Linguistic DNA - Concept Modelling Demonstrator

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	age_n	write_v	year_n	1,957	5	4.7409	4	false

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A23752	The lively oracles given to us, or, The Christians birth-right and duty, in the custody and use of the Holy Scripture by the author of The whole duty of man, &c.	Allestree, Richard, 1619-1681.; Sterne, Richard, 1596?-1683.; Pakington, Dorothy Coventry, Lady, d. 1679.; Boyle, Robert, 1627-1691.	1678 (1678)	Wing A1149; ESTC R170102	108,974	240

among the unbaptiz'd and heathen multitude and learn again the elements of that holy Faith from which he had prevaricated and so in time be render'd capable of the devotions of the faithful and afterward the reception of the Eucharist But when the Scriptures were thought useless or dangerous to be understood and heard it was consequent that the state of Audience should be cut off from Penance and that the next to it upon the self-same principle should be dismist and so the long probation formerly requir'd should be supplanted and the compendious way of pardoning first and repenting afterwards the endless circle of sinning and being absolv'd and then sinning and being absolv'd again should prevail upon the Church Which still obtains notwithstanding the complaints and irrefragable demonstrations of learned men even of the Romish Communion who plainly shew this now receiv'd method to be an innovation groundless and unreasonable and most pernicious in its consequents 9. AND by the way we may take notice that there cannot be a plainer evidence of the judgment of the Church concerning the necessity of the Scriptures being known not only by the learned but mean Christian and the interest they have therein then is the ancient course of Penance establisht by the practice of all the first Ages and almost as many Councils whether general or local as have decreed any thing concerning disciplin with the penitentiary Books and Canons which were written for the first eleven hundred years in the whole Christian world For if even the unbaptiz'd Catechumen and the lapst sinner notwithstanding their slender knowledg in the mysteries of Faith or frail pretence to the privilege thereof had a right to the state of Audience and was oblig'd to hear the Scripture read surely the meanest unobnoxious Laic was in as advantagious circumstances and might not only be trusted with the reading of those sacred Books but might claim them as his birth-right 10. I may justly over and above what has bin hitherto alleg'd impute to the Governors of the same Church and their withholding from the Laity the holy Scripture the many dangerous errors gross ignorances and scandalous immoralities which have prevail'd among them both It is no new method of divine vengeance that there should be like people like Priest Hos. 4. 9. and that the Idol shepherd who led his flock into the ditch should fall therein himself Mat. 15. 14. And as the Prophet Zachary describes it c. 11. 17. The sword shall be upon his arm and upon his right eie his arm shall be clean dried up and his right eie shall be utterly darkned 11. BUT no consequence can be more obviously deducible from that practice then that men should justify the with-holding of the Scripture by lessening its credit and depreciating its worth which has occasion'd those reproches which by the writers of the Church of Rome of best note have bin cast upon it As that it was a Nose of wax a leaden rule a deaf and useless deputy to God in the office of a Judg of less autority then the Roman Church and of no more credit then Esops Fables but for the testimony of the said Church that they contain things apt to raise laughter or indignation that the Latin Translation in the Complutensian Bible is placed between the Hebrew Text and the Septuagint Version as our Savior was at his Crucifixion between two thieves and that the vulgar Edition is of such autority that the Originals ought to be mended by it rather then it should be mended from them which are the complements of Cardinal Bellarmin Hosius Eckius Perron Ximenes Coqueus and others of that Communion words to be answer'd by a Thunderbolt and fitter for the mouth of a Celsus or a Porphyrie then of the pious sons and zealous Champions of the Church of Christ. 12. 'T IS to be expected that the Romanists should now wipe their mouths and plead not guilty telling us that they permit the Scripture to the Laity in their mother Tongue And to that purpose the Fathers of Rhemes and Doway have publisht an English Bible for those of their communion I shall therefore give a short and plain account of the whole affair as really it stands and then on Gods name let the Romanist make the best of their Apology 13. THE fourth rule of the Index of prohibited Books compos'd upon the command and auspice of the Council of Trent and publish'd by the autority of Pius the fourth Sixtus the fifth and Clement the eighth runs thus Since 't is manifest by experience that if the holy Bible be suffer'd promiscuously in the vulgar Tongue such is the temerity of men that greater detriment then advantage will thence arise in this matter let the judgment of the Bishop or Inquisitor be stood to that with the advice of the Curat or Confessor they may give leave for the reading of the Bible in the vulgar Tongue translated by Catholics to such as they know will not receive damage but increase of Faith and Piety thereby Which faculty they shall have in writing and whosoever without such faculty shall presume to have or to read the Bible he shall not till he have deliver'd it up receive absolution of his sins Now to pass over the iniquity of obliging men to ask leave to do that which God Almighty commands when 't is consider'd how few of the Laity can make means to the Bishop or Inquisitor or convince them or the Curat or Confessor that they are such who will not receive damage but encrease of Faith and Piety by the reading of the Scripture and also have interest to prevail with them for their favor herein and after all can and will be at the charge of taking out the faculty which is so penally requir'd 't is easy to guess what thin numbers of the Laity are likely or indeed capable of reaping benefit by this Indulgence pretended to be allowed them 14. BUT besides all this what shall we say if the power it self of giving Licences be a mere shew and really signifies just nothing In the observation subjoin'd to this fourth rule it is declar'd that the Impression and Edition thereof gives no new faculty to Bishops or Inquisitors or Superiors of regulars to grant Licences of buying reading or retaining Bibles publisht in a vulgar Tongue since hitherto by the command and practice of the holy Roman and universal Inquisition the power of giving such faculties to read or retain vulgar Bibles or any parts of Scripture of the Old or New Testament in any vulgar Tongue or also summaries or historical compendiums of the said Bibles or Books of Scripture in whatsoever Tongue they are written has bin taken away And sure if a Lay-man cannot read the Bible without a faculty and it is not in any ones power to grant it 't will evidently follow that he cannot read it And so the pretence of giving liberty owns the shame of openly refusing it but has no other effect

Imprimatur JO. NICHOLAS Vice Cancell Oxon. Junii 10. 1678. THE Lively Oracles given to us OR The Christians Birth-right and Duty in the custody and use of the HOLY SCRIPTURE By the Author of the WHOLE DUTY OF MAN c. Search the Scriptures Jo. 5. 39. At the THEATER in OXFORD 1678. The lively Oracles given to us or The Christians birthright duty in the custody use of the holy Scripture THE PREFACE IN the Treatise of the Government of the Tongue publisht by me heretofore I had occasion to take notice among the exorbitances of that unruly part which sets on fire the whole course of nature and its self is set on fire from hell Jam. 3. 6. of the impious vanity prevailing in this Age whereby men play with sacred things and exercise their wit upon those Scriptures by which they shall be judg'd at the last day Joh. 12. 48. But that holy Book not only suffering by the petulancy of the Tongue but the malice of the heart out of the abundance whereof the mouth speaks Mat. 12. 34. and also from that irreligion prepossession and supiness which the pursuit of sensual plesures certainly produces the mischief is too much diffus'd and deeply rooted to be controul'd by a few casual reflections I have therefore thought it necessary both in regard of the dignity and importance of the subject as also the prevalence of the opposition to attemt a profest and particular vindication of the holy Scriptures by displaying their native excellence and beauty and enforcing the veneration and obedience that is to be paid unto them This I design'd to do in my usual method by an address to the affections of the Reader soliciting the several passions of love hope fear shame and sorrow which either the majesty of God in his sublime being his goodness deriv'd to us or our ingratitude return'd to him could actuate in persons not utterly obdurate But where as men when they have learnt to do amiss quickly dispute and dictate I found my self concern'd to pass somtimes within the verge of controversy and to discourse upon the principles of reason and deductions from Testimony which in the most important transactions of human life are justly taken for evidence In which whole performance I have studied to avoid the entanglements of Sophistry and the ambition of unintelligible quotations and kept my self within the reach of te unlearned Christian Reader to whose uses my labors have bin ever dedicated All that I require is that men would bring as much readiness to entertain the holy Scriptures as they do to the reading profane Authors I am asham'd to say as they do to the incentives of vice and folly nay to the libels and invectives that are levell'd against the Scriptures If I obtain this I will make no doubt that I shall gain a farther point that from the perusal of my imperfect conceptions the Reader will proceed to the study of the Scriptures themselves there tast and see how gracious the Lord is Ps. 34. 8. and as the Angel commanded Saint John Rev. 10. 9. eat the Book where he will experimentally find the words of David verified Ps. 19. 7. The Law of the Lord is an undefiled Law converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure and giveth wisdom to the simple The Statutes of the Lord are right and rejoice the heart the commandment of the Lord is pure and giveth light to the eies The fear of the Lord is clean and endureth for ever the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether More to be desir'd are they then gold yea then much fine gold sweeter also then hony and the hony-comb Moreover by them is thy servant taught and in keeping of them there is great reward It is said of Moses Ex. 34. 29. that having receiv'd the Law from God and converst with him in Mount Sina forty daies together his face shone and had a brightness fixt upon it that dazled the beholders a pledg and short essay not only of the appearance at Mount Tabor Mat. 17. 1. where at the Transfiguration he again was seen in glory but of that greater and yet future change when he shall see indeed his God face to face and share his glory unto all eternity The same divine Goodness gives still his Law to every one of us Let us receive it with due regard and veneration converse with him therein instead of forty daies during our whole lives and so anticipate and certainly assure our interest in that great Transfiguration when all the faithful shall put of their mortal flesh be translated from glory to glory eternally behold their God see him as he is and so enjoy him Conversation has every where an assimilating power we are generally such as are the men and Books and business that we deal with but surely no familiarity has so great an influence on Life and Manners as when men hear God speaking to them in his Word That Word which the Apostle Heb. 4. 12. declares to be quick and powerful sharper then any two-edg'd sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart The time will come when all our Books however recommended for subtilty of discourse exactness of method variety of matter or eloquence of Language when all our curious Acts like those mention'd Act. 19. 19. shall be brought forth and burnt before all men When the great Book of nature and heaven it self shall depart as a scroul roll'd together Rev. 6. 14. At which important season 't will be more to purpose to have studied well that is transcrib'd in practice this one Book then to have run thro all besides for then the dead small and great shall stand before God and the Books shall be open'd and another Book shall be open'd which is the Book of Life and the dead shall be judg'd out of those things which were written in the Books according to their works Rev. 20. 12. In vain shall men allege the want of due conviction that they did not know how penal it would be to disregard the Sanctions of Gods Law which they would have had enforc'd by immediat miracle the apparition of one sent from the other world who might testify of the place of torment This expectation the Scripture charges every where with the guilt of temting God and indeed it really involves this insolent proposal that the Almighty should be oblig'd to break his own Laws that men might be prevail'd with to keep his But should he think fit to comply herein the condescention would be as successless in the event as 't is unreasonable in the offer Our Savior assures that they who hear not Moses and the Prophets the instructions and commands laid down in holy Scripture would not be wrought upon by any other method would not be perswaded by that which they allow for irresistible conviction

nay made it the test by which to try true inspirations from false To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to it there is no light in them Esay 8. 20. So that the veneration which they had before acquir'd was still anew excited by fresh inspirations which both attested the old and became new parts of their Canon 27. NOR could it be esteem'd a small confirmation to the Scriptures to find in succeeding Ages the signal accomplishments of those prophecies which were long before registred in those Books for nothing less then divine Power and Wisdom could foretell and also verify them Upon these grounds the Jews universally thro all successions receiv'd the Books of the Old Testament as divine Oracles and lookt upon them as the greatest trust that could be committed to them and accordingly were so scrupulously vigilant in conserving them that their Masorits numbred not only the sections but the very words nay letters that no fraud or inadvertency might corrupt or defalk the least iota of what they esteem'd so sacred A farther testimony and sepiment to which were the Samaritan Chaldee and Greek versions which being made use of in the Synagogs oâ— Jews in their dispersions and the Samaritanâ— at Sichem could not at those distances receive a uniform alteration and any other would be of no effect Add to this that the Original exemplar of the Law was laid up in the Sanctuary that the Prince was to have a Copy of it alwaies by him and transcribe it with his own hand that every Jew was to make it his constant discourse and meditation teach it his children and wear part of it upon his hands and forehead And now sure 't is impossible to imagin any matter of fact to be more carefully deduced or irrefragably testified nor any thing believ'd upon stronger evidence 28. THAT all this is true in reference to the Jews that they did thus own these Writings as divine appears not only by the Records of past Ages but by the Jews of the present who still own them and cannot be suspected of combination with the Christians And if these were reasonable grounds of conviction to the Jews as he must be most abâ—urdly sceptical that shall deny they must be so to Christians also who derive them â—â—om them and that with this farther adâ—antage to our Faith that we see the clear â—ompletion of those Evangelical prophecies â—hich remain'd dark to them and conseâ—uently have a farther Argument to confirm â—s that the Scriptures of the Old Testament â—re certainly divine 29. THE New has also the like means of â—robation which as it is a collection of the â—octrin taught by Christ and his Apostles must if truly related be acknowledged no less divine then what they orally deliver'd So that they who doubt its being divine must either deny what Christ and his Apostles preacht to be so or else distrust the fidelity of the relation The former strikes at the whole Christian Faith which if only of men must not only be fallible but is actually a deceit whilst it pretends to be of God and is not To such Objectors we have to oppose those stupendious miracles with which the Gospel was attested such as demonstrated a more then human efficacy And that God should lend his omnipotence to abet the false pretensions of men is a conceit too unworthy even for the worst of men to entertain 30. 'T IS true there have bin by God permitted lying miracles as well as true ones have bin don by him Such as were those of the Magicians in Egypt in opposition to the other of Moses but then the difference between both was so conspicuous that he must be more partial and disingenuous then even those Magicians were who would not acknowledg the disparity and confess in those which were truly supernatural the finger of God Exod. 8. 19. Therefore both in the Old and New Testament it is predicted that false Prophets should arise and do signs and wonders Deut. 13. 1. Mat. 24. 11. 24. as a trial of their fidelity who made profession of Religion whether they would prefer the few and trivial sleights which recommended a deceiver before those great and numberless miracles which attested the sacred Oracles deliver'd to the sons of men by the God of truth Whether the trick of a Barchochebas to hold fire in his mouth that of Marcus the heretic to make the Wine of the Holy Sacrament appear bloud or that of Mahomet to bring a Pidgeon to his ear ought to be put in balance against all the miracles wrought by Moses our Savior or his Apostles And in a word whether the silly stories which Iamblichus solemnly relates of Pythagoras or those Philostratus tells of Apollonius Tyaneus deserve to rival those of the Evangelists It is a most just judgment and accordingly threatned by Almighty God that they who would not obey the truth should believe a lie 2 Thes. 2. 11. But still the Almighty where any man or devil do's proudly is evidently above him Exod. 18. 11. will be justified in his sayings and be clear when he is judged Rom. 3. 4. 31. BUT if men will be Sceptics and doubt every thing they are to know that the matter call'd into question is of a nature that admits but two waies of solution probability and testimony First for probability let it be consider'd who were the first promulgers of Christs miracles In his life time they were either the patients on whom his miracles were wrought or the common people that were spectators the former as they could not be deceiv'd themselves but must needs know whether they were cur'd or no so what imaginable design could they have to deceive others Many indeed have pretended impotency as a motive of compassion but what could they gain by owning a cure they had not As for the Spectators as their multitude adds to their credibility it being morally impossible that so many should at once be deluded in a matter so obvious to their senses so do's it also acquit them from fraud and combination Cheats and forgeries are alwaies hatcht in the dark in close Cabals and privat Juncto's That five thousand men at one time and four thousand at another should conspire to say that they were miraculously fed when they were not and all prove true to the fiction and not betray it is a thing as irrational to be suppos'd as impossible to be parallel'd 32. BESIDES admit it possible that so many could have join'd in the deceit yet what imaginable end could they have in it Had their lie bin subservient to the designs of som potent Prince that might have rewarded it there had bin som temtation but what could they expect from the reputed son of a Carpenter who had not himself where to lay his head Nay who disclaim'd all secular power convei'd himself away from their importunities when they would have forc'd him to be a King And consequently could not be

as Christianity in the world is yet God be blest undeniable tho at the rate it has of late declin'd God knows how long it will be so we say it came by Christ and his Apostles and that it is attested by an uninterrupted testimony of all the intervening Ages the suffrage of all Christian Churches from that day to this And sure they who embraced the doctrin are the most competent witnesses from whence they received it 40. YET lest they should be all thought parties to the design and their witness excepted against it has pleased God to give us collateral assurances and made both Jewish and Gentile Writers give testimony to the Antiquity of Christianity Josephus do's this lib. 20. chap. 8. and lib. 18. chap. 4. where after he has given an account of the crucifixion of Christ exactly agreeing with the Evangelists he concludes And to this day the Christian people who of him borrow their name cease not to increase I add not the personal elogium which he gives of our Savior because som are so hardy to controul it also I pass what Philo mentions of the religious in Egypt because several Learned men refer it to the Essens a Sect among the Jews or som other There is no doubt of what Tacitus and other Roman Historians speak of Christ as the Author of the Christian doctrin which it had bin impossible for him to have don if there had then bin no such doctrin or if Christ had not bin known as the Founder of it So afterward Plinie gives the Emperor Trajan an account both of the manners and multitude of the Christians and makes the innocence of the one the greatness of the other an Argument to slacken the persecution against them Nay the very bloody Edicts of the persecuting Emperors the scoffs and reproches of Celsus Porphyrie Lucian and other profane opposers of this Doctrin do undeniably assert its being By all which it appears that Christianity had in those Ages not only a being but had also obtain'd mightily in the world and drawn in vast numbers to its profession and vast indeed they must needs be to furnish out that whole Army of Martyrs of which profane as well as Ecclesiastic writers speak And if all this be not sufficient to evince that Christianity stole not clancuâ—arly into the world but took its rise from â—hose times and persons it pretends we must â—enounce all faith of testimony and not believe an inch farther then we see 41. I suppose I need say no more to shew that the Gospel and all those portentous miracles which attested it were no forgeries or stratagems of men I come now to that doubt which more immediatly concerns the Holy Scripture viz. whether all these transactions be so faithfully related there that we may believe them to have bin dictated by the spirit of God Now for this the process need be â—ut short if we consider who were the penâ—en of the New Testament even for the most part the Apostles themselves Matthew and John who wrote two of the Gospels were certainly so and Mark as all the Ancients aver was but the Amanuensis to Saint Peter who dictated that Gospel Saint Luke indeed comes not under this first rank of Apostles yet is by som affirm'd to be one of the seventy Disciples however an Apostolical person 't is certain he was and it was no wonder for such to be inspired For in those first Ages of the Church men acted more by immediat inflation of the Spirit then since And accordingly we find Stephen tho but a Deacon had the power of miracles and preacht as divinely as the prime Apostles Act. 7. And the gift of the Holy Ghost was then a usual concomitant of conversion as appears in the Story of Cornelius Acts 10. 45 46. Besides Saint Luke was a constant attendant on Saint Paul who derived the Faith not from man but by the immediat revelation of Jesus Christ as himself professes Gal. 1. 12. and is by som said to have wrote by dictat from him as Mark did from Saint Peter Then as to the Epistles they all bear the names of Apostles except that to the Hebrews which yet is upon very good grounds presum'd to be Saint Pauls Now these were the persons commissionated by Christ to preach the Christian doctrin and were signally assisted in the discharge of that office so that as he tells them it was not they who spake but the spirit of the Father that spake in them Mat. 13. 11. And if they spake by divine inspiration there can be no question that they wrote so also Nay indeed of the two it seems more necessary they should do the later For had they err'd in any thing they orally deliver'd they might have retracted and cured the mischief but these Books being design'd as a standing immutable rule of Faith and Manners to all successions any error in them would have bin irreparable and have entail'd it self upon posterity which agreed neither with the truth nor goodness of God to permit 42. Now that these Books were indeed writ by them whose names they bear we have as much assurance as 't is possible to have of any thing of that nature and that distance of time from us For however som of them may have bin controverted yet the greatest part have admitted no dispute whose doctrins agreeing exactly with the others give testimony to them And to the bulk of those writings it is notorious that the first Christians receiv'd them from the Apostles and so transmitted them to the ensuing Ages which receiv'd them with the like esteem and veneration They cannot be corrupted saies Saint Austin in the thirty second Book against Faustus the Manich. c. 16. because they are and have bin in the hands of all Christians And whosoever should first attemt an alteration he would be confuted by the inspection of other ancienter Copies Besides the Scriptures are not in som one Language but translated into many so that the faults of one Book would be corrected by others more ancient or in a different Tongue 43. AND how much the body of Christians were in earnest concern'd to take care in this matter appears by very costly evidences multitudes of them chusing rather to part with their lives then their Bibles And indeed 't is a sufficient proof that their reverence of that Book was very avowed and manifest when their heathen Persecuters made that one part of their persecution So that as wherever the Christian Faith was receiv'd this Book was also under the notion we now plead for viz. as the writings of men inspir'd by God so it was also contended for even unto death and to part with the Bible was to renounce the Faith And now after such a cloud of testimonies we may sure take up that ill-applied saying of the high Priest Mat. 26. 65. what farther need have we of witnesses 44. YET besides these another sort of witnesses there are I mean

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