Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	lawful_a	oath_n	swear_v	2,912	5	8.9124	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61105	The vvay to everlasting happinesse: or, the substance of christian religion methodically and plainly handled in a familiar discourse dialogue-wise: wherein, the doctrine of the Church of England is vindicated; the ignorant instructed, and the faithfull directed in their travels to heaven. By Benjamin Spencer, preacher of the word of God at Bromley neer Bow in Middlesex.	Spencer, Benjamin, b. 1595?	1659 (1659)	Wing S4945; ESTC R222156	362,911	329

are sold under sin and so our flesh is at enmity with God Rom. 8. and therefore it must be given him from above Iohn 3. for the naturall man is dead in sin Eph. 2. and surely if Adam could not of himselfe stand in obedience by his free will in the state of innocence how can we in the state of nocency since his fall Nor did God give the Law in respect that we could obey it but to shew his perfection in making it and to make us find our imperfection that we might flie to his grace in Christ who for us hath fulfilled it Ninthly they separate themselves from all Churches because they account themselves only pure and therefore will not say the Lords Praier Forgive us our trespasses supposing that they have no sin But at such God is offended as with smoke because they make him a lyar 1 Iohn 1.8 9. So they account the office of the Ministry of no use but depend upon peculiar revelation yet God hath bid people to seek the Law at the mouth of the Priest Ezek. 44. but any one of them will preach of what trade soever he be though neither called of God as Heb. nor by any authority constituted among the professed people of Christ and so they do preach without being sent contrary to St Paul Rom. 10. and so bring the Church into confusion And as their tenets are not fit to be suffered in the Church so neither are they in the Commonwealth Sleidan in com lib. 10. For they hold that it is not lawfull for a Christian to be a Magistrate nor for man to subject himselfe to them but may depose them nor to take an oath of fidelity to them nor may a Magistrate punish a malefactor with death First he must not be a Magistrate they say because Christ is the only King of the Church yet that proves not but that other Kings may be in the Church to serve under Christ So though it be said that when Shiloh viz. Christ is come the scepter shall depart from Judah but that is from the Jewes not from all Commonwealths It is true he denied to the sons of Zebedee superiority but that was because he would correct their error supposing his Kingdome to be earthly and because he called them not to Civill but Ecclesiasticall offices And what though Christ refused to be a King and to judge between brethren it was because it belonged not to his office not that thereby he meant to abrogate the jurisdiction of other men which was given to them from above as he told Pilate So though we are forbidden to judge other men yet thereby is signified private and rash and untimely and wicked censures And so though Christ prophecieth that some Magistrates shall be persecutors of the Church Mat. 24. yet the spirit tels us that some shall be nursing fathers Isa So Christ bid Peter to put up his sword yet that was the materiall not the civill sword or the sword of private revenge nor was Peter a publick Magistrate So though Jotham in his parable sheweth Judg. 9. that Kingship was affected by the Brier only but not by the Olive Vine or the Fig tree yet that proveth not that only the wicked and not the godly may take upon them place of judicature for Parables and Allegories prove nothing in doctrines Beside that Parable was spoken particularly against Abimelech and from particulars we cannot prove generall positions Now if it be lawfull for one to be a Magistrate it is as lawfull for another to be subject because every power is of God Rom. 13.1 2. and the fifth Commandement bids us honor our Superiours and nature teacheth subjection of the members to the head Nor this is not servile but civill and such as was before Adam fell as Eve being subordinate to Adam It is a weak objection to say that there ought to be no subjection under the Gospell because beleevers are thereby admitted to the Kingdome of heaven and so to be in subjection only to Christ for as in spirituals we are to be only his subjects so in temporals we are to be subject to men for order sake and also for their tuition and defence of us in our states and stations And for this cause faith St Paul you pay tribute because he is the minister of God for thy good Rom. 13.4 6. And whatsoever Anabaptists say they themselves found such a necessity of order in government that they willingly did submit to John of Leydens government in Munster And that this subjection may be the firmer it is lawfull to take an oath of fidelity to the Magistrate though the Anabaptists are against it by which means they open a door to all rebellion treason and truce-breakings That oaths are lawfull it is plain because it seems to be a part of Gods worship being a calling upon to witnesse truth and an acknowledging God to be the greatest yea because it is commanded of God Deut. 6 ●● thou shalt swear by my name And much more is the oath of fidelity lawful therefore Abrahams servant sware to him and Isaac sware to Abimelech Zedekiah to Nebuchadnezzar which is called the oath of God and the breach of it God sware that he would avenge Ezek. 17.19 Now from hence it will follow that a Christian Magistrate may punish the evill doers how else can he defend them that are good nor can the Magistrate executing malefactors be properly said to kill but in justice to give a just reward for his demerits Nor can their tenets be consistent with oeconomy or government of families And that first because they hold that a Christian man ought to have nothing proper but all things must be common because the first converts did so act Yet St Peter said to Ananias that before he gave his goods in common it was his own and so he was not bound to it by the example of others much lesse by any precept Acts 5.4 therefore St Paul makes alms a free gift 2 Cor. 9. and admonisheth rich men not to forsake their goods though to be liberall in good works 2 Tim. 6. So they say they may put away their wives if they be not of their religion Bul. l. b. 1 f. 8. contrary to St Paul 1 Cor. 7. and indeed neither Joseph nor Mosaes put away their wives though neither of them were Israelites and therefore they perswade women also to leave their husbands to follow them for they hold it lawfull to have many wives contrary to the Prophet Malach. 2.15 Did not he make one that he might seek a godly seed And St Paul saith let every man have his own wife and the woman her own husband This Sect broke into divers denominations First into four which four David George thought to unite Alsted in Iadice The. Polem p. 565. and blasphemously preferred himselfe before Jesus Christ Next they divided into fourteen The first sort called the Muncerians of Muncerus of whom I have

speaks well saying They become masters of the unlearned before they have been schollers of the learned and so are more ready to speak then to hear and apt to teach that they never learned and pour out before they have any thing poured into them It is true that it is prophecied Joel 2.28 I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh yet that was not meant upon all alike for when it was fulfilled in Acts 2.15 it was not given to all but to the Apostles only yet there was under the Gospell a greater measure of knowledge given to teachers and hearers then under the Law yet it followeth not that all sheep should be shepherds So we read of some extraordinarily called as Amos was an Herdsman but such things cannot be brought into ordinary imitation no more then souldiers can expect to batter down wals with rams horns or rout their enemies with breaking of pitchers as Gideon did the Midianites But if Anabaptists calling to preach be ordinary let them prove it by Scripture if immediate from God by a miracle Mathe. I remember for the fifth Question about an oath you have in some measure satisfied me yet I shall be willing to hear farther of the lawfulness of it Phila. Surely if it be a part of Gods worship as I have proved then sure it may be taken 2. It may be and ought to be the end of controversie saith St Paul God commands it Heb. ●●● Deut. 6.13 and the 10.20 and rewards are promised for so doing in truth righteousness and judgement Jer. 4.2 See Jer. 12.16 and Psal 63.11 It is Christ saith Mat. 5. swear not at all but that is meant by ordinary and customary swearing common in those times not religious oaths Calvin instr cont Anab. but swearing by the creatures I know the chief they deny is called ex officio whereby in a criminall businesse one is bound even to betray himselfe yet God imposed this upon the Jewes Exod. 22.11 and Christ obeied it before the High Priest Mat. 26.63 c. It is meant that by law no man is bound to betray himselfe true but that is to go to the Magistrate and accuse himselfe but if he be brought to him and urged by oath to clear or else to betray himselfe I know not how he can refuse it Mathe. Concerning the lawfulness of taking upon a man the office of a Magistrate which is the sixth Question hath been declared before except you please to add any thing more Phila. I say no more but I think with St Peter and St Iude that such are presumptious and selfe-willed and under a shew of humility and declining authority Calv. instr adv Anab. do despise government and dominion because as they despaire to attain dignity themselves they would have them despised that have it but such saith St Iude shall perish in their own corruptions Deut. 17.8 For Magistracy was ordained of God to decide controversies to punish the evill and maintain the good Rom. 13. and we have as much need of them among Christians as the Jewes ever had because the same lusts do strive in our members whereby we should be too apt to transgresse both Law and Gospell by avenging our selves Rom. 13. if there were not a magistrate appointed to be the avenger of wrath Beside we find God to abet magistrates both by his title given to them Gods and also by his providentiall presence among them Psa 82.1 6. and by his direction of them in the execution of their office saying you judge not for man but for the Lord who is with you in judgement 2 Chron. 19.6 7. As also by a blessing promised to the Church by them Isa 49.23 Kings shall be thy nursing fathers and to want magistrates hath been threatned as a great judgement to a land as Iudg. 17.6 Isa 3.2 Hosea 3.4 and though the Anabaptists would perswade you that the reason of magistrates being over the Jewes was because they were a stubborn people yet if you examine the Anabaptists seditions and tumults you will find them to have as much need of governors as any people for their commotions in Germany have been the death of one hundred and fifty thousands Portanus Catal. Heres and at any time if they got any peace or security even nature and reason leads them to set up a superior Lamb. Hort. p. 31. and so Iohn of Leyden was made King of Zion by themselves and one Cniperdolling and Tuscocuver false Prophets And beside we find the authority of Magistrates though heathens established by the Gospell Tit. 3.1 and Christians charged to pray for them 1 Tim. 2.1 and therefore certainly their office is lawfull since we must pray for them that we may live a godly and a peaceable life in all godlinesse and honesty And therefore much more may Christians have and pray for their proper magistrates Psal 2. and Christian men may entertain the office of a magistrate and be not only subject to Christs scepter but also may be a great means to advance the Kingdome of Christ And though Christ say my Kingdome is not of this world yet he means only that his Kingdome is spirituall ruling in the hearts of men or glorious in heaven not on earth not by that speech intending that Kings should have no temporall government no more than he intends that Christians should have neither houses nor lands because the Foxes had holes and the birds had nests but he had not where to lay his head And what though Christ refused to be made a King so to be a Judge between brethren nor to condemn the woman taken in adultery yet those acts of Christ warrants no man to refuse magistracy For first Christ refused to be made a King because the Messiah Kingdome was not to be temporall and also because Iudea's Kingdome by Gods permission was swallowed by the Roman conquest and turned into provinces Likewise if he had accepted of it the people had no power to perform it but he had made himselfe and them guilty of sedition and so brought scandall upon the Gospell and the peoples lives to danger if not destruction Beside he came to be as a servant not a King and therefore in accepting Kingship he had overthrown his own design so he refused to judge between the two brethren Luke 12.13 because he was not called thereunto for saith he who made me a judge or a divider not but that it was a blessed office to make peace Mat. 5.9 and warrantable enough to end controversies in St Pauls judgement 1 Cor. 6.2 But Christ was not sent to that end and therefore refused to do it teaching us ministers especially to follow our calling and all men not to meddle in secular affairs without lawfull commission And again he refused to judge the woman taken in adultery First to avoid the Pharisees snare laied to catch him either as a contemner of Moses Law if he had not

in the Primitive time the people stood up at praier every Lords day from Easter to Whitsontide to argue their belief of Christs resurrection which is not now enjoin'd or used So the French prophecie or preach with their heads covered to shew their dominion of teaching their people are uncovered to shew their subjection to his doctrin which is contrary to the Apostles order to the Corinthians All ceremonies are not so fit for all times the Church hath liberty to settle or abrogate them as shee seeth cause which liberty no wise man ever denied the Church but holdeth significant ceremonies to be profitable for the people Calv. opusc p. 344. Calv. instit lib. 4. cap. 10. Chem. Exam. part 4. tract de Imag. p. 13. Zeppe Leg. Mos l. 4. c. p. 312 Juni cont lib. 4. p. 283. Chem. Exam. part 2. p. 32. so that such a mean be kept that Christ be illustrated not obscured I beleeve upon this ground it is that Luther Chemnitius and Calvin allow of pictures in the Church done by way of historicall narration both for ornament and remembrance without any superstition So Holydaies are and may be celebrated in remembrance of some speciall benefit received from God about that time or by some eminent person that he hath emploied for the Churches good And indeed none of these things were thought superstitious till opinion of merit and of efficacious operation was annexed to them But to conclude if ceremonies of humane institution being significant to some duty which Gods worship requireth be unlawfull I see not but men may refuse to take a lawfull oath because ones laying their hand on the book and kissing it Deut. 6.13 signifieth a worshipping God the author of that book in taking the oath and that one doth aver the truth of his conscience towards man as well as his faith towards God in so doing Nor can a man keep the Lords day religiously if it be not a mystical and significant sign to him of the resurrection of Christ past Heb. 4.9 and of our spiritual rest from sin of that eternal rest which is promised to the people of God Nor do I see how people can have any religious respect to Churches if they take them not as signs or shadowes of the celestiall Temple Zanch. de Redemp l. 1. tract de tempt col 703. where the spirits of the faithfull are collected together praising the Lord. Nor can we keep any festivall without casting an eie upon what it relates to in his signification And truly if ceremonies had no signification they were the more fit to be cast out of the Church as unprofitable and as such as the Papists use that want sign and sense Mathe. But having been superstitiously abused they ought rather to be abolished then used in the Church services Phila. Yet in Josh 6.19 the spoile of Jericho is commanded by Joshua to be brought into Gods treasury And Gideon was commanded to take the wood of the idolatrous grove and offer sacrifice Judg. 6.26 We find also that those things which the Jewes abused was continued by godly men Bishops of Jerusalem in the Primitive times as Circumcision though not as a Sacrament but as a sign to shew they came of the line of Abraham So the Feast of Easter was kept by many reverend and worthy Bishops and Martyrs before the Councill of Nice on the same manner and day as did the Jewes but not with the same end as the Jewes did So the Councill of Nice did not abolish the feast of Easter but changed it into the Lords day So the Papists have abused the Lords Supper by erroneous opinions and idolatrous adorations of it which sheweth many good things may be abused and yet are not therefore to be disused this were to deny the use of the Sun because Absalom lay with his fathers concubins in the open light Surely a ceremony washed from superstitious dirt may be used in the Church by mutation or correction Clem. Exam. p. 34. c. 1. Zanc. de Red. in 4. precept p. 678. without utter abscission for they being thus purged are sanctified to holy use And so the Church of England only retained three the Surplice to warn the Minister of purity the Crosse to warn Christians of constancy and kneeling to admonish communicants of humility We know the Papists have abused these and others to superstition but abuse makes nothing evill which is not evill in it selfe And therefore the best reformed Divines have concluded even as ancient fathers have done before them who did not demolish all that was dedicated to idolatrie Calv. opuscul tracb de vitand superst p. 78. but converted them to better use So neither doth Mr Calvin approve of that morosity in men who because some ceremonies of the Papists may not be observed therefore none may yea some non Conformists have written that though the Papists have dedicated Churches to idolatry yet there being a good use for them among us they may be retained as also Popish vestments may be altered and make ornaments for the Church And surely they say well in that and it were good if the rest would not wrest away the liberty of the Church in such things which may make a lawfull use of indifferent ceremonies for conveniency without offence to God Mathe. But yet they are offensive to many good men and therefore to be left off Phila. First we must consider whether they be offensive in themselves or made offensive by the intention of the Church Theo. l. 3. c. 16. as Julian the Apostate set up his image in the Market place among the images of the heathen gods that he that gave eivill respect to his image might be thought also to do honour to them or if they did no respect then they might seem to despise both the gods and the Emperour So he set an Altar neer his throne with a fire upon it and incense upon a table Sozo l. 3. c. 17. and all Officers of his army that came to receive his largesse of gold did first cast some incense into the fire by which many were scandalized or caused to stumble So he caused all the fountains in the region of Antioch to be dedicated to the heathen goddesses and all the meat in the Market to be sprinkled with heathenish holy water yet the Christians were so wise as not to avoid their drink and meat knowing that to the clean all things are clean Tit. 1.15 and also bought what was sold and made no scruple as 1 Cor. 10.25 Then next we must consider whether the offence arises not from our own ignorance and weaknesse and so we be not straitned by the Church but in our own bowels and so like little children that complain their cloaths are to little when their bellies are too full The offence must lie in one of these If it lie in the Agent it is either directly evill as Davids matter of Vriah 2 Sam.