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	religion_n	true_a	7,548	5	5.1593	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44685	Of thoughtfulnes for the morrow with an appendix concerning the immoderate desire of fore-knowing things to come / by John Howe ...	Howe, John, 1630-1705.	1681 (1681)	Wing H3034; ESTC R14309	7,506	34

confer upon it The Lord grant it may long continue to flourish there under the joint-influence of your noble Consort and your own And afterwards in a Posterity that may imitate their Ancestors in substantial Piety and solid goodness Which is a glory that will not fade nor vary not change with times but equally recommend it self to sober and good Men in all times Whereas that which arises from the esteem of a Party can neither be diffusive nor lasting 'T is true that I cannot but reckon it a part of any ones praise in a time wherein there are different Sentiments and waies in circumstantial matters relating to Religion to encline most to that which I take to come nearest the Truth and our common Rule But as was said by one that was a great and early light in the Christian Church That is not Philosophy which is profest by this or that Sect but that which is true in all Sects So nor do I take that to be Religion which is peculiar to this or that Party of Christians many of whom are too apt to say here is Christ and there is Christ as if he were divided but that which is according to the mind of God among them all And I must profes to have that honour for your Ladiship which I sincerely bear and most justly owe unto you chiefly upon the account not of the things wherein you differ from many other serious Christians though therein you agree also with my self as for those things wherein you agree with them all Vnder which notion and under the sensible Obligation of your many singular Favours I am MADAM Your Ladiships very humble and devoted Servant in the Gospel JOHN HOWE Page 52 line 6 dele in OF THOUGHTFULNES FOR THE FUTURE MATTH 6. 34. Take therefore no Thought for the Morrow for the morrow shall take Thought for the things of it self sufficient for the day is the evil thereof THE Negative Precept or the Prohibition in the first words of this Verse I shall take for the principal ground of the intended Discourse But shall make use of the following words for the same purpose for which they are here subjoyn'd by our Lord viz. the Enforcement of it For our better understanding the Import of the Precept Two things in it require Explication How we are to understand The Morrow What is meant by the Thoughtfulnes we are to abstain from in reference thereto 1. By the Morrow must be meant 1. Some measure of time or other 2. Such Occurrences as it may be supposed shall fall within the Compass of that time We are therefore to consider 1. What portion or measure of time may be here signified by to morrow for some time it must signifie in the first place as fundamental to the further meaning Not abstractly or for it self but as it is the Continent of such or such things as may fall within that time And so that measure of time may 1. Admit no doubt to be taken strictly for the very next day according to the literal import of the word to morrow But 2. It is also to be taken in a much larger sence for the whole of our remaining time all our futurity in this world Indeed the whole time of our Life on Earth is spoken of in the Scriptures but as a day Let him alone that he may accomplish as an hireling his day Job 14. 6. We are a sort of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 short-liv'd Creatures we live but a day take the whole of our time together Much less strange is it that the little residue the future time that is before us which we do not know how little it may be should be spoken of but as a day Experience hath taught even sensual Epicures so to account their remaining time Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye i. e. Very shortly They were right in their Computation but very wrong in their Inference It should have been Let us watch and pray to day we are to dye to morrow let us labour for Eternity because time is so short But say they Let us eat and drink to day for to morrow we shall dye A day to eat and drink was it seems a great gain And if the phrase were not so used to signifie all the residue of our future time yet by consequence it must be so understood For if we take to morrow in the strictest sence for the very next day they that are not permitted with solicitude to look forward so far as the very next day much less may they to a remoter and more distant time Yea and we may in some sense extend it not only to all our future time but simply to all future time as that measures the concernments and affairs not of this world only but which is more considerable even of that lesser select community the Kingdom of God in it mentioned in the foregoing Verse Which Kingdom besides its future eternal State lies also spread and stretcht throughout all time unto the end of the World And as to its present and temporal State or as it falls under the measure of time it is not unsupposable that it may be within the compass of our Saviours design to forbid unto his disciples who were not only to pursue the blessedness of that Kingdom in the other world but to intend the service of it in this an intemperate and vexatious solicitude about the success of their endeavours for the promoting its present Interest i. e. After he had more directly forbidden their undue carefulness about their own little concernments what they should eat drink or put on And directed them rather and more principally to seek the Kingdom of God and his Righteousnes with an assurance that those other things should be added to them It seems not improbable he might in conclusion give this general direction as with a more especial reference to the private concernments of humane life about which common frailty might make them more apt to be unduly thoughtful So with Some oblique and secondary reference to the affairs of that Kingdom too which they were here to serve as well as hereafter to partake and enjoy And about the success of which service being once ingaged in it and the difficulties they were to encounter appearing great and discouraging to so inconsiderable persons as they must reckon themselves they might be somewhat over solicitous also Nor though they might not as yet understand their own work nor consequently have the prospect of its difficulties as yet in view are we to think our Saviour intended to limit the usefulness of the instructions he now gave them to the present time but meant them to be of future use to them as occasions should afterwards occur As we also find that they did recollect some other sayings of his and understand better the meaning of them when particular occasions brought them to mind and discovered how apposite and applicable they then were Luke