Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	christian_n	defect_n	great_a	14	3	2.1254	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70306	The true Catholicks tenure, or, A good Christians certainty which he ought to have of his religion, and may have of his salvation by Edvvard Hyde ...	Hyde, Edward, 1607-1659.; Hyde, Edward, 1607-1659. Allegiance and conscience not fled out of England.	1662 (1662)	Wing H3868; ESTC R19770	227,584	548

the reconciliation would be easily effected as to what concerns Gods interest were it not impeded and hindred by our own Hence it is also that many under a pretence of settling and regulating Religion do indeed disturb and disorder it and in stead of rightly guiding the Christian do indeed misguide him whiles they stand so much upon ceremonals which are of their own making as that they much more neglect morals which are Gods undoubted commands and so desire to have their converts be some of Paul some of Appollos some of Cephas as they little regard and less care to see they be truly all of Christ. And yet amidst all these grand miscarriages of men which no Rhetorick can sufficiently express no repentance can sufficiently bewail though we finde much that may trouble us in the practise of Religion yet we finde nothing that can excuse us if we practise it not for there is matter enough uncontroverted on all sides to engage the whole soul of man if we would take notice of that engagement Satis ampla pietatis exercendae materia est in iis rebus de quibus utrinque convenit nam de side in Christum mortuum resuscitatum pro nobis collocandâ de charitate Deo proximo exhibendâ controversia nulla est at in his duobus capitibus pietatis summa consistit saith the most judicious and pious Cassander in his book De officio pii viri What pitie is it that there should be the greatest defect where is the least controversie amongst Christians This made the forenamed Authour profess that he was nothing at all satisfied with those men who pretended that the contentions of Christians hindred their progress in Christianity for saith he There is matter enough for the exercise of piety which is quite exempted from all controversie for all sides agree that we must be saved by faith in Christ crucified for our sins and raised again for our justification and by the love of God for his own sake and of our neighbour for Gods sake and in these two heads saith he of faith and charity is comprised the sum of all true Christianitie Saint Paul had said no less before him 1 Tim. 1. 5 6. The end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and a good conscience and of faith unfained which Aquinas thus proves most substantially Omnes enim virtutes de quarum actibus dantur praecepta ordinantur vel ad purificandum cor à turbationibus passionum sicut virtutes quae sunt circa passiones vel saltem ad habendam bonam conscientiam sicut virtutes quae sunt circa operationes vel ad habendam rectam sidem sicut illae quae pertinent ad divinum cultum haec tria requiruntur ad diligendum Deum nam cor impurum à Dei dilectione abstr ahitur propter passionem inclinantem ad terram conscientia vero mala facit horrere divinam justitiam propter timorem poenae fides autem ficta trahit affectum ad id quod de Deo fingitur separans à Dei Veritate 22 ae qu. 44. art 1. All the vertues whose acts are commanded in the Law directly tend either to the purging of the heart from the disturbances of the passions as those vertues which teach us to order our affections or they tend to the getting and keeping of a good conscience as those vertues that concern our works and operations or they tend to the getting and keeping of a true Faith as those vertues which immediately concern the worship of God and all these three are required to the true love of God 1. A pure heart for that else will cleave to the earth by its impurity 2. A good conscience for that else will run from God because of its guiltiness 3. an unfained faith for that else will follow a fiction in stead of God and falsities in stead of his truth This being taken for granted which cannot rationally be denied the meanest man that is will finde little cause to be discouraged or disheartened in the Christian Religion by reason of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from all which S. Paul so exceedingly dehorts S. Timothy that there are amongst Christians so many strifes about words and so many vanities and novelties and emptinesses in those strifes for if he will have a diligent care of his own heart that it may be pure of his own conscience that it may be good and of his own faith that it may be unfained he will not dangerously neglect his duty either towards himself or towards his neighbour or towards his God but will always finde matter enough to busie his soul here and take a sure course to save his soul hereafter it is evident from the ensuing words that none but they who swerve from these three scil a pure heart a good conscience and a faith unfained do turn aside unto vain janglings And for this cause our blessed Saviour chides not onely the Scribes and Pharisees but also the meanest of the common people for not following and embracing the undoubted truth though there were at that time as great contentions in the Jewish as are now in the Christian Church S. Luke 12. 54 56 57. And he said also unto the people Ye hypocrites can ye discern the face of the sky and of the earth But how is it that ye do not discern this time yea and why even of your selves judge ye not what is right He chides them for being quick-sighted in matters of earth but as it were pur-blinde in the things of heaven that they could of themselves judge rightly of the seasons for their profit not so for their amendment and notwithstanding he professeth that he came not to give peace on earth but rather divisions such as should divide the nearest and dearest relations from and against themselves yet he gives no writ of ease to any man that he should leave off being a judge in matters of his salvation for if divisions hinder them not from judging what is right in husbanding their lands why should they hinder them from judging what is right in husbanding their souls To apply this to our present purpose since 't is not in our power to doubt either of Christian faith or Christian Charity as necessarily required and immediately conducing to salvation why should it be in our will to neglect them both for this is in effect to proclaim that we had rather with Martha be troubled about many things then with Mary choose that good part which shall not be taken from us it is in effect to declare that we will have a Religion rather to serve our selves then to serve our God rather agreeable with mens present humours then with Gods eternal truth otherwise our whole labour would be to conform our selves to that eternal truth in our understandings by faith in our wills by charity which two would make us

Isaac and of Jacob onely we trust in him not by Moses nor according to the law but by Christ and according to the gospel for the law which was given in Horeb is now antiquated for it was given onely to you Jews but the law which we serve God by is a law given to all nations of the world and is to abide to the worlds end for Christ is given unto us as the law and as an everlasting law his Testament as a faithfull Testament to remain for ever after which no law no commandment is to be expected or may be received Thus far Justin Martyr to the Jew because thus far the Apostle had stated the question to the Martyr and indeed to all Christians in the epistle to the Hebrews the sum whereof is briefly this that Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God coequal and coessential with the Father and the holy Ghost is perfect God and perfect man in the unity of the same person and is that onely eternal King Priest and Prophet which God in the fulness of time gave unto his Church to govern instruct and sanctifie it for ever and this he proves by the promises before the law by the types and figures under the law and by the general consent of all the prophets And therefore in this same Christ the Christian Church hath already a perfect knowledge of God in this world and shall have a perfect enjoyment of him in the world to come and therefore may expect no other Doctrine either for sanctification here or for salvation hereafter Now in that the old Testament is alledged to prove and confirm the New it is evident that the substance of Religion is one and the same in both Testaments unless we will suppose the Spirit of God to have made use of unfit and unproper proofs a thing not agreeable with the spirit of a prudent man who gains his knowledge by succession of time and much less agreeable with the Spirit of the omniscient and onely wise God who seeth all things at once in the looking-glass of eternity and if the Spirit of God confirm the new Testament by the old and hath left both the old and the new Testament to confirm us then it is evident that no Christian can seek to weaken or diminish the authority of either Testament but he must be an enemy to his own confirmation in the Christian faith Wherefore among all the contestations contentions that have been in the Church of Christ that controversie doth least become Christians and doth most shake the foundation of Christianity which doth seek to undervalue the authority of the word of Christ for if there be no infallible certainty in the word of Chrst it is impossible there should be any infallible certainty in the Christian Religion therefore they are the greatest enemies to the certainty of the Christian Religion who seek to add to the Church by detracting from the Scripture for if the Scripture hath not a most undoubted authority the Church can have none at all for sure we are the Scripture was delivered to the Church without any faults or corruptions and therefore we are bound not onely in common charity but also in common prudence and justice to beleeve that the Church hath so kept it because all the faults of the Text are to be layed upon the Church to whose care and trust God did commit the keeping of the text for God requireth two things of his Church first to be a faithfull keeper then to be a faithfull interpreter of his word and if we will needs say she hath not been faithfull in the keeping how can we choose but say she may be as unfaithfull in the interpreting of the word of God So that they are the greatest schismaticks that ever were who under pretence of extolling the authoritie of the Church do question nay debase the authoritie of the Scriptures for these men have begun an everlasting schisme which must needs last as long in the Church as there shall be any Christians so well perswaded of Gods truth as to think it was worth the registring and of the books wherein it was registred as to think them worth the keeping And Cassander himself seems to be of this opinion in his consultation of Religion in the chapter of the Church I cannot deny but the chiefest cause of this calamitie and distraction of the Church is to be ascribed to them who being puffed up with an empty kinde of pride of ecclesiastical power did contemn and repel those who rightly and modestly admonished them wherefore I think there is no firm peace to be hoped for unless they begin the reconciliation who began the distraction that is unless they who are set over the ecclesiastical government do remit somewhat of their excessive rigour and do yield somewhat to the peace of the Church and hearkening to the instruction and advice of many pious men do correct some manifest abuses according to the rule of Gods word and of the ancient Church from whence they have lately swerved I will set down the words in Latine for their sakes who do understand the Authour as well as I have the sense of them in English for their sakes who do desire to understand their Religion Non negarim praecipuam causam hujus calamitatis distractionis Ecclesiae illis assignandam qui inani quodam fastu ecclesiasticae potestatis inflati rectè modestè admonentes superbè fastidiosè contempserunt ac repulerunt Quare nullam firmam pacem sperandam puto nisi ab iis initium fiat qui distractionis causam dederunt hoc est nisi ii qui ecclesiasticae gubernationi praesunt de nimio illo rigore aliquid remittant Ecclesiae paci aliquid concedant multorum piorum votis monitis obsequentes manifestos abusus ad regulam divinarum literarum veteris Ecclesiae à quâ deflexerunt corrigant Cassander in consult de Rel. ad Ferdin 1. Max. 2. Imp. cap. de Ecclesiâ His judgment is plainly this that the Scripture is to rule and govern the Church and that to advance the authority of the Church against the authority of the Scripture much more above it is to give the occasion of a calamitous if not of a remediless schisme and distraction a distraction not possibly to be remedied till this irreligious tenent which is the cause of it be renounced and it is high time though the tenent it self be yet scarce one hundred years old for all good Christians that wish better to Christs interest then their own to renounce it and leave raising objections against the holy Scripture thinking to set up the Church by pulling down the word of God for besides that both Scripture and Church by their joynt authorities can never make us too sure of our Religion it is not possible for the Church to stand if the Scripture fall but they must needs both fall together Whereas let the Church not be

kingdoms was taken for a good debt and a sufficient title to the land of Canaan which was from thence called The land of promise wherefore we may say safely with great confidence with greater comfort that Gods promise obligeth him not less but rather more then our promises can oblige us for we may promise in materia indebita or modo indebito in an unwarrantable matter or after an unwarrantable manner so that either he that hath made the promise may be bound to recall his word or he to whom it is made may be bound not to claim it either of which is enough to disannul the justice of a debt but we are sure God cannot promise any thing not really and compleatly good in the matter and in the manner and therefore his promise must needs be laid hold on as a debt worth claiming and more worth the having so that we cannot but look upon him as obliged to a most substantial and real performance of all his promises And yet still here is nothing but mere Grace not so much as merit of congruity for though a promise becomes a debt in God no less then in man yet that debt is a debt onely of favour not of justice and God is obliged to pay it onely in faithfulness which he oweth to his own truth not in justice which he oweth to our works or to our deservings Wherefore let a promise of Grace go for a debt but let it go for a debt of Grace not for a debt of justice that God may be bound onely to himself and not to us for as it was onely his own mere grace that first made him give us bond so it is onely the same grace that at last makes him keep it a grace that ought rather to supply us with arguments for devotion then for disputation for since it is evident that being enemies we could never have reconciled our selves it cannot be obscure that now we are friends we ow to him more then to our selves both the enjoyment and the continuance of our reconciliation And this is the most comfortable doctrine that can be preached to those who have rather wounded hearts then itching ears that would rather hear sound then pleasing divinity for such men must needs be desirous to have God more magnified then themselves and are contented to expect their salvation from him as well as with him for seeing themselves unable to make satisfaction for the least of their sins they dare not hazard their salvation upon the greatest of their righteousness but are willing to say with S. Paul For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life Rom. 5. 10. It was the death of his Son that wrought our reconciliation and it is the life of his Son that worketh our salvation by grace we are saved and this grace is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ because purchased by him derived from him and continued through him but yet this grace cannot so well be known by it self for so it is like God the authour of it altogether invisible as by its effects and they are five according to Aquinas Sunt autem quinque effectus gratiae in nobis quorum primus est ut anima sanetur secundus ut bonum velit tertius ut bonum quod vult essicaciter operetur quartus est ut in bono perseveret quintus est ut ad gloriam perveniat 12ae q. 111. art 3. There are five effects of grace in us the first is that it heals the soul of its natural maladie or distemper whereby it is prone onely to evil the second that it makes us will what is good the third that it makes us do the good which we have willed the fourth that it makes us persevere in doing that good the fifth that it brings us to glory to enjoy God the fountain of goodness so that in short where we finde most goodness both in the will and in the deed there we may be sure is most grace and where least goodness least grace and where no goodness no grace And this is also the truest touchstone of Religion whereby we may discern gold from dross which oftentimes glitters as much in the shew but yet stil comes far short in the value the glory may be alike in both but the goodness is far different That Religion which makes the best men will upon this account be found the best Religion and that made S. Augustine so zealous to describe the manners of the true Church as himself professeth lib. 1. Retract cap. 7. Jam baptizatus cùm Romae essem Manichaei jactarent de falsa fallaci continentia vel abstinentia quâ se ad imperitos decipiendos veris Christianis praeferunt scripsi duos libros unum de moribus verae Ecclesiae alterum de moribus Manichaeorum When the Manichees did brag of their false and fallacious continence or abstinence and upon that pretence did much deceive the ignorant people as if they forsooth had been the onely true Christians I thought it high time to write two books one of the manners of the true Church the other of the manners of the Manicheans his drift was from the good manners to finde out the good Religion whether it were in the Manichees or in the Church and he tells us that the Manichees did extoll themselves among the ignorant multitude chiefly by these two d●vices by crying down the Scriptures and by crying up themselves and their own great continencie Their first device was to cry down the Scriptures as if they had found a more perfect way of Religion then the word of God had taught them and concerning this the Father gives his definitive sentence lib. de moribus Eccl. Cathol cap. 9. Convictorum hominum ultima vox That this is the last plea of men that are convinced but will not be converted And again he saith the same in effect by way of interrogation which before he had said by way of definition Nescitis quantâ imperitiâ lacessitis libros quos soli reprehendunt qui non intelligunt soli intelligere nequeunt qui reprehendunt Are you indeed so ignorant as not to see what a madness it is to revile those books which onely they reprehend who do not understand and onely they cannot understand who will needs reprehend them August lib. de moribus Eccl. cath cap. 25. Their second device was to cry up themselves and particularly their own continency that though their auditores their common sort had wives yet their electi their choice ones had none and concerning this the same Father answers thus lib. de mor. Manichaeorum cap. 19. Vidi ipse plures quam tres Electos simul post transeuntes nescio quas foeminas tam petulanti gestu adhinnire ut omnium trivialium impudicitiam impudentiamque superarent that even their elect ones did pretend to much more