Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	church_n	scripture_n	word_n	22,553	5	5.1394	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53727	A short and plain answer to two questions: I. Where was your religion before Luther? II. How know you the Scriuptures to be the word of God? By a Protestant.	Owen, John, 1616-1683.	1682 (1682)	Wing O806A; ESTC R214595	12,344	27

much less to denominate the whole Work from the Translator I may say with good Propriety of speech that that Book was written by the Learned Sir T. Brown though I should find the same in Latine or French and had never seen the Original English Thus I scruple not to say the Rhemists Translation is the Word of God That is for the Substance and main Purpose of it it is not so spoil'd as to lose the Nature of Divine Truth but is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness And to such as cannot procure a better it may doubtless be sufficient to make them Wise unto Salvation But I intend not in the mean time to Entitle God Almighty to the failings or frauds of that Version or of any other The Errors that have been occasioned from various Copies taken and Translations made are either of Infirmity or Knavery As for this latter I suppose it cannot be proved that ever any Person was so audacious as to attempt the palpable Corruption of the Scriptures until the Aspiring Popes had set up an infallible Chair at Rome a Court only fit to protect such Undertakings because indeed it could not be supported without them So that in the Primitive Times the Errors which have crept into the Bible have been first only such failings as have escaped unawares in the Transcribing thereof And secondly afterwards when it came to be Translated into other Languages some difficulty and contest could not choose but arise about the rendring such words as were of various doubtful signification from which I believe there are very few Languages entirely free Now I say it was impossible that both these together whilst Men were sincere and honest should ever stifle or quench the Divine Spirit which breaths every where in those Sacred Writings And we may reasonably suppose that the Christian Church was stockt with a competent number of good Copies before the Mystery of Iniquity came to such a height as to attempt the wilful depravation of the Scriptures Two things are considerable in this matter First That in the Infant State of Christianity Believers were cordial and in good earnest about the business of Religion The power of Godliness prevail'd and those who call'd themselves Christians were really such nor had they yet learn'd those Crafts of Cousnage and Deceit which afterwards the Mystery of Iniquity furnisht the World withall And therefore they would be careful in the highest degree to Transmit faithful Copies of those precious Papers unto Posterity A Duty more especially incumbent on them who had the keeping of the true Originals Secondly That God Almighty having by the Holy Ghost inspired his Pen-Men to deliver his Mind unto the World it is not likely that he should relinquish the same to perish in the hands of ignorant or wicked Men For since the Blessed Spirit did so manifestly appear in it Divine Providence was sure to guard it and will doubtless secure it to the end of the World These inducements with others of like nature are sufficient I count to convince any Man unto whose hands the Bible shall come that it doth contain the words of Eternal Life For it carries that Self-evidencing Light that Majestick plainness that unaffected Gravity and substantial Utility throughout the whole that no Man who will but consider can possibly doubt of its Original And though Mens Corruptions may prevail so far with them as to make them pretend at least to call in question the Being of God as well as the Truth of his Word Yet it shall certainly operate upon them so far as to leave them without excuse I do not believe that Nature ever yet produc'd so profligate a Wretch but would be sensible of some reluctancy and grief to see his Child murder'd his House fir'd and have his Limbs torn asunder without any just cause or provocation given But if these things have no evil in them why should any body be grieved at them If they have why should any one do the like to his Neighbour Now if Men ought not to do wrong in one respect no more ought they to do it in any other From whence ought to follow the universal rectitude of all our actions And where are there such Rules of Equity and Righteousness as the Scriptures afford teaching us to do unto others as we would that they should do unto us The faithful observation of which short Precept would confine Astrea to this lower World and yet banish all her Courts as being useless It would set such a face on things as would far exceed all the imaginary beauties of the Golden Age. From whence now should this proceed but from the Fountain of all Righteousness God Almighty There is yet a further means of assurance that the Scriptures are the Word of God namely from the evidence of the Spirit bearing witness in our Consciences to the truth of those things contained in our Bibles of which there is a Counter-part written in our Hearts and attested by the Holy Ghost There are indeed many false Spirits and many vain pretences to the true one yet a measure thereof is given to every Child of God and promised to all those that seek it with sincerity and perseverance Now I say this Evidence of the Spirit wherever it is doth fill the Mind with assurance and satisfaction about Divine Truth beyond all Arguments It is so convincing that St. Paul calls it a Demonstration And though perhaps it may not have that force to those who deride it in others and stifle its motions in their own Breasts for neither is Geometrical Demonstration of force to them that understand it not yet to a mind enlightened by it and brought under the power of it the Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit is beyond all other Arguments and Demonstrations whatsoever To summ up all we need not to go to a Corrupt and Adulterous Church to have its Authority and Imprimatur stampt upon our Bibles from whence on the contrary it ought to derive its own Authority And it will one day sink under the weight and force of those Laws and Precepts which it now vainly pretends to Authorize I say then the Scriptures are known to be the Word of God beyond all possibility of mistake or dubitation by Evidence of Sense by Arguments of Reason and by Demonstration of the Spirit This Sir is all I shall trouble you with in this Matter till either I have your Objections or some further opportunity of discovering my Zeal to serve you according to the utmost of my power I am Sir c. FINIS These Books following to be Sold by Jonathan Hutchinson in Durham Folio DR Hammond 's Annotation on the New Testament H. Grotii Opera omnia Theologica 4 vol. 1679. Eusebii Socratis Sozomeni Theodoriti Evagrii Historia Ecclesiast Gr. Lat. notis Hen. Valesii 3 vol. Mogunt 1672 77 79. Bishop Taylor 's Course of Sermons for all the Sundays in the Year His Ductor Dubitantium or Rule of Conscience Quarto Bishop Nicholson on the Church Catechism Dr. Donns Pseudo Martyr Rogers on the Thirty nine Articles of the Church of England Octavo Dr. Combars Exposition of the Book of Common Prayer 4 Parts Dr. Hammond 's Practical Catechism Bishop Morton of Episcopacy Dr. Basire of Sacriledge Arraign'd and Condemn'd by St. Paul Twelves Dr. Breviul on the Sacrament Bishop Cousins Devotions THE END

A Short and Plain ANSWER TO TWO QUESTIONS I. Where was your Religion before Luther II. How know you the Scriptures to be the Word of God By a Protestant LONDON Printed by T. N. for Jonathan Hutchinson Bookseller in the City of Durham 1682. SIR I Have received your Letter wherein you seem to be at a loss for a ready and pertinent Answer to Two capping Questions by which the Papists are wont to puzle and confound those silly Souls whom they compass Sea and Land to make Proselites I know you are well satisfied that Popery is a grand Cheat upheld by fraud and violence and hath nothing truly Rational to Recommend it But yet sometimes a Man of honesty and good Principles may be at a stand to render a satisfying Reason of his Belief and to obviate the cunning Craftiness of those who lie in wait to deceive I suppose moreover you cannot expect any thing from me but what hath been said before and what is infinitely better perform'd in some hundreds of Printed Books already extant than any Scribling of mine will ever amount unto But yet since Men oftimes make most use of those Reasons which arise in their own Minds by thinking and Meditation I shall for my own satisfaction rather than for yours note down as briefly and plainly as I can such Answers to those two Questions you mention as shall at present occur to my Thoughts which nevertheless I shall communicate to you if perhaps they may be worth your Acceptance The first is Where was your Religion before Luther To this the Answer will be very short and easie but then it will cast the whole stress of the Business upon the later Question I say then That our Religion as to the Rules and Principles of it was before Luther where it hath been ever since in the Scriptures And as to the Profession of it it hath been own'd and maintain'd by the Faithful in all Ages namely such as have been kept by the Power of God through Faith unto Salvation against whom the Gates of Hell and Rome have not been able to prevail The Protestant Religion we contend for is nothing else but Christianity uncorrupted which was in its greatest purity before ever the Pope was heard of in the World And Popery that we oppose is Christianity adulterated or rather Paganism Christianized which was in the Cradle when the Mistery of Iniquity began to work and grew up to be the Man of Sin when Popes had gull'd the World into so much Slavery as to endure their trampling upon Princes And this truth as it appears in great measure from the Fathers and Historians of the Church and from all Antiquity that hath had the good fortune to escape the Expurgatory Index so it is more especially and most evidently manifest from the Scriptures which makes way for the second Question which is the main Subject of this Epistle namely How know you the Scriptures to be the Word of God With this Question chiefly they think to undo the simpler sort of Hereticks as they are pleased to speak and 't is not impossible but some weak and unsteady Minds may be shaken by it For since we never heard God vocally pronounce it nor ever saw him deliver it unto the World as his Act and Deed they would have us so easie and credulous as to believe that there is no way to be assured of its being his Word but upon the Authority of the Church and that no Church but theirs can have that Authority But this Plea is as far from satisfying an inquisitive Mind as my Arguments are like to be from convincing our Adversaries Now if any unlearned well meaning Person shall happen to be attackt by this or any such like Question and shall doubt of his own ability to repel the Sophistry whereby they are wont to manage their needy Cause I should advise him to deal with them as our Saviour sometime did with the captions and impertment Jews namely to answer their Question by asking another As Who gave you Authority to call in question the Scriptures How dare you insinuate doubts into any Christians mind concerning the Truth and Authority of that Book which is the Rule of our Duty both to God and Man Away with these too curious Questions of which a Fool may ask more than a Wise Man can tell how to answer It argues a desperate Cause and a Religion highly suspicious that cannot be maintain'd otherwise than by such Pleas as tend to make Men Atheists But though it be safe and prudent for some People to put them off in this manner yet without any tergiversation I shall address my self to answer directly so soon as I have propounded a Query or two which I think will tend to introduce an Answer to this grand Question of theirs I demand therefore of our Adversaries How they know that the Sun shines or that there are any Bodies in the World Why may not all the Objects we discern about us be certain Phantasms only or Apparitions of the Brain which have no real Existence in Nature Or how come we to be assured that our whole Life is any more than a Dream For since in our Dreams we verily believe the truth and reality of such things as we laugh at when we are awake Why may we not hereafter awake into another State of Life in which we shall conclude our Life past to have been a meer shadow If they will answer these Enquiries according to the Nature of their own Principles then all the proof we are to expect is only this We have heard many People say this and tother Or Thus we have been taught by our Parents or by our Tutors and Governours and we believe them and trouble our selves no further In this manner they would have us to speak in the Case of the Scriptures They will not allow us to expect or to endeavour any Rational satisfaction in the point it is enough if we can but gape so wide as to swallow that Trojan Horse of Papal Authority But verily we are not yet perswaded to make our selves Brutes for the Catholick Cause that is we are unwilling to lay aside our own Senses and Humane Faculties to commit the whole Reason and Conduct of our Lives to he said and she said And surely he that should pretend to dispute and yet so palpably beg the Question would gain to be laught at instead of a Conclusion Upon supposition therefore that they would be a little more Philosophical and Gentile in answering my Questions in case they were propounded to them I will endeavour the like according to my small skill in answer to theirs And that I may deal as civilly as I can I shall insist particularly upon none but the first between which and this Question of theirs I will run a Parallel and attempt to shew that by the same Arguments they will prove that the Sun gives Light I will prove the Scriptures to be the