Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	know_v	speak_v	word_n	9,131	5	4.2861	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29125	A compendious answer to a book called A brief survay of the judgement of Mr. John Goodvvin, and the Church of God walking with him, touching their reasons of dissenting from many of their brethren, in these imprtant heads of doctrine; 1. Election and reprobation. 2. The death of Christ. 3. The grace of God in and about conversion. 4. The liberty or power of the will, or of the creature man. 5. The perseverance of the saints. VVherein the absurdities of all their dissenting doctrines are clearly exhibited, by a loving friend to the truth it self, Ellis Bradshaw.	Bradshaw, Ellis.	1652 (1652)	Wing B4139A; ESTC R212996	33,087	46

ordained you c. verse 16. saith our blessed Savior to whom God hath given power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as God had given him John 17.2 Some are of the world and therefore it is that they speak of the world and the world heareth them But some are of God and he that knoweth God heareth them but he that is not of God heareth them not and thereby may be known the spirit of truth and the spirit of error see 1 Jo. 4.5 6. And again He that is of God heareth Gods words saith Christ ye therfore hear them not because ye are not of God John 8.47 So that it is clear some are of God before they hear God words and do therfore hear them because they are of God and not of the world For the truth is they are so of God by generation as that God is the chief cause of their very separation or propagation from the very loines of their natural parents And this is properly their actual election which is accomplished in time according to his eternal purpose or counsel of his will to elect in Christ having in his immutable counsel determined with himself what he would effect and bring to pass in time for he worketh all things in time according to his eternal purpose or counsel of his will before there was time But without all question such who are thus separated by the hand of God through means of generation and so are properly selected out of the world as peculiarly his own these you cannot chuse but must needs acknowledge their election is sure in the sight of God so as they cannot possibly perish And again so many as God had called justified and sanctified them you must needs acknowledge shall be glorified and so cannot possibly perish else you deny these plain expressions of the Holy Ghost before cited and go about also as hath been said to put even the best and holiest men into doubts and fears whereas you should labour to edifie in the faith and not to destroy their faith So that I cannot imagine what you should possibly mean or intend in this doctrine unless you so judge as that the Decree of God or counsel of his will before the world began was not so capacious and comprehensious as to determine before hand what should certainly become of every particular person that should be begotten from the beginning to the end But only determined with himself concerning the species or certain kinds of men in the gross or general and no further at all as so you seem to express your self saying There is no Election or Decree of Election of particular persons as such but only of an intire species of men from Eternity In which assertion you plainly deny the omnisciency of God and render him to us altogether blind in respect of particulars till they be existent and so you also exclude the Election of Christ himself as hath been said and every other particular of the Elect of God out of his eternal purpose as though he had not known as well the particulars as the gross and generall of all his works from the beginning to the end Whereas the text is clear that he worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will Ephes 1.11 And it is also clear that his understanding is Infinite see Psal 147.5 So that he cannot possibly be ignorant any more of the particulars than of the intire species or sorts of people for if he were ignorant of any thing his understanding were not infinite And if he did any thing at all in time that he had not purposed in himself in the counsel of his will before-time Then he could not be said to work all things according to his own purpose or the counsel of his will For if any particular work should be effected by him which he did not purpose in the Counsel of his will that particular work could not properly be said to be effected according to the counsel of his will nor as he had purposed in himself if he did not purpose that very particular work Obj. But you it may be will object That what is decreed to be done to or concerning all such of the same kind or species is also decreed to be done to every particular of such species or kinds of poople Answ I answer true But upon what ground can you possibly exclude out of the prescience or foreknowledge of God the foresight and knowledge of every particular work that he accomplisheth in time How can you prove that he did not purpose that very particular work Can you possibly imagine that he did not foresee from the very beginning all past present and future occurrences that have been are or shall be effected to the very end How dare you limit the Holy One of Israel and so diminish his Attributes Whereas you well know His understanding is infinite Conseq Therefore he is not ignorant of any occurrences from the beginning to the end And though many things seem unpossible unto men yet with God all things are possible saith our blessed Saviour Conseq Therefore it is possible that he should foresee all and every particular effect and occurrences from the beginning to the end this you cannot deny it were absurd if you should And you know likewise that The very hairs of our heads are numbred and that a sparrow falleth not to the ground without the will of our heavenly Father Which one would think were matters of too little moment for our wise Father to reckon up or regard and take notice of But the reason is he being omnipresent and omniscient and that eternally cannot possibly be ignorant of the least occurrences that may possibly insue He being an infinite spirit and all things being naked and open before him and that from the very beginning he declareth the end from the very beginning He saith unto Job Where wast thou when I laid the foundation of the Earth declare if thou hast understanding See Job 38.4 By which it appeareth that the Lord well knew and could also declare where the very materials of Job were of which he was composed and that from the very beginning And Job acknowledgeth also I know that thou canst do every thing and that no thought can be hid from thee Chap. 24. 2. Nay he understandeth our thoughts long before we think them The Lord foresaw and discovered unto Moses what the people of Israel would do after his decease and therefore gave him a propheticall song to be a witness against them See Deut. 31.16 c. to the 22. He knew their Imagination which they went about even then before he brought them into the land But I should hope that you would not stand in such conceits and misapprehensions as to set bounds and limits to the understanding and knowledge of God which is infinite and unsearchable and his waies in some things past finding out And if you will

A COMPENDIOVS ANSWER To a Book called A BRIEF SURVAY Of the Judgement of Mr. JOHN GOODVVIN and the Church of God walking with him touching their Reasons of dissenting from many of their Brethren in these Important Heads of Doctrine 1. Election and Reprobation 2. The Death of Christ 3. The grace of God in and about Conversion 4. The liberty or power of the will or of the creature man 5. The Perseverance of the Saints VVherein the Absurdities of all their dissenting Doctrines are clearly exhibited By a Loving Friend to the Truth it self ELLIS BRADSHAW 1 Joh. 5.13 19. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that yee may know that yee have eternall life and that yee may believe on the name of the Son of God And we know that we are of God and the whole world lyeth in wickednesse LONDON Printed by H. Hills and are to be sold by T. Brewster at the signe of the Three Bibles at the West end of Pauls M.DC.LII To his Excellency OLIVER CROMWELL Lord Generall of the Forces of the Parliament of ENGLAND May it please your Excellency NOtwithstanding I am conscious in the sight of God of my own unsuitablesse for undertaking such a task as this both for want of learning education answerable and the meannesse also of my Reputation Yet finding this book of M. John Goodwins and his whole Church so long allready extant in print as since the 30. of May and no Answer to it And finding it very dangerous in many points of doctrine wherein they dissent from many of their acknowledged brethren and causing a separation as is notedly known And having understanding through the grace of God of some peculiar notions that rightly apprehended give a full result to all the difference in hand in all these five particulars dissented in I thought it my duty in love to the soules of so many brethren that not only walk in the fear of God and profession of Religion in which they are reall Practitioners as their judgement leads them but have been reall Engagers from the beginning for the Parliament and Commonwealth of England as is publiquely known I am content to become as a fool in some mens eyes in undertaking so great an encounter in such deep Divinity that hath troubled the wisest and deepest judgements in all ages and never as yet brought to a clear result but is still left doubtfull in all their writings never obtaining an infallible assent but many strange dissentings have ever appeared in all ages about these particulars However I for my part being satisfied both from sacred Scripture and clear Rationality in those respects and hoping in God that he will make me able to clear it up and make it obvious to any rationall apprehension against any opposition that can be held forth by these dissenting brethren I have made thus bold not only to oppose them but have allso presumed to dedicate the same to your Noble Excellency in regard they have led me in such presumption That so your Excellency if time permit might judge of the truth as you find it to appear and not so much as seem to patronize or countenance any grosse errours or absurd tenents and expressions farre unsuitable for eminent Christians A brief survey whereof your Excellency may find after the Treatise the which if possible I earnestly desire your Excellency would read when time will permit from your important businesse if you cannot find time to read the other that so you might see how farre it is possible for a whole Church to erre and that in Fundamentalls Thus briefly lest I should seem tedious I commit you to the government of the Spirit of Truth who dwelleth in you and hath given you faith to go on still conquering and to conquer and that on the Lambs side togerher with them that are with him the called and chosen and faithfull And rest earnestly desiring that you may ride on prosperously in the waies of Truth and Meeknesse and Righteousnesse Who is your Souldier and Servant allso in what you please to command ELLIS BRADSHAW To M. John Goodwin and the Church of God walking with him c. Beloved Brethren I Had not undertaken this encounter with you if I had not been fortified with speciall and peculiar notions and arguments which you have not heard of from other men and those clearly deducible from sacred Scripture I am not certain that some of your Brethren from whom you dissent will approve some things that I have held forth neither yet doe I approve all that they hold against your doctrine as it will appear in divers Arguments and Reasons rendred I shall desire to hear from you either publickly or in private how you resent such notions and how you apprehend them that if any thing be dark or doubtfull therein I might clear it up what my meaning is and what the truth is allso as I doubt not but to do in a short space by the help of God I hope your principles are such not to despise any rich treasure because of the vessell that holdeth it forth but search the Scriptures whether these things be so And besides I doe conceive that it much troubleth you that you cannot conceive how to reconcile your Brethrens doctrines with the Attributes of God and therefore are forced to dissent and separate from them much against your wils All which if it be true it may possibly cause you so to deny your selves as to submit to the truth when you see it and give glory unto God who is the Truth it self and the only Fountain from whence it cometh through what ever pipes it is conveyed unto you I much doubt not but you will acknowledge that God hideth things from the wise and prudent that he revealeth unto babes and that on purpose that no flesh should glory in his presence but that he that glorieth might glory in the Lord. And lest men should say they have found out wisedome as the people were too many for Gedeon that the Lord should deliver Israel into their hands lest they should have said their own hands and not the Lord had saved them So some men are too wise to have knowledge given them of some secrets lest the people should idolize the men as having found them out by their own wisedome not give glory unto God but he will not give his glory to another And therefore wise men sometimes must be content to receive knowledge at the second hand and they are wise indeed if they can be content to receive it from fools yea from base things in repute of the world and mean contemptible and so they sometimes must or else be without But I need not inform you of these things save only to put you in remembrance I therefore break off and commit you to God who is able to lead us into all truth and to reveal unto us even his whole counsell

and work us up through faith and love to faithfull obedience and submission to his will and to make us perfect in every good word and work Which the Lord grant both to you and me in his due time Amen Amen Your loving Brother and Friend in the Truth ELLIS BRADSHAW those who are Gods Elect cannot possibly perish whether they come to years of discretion ye or no considering these scriptures viz. 1. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect It is God that justifies who shall condemn Rom. 8.31 32 33 34. c. 2. If it were possible they should deceive even the very Elect Implying clearly that it is unpossible 3. Whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his sonne that he might be the first born of many brethren Moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified Now give me leave I beseech you in love to intreat you but to consider the difference betwixt the Apostles ends perswasion and judgement and this your judgement which you propose to us You confidently affirm you hold and teach That God hath not decreed from eternity to elect any person of mankind upon any terms but that in case he liveth to years of discretion he may very possibly perish notwithstanding any such decree Ob. 1. In which expression I first observe that your end is contradictious to the Apostles drift Rea. For whereas the Apostles expressions tend for incouragement of all that have made their election sure and are ascertained of it to be exceeding confident that nothing can separate them from the love of Christ verse 35.39 and that seeing God is for them none can be against them bringing in a strong argument to back his assertion to wit He that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all observe this for us all implies and includes all Gods Elect as the following verse clears Now the Apostles argument lyeth thus to wit If God spared not his only son but delivered him up for us all that are Gods elect verse 32. How shall he not with him also freely give us all things Implying an impossibility but that he should with him give us all things needfull both for our souls and bodies and make all things work together for our good as verse 28. so that God himself being for us nothing can be against us verse 31. So that the very reading of the text will satisfy any rational apprehension that the drift of the Apostle is to build them up to a strong confidence that so they might have strong consolation and full assurance of faith and without wavering as He. 10.22 23 and c. 6.18 Whereas the very end of your assertion tendeth to no other but to put if possible even Gods very Elect and such who know they are so into doubts and fears who ought not to cast away their strong confidence which hath great recompence of Reward see Heb. 10.35 for in so doing they cast away even their spiritual life For the just live by faith as verse 38. Obj. 2. Secondly I observe your judgement is contradictious to the Apostles judgement Rea. For the Apostle was perswaded that neither height nor depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord Rom. 8.38 39. Us I say if we be his Elect. And the Apostle was perswaded that if God be for us none can be against us nor pluck us out of his hands nor lay anything to our charge but we shall be more than conquerors through him that loved us as verse 31 32 33 37. And that without all peradventure whom God hath foreknown he also hath predestinate to be conformed to the image of his sonne And whom he hath predestinate them he also calleth and whom he calleth them he also justifieth and whom he justifieth them he also glorifieth as v. 28 29 30. And the Apostle is of opinion and doth affirm Heb. 6.17.18 That God willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutabilitie of his counsel confirmed it by an oath that so they might have strong consolation But you hold and teach that notwithstanding any such decree or immutable counsel or foreknowledge or predestination or election of God yet if they come to years of discretion they may possibly perish which to me seemeth very strange Now you put in an ingredient so quite contradictory to what you assented to before that I hope your own assentings when you see them unveiled will clearly convince you that your own dissentings are not only contradictious to your own assentings but to the truth it self Rea. For you hold and teach that God hath not decreed from eternity to elect any person of mankind upon any terms but that in case he liveth to years of discretion he may very possibly perish 1. Wherein first you affirm as much as if you should say That God had not decreed from eternity to elect Christ himself upon any terms but in case he lived as that he did to years of discretion he might possibly have perished The which I hope you will not affirm And therefore thus far I hope you will grant conviction 2. Secondly In that your generall terms do exclude all and every person of mankind as that in your apprehensions notwithstanding the decree of God to have some elect and that a certain number as that you acknowledge and that he hath unchangably decreed what that number shall be Yet you affirm as much as if you should say that all Gods elect may very possibly perish notwithstanding Gods decree to save some Thus far I hope also you will deny even you own assertions Now in regard I hope you will grant that the Election of Christ standeth sure and that he could not possibly perish I shall assume a little further that you will also grant that such who are elected in time by the same hand that elected Christ in the fulness of time from the loines of the Virgin such I say whom God electeth from the very loines of their natural parents by means of propagation as he did Christ you cannot for shame deny but their Election also standeth sure so that they cannot possibly perish Ar. But Christ which sanctifieth and they which are sanctified are all of one that is the are all of God as Christ himself was of God for which cause he was not ashamed to call them brethren for it behoved Christ in all things to be made like unto his brethren c. See Heb. 2.11.17 They are not of the world as he was not of the world John 17.14.16 If they were of the world the world would love his own but Christ hath chosen them out of the world and therfore the world hateth them Joh. 15.19 Ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you and