Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A82148
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A discovery of some plots of Lucifer and his council against the children of men.
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N. D.
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1656
(1656)
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Wing D66C; Thomason E1710_1; ESTC R209573
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29,714
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117
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A DISCOVERY OF SOME PLOTS OF LUCIFER AND HIS COUNCIL AGAINST The Children of MEN. LONDON Printed for T. Brewster at the sign of the three Bibles at the West end of Pauls 1656. A discovery of some plots of Lucifer and his Councill against the Children of men 1. ONe that had some experience of the devices of Satan and is not wholly ignorant of them doth here in few words crie out to you all the children of men to take heed and be wise in Christs wisedome and watch against this roaring devouring deep and dangerous lion whose Jawes are the gates of hell and whose interest is in all our natures 2. At first when he saw God had made man after his owne Image which similitude Satan himself had lost he was so busie with the first Adam that within 40 daies he fetched him and in him all his to his owne element And presently after when God promised Adam that the seed of the woman should bruise the Serpents head not seeds as of many nor heads as of many neither then Satan fell upon Cain her first seed and also kept fast all the old world excepting a few that escaped out of his snares in iniquity 3. Then after this Jehovah raised up Abraham as a common root to a spirituall nation according to his faith as a publique spring to the most famous nation of the Jewes after the flesh But the divider rested not till he broke off about 600000 men in the wildernesse Afterwards he cozened ten tribes from the pure worship at Jerusalem and at length prevailed with the other tribes to crucifie the Messiah for he vailed over the Lord of glory that they did not know him but killed him 4. Now when God seemed to be thus defoyled and put back he Creates a new people among the Gentiles And this with a few Jewes is called the primitive Church Apostolicall But not many yeares after the old dragon played another game and divideth those Churches by breaking them among themselves So that the Apostacy and Antichrist all in black and blood came up and so for many hundreds of years the beast and dragon carried almost all before them though all this while God hath his children and Christ was digging the tophet deep for to cast the king and god of this world at last into that bottomelesse pit 5. It is well known that of late yeares as soone as any sort of people were comming out of Babylon and minding the way to Sion the enemy hath by experience of ages found out many new Inventions to delude divide by teaching his doctrines and applying his conclusions he prevaileth with most of all man-kinde to submit to him as to their soveraigne 6. Now whereas truth being but one is scattered among all Christians and one is taught in one part of it and another in another so that no one sort of men have but only a parcell of the truth and it but a part of their heart the old dragon endeavouring to make truth war against it selfe as it doth fight against him who is the father of lyes he coyneth new names for every party of people that so they might dispute and wrangle among themselves and when any good word is spoken as a testimony the vulgar despise it and say O he is such a one of such a Sect so truth is undervalued and Sects maintained 7. And to secure his den of lyes he rangeth his owne subjects into manifold forms makes them seem to fight one against another that so he that escapeth one evil way or opinion may greedily run into the Camp of another party of the devill being still carefully detained within the verge of his court which is flesh and disobedience 8. And further rather then faile he stirreth up a Theudas and after him Judas before Christ comes and possesseth the bodies of many that so besides the gaining of those deluded soules he may prejudge Christ that the people may say of Christ he hath a devil and is mad as them lately risen and so tumble them over the stumbling stone 9. Time would faile to enumerate his protects to vex Christ and deceive the people but this paper intends only a hint that unstable soules for want of comprehension of love may not fall into the manifold intanglements of the Serpent 10. Of any thing he cannot endure love peace and purity Therefore striveth he to set one Text one Saint one providence one government one Church one nation and one man against another and delighting to fish in troubled waters he setteth Churches on flames by disputations and kingdomes by wars and private Christians by envyings and evill surmisings 11. O thou old Serpent the day of God discovereth thee Thy den is malice Thy trade is sinning Thy recreation is war Thy drink is the blood of soules Thy food is dust Thy trap is unbeliefe Thy disport is tempting Thy haunt is in flesh and blood Thy subjects are many but thou and thy angels shall be broken for ever 12. Now to overthrow this desperate enemy the Lord appointeth man his whole Armour faith to resist him truth to pierce him hope to get beyond him peace to outdare him love to fret him joy to sadden him prayer to whip him union to defeat him and Christ himself to tread him under feet 13. O wretched angell thou accusest mee and many more before God I will also rip up thy devices before the sons of men according to the law of retaliation and will vex thee in thy family of sin Thy kingdome as an abominable branch is cut downe Thy fall is as the lightning Thy Tophet is preparing Thou thy self diggest it deep The great chaine is in the great Angels hand to bind thee Then shall the people have peace instead of war and love for envy and for injustice equity And they shall on earth sing Hallelujah to God and the Lambe that died for man whilest thou art warming of thy selfe in hell fire 14. O Ye children of Adam Be not deluded by this serpent let him not drive you to sin against your light as Balaam did his Asse fling downe this rider and breake the bridle of your own wils and affections and be not ignorant of his devices The day of God revealeth them to you love the light and come out of darknesse 15. Howbeit this enemy doth not so much desire your damnation wherein God will have glory as he doth the disgrace and contempt of the king Christ who is his implacable antagonist He hireth sinners payeth these poore simple soldiers with the pleasures of their own lusts to the end that they may fight against God that made them and against Christ their friend And he supplieth their corrupt natures with the incomes of all pride malice lust unrighteousnesse discontent unthankfulnesse and woe 16. His study is how to discourage the Saints embolden the wicked to divide the Churches to make war in nations to vilifie the Scriptures to create
in your self and your self in God and in his Son and Word who is his Love and his all how long must the children of men run on as beasts they know not where nor yet whence nor yet in what they move and breath and subsist Lord God Almighty put a stop to their minds by the flaming sword of Truth in the hand of thy Covenant-Angel whom the Asse seeth and the Oxe knoweth O that the thousands of Israel and millions of the Gentils might now all at length under thy fifth sixth and seventh Seal Trumpet and Vial know and understand thy own Personal Being and appearance in the glasse-windows of their own spirits for thou art not far from any of them But many are far from thee so as that they neither see thee nor hear thee nor feel thee nor smell thee nor taste thee the Only God who fillest all And I poor worm am naturally as senselesse as any man living and as dark as black as unworthy as any child of Adam according to this outward Man But the new Adam within which is thy new creature and thy child waiteth on thee daily and silently to heare what thou Lord sayst and commandest to be spoken or written 2. My heart is boiling in sorrow and fear yea in indignation and love when I am made to see my brethren and sisters according to nature sunk into the deep pit of corruption And there is scarce above water as much as the crown of the head the haire yea their breath is stopped The spirit of crying to God is gone and but a form of prayer left for a carcasse of Religion and a wave of some filthy worldly lust or another comes one in the neck of another over the head of the conscience and over the crown of the learning of the souls of the people My spirit within me is baked and parched in the furnace of my secret sorrows and fears crying out Woe is me I cannot help any I my self want help of God as much as any I am scarce above water yet I am swimming towards the shore by believing in Jesus to the obedience of the eternal will But O how gastly is it to see all about so many hairy scalps floating on the top of the great deep as so many sure symptomes of dead souls dead hearts toward God and yet immortal spirits All such are the men women or children drowned in selfe and flesh O ye friends that are perfect in Christ Jesus pity pity and help both them and me I am almost arrived and landed and sometimes allowed to stand on a bank in Sion 3. Now when in spirit I am helped to stand on Mount Sion above out of the waters and deluge of Babylon I see the dead world generally and the people of divers opinions particularly burying themselves in blood and warring one with another and persecuting their brethren and yet making truce and peace with sin it self in their own closets Every one in the common rode of nature crying out Here is Truth follow me and my judgement for it is solid it is according to the rule the word of God the Scriptures the Orthodox best Interpretation My Ware is the best Ware Buy it of me or else it is just with God to leave you to errours and then it is also fit that men should make war upon you O my fellow-friend say not so not so the treasures of Truth are wonderfull God is good There is but love in him though there be wrath eternal by him Do not kindle up a fiery flame by working up a whirlwind in thy own spirit towards any Look about How many millions of lives perished in a blinde War How few follow Peace and pursue it in God Where be Gods children like Him that requite good for evill love for hatred peace for war How easily mast thou slip into this malicious or passionate pit But when thou art once in and hel-fire is kindled into flames canst thou tell when thou shalt come out of this wickednesse cruelty and evill surmisings of heart Also O ye stern austere people that are so zealously hot and rigidly censorious be warned lest ye be swallowed up in this gulfe this dark womb principle of wrath John the Baptist the morning star must give way to the pleasant Sun Terror trembling shaking is indeed the end of flesh but not of Godlinesse But while ye are afraid of the invisible one ye know not fully of what spirit ye are Howbeit others in the interim live in boastings mockings and scoldings and scufflings about outward things They project and undermine and deceive and war to to gain a name to get Scepters and Nations gold and silver pleasures and preferments and care not who they kill that stand in their way 4. Man setteth up his own mind and judgement And when he saith the Scripture is the word of God he himselfe takes upon him to judge the sense of that word and so he will needs judge his own Judge And if any other mans conscience strikes not saile to his opinion he passionately gives him a broad side and desireth to have him sunk as an heretick or formalist and so send him quick to hell And all that while the children of Adam thus violently act and dispute they are as divers sorts of birds fighting on the top of the same tree and not understand nor revere that one root of this tree which bears them all up O ye opinionists goe up to this Ramoth Gilead and prosper The false Prophets in your hearts have deceived you But they that feed onely on the true bread and water and are meek in heart have told you the truth but ye will not hear them till the arrow from God strike through your harnesse and the end will be this The dogs shall lick up your blood that was shed amongst you by one another Yet we say God is one Truth is one Love is the chief grace there should be but one Church The holy Scriptures are venerable and to be admired But who shall interpret the Scriptures and say This is the meaning You will say the Church or rather the holy spirit in the true holy Church But your neighbours ask you what Church doe you mean Is it the Baptised or Independent or Prosbyterial or Shaken or Episcopal or Lutheran or Popish or Eastern or Western Church The answer from God in ye is There is none of these righteous there is none of these perfect no not one The Baptised are narrow thoughted The Independent is corrupted the Presbyter and Episcopal are dead and swollen up the shaken too much mistaken in their censures and justifications the Lutheran too sparing in the Doctrine of the New Birth the Papal people Jewish looking out too much through the spectacles of corrupt Reason to dote on vain glosses in Divine worship the Eastern and Western both named Christian not yielding to one another the time of the day devoured the one the