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	know_v	spirit_n	4,447	5	5.2768	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A84892	VIII. problems propounded to the Cavaliers: for conviction of their consciences; with a discovery of certain plots and conspiracies. Declared by Captain Francis Freeman. With an answer thereunto returned by Colonell Francis Windham. And a reply to the said answer. These are printed by the originall papers, and published according to order of Parliament.	Freeman, Francis.; Windham, Francis.; England and Wales. Parliament.	1646 (1646)	Wing F2128; Thomason E343_6; ESTC R200943	20,583	25

22. Now is not this a foolish madnesse for you to rage vent your malice against Gods people and all in vain for sayes the Prophet DAVID in the 2 Psal 1. Why do the heathen so furiously rage and the people imagine a vaine thing and in the next verse he saith the Kings of the earth stand up and the Rulers take counsell together against God and against Christ and although they stand up and take counsell together and rage and rent their malice against the people of God yet the Lord shall speake to them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure as in the 5 verse and in the 10 verse there the Prophet gives them wholesome instructions and exhorteth them to repentance Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be instructed ye Judges of the earth serue the Lord with feare c. and thus you may see plainly that all you Cavaliers do fight against the King and the King against himself his Kingdoms now I shal shew you who you fight for you fight for the Divel the Pope Goring his soldiers are of the Divels Life-guard as his soldiers say themselvs Goring is Captain and the Divel is their General over that black Regiment whose foul sins are as black as Hell it self for you strive to set up Popery Superstition Idolatry and Tyrannie the Kingdom of Antichrist above Christs Kingdom you joyn with all the Papists in the Kingdome both English Dutch French Walloons nay Irish Rebels too who have had their hands imbrued in the blood of many thousand poor Protestants there and yet these cursed Rebels must be called his Maj. Catholike Subjects and must fight for him against his best Subjects for the Protestant Religion too O monstrous horrid and prodigeous prodegie is there any man can be so sottishly ignorant as to believe it I shall endeavour to cleer it by the testimony of many wicked Plots Trecheries and Conspiracies which the Popish faction those wicked Enemies of God have used conspired and contrived against the Church and People of God in K. Iames his time and ever since the beginning of this Kings Reign to bring their wicked designs to passe First in K. Iames his Reign that desperate Powder-plot never to be forgotten wherof many of the Contrivers suffered for it as traytors and yet not many yeares after the Papists prevailed so farre with the King as to grant them a toleration of Religion he being a timerous fearfull man granted their desires it being done they might the better contrive and work some other mischiefe but that tolleration did not long continue the King was better advised by his Councell yet notwithstanding they would not leave their design so naked without hopes but that they went again to the King prevailed so farre with him as to grant a tolleration for all manner of Sports and Pastimes on the Sabbath day dancing at May-poles and the like fooleries this continued till his dying day and since revived by K. Charles and thus came the sluce and fludgate to be opened to all manner of licentiousnesse and liberty together with a strange wife as if they were twins born at a birth then the Bishops rotten Clergie saw which way the King and Queen and the young gallant Lords and Courtiers were inclined then they began presently to fawn upon them like so many puppie Dogs and some pillowes under their elbowes and make such flattering Sermons with so much quaintnesse of wit and flashes as they termed it that you should have them so hum'd up as if they had been at the Black-Fryers or the Cockpit at a St●ge-Play but I must tell them that such fawning Spannels are far worse then dumb Dogs but yet they grew more more in favour at Court insomuch that godly and painfull conscientious Ministers were disfavoured discountenanced many of them put to s●…lence that could not endure their foolish superstitious sopperies then there must be new Canons imposed on them for a Church-Government the Communion Table must be turned Altar-wise forsooth where you might see so much bowings curchings and cringings as if they were going to dance an Antick but yet they endeavoured to make the people believe that Gods speciall pre●ents was there and these actions were a part of Gods Worship w●en alas they worshipt they knew not what like unto the woman of Samaria Iohn 4. where she told our Saviour Christ that our Fathers worshipped in this Mountain and Ierusalem is the place where men ought to worship but our Saviour Christ saith unto her woman believe me the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this Mountain nor at Ierusalem worship the Father ye worship ye know not what but the houre cometh and now is when the true Worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and Truth then after this they must have the new Oath c that men should swear to that they know not or if they refused it at their own perill be it and so many an honest man suffered deeply for it then after this began all the Monopolies that could be devised To back Pattents and Soap Pattents and the like and by this time the Court was grown to a mighty height of pride Superstition and Idolatry sometimes you might find the Bishop of Canterbury at White Hall to see a Masque or a Stage-Play on the Sabbath Day in the Afternoon insomuch that it was a great griefe to the godly to see Popery so countenanced creep in by degrees yet durst not speak against it for fear of punishment in the high Commission Court either by silencing or by suspention But then it pleased God after a little while our Brethren the Scots had a fellow-feeling of our miseries somwhat sensible of their own what would follow after then they began with their own Bishops and presently took them off of their Episcopall Dignities then our Bishops began to stir wince and presently must labor with the King to call a Parliament in all post-hast certain Articles of Church-government must be propounded unto them and a new book of Prayer sent but the Scots refusing their Popish kind of Discipline would not condiscend thereunto then presently a Proclamation of Rebellion must go forth against them the Parl. must be dissolved an Army must be raised to stop this Rebellion all manner of unjust taxes imposition must be laid upon the poor Subjects as Coat and conduct money and the like the unjust pressing of Train Souldiers and buying and selling them by Deputy Lieutenants and Popish Commanders like horses in Smithfield then the King must go himselfe in Person into Scotland the Nobility and Gentry must wait on him the Bishops and rotten Clergy whose war it was must contribute large sums of mony to uphold their Hierarchy hence it came to passe that it was called Bellum Episcopale but howsoever they found the Scots a stout and sturdy Nation their cause being good they met us

which shall be by way of exhortation and admonition let me now exhort and entreat you in the fear of the Lord to repentance and humiliation humble your self before the Lord in dust and ashes come out from among those cursed Crue of Infidels whose tongues speakes nothing but blasphemy so long as thou continue there with them thou cannot but participate of their filthy abominations and transgression for if you do but conive and wink at other mens sins you are as guilty of the same sinne without reproof as if you your selves had personally committed it therefore if you will avoid sin and escape the danger therof then you must shun the occasion of it and consequently shake off such wicked company David said depart from me ye wicked I will keep the Commandements of my God intimating thereby that he could not set himselfe to the performance of any holy duty as hee ought so long as such wicked company were about him yea it hath been a grief to the godly to have bin in the company of ungodly persons as Let living in Sodome when he saw their filth and abominations it vexed his righteous soule and this was it that made David bemone himself and his estate and condition when he was constrained to live among the uncircumcised people Woe is me that I remain in Mesech and to dwell in the Tents of Kedar my soule hath long dwelt among those that be enemies to Peace Now you see how careful these god●y men were to shun and avoid the lewd oompany of the wicked and if you will imitate them in goodnesse you must carefully labour to live in the practice of holinesse and avoid the company of such Idolatrous Papists and Atheists as are amongst you Sir I have wrote to you somwhat largely and the truth of it is far more largely then I intended but yet I hope it will not be labour in vain but that it may please God to make me an Istrument of your conversion if you will but carefully diligently seriously read over this poor weak piece and weigh every particuler according to its severall weight and conscionably practice it in your li●e and conversation walking in newnesse of life and obedience to the Gospel of Christ with earnest and fervent prayers to the Almighty God of heaven to create a new heart and renew a right spirit within you and if we humble our selves and turn from our wicked wayes then the Lord will be mercifull to us and will heal our Land 2 Chron 7.14 and if otherwise that we do not humble our selves it will prove to be misery upon miseries and we shal● heap up wrath against the day of wrath and so the Lord of his mercy direct your heart and divert his Judgments from Us and give us patience to undergo these afflictions and then the Lord in his due time will accomplish his own ends and send us a happy and blessed peace by a blessed Reformation Now I would intreat you in the name of the Lord and for your own soules healths sake that you will take this my counsell and admonitions to shake of your wicked company or if it be possible to reduce them to the obedience of the Parliament but if there be any thing herein expressed whereof you make any scruple or doubt of the truth of it I shall bee ready to give you more full and ample satisfaction if you please to appoint the time and place God willing I will give you a meeting or any Cavalier whatsoever there to use liberty of Conscience and freedom of Spirit to dispute the point without any manner of wrong or violence each to other and that there may be nothing but reality intended betwixt us let there be sufficient engagements to each and I shall for ever remain SIR Yours to command FRANCIS FREEMAN For Mr. Francis Freeman in Dunster these Three in Print Sir I Have perused your Manuscript and would willingly have thoroughly weighed as you drsire your as you well call them poor weeak endevours but truly they prov'd weightlesse and however you please to stile them more powerfull then ordinary even converting me from my selfe sometimes to Democritus then to Heraclitus and from him again to the former making me smile pity and again laugh at your ignorance impudency and folly even in one and the same minute I had thought to have concealed your shame in part and not have hazarded the becoming equally ridiculous with you in going about to blaze what your selfe have more then sufficiently already done I would willingly have kept silence and not answered a word but finding by late speeches over the walls that you take occasion thereby to think wickedly that I am even such a one as your self and that your frivolons what shall I call them are unanswerable and also hearkning to the wise mans advice who wills to answere a fool sometimes according to his folly lest he be over wise in his own conceit I have forc'd my selfe now though unwillingly to return answer unto some of your particulars to all were endlesse but beleeve me where to begin what first to say or what order to observe in answering so disorderly a peece I well know not so great is your confusion so immethodicall your proceeding that I should bewray a great deal of indiscretion should I endevour to tract you but jacta est alea we must on some way or other At all adventure then wee 'l undertake your first you call it a Probleme you are well read in Aristotle it seems learn'd you nothing else thence but this specious appellation Surely this needed no Oedipus the meerest Davus in our Castle had been able enough to have shap'd you a ready answer thereunto however thanks to your charity it seemes you will help if not prevent us therein for you answer in our names a Gentleman and a Souldier and we must take these two termes forsooth on your bankrupt credit for convertible and so naturally or rather supernaturally joyn'd together that it were impiety to sever them as though all Souldiers were Gentlemen and all Gentlemen Souldiers risum teneatis amici A quaint device to Gentilize your Pedlar Dishmaker and the like and to make the young Squire a Martialist But Lord how this fine military youth must be qualified what precise rules he must follow he must and he must he must not and he must again any thing I warrant you but fight for his King but whence learnt you this out of Alian the young Artillery man or your new Edenburgian trow Fie on 't are you not ashamed to dally thus and confound things so foolishly together speaking of a meere Souldier simply considered as such must we presently conceive him metamorphosed become a spiritual one Was Hector Alexander Caesar or any of the Othoman race ever so and yet they were Gentlemen they were Souldiers if we may confide in their Heraldry were they acquainted with did they observe these rules But why

trifle I thus and wonder at nothing The spirit we know is at your command the flesh your hand-maid and you love copulation hugely surely you were at some conventicle when you thought on this but did not you do the Divels drudgery then too Speak tru●h and shame the Divel and never wrest any text of Scripture so prophanely to put your bastards on him but father them your selves a Gods name they may prove babes of grace ten to one but some of your holy sisters were their mothers however to the pure all things are pure and your faith is strong and can easily conceit what you would have bee as though it were even as easily as his that first I know not what to call it turnd Quadrata rotundis But heark Sir should we be so bold with you as to ask you the same question What profession are you of what would you answer a a a or as you do for us a Gentleman and a Souldier Good truth we can hardly beleeve you not that our charity is pinion'd but out of reverence to the truth speaking much otherwise in their actions for truly for all your late Bug-beares you have shewd very little of the one but farre lesse of the other since your sitting down before us we could instance your incivill inhumane and treacherous dealing with you know whom contrary to faith given contrary to all Law of Arms. But let that passe the Generall no doubt in due time wil thank you for it and we our selves may ere long peradventure make you requitall Your second question is Of what Religion are you and you answer for us more then you can for your selves The Protestant Well we acquiesce therewith and seeing you have nothing to say against us therein which may be well scor'd up too wee 'l passe on in quiet and not make an enemy where we find none as you doe Yet we cannot chuse here but smile at your weaknesse or rather wilfulnesse in going about hence so absurdly to countenance your rebellious covenant and your quoting of the Prophet Esra 10.3.8 to prove God knows what Brother brother this was a great oversight and confirms clearly what upon good ground we gues'd before that you pin your faith more closely on other mens quotations and marginall notes then on the Text it self But to let these things and the like passe and to come to the grand question between us viz. Whether yee be Rebels or no We confidently a verre ye are and ye can but faintly and as it were with blushes deny it for if ye be so ye say ye are confident your rebellion is lawfull the case standing as now it doth And why so confident forsooth Why because Ezechiah rebelled against the King of Assyria ye say and prospered O ridiculous Did ever any understanding man produce examples as rules or proofs of the lawfulnesse or unlawfulnesse of a thing in controversie let me tell you Sir I think none but your self Examples may illustrate indeed but proue nothing at all But because you adde As the case now standeth pray let us examine how it stands and what compare or disparity there is between yours and Ezechia's rebellion as you call it Ye were or should have been subjects so were ye born I am sure and enjoyd such wholsome lawes such large priviledges liberties and immunities as few subjects in any neighbouring Kingdome can boast the like His Majestie your onely and undoubted Soveraign such a Prince as Envy herselfe could not till shee borrowed your tongues tax with any personally addicted vice humane infirmity the best may have such a one as went not about any way to alter either law or religion to infringe your priviledges or debar ye of any the least your just claim'd immunities but endeavoured onely to preserve his own regall authority defend his loyall subjects and rule all accodring to the common and known lawes of the Kingdome and yet ye because ye might not have your own wayes to innovate and turn upside down all things both in Church State must needs rebell rob him of his shipping Ports Castles Cities Towns Lands Revenues and all driving him out of doors leaving him not so much as one of his own houses to put his head in nay and worse yet persecuting him from place to place endeavouring still as much as in ye lies not only to take the crown from his hea● but even his head from his shoulders too And thus stands the case with you Let us look upon Ezechiah good Ezechia a t●ow sincere worshipper of the immortall God not likely then to run into so horrid a sin a free absolute King himself a condition somwhat incompatible with rebellion legally succeeding his fore fathers in the throne and no way subject for ought I can find to Senacharib that hethenish hellish tyrant otherwise then the Lamb is to the Lion or the weaker to the stronger Yea but he rebelled say you against him the text is down-right and seems plainly to imply that he was his subject He rebelled But stay Sir all is not gold that glisters you 'l play at small game I see rather then sit out when you c●nnot explisitly prove you wil implicitly beleeve and as one ready to sink catch at any thing though never so weak ●hat may but seem to uphold your accursed rebellion But tell me friend are you so wel acquainted with the original or have you so thoroughly conversed with the 72. and the learned train of orthodoxal expositers that you can of your self or from any joynt consent of theirs assure me that this word must needs be tied up so strictly and rendred precisely thus and no otherwise I presume you wil not say so for Sir I can assurre you that language was free-born and cannot endure such strict restrain it will it must have its libertie and this word may be nay and is I have been informed elswhere somewhat otherwise rendred Me thinks you being so great a Marginalist might have observed some such thing your charity have taught you the rule in such cases to make the best construction especially when so good a man is concerned in it Surely the holy Penman hereof meant nothing lesse then to appeach his good King of that bewitched sinne here for it is plain enough he was not in the least kind guilty thereof However let this be taken notice of to your shame that he guilty or not guilty policy so requiring acknowledgeth a fault and submits to the tyrants pleasure 2 Kings 18 14. your good King could never find ye yet guilty of so much ingenuity or grace but I observe withall that though he acknowledge an offence now offence may be taken when not justly given yet he will not acknowledge himselfe a rebell he saith indeed I have offended but addes not in rebelling against thee which he would assuredly have done had he known himselfe guilty therein fear may make him do much but not so much not acknowledge himselfe