Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	new_a	testament_n	word_n	5,021	5	4.1195	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A04166	Christs ansvver vnto Iohns question: or, An introduction to the knowledge of Iesus Christ, and him crucified Deliuered in certaine sermons in the famous towne of New-castle vpon Tine. By Thomas Iackson, Dr. of Diuinitie, vicar of Saint Nicolas Church there, and fellow of Corpus Christi Colledge in Oxford.	Jackson, Thomas, 1579-1640.	1625 (1625)	STC 14306; ESTC S107447	127,240	218

Christs messenger or preparing his wayes more then 600. yeeres before either of them was borne would suggest or imply a great deale more then it could do vnto any other man not so well qualified or instructed as Iohn was and not so well acquainted with the particular passages of Scripture whereon Iohns faith was grounded nor with the signes of the time by which his faith in the Messias was confirmed Now for your better edification in this poynt giue mee leaue to breake this portion of the Bread of life which I haue in hand into three parts The first The generall meanes by which euery mans faith or beliefe in Christ is wrought or grounded or by which it is or may be confirmed The second shall be the vnfolding of those particular places of Scripture on which Iohns beliefe was grounded as also the signes of the time by which his faith before his imprisonment or before the framing of this question was ratified and confirmed The third What correspondency concord or consonancy the particulars heere mentioned and those places of Scripture whereunto our Sauiour in this answer referres Iohn or the signes of this very time wherein this answere was made haue vnto the other parts of Scripture or signes of the time by which Iohns former faith had beene established and confirmed Of these three in their order by Gods assistance 25. Concerning the first poynt we all beleeueand know that Gods Word is the only rule on which our faith must be grounded by which wee must be builded vp as the house by line or leuell In this generall we and the Church of Rome agree The first breach or poynt of difference betwixt vs and them is Whether this Word of God by which the Temple of God must be raysed be partly written and partly vnwritten Wee say that the whole rule or Canon of Faith is written or contayned fully in the Bookes of the Old and New Testament They grant these Bookes to contayne part of the rule but the other part which in effect they make the principall is as they say contayned in vnwritten traditions of whose truth or true meaning the visible Church for the time being is the sole Iudge This indeed is the roofe or couering of their Edifice which as elsewhere we haue shewed and by Gods assistance shall more fully shew hereafter doth vtterly raze or ouerthrow the foundation it selfe whereon they would seeme to put it to wit the written Word of God and the truthes concerning Christ contayned in it But our purpose is not at this time to shew you in what manner they ouerthrow the foundation of Faith or Word of God but rather the manner how our faith is grounded on it 26. Now though it be true which we lately said that faith must bee grounded onely on the written Word this saying notwithstanding must be restrayned vnto the time since GODS Word vnto his Church or people by his appoyntment was committed vnto writing Wherefore you must remember or take notice that there was a time wherein no part of Gods Word was written for Moses was the first that committed Gods Words to writing the first that made a Register or Record of what God had spoken vnto the Patriarkes Now the beliefe of the Patriarkes was grounded on Gods Word though then vnwritten after the same manner as ours is on the written Word For as you will easily conceiue it is not the writing of Gods Word which makes it to be the ground or rule of faith Yet heere happely you will demand To what other end then was it written To this we answer That the writing of it by such speciall Registers as God had appoynted for that purpose and the strange preseruation of the Records written by them is to vs an infallible argument that what they haue written is the Words of God not the words of men And this to know that the words which wee beleeue or giue credence vnto in matters concerning our happinesse or saluation are the words not of any mortall man but of the immortall God is the first ground of faith 27. Vnto the right grounding of our faith in this first po●nt two things were euer required The first prediction or fore-telling things to come The second was the euent or experiment answering to the prediction Yet is it not the prediction of any euent that shall fall out though for a long time after that can argue the prediction it selfe to haue beene Gods words or the fore-teller of such euents to bee a Prophet For the Astronomers can fore-tell you the Eclipses of the Sunne or Moone for many yeeres before they fall out or happen yet no man takes their skill as an argument that they are true Prophets or that they are enlightned by the Spirit of God by which the Scriptures were written or the mysteries contayned in them were fore-told But if an Astronomer could as distinctly fore-tell what kinde of weather euery moneth or euery day for two or three yeeres following should bring with it as hee can fore-tell what day or houre the Sunne or Moone shall be eclipsed or in what degree or measure eyther of their bodies should be obscured or hid from our sight you would conceiue of him as a man more than ordinary and that he could not know this by ordinary skill or art no not by the blacke art it selfe or by dealing with the Deuill He that could certainely fore-tell all the particular changes of weather or the alteration of States and Kingdomes or the seuerall Eclipses or illuminations of Gods true visible Church heere on earth for the next Generations that are to come might iustly challenge the reputation of a Prophet or Messenger sent from God at the hands of all such as had heard or read his predictions before the truth of them was sealed by their manifest vndoubted euents What then is the reason why the certaine and known prediction of some euents whose truth afterwards becometh visible and manifest vnto the world as the Eclipses of the Sunne and Moone or the coniunction of Planets which shall fall out some forty yeeres hence or more should not as infallibly argue the assistance of the diuine Spirit or reuelations immediately made from God as the fore-telling of all change of weather or matters of greater consequences doe as matters of States or Kingdomes or Gods visible Church The reason is because God by his euerlasting Decree hath appoynted the Sunne and Moone their constant and certaine course and priuiledged them from all impossibility of impediment or disturbance in their seuerall courses which eyther man or infernall spirits can attempt against them whereas by the same euerlasting Decree Hee hath ordayned such variety or inconstancy in the ayre or other inferiour Elements as no wit of Man or Deuill can comprehend all the possible changes of weather which may happen within some few yeeres following For though Satan and his angels be enstyled Prince of the Ayre

circumstances as by direct types or sutable representations Whether it bee this way or that way fore-shaddowed the case is all one as it was with that picture-maker who being requested to paint a man and an horse ouerthrowne in battaile painted an horse in a full careere with a man on his backe and being challenged for not making such a picture as he was requested to doe hee willed the party to turne the vpside of the Table downewards and hee had as faire and exact a picture of an horse a man ouerthrowne as hee could make him Of this kinde of types was the brazen Serpent it could not be any direct type of CHRIST albeit the lifting vp of a brazen Serpent was a reall type or representation of our Sauiours future exaltation vpon the Crosse. And so was Hezekiahs demolishing of the brazen Serpent a reall prophesie or representation of our Sauiours bruising the old Serpents head or rather of his vtter destruction of his Kingdome which shall be accomplished at the last day But the full explication of this type we must deferre vntill wee come to vnfold the mysteries of Iesus Christ and him crucified Let this suffice at this time for the first generall poynt to wit how our faith in Iesus Christ is to bee grounded or confirmed wherein hath beene shewed first That all beliefe must be grounded on the Word of GOD. Secondly That wee beleeue these Bookes of the Old and New Testament to be the Word of GOD because they containe as well such predictions or Prophesies as reall prefigurations or types of Christ and his Kingdome as none but the onely wise immortall God could fore-shaddow 34. The vse of this Doctrine hitherto deliuered is the same which shall be the end of all my meditations vpon this portion of Scripture The poynts which I specially aymed at in the choyce of it were these first to breed or beget a full perswasion in you that these Bookes of the Old and New Testament are sufficient in themselues to make you wise vnto saluation that the truth of mysteries contayned in them may bee sufficiently manifested by their owne light without the infallible proposall or authoritie of any visible Church on earth to giue them lustre or make them visible Their light is of it selfe sufficient to enable you to discerne all truthes expedient for your saluation and amongst other truthes to discerne which of all the visible Churches vpon earth is the true Church of God And this they sufficiently teach without any such notes or properties as the Romish Church would obtrude vpon you If in the Writings of our owne friends I meane the Pastors or Teachers of reformed Churches you light vpon some notes of the true Church as preaching of the Word and administration the of Sacraments you must conceiue their meaning to be no more but this That these two conspicuous and visible notes are essentially and necessarily required to the constitution of a visible Church They are not they cannot be any infallible notes for discerning which visible Church is true which false which hereticall which orthodoxall no more than to haue publique meetings or a forme of gouernement established by Law or Charter can bee a true note for discerning which is the best or ancientest Corporation in this Kingdome Now to haue publique meetings or a forme of gouernement established by Law or Charter can bee no note or difference for distinguishing one Corporation from another because without these no assembly of men how great soeuer can bee truely termed a Corporation And that wherein all agree can be no note whereby to difference or distinguish one from another or to determine which is the best which is the worst Wherefore if the question were Which is the best or ancientest Corporation in this Kingdome This question could not otherwise be resolued than by inspectiō of their seuerall Lawes or Charters Or in case their Charters were the same that Corporation would be the best which did rightliest vse practice or enioy the benefits or priuiledges of the same or like Charter or which did liue as well in publique as in priuate in best conformity to their Lawes Now euery visible Church is a Society or Corporation Ecclesiastique And no assembly or multitude of men how great soeuer albeit they priuately professe the same faith can truely be said to make one visible Society or Corporation Ecclesiastique vnlesse they haue their publique meetings to heare the Word of GOD preached or read vnto them vnlesse at such meetings they ioyne together in publique prayer and administration of the Sacraments Whence if the question be Of all such Assemblies Corporations or Societies Ecclesiastick as ioyne together in hearing the Word preached in cōmon Prayers in administration of the Sacraments that is Of all visible Churches which is the true Church of God There can bee no other possible satisfactory answer than this That is the true Church of God or orthodoxall visible Church whose Doctrine Prayers and manner of administring Sacraments is most conformable and agreeable to the fundamentall Charter which Charter is contained in the Bookes of the Old and new Testament So that all other points all markes and notes how many soeuer our Aduersaries make must be examined and tryed by this Rule Amongst other markes of the Church they make the gift of miracles to be one 35. Concerning miracles I haue not much to say beeing loth to put my sickle into another mans haruest from whom I hope you shall reape full satisfaction Onely this caueat I would commend vnto you which heeretofore I haue published That although it be granted that the Diuell by his owne power can worke no true miracle that is nothing that shall bee aboue the force or power of nature or contrary to it or it beeing granted likewise that God doth neuer lend the vse of his omnipotent power vnto Satan his angels or ministers to work any true miracle thereby to try the faith of Christians yet all this being granted in generall if we descend vnto particular wonders we must haue as great skill in the force and power of nature how farre it may extend as Satan hath Wee must bee as cunning in discouering his slightes iuglings or delusions as he is in iugling or deluding before we can be secure that hee cannot put one of the two iuggling trickes vpon vs. As first that he cannot make vs beleeue those wonders which we see effected to exceed the force or power of naturall causes when as in truth in deed they doe not or that hee cannot make vs beleeue that such wonders or miracles as indeed exceed the force of nature to bee wrought by him or his Instruments when as they are wrought by God himselfe for some other speciall end or purpose or for some other vse then he or his Instruments could referre them vnto The hailestones mentioned Ioshuah 10. vers 11. were aswell for their magnitude as for the manner

meant but of one which is Christ the Lord. And vnder these generall or royall titles the promised Seed or Messias was apprehended and knowne by the best of Gods seruants as well before the Law was giuen as whilest the Law was ready to expire and determine 2. Thus wee reade Exod. 4. verse 13. that Moses after many pretences and excuses to auoyd the Embassage vnto Pharaoh for the deliuerance of Gods people lastly concludes with this request O my Lord send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send which is so much in the interpretation of the Ancients as if hee had said Lord I know thou hast ordayned from the beginning to send an authentique messenger vnto the world for the deliuerance of thy people one that shall speake as neuer man spake and doe those workes which no man besides can doe And I beseech thee to send him at this time vnto Pharaoh to let thy people goe for this is a worke worthy his paines I know some later Writers reiect this interpretation but their exceptions against the ancient Interpreters are not concludent and therefore not to be admitted especially when the better sort of later Writers with whom I accord doe imbrace the interpretation of the Ancients Againe although God had sent Iohn Baptist on as great an Embassage as this of Moses He was sent as a Messenger to prepare the wayes of the Lord yet hee doth not affect but doth vtterly disclaime this title of being him whom GOD hath sent as knowing it to be peculiar vnto the Sauiour of the World for so hee speakes of him in opposition vnto himselfe Ioh. 3. vers 34. For hee whom GOD hath sent speaketh the words of God for God giueth the Spirit not by measure vnto him For this reason Iohn who was sent from God as a messenger to prepare his wayes who neuer doubted of his miraculous birth and conception Iohn who had heard and seene him declared by voyce and vision from heauen vnto Israel euen after hee himselfe had proclaymed him to be the Lambe of God which was to take away the sinnes of the World yet for a period or vp-shot of all that hee desired to know concerning Iesus his person his office his actions in this life compriseth all in this short Interrogatiue Art thou hee that should come or doe wee looke for another 3. Vnto this question or demand beeing the entire tenor of Iohns solemne Embassage and the summe of all which hee desires to know concerning Christ our Sauiour vouchsafes no other answere than what hath beene read vnto you Iesus answered c. Now if wee consider that ample testimony which our Sauiour in the words following my Text did giue of Iohn in the audience of the multitude to wit that hee was a Prophet yea and more than a Prophet that of all that were borne of women there was none greater than Iohn Charity and Christian modesty will constraine vs to presume that this question Art thou hee that should come or doe wee looke for another beeing thus solemnely by Iohn proposed was no idle but a serious and vsefull question fit not onely for him but for posterity to be resolued in Againe if wee consider that this answer which I haue read vnto you was made by our blessed Sauiour wee stand bound vpon our allegiance to beleeue that as the question was serious and vsefull so the answere was pertinent full and satisfactory All this is most plaine in the generall but if we descend vnto particulars the difficulties are two 1. First from what affection or disposition of minde this question should proceed or what it was that should occasion Iohn to make it 2. Secondly in what manner and how farre our Sauiours answere or the words which I haue read vnto you doe fit the occasions which moued Iohn to make the question or fully satisfie the question it selfe 4. Concerning the first point to wit From what affection or disposition of mind this question should proceed or what should mo●e Iohn to make it there is greater variety or diuersity then opposition or contrariety of opinions amongst the Learned Iustin Martir and Tertullian were not afraid to say and deliuer in writing to posterity that Iohn himselfe did at this time truely doubt and distrust whether he that wrought these miracles here mentioned in my Text were the promised Seede or no and that out of this doubt or distrust in himselfe he sent this message vnto our Sauiour Art thou he that should come or doe we looke for another Tertullian in his fourth booke against Marcion goeth further and saith That after our Sauiour did enter vpon his Propheticall function and tooke vpon him to instruct the people publikely by word and miracle the Spirit of God which was giuen to him not by measure beginning now to dilate and shew it selfe vnto the world did withdraw or call in that portion of the spirit of Prophecie wherewith Iohn Baptist had formerly bin endued to prepare the wayes of this his Lord as great flames draw flying sparkles to them or sucke out the lesser lights or candles that are neere them As if Iohn Baptist himselfe when hee said Oportet illum crescere me autem decrescere had vnwittingly or otherwise prophecyed that the Spirit of Prophefie should decrease in him as it did increase or more amply manifest it selfe in our Sauiour Yet this interpretation I must tell you though auouched by two of the most ancient Fathers whose writings are now extant is slenderly seconded by later Writers whether of Romish or reformed Religion Maldonat a learned Iesuite doth thus censure them or rather the times wherein they liued In illa nimirum aetate nondum satis culta theologia hujusmodi spinas aliquando proferebat that is that goodly garden of God which we call Diuinity was not in that age so well dressed but that it did sometimes bring forth such thornes and brambles as these were Should the best of our Writers or Preachers speake on this fashion of the Ancient Fathers the Romish Church would take it as a sufficient testimony to condemne vs for Heretickes Howbeit we will not condemne it as an heresie in her Children for speaking or writing thus but rather wish they would be constant to themselues and vnpartiall towards vs to permit vs that liberty which they take in refusing the authority of the most Ancient Fathers especially in the interpretation of Scriptures Others there were and these very ancient too which disliking Iustin Martyr's and Tertullians interpretation of this place would qualifie it thus Iohn the Baptist did not question nor doubt whether Iesus whom hee had baptized were the Sonne of God the promised and long expected Messias or no but vtrum esset ad inferos descensurus whether he were to taste of death himselfe or whether hee would come to rescue the dead from the power of Hell and the graue Et in hanc sententiam saith the same Maldonat