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
B22780	Englands deplorable condition shewing the common-wealths malady, by [brace] sacriledge, and want of duty in the people, contention, want of charity in the ministery, perjury, and want of truth in both : and its remedy by [brace] the peoples obedience and liberality, the ministers love and unity, both their repentance and fidelity : briefly declar'd in three treatises of [brace] the ministers patrimony and peoples duty, proposals to reconcile such as are for lordly episcopacy and un-ordain'd presbytery, for popular independancy and upstart antipædobaptistry, and against perjury : also, a petition for the Jews.	E. F.	1659 (1659)	Wing F18	72,509	69

not the offence till thy Brother be reconciled p Mat 5 24 or thou endeavour restitution The second sort that swear falsly who are not so bad altogether although guilty of a great sin are such who being ignorant of the truth yet doubtingly and rashly without certain Knowledge Faith and q Jer 4 2 Judgement confirm the same by an Oath to be truth for though the thing they confirm were truth yet they not knowing it so and yet by Oath affirming it that they know it so swear falsly for in swearing they pretend to know that which indeed they know not and so in reference to them 't is false they swear though in it self the thing may be true they swear this God accounts lying and an Oath being added to it makes it Perjury For to Lie is to speak against that which he thinks in his mind such swearing the truth but not from the heart as God requires q Psal 15 2 Mentire est contra mentemire Plin swear a Lie because they know not they swear truth Now Liars are from their father the Devil and his works they do r Iohn 8 48 and to swear a Lie is one of the greatest aggravations of it for the Devil will speak truth but not truly not after a right manner nor for a right end 't is to equivocate deceive and hurt mens souls as in Adams tentation he told the woman if they did eat they should be as Gods which if understood of Angels fallen is a truth but if of the blessed Trinity or holy Angels as he would have Ez●e understand it was a Lie ſ Gen. 3 5 So the spirit of Python in the Maid confessed Paul and Sylas to be the servants of the most high God which shewed to them the way of Salvation t Acts 16 17 but this was for ill ends as that he might be acknowledged a God in speaking truth or to uphold the false tenant of many gods or provoke St. Paul and commend his own Oracles or lastly by this means to hinder the preaching of the Gospel and to raise persecution against the Apostles which accordingly took effect for Paul grieved in Spirit could no longer endure the Devils approbation when they had the power of Christ in their Ministry to confirm the Doctrine they preached u Acts 16 17 c. to 25 but turning commanded the Spirit in the Maid in the Name of Christ to come out of her and when her Masters saw the hope of their gain was gone they raised persecution against them So that he swears falsly who without judgement and justice swears which is a high prophaning of Gods holy Com. 3d. Name in which whosoever sins God will not hold him guiltless And truly 't is to be feared a great part of the knowing men of the Land are guilty of this sin swearing ignorantly doubtingly or rashly witnesse those Oathes taken in the Universities to observe the Statutes thereof when Schollars are Matriculated or take Degr●es when scarce one o● a hundred knoweth them The Oaths heretofore usually taken by Majors Burgesses Sheriffs Common Council-men Citizens Free-holders and Tenants in their Cities Towns Courts Assemblies which usually were ignorantly or doubtfully taken or carel●sly and negligently performed yea worse than these are the Oaths which Judges Sergeants at Law Apprentices to the Law and Clerks and other Officers in Chancery Inns of Court and other Courts take ignorantly or prophanely many of them without any inte●tion or purpose to keep them for usually f●r B●ibes and excessive Fees which now abounds more than ever witnesse the wealth not only the Judges and Lawyers have gotten but even their Clerks Registers and other Officers far surpassing some Knights or Esquires estates they have turned judgement into wo●mwood and have left of righteousnesse in the earth and oft some of them plead against their Consciences in most unjust causes helping therein to oppresse the poor fatherlesse and widow against such God complains and threatens ruine w Amos 5. 7 Nor are all our Justices of the Peace Bayliffs Constables Head-borroughs Church Wardens Overseers of the Poor and High-wayes Tything men Jaylors and other inferiour Officers especially most of your Attorneys Under Sheriffs Bayliffs c. free from this sin many of them ignorantly rashly without faith reverence knowledge or judgement taking their Oathes for honour or profit and usually without fear or care to avoid perjury continuing in and executing their Offices and therefore God may just●y as he threatens call the Husbandman to mourning and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing because he w●ll passe through the Land in wrath x Amos 5 10 th● 18 verse Nay I am afraid some of our Nobles and our late Parliament Men our valiant Commanders and reverend Ministers cannot wholly vindicate themselves from this sin much l●sse can many of the Common Souldiers and Country people of the Land who took the Oathes of Allegiance and Supremacy the Protestation and Covenant of the Three Kingdoms Did not most of us do it ignorantly rashly or doubtingly compulsively or presumptuously without Faith Judgement and Righteousnesse which is a great sin contrary to Gods Rule who will have us swear in judgement justice and truth y Jer. 4. 2 Surely I fear few can free themselves from this sin if without fear prejudice favour or self-love they would seriously in their Consciences peruse those Oaths Protestation and Covenant and deal impartially with themselves as God will do without respect of persons when he comes to Judge them Or if any plead he sinned not in taking these then certainly he sinned with a witness in not keeping these as his own Conscience Gods Spirit and his Word taught him which is the Third way of swearing falsly namely Thirdly When men swear to God or men to do something that 's just and lawful which they intend not to do or if they intend it yet perform it not but do quite contrary thereunto having their evasions equivocations or mental reservations to elude avoid and frustrate these which was accounted a Jesuitical trick and a damnable sin heretofore amongst Protestants in Queen Elizabeths and King James his dayes z Dr. Mortons Reply to the moderate Answerer against more than heathenish equivocations written 1606. This sin in Religion saith my Author is sacrilegious and detestable in politick State most pernicious and intollerable and in every man most wicked and baneful to his soul This is a horrible sin tending to most fearful damnation a Dod Cleaver on the 3d. Com p. 107 108. For he is a true Christian that having sworn to his hindrance yet will keep his Oath But he is far from a good man that sweareth that which he never purposeth to perform both Fathers Councils Schoolmen and all godly Divines have condemned it b Aug. Contra. Mend. cap. 5. 8 Hierm. Comment in 1 Cor. 4 Pet. Lumb lib. 3. dict 38. Aquin. 22. quest 111. art

that they prevailed still against them and over-came them after that Almerick King of the Holy Land the 50th after Godfry had ●roke his Faith and violated his Oath which he had made with Elha deck the Caliph and his Vicegerent after this he was soon van quished in the field the Lord forsaking the Christians and taking part with their foes so that as our famous H●storian speaks c Rawl Hist of the world lib 2 prim part c 6. sect 8. Psal 5 6 Wisd 1 11. though the Crosse of Christ on which he suffered was brought into the Field by the Christians as their last Refoge yet sith they had forsworn themselves in his Name that was cruc●fied thereon and so prophanned it they could not stand but were destroyed The Soldan Sanar being suddenly invaded by Almerick drew in the Turk Syracon to their A●d whose Nephew Sal●dine after he had made Egypt his own beat the Christians out of the Holy Land If the mouth that speaketh lies shall be destroyed how much more shall his be that swears them Very well known is the History of Vladislaus King of Hungary who having sealed and sworn a Truce with Amurath the second great Turkish d Knolls his Turkish Hist pag 297 and Rawl Hist ut supra Emperor and that as my Author saith the most advantagious for Christians that ever was yet was he by Eugenius the Pope commanded and by Cardinal Julian and other Bishops perswaded to break the same and to provoke the Turk to renew the War and though Vladislaus for a while prevailed in the Fight he being now far stronger in the Field than before yet as soon as Amurath had drawn out the Truce Vladislaus had sworn and sealed and spread it before heaven and invocated revenge from Christ on the Christians for prophaning his Name by this sin saying If thou art the true God as the Christians affirm shew then thy justice on these perfidious persons who say they are thy servants and loe immediately the Day was lost the Battel turned and Vladislaus Julian and 30000. perfidious Christians lost their lives and perished in their sin And if God hath thus remarkably from heaven revealed his wrath on all such as are guilty of this sin shall we think they were greater in this sin than others in this Land as Christ speaks e Luke 13 3 5 surely no there be thousands in this Land are guilty of this sin as well as they and unless we repent we shall all perish for very few of age can free themselves from it for so I find in a late Invitation to observe a solemn Fast throughout the Land f See the Invit to a Fast in the Land Mar 26 1656. that Oaths are put in among other sins of the Land provoking the Lord to wrath and surely if any Oathes are to be repented of then much more such whereby men swear falsly of which there are Three sorts As First To affirm a falshood by an Oath under which especially are comprehended all false Witnesses and Jurors and truly 't is to be feared such are most of our Talesmen and hackny Jurors at our Sessions and Assizes who swear only for hire and for gain go on either side usually perverting judgement and truth without fear 'T is a great sin to make a Lie for it ba●s from heaven g Rev 22 15 but greater to stand in a Lie and defend it as Gehezi did h ● Ki●g 5 25 26. which brought on him Naamans Leprosie but the greatest sin of the Three is to swear a Lie as those sons of Belial did to take away the life of innocent Naboth i 1 King 21 13 and those perjured persons that swore against Christ k Mat. 26 61 62. 'T is a sin against the light of Conscience derogating from all the Attributes of God when men tremble not at his sin revenging Justice nor fear his soveraign power and greatness nor are awed with his all-seeing wisdom and truth who is the searcher of the hearts and will render to every man according to his works O what desperate folly is it against all these for men to put his holy and dreadful Name to that which their own Conscience tells them is a falshood What other is it but a bold and impudent asserting of a Lie before Christ the just Judge of quick and dead 'T is a prophane and desperate invocating of God to be witness to a Lie as if he were the patron of it or approved it when he infinitely loaths and abhors it and hath oft plagued such as have presumed so to do as Anne Avery a Woman in Woodstreet in London who swearing a Lie was struck speechless in the place and cast up her excrements at her mouth with horrible stink l Bayly ●n his Pract●ce of Piety So also Earl Godwin in this Land who flew K●ng Alfreds Brother of which he being accused by the King he not only denied it but forswore it wishing the bread he was m Hollingsh Chron. in ●sie life of King Alfyed about to eat might choak him if he were guilty of the Fact but loe no sooner were the words spoken but God vindicated his honour so that the bread according to his wish choak'd him and so he perished a fearful spectacle of Gods indignation and the Sea not long after devoured his Land which to this day are called by his name Eusebius tells us of three notorious persons that conspired falsly to accuse Narcissus Bishop of Jerusalem and to affirm their Lie one of them w●shed he migh● be consumed with fire if he swore not the truth n Euseb cccles Hist lib. 6. c 7 The second wished that some grievous and deadly Disease might seize on him if he swore falsly o Called by the Translator M●rbus regius And the third wished he might be strucken blind if he were perjured And ●oe for their perjury according to their imprecations God plagued each of them for the first had his Wife himself and Children with his house and all he had burnt with fire from h●●ven The second perished by a fearful and violent Disease The third was so terrified with the justice of God on his wicked Confederates that he penitently confessed the perjury and mourned so long and bitterly under the sense of this horrid sin for which he obta●ned not pardon unt●l he had wept out his eyes and so God made him as a spectacle of his justice in his blindnesse so a so a monument of his Mercy in giving him repentance to mourn so lamentably for this horrid sin which was not quite expiated till his imprecation was fulfilled upon him and his eyes expunged And woe will be to those who being Non remit●r peccatum ●isi restituatur ●blatum Aug Epist 54 guilty of this sin do not repent much and speedily making also satisfaction as much as in them lyeth for the injuries done by their perjury o. God pardons

any much lesse may they prophanely or perfidiously swear a Lie by violating their Oaths and Covenants so solemnly sworn unto under pretence of necessity or publick good David prayes against such cursed Hypocrisie and God-mocking flattery Encline not my heart unto any evil thing to pretend pretences in wickednesse with men that work iniquity let me not eat of their dainties q Psal 141 4 S●e Ainsworths Anno● on the place So Ainsworth translates it And David gives the reason of it in another Psalm r Psal 125. 4. 5 As for those that turn aside to their own crooked wayes to which Satan and their own deceitful hea●es lead them the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity Or as the Chalde Paraphrase He will lead them to Hell and their part shall be with the workers of iniquity but Peace shall be on Israel viz. such as are upright in heart to pay th● Promise as Israel d●d ſ Gen. 35. 2. 3 compsred with Gen. 28 20 And if any man to free himself from Perjury shall say when ●e took those Oaths and Covenant he ●quivocaced and had his mental Reservation c. ●e doth not surely thereby exte●uate but rather aggravate his offence for in his swearing and Covenanting he professed God to be the Author of Truth who cannot deceiv● no● be deceived whom he invocated to witnesse the truth and sincerity of Agreement b●tween his words and heart imp●●ing his vengeance if ●● speak not the truth when neverth 〈…〉 e by his eq●vocation and reservations by his Lies and per 〈…〉 snesse he endeavours to deceive God and doth deceive himself and the Persons to whom and with whom and before whom he swears But let such know God will not be mocked t Gal. 6. 7 but what a man s●●eth that shall he reap with the u●right swea●er that ●e●reth ●n O●th God will shew himself upright t Ps 18. 25 26 in keeping Oath and Promise to such But with the perverse and froward who have in their Oaths such wrenches and ●vasions God will shew himself awry for Gods wrath is revealed from Heaven against all such u Rom. 1. 18 3 2 and 't is to be feared such are blinded in their sins or given over to a reprobate mind who prophanely sport with these holy things and yet think they sin not but play as Sampson with his Cords fast and loose as pleaseth them Just like him whom the O●atour speaks of w Clsero lib de Offic 3 who being a Roman Souldier captive at Carthage was granted his Parol on his Oath to return again into Prison thither within a perfixed time who as so●n as he was out of Carthage returned unto the Prison again pretending he had forgot something behind which ther● he would fetch intending thereby to elude his Oath which done he came to Rome and there stayed longer than his Parol allowed him telling the Senate he was freed from his Oath by reason of his former return but the Grave Senators understanding of his fraud sent forth-with this Perjured fellow back to Carthage bound with Cords to shew their disl●ke of such deceit and equivocation in an Oath though it were made to an Enemy well knowing that fraud and deceit in an Oath doth not lessen Perjury but make it more heynous And lest any man should plead the wickednesse of the person or persons to whom the Oath or Covenant were made might dis●ob●ige them let them remember the Gibeonites forementioned who were ●olaters and Deceivers themselves with whom fraud may be used if with any x Fallere falleatem non est fians Livius de bello pun lib. 2 And thes● Carthaginians who were faithl●ss and perfidious even to a proverb y Punica sides But you m●y see by 〈◊〉 Ex●mple● that both Religious and Heathen Princes abhorr●d this sin Insomuch that Cicero saith such as use these Evasions and Pretences they seek out but for a shifting hole for their Perjury z Clcero lib Offic. 30. And indeed any thing may rather subtilly be excused than an Oath in which the least deceit is an heynous sin and pulls down speedy vengeance on him that useth it Witness Arrius that Blasphemous Heretick this was the grand sin that filled up the Measure of his wickedness and put a period to his imfamous life a Histor eccles Tripart Epiph. scol imerp lib● 3 pag 135 136 Omnes transeuntes digito notabant locum Arrii detestabilem recordante● interium for being compelled by Constantine that godly Emperour fot the peace of the Church to deliver his Subscription to the general Council of Nice and to avouch his integrity thereunto to subscribe it by an Oath he consented hereunto but before he did it he wrote his damnable Heresie in a Paper as his desperate wicked heart had invented to Elude his Oath and this Paper he put secretly under his cloathes in his bosom and then being urged after he had written his subscription to the truth confirmed in the Council of Nice to swear That he had written according to the truth in his heart he clapt his hand on his bosom and swore he had written as he did truly beleive in his heart meaning in the Paper in his bosom which the good Emperour and his Followers understood of the Papers he had subscribed But the Almighries Eye beheld his treachery and his wrath was kindled against him and his Perjury his damnation slumbred not for no sooner was he out of the Court going in triumph into the City to glory over his foes the holy Bishop Alexander and his Orthodox Adherents but loe when he came into the place called Constantines Market place he was st●ucken suddenly with the terrors of the Almighty as the Psalmist saith b Psal 120. 3 4 Verba similia sagittis acutis r●busti i. e. maxime lethalia ut presentissimam mortem afferentia ●deoque obvium quicquid est conflagrantia Trem Jun. Annot. in loc for his deceitful tongue there was given to him the sharp Arrows of the mighty One and coals of Junipe● which so burned in his belly that it made him with-draw behind the Market-pl●ce where a Privy was where with his Excrements be voided out his Entrails and a multitude of Bloud and his Liver with his Spleen of which he immediately died God in his Justice for his Blasphemy Perjury and Hypocrisie striking him with a Judgment proportionable to his sin for he had hid his wickedness in his inward parts therefore God will openly discover both it and them he had deceived and mocked good men now his deceipt in his Breast is discovered and he is made a spectacle and derision to Angels and Men The Almighty caught him in his craftinesse and his devices were carried head-long c Job 6. 13 And thus is he made a Monument of divine Vengeance to all men who thought to delude and deceive all Insomuch as my Author saith all men passing by with