Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	spirit_n	witness_n	witness_v	2,015	5	9.4809	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01028	A letter first written and sent by Io. Forbes, pastour of the English Church at Middelburgh vnto certen of the companie of marchands adventurers at Stoade, at their earnest desire, for resolving this question: how a Christian man may discerne the testimonie of Gods spirit, from the testimonie of his owne spirit, in witnessing his adoption. And now againe renewed and enlarged by the authour, at the desire of divers good Christians, for the comfort of their troubled co[n]sciences, and published by those of his flocke, to whom he did dedicate it for the publike vse of the Church.	Forbes, John, 1568?-1634.	1616 (1616)	STC 11131; ESTC S118027	27,622	94

our anointing poured out vpon vs as that oyle on Aaron therefore are we saide to have this annointing from him which is holy and that it teacheth vs and that it is true not lying according to that whiche is said by Christ of the spirit I will pray the Father he will give you another comforter that hee may abyde with you for ever even the spirit of trueth he shall teach you all things And the same also is our earnest therefore it is called the earnest of the spirit and also the first fruites of the spirit So by the same spirit as by oyle as by earnest as by a seale doth God stablish our harts in that which they doe witnes to vs touching our Adoption And that doth the Apostle signifie whē he saieth the same spirit beareth witnes with our spirits that wee are the sonnes of God Marke then the order of Gods working First he speakes the word of trueth to the heart and in speaking writes it in the heart heerevpon the heart is made to beleeve that which it hath heard receyved from the spirit and when it beleeves it speakes and the thing it speakes is that same which is engravē in it by the spirit to wit that God is his God and hee his child For never can the hart of a man speak one word of mercie to him nor of Adoption till the spirit of God have spoken first mercie to it Nowe when the spirit of man hath spoken and given testimonie to him of his election he● the Lord for establishing the heart in this and confirming man in the testimonie of his heart he addeth his spirit and by the testimonie thereof seales this promise in the heart and makes Adoption and eternall life most certaine and sure to the soule that he dare be bold with the Apostle to say Who shall lay any thing to my charge who shall condempne me who shall seperate mee from the love of Christ I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor anguish c. shall bee able to seperate me from the love of God which is in Iesus Christ my Lord. And that we may yet more evidentlie see the necessitie of this testimonie of Gods spirit we are to consider that albeit our own harts have in them a power to witnes vnto vs what wee are both by nature and by grace yet the testimonie of our heartes touching our estate by grace is not so fullie and confidentlie to bee reposed vpon and trusted as the testimonie therof touching our estate by nature For wee may assuredly trust our hearts and cōsciences when vpon anie guiltines they condemne vs seeing hee is cursed who abydes not in everie jo● of the Law to fulfil it he that trāsgresseth one cōmandment is guiltie of all but we are not always to give absolut credit to our consciences when vpon conceit of innocēcie they iustifie vs. For although our consciences accuse vs of nothing yet thereby we are not iustified as is plaine by the saying of the Apost touching himself 1. Cor. 4. 4. the reason hereof is because our consciences doe not so cleerlie see our estate which is from God neither can they of them selves so truely iudge of it as they may do of their estate by nature when they are illuminate by God for then they are made to know and cleerly to see that in vs there is no goodnes and therefore ther is iust reason why they should condempne vs. And we are verily to beleeve our harts vpō this sight and knowledge condempning vs. but on the other part although we see the minde of God towards vs in Christ yet wee can not so throughly apprehende his promises vpon any sight we receive that we dar trust our felicitie absolutly to the testimonie of our owne hearts First because our heartes may be deceyved as is evident by scripture that many shall bee Secondly because wee may mistake the working of God in vs and lay hold on a wrong ground Thirdlie because our heartes are more prone to speake good nor evill of our selves even when they have neuer so small occsion to doe so and when they have much more occasion to do the contrarie And lastlie because all men are lyars onely God is true and therfore we must never give so much credit to our consciences speaking good of vs as when they speake evill speciallie when the question is of being the sonnes of God or not so that even when they witnes that we are the sonnes of God wee are not to rest herevpon except God who only knoweth whom he hath chosen doe by his spirit confirme the testimonie of our spirit For we may much more surely trust our heartes in that which is in our selves and from our selves then in that which is neither from our selves nor in our selves but is the free gift of God in Christ Therefore that we should not bee deceyved by our deceitful harts God secoūdeth our owne testimonie touching his taking of vs for his children by his spirit witnessinge the same even as by his owne mouth cōfirming our adoptiō For by the mouth of two or three witnesses shal everie word be stablished Thus I have shewen you what is the spirits testimonie in what manner he gives it and how necessarie it is Now I come to that which you desired to know that is how wee discerne the testimonie of the spirit which seales our Adoption from the testimonie of our owne spirit For knowledge of this First let vs consider that there be three things whereby wee discerne our Election and Adoption from the spirit of God The first is his presence with vs. The second is his worke in vs. The third is his voyce vnto vs. Touching the first the verie presence of the spirit of Adoptiō is a witnesse of our Adoption For the spirit is the earnest of the inheritance of God as wee have shewen before therefore whosoever hath the spirit the verie having of him is a sure testimonie to that man that he is the sonne of God For he that hath the spirit of Christ he is Christes as by the contrarie hee that hath not the spirit of Christ is not Christes Now the having of the spirit is discerned by the other two that is by the work and by the voyce therefore those two are chiefly to be considered first his worke in vs which must go before his voyce I meane this voyce which seales Adoptiō For otherwayes his voyce alwayes goeth before his worke for it is by the worde that hee worketh all things in vs. For vnderstanding of this work and voyce of the spirit which sealeth adoption marke the wordes of the Apostle in that same eight chap. of the Rom touchinge the spirit Yee have not receyved sayeth he the spirit of bondage to feare againe but yee have receyved the spirit of Adoption whereby wee crye Abba Father Heere Adoption vnder

not only an evidēce that we have the spirit but also a witnes of our Adoption making manifest vnto vs that the spirit hath wrought in vs that worke of libertie whereof we have alreadie spoken Touching the first it is manifest in that without the spirit we can not pray vnto God as testifieth the Apostle to the Romans saying The spirit also helpeth our infirmities for wee knowe not what to pray as we cought but the spirit it self maketh request for vs with sighes that can not be expressed Conforme to this also doth the same Apostle say in that same place Wee also who have the first fruites of the spirit even wee doe sigh in our selves waitinge for the Adoption And this is cleerly confirmed by the words of the Prophet Zacharie In that day sayeth the Lord I will poure vpon the house of David and vpon the inhabitanes of Ierusalem the spirit of grace and of compassion and they shall looke vpon me whō they have pearched and they shall lament for him c. The veritie of this point may be shewed by the nature of prayer in which first it is required that it be made vnto God Secondly that it bee made in the Name of Christ Thirdly that it be made accordinge to the will of God Concerning the first it cannot be without the spirit because we have no entrance nor accesse to God in Christ but by the spirit This is manifest by the Apostle saying For through him wee both have accesse to tbe Father by one spirit Secondly we can not pray in the Name of Christ except wee acknowledge God his Father and in him our Father which we can never doe except we be taught by the spirit For as saieth the Apostle The spirit beareth witnesse with our spirit that we are the sonnes of God Thirdly no prayer can bee made accordinge to the will of God but by the spirit because None knoweth the mynde of God but the spirit of GOD. According to which the same Apostle sayeth That he that searceth the heartes knoweth what is the meaning of the spirit For hee maketh intercession for the Saincts according to the will of God By all these it is plaine that none can pray which have not the spirit For the babling of hypocrits is no prayer seeing it proceedes not from the spirit And this is to be vnderstoode of all manner of prayer For all manner of prayer be it confession petition supplication or giving of thankes must still be by the spirit According to the saying of the Apostle And pray alway in all maner of prayer and supplication in the spirit Moreover this voyce of the spirit is the witnesse of our adoption and of the worke of our freedome in Christ Which is evident by the Apostle First in that hee sayeth That by this spirit we crye Abba Father And the same Apostle to witnesse the same trueth sayeth in another place Because yee are sonnes God hath sent foorth the spirit of his sonne into your heartes crying Abba Father Which crie of the spirit can not bee in vs vntill first we be the sonnes of God seeing this crye contayneth in it a plaine profession of our Adoption while the spirit in vs doth call vpō God as our Father and maketh vs call vpon him as our Father Secondly this is manifest by the description which the Apostle setteth downe of the spirit whereby we crye Abba Father That it is not the spirit of bondage vnto feare but the spirit of adoption Which by the contrarie may be vnderstood to comprehend freedome and libertie According to the saying of of the Apostle Where the spirit of the Lord is there is libertie For they who live in darknesse and in the bandes of iniquitie not yet made partakers of the ioyfull libertie of the sonnes of God can never with boldnes approch to the throne of grace to call vpon GOD as their Father Heerevpon it is that the Scriptures absolutely conclude That whosoever shall call vpon the Name of the Lord shall be saved Because no man can call vpō God vntill hee beleeve that God is his God and he his sonne in Christ according to the saying of the Apostle How shall they call vpon him in whom they have not beleeved This sheweth plainlie that the spirites crie or our callinge vpon God by the spirit as out Father is a sure testimonie of our Adoption and seale of our effectuall calling Therefore vnder the calling vpon the Name of the Lord is oft set downe the true and infallible description of Gods children as namelie to the Corinthians Vnto the Church of GOD which is at Corinth with all that call vpon the Name of the Lord IESVS Christ in every place And the same Apostle sheweth that the foundation of God which remayneth sure that is the election of God hath this seale Let every one that calleth vpon the Name of the Lord depart from iniquitie Declaring plainlie that to call vpon the Name of the Lord is as much as to be one of Gods elect children which in that same place is made manifest by this other sentence Follow after righteousnes faith love and peace with them that call vpon the Name of the Lord with pure hearts Thus wee are to take our calling or cryinge on the Name of the Lorde with boldnes in that confidence and assruance which faith bringeth for a sure testimonie of the spirit of Adoption possessing our heartes and so of our Adoption The other voyce of the spirit to wit when the spirit speaketh from God to vs is likewise a most solide firme and infallible testimonie of our Adoption And this sorte of voyce is that whereof the Prophet speaketh And thine eare shall heare the voyce of one behinde thee saying This is the way c. Of the same doeth the Lord speake in another place saying I will allure hir and bring hir in the wildernes and speake kindly vnto hir Which places are not onely to bee referred to the Lords speaking to his Church in the externall ministerie of his word but are speciallie to be vnderstoode of the inwarde working of God in the heart by his spirit Of which sorte of voyce David speaketh when hee sayeth to the Lord Let mee heare ioye and gladnesse that the bones which thou hast broken may reioyce And this sorte of voyce is three folde for it consisteth eyther in Gods teaching or in his confirminge of that which he teacheth or then in his conforting of his children in their afflictions Of the first that is his teaching voyce wee have spoken before For God by his spirit speakes to vs when inwardlie he openeth our heartes and maketh vs heare his word of grace and to vnderstande it to receyve it Of this worke Christ speaketh when hee sayeth But the Comforter which is the holy spirit whom the Father will sende in my Name hee shall teach

to teach him that that testimonie was not the testimonie of his owne heart but by the spirit of God did tell him that flesh and bloud had not reveyled that to him but his Father that is in heaven This I speake not to make men carelesse in trying whether they have the spirit or no but to comfort weake Christians who although they have the livelie effectes of the spirit yet have not come so farre as to bee able to discerne them to be from the spirit as sometimes they will bee taught to vnderstande and can not tell how at the first and to repent and can not tell how and to reioyce and can not tell how and to love God and his Saints and can not tell how and to beleeve and cannot tell how which all notwithstanding are the proper workes of the spirit Neither speake I this to shunne the answering of your question touching the discerning of the spirites testimonie which I pray the Lord to teach vs all seeing there can indeed no solide ioy possesse our mindes till we feele the spirit of Adoption sealing vp the certaintie of our electiō in our harts for if we bee sonnes as saieth the Apostle the Lord hath sent forth the spirit of his sonne in our heartes which crieth Abba Father and therefore if any mā hath not the spirit of Christ the same is not his Seeing then it is even by the spirit which he hath givē vs that we know our selves to bee the sonnes of God and that God as our Father abydeth in vs as saieth Iohn It is a most necessarie studie and most commendable in a Christian to trie if he hath the spirit Now therefore to come to your question I will speake of it in all sobrietie accordinge to that measure of faith which the Lord hath given me First in generall it shall not bee amisse to know what is the Testimonie of the spirit Secondly after what maner the spirit doth give testimonie And lastly we shall cleerlie see how to discerne it from the testimonie of our owne spirit In generall the whole word of God is the testimonie of the spirit For whatsoever is therein contayned the spirit doeth witnes it and nothing els doeth the spirit witnes but that which is contayned in the word therefore is the word of God called his Testimon The testimonie of the Lord is sure And againe God established a Testimonie in Iacob And oft times in the 119. Psalme the Lords wordes are called his Testimonies because everie sentence of the word is a testimonie of Gods will Therefore is it that the Prophet commands vs to goe to the Lawe and to the Testimonie For nothing can we know of Gods minde towards vs except we hearken what the spirit speakes in his worde and therefore Christ willeth vs to search the Scriptures because they witnes of him So whatsoever the worde doeth perswade our hearts touching GOD and his love in Christ that is the Testimonie of the spirit and therfore when hearing the worde of God our hearts receyves anie assurance or perswasion of redemption remission of sinnes c. that same is and must be the spirits testimonie As for example whē by the word a man is made to knowe Christ to be the Lord the Redeemer c. doubtlesse that is a testimonie of Gods spirit by the word witnessing to the heart that trueth and causing the heart to beleve it But heere wee must carefully take heede that our hearts bee not deceyved touching that which you most disire to know that is touching our Adoption by mistaking the spirits testimonie For eschewing this danger we have to vnderstande that the spirit by the worde perswades two maner of wayes to wit generallie and speciallie generallie when that which is reveyled out of the worde is generally beleeved as Gods truth speciallie when it is speciallie beleeved The generall is no warrant of adoptiō For in that sort the very Divells beleeve and tremble saieth Iames a reprobate may beleeve generally all to be true which is in the word of God and yet never have anie testimonie of the spirit of his particular adoption hee may beleeve that Christ is a Saviour of sinners and yet not beleeve that hee is a Saviour vnto him he may beleeve that God in Christ will forgive sinners and yet no wayes have assurance of the remission of his owne sinnes yea hee may bee a Preacher and be witnes of all the promises of God in Christ to others yet have no parte in them him selfe Therefore leaving this generall testimonie of the spirit I come to the speciall testimonie which wee must discerne before our Adoption bee sealed to vs. And in discerning this there is also great wisedome required for therein also may a man be deceyved For there is some sort of speciall testificatiō that witnesseth not adoption For vnderstanding hereof we must consider that the spirits testimonie in speciall maner is of two sortes The first is when hee witnesses and reveiles grace particularlie to a man but imprints not the thing reveiled in the heart neither seales it in his soule The second is when not onely he reveyles and witnesses the promises in speciall manner to a man but also writeth them in his heart and seales them in his soule Now to make this more plaine we must consider what are the wordes of Gods covenant in Christ with the elect After these dayes saieth the Lord I will put my Lawes in their minde and in their heart I will write them If we waye these wordes aright we shall see that which I have spoken cleere GOD in giving his Lawe spake to his people and by his spirit witnessed his will to them but this word which was spoken was not written in their hearts but in tables of stone therfore the Iewes did not abyde in that covenant The peculiar promise of God to the elect in Christ is that he shall write his wordes in their hearts When thē the Lords spirit witnesseth in witnessing writes the thing witnessed in the heart it is an assurance of Gods effectuall speaking but when hee witnesses to the heart yet writes not that testimonie in the heart it is no testimonie of adoption To make this plaine it is certaine there can be no true faith in the heart where the worde of GOD abydeth not Christ shewes this in the fift chap. of Iohn speakinge to the Iewes His worde sayeth hee have ye not abyding in you because yee beleeve not in him whom he hath sent declaring that the abyding of the worde in man and beleeving doe still accōpanie one the other And if we will consider his speech in the sixt chap. of Iohn wee shall see that the cause why his worde did not abyde in them was because they were not taught of God that is they had not hard nor learned of the Father according to his promise I will put my lawes in their

minde and in their heart will I write them therefore it is that Moses speakinge of the estate of the chosen children of God vnder grace saith that this cōmandement which I command thee this day meaning thereby the worde of the Father is not hid from thee neither is it farre from thee it is not in the heaven that thou shouldest say who shall goe vp for vs to heaven and bring it vs and cause vs to heare it that we may do it neither is it beyond the sea that thou shouldest say who shall goe over the sea for vs and bring it vs and cause vs to heare it that wee may doe it but the word is very neare vnto thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart for to doe it The Apostle expounds the same to the Rom. and shewes that this is the word of the Father which they did preach For this is the promise of God to his Church vnder the Gospell by the mouth of his Prophet All thy children shal be taught of the Lord and this is the Lords teaching evē the writing of his word in the hart by his spirit Of the first sort of this speciall receyving the word you may read in Iohn it is said of the Iewes many beleeved in Christ yet these same doth Christ declare to be the servants of sinne childrē of the divel murtherers and in the 37. verse he shewes why they were such because his word had no place in thē therefore doth he warn thē in the 31. ver that if they did cōtinue in his word they were verily his discipl teaching thereby that it is not the receyving of his word simplie that maketh vs disciples but the abydiug in it which none can doe that hath it not written in their heart by the spirit Of the second sorte of the speciall receyving the word you may read in the 17. chap. of Iohn in the wordes of Christ concerning his Disciples I have given them the wordes which thou gavest mee they have receyved them c. Of both these sortes of receyving the spirites testimonie you may read in the Gospell of Saint Math. in the Parable of the Sower the one is like the ground which receyveth seed but yeeldeth no fruit againe the other is like the ground which receiveth the seed and bringeth forth fruit in aboundance because God the Father is the Husbande man thereof as Christ sayeth in the 15. chapter of Iohn But you may aske how I can call this sorte of witnessinge which is fruitlesse to be the spirits testimonie Remēber I pray you what the Apostle saieth to the Corinthians No man can call Iesus Lord but by the H. ghost Whereby it is plaine that there is no possibilitie in man of receyving or acknowledging any part of that mysterie of godlynes without the spirits working And yet albeit this be the worke of the spirit yet doth it not prove him in whom it is to be the childe of God For Christ saieth plainly Not every one that call me Lord Lorde shall enter into the kingdome of heaven And because this same effect in the verie reprobate is the work of the spirit for the naturall man can not perceyve the things of the spirit therefore are the very reprobate thus illuminate after this maner said to have bene made partakers of the H. ghost not that ever that spirit of Adoptiō which God sendes foorth in the heartes of his sonnes to seale them vnto the day of redemption was ever sent into their hearts But because even that light tast of heavēly things whiche they received was by the working of the H. ghost although he never did give thē ful possession of them by imprinting them in their harts sealing thē in their soules For that which Christ saith to his discip whē he promiseth to send thē the spirit of truth remayneth still true that the world can not receive him because it seeth him not neither knoweth him therfore wee may iustly say that they who receive this tast of Christ of the good word of god do not discern the spirit to worke these thinges because they neither see him nor know him neither cā they receive him but are like vnto natural men who albeit they have their being life moving in God yet still remain without God in this world But it may thē be demanded how it is that they are said to bee made partakers of the H. ghost and what difference is there betwixt them the elect in the participatiō of the spirit To vnderstand this we must remember that ther must be a certain participatiō of the spirit whersoever any effect of the spirit is foūd in whatsoever measure or maner But we are to mark a differēce both of measure maner For as a mā that hath an excellent piece of wine to sel wil give to al that com so much as is sufficiēt to make thē knowe the tast of it yet he giveth not to every one such a quātitie as is sufficiēt to bring nourishment refreshment to their bodyes spirits And as a phisicion that hath prepared a comfortable potiō for the health of a beloved patient he will give to others a little of it to make them apprehende the taste of it but not so as to have anie strength to make anie operation in their stomacke for that quantitie hee gives onely to the patient for whose health it is prepared Nowe they who tasted of this wine or potion can discerne the goodnesse of it albeit they never did drinke it nor ever be partakers of the refreshing power of it So is it with the Lorde in his dispensation he vseth sometimes onely to give a naked sight and knowledge of Christ and his mercie in him to men and this I called before a generall perswasion of the spirit when men are made to know Christ in generall but without all sense of feelinge of him Somtimes the spirit comes nearer and touches the heart with Christ and with the powers of the world to come even so farre as the heart receiveth a tast of the love of God of the mercies of God in Christ in such sorte that they receive the word incontinentlie with ioy as saith Christ The spirit havinge in that measure testified the worde to them as is sufficient to make them to taste the sweetnes of it albeeit hee never fill their heart with it nor imprint it in their mindes that they may finde the power of it vnto life The last degree of the spirites witnessinge is when not onely he touches the lippes with grace to make the tast of it felt but when hee poures in the love of God and all the graces reveyled in the worde and shedds them abroad in the heart as saith the Apostle to the Romans and so makes the heart to enioy receyve and possesse the promise by printing it