Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	believe_v	hear_v	word_n	5,231	5	4.7330	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66753	Fides-Anglicana, or, A plea for the publick-faith of these nations lately pawned, forfeited and violated by some of their former trustees to the rendering it as infamous as fides-punica was heretofore : it is humbly offered to consideration in a petitionary remonstrance to all in authority on the behalf of many thousands to whom securities were given upon the said public-faith and was prepared to have been put forth during the sitting of the last Parliament ... / by the author George Wither.	Wither, George, 1588-1667.	1660 (1660)	Wing W3157; ESTC R27622	56,067	97

permitting it or to say better we for saking God Jerusalem which was Lady of all the Cities in Asia and Mother of all the Hebrews in Palestine is now servant and tributary to Rome whereat we Jews need not to marvel nor ye Romans to be proud thereof for the highest trees are soonest blown down by violent winds Great were those Armies whereby Pompey vanquished us but greater have our offences been for which we were forsaken of GOD I would have you to hear by words but rather to know it by experience that we have a merciful God who can do more alone then all your Gods together and who sheweth compassion though among fifty thousand there be but ten good men They are our great offences only which have made you to be Lords over us and not your Power or Vertues For whilest we agreed in the Unity of Faith in one only God he prospered us and so long as the wrath of God is upon us for our sins so long shall you be Lords over us and no longer Then shall we recover what we have lost and ye shall lose what you have won And as we are now Commanded so shall we be then Obeyed but at present and whilest we are swayed one way and ye another neither can you encline me to the worship of your Gods neither shall I be able to draw you to believe only in in that one God the Creator of all things to whom I refer the disposing of all things Touching that which I have chiefly to say Know you that in times past Rome had peace with Judea and Judea with Rome and being friends preserved each other in peace but now it is otherwise and whilest we sigh for peace we see you make preparations for war whereas if you would expell those who bear us evil will and we could know and take heed of them who provoke us to rebell neither should Rome so much oppress Judea nor Judea hate Rome Friendship is lost not so much for the interest of the one or other as by their indiscretion who pretend to be Mediators for if they who take upon them that office be greater enemies then those between whom a war is begun they do but cast wood into that fire which they should quench with water Since the banishment of Archelaus from Judea in whose place you sent unto us Pomponius Marcus Rufus and Valerius we have had four Plagues the least wherof was sufficient to poyson all Rome What greater calamity could happen unto us then to have Judges sent from Rome who took up all the evil customs of wicked men and were themselves Inventors of new Vices And when they who ought to punish the lightness of youth are the Ringleaders of Levity It is openly said in Asia that the Thieves of Rome do hang the Thieves of Jewry and I must plainly tell you we fear not the Thieves which rob us in the woods so much as those Judges who spoyl us in our houses We dread not Robbers on the high-way nor those who make open war upon us nor the Plague of Pestilence half so much as your corrupt Judges To that which is here heard in the Senate and not seen with us you give more credit though reported by one who hath been but three Moneths in the Province then to that which is reported by many who have governed thirty years Consider ye Senators that if ye were advanced to this dignity because you were the wisest the most honest and moderate among the people it would appear in your being so just and vertuous as not to believe all you hear since you have to do with many of divers Nations whose ends and intentions are variable I speak the truth unto you your Judges have done so much injustice and shown such ill examples that they have taught the youth of Judea those vices which our Fathers never heard of nor we ever saw or read of before And ye being mighty and reputed noble disdain to take counsel of men that be poor as if to know much and to have little wealth or esteem were never found together As ye have given counsel to us so be pleased to take counsel from us and know that though your Captains have won many Realms by shedding blood the way to keep them is by clemency and mildness without bloodshed and therefore pray and advise your Judges whom ye send to govern strange Provinces that they be more diligent to preserve the Common peace then to employ themselves in taking Fines and Forfeitures lest else they slander you who send them and destroy those whom they should govern and protect for the reason why they are not justly obeyed is because they command unjust things Righteous impositions and just commands make men humble and obedient whereas unrighteous commands make meek and humble men obstinate and froward and the more evil things are commanded the less good things are obeyed when such persons enjoyn them Believe this Oh ye Romans that from the levity of those in Authority springs the shamelesness and disobedience of the People The Prince who imposeth Government upon those whom he knoweth not to be qualified for such a trust intendeth not so much that they should do Justice to his People as that they should increase his treasure and serve his lusts but let him be well assured that when he least thinketh of it his honour and credit will be turned into infamy his treasure consumed and some notable vengeance fall upon him or his posterity I having other matters to speak of in secret will here conclude with this advice that ye keep us and our Countrey in safety for which you have hazzarded your selves and that ye do Justice impartially for then we shall reverence your commands Be mercifull and we shall be meek be not cruel in punishing our weakness and we shall willingly obey your just commands Command not with proud severity and you shall find in us the Love which Fathers may expect from children and not that treason which oppressive Lords usually find in their servants These words though bold and sharp were as the Author saith heard with admiration and approbation of all the Roman Senate The other speech which I will here make use of was reported by Marcus Aurelius to have been spoken in the Senate of Rome in the first year of his Consulship by a poor Countrey-man living near the River Danubius who came to ask Justice of the said Senate against a Censor who sorely oppressed the Germans This Rustick was in outward appearance in some respects more contemptible then this Remonstrant For he is described to have been a man who had a small face great lips hollow eyes of a Sun-burnt complexion having curled hair on his head and a long thick beard his rayment and coat was of beasts skins his shooes of Porcupine-leather his girdle of Bull-rushes his head bare and a club in his hand In this equippage he entred the Senate whereon though many

be enjoyed by the said Purchasers except so far forth only as in consideration of Improvements the former Owners will freely of their own nobleness give way thereunto if we look for a perfect concord on their part And then how the Purchasers of those Lands and the Parliaments other Creditors may be satisfied a course must be other wayes provided which will be the more easily effected and the less burthensom if the Purchasers of Prelates estates may have satisfaction out of the same Lands as this Remonstrant conceives in equity and prudence they ought to have and also may have to their reasonable contentment with an addition of honour and advantage both to the King and Nation without wrong to the Episcopal Function being constituted and confirmed according to Primitive Ordination derived from the Canon of GOD's Word such an Episcopacy never being intended as this Remonstrant believeth to be exploded out of the Church of England by the Solemn League and Covenant or to be barred out of Scotland if the persons were regulated and qualified as they are charactered by Saint Paul Those Temporalities which they claim as Prelates belonged not to them by divine right as Bishops but were conferred in time of Popery to support them as Barons when they were authorized to sit in Parliament which Priviledge being taken away by Act of Parliament assented unto by the late King that work is at an end and work and wages being Relatives cease both together Temporal and Spiritual Lords in a Parliament resemble plowing with Oxen and Asses in one teeme and by weaving as it were Linnen and Wollen together may make that Linsey-woolsey both in Civil and Spiritual things as will be pleasing neither to GOD nor men The services whereto the Bishops were chiefly ordained may be best performed and with least obstruction to civil transactions in Synods or National Councils and Conventions where no Lordly titles or usurpations are to be claimed or allowed nor any Precedencies but for Orders sake only lest Precedencies and temporal Dignities may over-awe their fellow-members and disadvantage the Truth Bishops being regulated as aforesaid and exercising only a Primacy of Order as Speakers in Parliaments Prolocutors in Synods and Presidents in Councils ought to be restored and a competent and an honourable maintenance might be provided for them out of those legal perquisites which heretofore belonged unto them quatenus Bishops and consist with an Evangelical Discipline none of which are sold from them and out of those Impropriations which they formerly Leased for Fines and yearly Rents giving a Plow-mans wages to their poor Curates These Impropriations if they might be timely reserved from being again so misdisposed of by their Avarice would amount to a sufficiency yea and to a far larger Revenue then many Bishops formerly had if they were prudently distributed and would be likewise a quieter subsistance and somewhat more proper to their Calling because a maintenance settled upon the Ministry by the Laws of the Land Moreover to enlarge that maintenance convenient places of residence with Demeasnes and annual Rents enabling them to be hospitable and incouragers of others to Piety and Vertue might and would be afforded by the said Purchasers out of what was sold unto them And such a Portion being settled on them and their successors by King and Parliament as the Donations of Nursing Fathers of the Church and not derived from heathenish or other superstitious beginnings dishonourable to God and scandalous to Religion would redound more to their honour then their Baronies and Lordships be more comfortable to their Consciences when they must resign their Bishopricks make their Ministry more effectual to their particular Flocks and to the preserving of Unity in Fundamentals between those Congregations which are of differing judgements render their posterities more prosperous and their persons more beloved both of GOD and men The worst this Remonstrant wisheth even to those Prelates who do but pretend to be the Bishops of Christ is that they truly were so and that they had humility enough to accept of such an offer on condition he wholly left his hope of repossessing his said Purchase though he thinks it more possible for him to be restored thereto then for them long to enjoy that wherewith they seem absolutely invested Let this be well considered for though the Prelates and their Favourers term him a Scribling Fool The tatlings of Children and Fools are sometimes to be listned unto by wise and grave men who know they often speak Truth when others either will not or dare not When the King shall by experience know how useless the Prelacy is both to him and to the Church of GOD and how serviceable such as are called Bishops may be when reduced to the Canon of the Word it is hoped he may perswade them to submit thereto and that some of them will be so convinced in Conscience as to perceive it will be more honour to GOD and them then disparagement to their persons to evidence the power of Truth upon themselves in an humble conformity and restrain them from unmercifully seeking to enrich themselves by the destruction of so many Families as are now in danger of perishing by their immoderate Avarice As for the rest of the Hierarchie this Remonstrant cannot imagine to what good end they may be continued which will be equivalent to the preventing the thousandth part of that mischief which will ensue the dispossessing of those who have Purchased their estates Deans and Chapters with their Appendants are a Whimsey of a late invention as now constituted which the Primitive Ages neither knew nor perhaps thought of A Plant which our Heavenly Father never planted in his Church nor are they necessarily pertinent to the service of GOD or to the edifying of mankind in Piety or Morality but rather burthensom and scandalous Most of those vast Revenues which they claim as sacred if not all are no more worthy to be reputed Holy things then the price of dogs or wages of Strumpets as I have elsewhere said in regard much of them were obtained by merchandizing for the souls of men and were Sacrifices to the Devil worse then Sacriledge given or exacted by their cunning Brokers in derogation from Christs meritorious Passion for expiating of Adulteries Murthers and other hainous crimes Which if they could make evident to be sacred Offerings and accepted of God as truly such they might hope ere long to make men believe that their houses of Office their very dunghills yea their sins or any thing they pleased so to term were also sacred But what reasonable man can imagine why such an impertinency should be preserved when the State is so necessitated though it were some way useful and when so many thousands of serviceable and innocent persons may be destroyed by the re-admission thereof Whereto are they necessary If you suppose it be to elect Bishops when they shall be reduced to what they Originally were and ought to