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	world_n	writing_n	222	4	8.7026	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A82585	The two olive trees: or, The Lords two anointed ones, which alwayes stand before Him, the ruler of the whole earth, Zach. 4. Described also Rev. 11. by the names of [brace] two witnesses, two olive trees, two candlesticks, two prophets. [brace] And shewing what they are in their own true nature, differing from all the new fancied ones, and in what manner they alwayes prophesie. How they are said to finish their testimony. How they were to be killed by the Beast, and when. How long their corps should lie in the streets of the Beasts great citie, dead and unburied. And when the spirit of life from God should enter into them, and they stand upon their feet again. And what great things should follow after the same to the end, and thence for ever. Published according to order.	I. E.	1645 (1645)	Wing E13; Thomason E270_1; ESTC R212360	37,813	48

their testimony and against the Prophets and people of God that stood to maintain the same have and shall certainly come to passe If they prophesie of famine either of the Word and knowledge of God which is the bread of life or of common bread signified here by shutting the heavens that it rain not c. Or if they prophesie of destruction by the sword here signified by turning waters into blood so giving them blood to drink for their shedding the blood of the Saints as it is exprest Rev. 16.3 4.5 6. Or if they prophesie of pestilence of earthquakes or any other calamity or judgement to come signified by smiting the earth with all manner of plagues so often as they will their word is a law such speciall priviledge and power they have that what they say and denounce shall stand not one jot nor tittle of their word shall fail till all be fulfilled According as the Lord spake of his Prophet Jeremiah and by him saying Behold this day have I set thee over Nations and over Kingdomes to pluck up root out destroy and throw down build and plane J●r 1.9 10. And in another place Therefore have I cut them down by my Prophets and slain them by the words of my mouth Hos 6.5 And so Zerubbabel concerning the power that opposed him saying Not by Army nor by power but by my Spirit saith the Lord of Hosts Who art thou O great mountain before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain c. Zech. 4. Now what two men were there ever in the world or what two States of Magistrates and Ministers or other have there ever been that had power to doe all these things and by the word of whole mouth all those judgements of God already past and fulfilled on those former Monarchs Kingdomes Nations Cities people that have been the great adversaries of God enemies to his Word of Truth and destroyers of his Saints have been uttered and pronounced but the mouth of his two Testaments onely which the holy Prophets and Apostles have been the witnessers and recorders of In which respect the Lord did so greatly honour Moses and the Prophets they being dead and their writings onely remaining to the people saying They have Moses and the Prophets let them heare them c. And so to us now we have Moses and the Prophets yea more we have John the Baptist the Elias that was to come and Christ the Messiah promised and his holy Apostles insomuch as wee have their Records and Writings of the great things of Gods two Testaments which they had seen and heard from the Lord. And if we therefore will not heare them nor beleeve their record then neither will we beleeve if Enoch and Elias or Noah and Abraham or any other two or more of the holy Prophets and Apostles should come from the dead and preach anew unto us for so much doe the words of the Lord imply Wherefore it concerneth us greatly to read and consider and to desire of God to give us understanding And blessed is hee that readeth and beleeveth and keepeth the sayings of Gods two Witnesses which are his two Testaments for so I will now take it for granted of all that love the Lord and delight in his Testimonies Vers 7. And when they have finished their testimony the beast which ascendeth from the depth shall make battell against them and kill them THese words in the opinion of some I know will seeme to contradict that which hath been said of the two Witnesses because they will understand their testimony here spoken of to be their prophecying in Sackcloth 1260 dayes mentioned in verse 3. and so as if the words of this 7 verse did imply the killing of them by the Beast to be at the end of those dayes a little before his own death that he shall then get up again out of his consumption and make warre against them and kill them and their carkasses lie in the streets of his great Citie three naturall yeares and a halfe unburied that so the Beast and his false Prophets and those Kings and Nations and the people that worship the Beast may yet rejoyce and triumph over them before the Beast die and his Church come to desolation This they conceive and teach and that the two Witnesses must therefore be some two men of these times as Mr. Burton and the other that suffered with him and were imprisoned as they say three yeares and a halfe just to a day and then set at liberty by the Parliament and so raised from death to life and caused to stand upon their feet again for so they have published in their bookes yet not giving the honour wholly to them alone but joyning also together with them all those Ministers which had suffered and been supprest by the Bishops for not conforming unto their orders and rules who are now restored to places and meanes Some adding to these the zealous Magistrates and States now in place of authority But to answer these Teachers not denying any of Gods faithfull Servants Magistrates or Ministers the least part of their due and right onely let me tell them that so teach They are utterly deceived in their imaginations concerning the two Witnesses and also much mistake the words of the text For first it saith not of the two Witnesses which are the two Testaments onely as hath been sufficiently proved and I now take it for granted And when they have finished their prophecying in Sackcloth as if they should cease so to doe before the Be●st should kill them Neither doth it say when the 1260 dayes of the Beasts reigne shall be accomplished then the Beast should make warre against them and kill them Nay this were very contradictions and unreasonable for how could the Beast kill them when his dayes were ended Or if he could what would it then avail him the time of their prophecying also being expired Nay it had been much more for his advantage to have killed them long before seeing they were before even in the Prophet Zechary his time though they had not yet finished their testimony till about three hundred yeares before the beast rose And 2ly the two Witnesses of God being the two Testaments cannot bee said to finish their prophecying in Sackcloth till all Gods elect are called and sanctified by their word and that the sufferings of Christ in them his members for his Word sake are ended Neither did the two Witnesses ever otherwise prophesie then in Sackcloth that is in mourning All the holy Prophets Apostles and S●ints have in mourning and weeping born record of them and in faith and patience testified the truth of their words to the world and were hated and persecuted for their sake not their own but because they testified and walked in the light of them And in this kind of habit they are to prophesie untill the Lord come in his glory For although the Lord would as he said so give unto his

famously published and made known and by such plain demonstration of the Spirit and power of God as that no power of wickednesse whatsoever shall any longer bee able to stop or hinder the glorious course and prosperous proceeding therof but that as one well observeth from the words And I heard a lowd voyce from heaven saying Come up hither it should be more possible for them to stay Elias Chariot from ascending or to pull the wind back from pursuing his poynt then to resist the power and wisdome of the same which shall vindicate the abuse of the Scriptures and by the same Spirit and power of God in the ministery of his faithfull servants as in the strength of cloud shall hold them up and restore them to their spirituall and heavenly meaning again And so as the beast with his false Prophets Sorcerers and liers which have been their long and ancient enemies shall see the glory of their restauration and wonder thereat and die for so much doe the words imply in saying And they went up to heaven in a cloud and their enemies saw them Ver. 13. And in that houre there was made a great earthquake and the tenth part of the Citie fell and there were slain in the earthquake names of men seven thousand and the rest were east into a feare and gave glory to the God of heaven ANd in the same houre saith the Spirit of God there was made a great earthquake As much as to say In the same very time when it should please God to begin his work of raising up and restoring his two Witnesses to life and strength again as before is declared there should be made a great disturbance in the Christian world where the Beast should reigne concerning matters of religion And that a tenth part of the Citie that is of the same Christian world or State where the Beast is worshipped should fall from the Beast And that in this great earthquake and disturbance and fall of the tenth part of the Citie there should bee slain many thousand men signified here by names of men seven thousand for standing up to maintain the true doctrine of Gods two Testaments against the Beast and his abominations and lies and because they would not worship him nor his image any longer And that the rest meaning those that were in their consciences reproved and in their minds enlightned by the evident light of the truth so witnessed were cast into a feare c. that is into a reverend feare and admiration and gave glory to the God of heaven praised his name and used all meanes both by word and deed to establish and support the same doctrine of truth that it might bee yet more publickly knowne to the world The words implying that among these rest so enlightned which gave glory to the God of heaven some were Princes and Rulers of the people and Nations who had civill power also to promote this great worke and made use thereof accordingly And the houre or time in the which this great earthquake should be made and worke of reformation begin was as it must needs be understood and acknowledged that very time when those great troubles broyles and bloodsheddings were in Bohemia Germany France Flanders others parts as also in England for and concerning the institution of religion whereof histories doe so clearly report Whereupon as we have seen and doe see by experience sundry Kingdomes and States of Christendome a tenth part at least that were under the power and subjection of the Beast have fallen from him and forsaken his abominations and have set their helping hands to the building of the walls of Jerusalem and to restore the morning and evening Sacrifice of praise and thankesgiving to God in some part and measure answerable to that which was once in the former time and in the dayes of old And so it is true a tenth part of the Citie fell and is fallen For we are to understand that although the resurrection of the two Witnesses or restitution of the true meaning of the Scriptures is not yet perfected nor so known and understood in every part and published as God will have it to be in this last age of the world nor the woman his true Church come fully forth of the the Wildernesse nor shall till after the three dayes and a halfe of the beasts reigne mentioned in verse 11. yet the beginning of both was to be before and their light and brightnesse have increased ever since to this day and shall yet still more and more daily even as Antichrist and his Church with her abominations consucmeth daily For like as the beast and his Church with that mystery of iniquitie came not to perfection at once but by degrees according as they could and did by degrees put out the light of the Scriptures and extinguish the beauty and face of the true Church of Christ the life of the one depending as it were upon the death of the other So on the contrary part it is and shall be now the Lord Jesus Christ with the Spirit of his mouth is to consume the beast by degrees his two Witnesses are to stand upon their feet and his Church is to appeare out of the wildernesse in part and measure sometime before the end of the beast that they may by the truth of their testimony discover him and his abominations openly to the world that so those ten hornes or Kings and Kingdomes which formerly gave themselves and their power unto the beast might by degrees also some after other fall from him and come to hate the whore with her filthinesses to devour her flesh by the Sword and burn her with fire according to the word of the Lord Rev. 17.6 And that also for Gods elect sake those daies in respect of the evils and great tribulation of them might now even while the beast yet remaineth in his throne be shortned according as Christ foretold Matth. 24. Therefore let not now any of Gods chosen be dismayed at any thing they shall heare of or see though in their present apprehensions never so contrary but let them know there can nothing prevent God of his purpose nor hinder or put by the fulfilling of any part of his word what hee hath spoken shall stand let the beast and all the powers of wickednesse in the world with him do what they can the truth shall certainly prosper and the beast with all his power the Dragon bestowed upon him of what kind soever shall prevail no longer For who art thou O great mountain Babel the perfection and full accomplishment of all the former Babels and mountains of confusion that have been in the world And what art thou before him that fitteth on the white horse whose name is called The Word of God He with the sharp sword that proceedeth out of his mouth shall not only go on to consume thee even to the last hour of thy dayes determined but shall also take

shall bee a thousand two hundred and ninety dayes Blessed is he that wayteth and commeth to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty dayes adding to the thousand two hundred and ninety dayes five and thirty dayes more which make a thousand three hundred thirty five and then saith as being the words of the Angel of God to Daniel But go thou thy way till the end be for thou shalt rest and stand up in the lot at the end of the dayes vers 11 12 13. The Prophet from the Angel intending by dayes yeares and counting the years after the use of the Chaldeans and not of the Hebrewes between whom in three years and a halfe there was as it seemeth thirty dayes difference And so if Daniel was to goe his way and rest till the and bee and that he shall stand up in the lot at the end of the dayes then must the end of necessity be at the end of the dayes But Daniel was to goe his way till the end should be and was to rest and stand in the lot at the end of the dayes therefore the end of the dayes must needs be the end even the end of the world And now therefore if the time between the end of those dayes of Antichrists reigne and the end of the world will indeed for certain be so short as those Scriptures declare then where will there be time or place for that glorious thousand yeares Monarch of Saints which so many learned Ministers and zealous people at this day look for and hold as an Article of their faith to bee here in this present world before the end thereof Surely neither the Prophets nor Christ nor any of his Apostles doe admit of such a thing Those people and Ministers whatsoever they are for zeale and learning they are herein utterly deceived misunderstanding the Scriptures which speak indeed of a glorious Kingdome and many great and excellent things the Saints shall receive and possesse not for the limited time of a thousand yeares in this corrupt world but for ever and ever a thousand and ten thousand times ten thousand yeares even for eternity in the uncorrupt world to come which world and kingdome shall have no end as the Scriptures declare Esay 9.7 Esay 45.14 15 16 Dan. 7.14.25 Luk. 1.32 33. and sundry other places Those Ministers and people therefore which look for such a millenary Monarchical kingdom in this world may do well to renounce that Atticle of their faith as they call it in meeknes and humblenes of heart seek and desire of God to give them his holy Spirit of truth whereby to understand with comfort his word of truth The things that are to be between the end of Antichrists reigne and the end of the world are by Christ himselfe foreshewed in these words Matth. 24. Immediatly after the tribulation of those dayes shall the Sunne be darkned and the Moone shall not give her light and the Starres shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall bee shaken c. Where the Lord intendeth by the Sunne the word of his truth the Gospel of salvation which had been darkned by Antichrist and should now toward the end of his dayes break forth and shine again to discover his abominations and for the saving of Gods elect which the Lord also intended before ver 22. in these words But for the elect sake those dayes shall be shortned And implying also that it should shine yet more brightly after the end of Antichrist and that the greatest part of the time of 45 yeares intended by the word quickly and the word immediatly shall be for the prosperous proceeding of the Gospel and full accomplishing of all Gods elect And as the Sunne thus shineth so shall the Moon that is to say the earth and the inhabitants thereof whose light doth depend upon the light of the Gospel as the light of the Moon doth on the light of the Sunne she shall now give her light according also as a holy one in another place saith The Sun shall suddenly shine again in the night and the Moon three times in the day c. And the Starres of God shall appeare in heaven God will raise up in his Church true and faithfull Shepheards that shall as starres in heaven hold forth the light and truth of his two Testaments to the word and so the powers of the heavens spirituall will bee in their heavenly way and order again All these things are plainly implied in the words of Christ else how can the Sunne be said to be darkned and the Moon to lose her light and the Starres to fall from heaven c. immediatly after the tribulation of those dayes of Antichrist if they did not and should not shine forth and give their light some time before the end of those dayes and also after more especially therefore all these things must be And the true Church of Christ which had been troden under foot and caused to hide her face as it were in the wildernesse so long shall come forth and bee seene neer like as she was once in her primitive state clothed with the Sunne even Jesus Christ and his righteousnesse and having the Moon that is all earthly and corruptible things under her feet as disregarded her conversation and affections being farre above them all in heaven where her Lord is and from whence shee looketh for him to come and bring all those his rewards with him that hee hath promised And having also on her head a Crown of twelve starres the true and sound doctrine of the Lambs twelve Apostles and of the holy Prophets walking in the light and truth thereof according as they walked with true love toward God and also toward men And so be as once she was in these spirituall heavenly respects truely visible like a Citie set upon a hill that cannot be hid and as a Candle in a Candlestick which giveth light to all in the house her faith shining again throughout the world And when shee shall bee in this estate like as at the first when she was travelling with child to bring forth her first fruits unto God and to the Lamb the Dragon stood before her to devoure her child and persecute the woman into the wildernesse as Rev. 12. So now when she shall be travelling with child again ready to bring forth her last fruits unto God and to Christ then the Dragon that old Serpent being loosed out of his prison where he had been bound so many hundred yeares shall goe out to deceive the Nations that are in the four quarters of the earth Gog and Magog and gather them together and compasse the camp of the Saints about and this the beloved Citie till fire descend from God out of heaven and devoure them as it is written Ezek. 38. and 39. Rev. 16.21 Rev. 20.9 For as the time of the Churches fairest beauty was but short before the Dragon so cruelly used her so shall

her beforehand that then especially when the time of trouble which he also foretold her of should come shee should betake herselfe unto them as he also saith When yee therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet stand in the holy place who so readeth let him understand then let them which be in Iudea flic into the mountains c. Matth. 24. For this was the very time of the great persecution raised by the Dragon against that admirable woman in her most excellent primitive estate described in Rev. 12.1 whereby she was necessitated to flie into the Wildernesse to her place which God had provided for her to take some breath and live She was now to read and understand the written words of his two Testaments and to betake her selfe to them and flie they being the two wings of the great Eagle even the Lord himselfe who gave them unto her to that end and that she might be also nourished by them in that secret desart for a time and times and half a time that is to say three yeares and a halfe of yeares from the presence of the Serpent as verse 14. compared with verse 6. where these three times and a halfe are decribed by 1260 dayes and are to be understood for so many yeares it being also the full time of the reigne of the Beast which was to rise after the Dragons fall For St. Iohn as it seemeth wrote this book of the Revelation at the same time when all the Westerne Churches were by the persecution of Nero and the rest of those cruell Pagan Emperours dispersed and they of Iudea also Iohn himselfe being now for the word of God and witnesse of Iesus Christ in the Isle of Pathmos onely the seven Churches of Asia remaining in their places undispersed and that this was the reason why Iohn speaks not a word of any Churchelse of any place besides those seven of Asia unto whom he was appointed to send the book when he had written it And although notwithstanding that great persecution against all Christians in generall then under the Romane power the name of Christ and profession of Christian Religion increased so that in short time it came to be very generally entertained yet did the true Church herselfe being in respect of her Seed dispersed amongst them never recover her first and primitive estate againe but all things grew worse and worse untill the Beast rose who brought the mystery of iniquity to perfection and set up the abomination of desolation to the full which the Dragon had begun in Ierusalem and Temple thereof to stand where it ought not even in the Temple of the Christian Gentiles the seven Churches of Asia being now also by the Easterne Empire subdued to the Beast and brought under the supremacie and power of his Church of Rome and so they wrought and brought to passe by degrees that the eminent light and beauty of the truly modest and chast virgin Spouse of Christ might no more be seen till the fourty and two months of the Beasts reigne should be expired Therefore as Christ said Matth. 24. Who so readeth let him understand c. So again Rev. 1. Blessed is he that readeth and they that heare the words of the prophesie of this booke and keep those things which are written therein for the time is at hand verse 3. Verse 5. And if any man will hurt them fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies and if any man will hurt them so must he be slaine HEre the Lord doth further declare by his Angell what his two Witnesses are in their owne true nature and power in saying If any man will hurt them fire shall proceed out of their mouth c. That is to say if any man shall resist their words and testimony or seem to stop their proceeding and pervert the straight way of the Lord which they declare as the Scribes and Pharisees and those false teachers in Antioch and them of Galatia Elymas the Sorcerer and many other more in the Apostles dayes did or shall wrest their words from their true intention to some other false and evill ends and so turn their prophesie and testimony out of the way to maintaine their blasphemous opinions abominations and lies under pretence of truth as Arius and his followers did and the Beast and his Clergie have done a long time and as many others doe now amongst us at this day to maintain their sundry erroneous and corrupt opinions which they have taken up contrary to the intent and meaning of the Spirit of God in these his two Testaments Look what judgements they have pronounced against such shall surely first or last fall upon them the fire of Gods justice and wrath which proceedeth out of their mouth shall certainly devoure them And let no man marvell at this that they being two are described to have both but one mouth for although they bee two in number and are truly distinct and differing one from the other the one being the Law of sinne and of death so called by reason of us who are all guilty of the breach thereof and so of death which is said to come by Moses the other being the Law of the Spirit of life of grace and truth and is said to come by Jesus Christ yet doe they not speak or will things contrary one to the other but doe truly agree and speake as with one mouth that which is holy and just gracious and true Therefore if any man will hurt them so must he be slain If any man shall make and love to make lies against them or of them and say they speak that which they speak not or mean that which they mean not If any man shall adde to or take from the words of their prophesie see then what their sentence is even in the very finishing of their testimony If he shall adde God shall then adde unto him the plagues that are written in this booke If he shall diminish or take from God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy Citie and from the things that are written in this book Rev. 22.18 19. Blessed therefore are they that doe his commandements that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the Citie for without shall be Dogges and Sorcerers and Whoremongers and Murderers and Idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie Verse 6. These have power to shut heaven that it rain not in the dayes of their prophesie and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to smite the earth with all manner of plagues so often as they will THat these two Witnesses have power for to doe all these things I suppose no man will deny because it is without question true And that whatsoever they have prophesied against any Kingdome Monarch Nation State Citie People for their wickednesse against