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	scripture_n	true_a	1,595	5	4.7953	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85393	A fresh discovery of the high-Presbyterian spirit. Or The quenching of the second beacon fired. Declaring I. The un-Christian dealings of the authors of a pamphlet, entituled, A second beacon fired, &c. In presenting unto the Lord Protector and Parlament, a falsified passage out of one of Mr John Goodwins books, as containing, either blasphemie, or error, or both. II. The evil of their petition for subjecting the libertie of the press to the arbitrariness and will of a few men. III. The Christian equity, that satisfaction be given to the person so notoriously and publickly wronged. Together with the responsatory epistle of the said beacon firers, to the said Mr Goodwin, fraught with further revilings, falsifications, scurrilous language, &c. insteed of a Christian acknowledgment of their errour. Upon which epistle some animadversions are made, / by John Goodwin, a servant of God in the Gospel of his dear Son. Also two letters written some years since, the one by the said John Goodwin to Mr. J. Caryl; the other, by Mr Caryl in answer hereunto; both relating to the passage above hinted.	Goodwin, John, 1594?-1665.; Caryl, Joseph, 1602-1673.	1655 (1655)	Wing G1167; Thomason E821_18; ESTC R202307	68,987	94

the Promises and Covenant of God a By the seals annexed to the Covenant by the earnest given to assure the bargain by the Witnesses to confirm that last Will and Testament of special and saving grace Which Testament is further ratified by the Oath of God and heart bloud of Christ We are assured of all this not onely by Christs death but by his life for Christ saith to every soul that he hath quickned by special grace as he said to all his disciples but Judas the Son of perdition b Because I live ye shall live also Jo. 14. 19. God saith to all whom he brings under the power of the Covenant of grace I will be your God and ye shall be my people I will and ye shall I will not depart from you and ye shall not depart from me I will not ye shall not c Such an unchangeableness as this true Protestants such as Edward Arthur and William d do maintain Such an unchangeableness as this you do oppose e Such an unchangeableness as this the Scriptures do hold forth and yet you cannot upon this or any other account prove the Scriptures of the old and new Testament not to be the pure word of God though you have a cursed Art in Swan-Alley to undermine the authority of the Scriptures even when you do most pretend to defend them f It is a black Art g leave it for your juggle is discovered your folly manifested and your book about we had almost said against the Scriptures would have been wast paper had not some Anti-Scripturists brought them up h we can purchase some of your works at a good easie rate already but we beleeve the Cooks will help you away with some of them next moneth to defend Geose and Turkeys to lay up spice and underlay their pies i and therefore we think your works need not be called in Mr. Goodwins Animadversion 5. a If you be assured of the unchangeablenesse of Gods counsels by the several means you here enumerate I am glad for your sakes that you are in so Christian a posture God of his Grace keep you in it b But whereas you exempt Judas from amongst the Disciples to whom Christ said Because I live ye shall live also I know no sufficient ground you have from the Scripture or otherwise to do it For certainly Judas was included in another saying from the same lips of grace which imported as high a favour as this And Jesus said unto them verily I say unto you that ye who have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the Throne of his Glory ye also shall sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel Mat. 19. 28. If you please to peruse Chrysostomes exposition of this place which you may find faithfully delivered pag. 360 361. and again 373 374 of my Redemption Redeemed you will find him looking upon Judas as a son of the Kingdome for a time which opinion of his I give notice to be together with the ground and reason of it approved by Peter Martyr who was alwaies untill now judged a Protestant yea and not the least amongst those that are called Orthodox from whose pen likewise we took knowledge upon the occasion of that golden rule That the promises of life and salvation made by God unto particular men are to be understood with reference to the present state and condition of things with them a But if Judas was excepted as you say your cause is neither the whiter nor blacker for it c God indeed speaks as you here say I will be your God and ye shall be my people unto all whom he brings under the power of the Covenant of grace but first this proves not that he speaketh not the same thing unto others also Nor do you nor can you prove that the whole Nation of the Jews to which this promise was jointly and indifferently made Levit. 26. 12. were all in your sence brought under the power of the Covenant of Grace 2. The performance of this promise even where it is made or applied to such persons as you speak of is suspended upon their obedience and perseverance in it 2 Cor. 6. 17 18. Whereas you mention another promise in these words I will not depart from you I find it not at least in your terms in all the Scripture I suppose you look at Jer. 32. 40. But how far the heart of this passage is from your cause is demonstrated at large pag. 219. 220 221 c. of my Redempt Redeemed By the way is it not a rank impertinency in you to think to stop my mouth or satisfie me by a bare citation of such texts of Scripture as if they countenanced the way of your errour which I have upon a diligent and narrow enquiry evinced above all reasonable contradiction to have no Communion therewith at all d e Your Edmund Arthur and William may very probably maintain such an unchangeablenesse as you have described for I think that in many points they maintain they know not well what And the description which you have made of your unchangeablenesse hath neither head nor foot in it And whereas you say that I oppose it you again oppose the truth in so saying For according to the best construction among many that can be made of your words I assert it as well as you The men you speak of may be Protestants at large but this is no character of their Orthodoxisme Besides concerning that unchangableness which I suppose you would describe if you knew how the publick confessions of several Protestant Churches do manifestly contradict it as you may inform your selves if you please by a perusal of pag. 394 of my Redempt Redeemed and by pursuing the directions there given Therefore let us heare no more of this Fable f. g. In this you speak truth though to little purpose that I cannot upon the account you mention nor any other prove the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament not to be the pure Word of God Nor have I lift up either heart or hand to any such proof though you after your manner diabolize me so to have done That which I have anywhere asserted as to this point is onely this or to this effect that we are not bound to own for the Word of God or as any part of it whatsoever every ignorant or heedless person who was employed of old to transcribe the Old and New Testament for the best pen-men are seldom the greatest Clerks did insert in their Transcriptions nor yet what every Printer of later times hath through carelesness or mistake thrust forth in their Printed Copies of the Scriptures into the world Jerome in his latter Prologue upon Job complains that for his labour and faithfulness in correcting the enormous Translations and Transcriptions of the ancient Scriptures he was charged with a double errour one that when he corrected things amiss he was a Falsifier the other that

he did not remove or take away Errours but sowed them a In the same piece he complains likewise of many professors of Christianity who had Bibles full of errors and falsities and these acknowledged for such by themselves and yet to keep their Books fair without blotting and interlineing would not suffer them to be amended And particularly speaking of the Book of Job he saith that amongst the Latines he means in the Latine Translations of this Book Job until his days lay on the dunghil and was spread all over with worms of errors b Yea nothing is more frequent amongst the best and learndest Expositors of the Protestant party themselves then to take and give knowledge of error after Error as yet retained in the ordinary Copies of the Bible which at first crept in thither partly by the ignorance partly by the negligence of those who were employed to Transcribe them Yea very many of the Expositors I speak of ever and anon take upon them to correct and amend those Translations themselves which notwithstanding they follow otherwise in their Expositions Nor is there any of them that attempt this more frequently then Piscator But surely although you would have me in cool blood to consider your own blood was in an high distemper when you talk of a cursed Art and a black Art in Swan-Alley to undermine the Authority of the Scriptures when we most pretend to defend them But whatsoever there is in Swan-Alley there is such an Art as you speak of cursed and black in Black-Friars and perhaps in the Northern quarters of Pauls Church-yard also the Practitioners whereof like the Pharises of old who defamed the Lord Christ as having a Devil and this most confidently and impudently Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan and hast a Devil Joh. 8. 48. when as he was full of the Holy Ghost and acted and spake accordingly so do these men most shamelesly and with outfaceing the most evident truth traduce such persons as underminers of the Authority of the Scriptures and enemies otherwise to the interest of Christian Religion who have been and so continue most zealous and faithful Assertors of the former against all opposers and are devoted heart and soul to the promoting of the latter Concerning that Book which your Epistling Prophet teacheth you to charge with undermining the Authority of the Scriptures one known to be as learned grave and judicious as any English-born at this day and he no Independent neither nor yet of my judgement at least in several points about Redemption with the controversies relating to it gave a far different testimonie of it though not to me nor in my hearing To a friend of his he gave his sence and judgement of the Book in these words or to this effect That it was as good a Book as any was written since the Apostles days This testimony I confess may be as much too wide on the right hand as your malignant imputation is on the left Nor should the story ever have been told or reported by me for fear of being counted a fool for my labour but onely to balance the most importune malignity of those men whose consciences serve them to spit that poyson of Asps mentioned in the face of it Upon occasion of which strange unworthiness the said person expressed himself further to this effect that we are now fallen into an age in which mens consciences will serve them to say any thing My juggle is discovered and my folly detected in such a sence as the Lord Christs blasphemy was discovered by the high Priests rending of his garment Mat. 26. 65. and the Apostle Paul murther detected by the Barbarians when they said of him No doubt this man is a murtherer Act. 28. 4. h. i. It seems by the latter passages in this Section and the mention of Cooks and good chear that your Prophets Animus when he compiled them was in patinis and moreover that amongst you you intend to be at the cost and charge by the help of Cooks and Geese and other good Chear to preserve the Ceremonious frolique and jollity of Christmas so called from sinking in your days But because such of my Books as are sold offend Foxes therefore those that are not sold must do penance and defend Geese But do not you your selves defend your selves with some of them in this very Epistle You do somewhat very like a defending of your selves with some of them Sect. 7. and Sect. 11. and in several other places Whereas you think you reflect great disparagement upon my Books that some of them might have been wast-paper c. 1. I have no demonstrative ground to beleeve that there were not as many Novice Presbiters sold as Busie-Bishops or Blind Guids If there were not it may signifie nothing else but that the Presbyterian party of the world and their money are sooner parted then those that are wiser and theirs Besides it is the Observation of one of your Orthodox men for so I conceive him to be pardon me if I mistake in this that Learning hath gained most by those Books by which the Printers have lost whereas foolish Pamphlets have been most beneficial to the Printers When a French Printer saith he complained that he was utterly undone by Printing a solid serious book of Rablais concerning Physique Rablais to make him recompence made that his jesting scurrilous work which repaired the Printers loss with advantage Of the former part of this Observation he giues three famous Instances The first of Arias Montanus who wasted himself in Printing the Hebrew Bible commonly called the King of Spains Bible The second of Christopher Plantine who by Printing of his curious Interlineary Bible sunk and almost ruined his Estate The third and last of a worthy English Knight he means Sir Henry Savile who set forth the Golden-Mouth'd Father Chrysostome in a silver Print and was a loser by it Therefore that many books are no quicker of sale may as probably argue the ignorance weaknesse and injudiciousnesse of the world as any defectivenesse or want of worth in the Books Whereas you inform me of some Anti-Scripturists who bought up my books about the Scriptures I am very glad to hear it For the work was in special manner calculated for the use and benefit of such persons who are either in whole or in part Such I mean Anti-Scripturists I trust that thorough the blessing of God upon their labours in reading it it hath reclaimed many But I somewhat marvel at your tendernesse here in saying We had almost said against the Scriptures considering how bold and daring you are in twenty places besides to speak aloud and without regret most palpable and grosse untruths Your thought that my works need not be called in is very grave and considerate should you not do well humbly to present it to the Parliament Book-sellers or Beacon-firers §. VI Sir you might have had more honesty and piety then

men of corrupt minds and injudicious about matters of faith at least many of them will I question not be found men of as pure and sound minds and of as discerning spirits in matters of Faith as either your selves or your best Teachers In the mean time I would gladly purchase of you at the price of the best book in all your shops so much as a tolerable answer to this double Question who are competent to appoint or to be appointed Judges between men men of corrupt minds and injudicious c. and men that are otherwise For it is not meet for any man or men to take this honour unto themselves I mean of being Judges over all other mens faith much lesse is it meet that any man or men should take so great an honor unto themselves as to constitute or appoint others to be Judges hereof If your answer shall be that the civil Magistrate is competent to appoint Judges in this kind you must give me a very pregnant and satisfactory account of his Commission from the Lord Christ in this behalf and by what rule he is directed by him to proceed in this great and important affair Book-sellers or Beacon-firers §. XVII To your 3d. and last charge which is that we smell of such a spirit as teaches men to suppose that Gain is Godlinesse and that our indeavour is to Monopolize our trade We answer 1. That we are not so vain as to desire what is utterly impossible to effect a 2. That we are willing that all of our Trade and Company should have equal liberty with our selves to Print or sell any Books which may promote the truth which is according to Godlinesse b 3d. We shake our hands from all dishonest gain it is below us to live by the Sins of the Age we look upon it as the basest drudgery in the world to be Pandors to the Errors and Lusts of men c We might gain by selling Biddles Books but we had rather see them burnt by the hand of the Hangman Your Motto will best become those who usually Print and sell Blasphemous Pamphlets For they if any look upon Gain as Godlinesse but our Motto is this Godlinesse is Gain and true Piety is the best Policy d Mr. Goodwins Animadversion XVII a Here again you make your charge from me greater then it is that by denying the sum total of it as your selves make it you may seem to deny all the particulars I no where charge you with Monopolizing your trade You would gladly I perceive be charged with that of which you can acquit your selves with credit b But what if your Licensers shall suppress such books which may promote the truth which is according to godliness and commend to the Press those that look another way How then shall men of your trade yea or our selves have that liberty you speak of c To what end you should purge your selves so zealously from the guilt of being pandours to the lusts of men I understand not unless haply some of your consciences charge you in this kind and you speak thus to stop their mouths But for that which you call pandour-ship to the errors of men I fear you are as obnoxious as others of your trade though perhaps you understand not your guilt in it more then they d If you saw the Books that you speak of burnt by the hand of the hangman do you think that the Errors Heresies and Blasphemies contained in them would burn with them If you do I confess I am of a far differing mind from you I verily beleeve that the ashes of these Books would be much more propagative of the said Errors and Heresies then the Books themselvs Your Motto may be as you say and you shall do well if you be not like those Boxes in Apothecaries Shops of which an ancient Father said that they had Pharmacum in titulo in pixide venenum The Arch-Priest of Rome hath this Motto Servus Servorum Dei yet in his practise he is Dominus Dominantium He of your company that understands Latine may interpret Book-Sellers or Beacon-Firers §. XVIII Finally to your close we answer that you have no jurisdiction over us and therefore you have no Authority to impose any penance upon us a or to curse us with Bell Book and Candle because we have in some weak measure discovered you to the world b It is true we owed you SVCH and now we have made restitution of it c You know not what to do with it because you are not able by the help of it to return an answer to those three Reverend Divines whom we mentioned before d Mr. Goodwins Animadversion XVIII a I am sorry to hear from you that you look upon a Christian request made unto you to do that which is your duty as an imposition of a Penance I perceive that things which are just and comely are far from being the joy and rejoicing of your souls You have forgotten your Motto already b Curse you with Bell Book and Candle Surely either I was asleep when I did it or you when you said it Name the word or words of the Curse and save your selves from the shame of a new foolish slander Whereas you speak of suffering from me because you detected me to the world The truth is had you detected me I should have counted you my great Benefactors for it I shall be a gainer not a loser by detection But so far have you been from detecting me to the world that you have concealed and hid me from the world as Tertullus did Paul when he termed him a pestilent fellow Act. 24. 5. and the malicious Jews did our Saviour when they put the veil of this reproach over his face that he was a Samaritan and had a Devil Joh. 8. you have not detected me to the world but your selves and have given the world an opportunity yea a kind of invitation to see your nakednesse c Concerning the restitution of which you vainly here boast it was before proved unto you that you are debtors unto me of far greater Sums then of the word Such Besides you speak at an extream low rate of understanding when you have traduced a man openly and in print to call a broken kind of acknowledgement in hugger mugger and sealed up in a paper a restitution If you pay your debts after this manner they are wisest that trust you least d Yes you have seen that by the help of the word h I am able to return an answer as you term it to your three reverend Divines in case any of them should levy an Argument or ground of exception against the passage you wot of which yet none of them have done nor can do with any colour of reason but only clamour'd and cavill'd as you have done Book-sellers or Beacon-fyrers §. XIX If you desire us to print your Letter and this our answer we will for once make you an Apocryphal Licencer and print both if you