Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	canonical_a	church_n	scripture_n	11,364	5	6.3973	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A32204	Copies of two papers written by the late King Charles II together with a copy of a paper written by the late Duchess of York : to which is added an answer to the aforesaid papers all printed together.	Charles II, King of England, 1630-1685.; Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699. Answer to some papers lately printed concerning the authority of the Catholick Church.; York, Anne Hyde, Duchess of, 1637-1671.	1686 (1686)	Wing C2946; ESTC R29952	29,168	42

COPIES Of Two PAPERS Written by the Late KING CHARLES II. TOGETHER With a Copy of a Paper written by the Late DUTCHESS of YORK Published By His Majesties Command To wich is added An ANSWER To the aforesaid PAPERS all Printed together DVBLIN Reprinted by Ios. Ray on Colledge-Green for Rob Thornton at the Leather-Bottle in Skinner-Row MDCLXXXVI COPIES Of Two PAPERS Written by the Late King Charles II. Together with A Copy of a Paper written by the Late Dutchess of York Published by His Majesties Command Dublin Re-printed for Robert Thornton Bookseller at the Lether-Bottle in Skinner-Row 1686. The First Paper THE Discourse we had the other Day I hope satisfied you in the main that Christ can have but one Church here upon Earth and I believe that it is as visible as that the Scripture is in Print That none can be that Church but that which is called the Roman Catholick Church I think you need not trouble your self with entring into that Ocean of particular Disputes when the main and in truth the only Question is Where that Church is which we profess to believe in the two Creeds We declare to believe one Catholick and Apostolick Church and it is not left to every phantastical mans head to believe as he pleases but to the Church to whom Christ left the Power upon Earth to govern us in matters of Faith who made these Creeds for our directions It were a very irrational thing to make Laws for a Country and leave it to the Inhabitants to be the Interpreters and Judges of those Laws For then every man will be his own Judge and by consequence no such thing as either right or wrong Can we therefore suppose that God Almighty would leave us at those uncertainties as to give us a Rule to go by leave every man to be his own Judge I do ask any ingenuous man whether it he not the same thing to follow our own Phancy or to interpret the Scripture by it I would have any man shew me where the Power of deciding matters of Faith is given to every particular man Christ left his Power to his Church even to forgive Sins in Heaven and left his Spirit with them which they exercised after his Resurrexion First by his Apostles in these Creeds and many years after by the Council at Nice where that Creed was made that is called by that name and by the Power which they had received from Christ they were the Judges even of the Scripture it self many years after the Apostles which Books were Canonical and which were not And if they had this Power then I desire to know how they came to lose it and by what Authority men separate themselves from that Church The only pretence I ever heard of was was because the Church has failed in wresting and interpreting the Scripture contrary to the true sense and meaning of it and that they have imposed Articles of Faith upon us which are not to be warranted by Gods Word I do desire to know who is to be Judge of that whether the whole Church the Succession whereof has continued to this day without interruption or particular men who have raised Schisms for their own advantage This is a true Copy of a Paper I found in the late King my Brothers Strong Box written in his own Hand JAMES R. The Second Paper IT is a sad thing to consider what a world of Heresies are crept into this Nation Every man thinks himself as competent a Judge of the Scriptures as the very Apostles themselves and 't is no wonder that it should be so since that part of the Nation which looks most like a Church dares not bring the true Arguments against the other Sects for fear they should be turned against themselves and confuted by their own Arguments The Church of England as 't is call'd would fain have it thought that they are the Judges in matters Spiritu●l and yet dare not say positively that there is no Appeal from them for either they must say that they are Infallible which they cannot pretend to or confess that what they decide in matters of Conscience is no further to be followed then it agrees with every mans private Judgment If Christ did leave a Church here upon Earth and we were all once of that Church how and by what Authority did we separate from that Church If the Power of Interpreting of Scripture be in every mans brain what need have we of a Church or Church-men To what purpose did our Saviour after he had given his Apostles Power to bind and loose in Heaven and Earth add to it that he would be with them even to the End of the World These words were not spoken parabolically or by way of Figure Christ was then ascending into his Glory and left his Power with his Church even to the end of the World We have had these hundred years past the sad effect of denying to the Church that Power in matters Spiritual without an Appeal What Country can subsist in peace or quiet where there is not a Supream Judge from whence there can be no Appeal Can there be any Justice done where the Offenders are their own Judges and equal Interpreters of the Law with those that are appointed to administer Justice This is our Case here in England in matters Spiritual for the Protestants are not of the Church of England as 't is the true Church from whence there can be no Appeal but because the Discipline of that Church is conformable at that present to their fancies which as soon as it shall contradict or vary from they are ready to embrace or joyn with the next Congregation of People whose Discipline and Worship agrees with their opinion at that time so that according to this Doctrine there is no other Church nor Interpreter of Scripture but that which lies in every mans giddy brain I desire to know therefore of every serious considerer of these things whether the great work of our Salvation ought to depend upon such a Sandy Foundation as this Did Christ ever say to the Civil Magistrate much less to the People that he would be with them to the end of the World Or did he give them the Power to forgive Sins St. Paul tells the Corinthians Ye are Gods Husbandry ye are Gods Building we are Labourers with God This shews who are the Labourers and who are the Husbandry and Building And in this whole Chapter and in the preceding one S. Paul takes great pains to s●t forth that they the Clergy have the Spirit of God without which no man searcheth the deep things of God and he concludeth the Chapter with this Verse For who hath known the Mind of the Lord that he may instruct him But we have the Mind of Christ. Now if we do but consider in humane probability and reaso● the Powers Christ leaves to his Church in the Gospel and St. Paul explains so distinctly afterwards we cannot

to ask some Questions of any ingenuous Man as whether it be not the same thing for the Church of Rome to make the Rule as to assume to it self the sole Power of giving the sense of it For what can a Rule signify without the sense And if this were the intention of Almighty God had it not been as necessary to have told us to whom he had given the Power of Interpreting the Rule as to have given the Rule it self Whether it be reasonable for the Church of Rome to interpret those Texts wherein this Power of Interpreting is to be containes For this is to make it Iudge in its own Cause which was thought an Absurdity before And whether it be not as mischievous to allow a Prosperous Usurp●r the Power of Interpreting Laws according to his own Interest as any private Person according to his own Fancy Wheth●r it be possible to reform Disorders in the Church when the Person principally accused is Supream Judge Whether those can be indifferent Judges in Councils who beforehand take an Oath to defend that Authority which is to be Debated Whether Tradition be not as uncertain a Rule as Fancy when Men judge of Tradition according to their Fancy I would have any Man shew me where the Power of deciding mattees of Faith is given to every particular Man If by deciding Matters of Faith be understood the determining them in such a manner as to oblige others I do not know where it is given to every particular Man nor how it should be For then every particular Man would have a Power over every particular Man and there would want a new D●cision whose should take p●ace But if by deciding Matters of Faith no more be meant but every mans being ●atisfied of th● Reasons why he believes one thing to be true and not another that belongs to every Man as he is bound to take care of his Soul and must give an account bot● to God and Man of the Reason of his Faith And what can be meant in Scripture by Proving all things and holding fast that which is good 1 Thess 5. 21. By trying the Spirits whether they be of God ● John 4. 1. By judging of themselves what is right Luke 12. 57. unless God had given to Mankind a Faculty of discerning truth and falshood in Matters of Faith But if every Man hath not such a Power how comes h● to be satisfied about the Churches Authority Is not that a Matter of Faith And where ever any Person will shew me that every Man hath a Power to determine his Faith in that matter I 'le undertake to shew him the rest Christ left his Power to his Church even to forgive Sins in Heaven and left his Spirit with them which they exercised after his Resurrection But where then was the Roman Catholick Church And how can it be hence inferred That these Powers are now in the Church of Rome exclusive to all others unless it be made appear that it was Heir-General to all the Apostles I suppose it will be granted that the Apostles had some gifts of the Spirit which the Church of Rome will not in Modesty pretend to such as the Gift of Tongues the Spirit of Discerning Prophesie Miraculous Cures and Punishments Now here lies the difficulty to shew what part of the Promise of the Infallible Spirit for the ordinary Power of the Keys relates not to this matter was to expire with the Apostles and what was to be continued to the Church in all Ages A Promise of Divine Assistance is denied by none but Pelagians But how far that extends is the Question In the Souls of good Men it is so as to keep them in the way to Heaven but not to prevent any lapse into sin and it were worth our knowing where God hath ever promised to keep any Men more from Error than from Sin Doth he hate one more than the other Is one more disagreeing to the Christian Doct●ine than the other How came then so much to be said for the keeping Men from Error when at the same time they confess they may not only commit great sins but err very dangerously in the most Solemn manner in what relates to the Doctrine of Manners Would any have believed the Apostles Infallible if they had known them to be Persons of ill Lives or that they had notoriously erred in some Rules of great Consequence to the Welfare of Mankind Now all this is freely yielded as to the Pretence of Infallibility in the Church of Rome It is granted that the Guides of that Church have been very bad Men and that in Councils they have frequently erred about the Dep●sing Power being only a Matter of Practice and not of Faith Whether it be so or not I now dispute not but it is granted that notwithstanding this Infallible Spirit the Roman Church may grosly err in a matter of mighty Consequence to the Peace of Christendom and yet it cannot err in decreeing the least Matters of Faith As for Instance it can by no means err about the seven Sacraments or the Intention of the Priest about them but it may err about Deposing Princes and Absolving Subjects from their Allegiance Which in easier terms is They can never err about their own Interest but they may about any other whatsoever I pass over the next Paragraph the sense being in perfect and what is material about the Creeds hath been spoken to already That which next deserves Consideration is That the Church was the Iudge even of the Scripture it self many years after the Apostles which Books were Canonical and which were not We have a distinction among us of Judges of the Law and Iudges of the Fact The One declares what the Law is the Fact being supposed the Other gives judgment upon the Fact as it appears before them Now in this Case about the Canonical Books the Church is not judge of the Law For they are not to declare whether a Book appearing to be Canonical ought by it to be received for Canonical which is taken for granted among all Christians but all they have to do is to give judgment upon the Matter of Fact i.e. whether it appear upon sufficient Evidence to have been a Book written by Divine Inspiration And the Church of Rome hath no particular Priviledge in this matter but gives its Judgment as other parts of the Christian World do And if it takes upon it to judge contrary to the general sense of the Christian Church we are not to be concluded by it but an Appeal lyes to a greater Tribunal of the Universal Church And if they had this Power then I desire to know how they came to lose it Who are meant by They And what is understood by this Power It is one thing for a Part of the Church to give Testimony to a matter of Fact and another to assume the Power of making Books Canonical which were not so This latter no Church in