Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	faith_n	see_v	word_n	4,873	5	4.1895	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93787	A caveat against seducers: as it was preached by Richard Standfast, Mr. of Arts, and rector of Christ-Church in Bristol, whereunto are annexed the blind mans meditations. By the same author.	Standfast, Richard, 1608?-1684.	1660 (1660)	Wing S5204; Thomason E1816_2; ESTC R203605	25,969	77

vapours 'T is grown so dark that I can work no more All these I lost when once I lost my sight And now 't is time to bid the world good night But stay my soul though great thy losses are Thy Blessed Saviour doth not yet forsake thee Make him thine own and then thou needst not care His joyful prefence will a gainer make thee That 's true indeed to him I 'le therefore flye Whose fulness can my losses all supply Be thou my strength O God and I stand surely Be thou my light and I shall finde my way Be thou my shield and I shall walk securely Be thou my guide and I shall never stray Be thou my strength my light my shield my guide And I shall neither stray nor fall nor slide Be thou my fortress foes shall foil mee never Be thou my portion I shall ne'r be poor Be thou my life and I shall live for ever Be thou my God and I defire no more Shine thou on mee and I shall need no Sun Nor fear whilst thou art mine to be undone THE BLIND MANS Advantage THe dark doth not a dungeon make Nor night the want of brightness A knowing and contented mind Can turn that dark to lightness May I from ignorance be free And see Gods loving-kindness With Angels bright That live in light I 'le not complain of blindness The foolish are compar'd with beasts Though differing in their feature Who knowledge wants though hee have his sight Is but a brutish creature Where eyes are lost there inward light With knowledge can requite them Minds truly wise Have Angels eyes 'T is happy to be like them 'T is sad I know to lose the sight And much to be lamented Yet therein finde I gain enough To make the blind contented For when mine eyes could look abroad They sometimes bred mee danger And I was then Like many men At home too much a stranger But now I 'me free from all those snares Way-layd for eyes that wander Whose looks have often prov'd to lust No better than a pandar From all whose most alluring baits My blindness doth exempt mee What Eve beguil'd Or David foil'd Hath now no power to tempt mee And now mine eyes are inward bent With earnest inquisition To search and try and know my self And what 's mine own condition Thus are they rather turn'd than lost For that which was mee homward Hath now no looks For other books But all my sight is homeward Homeward indeed my blindness calls My certain change foretelling For sith my windows be shut up I must look to remove my dwelling There is an house not made with hands The joyes of whose fruition My Faith gives mee Good hopes to see For the end of Faith is vision And thither to be remov'd from hence I may well count a kindness For though I here have lost my fight Yet there I shall lose my blindness Thus hee that out of dark brought light To blessings turns our crosses Where his love takes His goodness makes Us gainers by our losses AN Address to Blindness Wherein are contained several grounds or chearful Patience for those that bee in that condition WElcome Blindness for his sake From whom thou didst commission take To seize upon my watchful spyes And by degrees to cloud mine eyes Because thine orders were from God I 'le not repine but kiss my Rod. No little Birds to earth decline Without a Providence Divine I may as well conclude from thence No Blindness but by providence All rising thoughts I therefore shun And only say Gods will bee done From him the Holy Lord of Might There 's nothing can proceed but right Or light on mee but what is just For what am I but sinful dust The Provocation then being from mee Submissive Patience will become mee Besides God would be understood In all hee sends to seek our good His bitter Pills intend our health And outward losses inward wealth His very chiding comes from kindness And therefore once more welcome Blindness With aged Eli thou didst dwell And Father Isaac knew thee well With Jacob too thou didst abide And other holy men beside W●y then should I deny submission When Saints have been in my condition Thy first appearance calls thee foe But better known thou art not so At least there 's more of friend in thee Than at the first there seems to be For though the body may defie thee The soul may prove a gainer by thee Thy clouds ecclipse all earthly beauties And yet obstruct not holy duties For I can hear discourse and pray Though thou hast took my sight away Thou rather furtherest such transactions In helping to prevent distractions Thy mantle muffles up the sight And yet obscures no inward light Nay thou giv'st leisure and occasions For many heavenly Meditations And canst with Faith and Hope agree Why then should I fall out with thee 'T wixt Faith and thee hath ever been Consent for that 's of things not seen A Christians walking suits thee right For that 's by Faith and not by sight And for a Saint the best ingredients Are hood-winkt faith and blind obedience When once God speaks man should be mute Beleeve obey and not dispute For of his word the truth and right Hath no dependence on our sight Thou canst not therefore I confess Either hinder Faith or Holiness Nor canst thou bar mee from his love Whom no mans face could ever move Or mee from loving him again That doth invisible remain And I though blind may have a being Where blindness shall be turn'd to seeing In Heaven I know there dwells no night But glorious and eternal light For which thou mak●st mee pant and pray And pressest mee to sigh and say O come the time when I shall never Be blind at all but see for ever Thou also teachest mee to know The emptiness of things below For now by thee I plainly finde That all this world is all but wind And from the Scepter to the Hod There 's nothing worthy love but God In Summe seeing that from God thou art For good and not without desert No foe to Faith or Hope or Love Put rather friend to things above Contented I may well remain Till Heaven restore my sight again THE COMPLAINT AND THE SUIT OF A SINNER Ah mee VVHat a wretch should I be Should I suffer what I see that my sins do require There be none of them so small Which for vengeance do not call And for bitterness and gall Loss of body soul and all In the pit of woe and thrall 'T is no less than endless fire That in justice is their hire Sin Sin With my life did begin And I have liv'd therein All my daies heretofore Sins of heart head hand and tongue Through my life all along Like a thread have they run Binding mee to be undone Many and great are they grown And if Justice scan the score I must perish evermore Poor I Whither now shall I fly To be set at liberty From this depth of miscry 'T is not Sea 't is not shoar 'T is not all the Indian o're 'T is not Rome with all her store That hath salve to cure my sore Onely One can mee restore To that Altar I will fly There I 'le live there I 'le dye Save Save Mercy Lord do I crave Other Refuge none I have But thy mercy to implore O look upon mee through that side Which the spear made so wide Look on mee through him that died And for sin was crucified Grant his wounds my sins may hide And his blood cross my score And I ask but one thing more Grace Grace In my heart do thou place That I may run the race Which thy Laws do require Give mee Lord I humbly sue Grace to know grace to do Grace that may mee so renew And confirm and perfect too That when death shall claim his due Grace in Glory may expire This is all my desire AN EPITAPH LIfe leads to Death so Nature saith Death is the way to Life So Faith Thus let us think of both Say I Hee that desires to live must dye A Meditation UPON THIS EPITAPH LIfe is the way to Death The common course of Nature saith Death is the way to Life This is a truth maintain'd by Faith Even Nature then May minde us men To look for an alteration But against that day 'T is Faith must lay Sure grounds of consolation Hee that would live must dye So Faith and Nature both do teach In words they both comply And yet in sense they make a breach Who love this breath Must look for death Thus Nature doth explain it Faith thus who love That life above Must dye before obtain it But 't is by both confest All Adams race are born to dye The worst and eke the best The rich the poor the low the high Against deaths dart The wisest heart Could never yet finde shield The stout must stoop The daring droop And all be forc'd to yeeld And yet there 's hope in Death For such as do in Christ beleeve For when they lose this breath They truly do begin to live Their worst is past For even the last Omega well to dye The Alpha is To joy and bliss In Heavens eternity To thee I therefore cry Who dost both grace and glory give Teach mee Lord how to dye That so I may be taught to live While I dwell in clay I humbly pray For an heavenly conversation And when I must Return to dust Lord shew mee thy salvation FINIS

they will increase to more ungodliness and their word will eat as doth a canker 2 Tim. 2.16 17. 2 Tim. 2.16 17. The like Caution we have Heb. 12.15 Heb. 12.15 Look to it that no root of bitterness spring up 2 Tim. 3.13 and thereby many be defiled evil men Seducers wax worse and worse 2 Tim. 3.13 So hard a matter it is if once we be caught to recover again out of the snare of the Devil So that if we put all this together we may plainly perceive that we have a great deal of reason to be watchful over our selves and to take heed that no man deceive us What remains now Use but that I press you earnestly to this your duty If ever there were age wherein this Subject were in season this is it Erasmus in writing the life of St. Jerome hath a notable passage concerning those times wherein that Father lived his words are these Nullum fuit unquam saeculum seditiosius neque consusius sic omnia contaminarant haereticorum errores ac dissidia ut magnae cujusdam artis fuerit orthodoxum esse i.e. There was never any age fuller of confusion and sedition and the errours and dissentions of Hereticks had so polluted all things that it was a kinde of Art for a man to be Orthodox which passage looks as if it were calculated for our meridian 't is the very picture of the times wherein we have lately lived wherein there have been spread abroad such variety of errours that it could be no less than an Art to be Orthodox Almighty God fed us once with the staves of a good Shepherd beauty and bands in beauty there was unity in bands order but our beauty hath been defaced and our bands broken our unity divided and our order dissolved many shepherds have been smitten and the flocks scattered the gaps were left open and the Foxes let loose and the Sheep had got libertatem erroris and were at liberty to stray and perish as it were cum privilegio It cannot therefore but be a word in season to call upon men to look about them Blessed be the God of Truth for the hopes which hee hath given us of seeing better times but the day is so newly broke and there is so much of the old leaven gone abroad and our own Station is so slippery and errour is so infectious that I hope it will prove an acceptable service to warn every one of you as Christ warned his own Disciples to take heed that no man deceive you And for your better furtherance in this so needful a work I cannot in the general commend unto your thoughts any better direction than this namely To be in the fear of the Lord all the day long even natural fear is the great Guardian of the body how warily doth hee walk that is afraid of falling how careful is that man about his mony that fears robbing how diligent is hee that is afraid of danger how circumspect is hee that is afraid of sickness So is spiritual fear the great Guardian of the soul Prov. 16.6 For by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil and the same fear will preserve us also from departing from God Jer. 32.40 Jer. 32.40 If therefore you would not be led away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 3.17 with the errour of lawless men be not high minded but fear Happy is the man that feareth alway Pro. 28.14 but hee that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief Prov. 28.14 For particular helps against the danger of being seduced let mee commend unto you these few following Helps against Seduction First Labour to know the Truth A blind man may easily be led out of the way And to this end let the word of Christ dwell in you richly that you may be able to discern between things that differ for his word is Truth Joh. 17.17 Joh. 17.17 This will be a lamp to our feet and a light to our paths but ignorance of the Scriptures is the way to errour Mat. 22.29 This was the Rule of old to the Law and to the Testimonies Isa 8.20 Isa 8.20 and it is in force still and it is well for us that we have a written word for a Rule to walk by for otherwise what certainty could we have of any of those things that do belong to our peace 't is by the Scriptures that we come to know the voice of Christ from the voice of a stranger and to be preserved from the path of the destroyer This is the principal Antidote which St. Paul prescribes against the like danger as may appear by comparing Act. 20. v. 29.30 Acts 20.29 30. with vers 32. for having warned them of grievous Wolves which should enter among them after his departure for a remedy against them hee commends them to God and to the word of his grace c. And the like may be observed from 2 Tim. 3. if wee compare the four last verses with the rest of the chapter Secondly Labour to be rooted and settled and stablished in the Truth Be not children in understanding nor yet in inconstancy mutatur in horas is the character of a childe in the phrase of the Poet children are never long in one mind but be not you such children a tottering wall may easily be blown down a childish inconstancy is in danger to be tossed to and fro like a wave of the Sea a weather-cock disposition is easily carried about with every wind of doctrine Ephes 4.14 unstable souls may quickly be insnared and therefore hold fast the profession of the Faith without wavering 2 Pet. 2.14 wavering is the way to wander from the Truth Thirdly Be contented with the Truth without itching after novelties lest ye be drawn away from sound doctrine hee that is weary of being led by God is in danger to be led away with errour Remember them that were weary of Manna and lusted for flesh Num. 11.33 Num. 11.33 it had been better for them to have been contented with Gods allowance than to have longed for such varieties they had sweet meats indeed but they had soure sauce with it for while the meat was in their mouths the heavy wrath of God fell upon them and they that did feed to the fullest did never thrive with it Psal 106.15 for God sent leanness into their Soul Psal 106.15 Fourthly Be lovers of the truth men are not easily won to let go what they love but if once our love to the truth grow cold we may easily be wrought upon to exchange it for fables yea it is just with God that such men as do not embrace the love of the truth 2 Thes 2.10 11. that they may be saved should be given up to believe lies 2 Thess 2.10 11. Fiftly Be ye doers of the truth and beware of living in any known way of wickedness with liking and allowance There are some men that