Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	call_v	due_a	great_a	149	4	2.0713	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59072	God, the king, and the church (to wit) government both civil and sacred together instituted ... and throughout all, the Church of England ... vindicated : being the subject of eight sermons, preached ... / and now published by George Seignior ...	Seignior, George, d. 1678.	1670 (1670)	Wing S2417; ESTC R19835	158,466	284

but beating of or speaking to the air Unless that Aaron be the Mouth of Moses what though his face shine the people will but the sooner turn away from him cum Jove Caesar God and the King as to Government have alike prerogatives Thunder from above bespeaks the Deity as terrible thus the Highest doth give forth his Voice Boanerges a son of Thunder here below declares earthly Majesty to be also dreadful But unless Moses put words into the mouth of Aaron stands by him and stands up to him while he speaks stretches out his Rod whilst he lifts up his Voice the Mouth of Aaron without this will be Vox praeterea nihil a Voice indeed but nothing else the noise no sooner heard but no where to be found Whose Mouth is fittest to preserve knowledge and to proclaim Obedience but his who is the Messenger of God and of the King of the Lord of Hosts and of him who like unto God himself is mighty in the battel and whose Arm should be made bare in strength but theirs who are the Anointed of the Lord Anointed in a great measure for this very thing that they should be a Guard and a Protection to all Gods Holy Ones since they are themselves not unfitly called Gods being all of them children of the Most Highest Shall I with all humility and due Reverence speak the words of truth and soberness it is in the Cause of God of the King and also of his Priests As the happiness is great to that People where this Vnion is most religiously observed no other then as the result of the Divine Institution so sad is the misery deplorable is the calamity both to King Priest and People upon the breach of it I need go no further for an instance then the story that is before us Would Moses and Aaron bring the people from Egypt through a wilderness into Canaan This must be their March Regular and solemn Num. 2.3 compared with Num. 3.38 Judah the Princely Tribe must set up his Standard Eastward Moses and Aaron Prince and Priest must keep the charge of the Sanctuary Eastward and hence not improbably the antient Ceremony of worshiping with their faces thither-ward Judah sets up his Standard for the Laity Moses and Aaron theirs for the Clergy and yet the latter to go along with Judah the Prince who was to protect them when settled in the Land of Promise and upon the whole whosoever he was the stranger that came nigh to either of them was to be put to death This was their March unto that Rest which God had prepared for them And yet notwithstanding their Station and Procession thus fixed by the Almighty do Moses and Aaron speak unadvisedly with their lips either one to another one of another or one against another at the waters of Massah and Meribah places that bore their names from those strivings and contentions the anger of the Lord is immediately kindled against them all and it was so inraged that it was by no means to be appeased Moses and Aaron must onely see that Land of Promise into which they are never like to come it shall be their punishment to behold what they never shall injoy in the view of but their foot shall not tread upon the goodly Mountain nor Lebanon and then as for the People their Carcases must fall in th● wilderness this is a froward Generation it shall no● enter into the Rest of God! When once there be Divisions many are the thoughts many are the searchings of heart I would not be mistaken as an evil-speaker or a fore-boder of evil tidings while I do thus mournfully and with all lowly submission crave leave to make out the Parallel Doth the Civil Magistrate either needlessly contend with or wilfully draw back the secular Arm from the Defence of the Ministry and does he think thus to still the murmurings of the people as the raging of the Sea so is their madness casting forth nothing but mire and dirt foaming out their own shame and is there no way to lay the storm but by mixing the waters with bloud hath the Pilot no means to secure the Ship but by throwing the Prophet into the waters especially such a Prophet as doth not fly from but is stedfastly bent on his Course to deliver and execute the Message of his Master that sent him Again is the Spiritual Mouth either silent in the behalf of or clamourous and obstreperous against doth it either not speak at all as it should in the defence or is it froward malapert and peevish against the Secular Arm do they who should consult the stars of Heaven for direction in the voyage either withhold their advice from or unseasonably quarrel with him that sits Steers-man at the Helm This may be the dreadful consequence of such ill will between Both in Portu naufragium certain ruine and destruction to the Ship and all that are in it yea and that in the Ken of the desired Haven as an aggravation to their misery in the very sight of Land Virtutem videant intabescantque relicta This is the sore calamity upon such lad animosities and dissatisfactions on either hand a strange kind of infatuation upon all marner of counsels and designs be they never so just and honourable they may see what is good and yet it doth escape them a price put into their hand and it falls away from them for want of a pious heart united to each other in Love and Duty and to God the maker of Both in fear and Reverence mutually to be exercised in the using of it And here by the way let it be seriously considered that the first Rejection of Saul from being King over Israel was because he invaded the Priesthood let our new Leviathan suggest what he pleases Hobb's Lev. part 3. chap. 42 pag. 95. 300. that the Civil Magistrate may reserve the exercise of the Ministerial Function to himself yea though there might be some reasonable excuse for it as his Enemies growing Vid Ecc. Ang. Articl 37. and coming on upon him and he was not willing to ingage them till he had made his supplication before the Lord 1 Sam. 13.11 15. But God had commanded the entrary he was not of himself to make a Vertue of that Necessity without an express permission therefore says Samuel Thou hast done foolishly and thy Kingdom shall not continue whereupon God chose to himself a man after his own heart one who to avoid such future presumption should be a Prophet as well as a Prince and therefore the eating of the Shew-bread upon an extream necessity was not in him so notorious a violation of Sacred and Ecclesiastick Order This was that David who called for his Sword which hung behind the Ephod 1 Sam. 21.9 Give it me says he for there is none like that he goes forth with the Prayers and the Blessing of the Priests to battel 1 Sam. 23.9 still I will urge a Testimony from

it be that which puffeth up these are the onely Vertuosoes not in Arts and Sciences but in Religion it self to that purpose like Simon Magus of old they give out themselves to be some Great Ones the onely Power from God and the onely Reason of Men amongst us and so they have ingenuously resolved not to approve of any thing which is not done from amidst their Consistory or Rota be the performance of it self never so excellent and pious These are they who have called into question the Fundamental Articles of our Religion or would have them laid aside since they are not sollicitous that a Catalogue should be known of Fundamental Truths as if a Reason could never have been given of our Faith and Hope till within their time and because their new thin-spun speculations do startle some of a more wary belief presently they talk big insignificant words of passion prejudice education its wonder they do not upbraid us with our Catechism and too blind a zeal for antiquity as if all Religion and Learning were born with them and the Sun did first shine at their Nativity Such a sort of smothering Zealots as these who have raised a Smoke and yet suppress the Fire are more dangerous then any of the former since we know not where to find or which way to go about to quench the flame till we are almost throat led and choked 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Devil has his name from science and from him the darkness is borrowed such a one as may be felt whilst a thick mist has been cast upon known received and fundamental truths and we are entertained with nothing but cloudy speculations and all out of a fond pretence to restore the mind of men to their pristine liberty Thought they tell us is free and so free that we find nothing but vain imaginations the immediate consequence upon the first fall God made man upright and he sought out many inventions These while they differ from themselves many times in their apprehensions of things being alone yet carrying on one common design for a liberty in speculation if not to the subversion certainly very much to the ecclypsing of truth and the seducing of unstable minds they lay aside their private opinion of things which they had when they were alone and are all of them in publick lovingly of one and the same perswasion These are the Men who prescribe to us Rules of Vniversal Charity and good nature and forget their own prescriptions they have not the manners to forbear censuring and carping at the integrity of a well ordered Conversation in so much that when any one appears in the Discharge of his Duty to tread the beaten path of Truth and Piety the old way because the good way and as yet amongst all their new inventions they have not found out a better such a Ones Devotion is Mechanical to be sure he shall have the censure of being concerned for what he has nothing to do with though obliged both by Oaths and reiterated Subscriptions it is much if they do not spend some of their Satyrical wit and ungodly laughter upon him God forbid that I should intend an invective farther then becomes a just and a pious reproof and they of whom I speak being the onely sophies of the world I am secure that they will not impute this zealous frenzy unto too much Learning if I am besides my self in this I will be more it is for Gods sake and this poor Church as the strictness of whose Discipline and Order amidst all their Comprehensions is excluded sorry I am with all my heart that what I have farther to suggest are so much the words of Truth and Soberness Whilst we do seriously consider the present growing Atheisme how that every thing both in the Doctrine and Practice of our Religion has been reduced to a meer notion and opinion though we may charitably perswade our selves that it was neither the Design or Intention of some men to promote so much wickedness yet in the nature of the thing it self no cause can so properly be assigned for that general loosness in the lives of men as the too great Latitude and Scope that has been given them in their notions and speculations when once it shall be publickly maintained that humane nature was not impaired by the fall of Adam but rather improved and so in a state of Perfection and that ever since our first Parents did eat of the Tree of Knowledge every man as he is Rational Creature has power given him both by God and Nature or by Nature which with some is God to call every thing nay the Articles of his Religion into question we may justly fear that we have thus argued our selves not onely into a doubt of our Faith whether there be such a Theological grace or no for they have affirmed our Creed not to have in all respects an influence on Morality but likewise out of the Practice of our Piety since for ought we know it may be thus pleaded and retorted upon us by the young blustering Bravadoes of our times from the principles above specified that we are put into the world to live like other Creatures so that the Precepts of Mortification signifie but little whilst Nature intended that we should be swayed by the impulse of our humours and the impetuosity of our Constitutions Oh that this might give occasion to some to lay their hands upon their Mouths and their Months in the Dust To take off this scandal too sadly given and very justly taken it would much become the zeal of the late Restorers of our humane freedom if they would in their lives give an example of strictness and of Order that they would confine themselves a little to the rules of Duty and not shew themselves so indifferent by a Partial Obedience whether it be to Divine or Humane Constitutions And likewise that they would be pleased to be a little more Diffusive of their Charity their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let see a little more of that sweet Disposition which from the Platonick Theory we hear so much talk of that modest kind of humble Doubting which renders men affable and courteous in converse willing and ready to hear and receive the truth from any one and that they would not be so eager upon the product of their own fancy in proposing their private hypothesis for the standard of publick Truth but withall that they would consider themselves to be in the body as well as they say so of others yea and some have found out gross Vehicles for their souls possibly they may have somthing of passion or prejudice or at least too much kindness for those of a like education and acquaintance it were to be wished that they would be careful lest the affection they have for one anothers persons do not Canonize each others mistakes against and above all Canon whatsoever a partial zeal ingaged for a particular sort of men be

have kindled this shall you have of my hand you shall lie down in sorrow Would we examine and try our own or the spirits of others whether they be of God or no the Word of the Lord is sharp and piercing it divides betwixt the marrow and the bones it searcheth out the depths and secrets of the heart That fire cannot be a flame of holy incense to consume the Sacrifice and to render it acceptable which has no regard to the Holy Oracle of God Here that zeal is reproveable which spends it self either in decrying the sacred Scriptures as useless or in preverting the Scriptures making them of private interpretation to speak what they never intended such who wrest them to their own destruction First They that decry the Scriptures as useless since we are now not to be directed by a line or by precept but we are all to be taught of God of this sort are they who think themselves above Ordinances waiting only for some secret instincts some impetuous raptures to carry them they know not whither to do they know not what such who have laid aside the first Principles of Godliness they are not to be dealt with you shall never argue them into a better temper so long as this melancholy dumpish humour doth transport them they have this still for a refuge that they are not free to hear or to answer you But as for our selves that we be not led away by the errour of these wicked men it may be urged and I cannot urge it too often the Articles of our Creed into which we were baptized that as in our Profession we do believe the Holy Ghost to be the Lord and giver of Life and so a spirit of illumination unto the Sons of Men so we do believe that he the same Spirit spake by the Prophets He the same Spirit does assist in the Communion of Saints and therefore we are not to neglect the assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is Secondly As for that other sort who have made themselves the only perpetual Dictators in Religion whose humour is the only Light they have for the interpretation of the Scripture who make the Scripture to be of a private interpretation speaking what it never intended who have against the continued practices of Christianity in all ages found out a new clew of thread to extricate themselves and others out of some Labyrinths of controversie of their own devising and do thus betray the simple and ignorant into not onely foolish but dangerous errors these men act as if they had forgot those Scriptures which they pretend for to interpret those that tell us that the Spirits of the Prophets must be subject to the Prophets especially when they are met together in a holy Communion They who would take heed to a sure word of Prophesie must know this first of all 2 Pet. 1.20 That no Prophesies of Scripture are of private interpretation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is of a mans conceited enthusiastical and sudden explication 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Mar. 4.34 It was the onely prerogative of Christ himself when he was alone for to interpret but as to us the word of Prophesie is not thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the will of man we must take in along with us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Analogy of our Common Faith and the sacred authority of the Catholick Church as knowing that whatsoever seemed good unto the Holy Ghost as it is revealed in the word seemed good likewise to the same Spirit as it is explained by the Church and proposed to those who will receive the truth in the love of it to be matter for their Faith wherefore the Scripture hath said I mean St. Paul in whose writings there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some things hard to be understood which the Pride and Tyranny of the Church of Rome on the one hand and the unstable peevishness of our Classical Brethren from their Consistory on the other have wrested two contrary ways yet between them both the word of God abideth sure to wit that Scripture which refers us to an Interpreter for all the rest 1 Tim. 3.15 The Church of the Living God in all things necessary to salvation as the words following do imply is the onely pillar and ground of truth and then he adds the fundamental articles of our Christian faith without controversie great is the mystery of Godliness God was manifest in the flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels c. That zeal then is truly commendable just holy and good which is a Zeal according to the Scriptures a contention for the Faith of God in them revealed as they are by the Church delivered to the Saints which whilst it doth coufess the Holy Ghost to rule in the hearts of all Believers does not too hastily pass over the two next Articles of our Christian Faith in which we also do believe a Holy Catholick Church and in the Vnity of that Church do joyn with the Communion of Saints such a Zeal as this is good that is guided by a good rule by the word of God as it is proposed and said open by the Church to be a perfect Canon an exact prescription to tell us what ought to be our Faith and to guide us in our manners in all holy Conversation and Godliness Secondly Zeal is good in Relation to the Object of it if it be managed upon a good matter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon a good thing which bears its due proportion to that rule This is that which St. Paul tells us is the result of the Grace of God bringing salvation and appearing unto all Tit. 2.14 In that our Saviour gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works The people are then peculiar and the zeal is singular when by the blood of Christ we are cleansed from all iniquity so that our works are good Having once submitted our selves to the obedience of Faith and publickly owned it in the Unity of the Church every man has so far a Judgment of private Discretion and possibly not in many cases besides as to examine his own Actions by that Rule of Righteousness which he hath received and the rectitude of which he must not in the least dispute Saul forgot himself and God also when in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah he slew the Gibeonites 2 Sam. 21.2 These Gibeonites though but hewers of wood and drawers of water in the sanctuary were to be preserved because of the Oath of God Joshuah 9.3 17. They who were for exterpating root and branch amongst us though they had formerly given up their names to God and to his Church in their Promissory Subscriptions that they would conform to and not endeavour the alteration of the Religion established and yet after all this in their zeal unto the people did lift up