Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	people_n	read_v	word_n	2,947	5	4.1038	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62565	The indispensable necessity of the knowledge of the Holy Scripture in order to man's eternal salvation and ignorance therein, the mother of idolatry and superstition asserted in a sermon / preached by John Tillotson ...	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.	1687 (1687)	Wing T1198; ESTC R31967	15,700	26

publick Prayers which are made by the Priest wi●hout understanding what they are If it be enough for the Priest to understand them why should not the Priest only be present at them Unless the People do not meet to worship God but only to wait upon the Priest. But by saying that the Priest understands 'em it seems it is better that some body should understand them than not and why is not that which is good for the Priest good for the P●ople So that the true state of the Controversy is whether it be fit that the People should be Edified in the Service of God and whether it be fit that the Church should order things contrary to Edification For it is plain that the Service of God in an unknown Tongue is useless and unprofitable to the People Nay it is evidently no publick Service of God when the Priest only understands it For how can they be said to be publick Prayers if the People do not join in them and how can they join in that they do not understand and to what purpose are Lessons of Scripture read if People are to learn nothing by them and how should they learn when they do not understand This is as if one should pretend to teach a Man Greek by reading him Lectures every day out of an Arabick and Persian Book of which he understands not one syllable As to their depriving the People of the use of the Holy Scriptures our Blessed Saviour exhorts the Jews to search the Scriptures And St. Paul chargeth the Christians that the Word of God should dwell richly in them And the ancient Fathers of the Church do most frequently and earnestly recommend to the People the reading and study of the Scriptures How comes the Case now to be so altered Sure the Word of God is not changed that certainly abides and continues the same for ever I shall by and by examine what the Church of Rome pretends in excuse of this Sacriledge In the mean time I do not see what considerable Objections can be made against the reading of the Scriptures which would not have held as well against the writing and publishing them in a Language understood by the People as the Old Testament was by the Jews and the Epistles of the Apostles by the Churches to whom they were written and the Gospel both by Jews and Greeks Were there no difficulties and obscurities then in the Scriptures capable of being wrested by the Unstable and unlearned Were not People then liable to Errour and was there no danger of Heresy in those Times And yet these are their great Objections against putting the Scriptures into the hands of the People which is just like their arguing against giuing the Cup to the Laity from the inconveniency of their Beards least some of the Consecrated Wine should be spilt upon them As if Errours and Beards were Inconveniences lately sprung up in the World and which Mankind were not liable to in the first Ages of Christianity But if there were the same dangers and inconveniences in all Ages this Reason makes against the Publishing of the Scriptures to the People at first as much as against permitting them the use of them now And in truth all these Objections are against the Scripture it self and that which the Church of Rome would find fault with if they durst is that there should be any such Book in the World and that it should be in any bodies hands learned or unlearned for if it be dangerous to any none are so capable of doing mischief with it as Men of Wit and Learning So that at the bottom if they would speak out the Quarrel is against the Scriptures themselves This is too evident by the Counsel given to Pope Julius the Third by the Bishops met at Bononia to consult about the Establishment of the Roman See where among other things they give this as their last advice and as the greatest and weightiest of all That by all means as little of the Gospel as might be especially in the vulgar Tongue should be read to the People and that little which was in the Mass ought to be sufficient neither should it be permitted to any Mortal to read more For so long say they as Men were contented with that little all things went well with them but quite otherwise since more was commonly read And speaking of the Scripture they give this remarkable testimony and commendation of it This in short is that Book which above all others hath raised those Tempests and Whirlwinds which we were almost carried away with And in truth if any one diligently considers it and compares it with what is done in our Church he will find them very contrary to each other and our Doctrine not only to be very different from it but repugnant to it If this be the Case they do like the rest of the Children of this World prudently enough in their Generation Can we blame them for being against the Scriptures when the Scriptures are acknowledged to be so clearly against them But surely no body that considereth these things would be of that Church which is brought by the undeniable evidence of the things themselves to this shameful Confession that several of their Doctrines and Practices are very contrary to the Word of God. Much more might have been said against the Practice of the Church of Rome in these two particulars but this is sufficient I shall in the second place consider what is pretended for them And indeed what can be pretended in justification of so contumelious an affront to Mankind so great a tyranny and cruelty to the Souls of Men Hath God forbidden the People to look into the Scriptures No quite contrary Was it the Practice of the Antient Church to lay this restraint upon Men or to celebrate the Service of God in an unknown Tongue Our Adversaries themselves have not the face to pretend this I shall truly represent the substance of what they say in these two points As to the Service of God in an unknown Tongue they say these four things for themselves First That the People do exercise a general Devotion and come with an intention to serve God and that is accepted though they do not particularly understand the Prayers that are made and the Lessons that are read But is this all that is intended in the Service of God does not St. Paul expresly require more That the Vnderstanding of the People should be Edified by the particular Service that is performed And if what is done be not particularly understood he tells us the People are not Edified nor can say Amen to the Prayers and Thanksgivings that are put up to God And that any Man that should come in and find People serving of God in this unprofitable and unreasonable manner would conclude that they were mad And if there be any general Devotion in the People it is because they understand in general what they are about and why

the ancient Heresies uyon the ill management of things by our Saviour and his Apostles and the Holy Fathers of the Church for so many Ages and their imprudent dispensing of the Scriptures to the People This indeed is to charge the matter home and yet this Consequence is unavoidable For the Church of Rome cannot justify the Piety and Prudence of their present Practices without accusing all these But the thing which they mainly rely upon as to both these practices in this That though these things were otherwise in the Apostles times and in the Ancient Church yet the Church hath power to alter them according to the Exigence and Circumstances of times I have purposely reserved this for the last place because it is their last refuge and if this fail them they are gone To shew the Weakness of this Pretence we will if they please take it for granted that the Governors of the Church have in no Age more Power than the Apostles had in theirs Now St. Paul tels us 2 Cor. 10.8 that the Authority which the Apostles had given them from the Lord was only for Edification but not for Destruction And the same St. Paul makes it the business of a whole Chapter to shew that the performing the Publick service of God and particularly praying in an unknown Tongue are contrary to Edification from which premises the Conclusion is plain that the Apostles themselves had no Authority to appoint the Service of God to be performed in an unknown Tongue and surely it is Arrogance for the Church in any Age to pretend to greater Authority than the Apostles had This is the Summ of what our Adversaries say in justification of themselves in these Points And there is no doubt but that Men of Wit and Confidence will always make a shift to say something for any thing and some way or other blanch over the blackest and most absurd things in the World. But I leave it to the Judgement of Mankind whether any thing be more unreasonable than to tell Men in effect that it is fit they should understand as little of Religion as is poshble that God hath published a very dangerous Book with which it is not safe for the People to be familiarly acquainted that our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles and the ancient Christian Church for more than Six hundred Years were not wise Managers of Religion nor prudent Dispensers of the Scriptures but like fond and foolish Fathers put a Knife and a Sword into the hands of their Children with which they might have easily fore-seen what mischief they would do to themselves and others And who would not chuse to be of such a Church which is provided of such excellent and effectual means of Ignorance such wise and infallible Methods for the prevention of Knowledge in the People and such variety of close Shutters to keep out the Light. I have chosen to insist upon this Argument because it is so very plain that the most ordinary Capacity may judge of this usage and dealing with the Souls of Men Which is so very gross that every Man must needs be sensible of it because it toucheth Men in the common Rights of humane Nature which belong to them as much as the Light of Heaven and the Air we breath in It requires no subtilty of Wit no skill in Antiquity to understand these Controversies between us and the Church of Rome For there are no Fathers to be pretended on both sides in these Questions They yield we have Antiquity on ours And we refer it to the common Sense of Manking which Church that of Rome or Ours hath all the Right or Reason in the World on her side in these Debates And who they are that tyrannize over Christians the Governours of their Church or ours Who use the People like Sons and Freemen and who like Slaves Who feed the Flock of Christ committed to them and who take the Childrens bread from them Who they are that when their Children ask bread for Bread give them a Stone and for an Egg a Serpent I mean the Legends of their Saints instead of the holy Scriptures which are able to make Men wise unto Salvation And who they are that lie most justly under the suspicion of Errors and Corruptions they who bring their Doctrine and Practices into the open Light and are willing to have them tried by the true Touchstone the Word of God or they who shun the Light and decline all manner of Trial and Examination And who are most likely to carry on a Worldly Design they who drive a Trade of such mighty gain and advantage under pretence of Religion and make such markets of the Ignorance and Sins of the People or we whom Malice it self cannot charge with serving any Worldly Design by any allowed Doctrine or Practice of our Religion For we make no Money of the mistakes of the People nor do we fill their heads with vain fears of New Places of Torment to make them willing to empty their Purses in a vainer hope of being delivered out of them We do not like them pretend a mighty banck of Treasure and Merits in the Church which they sell to the People for ready money giving them Bills of Exchange from the Pope to Purgatory When they who grant them have no reason to believe they will avail them or be accepted in the other World. For our parts we have no fear that our People should understand Religion too well We could wish with Moses that all the Lord's People were Prophets We should be heartily glad the People would read the Holy Scriptures more diligently being sufficiently assured that it is their own fault if they learn any thing but what is good from thence We have no Doctrines or Practices contrary to Scripture and consequently no occasion to keep it close from the sight of the People or to hide any of the Commandments of God from them We leave these mean Arts to those who stand in need of them In a word there is nothing which God hath said to Men which we desire should be concealed from them Nay we are willing the People should examine what we teach and bring all our Doctrines to the Law and to the Testimony that if they be not according to this Rule they may neither believe them nor us 'T is only things false and adulterate which shun the Light and fear the Touchstone We have that security of the Truth of our Religion and of the agreeableness of it to the Word of God that honest Confidence of the Goodness of our Cause that we do not forbid the People to read the best Books our Adversaries can write against it And now let any Impartial Man judge whether this be not a better Argument of a good Cause to leave Men at liberty to try the Grounds of their Religion than the Courses which are taken in the Church of Rome to awe Men with an Inquisition and as much as is possible to keep the common People in Ignorance not only of what their late Adversaries the Protestants but their chief and ancient Adversary the Scriptures have to say against them A Man had need of more than common Security of the Skill and Integrity of those to whom he perfectly resigns his Understanding this is too great a Trust to be reposed in humane frailty and too strong a Temptation to others to impose upon us to abuse our Blindness and to make their own ends of our voluntary Ignorance and easie Credulity This is such a folly as if a Rich Man should make his Physician his Heir which is to tempt him either to destroy him or to let him dye for his own Interest So he that trusts the care of his Soul with other Men and at the same time by irrecoverable Deed settles his Understanding upon them lays too great a Temptation before them to seduce and damn him for their own ends And now to reflect a little upon our selves What cause have we to bless God who are so happily rescued from that more than Aegyptian Darkness and Bondage wherein this Nation was detained for several Ages Who are delivered out of the hands of those Cruel Task-masters who required Brick without Straw that Men should be Religious without competent Understanding and work out their own Salvation while they denied them the means of all others the most necessary to it Who are so uncharitable as to allow us no Salvation out of their Church and yet so unreasonable as to deny us the very best means of Salvation when we are in it Our Forefathers thought it a mighty Priviledge to have the Word of God restored to them and the publick Prayers and Service of God celebrated in a known Tongue Let us use this inestimable Priviledge with great modesty and humility not to the nourishing of Pride and Self-conceit of Division and Faction but as the Apostle exhorts Let the Word of God dwell richly in you in all Wisdom and let the Peace of God rule in your hearts unto which ye are called in one body and be ye thankful It concerns us mightily with which Admonition I conclude both for the Honour and Support of our Religion to be at better Union among our selves and not to divide about lesser things And so to demean our selves as to take from our Adversaries all those Pretences whereby they would justify themselves or at least Extenuate the Guilt of that heavy Charge which falls every whit as justly upon them as ever it did upon the Scribes and Pharisees of taking away the key of Knowledge and shutting the Kingdom of Heaven against Men neither going in themselves nor suffering those that are entring to go in FINIS