Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
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A60369
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A preservative against atheism and error wherein some fundamental points in religion ... are by way of question and answer handled, and with much brevity and clearness proved ... : to which is added a brief answer to William Russel in a book of his entituled No seventh-day-Sabbath in Christs New Testament / by W. Saller.
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Saller, William, d. ca. 1680.
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1664
(1664)
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Wing S399; ESTC R37201
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26,787
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31
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14.12 Rom. 3.31 Ephes 6.1 2 3. with many other Again in particular to the Sabbath it self If our Lord did not intend it should continue after his Death but he nailed to the Cross with the other Ceremonies what reason could there be for him to advise his Disciples to pray that their flight might not fall out on the Sabbath or at the fall of Jerusalens seeing it fell out sorty years after his Death and wherefore should be tell us it was made for man and that He is the Lord of it if it have no being in his Dominions amongst the Children of men Mark 2.27 28. And besides all this doth not the holy Spirit call it Sabbath and how dare mortal worms call it working day For which way can it deserve the name of a Sabbath if it retain not the nature of a Sabbath But this is an Age in which men are bent to walk in their own wayes and neither believe nor do any thing that crosseth the flesh otherwise how were it possible for men to find so many evasions to keep off from so plain a Duty which was the constant practice of the Saints in the Primitive time as may be seen Acts 13.14 42 44. and 16.13 17.2 18.4 And it is observable that in the former of these Texts Acts 13. Paul keeps Sabbath with Gentiles and speaks not the least word against their Practice nor intimates nothing of a meeting any other day an evil that Paul would never have been guilty of had he known any thing of the abolishing or changing of the Sabbath-day for how earnestly Paul contended against the Gentiles observation of Ceremonies cannot be unknown Quest But is it not possible for the whole ten Commands to be observed although the Sabbath be transmitted from the seventh to the first day of the week Answ If the Lord or any other by his Authority had so done I would not have questioned his power or wisdom herein but seeing he did it not but it is meerly an invention of man I must condemn it for a wicked and ungodly Practice of which the old Serpent was the principal Author to cause the poor Jews to stumble at the Redeemer of the World to this day Quest Since Christ and his Apostles and Primitive Saints observed it what is the reason that the Jews do not believe in Jesus Christ seeing Sabbath-Prophanation is one of their greatest Arguments they commonly urge against Christ and the Christian Religion Answ There is no cause to wonder at their unbelief nor at the reason of it for how can we expect they should search the New Testament diligently to inform themselves what the mind and practice of Christ and his Primitive Saints was when they who profess it to be their Rule are so extream careless in this matter that they suffer themselves to be couzened some with another day and some with no day instead of the Sabbath now the poor Jews judging of the Religion of Christ by the lives of the generality of those that profess his Name cannot but stumble at him and abominate that Religion that alloweth such plain and notorious Wickedness committed against the express letter of God's most holy Law and it cannot be expected in reason that they should repent and believe till a more general Reformation be found in the lives of the Gentiles that profess to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ Quest Well if such prejudices as they take at the Lord Jesus should be removed how can it be clearly proved that Christ Jesus the Son of Mary who was crucified by Pilate is the true Messiah Answ There are many infallible proofs of it As first The certain Time of his coming being so fairly pointed at by the Scriptuies if Jesus be not he this will follow not only that we must with the Jews look for another but be constrained also to cast off the holy Scriptures received both by them and us and so shall be wholly at a loss to know what to believe or receive for truth in order to our eternal peace Quest Name some of those Texts and a little open them for the sakes of the poor Jews and the blind World who it is to be feared neither know Him nor in truth believe in Him but ignorantly confess him because it is the Religion of the Times and tradition and custom hath taught them so to do Answ The first Text is Gen. 49.10 The Scepter shall not depart from Judah and the Law-giver from between his feet until Shiloh come and unto him shal the obedience of the Peoples 〈◊〉 â—hiloh here is Christ or the Messiah and so understood by the Hebrew Doctors as well as by Christians See learned Ainsworth upon the place And that he was to come according to Jacobs Prophesie at or near the time that the Kings and Governours of Judah ceased to rule is the manifest scope and intent of the Text And although Judah had no King after the Captivity yet her Princes were still known and by Permission some of them bore Rule as appears Ezra 3.8 9. Hag. 1.12 And evident it is the Heirs of the Crown of Judah were well known to the coming of Christ and Christ known to be Heir apparent to the Crown of Judah so well that when he wrought that Miracle of feeding five thousand with five loaves and two fishes John 6.14 15. the people would by force have made him King if he had not by hiding himself avoided it and that was a charge against him at his death that he was King of the Jews but neither Pilate nor the Jews could deny but that so He was his right to the Crown may well be perceived by what his enemies on both parts say in that 18 19 chapters of John but since Christ the World nor the Jews themselves cannot find any Law-giver or Prince that so much as pretended a right to the Kingdom but are so dispersed and broken that they are like to find none till that Prophecy be fulfilled Zech. 12.10 that they look upon him whom they pierced to whom the Peoples that is the Gentiles do gather acknowledge or obey according to this Text and impossible it is that this Text can be fulfilled in any that is yet to come for the House of Judah hath been without a Governour or Law-giver this 1600 years at least and so long ago or longer the Messiah must be come or else this Text must be blotted out of the Book of God and if once Moses's writings come into question then farewel all Religion both among Jews and Gentiles Now as for our Lord Jesus we know that all Prophecies of the Old Testament are fulfilled in him He is a Prophet like to Moses most graciously opening and confirming all the moral Laws and in his own obedience unto the Death fulfilled all the ceremonial Laws and the Laws he hath added in the New Testament are so fully confirmed by many glorious Miracles and are so holy just
and good the end of them all tending to advance Love with Holiness Witness Baptism the Lord's Supper and the rest of his Appointments so that to his time and in him this Prophecy of good old Father Jacob is fulfilled but since him there hath been no Law-giver to the House of Judah and therefore the Messiah cannot be to come unless we should reject Moses's writings and account them fables which God forbid The other two Texts are Haggai the 2.7 9. and Mal. 3.1 In the former of these Texts you have a Promise made to Zerubbabel that the desire of all Nations should come and that the Temple he built should be filled with Glory yea have greater Glory than the former built by Solomon although it were in comparison of it as nothing yea so great a difference was there between them for all outward glory that the old men that had seen the first House lamented the meanness of this latter House as much as the young men rejoyced at its Glory Ezra 3.12 13. So that it is evident to every indifferent and impartial man that the coming of Christ to that House while it remained should be the great Glory promised to it Likewise the Promise in Malachi cuts off all cavels about the matter for there the Promise runs clear The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple the Messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in And if it be considered no man can doubt but that our Lord Jesus is the Christ who did come to that Temple and by his Presence and blessed Doctrine made it glorious even while it was yet standing for if these Texts be not fulfilled in Christ our Lord they never can be fulfilled at all for the Promises were made of his coming to that Temple which Zerubbable built and cannot be understood of one that is yet to be built although it should be built the next month for that can never be said to be done suddenly that remains so many hundred years undone as it is since Malachi wrote neither if the Messiah should come to another Temple not yet in being would it signifie any thing as to the fulfilling of any Promise made concerning that Temple then which Zerubbabel built but the Promises were made to that Temple then known and in being if ever those Prophets intended their meaning should be known by their words and therefore we must own our Lord Jesus for the true Messiah and Saviour of mankind or else reject Moses and the Prophets or put out the eye of our understanding and reason Quest Have you some further proof of this great Truth Answ The glorious Miracles which he did in the dayes of his flesh and his Ministers after him so plentifully recorded in the New Testament be an evident witness of the truth of his being sent of God Who that is not assisted with omnipotency can give eyes to the blind yea to those born blind and cure such as are lame from the womb cast out Devils by a word of command raise the dead four dayes dead with cures of all kinds Quest But may not an unbelieving person say how shall the truth of all this be known Answ To which I say where is the Book the Author or Record that could ever be produced that hath substantially discovered the falfity of the Records of the New Testament if not we may be sure it is most true for there never wanted either malice or skill to have done it if it could possibly have been done Quest Is there any further proof of this because it is a point of great importance Answ The Prophecies that went before of him where he should be born and of whom a Virgin of the House of David what he should suffer and by what hands how he should be numbred with transgressors be pierced his garments parted lots cast upon his vesture and He sold for 30 pieces of Silver which should come into the Potters hands with whatsoever was written in the Old Testament of the Messiah it was to a tittle fulfilled in our Lord Jesus and that in the very letter of it so that here is no place left for our doubting if malice blind not our understandings Quest Is there any thing more to be said to this point Answ Yea this may be further added as a proof in the case The holiness unspottedness of his Life and Doctrine As for his Doctrine it speaks for its self and lies fair to be seen in the New Testament and as for his Life although many scandals were raised upon him as if he were a friend of publicans and sinners a Devil a Sabbath-breaker yet no jot of this dirt can stick to this spotless Lamb for whosoever shall make the closest search and scruteny into his actions shall see that that which seems most probable to be true is most false how far are his cures on the Sabbath from breaking the Sabbath the man that he commanded to carry his bed who had been 38 years sick was an action so far from breaking the Sabbath that there was nothing like that could have been done or said that could have preached Christ so convincingly to the Consciences of men to be the Anointed of God that they might believe and be saved so neither this nor any thing else can manifest the least evil in him but contrarily his Life is so innocent that in the face of his greatest opposers he could say Which of you convinceth me of sin John 8.46 Quest Indeed Holiness is a glorious Argument and much tends to stop an enemies mouth but if you have another let us hear it Answ I have two more and the first of them is The constant Experience of all true Believers in all Ages never did any person go to the Father by prayer and supplication in his necessity asking in Christ's Name and according to his Commandment believing in Him that ever was disappointed of his hope This not only I have many hundred experiences of but it is a general case all the truly Faithful since Christ to this day can set their seal to this Truth Quest Experience is a strong Argument but let us hear your sixth and last Answ My last is not my least it is taken from that glorious Testimony that God gave of him in his Death and Resurrection First at his Death The Darkness that was from the sixth hour to the ninth that is from that you call 12 a Clok to that you call 3 a Clok in the afternoon is a clear manifestation that God accounted his enemies cruelty against him a blak action for this darkness could come from no natural cause the Passover being alwayes at a Full Moon and therefore in the North and North-East at that time of the day far enough from causing any Eclipse and he died at the time of the Passover all this is beyond dispute Secondly The Vaile of the Temple rent in twain from the top to the bottome this being a hanging