Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	scripture_n	speak_v	word_n	9,140	5	4.5911	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A32041	The monster of sinful self-seeking, anatomizd together with a description of the heavenly and blessed selfe-seeking : in a sermon preached at Pauls the 10. of December, 1654 / by Edm. Calamy, B.D. ...	Calamy, Edmund, 1600-1666.	1655 (1655)	Wing C259; ESTC R15527	29,832	44

queen of all graces it is as necessary as it is excellent For though we bestow all we have to feed the poore thou●h we give our bodies to be burnt yet if we have not Charity it profiteth us nothing But now a self-seeker is made up all of uncharitablenesse 1. He hath no love unto Jesus Christ his interest and there is a double curse pronounced against those that love not the Lord Jesus 1 Cor. 16. 22. 2. He hath no love to his Neighbour but for his owne ends it is amor concupiscentiae vel amicitiae it is not love but merchandize 3 He hath no love to Church nor State All his love centers in himself He is wholly compounded of self-love and creature love which is a composition God hates 5. It is a Sin that makes all our holy duties abominable in the sight of God Though the actions we doe be never so holy yet if we do them upon politique designes if we aim at our selves in what we do the Lord abhorres us and all we do as we see in the Pharisees who in their Almes Prayers and Fastings did all to be seen of men and therefore God abhorred all they did Self-aimes pollute and putrifie all holy actions 6. It is a sin of horrible Hypocrisie for it is making use of Religion as a ladder to clime up to pre●ment and then casting the ladder away it is setting up God as a Pander to our ambitious and covetous interest which is Hypocrisie to be abhorsed This is uti Deo ut ●ruamur nobismetipsis which is no little transgression 7. It is Idolatry in the highest degree it is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a worshipping of self it is making our selves and our own interest the root rule and scope of all our undertakings which is to make an Idoll of our selves and to usurp the throne of God It is Idolatry against the first Commandement which is greater than Idolatry against the second by how much the heart is better than the knee 8. It is a sin that is the fruit of six cursed roots as you have already heard and the root of many cursed fruits It is 〈◊〉 omnium v●tiorum a sin and the cause of all sin the Pl●e so●e o● Church and State the great Church-devouring and State destroying sin To give some few instances What is the reason that the Government of the Church so happily began is now obstructed and almost quite broken in 〈◊〉 Is it not because all men seek their owne and no men the things of Christ What is the reason that the house of God lieth wast and every man labours to build his own house Why is it that men complain of taxes and want of trading but no man complaines that the House of God is neglected the pure Ordinances despised and the godly Ministry undervalued Is it not because all men seek their own and not the things of Jesus Christ What is the reason that the truths of Christ are trampled under feet and men are suffered to deny the Divinity of Christ and of the Scriptures and no man saith why do you so But let a man but speak a word against the lawes of men he shall be severely punished Is not this because all men seek their own and not the things of Jesus Christ What is the reason that so few Gentlemen Citizens and Ministers appeare for the things of Christ that so many silence themselves and suffer Religion to be almost lost and yet dare not appeare for it Why is it that our Lectures are so little frequented in most places● that many think nothing too much to give to their 〈◊〉 but any thing too much for their Minister that 〈◊〉 Master will be very exact to see his servant do his business upon the week da●es but indulge him to do what he will upon the Lord● day Is it not because all men seek their own and not the things of Jesus Christ What is the reason that the things of the Church drive on so slowly like the Egyptian Chariots when the wheeles were taken off what is the reason that there is so much oppression and injustice in places of judicature So much cousenage and false dealing in our commerce one with another in a word what is the cause of all our miseries both in Church and State Is it not because all men seek their own and not the thin●s of Jesus Christ thus you have the greatnesse and the mischievousnesse of this sinfull selfe-seeking So much for the Explication of the Doctrine I come now to the Application Is this be so that amongst the multitude of Christians that professe love to Christ and his cause there are many yea very many that ●ek their owne and not the things of Christ Let us then 〈◊〉 beseech you behold as in a glasse the sinfulnesse and miserablenesse of the times wherein we live for if the Apostle compla● of his times which were the first and the best times the golden Age the Primitive Apostolical Virgin-Church when the Saints of God met together in one place with one accord much more may we of our times which are the last and worst the iron age wherein the Church of Christ is wofully divided and wonderfully Apostatized How justly I say may we take up this sad complaint against our t●es All men seek th●i owne not the things of Jesus Christ And yet I dare not say all men collectively I believe there are a few names even in England which have not defiled their garments and have not bowed their knees to Baal some Magistrates some Gentlemen some Ministers and Citizens yet remaining who seek the things of Jesus Christ more than their owne yea with the neglect and losse of their owne who seek the prosperity and welfare of Sion more than their own Some Ezra's Nehemiah's and Daniel's that lay to heart the desolations of the Church and with Old Ely are more troubled about the Arke of God than their owne private relations But these are a very few in comparison It is certaine that most of all sorts are guilty of this sinfull selfe-seeking most Magistrates most Gentlemen Ministers and Citizens Now then let us examine our selves whether we be not amongst the number of this multitude To quicken you to this consider 1. That this sinne is both a New and an Old Testament sinne It reigned not onely in Pauls time but in Debora's and Baraks who tell us that for the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart because he abode among the Sheep-folds and cared not what became of the Church of God Judges 5. 15 16. 2. It is a common and ordinary sinne few are free from it 3. It is a great and crying abomination as you have heard 4. It is a great and hidden iniquity an inward invisible and spirituall sinne that consumes England as a moth not as a Lion It is threatned Hos. 5. 12. 14. That God would be to Ephraim as a