Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	divine_a	faith_n	revelation_n	3,458	5	9.7228	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77854	Vindiciæ legis: or, A vindication of the morall law and the covenants, from the errours of papists, Arminians, Socinians, and more especially, Antinomians. In XXIX. lectures, preached at Laurence-Jury, London. / By Anthony Burgess, preacher of Gods Word.	Burgess, Anthony, d. 1664.	1646 (1646)	Wing B5666; Thomason E357_3; ESTC R201144	253,466	294

the glorious image of God put into us for of the later as it is informed by Scripture it is no question Now this is absolutely necessary two waies 1. As a passive qualification of the subject for faith for there cannot be faith in a stone or in a beast no more then there can be sin in them Therefore Reason or the light of Nature makes man in a passive capacity fit for grace although hee hath no active ability for it And when he is compared to a stone it is not in the former sense but the later And secondly it 's necessary by way of an instrument for we cannot beleeve unlesse we understand whether knowledge be an act ingredient into the essence of faith or whether it be prerequisite all hold there must be an act of the understanding one way or other going to beleeve Hence knowledge is put for faith and Hebr. 11. By saith we understand Thus it is necessary as an instrument 3. There is nothing true in Divinity that doth crosse the truth of Though some divine truths may transcend the reach of Nature none doe crosse the truth thereof as it is the remnant of Gods image Nature as it 's the remnant of Gods image This indeed is hard to cleere in many points of Divinity as in the doctrine of the Trinity and the doctrine of Christs Incarnation which seemeth paradoxall to Reason of whom Tertullian lib. 5. de carne Christi cap. 5. thus Natus est Dei Filius non pudet quia pudendum est Mortuus est Dei Filius prorsus credibile est quia ineptum Sepultus resurrexit certum est quia impossibile Yet seeing the Apostle calls the naturall knowledge of a man Truth and all truth is from God which waies soever it come there can therefore be no contradiction between it And hereupon our Divines doe when they have confuted the Poposh doctrine of Transubstantiation by Scripture shew also that for a body to be in two places is against the principles of Nature They indeed call for faith in this point and Lapide upon these words Hoc est corpus meum saith If Christ should aske me at the day of judgment Why did you beleeve the bread to be the body of Christ I will answer This text if I be deceived These words have deceived me But we must compare place with place and Scripture with Scripture As for the doctrine of the Trinity though it be above Reason and we cannot look into that mysterie no more then an Owle can into the Sun Faith and the light of Nature go to the knowledge of the same thing different waies beames yet it is not against it 4. The same object may be knowne by the light of Nature and by the light of Faith This may easily be understood I may know there is a God by the light of Nature and I may beleeve it because the Scripture faith so so Hebr. 11. I may by faith understand the Word was made and by arguments know it was made and this is called faith by James The divels beleeve that is they have an evident intuitive knowledge of God and feel it by experience not that they have faith for that is a supernaturall gift wrought by God and hath accompanying it pia affectio to him that speaketh as the first truth Faith therefore and the light of Nature goe to the knowledge of the same thing different waies faith doth because of the testimony and divine revelation of God the light of Nature doth because of arguments in the thing it selfe by discourse And faith is not a dianoeticall or discursive act of the understanding but its simple and apprehensive 5. Though Reason and the light of Nature be necessary yet it is not The light of Nature a necessary instrument but no Judge in matters of Faith a Judge in matters of faith The Lutheran seemeth to depresse Reason too much and the Socinian exalteth it too high They make it not onely an instrument but a Judge and thereupon they reject the greatest mysteries of Religion I know some have endeavoured to shew that Religio est summa ratio and there are excellent men that have proved the truth of the Christian Religion by Reason and certainly if we can by Reason prove there is any Religion at all we may by the same Reason prove that the Christian Religion is the true one But who doth not see how uncertaine Reason is in comparison of Faith I doe not therefore like that assertion of one who affects to be a great Rationalist it is Chillingworth that saith We therefore receive the Scriptures to be the Word of God because we have the greatest Reason that this is the Word of God But we must not confound the instrument and the Judge holy truthes they are Scripture truthes though hammered out by Reason As the Smith that takes golden plate and beates it into what shape he pleaseth his hammer doth not make it gold but onely gold of such a shape And thus also Reason doth not make a truth divine onely holds it forth and declareth it in such a way 6. It s altogether insufficient to prescribe or set downe any worship of Nature insufficient to prescribe divine Worship God Hence God doth so often forbid us to walk after our owne imaginations and to doe that which we shall choose The Apostle calleth it Will-worship when a mans Will is the meere cause of it Now its true men are more apt to admire this as we see in the Pharisees and Papists they dote upon their Traditions more then Gods Institutions Hence Raymundus a Papist speaking of the Masse It is saith he as full of mysteries as the sea is full of drops of water as the heaven hath Angels as the firmament hath starres and the earth little crummes of sand But what saith our Saviour Luk. 18. that which is highly esteemed before men is abomination before God That word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is applied to idols and false-worship It s true indeed even in worship light of Nature and prudence is instrumentally required to order the Institutions of God but as Reason may not make a new Article of Faith so neither a new part of worship Now Natures in sufficiency is described in these three reasonings 1. To have all the worship of God sensible and pleasing to the eye It 1. Because it would have all the worship of God sensible and pleasing to the eie was well called by Parisiensis a madness in some who doubted not to say The Church was better ruled by the inventions of men then by the Scriptures The people of Israel would have sensible gods that they might see them and certainly men doe as much delight in sensible pompous worship as children doe in gay babies therefore the Prophet speaketh of their goodly images But all this ariseth because they are ignorant of spirituall worship and cannot tell how to make spirituall advantage from God

actibus fingat And againe Quae omnia sapiens servabit tanquam legibus jussa non diis grata And further Istam ignobilem deorum turbam quam longo aevo longa superstitio congessit sic adorabimus ut meminerimus cultum ejus ad morem magis pertinere quàm rem Some say Seneca was coetaneous with Paul and that he had Paul's Epistles might he not if so see himselfe described in this phrase detaining the truth in unrighteousnesse But how well doth Austin in the same place stigmatize him Colebat quod reprehendebat agebat quod arguebat quod culpabat adorabat And are there not many such Popish spirits that know their superstitions and falshoods yet because of long custome will not leave them What else was the meaning of Domitianus Calderinus when speaking of going to Masse hee said Eamus ad communem errorem And so it was a speech of a disputing Sophister Sic dico quando sum in scholis sed penes nos sit aliter sentio You see then by this that naturall truth would encline to better actions but it is suppressed When I say naturall light enclineth the heart to good it is to be understood by way of object meerly shewing what is to be desired not that we have any strength naturally to what is good If you aske why truth apprehended by naturall light should be lesse efficacious to alter and new-mould the heart and life then truth received by faith for in the Scripture we reade of wonderfull conversions and the Heathens have but one story that they much boast of of one Palemon if I mistake not who was a great drunkard and came to deride Socrates while he was reading his discourse to his scholars but was so changed by that lecture that he lest off his drunkennesse This alteration was onely in the skin and not in the vitalls What then should be the difference I answer not that one truth in it selfe is stronger then another but the difference is in medio or instrumento the instrument to receive this truth When Nature receives a truth it 's but with a dimme eye and a palsie-hand but when we receive it by faith that is accompanied with the power and might of the holy Ghost The influence of truth by naturall light is like that of the Moon waterish and weak never able to ripen any thing but that of faith is like the influence of the Sun that doth heat and soon bring to maturity 3. The last use of this naturall light is to make men inexcusable 3. It makes men inexcusable for seeing they did not glorifie God according to their knowledge for that they are justly condemned This indeed is not the onely use of the light of Nature as some say but it is a maine one Rom. 1. 20. not that this is the end of God in putting these principles into us but it falleth out by our sinfulness But how are they inexcusable if they could not glorifie God by nature as they ought Some answer the Apostle speaks of excuse in regard of knowledge but if you understand it of power it is true for by our fault we are unable and none went so farre as naturally they were able And thus Nature is considered in the first place Secondly You may consider it as corrupted and obscured by sin The light of Nature as corrupted by sin is an enemy to God and goodness And in this sense it 's no help but a desperate enemy to what is good and the more reason this way the more opposition to God and thus it fell out with all the great naturall Luminists they became vaine in their reasonings the more they enquired and searched the further off they were from what is true 1 Cor. 2. 14. The naturall man perceiveth not the things of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not a man carnall and grosse in sin but a souly man one that doth excolere animam such as Tully and Aristotle Now the wiser these men were the vainer they were Chrysostome's comparison doth well agree with them As if saith hee a king should give much mony to a servant that by it he should make his family more glorious and he goeth presently and spends all his mony upon whores and bawds Thus did the Heathens As Austin wrote to a man of great parts Ornari abs te Diabolus quaerit The Divell seeks to be adorned by thee Hence Egypt that is accounted the mother of Sciences and Moses in regard of knowledge is preferred before the Egyptians yet that was the seat also of Idolaters and so the Astronomers who lifted up themselves above others in their knowledge of heavenly things brought in those monsters into heaven and attributed worship to them and in their worship of their gods they added many feasts and sports Thus they invented an happinesse which Austin calleth Scyllaeum bonum consisting of humane and brutish parts If you ask how this naturall light cometh to be thus obscured I answer three waies 1. By ill education This The light of Nature obscured three waies is like the first concoction or the first settling of the limbs of a man Secondly By long custome and degeneration Hence some Nations have by their publike lawes allowed grosse sins lawfull as some Nations have allowed robberies some incest some that all old men should be throwne downe headlong a steep hill Thirdly By the just judgement of God therefore three times in Rom. 1. God is said to give them up to sin Thirdly You may speak of Nature as informed and enlightened The light of Nature inform'd by Gods word an excellent help by Gods word and while it 's thus you need not cast this Hagar out of doores Let Scripture and the word of God lay the foundation stone and then Reason may build upon it It is Stella his comparison It is with Faith and Reason as with the mould that is at the root of the barren and fruitlesse tree take the mould out and throw in muck or other compost and then put the mould in it will much help the tree which hindred it before Thus lay aside Reason at first and then receive truths by Faith and afterwards improve them by Reason and it will excellently help Divine truths are not founded upon Reason but Scripture yet Reason may bear them up as you see the elme or wall bear up the vine but the elme or wall doth not bring forth the fruit onely the vine doth that As long therefore as the light of Nature is not the rule but ruled and squared by Gods word so long it cannot deceive us The light of Nature as it is a relict of Gods image is necessary in religious and morall things and that two waies The second grand consideration is That the light of Nature is necessary in religious and morall things though it be not sufficient We speak of the light of Nature in the first consideration as it is the residue of

true that the text is here corrupt and Whether the Psalmists meaning be not perverted For the first in the Hebrew it's there line but the Apostle following the Septuagint renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if they had read Colam for Cavam But the Answer is that the Septuagint regarded the sense and the Psalmist having spoken before of the words or speech of heaven they therefore interpret according to that sense And by line is meant the Structure and exact composing of all these things which declareth the admirable wisdome of the Maker As for the later it is indeed generally taken as if the Apostle did speak this of the Apostles preaching the Gospel which the Psalmist did of the heavens insomuch that the Lutherans interpret all the former part of the Psalme allegorically Others think the Apostle alledgeth that place allusively not by way of argument as in that place of the Epistle to the Corinthians where the Apostle applyeth the speech about Manna to matter of liberality But Jansenius and Vasquez among the Papists and Beza with others among the orthodox think the Apostle keepeth to the literall meaning of the Psalmist as if this should be the Apostles meaning Israel hath heard for God made known himselfe even to the very Heathens by the creatures how much more to the Jewes by the Prophets Which way soever you take it it proveth that God hath a schoole of Nature by his creatures as well as a schoole of Grace by his Ministers The last proofe is from John 1. He is the true light which enlightneth every man coming into the world for so we think 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth referre to man not light though Socinus and Grotius plead much for it Some indeed understand this of the light of Grace but it will be more universally and necessarily true of the light of Reason which is in infants radically though not actually I shall not here relate what unsound Positions an Antinomian Authour hath in a manuscript Sermon upon this place because it is not pertinent So then there is an implanted sense and feeling of a deity which made Tertullian say O anima naturaliter Christiana and Cyprian Summa est delicti nolle agnoscere quem ignorare non potes If you object that the Scripture speaks of the Gentiles as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to be understood of a distinct and obedient knowledge of him And as for some Atheists spoken of that have expressedly professed it what they did was partly in derision of the many gods as Socrates and another who needing a fire threw a statue of Hercules into the fire saying Age Hercules XIII laborem subiturus adesto obsonium nobis cocturus Besides they did this with their tongue more then their heart as appeareth by Diagoras who when he had made a famous oration against a deity the people came applauding him and said he had almost perswaded them but only they thought that if any were God he was for his eloquence sake and then this wretch like Herod was content to be thought a god The second Question is Whether the mystery of the Trinity and The mysterie of the Trinitie and the Incarnation of Christ cannot be found out by the light of Nature of the Incarnation of Christ can be found out as a truth by the light of Nature And here certainly we must answer negatively for the Apostle 2 Corinth 2. speaking of the mysteries of the Gospell saith It hath not entered into the heart of a man to conceive of them which is to be understood not onely of the blessed joy and peace of those truths but also as they are truths so that all these things are of meere supernaturall revelation Hence we reade that when by reason of the Arrians there was an hot dispute about these mysteries there was a voice heard from heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The fall of the wise men I doe acknowledge that Austin and others have sought the foot-steps or representations of the Trinity in the creatures yea Nierembergius a Jesuit de origine sacrae Scripturae lib. 1. cap. 3. doth hold that God did intend by the workes of creation to declare the mysteries of graces as by those artificiall things of the Ark Tabernacle and Temple he intended spirituall mysteries but this is false But then they did first know and beleeve this doctrine by Scripture and then afterwards goe to represent it Yet it must be confessed that all these Similies have scarce one foot much lesse foure to run on The Schoole-men speak of the three things in every creature Esse Posse Operari But especially that is taken up about the soule when it understandeth or knoweth and when it loveth and the Son of God is represented by that Verbum mentis and the holy Ghost by Amor. Now here is a mistake for Christ is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 1. by John imitating the Chaldee not in respect of any such scholasticall sense but because he doth reveale and make knowne the will of God to us so the union of the humane nature and the divine in one person though learned men give many examples yet none come up to the full resemblance And indeed if you could give the like instance it were not wonderfull or singular We conclude then that the Scriptures are the onely ladder whereby we climb up to these things and our understandings are of such a little stature that we must climb up into the tree of life the Scriptures to see Jesus The light of Nature insufficient for salvation The third Question concerning this naturall light is Whether it be sufficient for salvation For there are some that hold If any man of whatsoever Nation he be worship God according to the light of Nature and so serve him he may be saved Hence they have coined a distinction of a three-fold piety Judaica Christiana and Ethnica Therefore say they What Moses was to the Jewes and Christ to the Christians the same is Philosophy or the knowledge of God by nature to Heathens But this opinion is derogatory to the Lord Christ for onely by faith in his Name can we be saved as the Scripture speaketh And certainely if the Apostle argued that Christ died in vaine if works were joyned to him how much more if he be totally excluded It is true it seemeth a very hard thing to mans reason that the greater part of the world being Pagans and Heathens with all their infants should be excluded from heaven Hence because Vedelius a learned man did make it an aggravation of Gods grace to him to chuse and call him when so many thousand thousands of pagan-infants are damned this speech as being full of horridnesse a scoffing Remonstrant takes and sets it forth odiously in the Frontispiece of his Book But though our Reason is offended yet we must judge according to the way of the Scripture which makes Christ the onely way for salvation If