Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	devil_n	father_n	lie_n	3,415	5	9.0726	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31907	A full and final proof of the plot from the Revelations whereby the testimony of Dr. Titus Oates and Mr. Will. Bedloe is demonstrated to be jure divino, and all colours and pretences taken away that might hinder the obstinate from assenting to the truth and sincerity of their evidence : dedicated to all Roman-Catholicks and infidels / by E.C., Doctor of the civil law.	E. C., Doctor of the civil law.	1680 (1680)	Wing C23; ESTC R9091	13,342	20

Conscience to belive one before the defence of the other the damnation of a Witnesses Soul being a far greater loss and infinitely above any advantage he can propose to himself from the destruction of his Body whom he Impeaches There being therefore this vast disparity between the Condition of the Accused and the Evidence we ought to listen to no Stories or imaginary Allegations of honesty in the reputed Offenders but to lay them aside and proceed to sentence them as Criminals and Justice all this while remains unblemish'd the Witnesses being her Compurgators though if they be surprized in a Falshood they can be none of their own Thus the Reputation of well Govern'd Societies skreens it self from all Imputations of Cruelty and the Person condemn'd is not hereby so much injured in his Temporal Estate as bettered in his Spiritual the most Important Concern of his Being for if a Witness is pleas'd to forfeit Heaven by Perjury the dying Man has a clear Conscience to support him under his misfortune and 't is probable may be a greater Gainer by a Sentence of Death than a Concession of Life having a bless'd opportunity tendered of claiming Salvation by a signal Instance of Innocence to that God who never fails to consider it in the other World But to drive the matter to a higher Point I am of opinion That a Jesuite Priest or any other fiery Papist ought to be hook'd within the Penal Cognizance of the Law as effectually as if he stood convicted of being a Party to the Conspiracy but this they say would be barbarous and most unparallel'd Injustice because there are no overt Acts tending to the prejudice of the Government But I look upon every the least of Persons before-mentioned to be as so many Plotspies and as deserving punishment as a Scout from the Enemies Camp by Martial Law Though they cannot all perhaps be proved to engage in the beginning of the Plot they will be sure to be seen in the end of it And State-Doctors say Physick by way of prevention or anticipation is safer than Remedies applied to encounter a Disease upon the spot it being very difficult when the Savage Beast has fastened upon the Throat of Government to shake him off before he has strangled it Again suppose Jesuites Priests and other the zealous Bigots of the Romish Religion have not yet actually committed any mischief or been corporeally active in any distractions amongst us yet ought we not to be so simply good-natur'd to look upon them as harmless inoffensive Persons Intenders of the publick Peace and Tranquillity Are we not acquainted with their Tenets their Principles the absolute Dominion the Pope has over them their obligation to blind Obedience without the liberty of disputing the most impious of his Commands the constant charge given them to promote their Religion upon any Terms the vilest courses and means imaginable their accounting it no murder to Assasinate a Heretick Prince and all His Subjects when the Holy Vizier has excommunicated them but on the contrary the highest merit and claim that they can prefer to the most glittering Crown of Saints and all these horrible Credenda own'd and defended in the Volumes of the most Learned and best Casuists of their Church since I say we are as certain that this is the Substance of their Religion as that Goodness Patience and Loyalty is the Sum of ours and that these Principles are not by them to be maintained in notion only and speculation but as the deposited Bullion of the Soul upon advantageous occasions to be brought forth and minted into action we have more reason to fear them than those that have already made their attempts for as much as we cannot guess when they will pour upon us their malice being quick and sudden and like a Granada bursting on all sides into Death and Ruine We all know that Treason but intentionally prov'd comes within the Verge of the Law and Condemnation is awarded accordingly and why pernicious destructive rebellious Opinions publickly own'd and abetted should not have the same force to condemn I see not the least jot of reason He that harbours an ill and dangerous Principle in his bosom lodges an Enemy and Traytor in the Country of his Prince that lies couchant under that Covert till he has a fit opportunity to rouze and fly in the face of Majesty Every violently evil Man ought to be capitally secured from a power of doing mischief for seeing we cannot execute his bad Principles without himself and whilst there is life thene will be Villany 't is but justice they both should suffer together and in this Case though the Man perhaps in pursuance of his Judgment for want of a due time to humour his secular Interest never was a notorious Rogue in practice yet this preponderates nothing for whether he acts or no the Vicious Traiterous Will ought to pass for the Deed 't is High Treason in intellectu and that 's enough But I find my too great Passion and Love for Honesty Integrity and Allegiance has unawares made me deviate from my purpose it being far from my design to think to convince any one of the reality of all and every part of this Plot by dint of ratiocination and therefore I did at first institute another Method which I intend to end with and which is the only Expedient to allay our heats and animosities 't is this must hinder us from contradicting one another 't is this must make us come to a combination in Judgment concerning the Plot to believe it and make no more hums nor ha's about the matter of it for we are told by Divine Authority 't is a damnable design against our Throats we may believe too little but not too much of it and I do not think in so doing I enlarge and stretch my Conscience that is not to meddle here being a Judge only of Reason and her Jurisdiction confin'd to Equity In this Case I do but load my Faith which Heaven has made with a flat bottom not to be sunk by a moderate burden And as I am in obedience oblig'd to receive so in duty am I forbid curiously to examine and flaw-find the Plot which Prohibition is only intended as a means to prevent differences and disputes amongst us Do we seriously consider the Sense of the wisest Heads in the Nation the Judgment of many cunning Daniels that have been most laboriously sollicitous in our Interest the unanimous Declaration and Vote of the House of Commons the faithful and ingenuous Reports of the Privy-Council the sagacious Opinions of all the Judges we are no more able to resist the Evidence of this Plot than we can with Christianity reject Articles of Faith agreed and concluded on in a general and lawful Council Therefore in framing doubts about it we implicitly Tax the Government with silliness and credulity and do in effect call our Rulers Fools and Magistrates Asses 'T is an approved Opinion That in all Great Assemblies and Consults for the well-fare of a Good King a true Religion and Government there is a presiding Spirit to direct and steer their Resolutions God Almighty ever when he is pleased himself to be the Discoverer of the Enemies of his Church enlightning the Ministers of Justice enlarging and amplifying the Powers of their Understandings that they may be able to grapple with Stratagems and Intricacies and to pierce through the darkest Shades and recesses of Night So that the assiduous care of the King and His Council the incessant Prosecutions of Parliament the Vigilance and Activity of Justices of the Peace do as fully evince the reality of a Plot as all the oral Depositions of the Witnesses these extraordinary Motions being never raised in publick Magistrates but by Divine Instigation to confront malicious against a People whom Heaven has a mind to protect What a folly is it then for Men to shufle and cut to carp at one Passage and laugh at another of the Plot and when they have done all they can to expose the matter of it to take Sanctuary at Slander asperse and vilifie the Witnesses derogate from their Integrity bespatter their Lives and rail against Irregularities of their Conversation this can be nothing certainly but the virulent spleen and malice of such who are not to be answer'd but physick'd for satisfaction purg'd from those gross humours that thus fly up into and annoy the Head But if there be really any adult personal vices or extravagancies of the Witnesses these are so far from proving a Ground to suspect the credit of what they say that it bespeaks rather an itch of objecting than a rational scruple in the Calumniators for St. Ambrose says Veritas a quocunque est est a Spiritu Sancto and at this rate we have a Fathers word for it the Devil when he speaks truth does it by Divine Impulse 't is not his being the Father of Lies that will evacuate a Truth and therefore let the malice of our Adversaries urge what it can Truth is Truth in spight of Hell In fine there is a Plot a Plot of many years standing assisted and encouraged by a Conjunction of Popish Interest throughout all Christendom the total extirpation ruine and murder both of Man Woman and Child threatn'd intended and resolved on and shall we not believe there 's a Plot for my part I think it a necessary Article to be inserted in my Creed it being certain that nothing but a mistrust of it can prevent the due effect which the Discovery should have upon the Publick I am so satisfied and convinced from all outward Circumstances of the real existence of a Plot that I 'le suffer my self to believe all Impossibilities rather than be perswaded there is none I passionately repeat once more and lay it home to your Consciences That Dr. Oates and Mr. Bedloe are Mediums and Pipes employed by the Almighty to convey the Knowledge of this Master-piece of Villany to us I have demonstrated this leo any Man prove the contrary for unless you pronounce John an Impostor I am in the right you cannot without Atheism deny the Antecedent ergò you must own the Sequel from whence will follow this Corollary If you believe not these Witnesses Dr. Oates and Mr. Bedloe the Prophets you have now with you neither would you believe one though he rose from the Dead FINIS

as much of the Plot as is positively sworn nor does it become us to question or stagger at any thing that they with so much courage and assurance have asserted 'T is impossible in this case to be impos'd upon or allured into the snare of Falshood for if John were inspir'd which we believe as certainly as the Miracle of Cloven Tongues we are sure to be grounded upon a firm Faith His Prophecy being a secret of Divinity imparted to Illustrate the Attribute of Gods Goodness we have no more reason to boggle at the Truth of the two Witnesses than the Doctrine of an Apostle 'T is impossible for them upon this Basis to speak a Falshood they are Engines the Diviner says actuated by Him Witnesses He has chosen to lay open the Destruction our Enemies design'd us And as it is from hence both irrational and highly irreligious to deny the Being of a Plot in general so to clip and pare part of it off and believing it by halves is no less impious for owning the Discovery of the whole to Inspiration 't were to imply a Contradiction in Divinity to condemn part and approve of the rest We must therefore acknowledge every tittle of it or it will be to no purpose to believe it mincingly 'T is not my design here to discourse of the Probabilities of Mens Innocence or Guilt by weighing Circumstances and Matters in a Humane Method and in the Scale of Partial Reason mine is a shorter and more compendious way and not liable to fundamental Errors Heaven has revealed the Plot and 't is needless for me to make wrangling scrutiny into it for after I have done my best in such a search I must whether I will or no acquiesce in a Supine Judgment of its truth because Holy John hath said it and I told you before whence he had it But if we should stoop a little to the Cavils of the Contentious what would this avail or signifie What if you alledge you have good reasons to doubt of the Truth of some Particulars laid to the charge of the late Malefactors Why suppose you have the main of the Accusations and that which hang'd them was High Treason the throng of such important business in a Witnesses Head may easily be conceived to justle out trivial Circumstances of Time and Place and trapan him unawares into a false Computation The Witness believes it was so and so there done and in such an order of time and then punctually swears to it this is no Crime in Conscience if he errs 't is only a fault in memory and so not a Lie but a mistake which a Court of Justice readily passes by and pardons This Maxime being in vogue with us as well as the Romish Casuists Nemo peccat nisi actu voluntario So this bubble of an Objection vanishes But to humour the Captious a little further Granting these are Lies couch'd under and mix'd with the Truth of the Evidence and supposing the Witnesses Knaves which is the utmost Malice can do yet cannot I think there is any reason to separate our selves from a total Belief of every thing they say since the main of the Plot in spight of the most sear'd obstinacy in Nature will compel us to acknowledge a great part of it And though we wholly depend upon them for our information and pin our Faith upon their sleeves yet ought we not to be so uncharitable as to bring a suspicion of Imposture upon the whole 'T is true in this case we are liable to abuse and if they will deceive us in some things they may but for as much as we want a certain Criterion to judge of and winnow Truth from Falshood and that if I choose to be my own Conductor 't is an even Wager but I embrace a Lie and reject a saving Truth therefore if there were a hundred times more of the Plot sworn than there now is I think it prudence to swallow all and disgorge none nay I affirm if there were ten Millions of Lies I am obliged by the Law of Nature slightly to believe them all rather than earnestly dissent from one precious Truth which unespous'd would prove my utter ruine for otherwise the bloody Machinators have as fair play at our Throats as ever and the Discovery will be as ineffectual to frustrate their Designs as looking upon a Train of Powder with a lighted Match laid to it will hinder it from taking fire The Sum is then seeing we cannot distinguish between Truth and Falshood it behoves us passionately to embrace both together for our own safety and preservation And pray let this be a Bug-bear to no body for what is there in all this Shall I keep a clutter and ado about Assent and Dissent and in the interim have my Throat cut for my Curiosity Shall I grin and have an ill opinion of the Evidence because the Plot is not contriv'd as I would have form'd it had I been a Conspirator This is such Nonsense as nothing but a pragmatical conceited Asse would be guilty of We thank them very heartily for their Critical Wisdom and Skill in Plots I am rather perswaded they are angry and peevish because it was not rightly projected and would be though to storm at the folly of the Design when they secretly blame the ill fortune and success of the Undertakers But it may very materially be urg'd That in this mist of Evidence innocent Men may be condemned wrongfully their Estates forfeited and their Lives taken away to the great scandal of Government and the impious abuse of the Sword of Justice To this 't is answer'd That in Cases of this moment and weight relating to the Body-Politick 't is better that now and then an Innocent suffer than that all Malefactors escape for as in the Body-natural labouring under a Fever the Chyrurgeon to preserve the whole Mass from dissolution draws from it both good and bad Blood together there being so subtil and close a union between the corrupted and sound part of it that no Art or Skill of his can free the Body of one without taking a Portion of the other So in matters of Justice 't is impossible for any Magistrate to make such nice discriminations between Innocence and Guilt as he shall be sure always to punish one and acquit the other bare Innocence being no vindication of it self must bring proofs and violent presumptions to plead for it when these are wanting the Law devests her of that Title and sets her in the rank of Criminals But above all the Witnesses that are upon their Oaths are to be heard and believ'd notwithstanding any contrary conjectures and surmises an Oath being to be esteemed and valued with all reverence as the most Sacred Engagement in the World And for as much as a Witness is oblig'd to stake his Soul a thing of inestimable price to the Body of every Man to be Arraigned and Tryed I think a Judge and Jury are bound in