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	heart_n	word_n	1,929	5	3.9161	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A68162	Three sermons preached 1. In Whitehall, March 29. being the first Tuesday after the departure of King Iames into blessednesse. 2. In Christs Church, at the trienniall visitation of the right Reuerend Father in God, the Lord Bishop of London. 3. In the chappell by Guildhall, at the solemne election of the Right Honourable the Lord Maior of London. / By Tho: Adams.	Adams, Thomas, fl. 1612-1653.	1625 (1625)	STC 130; ESTC S122193	12,946	28

that hath ordained such honour for you vpon earth that so in all things wee may glorifie his blessed Name Omniscience it is Gods peculiar to bee the searcher of the heart The heart of man is deceitfull aboue all things and desperately wicked who can know it Iere. 17.9.10 Who Ego Dominus I the Lord search the heart Hee hath made no window into it for man or Angel to looke in onely it hath a doore and he keepes the key himselfe But why the Heart Here was an Apostle to bee chosen now wisdome learning eloquence memorie might seeme to bee more necessary qualities then the Heart No they are all nothing to an honest Heart I denie not but Learning to diuide the Word Elocution to pronounce it Wisdome to discerne the truth Boldnesse to deliuer it bee all parts requireable in a Preacher But as if all these were scarse worth mention in respect of the Heart they say not Thou that knowest which of them hath the subtiler wit or abler memory but which hath the truer heart not which is the greater Scholer but which is the better man Thou that knowest the Heart Samuel being sent to annoynt a sonne of Iesse when Eliab the eldest came foorth a man of a goodly presence fit for his person to succeed Saul he thinkes with himselfe This choyce is soone made sure this is the head vpon which I must spend my holy Oyle The priuiledge of Nature and of Stature his primogeniture and proportion giues it him This is hee But euen the holyest Prophet when hee speakes without God runnes into errour Signes and apparances are the guides of our eyes and these are seldome without a true falshood or an vncertaine truth Saul had a goodly person but a bad heart hee was higher then all many were better then hee It is not hard for the best Iudgement to erre in the shape Philoxemenes a magnanimous and valiant Souldier being inuited to Magyas his house to dinner came in due season but found not his Host at home A seruant seeing one so plaine in clothes and somewhat deformed in bodie thought him some sorry fellow and set him to cleaue wood Whereat Magyas being returned wondering he receiued from him this answere Expendo paenas deformitatis meae I pay for my vnhandsomnesse All is not valour that lookes bigge and goes braue Hee that iudgeth by the inside checked Samuel for his misconceit 1 Sam. 16.7 Looke not on his Countenance or Stature for I haue refused him for the Lord seeth not as man seeth Dauids countenance was ingenuous and beautifull but had it promised so much as Eliabs or Abinadabs hee had not been left in the field while his Brethren sate at the table Iesse could find nothing in Dauid worthy the competition of honour with his brethren God could finde something to preferre him before them all His father thought him fit to keepe sheepe thought his Brethren fit to rule men God thinkes him fit to rule and his Brethren to serue and by his owne immediate choyce destines him to the Throne Here was all the difference Samuel and Iesse went by the outside God by the inside they saw the composition of the body hee the disposition of the mind Israel desires a King of God and that King was chosen by the Head God will chuse a King for Israel and that King is chosen by the Heart If in our choyce for God or for our selues wee altogether follow the eye and suffer our thoughts to be guided by outward respects we shall be deceiued Why doe they not say Thou that knowest the estates of men who is rich and fit to support a high place and who so poore that the place must support him I heare some call Wealth Substance but certainly at best it is but a meere circumstance It is like the Planet Mercury if it bee ioyned with a good Heart it is vsefull if with a bad and corrupt one dangerous But howsoeuer at the Beame of the Sanctuary money makes not the man yet it often addes some mettall to the man makes his Iustice the bolder and in lesse hazard of being vitiated But pauperis sapientia plus valet quam diuitis abundantia Eccles 9.13 If the poore man haue Wisedome to deliuer the Citie hee is worthy to gouerne the Citie I yeeld that something is due to the State of Authoritie Ad populum Phaleras So Agrippa came to the Tribunall with great pompe and attendance This is requisite to keepe awe in the people that the Magistracie bee not exposed to contempt But Magistratus non vestitus indicat virum Wise gouernment not rich garment shewes an able man It was not riches that they regarded Why doe they not say Thou that knowest the Birth or Blood of men I know it is a reuerend thing to see an ancient Castle or Palace not in decay or a faire Tree sound and perfect timber But as foule Birds build their nests in an olde forsaken house and doated trees are good for nothing but the fire so the decay of Vertue is the ruine of Nobilitie To speake morally Actiue worth is better then Passiue this last we haue from our Ancestors the first from our selues Let mee rather see one vertue in a man aliue then all the rest in his pedigree dead Nature is regular in the bruite Creatures Eagles doe not produce crauens and it was a monstrous fable that Nicippus his Ewe should yeane a Lyon But in man shee failes and may bring forth the like proportion not the like disposition Children doe often resemble their Parents in face and features not in heart and qualities It is the earthly part that followes the seed wisedome valour vertue are of another beginning Honour sits best vpon the backe of merit I had rather bee good without Honour then Honourable without goodnesse Cottages haue yeelded this as well as Palaces Agathocles was the sonne of a Potter Bion of an infamous Curtisan In holy Writ Gideon was a poore Thrasher Dauid a Shepheard yet both mightie men of valour both chosen to rule both speciall Sauiours of their Countrey Farre bee it from vs to condemne all honour of the first head when noble deseruings haue raised it though before it could shewe nothing but a White Shield Indeed it is not the Birth but the new Birth that makes men truely Noble Why doe they not say Thou that knowest the wisedome and policie of men Certainly this is requisite to a man of place without which hee is a blinde Polyphemus a strong arme without an eye But a man may bee wise for himselfe not for God not for the publike good An Ante is a wise creature for it selfe but a shrewd thing in a Garden Magistrates that are great louers of themselues are seldome true louers of their Countrey All their actions bee motions that haue recourse to one Center that is themselues A cunning head without an honest heart is but like him that can packe the Cards yet

THE HOLY CHOICE A SERMON PREACHED in the Chappell by GVILDHALL at the Solemnitie of the Election of the Right Honourable the Lord Maior of LONDON BY THO ADAMS LONDON Printed by Aug. Matthewes and John Norton 1625. THE HOLY CHOICE ACTES 1.24 And they prayed and said Thou Lord which knowest the hearts of all men shew whether of these two thou hast chosen THe businesse of the day is an Election an election into one of the most Noble Offices of the Kingdome the gouernment of this Honourable Citie which let not enuie heare it hath no paralell vnder the Sunne The businesse of my Text is an Election too an election into the highest office in the Church to be an Apostle and Witnesse of Iesus Christ If you please to spare the paterne in foure circumstances as 1. This office is spiritual yours temporall 2. This place was voyd by Apostasie or decession yours is supplied by succession 3. This election is by Lots yours is by Suffrages 4. This choice was but one of two it may be your number exceeds the rest will sure well enough and the same God that was in the one be also present in the other by the assistance of his holy spirit The argument of the Text is a prayer to God for his direction in their choice yea indeed that hee would chuse a man for them including a strong reason of such a request because he doth know the hearts of all men They begin with prayer this was the vsuall maner in the Church of God So Moses prayed for the choice of his Successor Num. 27.16 Let the Lord the God of the spirits of all flesh set a man ouer the Congregation Christ sent not his Apostles to that holy work Iohn 17.27 without a prayer Sanctifie them through thy truth Actes 6.6 In the chusing of those seuen Deacons they first prayed and then laid their hands vpon them Thus were Kings Inaugurated with Sacrifice and Prayer It is not fit he that is chosen for God should bee chosen without God But for this Samuel himselfe may be mistaken and chuse seuen wrong before hee hit vpon the right In this I cannot but commend your religious care that businesses of so great a consequence be alwayes sanctified with a blessing Those which in a due proportion must represent God to the world ought to be consecrated to that Maiestie which they resemble by publike deuotions Euery important action requires Prayer much more that which concernes a whole citie When Samuel came to Bethlehem to annoynt Dauid he calls the whole Citie to the Sacrifice Indeed the Family of Iesse was sanctified in a more speciall manner this businesse was most theirs and all Israels in them The feare of God should take full possession of all our hearts that are this day assembled but those with whom God hath more to doe then with the rest should bee more holy then the rest The choice of your Wardens and Masters in your seuerall Companies hath a solemne forme and it is the honour of your greatest Feasts that the first dish is a Sermon Charitie forbid that any should think you admit such a Custome rather for conuenience then deuotion as if Preaching were but a necessary complement to a Solemnitie as Wine and Musicke I am perswaded better things of you but if there should be any such peruerse spirits that like the Gouernor of a people called Aequi when the Romans came to him Iussit eos ad quercum dicere bade them speak to the Oake for he had other businesse but they replied Et haec sacrata quercus audiat foedus a vobis violatum let this Oake beare witnesse that you haue broke the league which you haue couenanted So when we come to preach to your soules if you should secretly bid vs speake to the walls loe euen the very walls will be witnesses against you at the last day Though Saul be King ouer Samuel yet Samuel must teach Saul how to bee King Wee may instruct though wee may not rule yea wee must instruct them that shall rule Therefore as wee obey your call in comming to speake so doe you obey Gods command in vouchsafing to heare Let vs apply our selues to him with deuotion and then hee will bee graciously present at our Election This Prayer respects two things Quem the person whom they intreat Quid the matter for which they intreat The Person is described by His Omnipotence Lord. Omniscience That knowest the hearts of men Omnipotence Lord. Wee acknowledge thy right thou art fit to bee thine owne chuser Lord there bee many on earth called Lords but those are Lords of earth and those Lords are earth those Lords must returne to earth This Lord is Almightie raising out of the dust to the honour of Princes and laying the honour of Princes in the dust Lord of what nay not qualified not Lord of such a Countie Barony Seigniorie nor Lord by vertue of Office and Deputation but in abstracte most absolute His Lordship is vniuersall Lord of heauen the owner of those glorious mansions Lord of earth disposer of all Kingdomes and Principalities Lord of hell to locke vp the old Dragon and his crew in the bottomlesse pit Lord of Death to vnlocke the graues hee keepes the Key that shall let all bodies out of their earthy prisons A potent Lord whither shall we goe to get out of his Dominion Psal 139.7 c To heauen there wee cannot misse him To hell there wee cannot bee without him In ayre earth or sea in light or darknesse wee are sure to finde him Whither then except to Purgatory That Terra incognita is not mentioned in his Lordship the Pope may keepe the key of that himselfe But for the rest hee is too sawcie exalting his vniuersal Lordship and hedging in the whole Christian world for his Diocesse Stretching his arme to heauen in rubricking what Saints he list to hell in freeing what prisoners hee list on earth in setting vp or pulling downe what Kings hee list but that some haue 〈◊〉 short his busie fingers To the Lord of all they commend the choyce of his owne seruants Euery mortall Lord hath this power in his owne Family how much more that Lord which makes Lords who is so fit to chuse as he that can chuse the fit Who so fit to chuse as hee that can make those fit whom he doth chuse It is He alone that can giue power and grace to the elected therefore not to be left out in the election How can the Apostle preach or the Magistrate gouerne without him when none of vs all can mooue but in him It is happy when wee doe remit all doubts to his decision and resigne our selues to his disposition Wee must not be our owne Caruers but let Gods choyce be ours When we know his pleasure let vs shew our obedience And for you vpon whom this Election falls remember how you are bound to honour that Lord of heauen