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	true_a	way_n	4,442	5	5.1488	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59559	A sermon preached before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, in Bow-Church, on the feast of St. Michael, 1680 at the election of the Lord Mayor for the year ensuing / by John Sharpe ...	Sharp, John, 1645-1714.	1680 (1680)	Wing S2987; ESTC R17019	16,263	40

stick at it when he hath the least temptation to it The result of which is That he may commit all the villanies in the world and yet think himself as Innocent and his Actions as Commendable as if he had been never so Honest and Virtuous He therefore that is an Vpright man hath a serious and hearty sense of God and Religion upon his Spirit and is above all things carefull to preserve and increase that sense But then his conduct in this affair is much different from that of ordinary pretenders to Religion For he is a man that doth not content himself with a meer speculative belief or an outward Profession of the Truths of Religion but doth so far impress them on his heart that they influence his whole Life and Conversation He doth not think it sufficient to be Orthodox in his Opinions or to be a Member of a True Church or to be zealous in maintaining and promoting the Right way But he takes care to live as he believes to practise sutably to the profession he makes As he holds fast the Form of Godliness so he never fails to express the power of it in an Innocent and a Virtuous Life He is a man that in the whole Conduct of his Religious affairs minds Conscience more than any selfish consideration He takes not up his Principles either out of Humour or Passion To advance his Interest or to please a Party But he believes a thing because it is True and Professeth it because it is his Duty In matters of Religion he hath the indifference of a Traveller whose great concernment is to arrive at his Journeys end but for the way that leads thither be it high or low all is one to him so long as he is but certain that it is the Right way And as he doth not chuse his Religion out of worldly considerations so neither doth he quit it upon such But is resolute and constant in bearing witness to the Truth against all opposition whatsoever As he doth not make show of his Religion the more when it is in fashion and when it may prove advantagious to him so neither doth he practise it the less when it may prove Ignominious or Dangerous He is obstinately Tenacious of his Principles when he knows them to be good and prepared to endure the utmost extremities rather than violate the Laws and Dictates of his Conscience He is a man that thinks Religion too Sacred a thing to be prostituted to mean purposes and therefore he never useth it as an Instrument for the serving a turn never makes it a Cloak for the covering a private end though he were sure he could compass his designs by it He knows that the greatest Impostures have laid hid under this mask and by such Artifices God hath been often made a Patron of the most horrid villanies He is a man that doth not place his Religion in outward forms and services or in little cheap duties that cost him nothing He hath a nobler sense of God than to think that such things can alone recommend us to him And therefore his principal concernment is about the great Indispensable Duties of Christianity The weightier matters of the Law Justice and Mercy and Faith He hath the everlasting Notions and differences of Good and Evil deeply ingraven in his heart and in the practising or the avoiding them he chiefly lays out himself He is a man that doth not pick and chuse out of Gods Commandments which to observe to the neglect of the rest but endeavours Uprightly and Sincerely to observe them all He calls no sin little because his temper inclines him to it or the course of his Life leads him more frequently into the Temptations of it But he hath an hearty Uniform Aversion to every thing that is Evil. He holds no secret friendship or correspondence with any Enemy of God but fights as resolutely against his most agreeable and most gainfull sins as those that he hath less Temptation to upon those accounts He is a hearty enemy to all Factions in Religion as knowing the life and soul of Christianity is often eaten out by them All dividing Principles he Abhors and as much as he loves Truth he is not less concerned for Peace And he is better pleased with one Instance of his Charity in Composing or his Zeal in Suppressing Religious differences than with twenty of his Skill and Abilities in disputing them For he knows that LOVE is more acceptable to God than a right Opinion and to be a Martyr rather than divide and rend the Church is not less Glorious than to be a Martyr for refusing to offer Sacrifice to Idols Lastly He is a man Religious without noise and uses no little Arts to make his Piety taken notice of in the World For he seeks not the praise of Men in any thing he doth but studies to approve himself to God onely And therefore he is as carefull of his thoughts as of his actions and hath the fame fear of God and regard of his duty when no man sees him as when he is in the most publick places These are the great strokes of Vprightness as to Religion And whoever makes good these Characters may unquestionably conclude of himself that he is an Honest man to God-ward A true Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile Come we now in the second place To take a view of the Vpright man in his civil conversation To give some account of him with reference to his carriage and demeanour amongst men And here again we must consider him under two capacities as a Private person and as a Magistrate And First As a Private person The general Rule by which he frames and modells his whole conversation is such a prudent and diligent care of himself and his own good as is not onely consistent with but doth effectually tend to promote the Good and Happiness of all others that he deals with This is the fundamental Principle which he lays down to observe in all his commerce with Mankind For he considers that every man in the world hath a right to be happy as well as himself And he considers that as things are so contriv'd that he cannot be Happy without the assistance of others So it is infinitely reasonable that he in like manner should contribute his endeavours to the making them Happy also These now being the main principles of his mind he takes care in his whole conversation that his Actions and Carriage be sutable to them and bear some proportion with them And therefore we may be sure that he is a man exactly Just in all his dealings and would not knowingly do the least wrong or injury to any though he could gain never so much by it and were he never so secure that he could do it without discovery He is a man that where he is trusted is faithfull to the uttermost Never making advantages of mens credulity nor abusing the confidence