Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
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A03598
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Tvvo sermons vpon part of S. Judes Epistle, by Richard Hooker sometimes Fellow of Corpus Christie College in Oxford
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Hooker, Richard, 1553 or 4-1600.; Jackson, Henry, 1586-1662.
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1614
(1614)
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STC 13723; ESTC S104194
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35,221
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66
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after righteousnesse godlines faith loue patience meeknesse In the second to the Thessalonians the second Chap. They that have not receiued the loue of the truth that they might bee saued God shall send them strong delusions that they may beleeue lies But we ought to giue thanks alway to God for you brethren beloued of the Lord because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and faith in the truth And in this Epistle of S. â—ude There shall come mockers in the last time walking after their owne vngodly lusts But beloued edifie yee your selues in your most holy faith 3 These sweet exhortations which God putteth every where in the mouthes of the Prophets Apostles of Iesus Christ are evident tokens that God siâ—teth not in heaven carelesse and vnmindfull of our estate Can a mother forget her child Surely a mother will hardly forget her child But if a mother bee happily found vnnaturall and doe forget the fruit of her owne wombe yet Gods iudgements shew plainly that he cannot forget the man whose heart hee hath framed and fashioned a new in simplicity and truth to serue and feare him For when the wickednesse of man was so great and the earth so filled with crueltie that it could not stand with the righteousnes of God any longer to forbeare wrathfull sentences brake out from him like wine from a vessell that hath no vent My spirit saith he can struggle and striue no longer an end of all flesh is come before me Yet then did Noah finde grace in the eies of the Lord I will establish my covenaÌ„t with thee saith God thou shalt goe into the arke thou and thy sonnes and thy wife and thy sonnes wiues with thee 4 Doe we not see what shift God doth make for Lot and for his familie in the 19. of Genesis least the fierie destruction of the wicked should overtake him Overnight the Angels make enquiry what sons or daughters or sonnes in law what wealth and substance he had They charge him to carie out al whatsoever thou hast in the citie bring it out God seemeth to stand in a kind of feare least something or other would be left behind And his will was that nothing of that which he had not an hoofe of any beast not a threed of any garment should bee singed with that fire In the morning the Angels fayle not to call him vp and to hasten him forward Arise take thy wife thy daughters which are here that they be not destroyed in the punishment of the Citie The Angels hauing spoken againe and againe Lot for all this lingereth out the time still till at the length they were forced to take both him and his wife and his daughters by the armes the Lord being mercifull vnto him and to cary them forth and set them without the citie 5 Was there ever any father thus carefull to saue his child from the flame A man would thinke that now being spoken vnto to escape for his life and not to looke behinde him nor to tarry in the plaine but to hasten to the mountaine there to saue himselfe he should do it gladly Yet behold now he is so farre off from a chearefull willing hart to do whatsoever is commanded him for his owne weale that he beginneth to reason the matter as if God had mistaken one place for another sending him to the hill when salvation was in the Citie Not so my Lord I beseech thee Behold thy servant hath found grace in thy sight and thou hast magnified thy mercy which thou haste shewed vnto me in saving my life I cannot escape in the mountaine least some evil take me and I die Here is a Citty hard by a small thing O let me escape thither is it not a small thing and my soule shall liue Well God is contented to yeeld to any conditions Behold I haue received thy request concerning this thing also I will spare this City for which thou hast spoken hast thee saue thee there For I can do nothing till thou come thither 6 Hee could doe nothing Not because of the weaknesse of his strength for who is like vnto the Lord in power but because of the greatnesse of his mercy which would not suffer him to lift vp his arme against that City nor to power out his wrath vpon that place where his righteous servant had a fancie to remaine and a desire to dwell O the depth of the riches of the mercy and loue God! God is afraide to offend vs which are not afraid to displease him God can do nothing till he haue saved vs which can finde in our harts rather to do any thing then to serue him It contenteth him not to exempt vs when the pit is digged for the wicked to comfort vs at every mention which is made of reprobates and godlesse men to saue vs as the apple of his owne eie when fire commeth downe from heaven to consume the inhabitants of the earth except every Prophet and every Apostle and every servant whom he sendeth forth doe come loaden with these and the like exhortations O beloved edifie your selues in your most holy faith Giue your selues to praier in the spirit keepe your selues in the loue of God Looke for the mercie of our Lord Iesus Christ vnto eternall life 7 Edifie your selues The speech is borrowed froÌ„ material builders and must be spiritually vnderstood It appeareth in the 6. of S. Iohns gospel by the Iewes that their mouthes did water too much for bodilie food Our fathers say they did eate Manna in the Desert is it is written He gaue them bread from heaven to eate Lord evermore give vs of this bread Our Saviour to turne their appetite another way maketh theÌ„ this answere I am the bread of life hee that coÌ„meth to me shall not hunger and hee that beleeveth in mee shall never thirst 8 An vsuall practise it is of Satan to cast heapes of worldly baggage in our way that whilest we desire to heape vp gold as dust wee may be brought at the length to esteeme vilely that spiritual blisse Christ in the 6. of Matthew to correct this evill affection putteth vs in minde to lay vp treasure for our selues in heaven The Apostle 1. Tim. 3. chapt misliking the vanity of those womeÌ„ which attired themselues more costly then beseemed the heavenly calling of such as professed the feare of God willeth them to cloath themselues with shamefastnes and modestie and to put on the apparel of good workes Taliter pigmentatae Deum habebitis amatorem saith Tertullian Put on righteousnesse as a garment in steed of Civit haue Faith which may cause a savour of life to issue from you and God shall be enamoured he shal be ravished with your beauty These are the ornaments bracelets and jewels which inflame the loue of Christ and set his hart on fire vpon his spowse We see how he breaketh
how wonderfull I would faine learne the mysterie of the eternall generation of the sonne of God saith Hilary Whom shall I seeke shall I get me to the schooles of the Grecians why I haue read vbi sapiens vbi scriba vbi conquisitor huius seculi These wise men in the world must needs bee dumbe in this because they haue reiected the wisdome of God Shall I beseech the Scribes and Interpreters of the law to become my teachers how can they knowe this sith they are offended at the crosse of Christ It is death for me to be ignorant of the vnsearchable misterie of the sonne of God of which misterie notwit standing I should haue been ignorant but that a poore fisherman vnknowne vnlearned new come from his bote with his cloathes wringing wet hath opened his mouth and taught me In the beginning was the word and the word was with God the word was God These poore sillie creatures haue made vs rich in the knowledge of the mysteries of Christ. 7 Remember therefore that which is spoken of by the Apostles Whose words if the children of this world doe not regard is it any marvaile They are the Apostles of our Lord Iesus not of their Lord but of our It is true which one hath said in a certaine place Apostolicam fidem seculi homo non capit a maÌ„ sworne to the world is not capable of that faith which the Apostles doe teach What meane the children of this world then to tread in the courts of our God What should your bodies doe at Bethel whose hearts are at Bethaven The God of this world whom yee serue hath provided Apostles and teachers for you Chaldeans wisards Southsayers Astrologers and such like Heare them Tell not vs that yee will sacrifice to the Lord our God if wee will sacrifice to Ashteroth or Melcom that yee will read our Scriptures if wee will listen to your traditions that if yee may haue a Masse by permission wee shall haue a Communion with good leaue and liking that yee will admit the things that are spoken of by the Apostles of our Lord Iesus if your Lord and Master may haue his ordinances observed and his statutes kept Solomon tooke it as well he might for an evident proofe that she did not bear a motherly affection to her child which yeelded to haue it cut in diverse parts He cannot loue the Lord Iesus with his heart which lendeth one care to his Apostles and another care to false Apostles which can brooke to see a mingle mangle of religion and superstition Ministers and Massingpriests light darknesse truth and errour traditions and Scriptures No we haue no Lord but Iesus no doctrine but the Gospell no teachers but his Apostles Were it reason to require at the hands of an English subiect obedience to the lawes and edicts of the Spaniard I doe marvaile that any man bearing the name of a servant of the servants of Iesus Christ will goe about to drawe vs from our allegeance Wee are his sworne subiects it is not lawful for vs to heare the things that are not told vs by his Apostles They haue told vs that in the last daies there shall be mockers therefore wee beleeue it Credimus quia legimus we are so perswaded because we read it must be so If we did not read it we would not teach it Nam quae libro legis non continentur eanec nosse debemus saith Hilary those things that are not written in the booke of the law wee ought not so much as to be acquainted with them Remember the words which were spoken of before of the Apostles of our Lord Iesus Christ. 8 The third thing to be considered in the description of these men of whom wee speake is the time wherin they should be manifested to the world They tolde you there should bee mockers in the last time Noah at the commaundement of God built an Arke and there were in it beasts of all sorts cleane vncleane A husbandman planteth a vineyard looketh for grapes but when they come to the gathering behold togither with grapes there are found also wilde grapes A rich man prepareth a great supper and biddeth many but when hee sitteth him downe he findeth amongst his friends here and there a man whom he knoweth not This hath beene the state of the Church sitheÌ„ce the beginning God alwaies hath mingled his Saints with faithlesse and godlesse persons as it were the cleane with the vncleane grapes with sowre grapes his friends and children with aliens and strangers Mervaile not theÌ„ if in the last daies also yee see the men with whom you liue and walke arme in arme laugh at your religion and blaspheme that glorious name whereof you are called Thus it was in the daies of the patriarckes prophets and are we better then our fathers Albeit we suppose that the blessed Apostles in foreshewing what manner of men were set out for the last daies meant to note a calamity speciall and peculiar to the ages and generations which were to come As if he shoulde haue said As God hath appointed a time of seed for the sower and a time of harvest for him that reapeth as he hath giveÌ„ vnto every hearb every tree his own fruit and his own season not the season nor the fruit of another for no man looketh to gather figs in the winter because the Sommer is the season for them nor grapes of thistles because grapes are the fruite of the Vine so the same God hath appointed sundâ—ie for every generation of men other men for other times and for the last times the worst men as may appeare by their properties which is the fourth point to be considered of in this description 9 They told you that there should be Mockers He meaneth men that shall vse religion as a cloake to put off and on as the weather serveth such as shall with Herod heare the preaching of Iohn Baptist to day and to morrow condescende to haue him beheaded or with the other Herod say they will worship Christ when they purpose a massacre in their hearts kisse Christ with Iudas and betray Christ with Iudas These are mockers For as ishmael the sonne of Hagar laughed at Isaak which was heire of the promise so shall these men laugh at you as the maddest people vnder the sunne if yee be like Moses choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enioy the pleasures of sin for a season And why God hath not given them eies to see nor harts to coÌ„ceiue that exceeding recompence of your rewarde The promises of salvatioÌ„ made to you are matters wherein they can take no pleasure even as Ishmael tooke no pleasure in that promise wherein God had said vnto Abraham In Isaac shall thy seed be called because the promise concerned not him but Isaac They are tearmed for their impiety towards God mockers and for the impurity of their life