Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	speak_v	true_a	word_n	8,834	5	4.4618	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A75417	An answer to an impertinent pamphlet lately set forth by Iohn Spencer. Wherein is refuted the arguments brought for the justification of the lawfulnesse, and universall exercise of every mans gift, publike and private. By a Well-wisher to the reformation.	Well-wisher to the reformation.	1642 (1642)	Wing A3352; Thomason E135_29; ESTC R12234	28,632	35

AN ANSWER TO AN IMPERTINENT PAMPHLET LATELY set forth by IOHN SPENCER WHEREIN IS REFVTED THE ARguments brought for the justification of the Lawfulnesse and Universall exercise of every mans Gift PUBLIKE and PRIVATE By a Well-wisher to the Reformation ROM 16.17 Marke them which cause divisions LONDON Printed by G. B. and R. W. for W. L. and are to be sold at his Shop at Pauls Chaine 1641. TO MASTER SPENCER IT is the advise of a learned and godly Divine That Christians in all their actions should seriously survey and by the particular light of spirituall prudence guide and manage whatsoever they undertake It is also noted by Solomon That a prudent man foreseeth the evill and doth presuppose the consequences of his performances which places if you had seriously considered the world had not beene a Spectator of this your weakenesse neither will posteritie wonder at your inconsideratenesse herein these thoughts might have deterred you from such unwarrantable practises and stifled them in their very conception for you cannot be ignorant of the sad effects they have produced and what heavie censures you deservedly lie under not onely generally from the world but particularly from many good Christians Divines and others whose judgment in this respect perhaps you may slight for my owne part I cannot but admire to see Gods Word so miserably rent by such extorted expositions when as the naturall circumstance of the places and the necessary conclusions issuing from thence doe manifestly prove the contrary Nay whereas the whole scope and intent of your booke being to justifie the publike preaching of Lay-men without any outward call from the Church a solemn sequestration to that sacred function and a declaration of the inward sufficiency that God hath indued a man with for the execution of the same and not only in times of necessity but when there is no such need the very Brownists herein a generation extravagant enough are become your adversaries witnesse Mistresse Chidlies allegation out of Robinsons Booke the Separatist who sayes A private member may become a Minister for an action of necessity to be performed by the consent of the rest M. Chidlie Justif pag. 3. Wherein I note that it must be a case of necessity that shall constraine these people to consent to an action so done but you goe further to defend the universall practise as you call it of preaching both publike and private not only in times of necessity but out of it and to that end you have pickt out certain Texts of Scripture to prove the same but wich what poore successe I leave to the judgement of the godly and judicious Reader upon the examination of the ensuing discourse in the which there is sufficient demonstration to conclude that of all whimsi●s hatched in the braine this may carry the bell and fitly bee branded for singularity and therefore most justly called by learned Cartwright as indeed it is Anabaptisticall and mad Can you then so peremptorily conclude and by such undeserved attributions assume that to your selfe that particularly belongs to others B●ltons Instr pag. 160. Hearken I beseech you to what Master Bolton sayes The burden of the Ministry is such that as some of the Antients amplifie it is able to make the shoulders of the mightiest Angell in Heaven to shrinke under it And is it then thinke you the work of every puny and ordinary fellow that pretends the Spirit to dispense the sacred Oracles of God that is miserably deficient in those things God hath ordained and sanctified for that purpose Never O never seek to delude the poore ignorant vulgar with such frothy and undigested conceits and to blinde the eyes of those who are and will be as zealous of a thorough Reformation as your selfe that desire to have all things done by that Apostolicall rule Decency and in Order You alleage Master Bolton Calvin Ursinus Perkins to prove that which none denies but are you content to condescend to what they say will you agree that they shall be Mediators in this particular cause I hope you will not deny but that they were men for piety and learning as eminent as any we have now living and were not they as able to expound Scripture as you if so it will not be amisse to rest in their determination but you will say they dissent from the Word How I pray It may be indeed in the generality of their Writings they may erre the best men have their faults and have no exemption from humane infirmities and errors but if they erre in one thing doe they so in another or to come more neere doe they erre in this speciall point now in agitation no such matter Vnlesse you say as I beleeve you thinke at least they erre because they dissent from you and so indeed they may erre in and by your estimation although not by the Word and I challenge you to produce me any one testimony from any one Orthodoxe and sincere Minister of Jesus Christ that doth favour your assertion and the cause is yours But because I will not hinder you from that which followes I leave you to consider whether in this you dissent not only from learned and godly Divines but from the Truth also upon which you would pin this your factious opinion TO THE READER THe holy Ghost in sacred Scriptures doth often inculcate by many iterations and perswasive expressions to the diligent and serious study after Truth and amongst them all there is one as I may so speake transcends the rest In the third Epistle Iohn 4. I have no greater joy than this 3. Epist Joh. 4. to heare that my sonnes walke in verity a strong inducement to incite all men to such a proficiency for as Solomon speaks Without knowledge the minde is not good because it deprives a man of the instrumentall means to the attaining of which his chiefest happinesse consists so unless this knowledge be originally radicated in the principles of Truth Esay 50.4 it can never minister to a man as the Prophet speakes a word in due time for comfort and satisfaction which point if seriously studyed would prove a meanes to extirpate those Heresies and Schismes which do miserably devide the seamlesse Coate of Christ It is true the Apostle saies There must be Heresies c. but I may to this speech of the Apostle adde that of Christ Woe be unto them to whom such offences come Mistake me not Reader I doe not heare condemne the holy oppositions that accompany the sincere Ministers of Jesus Christ against the corruptions of the times no no farre be it from me to be such a Proctor for the devill or to maintaine his quarrell I onely speake against that blinde zeale which possesses abundance in the world that zeale that wants both knowledge and truth for direction and runns either upon conjectures or evill Enthusiasmes of which the Apostle aimes at that hath its Originall and breeding from a distempered

of the place is this as if Saint Peter had said or the Lord by Saint Peter I will poure out my Spirit in those dayes and on your Sons Daughters I will poure out my Spirit and they shall prophesie That is * So Vrsinus expounds the place Professe my Name Truth walk according to those dictates of my Spirit celebrating and praising me so that it appeares that this your mistake issues from an universall Exposition of a Word which you see admits of divers acceptations Prophesie is the onely beame that hides the truth from approaching your judgement it is true that all Preaching is Prophesying but all Prophesie is not Preaching and I wonder a man should be so miserably mistaken as to expose himselfe to the publike censures of learned Divines who cry out in their Pulpits against such impertinent allegations certainly if wee had but the Presbyteriall discipline established in the Church (o) O Lord who can patiently heare this horrible disorder ascribed to the Apostles Church which here you attribute unto it that every one hand overhead Preached Baptized and expounded the Scriptures what a window nay what a gate is here opened to Anabaptists to confirme their fantasticall opinion wherein they hold that every man whom the Spirit moves may come even from the Plough-taile to to the Pulpit to Preach the Word of God Cart. 1. Rep. to Whitg p ● 38. you would goe neare to come under the sconrge of Ecclesiasticall censure for bro●●hing such detestable opinions although you never practised them because herein you open wide the mouthes of the Anabaptists and in the meane time if you repent not of this your sinne you shall certainly answer to that God before whom there is no respect of persons in the dispensations of his justice and chastisements and if a Spirit of Prophecy be admitted in your sence then it will follow that all Gods people must bee publike Preachers for what other sence or interpretation can the words admit or your allegations from this Text for the holy Chost saith they shall Prophesie and you say this Prophesie is publike Preaching which is a pretty exposition and serves excellent well to trouble the Church As for that you say that some object and say that this promise was made good in the Apostles times are you able to disprove them that so say or doe you know what you doe in taking upon to answer such an objection All that you can say is If in the Apostles times they were called the last times much more now all this is true in it self but it behooved you to shew that the last times there mentioned are our last times in which we live for it is not to be denied but the Apostles times were the last times and the last times are also our times and therefore the Apostles as Peter and Paul when they speake of the last times do give us evident light that when such or such things come to passe that then we may assure our selves that those last times are the last times they meane and so when the Apostle saith in the last dayes or towards them shall come perillous times wherein men shall be lovers of themselves covetous proud boastors cursed speakers c. and this signe saith Mr. Perkins hath beene in former ages and is no doubt at this day in the world So you see that some times are sayd to bee the last times not because they are so in themselves but with reference to certaine speciall things which then happen now the last times here in Joels prophesie and in Saint Peters allegatition is as (p) That the Jewes might know the Church could not be repaired which was now lmost ruined but by the Messies that is the sence ●● Cal●in on the see and of Acts. Calvin excellently notes spoken in reference to the going out of the Jewish Church for so his words import which was some foure or five hundred yeares after Joels prophesie and therefore they that sayd this Prophesie was fulfilled in the Apostles time say more then you shall ever bee able to disprove yet you must take some limitation this promise was not so universally fulfilled in the Apostles time (q) It comprehends a larger knowledge of him which was to bee given to the faithfull in the Kingdome of Christ Cal. inst pag. 706. as that the people of God in after ages reape no benefit from it but the speciall thing in Ioels Prophesie as visions telling things to come was fulfilled in the Apostles time as appeares by Saint Peters allegation and therefore Protestant Divines doe affirme against the Jesuites that this promise was fulfilled in the Apostles daies so saith (r) In his Synop ●ap St. Peter shewed how these prophe●es were fulfilled when the holy Ghost was sent like fiery cloven tongues and he ci●eth the very words of Joel to confirme the same Saying Dr. Williams true Church pag. 547. Dr. Willet Ruffinus an ancient writer saith they are impudent that thinke otherwise onely Cornelius a Lapide a learned Jesuite with Bellarmine and deny it because forsooth they alledge this place of Acts to prove their Church are never without Prophets that can foretell things to come But the other part of this Prophesie in Acts 2. verse 18. doth belong to Gods people to the end of the World and doth conteine a spirit of conformitie and of professing the name truth of God so Calvin and Vrsinus expound the place Calvin saith it is referred to the worshippers of God those that are in Covenant with him c. Vrsinus of professing and celebrating God so that from hence it is evident you can have small comfort from these Texts And I must further admonish you to take heede ere you bee aware lest you slide into the Tents of the Papists while you thus plead for a Text and the exposition thereof To the next contained in six Answers None is fit for the work of the Ministry unlesse he be skilled in Arts Tongues for if he be not so qualified how shall he be able to answer the learned Adversary Neither is it your answer that hath or ever will prove the contrary if you had said The true understanding of the Scripture comes not only by humane learning then your speech might have been admitted and the Texts of Scripture that you have alleadged prove nothing to this purpose or if they did yet they doe not exclude humane Learning the scope of the Apostles meaning in that place of 1 Cor. 2.13 and yours is 2 Cor. 2.13 is to shew that we cannot understand or know that Eternall Love that superabounding mercy that incomprehensible sweetnesse that is to be found in the powerfull wayes of Jesus Christ but by the Spirit this is evidently proved from the foregoing Chapter the Apostle speaking that Christ was made unto us Wisdome Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption proceeds all along telling us that we cannot know these things but by the Spirit for as