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	know_v	pillar_n	2,997	5	10.3098	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A80867	The foundation of God, with the immutability thereof laid for the salvation of his elect; with infallible marks and signs of election. Which may serve as a storehouse of comfort to religious minds, in this season of danger felt and feared.	Crompton, William, 1633-1696.	1659 (1659)	Wing C7031A; ESTC R175852	40,951	136

Law of Nature swell to so high a tide as Grace advance man with God and bring the dribling River to vye with the drowning Ocean By this Rule man must do the hardest work himself and leave the easier for God and his Grace He that can raise himself from death to life is much more able to continue himself in life Of this Opinion was Augustin once viz. that faith was in us and from us primarily but by reading Cyprian citing those words of Paul What hast thou O man that thou hast not received renounced his Errour proving plainly that not only the encrease but the beginning of Faith were the gift of God or else we might say we had something we did not receive Secondly Love Faith first works Love and then works by Love as the Workman sets an edge on his Tools and then cuts and carves with them And therefore for the most part they are in Scripture joyn'd together No Love no Faith And Love advances by equal paces with Faith as the heat of the day advances with the shining of the Sun Thirdly The power of Prayer and Supplication with zeal and fervency No sooner was Paul converted but the next word is Behold he prayeth Heb. 9.11 It is reported of Luther that when he prayed it was with so much reverence as if he were praying to God and with so much boldness as if he had been speaking with his Friend Gods Spirit tunes the strings of the affections and then they shall make sweet melody in Prayer The symbols of the Spirit were fiery Tongues and a mighty rushing Wind and where-ever the Spirit is there will be Prayer in the Spirit Where life is there will be breath God never had nor ever will have a still-born Child Fourthly Perseverance and constancy in all these with resolution and purpose of heart to rely upon Christ call upon his Name Love his People what ever befall them Philip. 1.6 We are confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Christ That in the end we may say with Paul 2 Tim. 4.7 I have fought a good fight I have finished my course c. Rom. 8.38 39. If God be for us who can be against us I am persuaded that neither life nor death principalities nor powers things present nor things to come shall be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus Therefore the Foundation of God stands sure both in regard of God and Man A Doctrine naturally flowing from the Text and meaning of the Apostle so expounded by the best Learned in every Age who have by their Writings illustrated the truth of the Gospel confirmed in Scripture plainly and by the works of good men since the Pelagian Heresie began to disturb the Church I may conclude it as Gamaliel doth his speech to the Jews Act. 5.38 39. if the foundation of our salvation were of or in man it might and would certainly come to nought but being in and from God it cannot be destroyed all such as may endeavour it shall be found fighters against God Vse I. In the application of this Point we find matter of instructive information divers ways viz. First To point out unto us the true subject of Apostacy men past over by God and left out of the foundation Every plant my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted out Such and only such are subject to Apostacy the rest are preserved by the power of God unto salvation Secondly It shews us the danger of false Opinions to fret like a Canker to disturb destroy eat into the body of Church and State one infecting another Arius his Heresie was at first but a little spark yet how did it spread and fire the whole World what woful waste was made of many flourishing Congregations Churches when the Orthodox Bishops were exiled and their flocks scattered when the Donatists by their separation made a division in the African Churches what violences and outrages were exercised against faithful Christians both Pastors and People And in like manner when the German Anabaptists separated themselves from the other Reformed Churches what woful work did they make how much did they obstruct and even hazard the work of Reformation begun so happily by Luther and successfully carried on for some years together And thus with grief we live to see Popery and Arminianism to do the like mischief in our days Men should be afraid to raise such Opinions to bring such Owls amidst the glorious light of Truth that hath shined so splendidly in our Horizon and be ashamed to receive them being raised Authority should be carefully vigilant to suppress beginnings to oppose all those who seek craftily to undermine the foundation of God that they may be cured or cut off Thirdly Hence we learn that Hereticks are never able to seduce the Elect however they may entromb themselves in the ruins of that Christianity which they once professed Hymenaeus and Philetus destroy the faith of some nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure God will have a Church for ever See the answer of God when the Prophet complain'd there was none left but he I have left unto my self seven thousand which never bowed the knee to Baal This constancy of all those fair and generous Souls who have in all Ages been setled in the Truth like Pillars of Diamonds not shaken with the Counterbufs of damnable Errour took not rise from themselves Noah David Peter left to themselves to stand on their own bottom fall strangely and wofully and make known to a world of Ages that they are but sinful flesh and the best of men living if left to themselves but one moment would destroy themselves in that moment they are but like glasses without a bottom which break as soon ae they are out of hand If they continue to shine it is not by their own lustre but by borrowed beams of the Sun of Righteousness and the light remains no longer than the Sun shines The fairest Flowers of Paradise would wither if not watered with drops from Heaven How have the mighty fallen when the Almighty hath not stood by them All their ability proceeds from the Love of God in the foundation and the power of his grace stirring them to renew their repentance Neither is there any ground here laid for presumption that a man should grow careless and secure because of what God hath done no Grace never relaxeth the sinews of obedience in the least degree It is perfectly innocent of that abuse The Poison is not in the Rose but in the Spider Besides there are signs of Election after described which if they cannot be found in persons they cannot be assured of any portion in the foundation That man who daringly presumes saying Let me live as I list the foundation of God stands sure and so gives way to his unswayed fancy and makes this a pillow for his sloath

and casteth off all care for the polishing of his Soul I will not say he was rejected in the foundation but this I dare affirm he never yet felt the burden of sin nor the comfort of grace and except he change his resolution and behaviour he shall never receive benefit by it At once men were laid in the foundation and ordained to work out their salvation with fear and trembling Fourthly Hence we learn the duty of Learned Men with all in Authority called to publish and defend the truth of Christ seasonably boldly yet discreetly to stand and contend against the enemies thereof Politick silence in this case is a branch of Treason against the King of his Church Not to defend the Truth is to betray it When there are many opposits the friends of Christ must especially stand up with courage and resolution Christians must counter-work the Devil There should be a kind of Antiperistasis in the souls of true Believers as in the fire that burns hottest when the air round about it is coldest The middle Region is therefore coldest because the greatest heat of each taketh the reflection from the lower and upper heat above such an Antiperistasis should be found in Christians they should be hottest in the coldest times their hearts should be fullest of activity for Christ in times of greatest opposition against him Our service at such a time is most acceptable and useful Memorable is the courage of Luther who obtain'd through Christ a vigour of spirit which never bowed under the evils that accosted him being called to Worms Malch Adam Vit. Luth. and dissuaded from going by reason of the fury he might meet with there and the multitude of Enemies replied If I knew there were as many Devils as there are Tiles upon the Houses yet thither I would go Thus our Apostle here condems the Errour and names the Authors it cannot be unlawful to call them Papists and Arminians who maintain the Errours of both The like testimony was given by our renowned Worthies in the Reign of Qu. Mary not only in white and black but red too by which they came to shine and glitter at such a rate as hath obtain'd them a Reputation which will have a glorious mention so long as there be Stars above and Ages below So it should be now the thoughts of their flames should kindle zeal in us Christ is many ways opposed this day and we should earnestly contend for Christ Now there are many tempters and seducers and revilers therefore now Christ should have many Champions Vse II. Secondly This Doctrine doth most directly serve to confute the antient Pelagians in this and other parts of the World as labouring to overthrow this foundation of God and to lay another upon the frail uncertain power of mans Will in their doctrine preferring Nature to and above Grace as the Pelagians did maintaining partly a total fall from Christ as some Lutherans do and partly a total and final fall as Jesuits and Arminians who make Christians a meer ball of Fortune to be tossed up and down at their pleasure representing Grace as voluble and uncertain as the Heathen did Fortunes Grace with them is but a thing of Glass which while it shines is broken with them the Vessels of Glory are little better than crazy Vessels which may be dasht in pieces like a Potters Vessel They can remove them from Heaven to Hell as often as they please With a daring Pen they can blot Names out of the book of Life and with as much ease reverse the Seal of Heaven when they list They tell us there is no such certainty in the foundation no such absolute Knowledg no such impossibility in regard of God of falling off from Christ of returning again to the Wilderness to the bondage of Egypt of feeding upon the Milk and Honey of the Land of Canaan against the plain Words and meaning of our Apostle in this place So that St. Augustins Title viz. The Hatchet of Hereticks may not be unfitly applied to it It is the Axe of Arminians cutting down their Opinion that the elect of God after effectual calling may fall away finally Whose assertion like another Goliah fighting against the living God is so unsound so uncomfortable so evidently against the Divine Word the works of the best Men who were the Lights of their time the Instruments of the Holy Ghost in all Ages that every David may and will fling a stone at it crying as of Babylon Down with it even to the ground and lower For the Lord knows who are his the foundation of God stands sure and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it Vse III. Thirdly Here is matter of singular comfort and establishment to all true Believers and that 1. Against all Hereticks Errours and the falling away of Eminent Persons for Gifts and Place men of principal note in the Church they were not of us though they dissembled a long time they were not Sons else they had remained in the House for ever Many follow Religion as the Hounds do the game only for company they respect the Truth not for single but sinister ends Christ is not sweet to them for himself but only for his Rings and Jewels They began in Hypocrisie and no wonder if they end in Apostacy Trees that are unsound at the roots soon cease from putting forth of fruits and they who are for the present corrupt will for the future be openly prophane Let none be offended at such nor scandaliz'd at the profession of Religion the sheep doth not despise its fleece because the Wolf hath worn it neither do any blame a Crystal River because some melancholly persons have drown'd themselves in it The best drugs have their adulterate And as long as there are true Pearls there will be counterfeit Though there have been false colours yet disesteem not those that are dyed in grain for such there are Be not as bad Husbands who having a spot on their Coat cut off the whole Cloath when they should only wash off the dirt You make a good profession be sure to make your profession good Sincerity is the basis of perpetuity 2. Against Persecution verbal or real Things that are exceeding sharp call for Sugar to sweeten them Troubles in the flesh have a most ungrateful taste for the Creatures pallate now this truth is as Sugar to make them sweet that they may down the better Gods Elect may be oppressed supppressed they cannot be They are kept by the power of God against all opposition Their blood shall be as seed by the death of one many will revive Dogs that have no teeth may bark but cannot bite Serpents that have no stings may hiss but cannot hurt Believers like the Moon shall wade out of their shadows by keeping a constant motion Heaven and Earth shall pass away but the foundation of God standeth sure O ye Saints of God! in the midst of your dangers have an Eye to

have it Love of grace is the beginning of grace Love of good men with an expression of it according to ability is a sign of spiritual goodness It is a most dangerous thing to be at enmity with those who love God to slight or oppose them in their gracious endeavours yet our Saviour hath foretold it In the latter days iniquity shall abound and the love of many shall wax cold Where sin reigns there is no Love 4. Constancy in good professing and so perfecting holiness in the fear of God They are compared to Palm-trees because they flourish soon to Cedar because they continue long The true Saint like Coesar is alway marching forward Travellers that go to Sea meerly to be Sea-sick if a black Cloud or storm arise their Voyage is ended home they get to the Harbour they went not forth to be Weather-beaten or to hide themselves among the boisterous billows but only for pleasure But the Merchant that is bound for a Voyage whose Calling it is is not daunted at the surging Waves and fierce Winds but drives through with resolution They that pretend only to Religion if a storm meet them in the way to Heaven leave the way take shelter in the Earth as a Snail they put out their heads to see what weather is abroad what countenance Religion hath among those whose names are written in greater Letters than others are and if the Heavens frown they shrink into the shell esteeming that their happiness But such as make Religion their business steer not their course by such Cards they follow their Trade though they meet with many Tryals The scorching Sun of Persecution burns not up the flower of true Devotion Philip. 1.6 He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ Like a well-drawn Picture they have always the same Visage or rather as the Deity they continue one and the same Action as Prosperity cannot charm them so neither can Adversity find Darts that are able to abate their Christian resolution These flowers of Paradise wither not because watered from Heaven Blazing Comets may fall to the Earth but fixed Stars remain in their Orb Grace may be shaken in the Soul but shall never be shaken out of the Soul If any Candles have been put out it was because they were not carried in Christs Lanthorn Thus you see the sparklings of this matchless Diamond the plain workings of this grace of Election Thus do the sacred Writings set forth the beauty and oriency of it Vse II. 2. Hence divers are condemned First The Jews with all unconverted Gentiles who though they depart from some Evils yet they name not the name of Christ that 's to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness 1 Cor 1.23 As for the Jews they pitching in their expectations upon a glorious Prince who should free them from the Roman yoak would not so endure to be disappointed as instead thereof to have a crucified man one in the form of a servant to be their Messiah and therefore would not that he should reign over them Luke 19.4 and as for the Gentiles judging it a foolish thing to expect life from a dead man and Glory from one who kept not himself from shame and hearing Doctrines wholly inconsistent with what they had sucked in did therefore refuse to submit to Christ But woe be to them that stumble at this stone if Christ be not the Rising he will be for the fall of men No Disease so fatal as that which rejecteth Cordials No state so desperate as that which thrusteth away Salvation Acts 13.46 Secondly Papists who under the name of Christ rob him of his glory renounce his Free-grace and will not endure to be shut out from all causility towards their own Salvation affirming their works of Condignity and Congruity to dispose them towards him They like not to hear of Discriminating-grace Thirdly All Verbal Professors amongst us that profess they know Christ but in their works deny him being disobedient abominable and to every good work reprobate And these are either Speakers or Hearers 1. Speakers who are Catholick in Preaching and heretical in Living having Christ in the Book but not in the Heart speaking like Balaams-Ass to the understanding of others but not to their own as the ignorant Dunce the idle Drone the covetous Worldling swynish Drunkard prophane Swearer the riotous mispender of time with Cards and Dice Hawks and Hounds which were once not thought fit Books for the Clergy the usurious Symonist and ambitious Non-resident who pull down more in six days than they with many more and better can build up in a year I am loath to draw a line in any mans Picture with a black Coal yet how many of this colour are there to be seen every-where It is monstrous as Bernard truly told Eugenius that men should have the highest seat in the Church and the basest life out of the Church Certainly it is a great misery that they should have many Souls committed to their trust and keeping who cannot keep one and that their own These are Physitians who give Cordials to others and faint themselves They are called Stars which are the Ornament of the Heavens because they should be the Ornament of the Church but by their spotted and beleopar'd lives they prove not Stars but stains and blemishes of the Church They are called Salt but if the salt have lost its savour wherewith shall it be seasoned This hinders the conversion of People Hence they exclaim How can fresh and salt water flow from the same fountain they loath those wholesom Truths taught as men loath good and wholesom Meat when it comes out of a foul Dish or as men like not the light of a Candle when set on a sluttish Candlestick Thus Elies sons made the People abhor the Offerings of the Lord by their wicked lives 1 Sam. 2.7 Such cause the Lawrels of the Church to wither in their hands they defile her Victories ecclipse her Lights and so become Vipers in the Church of God yea fiery Torches to enflame his Temple and as false Lights on the shoar they lead Ships to Sands and Rocks to split them I have read of a Gentlewoman who turned Atheist because she lived under the Preaching of a great Doctor that taught well but lived licentiously It was he said she that conjur'd up those damnable thoughts in my Soul Words blush where deeds do fail Physician heal thy self He that smites another with a wounded Arm alas he smites but faintly because whilest he smites another he bleeds himself Lucian the Apothecary made himself ridiculous by selling a Medicine to cure the Cough in others but cured not himself Thus he that reproves another of what himself is guilty foameth out his own shame Besides they hinder their own Salvation Among all others the conversion of a Minister is a matter of great difficulty according to that sharp speech of Chrysostom one of