Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	faith_n	rule_n	tradition_n	1,634	5	9.8444	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54036	Reason regulate[d], or, Brief reflections upon a l[ate] treatise of human-reason by T.P.	T. P.	1675 (1675)	Wing P117; ESTC R25516	24,178	78

a Degree we shall find in the Nature and very Elements of a Council For if any one Member of it may be a Heathen or Atheist in Opinion as the Lives he says of many Popes and the Speeches of some declare that they themselves have been why not Two not Three not more not the Maijor Part that is The whole Council Though this I Confess be out of my Element yet I think the inconsequence of it may be Demonstrated by this Syllogism That which may happen to any one egge in the Parish may happen to all But it may happen to any one egge in the Parish to goe into a Man's Mouth at once therefore it may happen to all the Egges in the Parish to go into a man's mouth at once Now Who sees not the Aequivocation of his Logick which Distinguishes not between a Divisive and Collective sense Who those Persons were which he mentions with so much Veneration of such Excellent Abilities and worthy Spirits to examine by the Rules of their own Reason those Follies and dangerous Errours in Religion I know not but am certain those that Converted the Idolatrous Nations of the World to Christianity were of that very sort of Men who he is pleas'd to say are first taught to think and then to speak they know not what I mean the Sons of the Church of Rome so that he who charges these with Superstition and Idolatry because they beg the intercession of the Saints and use pious Representations his Reason indeed teaches him first to think and then to say he knows not what For would it not be wonderful Wisdom in any man to tell another that if he has a mind to preserve the memory of a very dear Friend he must by no means look upon his Picture for that would infallibly take his thoughts quite off from him but if he stares upon the bare Wall he will there certainly find a very lively and perfect Idea of him Qui vult decipi decipiatur Undoubtedly the Picture of our Blessed Saviour upon the Cross is so far from making us think of any Strange or False Gods that it gathers our vain and scatter'd thoughts together and makes us more Vigorously and Attentively think of Him to whom we address our Prayers What hurt or danger can there be in any thing which occasions one to think of our Saviour Christ as a Picture of his Passion very Effectually doth or what Idolatry when excited thereby to a Contemplation of our Saviours Crucifixion one Bowes towards not to the Picture Do Men worship or adore any Minister pronouncing the word JESVS because they doe or should Bow at that sacred Name Certainly no me-thinks the very Light of Nature should decide this Controversie without more adoe No Man bowes at those Five Letters I. E. S. U. S. but because Conjoyn'd they spell the Holy Name of JESVS So no Man Bowes at the Substance or Colours of a Picture of the Passion but because being dispos'd and shaddow'd by the Painter's Pencil they represent our Redeemer dying upon the Cross A Picture then is a Word to the Eye as a word is a Picture to the Ear and if it be not Idolatry to bow at the Name which is but a sound I shall never be convinc'd that 't is any to bow at the Picture of JESVS which is but a Shaddow unless it could be prov'd that all things are strictly forbidden which are not expresly commanded But to our Author Men ought he says to put their Confidence rather in the Traditions of the former than the Commands of the present Church This indeed wants nothing at all but proving but supposing it true what better means can he possibly propose to himself to know the Truth of former Traditions than the Sufferage of this present Church But he would have no man build his Belief upon the Authority of past or present Ages a strange Caution from a single person For says he If they look upon all the Consequences of that Opinion it seems then all our Fore-fathers were stupidly blind they are in much greater danger of being drawn from the Christian Faith than those who remit the Judgment of these things to their own Reason For God's sake why so That certainly now is the true Rule of Faith which was the Essential means of planting and conserving it first but Orall and Apostolical Tradition not written Books nor any Man's private Spirit or Reason was the Essential means of Planting and Conserving it at first therefore Orall and Apostolical Tradition not Written Books c. is still the true and certain Rule of Faith And Consequently this Author 's Human Reason much more likely to draw him from the Christian Faith than such a Rule I am glad his Reason hath at last compell'd him to Believe that Infallibility let him define it how he will must necessarily be annext to our Guide in Spiritual Matters And I should with all my Soul rejoyce to hear of any means That might restore the Greatest Part of Man kind as he says into a hopeful and comfortable Condition and that so many Millions might not Eternally perish But that Dreadful Sentence Extra Ecclesiam nulla est Salus turns my hope into fear and trembling for though ignorance perhaps may very much Extenuate or excuse yet if an Errour be Fundamental that ignorance though never so invincible cannot after it's Nature or quality nor acquit the Professor from all Guilt and Penalty for he that unawares drops into the Water if he be Overwhelm'd is as certainly drown'd as he that willfully plunges himself in over Head and Eares And I fear the reward of invincible Ignorance may be rather an Abatement of Punishment than a Fruition of Bliss Errours in Faith at least Fundamental I conceive to be of a more pernicious Consequence than at present a vitiou Life for no Rational Man I think questions but that 't is better for a Man to Loyter or Stumble nay to fall and hurt himself in a right Path than to walk Uprightly I mean with Moral Honesty in a wrong As there is more hopes certainly of the Salvation of a sinful Christian than a Religious Jew the former being still in the Road possibly to recover and persevere Penitently and Prosperously the latter being totally incapacitated through the Eccentrical Crookedness of his way to make a good or happy Period of his ill begun Progress There may be several wayes to the same Faith but certainly Not several Faiths as this Author imagines to the same GOD who is an Indivisible and Immutable Essence therefore Going-vigorously-forward signifies nothing unless we goe right He that wills the End must necessarily use the means So that this Author can never win me to his Opinion that all Men though never so Discrepant in their Faith following in all Particulars the Dictates of their own private Reason will infallibly in the end arrive at Security and Happiness till he hath proved that the Way which leads