Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	hear_v	speak_v	word_n	7,138	5	4.4441	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A86502	The peasants price of spirituall liberty. VVherein is represented the complexion of the times, and considerations to cure it. In three sermons. By Nathaniel Homes, D.D.	Homes, Nathanael, 1599-1678.	1642 (1642)	Wing H2571; Thomason E151_1; ESTC R15127	49,057	90

score of worthy Ministers were suspended for trifles to the undoing of them outwardly and yet this Land never humbled before God for this nor made satisfaction to the persons To plead antiquity or custume for a fault is to aggravate it that it is inveterate it hath reigned to long it 's high time to remove it 2. Use is of reprehension if God will so punish the losers of and prescribers against Christian Church-liberty how are they to be reproved that cannot indure Ministers in Sermons to plead for this Christ-purchased liberty As if their judgements were that they would ever have the Church fettered in spirituall slavery they come to Church and if they heare any word let fall tending to the Churches freedome presently there they bite their lip and in the streets the lips of him that spake it They whisper in the Church and backbite abroad like those Isai 57. 4. that make a wide mouth against God And surely such whisperings against the truth are an extreme bad signe and hath divers other bad vices for it's companions Rom. 1. Whisperers backbiters false accusers haters of God inventers of evill things Drive a Mastiffe from his carrion and hee will snarle and grin and scare-crowes from the carkasse and they will make an hideous cry let Micha be robbed of his Idolls and he will roare as if his throat were about to be cut I close the use with that Ier. 5.31 The Prophets prophesie falsly and the Priests beare rule by their meanes and my people love to have it so and what will yee doe in the end thereof 3. And last use is for exhortation to particular Churches and their visible memberr Not to lye still willingly in a sordid condition of spirituall slavery when we may obtaine a God-given liberty I speake not of licentiousnesse but of liberty liberty of the soule from ignorance unregeneratednesse unmortifiednesse of the Church from unreformednesse And indeed these goe together An unreformed Church is the mother of personall sinfulnesse Therfore thrust we with dint of Divine inforcements to drive you to a due consideration of the Churches liberty See that we want not voyces for the Church in Sodome I meane her hemmed about with grosse impieties and persons see there want not a man to stand in the gap see what our mindes and spirits be observe the sound of our prayers Ier. 5 1● whether wee stand for ciphers or doe give our voyces or vote contrary to liberty Observe whether all viz. our mindes prayer practices tend to the rooting up or rooting in the Garleek Leeks and Onions of Egypt whether wee love to be Potters ye Porters Brick-makers yea Bricke-layers to build new Babel or else are wee those that would by prayer and lawfull practice pull it downe Psal 137. To put us and presse us the right way we will lay downe Motives and Meanes Motives to put us on to make out after the Churches spirituall liberty are these 1. God will record this implies Gods taking an account of the number of opposites to liberty both so farre as they provoke God and so farre as God intends to punish them yea and lookes frowningly on the Church that hath suffered such to abound hath educated her visible members no better Rev. 3.20 And truely great is the number now of men of contrary mindes As in Egypt when the Flies and Frogs swarmed and multiplied they were a judgement so in these times the vermin of the Church lighting and croking every where perswading or stinging every where are a sad omen an ill Prognostication of deliverance and especially because as those vermin keepe together so the enemies of reformation swarme and buzze and croke together A kingdome divided against it selfe cannot stand Mat 12.25 an Army in a mutinie cannot oppose a common adversary were are weakened this day to seeke a reformation our cryes are mixt with contraries As at the 2. Temple some cryed and some shouted and for the wickednesse of the great opposite number and for the fewnesse and coldnesse of us of another minde a want of voyces or vigor in our praying votes the Lord may justly leave the yoke upon us if we doe not bestirre us Doe the birds of prey crow and whule about their carrion then let the birds of song sit in the wood Can● 3.6 the wildernesse of the world and hold up our beaks our mouthes to heaven and sound out a loud our devotions to heaven and never leave till an eccho P● 85.8 an answer of peace be returned Out cry the murmurings of the perverse minded 'T is true the sinne of Sodome cryed loudly and loudly to heaven so that God came downe to hearken to the cry But had there beene but a voyce or two more of Saints their prayers had out-cried them a few birds of song are shriller then many crocitating birds of prey Up and be doing the thing still is feisable though many are opposite The time is not long since wherein the prayers and fastings of a few particular family-meetings and congregations prevailed more on the one side for the peace of the Church then a Land of secure ones and an army of souldiers in the field on the contrary to plunge it in blood So then the energie or sinne of the Motive is that we so bestirre our selves and so multiply our prayers and supplications above our persons that when God comes to record hee may finde more cryes on our side then on theirs 2. Motive God records with disgrace those that decline or any way neglect their spirituall liberty What a brand is left upon Israel that they so oft returned into Egypt in their hearts VVhat a brand is left upon ten of the spies for disheartening the people from going up to Canaan What a brand upon these Potters for not returning How are wee ashamed of our names in the Books of Martyrs if the persons belonging to those names were Popish and helpers forward of the Churches bondage How in later times have wee seene when our Parliament men were chosen the names of Gentlemen that loved their Countries bondage torne with the teeth of the multitude shaken as Dog or Swine will a rotten clout They were cast aside as a potsheard huffed and puffed away as chaffe Projectors rejected So for those Ministers thad had beene innovators cringers and bowers to names and tables or old superstitious Ceremony-mongers how are they cast off as an old nasty suit as the object of all mens scorne yea all yeomen tradesmen and freemen whatsoeever that have contended in the behalfe of men of men unfit for publike place in Parliament or Pulpit that would willing by have set over us hard taske-masters if they could how are they the by-word of all ingenious men And be sure of it these times and passages will be recorded in future ages for never any age afforded more matter for history then these times I say they will be recorded if they be not already I have

we have beene so long in proofe already divers things out of the New Testament Math. 15. the madnesse of the Pharisees and Iewes upon their dirty ceremonies against Christ Mar. 26.61 Acts 7. Acts 21. Acts 19. Acts 14. Stephan and Paul preaching to them Gospel liberties The clamours of Demetrius and the Gentiles in the behalfe of Diana and her silver shrines and of Jupiter and Mercurie and divers other passages in Christ and the Apostles time Revel 17.12 13 14. 18.11 12. c to v. 20. and out of the prophesies of the Revelation But it is high time to passe to the demonstration of this point In summe wee shall give but one maine Reason for demonstration of this point of Doctr. Therefore doth the Lord so deale with refusers of spirituall liberty with such severity because in refusing they adde iniquity unto iniquity incurably And when God doth impose judgements by way of gradation as to disgrace and discard as gracelesse then we may easily suppose that mans sinnes with ascending aggravations when the sea bank is made high 't is because the tide swels high So that man professing at least practising that unjust way o● sinning God pronounceth this as his just way of vengeance in punishing For God is mightily offended with ascentions and aggravations of sinne Jer. 2.13 That we may see the ascent or risings of this sinne of the Anti-libertine of this opposite of spirituall immunity note first how it begins in omission or remission carelessnesse to know the glasse and glory of this liberty secondly that it is radicated habituated and setled in the very complexion or setled into a very complexion it becomes his corrupt naturall disposition thirdly that it is maintained and continued with a full if not a profest resolution fourthly by all is made up an Idolatrous ingratefull retaliation 1. This spirituall vassall will not learne nor understand what the liberty of the Gospell is and that 's a strange thing seeing it is a liberty What was our maine occasion for which the Jewes tooke away the life of the Lord Jesus but their perverse blindnesse Math. 27 6● Ioh. 6. so much extolled by the morall Philosopher Math. 15. if but civill they will not indure the light of his glorious Doctrine touching the annulling of Moses the Temple-ceremonies If he did but in sound of words Math. 23. glance at those they indited the fact as a great crime What was that which provoked the Iewes to the stopping their eares and the martyring of Stephan Acts 6. but the Doctrine of the liberty of the Gospell in opposition to Mosaicall ceremonies Acts 7. What kindled the contention betweene the ceremoniously imbondaged Iewes and the enfranchised and freed converts of the Gentiles but the Jewes sticking to the Doctrine of workes and ceremonious performances ●p●o Rom 〈◊〉 on all which that I may t●uch the very reason of this unteachablenesse they were so madde ●p to Gala● not under the notion of bondage nor did they oppose Gospell liberty under the conceipt of liberty but man naturally loves a sensible service and loathes a spirituall worship that hee may seeme to himselfe to be able of himselfe to doe somewhat for himselfe in matters of salvation This makes the Papists to turne all their worship into as the Apostle calls it a bodily exercise 1 Tim. 4.8 as formerly the Colossians into lust not touch not handle not Coloss 2. and an afflicting of the body See the accusation of the Martyrs in the Marian persecutions Fox Book of Ma● The Papists sacrament of the Supper is the flesh blood and bones of Christ The water of Baptisme washeth away originall sin Their repentance whippings and Lent and flesh fasts and almost all their services are according to their doctrine efficacious ex opere operato their bare doing the duty doth effectually do the spirituall thing So the Popish Prelaticall faction turne all worship and devotion into sensible ceremonious actions and motions Now this first step is an high one even ignorance especially affected ignorance 2 Thess ● 8 for it is that which stops up the way against the light and makes men to wander in every way of sinne 2. Such persons as these that will not understand the excellency of their liberty but stand out against it with custome naturallize themselves into a liberty-loathing or depising complexion So that as the great Philosopher said 〈…〉 some are servants by nature Foolish passive silly in regard of governing others but in regard of subjection to be governed they are instrumenta rationalia they have reason enough to work according to the direction of another So these men by corrupt custome are fitted to be led by the streame of times and the examples of corrupt men and the rotten principles of blind guides There is that power or rather tyranny of a vaine conversation received by tradition that nothing but a redemption and that by the blood of Christ will fetch a man off 1 Pet. 1.18 Wee see to this day the sad event of this truth How hard it is to take off the old wives and doting men and idiots of all sorts from their old mumpsimus That as conscientious persons wander for the pure practising of the word the meat of their soules so these traditious persons wander for their pottage And alas for them what meane they make for Swines broth Sure if this stuffe were of God the rude multitude would never be so eager they would not cry out that reformation were Innovation But sure their broth is not good their meat is so bad Esay 65.4 They eate Swines flesh and broth of abominable things is in their vessells Certainely the best prayers the best formes of worship are not commonly consistent with the worst kind of life But as these pottage-bellies these Swine-eaters of which the Prophet speaks live among graves and monuments so these that cry up customary forms of Discipline worship though corrupted live commonly among the dead they love the company at the best but of the Pharisaicall painted Sepulchors Ma●h ●● But to breake off to goe to the next head wee see wee heare wee know that custome hath and doth prove another nature a new cōplexion to men to hold them strong to their customary way of worship and Discipline be it never so much corrupted and degenerated 3. To all this the opposers or contemners of liberty add resolution they know no better as we said in the first Branch they are accustomed to this condition as we said in the second Therefore they resolve and sometimes professe their resolution that they will not goe out free they will not because they will not As the civill servant Exod. 21.6 So these spirituall vassals in effect say They love their Master they will not goe out free For observe their relish of and carriage towards the sound preaching of spirituall liberty of and toward the word that