Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	holy_a	know_v	word_n	4,020	5	3.9405	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43704	A sermon preached before the Queen, at White-Hall, on Sunday, Octob. 2, 1692 by Charles Hickman ...	Hickman, Charles, 1648-1713.	1692 (1692)	Wing H1901; ESTC R18595	11,711	33

A SERMON PREACHED Before the QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL On Sunday Octob. 2. 1692. By CHARLES HICKMAN D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to Their Majesties Published by Her Majesty's Special Command LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1692. Dr. HICKMAN's SERMON Before the QUEEN October 2. 1692. A SERMON PREACHED Before the QUEEN DEUT. xxx 15. See I have set before thee this day life and good and death and evil THere is no man alive but will easily confess That Life is good and Death is evil and so far we are all ready to join issue with my Text. Nay there are few men either so negligent or perverse but that they are sollicitous to avoid the evil and to chuse the good and thus far also there are fair hopes of an Accommodation But then here lies the difference Though we are all agreed in the main point yet we are apt to vary in our Notions of the subordinate kinds of Good and Evil according to the variety of our Tempers and Inclinations Some men judge of these things by their Reason examine how agreeable they are to our uncorrupted Nature and what consequences they are likely to produce a safe but withal a tedious way And therefore others for more dispatch make a judgment of them only by their sense and will allow nothing to be good but what gives them present Entertainment nothing Evil but what brings them into present Pain And hence it is That they so studiously devote themselves to the Profits and Pleasures of the World which afford them some sensible Satisfaction some immediate Relief But as for Vertue all the good of it they think depends upon such remote Consequences such uncertain Fruits that they utterly neglect it as a Plant of too doubtful a Product or at best of too slow a Growth Some think it is not in their power to be good and others think it not worth their while and though they are much concern'd for the evil which they suffer yet they have no regard to the evil which they do Either they look upon moral Actions as things indifferent that have no real intrinsick value no natural Obligation of themselves or at most they do not think them of such Moment and Importance as to determine us absolutely either to Life or Death Against all which mistakes I must beg leave to speak briefly and plainly and practically from the Authority of my Text See I have set before thee this day life and good and death and evil In which words Moses gives us to understand that the Law of God sets before us Good and Evil in a twofold respect I. As a Matter of Information to shew us the real difference that is between them and the different Consequences which they produce II. As a Matter of Choice that when we know the difference we may be perswaded to refuse the Evil and chuse the Good I. And First by way of Information See I have set before thee life and good and death and evil says God and yet there are men who live as if there was no difference between Good and Evil as if Sin were nothing but a groundless name and they resolv'd to follow the bent of their own Inclinations let the Law say what it pleases or the Consequence be what it will They think the only Happiness of Man is to live without restraint to give a loose to his Lusts and Passions and in all points to follow the Extravagancies of his Nature That 't is below a Man of Spirit to be ty'd up to servile Rules and subject to the Reason of other Men We are they that ought to speak and who is Lord over us This is indeed the Language of many in our times But if they would let any body speak beside themselves they might easily learn That there are Two things which have an undoubted Right to be Lords over them and ought in Reason to be heard 1. The Word of God and 2. The Voice of their own Conscience either of which is able to convince them of their Errour and to shew them a wide difference between Good and Evil. For First The Word of God sets before us this difference in so plain convincing Terms that though we may be perverted by Evil yet 't is hard for us to be mistaken Though God has sent us into this Wilderness of a World where there are many intricate Passages to perplex us and much Variety of Objects to distract our Thoughts yet he has not left us without a Guide nor himself without a witness He has given us his word as a perfect Rule by which we shall certainly be try'd at last and therefore by this Rule we ought to try our own Actions now Here all the Doubts of our Judgment are expounded all the Scruples of our Conscience are resolv'd He hath shewed thee O man what is good and whatsoever evil we are addicted to in his Law we find the Folly of it plainly exposed and all its Dangers laid open to us It gives us many glorious Instances of Vertue to invite us and many dreadful Judgments upon Vice to affright us into Religion and whatsoever difficult Circumstances the natural Man may labour under yet here the man of God is perfectly forewarn'd against every Evil and throughly furnished for every Good work And therefore it was a very just and proper Commendation which Philo the Jew gives us of Moses his Design That he has introduced his Law with the History of the Creation on purpose to shew us how exactly the Commandments of God are accommodated to the Nature of us Men. So very exactly that if we will but consult this Oracle with honest humble Minds we can no longer be at a loss to find out the just measures of Truth as far as we are concern'd to know and the true bounds of Goodness as far as we are oblig'd to practise and any farther any nicer search has more of Curiosity in it than Religion And now how great a Happiness is it That we enjoy the benefit of this Holy Word and are infallibly conducted by a Light from Heaven through all the Uncertainties and Dangers that beset us upon Earth With what infinite Pleasure should we apply ourselves to the study of this Law which like the Pillar of Fire that led the Israelites out of Egypt is not only our Guide but our Encouragement in travail and supports our Spirits at the same time when it directs our Feet Indeed the Light of God's Word is so convincing so plainly does it set before us the difference between Good and Evil that for this very reason evil Men find it offensive to them and therefore they lay it by It shines so full upon their Face that they cannot enjoy their sins in quiet for it and 't is this that makes them cry out against Moses as Dathan and Abiram did Wilt thou put out the eyes of this people But Secondly though they should lay