Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	church_n	doctrine_n	write_v	3,156	5	5.6690	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A37493	Baptismōn didachē, or, The doctrine of baptisms reduced from its ancient and modern corruptions and restored to its primitive soundness and integrity, according to the word of truth, the substance of faith & the nature of Christ's kingdom / by William Dell ...	Dell, William, d. 1664.	1697 (1697)	Wing D916; ESTC R37724	22,953	73

ΒαπΤισμων Διδαχη OR The Doctrine OF BAPTISMS Reduced from its Ancient and Modern CORRUPTIONS and Restored to its Primitive SOUNDNESS and INTEGRITY According to The Word of TRUTH According to The Substance of FAITH According to The Nature of Christ's Kingdom By William Dell Minister of the Gospel and Master of Gonvil and Caius College in Cambridge Isa. 52. 15. That which hath not been told them they shall see and that which they have not heard they shall consider London Printed and Sold by T. Sowle next Door to the Meeting-House in White-Hart-Court in Gracious-Street and at the Bible in Leaden Hall-Street 1697. TO THE READER THE Doctrine of Baptisms hath been dark and obscure in the Church from the very Primitive Times and hath had more of Humane Notion than of Divine Truth in it and therefore Zuinglius Writing touching this Point speaks thus in the beginning of his Book Entituled De Baptis Tom. 2. f. 57. Illud mihi ingenuè circa libri initium dicendum est ferè omnes eos quotquot ab ipsis Apostolorum temporibus de Baptismo scribere instituerunt non in paucis quod pace omnium hominum dictum esse velim à scopo aberravisse That is In the beginning of my Book saith he I must ingeniously Profess that almost all those that have undertaken to write of Baptism even from the very times of the Apostles have which I desire may be spoken with the favour of all not in a few things erred from the scope And as he affirms that almost all before him had erred in many things touching Baptism so did he himself also err as well as they not in a few And it is as free for me or any Body else to differ from him and other late Writers as for them to differ from former Writers especially if that be true which Godly and Learned Chemnitius affirms out of Augustine that these things are not tanquam articuli fidei a quibus diversum sentire piaculum sit Anathemate dignum Chemnit Examen Concil T rident 1. de Bapt. And therefore Reader I acquaint thee before hand that in this Point I shall speak much otherwise than all former or later Writers whatever that I have met with And though I do not without some Fear and Trembling dissent from so many worthy and gracious Men that have been and are otherwise Minded yet it is the less grievous to me because I differ from them I can say it in truth before the Lord not out of any desire to be singular or for any Worldly or Carnal End whatever but only that I might cleave to the Clear and Evident Word of God alone even there where I see the very Faithful to leave it seeing I am rather to joyn to the Word without Men than to joyn to Men without the Word and where I find the Holiest Men in the World and the Word parting I am there to leave them and to go along with the Word And so in all Love and Meekness I tender this Discourse to thee desiring that if thou canst not at the present agree to what is there in contained yet that thou wouldst not rashly Judge and Reproach it seeing through God's Goodness it may come to pass that what thou knowest not now thou mayest know afterwards But because I see this present Generation so Rooted and Built up in the Doctrines of Men I have the less hope that this Truth will prevail with them and therefore I appeal to the next Generation which will be farther Removed from those Evils and will be brought nearer to the Word but especially to that People whom God hath and shall form by his Spirit for himself for these only will be able to make Just and Righteous Iudgment in this matter seeing they have the Anointing to be their Teacher and the Lamb to be their Light THE DOCTRINE OF Baptisms c. THE Lord fore-seeing how great an Evil it would be in the Church to leave Men either to their own or other Men's Opinions and Iudgment in the things of God did in the very beginning of the Gospel command and bind all the Faithful to hear Christ alone saying from Heaven that we might give absolute credit to his Voice This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him And the more the Faithful have kept to the Word of Christ the more they have been free from Error and the more they have left this and turned aside after the Doctrines of Men though Men in some measure Faithful and Holy the more have they been perverted and seduced insomuch that the true Church of God and the very faithful themselves have received held and maintained divers Errors and False Doctrines and Opinions even for many Ages and Generations yea and have not been altogether free from some from the very Apostles times And because many or most Godly Men in former Ages held such and such Opinions therefore the following Ages have taken them upon trust from them and have entertained them as sure and certain though not at all consulting in those points with the great Doctor and Apostle of the New Testament Iesus Christ. And thus have the very Elect themselves been drawn into much Error though they have still had Christ for their Foundation and were built on him so firmly by Faith that the Gates of Hell could not prevail against him Now to free the Faithful from the former mistake and consequently from all Error there is no other way than this wholly to forsake the Doctrines of Men and to lay by all those Opinions that we have sucked in from our very Cradles and which are now become even a Natural Religion to us I say utterly to lay by and wholly to forget all these things and to come immediately to the pure unerring Word of God and to the Voice of Iesus Christ himself by his Spirit wherein all things are true sincere and perfect and not bring Hearts to the Word that are prepossest with Doctrines and Opinions Learned of Men but to come thither with Hearts and Consciences free and uningaged and in all meekness uprightness and simplicity of Heart to hear what Iesus Christ the faithful and true Witness will say to his Spirit which also is the Spirit of Truth and to receive and believe that alone though never so differing from the Opinions and Doctrines of this present Age as well as of the former and though perhaps the whole Nation would be offended with it And this is the Course that I have observed to come to some clear and certain Knowledge in the Doctrine of Baptism For having Read much and Discoursed with many touching this Point and having seriously considered what they say as one that searched after the Truth for it self only and for the Satisfaction of my own Soul I do prosess I could not find any thing almost spoken for my Spirit boldly and safely to lean on as perceiving most of what they said to