Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	deed_n	light_n	manifest_a	2,272	5	9.7572	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61398	The trades-man's calling being a discourse concerning the nature, necessity, choice, &c. of a calling in general : and directions for the right managing of the tradesman's calling in particular / by Richard Steele ...	Steele, Richard, 1629-1692.	1684 (1684)	Wing S5394; ESTC R20926	138,138	256

more languidly in a true Religion Men swim faster down than up the Stream yet when a Man considers that the success of his Affairs depends upon God and that he cannot keep Friendship with him if he hold not Correspondence and that most certainly he can and will make the Tradesman amends by the Years end for every minute that he sincerely devotes to his Service This should bear down all Difficulty and oblige him to the constant Worship of God 4. The Tradesman's Religion is exercised in Observing a right Rule and End in all his worldly Affairs And here he guides not his Behaviour by the Example of others nor of his Master that went before him nor by the current of his particular Humour Appetite or Interest but by the holy Word of God and such Dictates of sound Reason that are agreeable thereunto You must not conclude thus and thus I 'l do for so do others or so did my Master before me or it is my Humour or it is for my Interest but what saith Moses and the Prophets what saith Christ and his Apostles and what would they do if they were in my place and this must be your Rule And in case of doubt and difficulty you must consult the wise and honest and so be determin'd They asked Counsel at Abel and ended the matter 2 Sam. 20. 18. And this Care and Pains before is much better than to wound your Conscience and give ill Example to others He that doth Truth cometh to the Light that his Deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God Joh. 3. 21. Your Deeds must be wrought in God And Religion must teach you the like care in the End which you should aim at in all your Business which should be to please and glorify God For none of us Christians liveth to himself and no Man dieth to himself and indeed he that liveth to himself will be likely to die to himself But whether we live we live unto the Lord Rom. 14. 7. This is Man's greatest Duty this is his highest Priviledg We reckon it a great Honour to that Nobleman that shall put the Crown upon the Head of a King O how much greater is it to put the Crown of Glory upon God's But of this before Only you may ask May not a Man aim at Riches by his Calling that he may have Ease in his old Age c. Answ An End is subordinate or ultimate a next end or a last end You may design to get an Estate but not meerly for your own sake but chiefly for God's sake not so much that ye may live at ease but that ye may do good thereby A Man may desire a good Horse or a good Boat to carry him to his Friend Every step of a Religious Tradesman being trac'd to the utmost ends at God He would not care for himself but that he may be of use to glorify God 5. The Tradesman's Piety is shewed In spiritualizing his Calling There is in every Calling a Temporal and a Spiritual respect The outside of them is the Object of Sense a brutish Man may comprehend that and get his Living by it but there is an inside which only the gracious Eye can read There is scarce any thing which you trade in but a Religious Heart may learn something of God out of it And this surely is one end of Similes and Comparisons so frequent in the Bible not only that God may come down by them to us but that we may by them ascend unto him he hath translated the World into the Scripture that we may think of the Scripture in the World This is the safest and richest Chymistry whereby you may extract the purest Spirits out of the grossest Bodies As the Bee can gather Honey out of every Flower yea out of the very Weeds so may and should the Religious Tradesman gather some Spiritual Lessons out of his temporal Wares and Imployments Thus the Merchant may learn something from Mat. 13. 45. And all that buy and sell from Mat. 25. 16. and Luk. 29. 15. The Writer from Psal 45. 1. They that work in Wooll from Isa 1. 18. and Psal 147. 16. The Apothecary from Eccles 10. 1. The Carpenter from Isa 10. 15. and Zech. 1. 20. The Founder from Jer. 8. 29. The Refiner from Mal. 3. 2 3. The Baker from Hos 7. 4 6. The Fisher from Jer. 16. 16. and Mat. 4. 19. The Weaver from Job 7. 6. The Potter from Isa 6. 8. and Jer. 18. And I think these are all the Trades expresly mention'd in Scripture by which the Holy Ghost directeth us to spiritual things There are also mention'd the Goldsmiths Neh. 3. 8. The Silversmiths Acts 19. 24. The Spice-Merchants 1 King 10. 15. The Masons 1 Kings 12. 12. The Mariners Ezek. 27. 9. The Calkers Ezek. 27. 9. The workers in fine Linnen 1 Chron. 4. 21. The workers in Needle-work Exod. 26. 36. The Smiths Isa 54. 16. The Ingravers and the Imbroiderers Exod. 35. 35. The Tent-makers Acts 18. 3. The Tanner Acts 9. 43. The Copper-smith 2 Tim. 4. 14. The Cook 1 Sam. 8. 13. The Barber Ezek. 5. 1. The Fuller Mark 9. 3. In general the Chapmen 2 Chron. 9. 14. and the Cunning Artificers Isa 3. 3. And those are as far I can find all the Trades mention'd in the Scripture But as it is said Isa 28. 26. concerning the plain Husband-man His God doth instruct him to Discretion and doth teach him so will the Spirit of God teach the ingenious Tradesman to learn spiritual Lessons from his Temporal Calling An ingenious Head indeed is a great help herein but an heavenly Heart is all in all This inspir'd our blessed Saviour to make a Sermon out of a Vine Joh. 15. 1. and to raise Instruction from a barren Fig-tree As we see on the contrary how wickedly witty a naughty Man will be to collect base and sinful matter out of the Objects that come before him and turn all to Poison surely it is as possible and much more noble to extract the Gold than the Dross Do but keep open the Eye of Faith to see Invisibles pray for Skill and fall to Practise and it will come The Profit will ballance the Pains He that turns Earth into Heaven hath an Heaven upon Earth 6. This Religion will teach the Tradesman To observe the Christian Sabbath in a holy manner Indeed this is one of the first things that God's Grace reforms in a serious Christian No sooner doth he begin to look towards Heaven in sober Sadness but he begins to value and use the Lord's-day in another manner than before Hence Ezek. 20. 12. I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between me and them that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them Remember the Sabbath before it comes And if possibly you can dismiss your Affairs a little the sooner the day before that you may have time over night to reflect on your Works the Week

III. Declare the Instances wherein it is to be exercised in the Tradesman's Calling IV. Make some Application of it I. Concerning the Nature of Truth I willingly let pass many Notions and Distinctions of the School-men And shall only take notice 1. That there is a Truth of Things whereby they are agreeable to that Idea according to which they were fram'd 2. A Truth of Apprechensions whereby we think know or believe of things according to their true Nature 3. A Truth of Expressions whereby we speak of things according to what we think know or believe Now when our Apprehensions of things are not right that 's Error or Mistake which is a Fault and Sin in us if it be about things which we ought to know or pretend to know As for Example when you conceive that such a Commodity which by your Calling you should have Knowledg in is good when indeed it is not But then when our Expressions agree not with our Apprehensions That 's a Lie and is a far greater fault because it 's voluntary So that every Mistake is not a Lie every concealing the Truth is not a Lie every doubtful Speech is not a Lie every Parable or Fable such as That Judg. 9. is not a Lie every rehearsing of a Lie is not a Lie though a Man may so rehearse it as to make it his own But a Lie is the voluntary falsifying of the Truth and it is aggravated when it is joyned with an intent to deceive Truth is like the Sun a Lie is the eclipse of it it puts out the Eye of Truth But of this afterward At the present this is sufficient That every Man in his Calling should judge of things as they are and should when he is called to it speak of them according to such his Judgment and this is called Veracity whereby a Man speaketh the Truth in his Heart as it is Psal 15. 2. neither adds nor diminishes neither depreciates a Commodity or puts Colours upon it will neither affirm a thing or deny it when he knows the contrary and this he doth out of Conscience to God and out of Love to Truth And this is sufficient for the Description of it II. Every Mans Obligations to this result 1. From the Light of Nature by which it is evident that the Tongue and Faculty of Speech is given to Man whereby to express and signify his Mind to others so that he that is dumb in Speech is better than he that deceives with it As the design of a Clock or Watch is to be a true measure of Time and to keep its just pace with the Sun but being false in this were better to be laid aside that to deceive you better to lie in your Desk than tell you a Lie in your Pocket The design and honour of the Tongue is to speak truly so that it is reported of the very Indians that in case they be convinced of a Lie they will in revenge draw Blood of their own Tongues Hence it is that even natural Conscience doth so strongly support a Man when he speaks Truth no Frowns can daunt him and on the contrary he that falsifies the Truth if Conscience be not utterly sear'd is pinch'd within even natural Conscience stings him tho no body can accuse him and then if he be detected intolerable is that Shame that covers him 2. By the Light of Scripture Which doth constantly command Sincerity and Truth and forbid the contrary Zech. 8. 16. These are the things that ye shall do Speak ye every Man Truth to his Neighbour It describes a good Man by his Veracity Prov. 13. 5. A righteous Man hateth Lying Urgeth it with most pregnant Reasons Ephes 4. 25. Wherefore putting away lying speak every Man no Man no not the Tradesman excepted Truth with his Neighbour for we are Members one of another Where the Apostle ushers in his Exhortation with one strong Reason couch'd in the Illative Wherefore which shews that this is an Inference from the foregoing Verses q. d. You have put off the old Man with his Deeds All of you professedly all true Christians really It is ridiculous and shameful for him that is invested with new Robes to retain any one foul Rag upon him And ye have put on the new Man after the Image of Christ who is Truth and so it is fit that all his Members be in the same Livery And then he backs his Exhortation with another Reason We are Members one of another Now every Man will be true to himself will never go about willingly to deceive himself It were a monstrous thing for one Member of the Body to go about to impose upon another Now we are all of us Members of one another 1. As Men. Adam was the Root we all are the Branches 2. As Christians and so we are all one in Christ Jesus our Religion doth knit us closer together than all other Ligaments in the World 1 Cor. 12. 25 27. The Members should have the same care one for another Now ye are the Body of Christ and Members in particular So that in deceiving any of the Members you affront the Head In short unless ye be true Men ye can be no true Christians a salse Man and a true Saint is a Contradiction Thus you see that the Scripture is direct for speaking Truth it doth indeed relate divers Untruths spoken by others both good men and bad but it never justifies them The Narration of such Faults of pious Men is a strong Argument of the Sincerity of the Scripture and that it no way excuses them of its Sanctity In which case Augustine charitably concludes that God accepted in Rahab and the Midwives c. Fidem mentis and pardon'd to them fallaciam mentientis In a word we own and worship a true God we profess a true Religion we pursue a true Happiness by all which we are obliged to all manner of Truth in Heart in Lip in Life 3. This Veracity is demonstrable by the Light of sound Reason that even those that care not for the Scripture may be convinced of the necessity of it unles they will not only renounce Divinity but Humanity also For 1. There is Equity in it Every Man would be truly dealt with No Man would be content that his Wife Children or Servants should deny the Truth or feed him with Lies Which of you chuses to have any thing to do with those whom you cannot believe Now is it not very equal that you should alway speak the Truth that do desire always to hear others speak it Is it reasonable that other Folks should live by one Rule and you by another That Truth should be eligible by all others and not by you This Veracity and Justice are so conjunct that he cannot be just in his Dealings that is false in his Words For the same Law that commands us to do by others as we would be done unto equally obliges us to speak in our Commerce to