Selected quad for the lemma: christian_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
christian_n	christian_a	church_n	pastor_n	1,389	5	9.1051	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66207	The false-prophets try'd by their fruits being a sermon preached at St. James's Westminister, November Vth 1699, in which it is shewn, that the principles, and practices, of the Church of Rome, with relation to those whom they call hereticks, are not only destructive of civil society, but are utterly irreconcileable with the gospel of Christ / by William Wake ...	Wake, William, 1657-1737.	1700 (1700)	Wing W246; ESTC R39410	20,598	38

permitted freely to judge and determine according to the Holy Scriptures must needs be of more Authority and probably may be more sure than what is resolved by Every single Christian apart Yet when all is done as every particular Person is to Answer to God for his Own Soul so he must Examine as far as He is Able both What He Believes and How He Practises and upon What Grounds he do's Both And not follow any Assembly tho' of never so much Seeming Authority contrary to that which is of much Greater Authority than any Humane Assembly whatsoever can be I mean The Word of God And it may as well be said that all the other Parts of Christian Piety delivered by our Saviour Mat. v vi vii in these Chapters belong not to Single Persons or to Ordinary Christians at all but only to the whole Church or at least to the Pastors and Governors of it as that this Command of taking heed of False Prophets and of Knowing them by their Fruits is the Business of Such only and not the duty of every Private Person But 3 dly and to conclude these General Reflections If such be the case that it is not only lawfull for but the Duty of every Christian to Search the Scriptures and to Examine what is Proposed to him and to satisfie himself Whether it be the true Doctrine of Christ or no Then it will follow farther That if upon such a Proof of what is tender'd to Us by any Person or Church whatsoever we should chance to be clearly and evidently convinced that they have departed Themselves and would draw away Us from the pure Faith of Christ deliver'd to Us in the Holy Scriptures it is our duty to take heed that we do not follow them in their Apostacy but resolve rather to forsake Them than to abandon that Gospel which both They and We are commanded to adhere unto That it is possible for Men either by Interest to be Corrupted by Prejudices to be byass'd or thro' Infirmity to be deceived and by any or all of these Means to fall away from the Purity of the Christian truth both the Condition of Humane Nature assures us and the very Caution of the Text do's evidently suppose That by a Careful Attention and diligent Enquiry into the Doctrine deliverd to Us in the Holy Scriptures we may be able to discover when they do so and to distinguish between Truth and Falsehood Right and Wrong as to these matters not only our Saviour's Command to do this but the plainness wherewith most of those things are delivered which make up the summ of what is necessary for us to Believe and Do in order to our salvation Effectually shew But then to what purpose should we trouble our selves to Search the Scriptures and to Understand our Religion and to know that we are dealt fraudulently with by our Guides in it if after all there is no Remedy But we must follow our Church and the Pastors of it whether they teach Us the true doctrine of Christ or whether they lead Us into Damnable Hereresies destructive of the very Fundamentals of it And yet how Confidently do some Men here also rise up against Us And tell Us that we must Believe them before our Own Reason nay and in effect before God Himself That 't is Schism and Heresie and I know not what besides to doubt of or differ with them in any thing that they require us to Believe And that much better were it for us to shut our eyes altogether and Go on blindfold under their Conduct than to follow the clearest Light that Scripture Reason or even Sense it self can Give us in Opposition to their Errors But let them assume what Authority they please to themselves and raise what Clamours they can against us When all is done this Conclusion will remain firm as Heaven and clear as any first principle of Science that if the Scriptures be Rom. xv 4. 2 Tim. iii. 16. 2 Pet. 1.19 as we all agree that they are the Word of God and were written for our Instruction then we must follow the Conduct of Them And hold fast to the Truth which they deliver tho' not only a Company of assuming Men calling Themselves the Church but upon what Grounds no body could ever learn and pretending to Infallibility in Despight of the Grossest Errors but the whole World should conspire together to Oppose Us in it And thus have I shewn you what that General Vse is that we ought all of Us to make of this Command of our Saviour to Beware of False-Prophets and to Know them by their Fruits I proceed 2 dly To that more particular Application which I proposed to make of it to the Subject of this Days Solemnity I shall not need to tell you that we are now met together to Bless God for those wonderful Deliverances which He has twice afforded Us of this Nation upon this very Day from the Designs of Those who are the professed Enemies of our Religion and who have never Ceased from the first Beginning of the Reformation among Us to do what in them lies to subvert That and to destroy Us upon the account of it But of all the measures that were Ever taken by them in order thereunto never was there any more Remarkable than that which was intended to have been Executed on this Day had not God by a miracle of his Providence discovered and disappointed it A Design it was so Black and Horrid that we find many among Themselves ashamed to own it And therefore They either altogether deny that there was ever any such Plot carried on by Those of their Communion Or else pretend Papists Apology p. 31. With the Answer Comp. p. 34. Calendar Catholicum An. 1662. 5 th Nov. Hen. Morus Soc. Jesu Provinciae Anglic. Hist. l. 7. Sect. 19 21. that it was onely a private attempt of a Few-Desperate Men of their Religion Censured and Condemn'd for it by all the Better and more sober Members of their Church And indeed far be it from me to charge the whole Body of our English Papists either with the knowledge of this Conspiracy heretofore or with the Approving of it since I am sensible that Several among them have not only declared their Abhorrence of the Design its self See Widdrington contr Suarez pag. 12. 153. but of the very Principles on which it was founded But yet when all is done Certain it is that both the Doctrine on which it was Established has been * Concil Lateran 3. Can. 27. Concil Lateran 4. Can. 3. Concil Lugd. 1. Lab. Tom. 11. Col. 640 c. Concil Constant Sess. 45. Mart. PP Bull c. p. 259. Tom. 12. Lab. See more below Confirm'd by those of the Highest Authority in the Roman Church And that their Greatest Men have not only given their Approbation to such Attempts † As Tesmond Gerrard who were Both concern'd in the