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	lord_n	word_n	4,134	5	3.9920	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A11219	A godly learned and fruitfull sermon Made vpon the fourteenth of Iohn in which is plainely set foorth the true looue of Christ, the markes whereby the children of God are knovven and the commodities vvhich that looue bringeth. By D. S. 1584.	D. S., fl. 1584.; Jordan, John, fl. 1584.; Squier, Adam, d. 1588, attributed name.	1584 (1584)	STC 21483; ESTC S112128	14,988	38

of these are to be blamed alone but eache of them in this degrée are to bée touched in this matter if therfore the Eishoppes Prechers and ministers of the word desire to haue the doctrine which they teach to profit amongst men It behoueth them to take hée de first y T they take not the office vpon them for ambition and couetuousnes sake entring therfo at the windowe like a théefe and murderer but in at the doore which doore is Christe as hée him selfe testifieth in the tenth of Saint Iohn saying I am the doore by mée if any man enter in he shall bée saued He rightly may be said to enter at the doore that faithfully beleeueth in Christe that feeleth in him selfe an aptnes and hability to teach Christs doctrine and is by Christes Church which is guided by the holy ghost lawfully and orderly elected into that function For as Saint Paule sayeth writing to the Hebrues the fift Chapter No man taketh this honour to himselfe but hée that is called of God as was Aron would God experiēc had not taught vs in thes our days that too too many haue rushed into that spirituall function by sinister meanes and waies some by freendship some for hired sake and some for money and gaine The reformation wherof with the déep consideration of the incōueniences that haue doo and are like to grow vnto the Church of Christe by means héereof I reserue vn to you that be in authoritie Secondly if they desire to haue the woord of God to bring forth frute they must not liue in the ministery as ydle Drones but execute their office in labouring and teaching of Gods trueth for as God saith by his Prophet Malachie the secōd Chapter The Priests lips should haue suer knowledge that the people might vnderstād the lawe from their mouth for he is the messenger of the Lord of Hostes vnto such idle loyterers w c will not teach Gods woord God speaketh by his Prophet Ezechiel the xxxiiij chapter saying Woe vnto the shepherds of Israell that féed thēselues should not the shepherds feed y e flockes ye eat the fat and ye cloth you with wull yée kill them that are fed but you féede not the shéep Again by his sayd Prophet he threatneth vnpreaching prelats on this manner When I shall say vnto the wicked O wicked man thou shalt dye y e death if thou doost not speak and admonish the wicked of his way that wicked man shal dye for his iniquitie but his blood wil I require at thy hands Neuerthelesse if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it if he doo not turn from his way he shall dye for his iniquitie but thou hast de liuered thy soule Thirdly if the Prechers of the woord of God be desirous to haue woord to take déep root in the harts of the hearers they must neither preach the word for aduantage lucre or gaine neither to vtter their eloquence neither yet to obtain the praise of men S Peter in his first Epistle and thyrd chapter straightly exhorteth thē saying Féed yée y e flok of Christ as much as lieth in you taking the ouersight of thē not as compelled ther vnto but willingly after a godly sorte not for the desire of filthie lucre but of a good mīd not as though yée were Lords of Gods heritage but y t yée may bée examples vnto the flocke again S. Paule in his first Epistle to Timothie and first Chapter saith That a Bishop should not be giuen to filthy lucre and as hée would not haue them to bée couetuous so he also would haue them in their teachings to vse a playne and orderly kinde of doctrine In his first Epistle to the Corinthians and first Chapter hée saith Christ sent mée not to Preache the Gospell with wisedome of wordes least the crosse of Christe should haue been made of none effect for God sayth I wil destroy the wisdome of the wise Againe in the sayd Epistle and secōd Chapter he sayth my words and my preachinges was not in enticing words of mans wisdome but in playne euidence of the spirite and of power that your fayth should not bée in the wisdome of men but in the power of God And as hée came not with intycing words of mans wisdome so did hée not preach to please men for thus hée saith in the first Chapter to the Galathians doo I séek to please men If I had hetherto studied to please men I were not the seruant of Christe Fourthly if the Preachers of the woord of God desire to haue the Doctrine which they teach to be accepted of men they must frome their liues according to their doctrine which thing if they doo not their hearers may say vnto thē as Isaack sayd vnto Iacob Thy voice is Iacobs voice but thy handes are the handes of Esau Of such dissemblers our Sauiour Christ speaketh in the twenty thrée Chapter of Saint Mathew They sayth hée saye but doo not Such builde the Temple of God with the right hand of good doctrine but put it downe agayne with the lefte hande of their euill liues well hée that knoweth the Fathers will and dooth it not is worthy to be beaten with many stripes So if the Ministers and Preachers of the worde of God enter into that function by sinister and corrupt meanes as by fréendship kinred or for money if they sléep loyter in their office if they preache for promotions and liuings or to vtter their eloquence or to please men rather then to edefie the Church of Christ or if they teach well and liue euill they hinder the frée passage of the Gospell and shall make accounte therof before the Lorde God Now as it is the office of the Bishops and Ministers to Preache the woorde So it is the ofice of y e Magistrats Rulers and gouernours of this Realm to maintaine the same with the sword and to correct the offendor For they rightly cannot be said to be rulers which rule not which speak of the Law but vse it not Such may be likened to S. George fighting with the Dragon but striketh not to a man paīted on a wall drawing a bow with an arrow but shooteth not such haue the work of the Lord in hand but execute it not cōsiderīg not what the Lord hath said by his Prophet Ieremy Cursed bée hée that dooth the worke of the Lord negligently The Rulers therfore ought not onely to make good Lawes for the setting forth of gods worde but also diligently to see that such holesome Lawes be obserued kept as did good Ezechias Iosias others we haue in this land a law made that euerie subiect that is able should cōe vnto the Church to hear Gods word read and preached and to haue the Sacramēts ministred vnto them but how it is kept of some people in some cûtries it is known You wil peraduenture say that y e bishops be in fault if this

law be not kept I grant there may bée some fault found in them touching this matter but what and y e party be to mightye for y e bishop to deale w t it séemeth that the papists wexe very bold wel it were good that the Magistrate and those y e bée in authoritie shold cōmād such yea if it were a noble man vpō his alegeance to the Prince to come to the Church Augustine doth testifie that through the straight cōmandement of Theodosius the Emperor his church of Hippo was deliuered frō the Donatists were brought vnto the trueth by y e preching of the word of God for as S. Paule saith faith cōmeth by hearing surely this is not only a gret hindrance of the frée passage of y e Gospel when men sée the magistrats negligēt in punishing of such transgressors of Gods lawes the princes but also if they sée vnderstand that the rulers themselues their familie and houshold regard litle the word of God The third sorte of people that are to bée blamed for that y e word of God is no more regarded in these our daies be the cōmon multitude In the which number I may include euen the most excellent sort of men vntil such time as they faithfully embrace the word of God and so be graffed into the body of the Church Of all the creatures that God hath created man against his maker hath béene found most vnthankfull obstinate rebellions and disobedient which hath béene séene not onely by the disobedience of our first parents but also in vs so that wée hearing as it were Gods voyce by his woorde yet harden our harts cast of his yoke from vs and forget the benefits that hée hath bestowed vpon vs of the which greeuous offence I mean of y e contempt of his worde the messēgers of God Patriarches Prophets Enāgelists apostles and ministers haue frō time to time complained Moyses the seruāt of God speking of the peruerse nature of y e people of his time sayth vnto God Lord they wil not beléeue nor harken to my voyce and y t which they did suspect would cōe to passe others by experience found most true for Esay sayeth Lord who hath giuen credēce vnto the things that we haue hard Elyas complaineth vnto God y t the childrē of Israell had not onely forsaken his couenāt but also killed his Prophets and that hée onely was left aliue the Prophet Ieremy saith that he taught the people of Iuda the worde of the Lord xxiij yéers that with great paines and trauel for thus he saith vnto them I haue risen vp early I haue giuē you warning in seasō but you would not hear me And againe he saith though y e Lord hath sent his seruants al y e prophets vnto you yet would you not obay you would not incline your eares to hear After the prophets God sent his only sō in to the world who was cōtemned of y e ritch hated of the mighty scorned of y e lerned notwithstanding he gathered together y e poore refused not y e blind dispised not the lame forsaketh not y e sinners he abhorreth not y e penitent théefe reiecteth not the mournīg adulter esse dispised not y e hūble Cananite refused not the custōer lothed not the Disciple y t denied him let therfor the miserable wretch flée vnto the merciful the guilty to the fauorable the vnclean to the fountain the wāderer to the way y e sick to the phisticiō the lost sheep to the shepherd the sinner to Jesus w c saueth people frō their sins w c Jesus although in corporal presēce he is absent frō vs yet hath hée not left vs destitute of prechers techers which cal his people to ēbrace kéep obay his word wherby they may be knowen in loue him as is said in our text if any man loue me he wil kéep my word But why do not these cormorāts say to thēselues for whom doo I prepare these buildings lāds and farmes with y e losse of mine own soul I dout whether I shal possesse or they enioy thē to whom I bequeth them or not the rather may I so think for that my cōscience beareth me witnesse that they haue béen euil gotten and euil kept and therefore it is very likly they shalbe euil spent I know not whether mine heir wilbe awise man for a foole whether he wil spend that riotously which I haue gotten wickedly Why do they not acknowledg thē selues to be but men and man is as grasse as a flower of y e field the grasse shal wither y e flower decay to beshort you y t be godly minded pray you with the prophet Dauid and say Encline my hart O Lord vnto thy testimonies not vnto couetuosnes And surely this vice not onely draweth men from the loue of Christ and obediēce to his word in these dayes but there is ioyned with it carnall plesure and fleshly delights which is such a snare chat it holdeth men that delight therī so with captiuitie that their harts are with drawne from all the seruice of God and obedience of his word and only set there vpō These vices are such hurtful harmes miserable mischeefes to those that lewdly loue them plesantly practise them that they drawe them into damnation except bothe spéedely and earnestly they repent Will God think you suffer these vices long vnpunished no let vs thinke therfore that God speaketh vnto vs after this manner and faith O you vnthankful sonnes of Adam how many things haue I to speak iudge of you how often would I haue holpen you and you would not you haue dispised all my counsels and broken all my commandemēts I haue therfore iust cause to be angry with you and to condemne you but I haue had compassiō vpō you I haue séen your misery and decréed to help your I saw you wander in exile far from your owne countrey and therfore I came in mine owne person from heauen to guide you into the right way I saw you scattered in mountains and lye in hedges yet I sent my seruāts to gather you together who haue shewed you that all things are prepared and made ready for you This my goodnes and loue towards you ought to alure you to come vnto mée loue mée But héerin I haue to burden and accuse you namely for your ingratitude rebeliō and contempt of my woord you wey not the benefits that I haue bestowed vppon you you kéep not my commaundementꝭ you regard not my word nor my Sacraments how you receue thē nor feare not my wrath you euill entreat my messengers you stifnecked vncircūsised harts and eares ye haue alwaies resisted y e holy ghost as your fathers did so doo you Thus we may sée that there is nothing that either sooner moueth Gods wrath or draweth vs into damnatiō then cōtempt of gods grace offered vnto vs by his holy word We