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	worse_a	worst_a	16	3	7.6031	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07825	A treatise of the nature of God	Morton, Thomas, of Berwick.	1599 (1599)	STC 18198; ESTC S101314	111,319	258

of God Sch. Surely euen that that followeth the vnderstanding in the nature of man from the which we borrow al these attributes as types and similitudes of the nature of God and so we do after a sort put our own coat on Gods backe or rather put our whole nature both the body and especially the soule vppon his diuine nature as he himselfe did in the incarnation of Christ that so we may see know that which otherwise and of it selfe is inuisible and not to be knowen and therefore as in the humane so also in the diuine nature we must to the vnderstanding ioyne the facultie of will the which cannot possibly be seuered from an vnderstanding for that there is no vnderstanding which if it be not actuall or in complete act of it owne nature and eternally as is the vnderstanding of God yet it is potentially actual that is it tendeth to action whereof this facultie of will is the fountaine and beginning Gent. Nay surely you need go no further in declaring what is the wil or any other thing in the essence of God if it bee so as you say that these attributes are not truly in God but onely resemblances and shadowes of his nature Belike we haue al this while bin conserring about moonshine in water striuing about shadowes altog●ther voide of the substance of trueth I did verely thinke that the vnderstanding knowledge and wisedome whereof you haue spoken had beene truly really in god and not only shadowes of his vnknowne nature I may well vse the similitude of the Prophet and compare my selfe to a man who beeing hungrie and thirstie dreameth that he eateth and drinketh according to his owne appetite but awaking on a suddaine hee findeth himselfe drie and emptie so I did all this while imagine that you did feed and in trueth euen fill my hungrie and thirstie soule with the knowledge of God the which I do farre more earnestly and greedely desire thē euer I did meat or drinke and behold on a suddaine you awaken mee out of this pleasant dreame and tell me that all is nothing but mere imaginations Sch. You take mee at the worst and farre woorse then you should do I haue not fedde you with winde or vaine dreames as you inferre of my words but the trueth is this The nature of God is so vnsearchable and so faare aboue the reache of any created wit that when we haue come as neare it as we can and haue to our thinking gotten some hold of it yet the very remembrance of ourowne weaknesse in comparison of the infinitnesse of it makes to vs to distrust and suspect our selues as beeing deceiued with a false conceit of that which cannot possibly bee truly conceiued comprehended here of it commeth that although we be verily perswaded that understanding knowledge wisdome are in God not onely truly and really but also most properly as in the naturall subiect or rather substantially without any subiect but being to themselues an vpholding subiect yet we doubting the worst and thinking that the diuine nature is something more and more excellent then an infinit vnderstanding although in truth there cannot bee any nature more excellent then an vnderstanding or a resonable nature nor any thing more then that which is infinit and also thinking that for so much as these things to wit vnderstanding knowledge and wisedome haue place in the nature of man whom we see and feele to be a most weake and silly creature that therefore they cannot be truly in the nature of God hereof it commeth that wee rather call them the attributes or resemblances of his nature then his very essence or nature it selfe the which in trueth they are Gent. That is an other matter but then we must not foster in our selues this vaine feare and doubting to affirmi him to bee that which we learne and know out of his word that he is indeed but rather boldly without any wauering or doubting affirme him to be that he is knowing most certainly that wee are not deceiued and if we be deceiued that then God himselfe hath deceiued vs with whom it is better to erre then to holde the trueth in our owne conceits But I cannot but laugh to my selfe when I thinke of one thing that you said that wee doubted least that vnderstanding knowledge and wisedome were not truly in God because they are truly in the nature of man whereas you should haue inferred the cleane contrarie to wit that wee know assuredly that God is an vnderstanding or reasonable nature because man who is reasonable is the image of similitude of God yea and made for this end to shew represent to vs the nature of god but how I pray you can a reasonable nature bee an image or similitude of that which is not reasonable Now proceed I pray you and shewe me how and what you make will to be in God Sch. Will is very fitly and truly yea essentially giuen to God for as in the soule of man will is not an accidentall qualitie which may be spared without the diminishing or abolishing of the subiect as may knowledge or wisedome but an essentiall facultie issuing properly and immediately out of the vnderstanding and cleaning inseparably vnto it for that it is impossible that the conceits receiued into the mind should rest ydly there and not tebound backe againe into action euen as the beames of the sunne lighting vppon a solide bodie cannot but reflect and so make heate so we are to thinke that the essentiall vnderstanding of God doth naturally necessarely and eternally bring foorth the essentiall will of God the which may bee defined the essential act of his vnderstanding the fountaine and beginning of all his actions which are simply good Sect. 5. Gent. HOw doo you make the will of God to bee the beginning of all the actions of God Sch. Euen as it is in all other things which haue will the which is of this nature that in what subiect soeuer it be it will there dominere and haue the sole and supreme authoritie of doing all things and therefore may truly be called Primus motor the first mouer and beginning of all actions for euery thing that hath wil doth that onely or at the least tendeth to the doing of it wich it willeth As for the vnderstanding althogh it be in order nature before y t will yet it is not said to be the beginning of actiō because it onely moueth perswadeth and directeth but doth not inforce or compell for as wee vsually say counsel is no commaund whereof it commeth that although in God there be no such disagreement yet in y e creatures it doth of●ē come to passe that the will reiecteth the counsell and direction which the minde giueth and worketh without or against reason according to the owne inclination But the will is followed and obeyed by the actions in all things possible euen as the commaundements of a soueraigne Monarche

diuinitie to be accounted of the same signification and compasse then he is a soule or a bodie what then may you say is the signification of these words Surely they are not positiue but priuatiue they shew not what God is but what he is not namely that hee is not a formall visible and sensible bodie For so they containe in them a refutation of that grosse opinion of the carnall and hypocriticall Iewes who thought that an outward and bodily worship voyde of the spirituall sinceritie of the heart would well ynough fit and please God as if a man hauing to deale with those heathenish idolators that thinke brute beastes or sencelesse stockes to bee Gods should say vnto them you are fouly deceiued in this point for God is not a dead stocke or a brute beast but rather to be resembled to a liuing man So then the meaning of Christes words is this God although in trueth hee bee not a spirit or an angell yet because that nature commeth nearer him and doth more resemble him then any other therefore hee may fitly for your capacitie be so called Sect. 4. YOu remember I doubt not that it was said that there are three things required to the searching out of Gods nature first a conceite of it in the minde gathered by the effects of it secondly a reall example or patterne wherein that conceit doth exist and may bee seene and thirdly the difference betwixt the conceite the example the one being in abstracto the other in concreto the one existing onely in the imagination of the minde the other in some creature and reall subiect The two first wee haue alreadie gotten the one out of the creatures which haue taught vs the nature of God in generall the other we haue found in the angels who are a liuely resemblance of the said diuine nature the third remaineth to wit the difference betwixt the patterne and the thing it selfe For although we haue alreadie ascended and come to the highest steppe of Iacobs ladder for that it is impossible to find any more of the diuine essence in any creature then wee ha●e alreadie seene in the angelicall nature yet wee are not at our iourneyes ende nor yet halfe waye for although there be as great difference betwixt Angels and men as there is distance betwixt the heauen and the earth yet there is tenne times yea ten thousand times greater oddes betwixt the Angels and God and the space is infinitly greater from the heauen of the Angels and saints to the heauen of heauens where God dwelleth And therefore we are now in the last place to seeke out the difference which exalteth the nature of God thus farre or rather thus infinitly aboue the Angels this is the verie true essentiall forme of God the which if it could bee once named the matter were at an ende the case cleare much labor might be saued which must be spent or rather most profitably and happily bestowed in gessing coniecturing imagining that by many properties attributes actions and effects which by this meanes might be fully knowne all at once But it is not the will of God neither were it profitable for vs that so inestimable a iewell should bee so easily gotten who would esteeme the most precious pearles if so be that they lay in the streetes for the vptaking and if the nature of God were once fully known how could it afterwardes bee so earnestly sought and desired as is m●ete Yet we are not to thinke that this impossibilitie of finding out the true forme of God commeth of God as making daintie and daungerous of the knowledge of his nature to make vs eager earnest in desiring to know it although i● bee true that hath beene said that it is better to haue our appetite whetted and sharpned by the hardnesse and impossibilitie of attaining it then our stomackes cloyed with the full fruition of it neither are we to think that God doth enuie and grudge vs so great a good and so sweete a pleasure or that in pollicie hee keepeth himselfe close not daring to shew himselfe for feare of being censured or contemned by vs But this commeth of the shallownesse of our braines and the the weaknesse of out capacitie the which making it impossible for vs to conceiue it maketh it impossible for God to reueale it Gent. I was in good hope to haue heard at the next word the very true essential forme of God declared and indeed that had beene woorth the hearing but now I perceiue you will reserue that for another time or rather giue it ouer for euer wherin you deale wisely in my minde for what follie were it for a man to beate his braines in pursuing that which it were more then madnesse once to hope to attaine But I pray you how wil you do to make your proude Lucifer a God Sch. We will doo as we may sir and if all should faile I hope that you will helpe at a dead lift according to your promise but to proceed Seeing that the true forme of gods nature cannot be had we must take in stead of it some essentiall propertie flowing from the forme the which will make those things which are attributed to God differ from the same things as they are in the Angels For example knowledge wisedome might and maiestie haue place both in God and also in the Angels yet they are not alike in both for in the Angels they are although great and perfect yet finit but in god they are absolute and infinit So then if we adde this difference of infinitnesse to the Angelicall nature there will come forth a diuine nature which may not vnfitly be described an angelical nature euery way infinit and so God be defined an infinit Angell as an Angell may be said to be a spiritual man For as surpassing excellencie doth distinguish the Angelicall nature from the humane for although they bee both of one kinde to wit reasonable indued with wit knowledge wisedome and will yet they differ in that the Angelicall nature hath all these in farre greater measur● then hath the humane in like manner infinitnesse doth distinguish the diuine nature from the angelicall for they both being reasonable or vnderstanding natures indued with wit and will and with all things belonging there vnto differ in this respect that the one is excellent in vnderstāding knowledge wisedome will power puritie and glorie but the other is infinit in all these respects the one hath all these things in an excellent measure the other hath them without measure the one hath much the other hath all And thus by gathering the nature of God out of his workes and word by finding out a patterne of it in the Angelicall nature and lastly by adding vnto this angelicall nature that wherein it commeth short of God we haue in some sort made vp the diuine nature or rather indeuoured to do that which it is impossible to performe for in this case the least