythfullye in Jesus Christe must suffer persecution So that all the children of God haue this condition layed vpon thē to beare the crosse of Christ as men appointed to it by the wyll of the heauenly Father who hath decreed this with him selfe to obserue this order and meanes in gouerning his childrē that he wil exercise thē in this life with diuers crosses and for that cause Jesus Christ him selfe the elder brother was consecrate by afflictions and so entred into the preferrement of saluation And so must all they that followe him beare the same liuerie and cognissance vpon them as he him selfe shewed plaine inough saying to his Apostles No man can be said to be his disciple but he that taketh vp his crosse foloweth him And in an other place That the childrē of God shal be knowē frō other by this that the world shal hate thē as he was hated first And in deede if we looke vpon Abrahā the paterne of our faith which is a sufficient example for vs so that we neede not alleage any other we may see that the promisse of adoption was no soner made him but he was by and by commaunded to depart from his house and forsake his parentes his own coūtrie and other cōmodities to be a pilgryme and a stranger vpon the earth subiect to a perpetuall kinde of crosse And surely that man can not haue a certain profe within him self that he is a Christian that is vnwilling to be subiect to this state condition which the master head and Lord of al was willingly subiect to for vs all who is a liuely paterne for vs to folowe For the free adoption wherein consisteth mens saluatiō can not be separate frō Gods euerlasting decree which hath made all his children subiect to beare the Crosse and because there shal be none inheritour of heauē which is not first made like to the only sonne of god For as he hath the chiefest best place amongest al the children of God as amongst men the eldest sonne beareth the name of the house so is he appointed to be their paterne by whom they must be framed as it were by line and square to the end they refuse nothing which he was subiect vnto and that in so doing they may euerie one in his place be ioyned and coupled together with their head who is placed in the highest degree not onely to be aboue all but also to holde all thē that are coupled togither with him vnder one selfsame marke of brotherhood and honour And as kings princes of this world haue their honours and praises wherewith they crowne the noble and valiant actes of their soldiers so this soueraigne King and Prince Jesus Christ honoreth thē with his markes whom he vseth in matters of great weight to the ende they may appeare glorious with him aboue the rest Hereby it appeareth how farre this marke of the crosse which is proper to the Christiās differeth frō that which al the world tasteth of seing the case standeth so that there is no mā can say that he is exēpt frō miserie affliction trouble in this life For where as the other which al mē taste of is a signe of the curse of God to the wicked this crosse which is sanctified of God is a signe of blessing wholsom for thē that beare it therefore they should be deceiued that should thinke that they which suffer in this warfare against sinne should be thought to suffer for sinne as the worldlings do in their sufferāces cōsidering that by this crosse God procureth the saluation of his people vsing it as an instrument and help fit for the aduācing of regeneration begun in them both to beate downe the foolishe vaine confidence of the flesh and to breake in pieces the veile of hypocrisie which is naturally in it and also to bridle his intemperancie For the whole nature of mā is so prone to boast it self proudly and presumptuously of his vertue sufficiencie that it is needefull to shewe him his frailetie as it were

and surmounteth al that is in mā as in dede it can not be found nor be confessed to procede from any but frō God yea from the Lord and sauiour Iesus Christ by whom his good pleasure was to restore al mankind towards whom though the soueraignecreat●r● maker of al things sheweth sufficiētly his fatherly fauour diuers sundry ways yet notwithstanding vntil he shew himself to man a restorer in the person of his only begottē sonne their cōscience reproueth thē within thē selues maketh thē perceiue that by reason of their filthines they are wel worthy to be cast away as wretched men caitifs cannot be taken accōpted for his worke established in them In which worke is only truely that excellēcie wherof I meane to speake which is a worke that farre passeth the worke of the first creatiō of man as it wil appeare more plainly hereafter of which man when S. Paul speaketh he saieth that the efficacie of the might power that is to say of the mightie power of God is plentifully shewed in him because he setteth forth in him after a wonderful sort his infinite vertue according to the vnspeakeable goodnes grace and fauour which he beareth to a Christian man. And that it is so to shew it more particularly our heauenly father not content that he brought a Christian into the world of nothing and that he made him not an oxe or an asse which he might haue done or a dogge or a catte or any other more bite and abiect creature but a man that is to saye a singular and perfect piece of workemanship and that he made the world beautified the heauens and the earth with a perfect abundance varietie and beautie of all things to lodge him in it as it were in a great sumptuous palace well and richely furnished with all thinges necessarie not content I say with al this moroeouer that he had forgotten his vnthankeful and detestable infidelitie and felonie where he deserued to be cast of and depriued for euer of all his blessinges yet notwithstāding it pleased him of a certein more then fatherly loue and speciall fauour which he bore him not onely euen from his birth day and from the first howre that he brought him out into this world but euen from his mothers wombe yea and before he was conceiued yea and that more is before the world was made as he predestined him to him self from euerlasting to elect and chuse him frō amongst an infinite million of men to marke him set him apart to exempt him from the common state and condition of al other men that is to say from euerlasting condemnatiō and destruction which was prepared for him as wel as for euery other man to reserue him for him selfe to adopt and regenerate him in the hope of life to an incorruptible inheritāce kept in store in heauen to be reueiled to his elect at that day when all thinges shal be restored and to shewe in him the richesse of his glorie as in a vessell of mercie prepared to saluation All the cause of this excellent prerogatiue and dignitie is not as we see to be sought any where els but in the singular grace and mercie of God whom it pleased without any further regarde or consideration of any thing without him selfe foreseing the faulte and condition of mankinde of his good pleasure to haue mercie vpon some to set them in honour as vessels of his mercie and leaue the rest in their iudgemēt giuing grace to some which was not due to them and rendring to the rest that punishment that was due to thē being in his power to giue to one part that which they deserued not so setting forth his grace and not to giue it to all thereby shewing what al had deserued without further bestowing like mercie on all for he made all things as Salomon saith for his owne sake yea the wicked man to the day of his destruction according to the decree of the good pleasure of his wil which onely is the souereine and high rule of iustice that iudgeth al the world his wayes which are mercie and trueth being incomprehensible as whereby he so worketh that they which obteine mercie at his handes haue nothing but his mercie to boast of and they that are left in their condemnation haue nothing to gainesay the iudgemēt of trueth as mē guiltie nor ought wherewith to pleade against him in so much as on the one side to shewe forth his wrath and make his mightie power knowen he through great patience and meekenes beareth with the vessels of wrath prepared to destruction on the other side setteth out the richesse of his glory towards thē that he chose by his grace whom he prepared to glorie For so it is as S. Augustine sheweth it at large where he speaketh of the predestination of God that when God had resolued with him self to buyld the Monarchie of this world al that is cōteined in it forsawe that the first man should fal wittingly and willingly into death being pliable to good euill hauing not that giuen him to continue stande stedily in that state wherin he was placed yea and that al mortal creatures should be within the compasse of his fall subiect vnto it hauing so appointed it by his incomprehensible counsel and wisdom which hath a foreknowledge of all thinges ioyned with it as also his mightie power which gouerneth all thinges by his hande and yet notwithstanding minded to haue a litle rēnant euen as you would say an handful of men taken out of such a great multitude to serue for the praise of the glorie of his grace he chose set apart frō the multitude one man amōgst many which should be in his time ordeined to be conceiued of the seede of Dauid and should be borne of a virgin to wit Iesus Christ finding nothing in all the seede of Adam worthy his election and such a prerogatiue and excellēcie in whom also as in the head he chose to be members as it were of his bodie such as it pleased him freely of his grace to appoint before hand receiue to life and by the selfe same man to ioyne them vnto him selfe and allie them so togither that they should neuer be seuered hauing foreseene a great while before that in Adam there should come good of euill and knew most vndoubtedly the it belonged to his almighty goodnes to turne good into euill rather then to suffer that there should be no euill and so accordingly disposed the life of men and Angels as that he would thereby shewe first what free wil was able to do and thē what the gift of his grace could do hauing shut all vnder sinne that al might haue nede of grace And therfore as the excellencie which I ascribe to a Christian and proceedeth from this grace appeareth fully and abundantly in Iesus Christ so is it