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	faith_n	fundamental_a	1,746	5	10.1277	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A95370	A sermon preached before Sir P.W. Anno 1681. With additions: to which are annexed three digressional exercitations; I. Concerning the true time of our Saviour's Passover. II. Concerning the prohibition of the Hebrew canon to the ancient Jews. III. Concerning the Jewish Tetragrammaton, and the Pythagorick Tetractys. / By John Turner, late fellow of Christ's College in Cambridge.	Turner, John, b. 1649 or 50.	1684 (1684)	Wing T3318AB; ESTC R185793	233,498	453

at all though I speak with the tongue of men and Angels saith he and have not charity I am become as sounding brass or a tinckling Cymbal and though I have the gift of prophecie and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not charity I am nothing nay though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burned and have not charity it profiteth me nothing And if to the Testimony of St. Paul you will add the greater Authority of our Saviour himself he makes reciprocal Charity and Love to be the distinguishing mark and character of his Disciples By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye love one another If therefore this Charity which is so essential to a Disciple of Christ that he cannot be so without it if the Vnion of the spirit in the bond of peace can be preserved under differing denominations of different Sects and Parties notwithstanding the different external forms and circumstances of Divine Worship if all or any of those pious and learned Exhortations which have been made to persuade you to this Christian temper can have that good effect which is intended by them notwithstanding the various forms of Church Government and the diversity of all other outward appendages and ceremonies of publick Worship if we can fear God and honour the King and love one another as well and as heartily in the midst of these differences as if there were no such things to be found among us then by my consent let all the Ecclesiastical Enclosures be laid open and let every man worship God so he do but worship him in spirit and in truth and believe aright as to the fundamental Articles of the Christian Faith according to his own particular humour and fancie because by gratifying such an harmless though unaccountable humour there can no inconvenience follow but by disturbing and crossing it there may and therefore the ends of Religion will be better served by a diversity in Worship than by an uniformity of it But now on the contrary if it should prove true as it will most certainly if either Experience or Reason can be heard amongst us that the onely way to Unity and Peace is by an Uniformity of Discipline and Obedience as to the external circumstances of Divine Worship then this great end being so necessary as it is for the procuring us all that Happiness which either this World or the next can afford us will justifie all the necessary means that can be used in order to the obtaining it Wherefore Uniformity being necessary as a means to Peace and yet being impracticable unless the Church be supposed to be invested with a Power of prescribing the external modes and circumstances of Obedience it follows plainly that the Church is actually invested with such a Power and that all its members are bound to obey its Prescriptions For the Topick of Experience it is not without some unwillingness that I mention it much less do I think it proper at this time and place to lay open the wounds of our late unhappy times or present you with a mournfull Scene of those Miseries and Distractions which neither can nor ought to be remembred without Amazement and Horrour But if you will every one of you retire into your own thoughts and ask your selves the question What it was that brought those dreadfull Calamities upon us that involved three flourishing and powerfull Kingdoms in Bloud and Slaughter and Confusion that made the Gods to dye like men and fall like one of the Princes while Slaves were set over us to be our Masters and Frogs were heard croaking in the Chambers of our Kings then you your selves will answer for me It was the tender Conscience dissolved into rebellious Pretences that carryed Order and Government before it and overflow'd all things with a resistless Stream it was a Cry against Discipline and Ceremonies and humane Institutions it was a Clamor for Liberty against Will-worship and the Ordinances of men it was a Spirit of Sedition a Thirst after Innovation an insatiable Humour of being dissatisfied with all the wholesome Establishments of Unity and Peace it was an Itch of new-modelling both Church and State it was a Pharisaical Pretence to farther Improvements of Purity and Holiness it was Discontent and Jealousie and godly Fear lin'd with Hypocrisie and Dissimulation that reduced our Beauty and Order into Ashes that laid the magnificent and comely Fabricks of the British Church and Empire the Amazement of themselves and the Envy of their neighbours equal with the ground and instead of one firm and well-compacted Building rais'd paper Tenements of crumbling Sects and Factions which instead of being able to support themselves betray'd us in a manner into that Security which we now enjoy While we forgetfull of those Miseries under which our Fathers and our selves have groan'd unthankfull for those Blessings which under the shade and protection of a wise and happy Government we receive ungratefull to Almighty God who out of that Chaos of Confusion has rear'd this new world of Establishment and Order displeas'd with the fatness of the Olive and the sweetness of the Figg-tree and quarrelling with the friendly and sociable Vine that cheareth God and Man are calling again for the Bramble to reign over us and for the Thornes and Briars to protect us or like the Israelites in the Wilderness surfeited with Miracles with Manna and with Quailes with the dew of Heaven and with the fatness of the Earth with liberty and ease and plenty we are looking back for Slavery from our old Taskmasters in the Land of Ham and longing for the Garlick and the Onyons of Egypt But because an instance taken from our late Confusions may but exasperate whenit should convince Let us avoid the mention of that Crying Guilt for which this Land of our Nativity has wept in tears of Bloud and should for ever mourn in Sack-cloth and humble her self before the Lord in Ashes and let us trace the footsteps of Antiquity and search the Records of the more innocent and early Ages What was the reason in the Mosaick Dispensation why all the external niceties of divine Worship in their Feasts and in their Sacrifices and in their Lustrations were so carefully adjusted by the particular designation and appointment of God himself It is true indeed that most of those Ceremonies were of a symbolicall nature and were designed to shadow out unto the Jewes either that purity simplicity and innocence of mind which God expects from all his worshippers and servants or else they were figurative and emblematicall Representations of the life and death and sufferings of the Messias and of that more perfect Dispensation which was to be introduced into the World by him But yet notwithstanding it must not be deny'd that there are many Ceremonies to be found in the Law of Moses

their breast or thigh and so having made their obeisance take their leave From which Citation of Busbequius in concurrence with the testimony of Aben Ezra there are several things very well worth observation As first that this was and is a general token of respect in the Eastern Countries Secondly The outward expressions by gesture of civil respect and of divine worship being generally the same in all Ages and Nations as shall be proved more largely in its due place the difference between these two consisting only in the difference of the object and the different application or direction of the mind in the one and the other and it having been shewn already out of the unquestionable Records of Moses himself that some such ceremony as this was used in Divine Worship of which every Oath is a part it being an acknowledgment of the divine Omniscience and of his Justice and Power it including an Appeal to the former as a witness and a Prayer to the two latter so to exercise and dispose themselves either for our benefit or hurt as we assert truly or perform faithfully what we affirm deny or promise it is manifest that this Modern custom of the Eastern Countries is the best explanation of that ancient usage of which we have given instances in the Story of Abraham and Jacob and that therefore R. Salomon's interpretation must needs be false it being clear that in this Citation of Busbequius the word Femur is to be understood in its most proper strict and natural acceptation Thirdly By comparing this testimony of Busbequius with the two places of Genesis which we have mentioned it appears how much Josephus was mistaken who in his Antiquities L. 1. c. 16. gives this account of that Story of Abraham which is to be found in the first of those places 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is he Abraham sends or dispatches his eldest servant to make up the contract betwixt Isaac and Rebekkah obliging him by the most sacred tyes imaginable punctually to observe his instructions now the manner of imposing such solemn and sacred tyes is this The party obliging and the party obliged do both of them mutually put their hands under their thighs and shaking hands after that manner with one another they invoke God as a witness of what passeth between them or of what the one requires to be done and the other promises to doe than which there can be nothing more contrary either to the express words of Scripture or of Busbequius by the first of which the ancient usage is expressed and by the second the continuance of it in these latter times but on the contrary it is as plainly asserted as it is possible for words to express it that all that was done was that the party adjured was used to put his hand upon or under the thigh of him by whom the adjuration was made and if you consider that in the instances of Abraham and Jacob they were both of them bed-ridden and lying along while Eliezer in the first example and Joseph in the second stood by the bed side such a way of shaking of hands as Joseph in the second stood by the bed side such a way of shaking of hands as Josephus describes though it be not impossible must needs be extremely difficult and painfull to the party standing by the bed side as will be easie to imagine to any that shall but fancy in their minds the posture in which the adjured person must be with respect to him who lay along in his bed Wherefore we must attribute this misrepresentation of the matter either to the ignorance of Josephus or to an affectation which he had of dressing up the Hebrew customs in the Garb of the Greek and Roman among whom joyning of hands was always used as a way of plighting of Faith that so he might the better accommodate his History to the approbation and good acceptance of those for whom it was intended but let it be either way it argues either want of honesty or skill either of which are sufficient to weaken his authority and credit to that degree that his high pretences to integrity and skill as if he scorned to deceive and could not be imposed upon being so very skilfull that at a very tender age the Priests themselves were used to consult him in difficult and doubtfull cases which they that please may believe are so far from supporting his tottering reputation that compared with such failures either out of ignorance or design of these they do but still speak him more plainly either an unwary or unlearned Writer and indeed how is it reasonable to expect much of sincerity from him where he may either serve the interest of his Nation or the credit of his own Eloquence and Parts with which he must be acknowledged to have been very plentifully furnished by putting false colours and artificial lights and shades upon his Story when he gives so excellent nay so divine a Character of our Saviour himself for he questions whether he were a mortal man or no and was in that respect under greater convictions than any of the Socinians of our days can be and yet was not perswaded to become one of his followers and disciples not that I would be so understood as if I would utterly destroy the authority of his Writings but I say there is care and judgment to be use in distinguishing his truth from his mistakes or his impostures And first in the general we may and ought to believe that his main intention was to write truth because there was no reason why he should doe otherwise and because to doe otherwise too palpably and too often would have exposed him to the just indignation and hatred of his own Nation and he would have been confuted and exposed into the bargain And lastly because he that out of vanity affectation or design would effectually deceive sometimes must be sure for the most part to be a religious observer of truth that so under the protection of his integrity his falshood may pass with the less examination Secondly The far greatest part of his Story is attested by the concurrence of the sacred Writings together with it Lastly As there are some falsities so palpable that they expose and betray their own shame and nakedness to the world so also there are other relations that carry such signatures of probability in themselves as are a tolerable testimony to their own reality and truth so that it is plain by all this I do not so much design to expose the credit of this Writer as to establish what is credible in him upon a more certain foundation The last opinion which is to be considered is that of H. Grotius Quasi dicerent ●i fallam ense tuo peream that is to say that this rite of laying the hand of the adjured person upon the thigh of him by whom the adjuration was made was as much as to say If I deceive

So Isaac was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Jachid as being the only son Sarah Annobret that is Quae per gratiam concepit as having conceived and brought forth in her old age when it had ceased to be with her after the manner of women and the breath of God which is said to have been breathed into the nostrils of the first man is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Kol phi Jah Sonus or Sibilus oris Dei Fourthly and lastly If we consider the distance of the age of Sanchuniathon from that of his Translator Philo who flourished in Adrian's time it may seem very probable that the language out of which he made that Translation was not so perfectly understood by him but that he might be guilty of many and great mistakes so that if to the unskilfullness or wilfull errours of the original you add the defects and failures of the Translation there will but little of credit remain to that ancient Writer only thus much is certain that those names which still remain in their original sound are many of them owing as to their signification to the true and genuine antiquities of Moses and as the manifest Anachronisms which are to be found in those Phoenician Fables for they are no better are a sufficient confutation to themselves so on the other hand what there is remaining agreeable to that account of things which hath been given by Moses is an undeniable attestation to the authority of his Writings and shows plainly that there have been really such persons and such transactions in the world as have been left upon record by him But whatever becomes of Abibalus or Zabratus in the latter of which especially I am not without great confidence that I am in the right it is certain that in Zamolxis which was another name for one of Pythagoras his Masters who was if I am not mistaken the very same with Zabratus the name of Jah is very plainly contained for this Zamolxis is evidently no other than Jah Moloc or the King Jah For in the first place as for those among the Greeks who will needs have Zamolxis to have been contemporary with Pythagoras and to have been his servant and to have received his Doctrine from him this opinion is expresly rejected by Herodotus in Melpomene in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am of opinion that this Zamolxis lived many years before the time of Pythagoras In the next place Mnaseas in the Etymologist who is transcribed by Suidas saith that he was worshipped by the Getae for Saturn nay his words are more express 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Saturn is worshipped by the Scythians and is called Zamolxis so then Zamolxis is evidently Jah Moloc for Moloc and Saturn have always been accounted the same and from hence it is that humane sacrifices are offered to Zamolxis in Herodotus as well as to Moloc by the Ammonites or to Saturn or Jupiter Latiaris by any other barbarous and heathen Nations for he tells us that constantly once in five year they were used to send a Messenger to Zamolxis with particular instructions to inform him of what every one wanted and to desire him to supply their respective wants and the manner of their sending of him was this that they were used to fasten three sharp Stakes upon the ground and then to take their Messenger as they called him and throw him upon the points of those Stakes in which case if he dyed presently they took it then for a good Omen that their requests were granted but if he were not presently dispatched then they were used to say he was a wicked man and that Zamolxis would not receive his Message and so they sent another and another in the same manner till some one was immediately dispatched and him they accounted acceptable and well-pleasing to Zamolxis which is a plain sign that this Messenger as Herodotus calls him was looked upon as an Expiatory sacrifice which ought to be clean and pure it self that it may the better attone for the sins of others And that this Zamolxis is really a word of Hebrew Origination appears still further from this that as Herodotus says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some of the Scythians were used to call him Gebeleizin which is no other than Gebel or Geboul in composition with Zan or Zen whom the Latines would call Terminus or Jupiter Terminalis and the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Herodotus himself afterwards renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so the particular tutelar Deity of the City of Emissa in Phoenicia was called Alagabalus that is Eloah Geboul the God of the Coast or President of that City and the Territory belonging to it But besides this there are several other things which do very plainly confirm what I have conjectured that Jah and Zamolxis are at least so far the same as that the first is a part of the composition of the latter First It is certain he was not worshipped by any Image or sensible representation to which they always supposed the Spirit or Divinity of the Numen himself to be present but they conceived of him as of an invisible being having his peculiar residence in heaven for which reason the Jews were used to call God Shamajim that is Heaven and that not only of latter times but you may see instances of it in Buxtorf out of Lex Talmud in Shamajim the Talmud as old as Shammai who lived a good while before our Saviour and in our Saviour's time there are many instances of it that place of St. Matthew where our Saviour forbids his disciples to swear by heaven and that passage of the prodigal son Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee and that Quaere of our Saviour's to the Priests and Elders the baptism of John whence was it from heaven or of men are all very plain examples of this signification and another instance of it we have likewise in the book of Daniel who lived in the time of the Babylonish captivity c. 4. 26. After that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule that is he who hath his more peculiar or beatifique seat in heaven though by his divine extension he be equally present to all other places besides For this reason it was that the Scythians did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 send a Messenger to him whom they supposed to have his residence in heaven and they that dyed were said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to go to Zamolxis which is exactly the language of the Scripture it self So the Authour to the Hebrews speaking of the Translation of Enoch immediately subjoyns He that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Eccles 12. 7. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it Secondly The Scythians believed of this Zamolxis as the truth was and