Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	authority_n	faith_n	scripture_n	2,284	5	5.8482	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26785	The divinity of the Christian religion, proved by the evidence of reason and divine revelation by William Bates ...	Bates, William, 1625-1699.	1677 (1677)	Wing B1104; ESTC R33149	60,636	228

spreads abroad This happy and stupendous success of the Disciples of Jesus Christ consider'd in it self is an unanswerable proof that the Christian Religion came from Heaven For it was only possible to the Divine Power 'T is no wonder the Religion of Mahomet extended and establish'd its Conquests in many Countries For that Seducer perswaded the barbarous People by force of Arms they must be his Disciples or Slaves And can the Mind form a clear Judgment or the Will make a free Choice when under a tyrannous necessity of Compliance or losing all the Comforts of Life Can Violence and Cruelty produce a Rational Faith That may force them to a counterfeit complyance but cannot make Men sincerely believe 't is apt to breed Form without and Atheism within Now that a Persecuted Religion should live and flourish in the midst of flames is as truly admirable as if a little Stream should pass through an Arm of the Ocean retaining its Freshness and Purity in the midst of Salt and Turbid Waters That when the Minds of Men were prepossest with inveterate Opinions contrary to its supernatural Mysteries and their Wills over-ruled by Carnal Affections utterly averse from its Holy Precepts the World was captiv'd to the belief and obedience of it is the most noble effect of Omnipotence For other Miracles though above the Laws of Nature yet were on the lower order of creatures without life and sense but this internal Miracle was wrought on the Minds and Hearts of Men. To raise the Dead to calm a Storm to suspend the force of Fire to change Waters into Blood is not so glorious a work as the converting Rebellious Souls to God and making them a willing People to his holy Laws And if we further consider the Prophecies so many Ages before concerning it and observe the Harmony betwixt the Works and Word of God there results a Demonstration as clear and strong as is possible The Prediction and Accomplishment are equally divine The success justifies the truth of the Prophecy and the truth of the Prophecy justifies the Divinity of the Christian Religion For by the Apostles and their Successors the Heathens were turned from Idols to the Service of one God the Creator of the World which was foretold by the Prophets not only as a thing that should arrive but to be performed by the Power of God To ascribe then this glorious Work to humane Artifice as if his Providence had been prevented by others from doing that that he promised should be done by his own Power is so directly contrary to his Wisdom and his Truth that common Reason abhors the thoughts of it Therefore the Christian Religion is Divine having God for its Author Thus the Truth of the Gospel is victorious over the Jewish or the prophane Infidel It may be argued against the Jews that their God foretold his Messiah should convert the Nations No other but one authorised from above could do it Iesus Christ has done it therefore he is the Messiah And consequently they are either blind with prejudice or maliciously deny the known truth To prophane Infidels it may be urged none but the Divine Providence could foretel so great and marvellous a change of the World none but the Divine Power could effect it therefore 't was the true God that made the project and event so exactly to correspond in all things Add further that by comparing the Prophecies of Christ and his Kingdom with their accomplishment the two sorts of enemies against the Gospel are made useful to convince one another The Pagans by the Jews that these things were foretold the Jews by the Pagans that these things were fulfil'd St. Austin relates that the Heathens seeing the exact agreement between the Prophecies in the Old Testament so clear in words and their accomplishment in the New so clear in the Effects had nothing to reply but that they were written after the things were done and feigned to be Predictions of antient date As Virgil weaving Fables of Aeneas feign'd him to be in the Elisian Fields and to receive from Anchises a Prediction of his Descendents in a long succession and order of Men and Times which was the story of what was actually past when he wrote it In answer to this pretence he breaks out with wonder and joy O Gloria Regis nostri the Cause is gain'd and the Victory of Truth could not be more glorious For whereas the many Nations in Europe Asia Africa subdued by the Arms of the Romans were compelled to observe the Rites of their Religion The Jews only were permitted to enjoy their Sacred Books and their own Worship and were dispers'd into all Countries And thus by the admirable Counsel of God they give credit to the Gospel among the Gentiles For if we consider the reverence they bore to the Writings of the Prophets that with the greatest care they have preserved them as the most precious Inheritance left by their Fathers and their mortal hatred of Jesus Christ and his Gospel that willingly they would spend their Blood to deface the Memorials of it it is an invincible Argument that the Predictions concerning the state of the Christian Church recorded in their Scriptures are sincerely delivered and of Divine Authority This their Malice is an advantage to the Faith of the Gospel and by constraint they are the great Confirmers of it This is sufficient to reduce the Heathens to silence and confusion And the Pagan being convinc'd by the Books of the Jews the Jew may be convinc'd by the Testimony of the Pagans for if the Records so jealously kept by that Nation were from Divine Inspiration if they contain Antient Prophecies which the Heathens see verified in the Gospel and the Christian Church why do not the Jews acknowledge Jesus Christ to be the promised Messiah If the Vail were not taken from Moses's face and laid on their hearts they must clearly see that the Light of the Gentiles is the Glory of Israel 'T is equally unreasonable to doubt with the Atheist that the Messiah was ever promised or to believe with the Iews he is yet to come CHAP. V. The Testimony produc'd by St. John for the proof of Christianity briefly consider'd The Witness from Heaven the Father Word and Spirit The Witnesses on Earth the Spirit Water and Blood conspire in declaring JESUS CHRIST to be the Son of God and Saviour of Men. An Answer to Objections against the Doctrines of the Trinity the Divine Incarnation and the mean State and Sufferings of the Son of God in the World The Conclusion The Gospel so proved deserves our firmest Assent and Adherence to its Doctrines Carnal or spiritual Lusts hinder the belief of it It sets before us the most powerful Motives to love God We are obliged by the strongest Reasons to obey its Precepts THe Sum of all that has been said is comprised in the Testimony that St. John produces to prove that Jesus Christ is the Son of God