Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	jesus_n	lord_n	spirit_n	7,577	5	4.8812	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A97125	God iudging among the gods. Opened in a sermon before the Honourable House of Commons assembled in Parliament, upon the solemn day of monethly fast, March 26. 1645. / By Iohn Ward, minister of the gospel in Ipswich, and a member of the Assembly of Divines.	Ward, John, d. 1665.	1645 (1645)	Wing W773; Thomason E279_5; ESTC R200028	47,681	68

1. 4. They doe his worke when they goe against his word as Herod and Pilate and the Gentiles and the Jewes Acts 4. 27 28. with their wicked wills they effect his good will as those that crucified the Lord Iesus Christ Acts 2. 28. Him being delivered by the determinate counsell and foreknowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slaine To clear this truth and prevent objections we must know First that the God of the spirits of all flesh can flow in upon the spirits of men both imperceivably without observation as the soul acts in the body or as the light entreth the aire or the shadow passeth on the dyall without any noise and irresistibly in a way congruous to their nature without any violence to the liberty of the will in any particular action or election as a wise man can make the winde which bloweth where it listeth to convey his ship or grinde his corne or use the sagacity of the dog to seek what he hath lost or fetch what he hath cast aside And this is the excellency of his wisdom Secondly we must consider that God and man may concurre in the same actions and neither his holinesse have fellowship with their wickednesse nor their injustice be excused by his righteousnesse God and man work upon different principles in divers wayes to severall ends each his own and in such a case every mans reason will tell him the same action receives not the same censure or judgement The holy God doth not at any time infuse any lust into any mans heart but brings to light and brings to judgement what is in man ordering well what they do ill as in the hardning of Pharaohs heart he offereth occasions which may as well be tak●n by the right ear as the left withholdeth the grace which he is not bound to give excites and confirms that animosity which is naturall gives them up to a minde void of judgement to do things which are not convenient who have pleasure in unrighteousnes that they may be filled with the fruit of their own doings which is just all this while as Christ saith by the devils when they speak a lie so it must be said of the children of wickednes when they do wickedly They do it of their own His working is not confounded with theirs and therefore his purity not blended with their ungodlinesse nor their unrighteousnesse blanched by his justice more then the beams of the sunne and the steame and stinch of the dunghill in the exhalation His work is perfect for all his wayes are Iudgement A God of truth and without iniquity iust and right is he They have currupted themselves And this is the glory of his holinesse And in this case the manner and course of government in the kingdomes of the Earth may not unfitly be compared to the musick of an Organ where the men like the pipes yeeld the sound the inspiration of the almighty like the winde in the sound-board gives the life or the activity and the harmony or the beauty of the order is by his disposing and if there be a false or an harsh note the fault is in the pipe and not in him who sets and playes And even these disorders in goverment like some discords in musick are by him ordered well and for good For though we sometimes imagine that things would be better if God were in the judgement yet the contrary would be confessed if either we did not of ignorance or unskilfulnesse mistake evil for good and good for evil we daily weight at the common beam of opinion and see with eyes of flesh as man seeth whereas if we went into the sanctuary and measured all things by their conformity to the will of God and judged of them by their referrence to his ends in stead of quarrelling and complaining we would acknowledge that every thing in providence were good and nothing could be better but whatsoever God doth is best Or secondly if we had the patience to waite the end of the Lord or tarry till the fift Act and a Scene or two passe in that when things begin to concenter towards their issues would not ye condemn him of folly that upon the first motion of a businesse or catching at some passage in a debate should go away and censure your proceedings before the matter were ripe for the question why so is he that judgeth before the time Surely if we understood the purpose of the onely wise God or could behold things in their tendency thitherward whereas now in our hast we are apt to charge God with folly and say to him What doest thou we would condemn our selves or brutish foolishnesse and adore the depths of that wisdom and those wayes that we are not able to comprehend Or thirdly if we had the largenesse of heart to behold in one view the whole systeme of government or if like Lucian his Icaromenippus we could get on high and have a prospect of the whole series of order all together possibly now while we look upon some one particular man or some one cause and some few providences about those abstracted or divided from the rest we may think it were better for them if it were otherwise with them but if we knew all or could consider that which is done in the reference to the whole we would discern and agree that the present state were the best it might be better for every common souldier as to his individuall if he were a Commander but it cannot be so for the Army for as in the naturall body so in the body politique if the whole body were an eye where were the hearing c. there must be disproportion inequality difference of dispensations diversity of gifts administratiōs that there may be order We must therefore otherwise judge of him that commandeth in chief and him that hath but a particular charge He that composeth a song of many parts must not carry on the musick so full in every part as he that sets but for one voyce if a gardener had but the care of some one plant to husband it to perfection he were bound to tend it for the fullest advantage of its growth but when he hath the keeping of a garden or an orchard he must slip and prune and cut some plants and foster and manure and suffer others to luxuriate and run out as much as they can that there may be order in the whole Or lastly if we would distinguish of times Before the sin and fall of man while there was no breach between God and our first parents there was a quiet uniformity in all the world like the glory of Heaven shadowed in the serenity of the upper region of the Air and if men had continued in their innocency there would have been in all the World as there was in Paradise a very heaven

according to his most just and holy will But there needs no Paraphrase the words speake their owne meaning plainly 3. It is all gathered together and abridged into a short summe Prov. 8. 15 16. By me Kings reigne Princes decree iustice by me Princes rule and Nobles even all the Iudges of the earth They are the words of a greater then Solomon the Lord Jesus Christ the power of God and the wisdome of God and they clearely hold forth this truth that All the great men of the earth doe shine in the beames of his Majestie the highest of all exercise authoritie Counsellors of State give advice such as have ashare in the Legislative power make Statutes and Ordinances convenient for the occasions Militarie men manage the Militia the Nobilitie and Gentrie are eminent and usefull in a Kingdome and all that have any hand in the distributing of justice or execution of the law both are and serve in their places in him and by him whether for the land or for correction or mercy as Elihu speakes of the raine Iob 37. 13. But I shall produce no more testimonies of Scripture the rather because this mysterie is not among those deepe things which are hid in God and cannot be discovered otherwise then by revelation for that which may be knowne of God herein is manifest in men for God hath shewed it to them 1. There is a light of it shining in mens minds by nature Whence els was it that the very heathens without God in the world did sacrifice to God make triall by Auguries and consult with the Oracles in all great undertakings and in all difficult and hazardous cases applied themselves to their deities according to their blinde devotions Whence els was it that their Lawgivers pretended to have received all their rules of Government out of some divine hand doubtlesse there was some religion in their superstition and some truth in their very fables Heare one of them speake for all the rest what their faith of this was Flatter we our selves as much as we please yet we have not overcome the Spaniards by number nor the French by strength nor the Carthaginians by craft nor the Greeks by wiles but by Piety and Religion and by this onely wisdome that we have discerned and doe acknowledge that all things are governed by the power of Gods Secondly there is a law of nature concerning it and men shew their workes of that law written in their hearts by an universall abhorrencie of Anarchie and submitting themselves to Authoritie rather Tyranny we say then Anarchy Better live where nothing is lawfull then where every thing neither have there anywhere or at any time beene found such sonnes of 〈◊〉 as have desire to be absolutely without a Ruler among them In the greatest Insurrections and Rebellions nothing more hath beene affected then a change of Government the very Anabaptists themselves erected a government among themselves and made themselves a King Thus the currencie of it through the world sheweth something more then Gods Image and superscription upon it for though possibly the basenesse of some people may have given occasion to some persons to put a yoake upon them or ambition of some Nimrod may have incited him to usurpe Authoritie over others the arts and insinuations of crafty men may have introduced it in some places the pompe and lustre of Magistracie may have set it up in other and the benefit thereof by a benigne and prudent administration of it may have made many willing to beare the burthens of it yet considering what an humour of libertie and Independencie what an itch of being Gods to themselves runs in the corrupt bloud of all man-kinde by nature it is impossible to imagine that all Nations from the beginning nay all men in all their generations should of themselves stoope to government and yeeld it honour and subjection unlesse God were in the judgement It is an Argument like that of the Apostle for the greatnesse of the mysterie of Christ {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} without controversie or by universall consent c. Thirdly that diverse kinde or degree of honour which waits upon men in authority according as they use it well or ill speakes something to this purpose Honour goeth alwayes along with Power as the shadow followeth the body but evil men that transgresse in the judgement receive it blended with contempt or hatred or base fear or flattery and with much diminution but such as are good and do good have it cast upon them with love and reverence and abundance of affection Wicked Magistrates and corrupt Officers are worshipped as the devil by the poor Indians that they may not doe them mischief but the just and godly men after Gods own heart are clothed upon with some of the raies of Gods own Majesty Certainly the hearts of men would never after this manner be drawne to or from them that judge in the earth unlesse he that sitteth in the Heavens did judge amongst them more then the needle in the compasse would turn to or from a piece of Iron if it did not act by the vertue of the Loadstone that had toucht it Fourthly this is yet made more manifest as the heat of the Sunn in the reflection by the difference of the spirits of publique persons and private men in the same men in the place of Power and out of that relation Private persons are self centered like clods of the earth and their providence is like that of the Pismire a wise and industrious creature for it self but many times mischievous to the garden or orchard where it is harbored but publique persons are turned into other men and have a publique spirit as Saul when he was anointed to be King and the seventy Elders called to assist Moses to the government I appeal to your selves had you such thoughts such cares such designes your mindes so inclined so resolved so prepared so fixed before you were chosen to be Trusters for your Countries as since you came to sit in Parliament I do not say every man is thus affected the more is the pity but this I say commonly and for the more part there is an affection sutable to the relation And this also sheweth God amongst them Fifthly the raising or sinking the enlarging or straitning of their hearts according to the work of God in hand or about to be done doth as manifestly argue the working of God in them as the unevēnesse of activity in the limbs doth prove the animating and the moving of the body by the soul or the inequality of valour and strength in Shamgar Gideon Samson and other the Iudges and Worthies of old did declare that the Spirit of God came upon them and did move them at times Sixthly there is some further evidence and demonstration of this in the libertie the confidence the peace the triumph the heaven on the one hand and again