Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	church_n	doctrine_n	teach_v	6,712	5	6.4919	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B07702	The true choice of a friend. Shewing the comfort of a faithfull friend. : A friend is neerer then a brother..; Reasons metamorphosis and restauration	Goldwell, Charles.	1625 (1625)	STC 11989; ESTC S92716	48,079	300

Adonijah to exalt himselfe and vsurpe where he had no right to rule 1. King 1.5 But graunt he were in as ample authority as Magistracy can allow suppose in imperiall preheminence what is his condition safer What more excellent then was the Gouernors of Ierusalem who deuiating through a secular and sensuall spirit from a pious and equall carriage in their functions were iustly noted by God himselfe with the aspersion of filthy polluted and robbing and abandoned with a fearefull detestation Zeph. 4.1 The obiect of Ambition is not euer temporall but sometimes doth it collimate at things supernaturall and immortall but in a presumptious and prohibited manner whereby our commanded striuing to enter in at the streight gate is hindered by vaine and ignorant petition as we see in Iames and Iohn the sonnes of Zebedeus suing vnto Christ that they might sit one at his right hand and the other at his left hand in his glory Mar. 10.37 A course in familiar practise with many that will bestow some time onely in making request for the matchlesse priuiledge of inhabiting the mansions in Gods house as if they were streight-waies worthy to enter not respecting how Gods promise that they which aske shall receiue is limited to those onely that aske in faith and labour in sanctitie of life thereunto and that none others can receiue neither shal because they aske amisse as the Lord himselfe professeth When ye shall stretch out your hands I will hide mine eyes from you and though ye make many prayers I will not heare for your hands are full of blood Isa 1.15 they were not cleansed from their sinnes Sometimes it leuels at diuine and sacred gifts past our fittingnesse and capacity such was the ambition of Simon the Sorcerer that offered money to buy the power of giuing the holy ghost Act. 8.19 And of this are they notoriously conscious that not contented with that course wherein they are confirmed by a lawfull vocation doe couet and ambitiously take vpon them the offices and persons of more worthy men as the Plough-man when he wil sit in Moses chaire and the mechanicall Seperatist be a Preacher To this is allied that Ambition of hypocrites that I may not present the Name of pragmaticall Nouatians whereby they intrude into Christs sheepe-fold as if they were faithfull members of the Saints fociety and deseruing an equall honour for onely washing the outside of the Cuppe and Platter These are knowne to God by their hearts to man by their fruits they sweare by the Name of the Lord and make mention of the God of Israel but not in truth nor in righteousnesse Isa 48.1 When they are inuited to returne the Lord most ready to forgiue promiseth thereupon that hee will returne vnto them the pride of heart hath so lifted them vp that they cannot see from whence they should returne Wherein say they shall we returne Wherein haue we spoyled thee Mal. 3. Per arrogantiam deprauantur quum paratiores sunt mort quam corripi as wel saith Gregorie they are so corrupted with arrogance that they had rather suffer death thē rebuke so much their soule delighteth in their abhominations Isa 66.3 But how long cry the godly how long Lord holy and true doest thou not iudge them Apoc. 6. This is the first part of their iudgement that though they deceiue for a time as the Deuil Iudas valed in his Apostleship Yet shall they bee vncased to tha world though not all and to the ioy of the righteous be visibly cut off from their communion though not at an instant Though thou exalt thy selfe as the Eagle and make thy nest among the starres thence will I bring thee down saith the Lord. Obad. 4. The extent of Ambition is generally without period Empedocles was not heigh enough vpon the top of Etna but from thence would haue climbed the skies to rule the Heauens and vndertake the gouernment of the Stars Some are so transcendent in their proud conceits that without all regard of the meane and end Quos vltra citraque nequit consistere rectum which only should praise their actions to bee iust and right they proceede in hope of an vnattingible summe of glory In which restlesse and haplesse taske diuers are imployed sundry waies some caring how they may effect vnto themselues the wish of Pirrhus not onely to be enriched with the spoile of one Citie but after that to subdue and command Countries till they become Lords of the whole world These great world deuouring Helluos are epitomized in the bosome of euery Common-wealth where is at the least one swarme of Hornets that snap the Bee in sunder to cram themselues with that sweete which they haue industriously gathered and this not of a few but euen of very many till they haue begotten a crew of honest beggars by their impious dealing for their owne ditation and so rule rather by force then fauour Others like Perithous that made a voyage to Hell to steale Proserpina from Plutoes bed seeke by rare aduentures of impossible expedition to merit same and popularitie though in so doing they must make shipwracke of faith and of a good conscience and euen bequeath their soules to Sathan Of this sort are they that seeke deepe to hide their counsell frō the Lord whose works are in darknesse and that say Who seeth vs and who knoweth vs Isa 29.15 We may without iniury take here for instance the Romish Catholike Cannibles the insaturable appetite of whose Herodian tyrranny nothing can satisfie but a deluge of Innocents bloud wherefore they waite with a daily thirst inhiation after that which Gods tender clemency towards the faithfull profession of his true religion doth most mightily and admirably disappoint them of vpon the executiō of which their infernal indulgence they retaine a strong perswasion besides the assurance of their Masters benedictiō countries applause of a Saints remuneration in the heauens Thus far it appears that Ambition is tinea sanctitatis as Bernard the fretter out or consumer of piety ex remedijs morbos creans ex medicina longuorem generans turning the best remedies into pernitious diseases Which is also Cathedra pestilentiae as Saint Augustine the seat of pestilence and a cruell plague to the Church of God For they which loue to haue preheminence doe enuiously oppose and open their mouths against Christs Pastors and so stop what lieth in them the Gold sanded current of his glorious Gospell Thus Saint Iohn complaineth of Diotrephes I wrote vnto the Church but he which loueth to haue the preheminence among them receiueth vs not but prateth against vs with malitious words and not therewith content neither hee himselfe receiueth the brethren but forbiddeth them that would and thrusteth them out of the Church 3. Epist Ioh. 9.10 Furthermore it is in our Aduersaries the mother and Nurse of strife raylings euil surmisings and vaine disputations which beget in the minds of the vnresolued often doubtings concerning the truth

and sometimes translating them into the fearefull state of Apostasie whereof examples are not scant this day If any man saith S. Paul teach otherwise and consenteth not to the wholesome words of our Lord Iesus Christ and to the doctrine which is according to godlinesse hee is puft vp through ambition and knoweth nothing but doteth about questions and strife of words c. from such separate thy selfe 1. Tim. 6.3 But if any Greatnesse should heere enter an Apology for Ambition saying they could not rise without it forasmuch as nothing is more prosperously atchieued then what is attempted with importunate desire and dignitie is the life of nobilitie it may suffice for farther resolution that such an earnest will to aspire to ciuill dignity before sufficiency and desert make way vnto it whereby there may be a likelihood of the answerable performance of those weightie duties which are required in so high a calling is contrary to true contentation which being one of the most notable vertues of a resolute Christian that other by consequence is iustly branded for a hatefull sinne and therefore vnworthy the entertainement of Noble hearts whither S. Bernard as a carefull Watch-man for the good of the Church highly commendeth a better guest in this his feeling confessiō of him Dignus est plane morte qui tibi Christe recusat vinere qui tibi non sapit desipit qui curat esse nisi propter te pro nihilo est plane nihil est Christ onely must bee the obiect of our wisdome of our life of our being that wee may liue to bee wise in him and be wise to bee found in him or else our sentence ends not in dignus morte but in morte morieris Thou shalt dye the death for whilest we delude our selues in the glory of a fleshly wisedome we incurre not onely the censure of being fooles but that more strict one Nihil sumus whatsoeuer wee are wee are nothing in estimation with God To aspire vnto Christ with the wing of spirituall graces and celestiall vertues is the onely true Nobilitie and the beauty of both the other of the natural which is deriued from Parents and of the ciuill which is imposed by supreme Authority Nobilitie saith Boetius est laus quaedam proueniens ex merit is parentum It is a certaine praise issuing from the merits of the Parents Thereby insinuating our Ancestors to haue gone through the Temple of Vertue to the Temple of Honor and deseruedly to haue reached their dignitie which so long continueth an honourable praise to their posterity as they hold on a correspondency with them in vertue but if otherwise they inherit their Nobility and not the soule by which it liues they doe not onely demolish the Trophe of their Fathers worthines but open the passage of iust dishonour to themselues For who seeing a letter of Gold in a mud wall wil not iudge it out of its place and where grace and vertue haue not their character in the forehead and polish the actions that face is to foule that heart to vnworthy of the faire titles Christian and Noble A great Man should be like the Sunne which as it is more excellent then the other Planets so it sendeth forth more light that he may say as Paul Brethren be ye followers of me and looke on them which walke so as yee haue vs for an ensample Phil. 3.17 It is memorable of him that beeing a King thought nothing could suit better with Maiesty then wisedome to gouerne his people and therefore the Ambition of all other things seposed he asked of God only that wherewith honor and riches stand bound but are not the principal The affluence of honour and riches which are to vertue no better then iniusta nouerca checking her ouer precisenesse for awaking the conscience to looke scornefully vpon Ambition and Auarice are not to be sought or coueted of those that stand charged with the administration of a common-weale but wisedome principally to dispossesse and cleanse the heart of those choaking corruptions that it may be free for the lodging of equitie iustice and liberalitie For they being as it were the East which Aristotle cals Dextrum Coeli or for them more aptly dextram Reipublicae it is naturall to their high ascent and dexterious location for vertue to rise but neuer to set in them What could be more preiudiciall to the States of Israel then that the Prophet hauing nominated those duties which are pertinent chiefely to their eminent qualitie and he expected to haue found in them should through their dissolute distemper and extreame corruption be enforced to complaine the contrary But they haue altogether broken the yoake and burst their bonds Ier. 5. in not seeking the truth nor executing Iudgement by which two the man in authoritie is knowne to be Gods lawfull and approued delegate and Minister When Dauid heard that Saul was about to come vp to Keilah to destroy the Cittie for his sake he inquired of God Will the Lords of Keilah deliuer mee into his hands He made a question though it concerned the ruine of their Cittie and liues whither they would betray his innocency 1. Sam. 23.12 noting the dutie of good Gouernors that they should be so chast constant and faithfull in defence of integritie of the truth and of a well deseruing cause as that no hazzard should impell them to peruert iustice Although Balack offer large gifts to blind the eyes and allure them to curse where they should blesse yet must they answer as Elisha to Naaman I will not receiue it 2. King 5.16 and as Michaiah to Nahabs messenger who prayed him to speake good vnto the King his Master as the false Prophets had done Whatsoeuer the Lord saith vnto me that will I speake 1. King 22.14 If thou wilt giue me thy house full of Siluer and Gold I will not passe the commandement of the Lord. Numb 22.18 which is to do iustly to loue mercy and to walke with God Mich. 6.8 The tooth of auarice for the most part biteth like a fiery Serpent to the death of the soule hauing made impression it so inflameth that no earthly medicine can preuaile to asswage it Riches of all others seeme the surest Lenitiue which yet worke a contrary effect Non satiando sed irritando as Seneca kindling where they should quench and laying on more load where they should exonerate lighten for which our dignities haue to cast their eyes on the brazen Serpent of their Nobilitie which if it bee right by participation of Grace wil cure it by fundamentall extirpation For the Nobles of Berea when Grace saluted Greatnesse in the Parlour of their hearts discharged the world freely and with all readinesse receiued the word and searched the Scriptures daily Act. 17.11 their opinion was then altered which as it seduced them formerly to a secure dependance on earthly supplements as the essentiall props of honourable eminence so being illuminated they were soone