Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	believe_v	damn_v	delusion_n	1,893	5	11.0930	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93781	Spiritual infatuation, the principal cause of our past and present distempers. Or a serious caveate to the many seducers and seduced who under the specious pretences of reformation and conscience endeavour the subversion of Church and State. In several sermons on Isa. 9,10,11,12. By W. Stamp D.D. late minister of the Word at Stepn[e]y near London.	Stampe, William, 1611-1653?	1662 (1662)	Wing S5195; ESTC R229850	116,158	268

the same senselesnesse and stupidity they have all e●s alike and see not ears and Ps 115. 8. hear not feet and walk not They that make Idols are like unto them and so are all such us put their trust in them Had not this charm of Infatuation a strange power upon the m●nds of the English Nation when that notorious cheat of King and Parliament began to commens●… and walk the world with such gen●ral reception and entertainment a●d did not the juglers of this age belie●e as much when men did not blush to ●reach and print That the opposing the Kings power was the justest way of ●efending it That the fyring ofCano● at his Royal person was to be underst●… sor his defence and preservation ●hat an Army was necessary t● bring h●m to his Parliament when ●e was there before as was pretended in his ●est capacity and that an Army was as necessary to keep him from his Parlia●ent when he would have been there personally for the just satisfaction of hi● people And now that men have seen how well his power and his person h●th been defended now that they have seen the r●ine of Religion and goo● laws in the murther of their Soveraign and the Liberty of the subject resolved into the arbytrarie pleasure of the Souldier is not the delusion as strong at this day as ever Is not our Infatuation together with our miseries encreased almost into a miracle Is there any man almost that for fear of himself dares thus expostulate with himself what have I been doing now these 7. or 8. yeers what contributions have I given to the present miseries and confu●…on of my Nation Gods Truth is still the same but is not my understanding strangely changed from what it was Is there not a ly in my right hand To say there are none in this hopeful way of recovery were durus sermo an hard saying which I dare not own But yet let me tell ye the paucity of those who own their errors as they ●…ould be owned that is with repentance and satissaction is enough to proclaim to all the world that the blindnesse o● these times is not much unlike to that of Sodom all old and young all Gen. 18. 4 from ev●ry quarter almost involved and for ought I know may be as nigh destruction too though not by a judgement sent immediately from heaven And now I am speaking of Insatuation it may fall under a question whether the most violent and virulent part of the English Rebels do at this day discern the error of their way or not I know much may be said on the affirmative and most men believe that how ever they pretend Gods cause and the like yet they have many a secret check within themselves for what they do But I am clearly for the Negative and I think I have Scripture grounds for my opin●on I shall easily grant there was a time when they did see their error though now I believe they do not For men are no longer masters of their own eyes when once the hand of God hath closed them such as rebel against the light of Gods word knowing it to be so it is most just with God to obstruct the way of his truth and to close up their senses for ever lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and be convert c. And that this is not a private guesse of my own vouched with as little warrant as charity you shall hear S. Paul speak to it Now the spirit speak●th expresly that in the latter times 1 Tim 4. 1 2. some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrine of divels speaking lies in hypocrisie having their Consciences seared with an hot iron Where 't is easie to observe the method and progresse of Gods justice upon such as do see and will not First they shall depart from the faith which they have once professed Secondly they shall give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of divels Thirdly they shall speak lyes in hypocrisie speak sor truth what they know to be lyes there 's the wilfulness of their sin and then sollows as a just reward their consciences shall be seared and there 's the irrecoverablenesse of the judgement And from the strength of this delusion it comes to passe that men shall think they do God good service when they shall murther his own Ambassadours Ioh. 16. 2● according to our Saviours own predictio● So that as we read in the hystory of Henry 7. of that famous impostor Perkin Warbeck that he cosened the world so long by personating a King that from his accustomed Majestick garb and deportment he began at length to believe himself to be so indeed till his high thoughts of himself were confuted by the base service of the Kings kitchin And as it fares with some melancholy constitutions who by dwelling over long upon their own thoughts and Phantasmes have believed themselves to be beasts and behaved themselves accordingly so the inuring of a mans self to speak lies meerly in hypocrisie to promote imposture is the high way at long running to believe in earnest that to be a truth which at first w●s known to be but a lie For it is not enough that the intellect be acquainted with Divine Truth but that the heart be warmed also with love of that truth the want of which is the cause of the grossest error and deception This is cleared also by an express assertion of the same Apostle Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be s●ved sor this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believealy 2 Thes 2. 10 11 12. that they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure i● unrighteousness So that if these men of whom I speak have adventured upon so bold a sin as to hold the truth of God in unrighteousness that is by their own phari●aical malice and perversness have manacled and chained up Gods truth from having any dominion over themselves or acti●ns if their eys have bee● fixed more upon the spoyl and advantage that m●ght be gain'd by a war then upon any true Evangelical grounds in commencing a war if their hearts have been pre●resolved to exp●nge or abuse any Text of Scripture that might stand in their way and to imprison any prophet that shall seasonably admonish them of the error of it al which I speak by way of suppositiō leaving the world to determine of the truth of my suggestions I say it is no wonder at all if these men having sorfeited the benefit of al the fair warnings convincements they have had by their wilfulnesse and obstinacy at this time of day mistake darkness for light Belial for Christ and their own whimseys delusions sor the secret inspiration of the holy Ghost But leaving these men with the Sodomites to grope at noon day and to reflect a

forgotten mine iniquity he hideth away Psal 10. 11. his face and will never see it For let men pretend never so much to faith a good conscience whilst their works are opera tenebrarum the works of darkness I cannot believe they do seriously desire to be acquainted with the light and whilst mens conversations are so Atheistical Divellish I cannot think they believe either the Iustice of God or the truth of his word or the vileness of their sins or the immortality of their souls They are certainly under the power of some strong delusion And this I take to be one symptom of infatuation for the mind to be bewitched with blindness error And if the light that is in us is Mat. 6. 23. darkness oh how great is that darkness A second symptom of Infatuation I take to be a bold and daring kind of impudence in sinning when men care neither what they do nor before whom when there is not only a want of sight in the understanding to look upon sin in its ugly nature and complexion a want of sorrow in the heart to grieve for it but a want of shame in the face to blush for it I joyn both these together because an unrelenting heart and a brazen brow impudence and impenitence are birds of the same hatch and feather I find both charg'd upon the house of Israel by the Prophet Ezekiel All the Ezek. 3. 3. 7. house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted We read Num. 5. of a water of a very strange but certain operation In those times it was in the power of the jealous husband to bring his wife to a certain tryal whether she had abused his bed trans●ressed the co●enant of her God by adultery or not The manner thus he summon●d h●s wife before the Priest there compelled her to drink of a bitter water which if ●he were guiltlesse produced no ill effect at all but was the occasion of fruitfulnes which was ever thought a great honour to that Sex but if guilty of that foul sin of Adultery then it would c●rta●nly make her thigh to rot and her belly to swell and that woman became a proverb and a curse unto her people It w●s the same water how came it then to have such a different operation certainly it was not from the water but from the guilt and delinquency of th● woman wherein I do not so much admire the foulness of her sin as the boldness of her obstinacy who knowing the dreadful curse that would certainly follo● that bitter potion rather then confess her guilt would stand out in a publike and professed defiance of Gods justice It is no otherwise with bold and refractory sinners who though they h●ar the curses of God denounced against their dearest sins ●o yet stand out in an open defiance of their Lord and Maker making every sermon they h●ar a witnesse unto their rebellion and a seal unto thei● Condemnation So that however men may carry their countenan●es in the Sanctuary of God w●th such a smooth confidence as if they were no way conce●ned in those accursed sins w● pre●ch against yet God knows and we know and we tremble to think what secret operation our despised messages have upon their bold and refractory spirits There were many fo●l abominations committed in Israel in the time of the Prophet Jeremy and yet behold with what impudence they carried themselves in al their wickednesse Were they ashamed when they had Committed abomination nay they were not at all ashamed neither could they blush Jer. 6. 15. But instead of blushing see how they beh●ve themselves in the next chapter They stole they murthered they Committed Adultery they sware falsly they burned incens● unto Baal they walked after other Gods whom they knew not Ier. 7. 9. 10. and yet not with standing all this they came and stood before God in his house which was called by his name I and said too that they were delivered to do all these abominations But see the doom of his infatuated people they had sinned themselves so far out of God● fa●our that the Prophet is inhibited so much as to pray for them Therefore Ier. 7. 15. pray not thou for this people neither lift up a cry nor prayer for them neither make intercession to me for I will not hear thee It was a foul aggravation of Iudas Iscariots treason in that he had the impudence to come before his master and kisse him when he meant to betray him Luc. 22. 48. What Judas betrayest thou the son of man with a kisse Is it not wickednesse enough that from a disciple thou provest a Traytor a Traytor to me thy master Thy master whom thou knowest to be innocent a master whom thou knowest not to be ignorant of this base conspiracy but must all this wickednesse be disguised amoris pignore must the seal of Love be made the signal of thy Treason betrayest thou the son of man with a kisse Was it not wickednesse enough in subjects to betray and falsify the Trust reposed in them when they were called to the great Councel of England and from Councellors to grow up to be controulers To persecute with Tongues and penns and Armies their Royal Lord and master To strip him of his estate and the nearest comforts of his life To imprison arraign condemn and execute the best of mortal Monarches before his own Royal pallace But must all this be done under a pretence of Iustice and Law and the general good of the Kingdom Certainly This was such a transcendent piece of impudence as fills the world with amazement and which I fear will never find the way to repentance And for this and the like bold vilanies and insolencies I know not whether I shall call the present The iron-hearted or the Brazen foreheaded Generation for certainly al the bold vilanies which have been acted since the world began even among the most barbarous and savage kind of people may be thought but petty-Lareenyes compared with what this Age hath produced within our own Nation And now with what confidence do these men triumph in the chains and snares they have made for their own unwary souls How do they brave it upon those slippery pina●…es of advantage which the madnesse of the people the casua●ties of war and their own base ●ribery and Corruption have set them with what Impudence do they addresse themselves to fortain Princes and States how do they threaten if they are not assisted as if all the world were obliged to strike sayl to their present power or as if they were masters of the whole world in their own imaginations In 1 King 20. we have a remarkable story of Benhadad King of Syria who being ifred up with the thoughts of h●s own power and Ahabs weakn●…s● ends a peremptory mess●…e to the King of Israel say●ng T●y silver and thy gold is mine thy wives also and thy children even the goodliest are