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	year_n	369	4	4.3593	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64242	A sermon preach'd in the parish church of Burcester in the county of Oxford, on the second day of December, 1697 being the day appointed for a thanksgiving to Almighty God, for His Majesty's safe return, and for the happy and honourable peace, of which God has made him the glorious instrument.	Taylor, Thomas, 1669 or 70-1735.	1697 (1697)	Wing T558; ESTC R23456	15,877	27

A SERMON Preach'd in the Parish Church of Burcester in the County of Oxford ON THE Second Day of December 1697. Being the Day appointed for A THANKSGIVING To Almighty God For His Majesty's Safe Return and for the Happy and Honourable PEACE of which God has made Him the Glorious Instrument By THOMAS TAYLOR M. A. LONDON Printed by Tho. Warren for Thomas Bennet at the Half Moon in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1697. Prov. XXI 30 31. There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord. The Horse is prepared against the day of Battel but safety is of the Lord. IN these words the Wise Man gives a brief but true and compleat account of the weakness and insufficiency of all humane indeavours when imployed against the purposes of Divine Providence or destitute of the Interest and Assistance of Heaven He declares that the best laid Projects and Contrivances the deepest reaches of the Wisest Politicians when directed against the Tendencies of the Divine Will are vain and insignificant that they come to nothing There is no such thing as Wisdom or Vnderstanding or Counsel against the Lord. And as the Wisdom of Man is in this case no better than Folly and Madness so is his Power the contemptible Effort of Impotence and Presumption The Horse is prepared against the day of Battel but safety is of the Lord. Those numerous Forces and hostile Preparations which Men conside in as their utmost security unless bless'd and reinforced with Power from on High are ineffectual to Victory or Safety There is no King saved by the Multitude of an Host A mighty Man is not delivered by much Strength An Horse is a vain thing for safety neither shall he deliver any by his great Strength says the Royal Psalmist who had frequently experienced Worldly strength and confidence to be an unequal match for the God of Hosts the mighty God of Israel The sum and meaning therefore of the words amounts to this That there is a superintendant Providence which over-rules the Counsels and Powers of Men as shall be most suitable and serviceable to the Divine Counsels in the Government of the World which either succours and incourages or suspends and retards or baffles and disappoints natural causes so as to determine the issues of War and Peace and of all humane Force and Policy according to this supreme Agency and Direction That the World is subject to the Presidency and conduct of such a Providence as this must be acknowledged by all who profess to believe the existence of a God For the very notion of a Providence is inseparably involved in the Idea of an infinitely Wise Powerful and Beneficent Being nothing seeming more absurd than that He who is All-wise should not know how He that is Almighty should not be able and He that is transcendantly Good should not be willing to take care of his own Creation And therefore Epicurus was deservedly charged with Hypocrisy and Collusion and look'd upon by the rest of the Philosophers as a disguised Atheist who in words profess'd a Deity but in reality and effect disown'd Him when he denyed he had any interest in the Government of the World A Man need but open his Eyes and contemplate those common changes and vicissitudes of things which daily happen round about him to be fully convinc'd of this truth that the Lord is King and that he rules unto the ends of the Earth That I may not therefore take up your Time and Thoughts with an unnecessary proof of a Providence which all Religions in the World suppose and which the Christian has plainly implyed or demonstrated in every page of the Gospel I rather chuse to lead your Minds at present to an attentive Reflexion on the various methods of its dispensations which is no less useful yet a more uncommon and difficult consideration For though the directive hand of a supernatural Providence be so very visible and palpable in its effects it seems quite otherwise in the manner of its Operation We often feel and enjoy the Influence of the Divine Government whilest we are insensible by what kind of Ministration it is conveyed to us The Counsels of God are for the most part Mysterious and Impenetrable He maketh Darkness his secret Place his Pavilion round about him says holy David He doth great things and unsearchable marvellous things without number saies Job speaking of his providential administration 'T is indeed impossible to trace the footsteps of the Almighty in his whole management of humane affairs but yet those many Characters and Impresses of his Hand which are legible in the wonderful events of things are sufficient to justify such an humble enquiry into the manner of his procedure as may serve to remove all prophane objections against his Providence and to encourage our Faith Hope and Confidence in Him Wherefore my present business shall be to consider First Some of those ways and methods which God makes use of to govern or over-rule the Counsels and indeavours of Men so as to accomplish his own wise purposes thereby Secondly The reason and intention of his interposing his Providence in the Government of Humane Affairs and Actions Thirdly I shall apply these considerations to that particular Providence and Mercy of God which is the occasion of this present solemnity by which it will at last evidently appear that There is neither Wisdom nor Vnderstanding nor Counsel against the Lord that though the Horse be prepared against the day of Battel yet safety is of the Lord. First Then to consider some of those Methods which God makes use of to govern or over-rule the Counsels and endeavours of Men so as to accomplish his own wise purposes thereby If God govern'd the World at present as he did heretofore the Nation of the Jews by a visible Authority and vouchsafed it such repeated Prophecies and evident Miracles and manifestations of his Power in his Mercies and Judgments to Mankind the manner of his Providence might be easier accounted for in those great turns of affairs he bring● about in the Kingdoms of the Earth For that People were generally so miraculously Bless'd or Afflicted that they could no more doubt of the Manner than they could question the truth of the Deliverance or Punishment it self which they actually enjoyed or suffer'd If an Israelite were ask'd how he escaped the Host of Pharaoh and how he was sustained in a barren Wilderness forty Years it were ready for him to answer to the Former That God divided the red Sea and made the surrounding waves Bullworks of safety against the Enemy and to the latter That the same God opened the Rock of Stone and made the Waters flow and rained Manna and Quails from Heaven for his daily provision and support For thus God found it necessary to deal with an incredulous and sluggish people who would ever have been revolting back towards Aegypt if he had not submitted his Providence and Care over them to