Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	apostle_n	doctrine_n	true_a	2,589	5	4.8295	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61531	Christian magnanimity a sermon preached in the cathedral church at Worcester at the time of the assizes, September 21. 1690 / by ... Edward, Lord Bishop of Worcester.	Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699.	1690 (1690)	Wing S5566; ESTC R2456	16,305	41

relate to all Christians We that own Christ sincerely and truely have not received c. 1. I shall consider the Words with Respect to the Apostolical Spirit because this day we commemorate one of them S. Matthew Those who had the Apostolical Office committed to them whether Primarily by Christ himself or Secondarily by the Apostles as Timothy and Titus and others had great need of this Apostolical Spirit For really the Difficulties were so great which they were to go through that no ordinary Measures of Courage and Resolution would serve them When men fight with Enemies in the open Field there is a Multitude combined together among whom there is abundance of Noise and Heat and Examples and the Hopes of Present Victory and the Shame and Danger of running away which animate Persons in a Day of Battel but it is another kind of Courage which is required to make men bear up against the Malice and Subtilty of the Devil and of Wicked Men for here the Combination is to all appearance much stronger on the Worse side and if we are to Judge of Success by Numbers those who promote Vertue and Goodness could never bear up against their Adversaries who were sure to carry it by the Poll. There were among the Heathens some few Great Men who endeavour'd to Reform the Vices of Mankind but alas what poor Success had they in their Attempts this way Although they wanted neither Wit nor Learning nor Address to carry on this Noble Design such as Socrates at Athens and Epictetus at Rome and some others who lived agreeably to their Doctrine yet how little Effect had both their Precepts and Example on the rest of the People either at Athens or Rome Socrates declared a mighty Resolution rather to die than to say or do any thing unbecoming the Station God placed him in and upon the Prosecution of two malicious Men the prevailing Party were resolved to try the Experiment and took him at his Word After which his Disciples durst not deal so plainly and openly as he had done and the Artifice they were put to lost the force of the best Part of their Philosophy which they so mixed with Numbers and Figures and Abstracted Speculations that it became a Mystery instead of a plain Design to Reform the Manners of Men. The best and wisest of them seem to have taken more pains to Satisfie themselves than to have Instructed others or if they did they were some few chosen Disciples whom they initiated with as much Care as they were wont to do in their Solemn Mysteries But the Apostles undertook to Reform the World as to two things which Mankind are the hardest brought off from and those are Idolatry and Vice And they went plainly and roundly to Work which men can the least bear as we see by the Persecutions they underwent almost in every Place assoon as their Design was understood There was a general Clamour against them as the Disturbers of Mankind as those who turned the World upside down which in some Sense was true but not as they meant it with Respect to Order and Government But when Men have no mind to be Reformed they must have some Terms of Reproach to fasten upon those who go about to do it It being Natural for them to put Pictures of Devils on those whom they have a Mind to Execute And when they undeavour'd to Convince them of their Immoralities they were very Impatient of which we have a clear Instance in S. Paul's Preaching to Felix concerning Righteousness and Temperance and Iudgment to come which were excellent Subjects but they went too near him he was too much concerned to be willing to hear any more of them The Discourse of S. Paul had too much Force in it for him to bear it any longer for it caused such a disorder in his Mind as affected his Body for Felix trembled And then he thought it best to dismiss him to a more convenient Season which never came that we reade of Which shews how much more willing men are to continue in their Faults than to hear them reproved in order to Amendment Am I therefore become your Enemy saith S. Paul because I tell you the Truth No doubt of it For no Truths can be so uneasie and provoking as those which gaul the Consciences of men The false Teachers whom S. Paul complains so much of were sensible of the Inconveniencies which follow'd Plain Truth and therefore to avoid Persecution they so mixed and adulterated the Doctrine of the true Apostles that it lost its main Force and Efficacy And although by their shifts and compliances with Iews and Gentiles they escaped the hard Usage which others underwent yet the Effect of it was that their Doctrine took no deep rooting in the World For in Origen's time a very inconsiderable Number of their Disciples were left But though the plain Simplicity of the Gospel met with Persecutions on all hands yet by the undaunted Courage of the Preachers of it the more it was opposed the more it prevailed and at last triumphed over its greatest Persecutors 2. These Words may be understood with Respect to all Christians and so they shew what the Temper and Spirit of Christianity is where it hath its due and proper Effect upon mens Minds The Moralists speak much of an excellent Vertue which they call Magnanimity which implies such a Greatness of Mind that it carries a man on in doing what becomes him without being discouraged by the Fears of what may befall him in it And this our Saviour doth suppose to be so attainable by all his Disciples that he requires it from them Fear not them which can kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul or Be not afraid of them that kill the Body and after that have no more that they can do i. e. Govern your Fears by the Consideration of another World and not of this But is this possible to be rid of our Fears as to this World It may be some Heroical minds may attain to this or those on whom God bestows the extraordinary Gifts of his Spirit but can any by the common Measures and Assistances of Grace reach to it Fear is a Natural and Violent Passion which is not easily dissembled much less cured and the weaker any are as to mind or body the more they are subject to the Power of it There are some Constitutions by Reason of their dark and confused and melancholy Apprehensions of things can never get out of the Labyrinth of their own Fears And where Suspicions and Jealousies find an easie entertainment it is not possible to cure such Persons Fears for they are afraid of all possible things Such I must exclude as labouring under a Disease of Imagination as we do those who are under a Feaver And for whose Vnreasonable Fears I know no better Cure than there is of Madness which is to bring the Persons to the Use of