Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	divine_a	holy_a	scripture_n	3,228	5	5.6311	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52616	The Trinitarian scheme of religion, concerning almighty God and mankind considered both before and after the (pretended) fall : with notes thereoupon, which notes contain also the unitarian scheme.	Nye, Stephen, 1648?-1719.	1692 (1692)	Wing N1509A; ESTC R41717	32,447	30

him and the English Reader to the Paraphrase of the late Learned and Pious Dr. Claget Our Opposers delight in marvelous Doctrines therefore as they pretend that Faith and Newness of Life are effected by God in us by Means so unsutable to the Qualities produced and to the Nature of our Souls as Water Bread and Wine so they assure us farther that the written Word and Word preach'd have no Efficacy toward begetting those Effects but 't is say they the inward Word which sometimes to some and in some measure accompanying the Word written or preach'd first convinces and then reclaims Sinners For my part I would gladly know what kind of thing an inward Word is I had thought all Words had been outward Words and that otherways they could not have been called Words But be that as it will Unitarians are well satisfied that the outward Word as our Opposers are pleased to Nickname the Holy Scriptures and the Word preach'd is sufficient and effectual by the Reasons it suggesteth and the Rewards and Penalties it proposeth to convince and reform our Reasonable Natures and that otherways they were not Reasonable but Brutish Natures This is not ours but the Doctrine of Holy Scripture and that in as express and clear Terms as can be devised First as to the Efficacy of the written Word 2 Tim. 3.15 Thou hast known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto Salvation Then for the Word taught after St. Paul had said Rom. 10.14 How shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a Preacher He makes this Conclusion at ver 17. So then Faith cometh by Hearing And is it not indeed a very strange Paradox of these Gentlemen that the Wisdom of God should make use of a Means that produceth they say no Effect If the outward Word produceth no Effect in him that hears or reads we might as well have been bid to tell twenty in order to the getting Faith and subduing our Lusts as to hear and meditate of God's Word And if that be indeed the case 't is very surprizing that God should expostulate after such an angry manner with lazy and negligent Pastors and should so heartily rouze up others as 't is undeniable he doth Isa 56.10 They are dumb Dogs that cannot bark sleeping lying down loving to slumber Isa 58.1 Cry aloud spare not lift up thy Voice like a Trumpet shew my People their Transgressions and the House of Israel their Sins 1 Cor. 9.16 Necessity is laid upon me and wo unto me if I preach not the Gospel What needed any thing of all this if the outward Word is nothing and 't is only the inward Word which is not in the least tied to the other that only can and does produce the desired Effect About interpreting Holy Scripture IF it be asked how it comes to pass that we differ so widely from the Hereticks about the Doctrines specified in the foregoing Paragraphs while both we and they pretend Holy Scripture to be our Rule and the sole Judg of Controversies and Questions about Religion The Answer is at hand even this That Hereticks being Men of some Wit and Learning and withal carnal are hereupon puffed up are too proud to submit themselves to God's Revelation but only as bowed and subdued to their Reason But 't is all Mens Duty in a Clash between Revelation and Reason whether real or only seeming to submit Reason to Revelation and not subject Divine Revelation to Human Reason 'T is unpardonable Boldness in any to dislike the express words or evident sense of Holy Scripture because our Reason cannot fathom the depths of that Divine Book If I would believe the Doctrine there set down were it not for the Contradiction made to it by Human Reason I am not a Christian otherways than in Name if I do not receive such Doctrine with an implicit Faith without seeking to elude or to correct it by Reason And it is upon this Hinge that all our Controversies with these Hereticks do turn whether we are to follow the express words and obvious natural sense of Holy Scripture or whether we are to interpret Scripture by Reason so as to fly to a Figurative Sense or even to a Catachrestical i. e. somewhat harsh Construction or Interpretation rather than admit any Doctrine that is contrary to Reason The Notes Unitarians think that a real Clash between Revelation and Reason is an absurd Supposition but if we must put that impossible case we think 't is clear that Human Reason must needs be subjected to Divine Revelation But where the Clash is only seeming that is where there are ways of reconciling them as by so interpreting the Revelation as to make it agree with Reason we think 't is as absurd to oppose as Trinitarians do these two Lights to one another we think in that case we ought to use the Expedient of Interpretation If the Interpretation must be made either by a Figurative Sense or by somewhat Catachrestical harsh Construction yet 't is always better to strain Words than Things and there are particular Reasons why we ought so to do in interpreting Holy Scripture and all Interpreters of all Perswasions do it with Approbation of All. Yet this is a thing on which I will not here insist tho it deserveth great Consideration because this is not as Trinitarians pretend our Case or Quarrel with them or the Hinge on which these Controversies turn For we utterly deny that the express Words or the obvious natural Sense of Holy Scripture are on the Trinitarian side we never fly in these Controversies to a Catachrestical or harsh sense no nor have at any time need of a Figurative Sense as hath been sufficiently shown in the brief History of the Vnitarians Trinitarians indeed are forced to those Expedients I do not call them Shifts because 't is plain they must be sometimes allowed not only in interpreting Holy Scripture but in all other Writers and Writings But seeing themselves are forced to use very often those ways of interpreting especially in interpreting the Gospel of St. John and the most part of St. Paul's Epistles they have no right to object such kind of interpreting to Unitarians if indeed we had occasion for it The CONCLVSION THese things have not been said God is Witness to challenge much less to affront other Sects and Denominations of Christians and least of all the Church of England From which Church the Unitarians have not separated as other Dissenters for small and inconsiderable Causes have done We place not Religion in worshipping God by our selves or after a particular Form or Manner but in a right Faith and a just and charitable Conversation We approve of known Forms of praising and praying to God as also in administring Baptism the Lord's-Supper Marriage and the other Religious Offices we like well of the Discipline of the Church by Bishops and Parochial Ministers we have an Esteem for the eminent Learning and exemplary Piety of the Conforming Clergy For these Reasons we communicate with that Church as far as we can and contribute our Interest to favour her against all others who would take the Chair We would not therefore be understood to be Enemies to the Church or as seeking to undermine her Our whole Pretence is this to reform our FAITH by the Rule of Holy Scripture in consistence with evident REASON And the design of this Pretence or Endeavour of ours next to approving our own Souls to God our Judg is to vindicate the common Christianity from the Insults of Atheists or other profane Persons to take from such all just Exception against the most holy and wise Body of Laws that the World ever had or can have even the Christian Religion By making it appear to be a most rational and consistent System as well in the Credenda the Things to be believed as in the Ag●●●a or Things to be done We think this 〈◊〉 such a Design as ought not to be enterta●●●● with those Jealousies and aspersed 〈◊〉 those Calumnies and Clamours that are every day raised against us both by the Pulpit and Pr●ss We hope that the Reasons of our Dissent from the Church in these Doctrines being once known and well considered and the Honesty of our Design in publishing them apparent our Fellow-Christians will less regret our Difference with them about these Questions and will at length acknowledg that however we are mistaken yet we are well-meaning Brethren Thou Father who governest in the Kingdoms of the Children of Men continue to us All the Means of rightly knowing Thee and of living up to the Precepts of the Gospel that we may All at length receive of thee the Inheritance incorruptible undefiled that fades not away reserved in Heaven for us FINIS