Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	word_n	work_v	write_v	200	4	5.2422	4	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

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

therein So that the working and witnessing of the spirit in the wicked is like the smell of an Apothecaris shop which one that passeth by receyveth although hee never carrie anie of these odoriferous things with him But the witnessing of the spirit to the elect is by imparting the thing witnessed to the soule making it reallie to possesse it So that if a man could see the soule of a true child of God he should see ingraven in it mercie peace love righteousnes life ioy and Christ himselfe all the promises of God in Christ being written therein by the spirit according to the covenant of God Conforme to this doth the Apostle speake of the spirits witnessing to the hearts of the Corinthians when hee saieth yee are manifest to bee the Epistle of Christ ministred by vs and written not with inck but with the spirite of the livinge GOD not in Tables of stone but in fleshly tables of the heart Nowe therefore wee come to speake of this witnessinge of the spirit which is proper to the elect And to the ende wee may cleerelie discerne the testimonie of the spirit which witnesseth with our spirits that we are the sonnes of GOD wee must yet more deepelie marke and consider this testimonie The worke of the spirit in assuring vs of Adoption is twoofolde The firste for distinction wee shall call this first writinge of the worde reveyled in our hearts and so makinge vs to beleeve in God as our God and Father in Christ The second is our sealling after we have beleeved That it is so ye may see in the wordes of the Apostle to the Ephesians In whom also sayes he ye have trusted after that yee heard the word of trueth even the Gospell of your salvation wherein also after yee beleeved yee were sealed with the holy spirit of promise Marke first this worke of the spirit in causing vs to beleeve in God by the effectuall revelation of the worde next marke that other worke of the spirit after we have beleeved in sealing vs. The first of these two although it bee felt by vs yet at the first wee can not discerne it to be the worke of the spirit till afterward For before we be made spirituall we can discerne nothing of the spirit because the things of the spirit are spiritually discerned But when we receyve the spirit which is of God then are we able to knowe the things which are given to vs of God Therefore that testimonie whereof the Apostle speaketh to the Rom. which witnesseth with our spirits is to be vnderstood of the seconde worke of the spirit which is our sealing That we may vnderstande this aright we must consider that there is something that cōmeth in in vs betwixt the first worke of the spirit and the second And that is the testimonie of our owne spirit bearing witnes that we are the sonnes of God For when God by his spirit hath imprinted in our heartes the word of promise then begins our hearts to say we are the children of God being perswaded by the spirit secretlie insinuating the worde in our hearts to beleeve beleeving to speak according as it is said I beleved therfore did speak Now it might seeme there needed no more but let vs remember what Christ saith to Peter Simon Simon behold Sathan hath desired to sift you as wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy faith faile not So wee have need that our heartes be established in that worke of the spirit otherwayes we should bee in danger to make shipwracke of faith of a good conscience which is nothing els but this testimonie of our owne hearts Therefore doth the Church pray in the Psalme Establish O God that which thou hast wrought in vs. And the Apostle after hee hath given thankes vnto God for the Thessalonians effectuall calling he prayes to GOD That hee who had given them this good hope through grace would also establish them in everie word and good worke Therefore is it that our God for stablishing vs in faith in the assurance of our Adoption seales vs by the holy spirit of promise This is manifest out of the former place to the Ephes where he saieth That after they beleeved they were sealed with the holy spirit of promise This same doth the Apostle to the Gallat confirme when hee sheweth that Christ was sent to this ende to redeeme vs That we might receyve the Adoption of the sonnes and then he addeth and because yee are sonnes GOD hath sent foorth the spirit of his sonne into your hearts that crieth Abba Father And that this sealing of vs by sendinge forth the spirit of Adoptiō in our hearts is the meane whereby God establisheth vs it is manifest by the Apostle to the Corinthians For when first hee hath shewed that it is God which establisheth saying It is God which establisheth vs with you in Christ then addeth he the meane whereby God did stablish them saying and hath anointed vs who hath also sealed vs and hath given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts Which three sayings are all one thing in substance Therefore doeth Iohn from this anointing confirme and assure these to whom he did write against the fearing to fall away but saith he The anointing which yee receyved of him dwelleth in you and as it taught you yee shall abide in him And the Apostle to the Corinthians taketh the Argument of his confidence from this that God hath given vs the earnest of the spirit And the same Apostle from this giving of vs the spirit of libertie which crieth Abba Father proveth vs to bee the sonnes of God in that eight chap. to the Romanes Whereby it is plaine that by these three the self-same thing is meant albeit diverslie expressed accordinge to the three sortes of confirmation the one by anointing so were Kings Priestes and Prophetes confirmed in their calling the other by an earnest which is a cōfirmation of the bargaine and of the payement of the full somme and the last by sealing which in all writes contractes and obligations is a confirmation of all therein conteyned and promised Accordinge to which amongst the Persians whatsoever was sealed with the Kinges Ring could not bee changed nor revoked Therefore whomsoever God seales vnto life as his child he is made most sure of eternall life For this cause is it that in the Revelatiō God first will have his childrē sealed before the enemies can have power to execute their malice and of these thus sealed it is that Christ saieth that the gates of hell shall not prevayle against them And that they shall never perish neither shall any plucke them out of his hande Now this same sending foorth of the spirit of Adoption in our hearts is our sealinge Therefore saieth the Apost to the Ephesians ye were sealed with the holy spirit of promise And this same is also