Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	divine_a	faith_n	infallible_a	4,131	5	9.8328	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61893	A reply unto the letter written to Mr. Henry Stubbe in defense of The history of the Royal Society whereunto is added a Preface against Ecebolius Glanville, and an answer to the letter of Dr. Henry More, containing a reply to the untruthes he hath publish'd, and a censure of the cabbalo-pythagorical philosophy, by him promoted.	Stubbe, Henry, 1632-1676.; Sprat, Thomas, 1635-1713. History of the Royal Society of London.	1671 (1671)	Wing S6063A; ESTC R31961	66,995	80

yet is as truly a humane body as it is a diseased one And if it may be termed a Church it is without doubt very antient and famous too for what it hath been of old as to the piety and learning of many Inhabitants of that City and still is Famous for that precedency which any Herauld would assign to it in a free Assembly of Western Bishops So that from what hath been discoursed in this matter may be inferred that though the Authour meant not that we must communicate with them in the distinguisting Offices of adoration yet for any thing I perceive he needs not to account them of that Church to be unto us as Heathens or of such a Number of Men with whom we may not so much as eat but that we may maintain a Communion of friendship with the professed of that Religion whose morals may afford an example or whose learning might advance our knowledge And the reformed must still keep the hearty Charity for the Romanist that after succe§le§ debates though managed with reason and temper he should still indeavour to improve him in all the uncontroverted instances of goodne§ and vertue such an exercise of Friendship and Charity as this is a Noble and Religious Communion it is an exhorting one another in our most Holy Faith it is an exact obedience to ihat command That as far as we have already attained we should walk by the same rule As to the next exception which you have against the same passage viz. His mistake in making the Papal Infallibility to be the grand occasion of the differences betwixt the reformed Religion and Papist I must tell you that he may well enough defend himself though indeed you pre§ closer in this then in the former objection against all Communion with Rome You say that only Parasitical Canonists did ascribe to the Pope such a Sovereign Dominion over our Faith I suppose you mean at the reformation though you cite many Authours much later and if so I shall only referr you to the report which Cassander gives of those days in his Judgement which he passes on the controversies viz. That then they made the Pope but little le§ then God that they set his Authority not only above the Church but above the Scriptures to and made his sentences equal to divine Oracles and to be an infallible rule of Faith and as he further proceeds though there was another sort of people in the Church yet they were such as were obscure and concealed Again though it were granted that infallibility lay in a Councel yet the Pope had the executive power of those decrees and Canons which passed by so high an Authority and hereupon might be troublesome with an Infallibility derived from others and impose little things as absolutely necessary in their own nature and this practice of the Bishops of Rome amongst others caused those of Germany to stand off from the Roman Church But for a fuller proof against the Authour of the History you alledge that erronious Doctrine about indulgences was the primary occasion of introducing Protestancy What you say is so far true the first occasion of Luthers publick invectives against the Court of Rome but for a good while after he maintained Communion as a member of that Church This is manifest to any one that is but in a small measure acquainted with the Histories of those times but at last when he saw there was no hopes of Reformation in this and other instances of gross abuse he utterly leaves them as past all likelyhood of recovery So that I have now prepared the cause depending betwixt you and him and made it ready for a Tryal and it may be determined by finding out the true account of the Grand hinderance of a Reformation at Rome Your adversary might give a very fair proof that it was mainly a reputed infallibility This is evident in the impartial History of the Councel of Trent where we read of a consultation held by Pope Advian VI. with some Cardinals for an amendment of what was amiss more particularly about the matter of Indulgences after that much had been said by himself and another against the mistakes and ill practices in that affair and after that he had declared his Resolution for the regulating thereof he was soon turned from his Former purpose by Cardinal Soderinus an old Politician and one who well understood the Frame of that Church This Man informs the Pope that any Reformation was dangerous for Rome because that this would implicitely yeild that somewhat was amiss and that possibly they might erre in more whereas the successes of Rome against such opposers were obtained by vouching for what ever was blamed and by proceeding against them as Hereticks This made Adrian to bewail the unhappy condition of Popes who might not reform at home if they would And now at last you seem to make infallibility so small a thing even in their own esteem that as you cite the words of a late writer amongst them their Infallibility is limited to Tradition and is spiritually assisted in the Faithful reporting of what hath been delivered It is easie to see thorough this harmless pretence of your judicious Authour For to be the sole and undoubted witness in their own cause on which sentence must follow in course is equally advantagious as if they were taken for infallible judges Thus the Jews who did so highly advance the credit of their Rabbinical traditions as thereby to make void the Law of God doe not as we see in Abravanel own any more then only that they expound and stew the Articles of Faith yet that Jew who shall despise or jeer at the Teachers of those traditions shall not according to their Fundamentalls have a part in the life to come And at the same rate may the Former sort of men denounce Anathema's if you believe not their report though in matters which are not only not certain but withall are unreasonable ridiculous and impossible Another passage in the History is brought in by you and deaply charg'd to be contrary to the Analogy of Faith and Scripture to wit He the Natural and Experimental Philosopher will be led to admire the wonderful contrivance of the creation and so to apply and direct his praises aright which no doubt when they are offer'd up to Heaven from the mouth of one that hath well studied what he commends will be more suitable to the Divine nature than the blind applauses of the ignorant This you say makes the acceptableness of all mens Prayers to depend more or less on the study of natural Phylosophy But the Authors words may by asserted by the whole contexture of that Section that he therein answers an objection and clearly shews that the study of experimental Phylosophy is not injurious to the worship of God he supposeth the person already a Christian and then he praises God more beartily for some examples of power and wisdom which he by inquiry

it self For while the Bishops of Rome did assume an Infallibility and a Soveraign dominion over our Faith the Reformed Churches did not only justly refuse to grant them that but some of them thought themselves obliged to forbear all friendly and charitable acts towards them and would not give them that respect which possibly might belong to so ancient and so famous a Church and which might still have been allowed it without any danger of Superstition I demand now of my Adversaries which of the Reformed Churches ever did think themselves obliged to forbear all friendly and charitable actions towards the Papists I have not read to my knowledge any such thing in the Harmony of Confessions and 't is but just to expect the judgement of Churches should be demonstrated out of Church-Acts I profess it is news to me and so it is to hear that one sense wherein the word Communion may be understood throughout the whole Scripture is a friendly and charitable action I desire him to try only these Texts 1 Cor. 10. 16 18 20.2 Cor. 6.14 he will abate of the generality of his assertion which indeed is such that I never heard of it before though I have had some acquaintance with the Scripture and Ecclesiastical History but if the word might bear any such Analogical sense as it does not I think yet to see the mischief of our old Logick I did suppose that Analogum per se positum stat pro famosiore Analogato When our Virtuosi henceforward talk of Cocks and Bulls we know by this how to understand them I shall not enlarge much upon the rest of this Discourse but refer my self to the judgement of my Reader Repet tions are tedious and here needless if he have perused the Censure it self He saith that the Historian in calling the Church of Rome a true Church said no more then what the most Learned amongst the German Divines though warm with Disputes did readily acknowledge I would he had instanced in the Authors that I might have taken their Words and Learning into consideration But Reader take notice that I enquire not whether the established Religion of Germany but that of England be here overthrown I enquire whether the Author of the History or any else in Holy Orders can avow such words without violating their subscription to our Articles and Homilies 'T is true I was told by that he was not well versed in the Homilies How did he subscribe them then or How can he press others to subscribe to he knows not what I will not expatiate beyond the Question in debate Hic Rhodus hîc Saltus In the next Paragraph where he should have proved against me That the Infallibility assumed by the Bishops of Rome and their Soveraignty over our Faith was the cause of the Reformed Churches separating from the Papists I find not one word of such proof offered and indeed it is notorious to any Man that hath but a little insight into the History of those times and the grounds of the Romish Religion All he alledgeth is a saying of Cassander not citing the Place and Words and so I cannot well judge of them to this effect That then they made the Pope but little less then God that they set his Authority not onely above the Church but above the Scripture too and made his Sentences equal to Divine Oracles and an infallible rule of Faith and as he further proceeds though there were another sort of People in the Church yet they were such as were obscure and concealed I answer that this proves not That the Bishops of Rome assumed an Infallibility and Soveraign Dominion over our Faith which is the Point in question but that some ascribed it unto him Cassander must be understood in relation to the Canonists which agrees with my Assertion yet were not all the Canonists of that minde for in the Council of Pisa which began at Millaine there Philippus Decius and others did defend the Superiority of a Council above the Pope or else what Cassander says is evidently false for the Superiority of the Council above the Pope and the limited power of the Papacy were the general Tenets and universally taught at the time when the Reformation began and before it immediately as any Man that traceth the History of the Councils of Constance Basil and Pisa may inform himself Cajetan himself who was a Cardinal and Legate against Luther though he prefer the Pope to a Council yet teacheth this Resistendum est ergò in faciem Papae publicè Ecclesiam dilaniantis c. Nor do I find any such Tenet avowed by Franciscus Victoria Professor at Salamanca at the first beginning of the Reformation In France you will never read that such a Power was ascribed to the Pope there as Cassander speaks of nor in Venice no nor so much as in Swizzerland as Hottinger avows It can onely be thus far true what Cassander says that the Canonists who at Rome sway in the execution of the Papal Jurisdiction might teach so but not that it was any way the Tenet of the Divines and there was then an opposition betwixt those two sorts of Men as now with us betwixt the Courts Spiritual and Temporal And the Theologicians did not hold themselves concluded by the Sentiments of the Canonists nor the People neither further then was requisite to peace and order of Government This being thus false and the relation of Pope Adrian impertinent for the Papacy is thereby confess'd fallible though for prudential Reasons not to be amended as Affairs then stood I have nothing to adde further then to desire my Adversaries whensoever they write to think of the point in Question It is an useful way w ch is practised in the Schools of Oxford for the Respondent to repeat a second time the Syllogism of the Opponent and so to frame his Answer when he is certain he comprehends the Argument I could wish my Adversaries had been used a little to that custom in their Youth their being habituated to such a method would have qualified them better then their beloved Curiosities in Opticks and Magnetismes for the managing of Controversies If it be too tedious to them to resume any Academick studies I must recommend unto the imitation of the R. S. what I have read of as to the Exchequer There is an Officer in the Exchequer who though sitting with the Barons on the Bench hath no power to vote with them nor interposeth his judgement as decisive in any cause but observing silence in pleading speaketh sometimes as to the regulation of the time how it passeth away What he should have said concerning the Religion of Adam in Paradise and his mustering of all creatures together I understand well but what he doth say it is not so easie to comprehend how it is much to the purpose The Question is Whether the acceptableness of our praises to God I added prayers also but took

he discourseth of those Divines who have mixed and kneaded into one lump the Doctrines of Christian Religion and the Notions of the Peripatetick Philosophy and hereby have twined into a dispute much of that which primitively was matter of practical Holine§ yet on the other side there is a sort of men who would le§ regard Religion if it were not the subject of disputation like Hunts-men who are better pleased in following then in catching the Hare you further tax him with introducing hereby a Popish implicite faith whereas a little observation will discover that this sort of Faith hath grown and a better hath decayed upon the general respect which the Philosophy now blamed by him hath found amongst those whom we call Divines of the Schools more usually and properly then Doctors of the Church A man doth then implicitely believe when he doth not cleerly and distinctly apprehend So that he that speaks not so as to be plainly understood causes either that nothing which he saith should be believed or else that it should be received as true in the Popish fashion that is he bestows his vote and assent to be disposed on by another at pleasure So that hence you may judge who it is who draws on a novice in Religion the nearest towards wrapping his belief up within the faith of another whether he who contends for so much plainne§ that the things propounded need not to be the-subject of disputation or rather he who seems profound and wise in his sentences yet doth so darken his wisedom with words that the person to be instructed hath by this means no other way left but to believe that which he cannot understand You produce some sacred testimonies to evince a necessity of divine illumination yet do not apply them to the present discourse of the Authour which is concerning School Divinity but had you meant it of this I must have said with you that the obscurity of those writings would have made such a Revelation necessary had not the smalne§ of their worth rendred them almost usele§ It seems to me but reasonable that as all the Books of Christian Religion hope for acceptance because they profe§ to be agreeable to the truths of Scripture so further if they design publick benefit they should imitate the perspicuity and openne§ of the Evangelick Style There is one argument against the Authour not inconsiderable to which you have some reference that is the study of such controversies distinctions and terms are of great use when we have to deal with a Papist disputant It s very true yet it proves not any excellency in that knowledge of it self but meerly in relation to the adversary though we have fresh instances of worthy persons amongst us who have with good advantage managed the debate in behalf of our Church against that of Rome without much help from those Schools yet that sort of Learning even for this reason may still be maintained in the same manner as tradesmen who lie on the English borders towards Wales usually keep a servant to jabber Welsh though no learned language to the Brittains their customers The next words of the History R. S. which receive a check are these The grounds whereon the Church of England proceeds are different from those of the Separatists and also of the Church of Rome and they are no other but the rights of the Civil power the imitation of the first uncorrupt Churches and the Scriptures expounded by reason Though I cannot find any such passage in the page to which you send the Reader yet I will take it upon trust seeing that you have not till now misrecited any thing out of his book that which offends you is that he would have the Scripture expounded by reason This appears to you like Socinianisme but I remember the Calvinists direct to as much as this implies They say that we must expound particular passages in Scripture by the main tendency of the whole discourse that we must consider the phrase whether literal or figurative that we must observe all the circumstances of person time place and what else is of any moment And now pray say whether these directions can be practised but by reason and if not whether be who expounds Scripture by these rules may not be truly said to expound it by reason he doth not say that a man should not acknowledge Scripture if it teach any thing more then those sentiments which reason had entertained before it was acquainted with divine writings You would have them to expound the Scriptures by the authority of the ancient Fathers when they see why they should do it they at the same time expound by reason if without cause given they take up the Fathers sence in that implicite Faith against which you did lately declaim The last Objection which you offer against this History is about what he saith of wit that it may be borrowed from the Bible that this wit is as he represents it magnificent appears to the diligent and judicious Reader and that it may without offence be borrowed is as manifest to him who gives himself the pleasure to peruse the Greek and Latine Divine Poems both antient and modern which fetch their or naments as well as materials from the Bible But you 'l say however Scripture-expressions ought not to be applyed as our authour would to natural things I see no reason which binders especially when natural things become the occasion of divine praises and furthermore where as many Scripture expressions were by way of accomodation transferred higher from things natural they lose not their original suitablene§ and when they are brought back and lower in our discourses it may rather be said of them that they are repaid then that they are borrowed nor doth the meanest of the matter to which any saying is fitted out of Scripture straightway make it unlawfull to be lent for a while as for example the primitive Ignatius in one of his genuine Epistles which was written if I mistake not to the Tralliani applies otherwise these words of our Saviour to his Disciples concerning those extraordinary assistances which they needed to receive from him Without me ye can do nothing And affirms that as our Saviour spake these words to his disciples so a Bishop may say to his Presbyters without me ye can do nothing Yet I must profe§ that I am very sensible of the indignities and scorns which the sacred word of God suffers from a sort of persons whose quality is better then their converse they are such who are scarce ever guilty of wit or raillery but when they are ingeniously prophane or blaspemous The intemperance of these should lay a resiraint upen the sober discreet least by an innocent use of a little liberty they should unawares give any countenance to other mens extravagancies You tell us upon this argument how severe the jews are in this case The most that wee meet with neer this purpose concerning them discovers

That he had not vowed Chastity So impious in his Metaphysicks that he was condemn'd by the Reformed Universities in Harderwick and Vtrecht as a Pestilent Writer and his whole Philosophy prohibited to be Taught or Defended in Leyden and Herborne Take notice what Character you have imposed on the Papists and remember withall that Des Cartes your Alumbrado is of that number I must protest unto you that the serious Animadversion upon these Passages of yours makes me scrupulous how to allow Dr. More the Attribute of PIOUS and my doubts multiply upon me when I observe that you deduce your Cabbala from the Pythagoreans and relie more on the mysteries of their members then the plain Text and Authority of the Universal Church You dignifie Pythagoras so far as to ascribe unto him a power of Working Miracles as Moses and the succeeding Prophets did which Skill dare you to call it Skill Empedocles Epimenides and Abaris having got they grew so famous that Empedocles was sir-named Alexanemus Epimenides Cathartes and Abaris Aethrobates from the power they had in suppressing Storms and Winds in freeing Cities from the Plague and in Walking aloft in the Air which Skill inabled Pythagoras to visit his Friends after that manner at Metapontium and Tauromenium in one and the same day You represent Plato as a Divine man for Knowledge and Vertue though it appear otherwise in the Records of his Life and Plotinus must be Sainted though he were a Magician though he stiled Christianity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and blamed Origen for defending it Good God! How far doth prejudice transport you How different are your Sentiments concerning those men from what the Fathers and the most Authentick Records of History relate about them Those that you almost Idolize were no others then Idolaters and Sorcerers and Julian the Apostate is redevable unto Dr. More for assigning them a better Qualification Thus Plotinus and Dr. More Porphyrius and Glanvill are mutually ingratiated and the Creation better explained by the Allegories of the Platonists then the Mosaical Writings in Genesis I finde that Simplicius denies the Scripture to be of Divine Authority becaufe it is Erroneous about the Original of the World 'T is granted by our Cabbalists And if we extenuate the Assertions of Gods Word from concluding in matters of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy How shall we any longer reject the Alcoran and Talmud for Errors therein With what justice shall we deny them the benefit of that excuse which we make use of our selves But I finde my self to enlarge beyond the designes of a Letter I beseech you Sir to follow that advise I have heretofore suggested unto you Consult Books and not your Phansy enquire better into the Foundations of the Cabbala and the repute you give to the Pythagorical Philosophy you will finde after a better Scrutiny then your narrow Reading as yet qualifies you for that your Confidence is but weakly supported and that upon prejudicate Opinions you desert the Sacred Text and obtrude upon us your own Conceits for Mosaical and with greater Impudence then any Jew you obtrude for such what you never Received as such And lay down this extravagant position In the expounding of Moses I think I may lay down this for a safe Principle that there is no considerable truth in Nature or Divinity that Moses was ignorant of and so if it be agreeable his Text I may attribute it unto him At least the Divine Wisdom wherewith Moses was inspired prevents all the Inventions of Men. By this Rule it is impossible for any thing considerable to be newly invented neither need we contest with the Virtuosi whether one of them or a Peripatetick were Author of this or that 't is certain Moses was acquainted with every thing considerable and the Spirit of God which inspired him doth prevent all the discoveries of Men. Thus you attribute to Moses the Opinion that the Earth is a Planet For as I have elsewhere intimated Moses has been before-hand with Cartesius The Ancient Patriarchs having had Wit and by reason of their long lives leisure enough to invent as curious and subtile Theorems in Philosophy as ever any of their posterity could hit upon besides what they might have had by Tradition from Adam Most excellently argued a posse ad esse Thus you make the Three Elements of Des Cartes to be Plainly Distinguishable parts in the Matter first Created And when you Write again the Elasticity of the Air and its ponderousness will at least become Ingredients in your Cabbala and the Authors are obliged unto you if you do not attribute the Barometer Thermometer and Air-pump c. unto the first Patriarchs who had so much wit and leisure Did ever Madness arise to such a heighth or was there any man who more grosly transformed Scripture into a Nose of Wax Sir you will pardon me for being earnest with you in a case of such importance I would believe you but that in so doing I should dissent from God Almighty I was inclined to believe you were an Hypocondriack and that your Opinions were not the result of your judgment but of your temperament but you have no Intervals and in the explication of your Preexistence you make the Bible not your Rule but Pretence and what you have asserted and consented unto in the Church you regard not in comparison of the Pythagorical Tenets Give me leave to tell you that where the Foundations of Government are dissolved there can be no Piety Our Laws oblige you to the 39 Articles and They to the Scripture if such Glosses be put upon them 't is in vain to expect that any thing can binde or that the Act of Vniformity can take place It is much better that such as you were cast out of the Church then continued in and an open enemy were better then such a friend It concerns the Parlament to look after such Latitudinarians and if what your Apologist saith may take place That men by no Professions or Subscriptions are obliged further then not to contradict the Articles of Religion all England will soon be Distracted with variety of Opinions some not crediting half so much as others and an Explanation must be made of the Words Assent and Consent Sir These Considerations do allay very much the esteem I had for your Piety and I ascertain you that if you will pardon me this time I will not give you a second cause of that nature for Exceptions And I am the more resolute herein because I finde you thus interposing in the behalf of Men whom no Proposals or Supplications of mine have been able to reduce unto a Declaration concerning those controverted Points in the History and you are pleased so to interest your self as to maintain Vntruths concerning them and to inodiate me most maliciously who threw my self upon the action without any other expectation then that of Certain Ruine Had you had any sense of piety had the