Selected quad for the lemma: christian_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
christian_n	church_n	faith_n	infallible_a	1,453	5	9.5102	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50461	A conference betwixt a papist and a Jew, or, A letter from a merchant in London, to his correspondent in Amsterdam	Mayo, Richard, 1631?-1695.; N. H.; Jacob, John, 17th cent.	1678 (1678)	Wing M1522; ESTC R10629	19,865	37

in the Church the Christian Faith being already not only sufficiently but abundantly confirmed by the Miracles the infallible Miracles of our Saviour and the Primitive Christians who shewed their Patent or Commission under this Broad-Seal of Heaven to the conviction and utter silencing of their most obstinate enemies both Jews and Gentiles You know that Moses confirmed the Law and the Ordinances thereof by Miracles first wrought in Egypt and afterwards on Mount Sinai and in the Wilderness but when your Fathers were convinced of Moses his Authority and were once setled in the Land of Canaan then those Miracles ceased So the Gospel and the Ordinances thereof were at first confirmed by the uncontrouled Miracles of our Saviour and the Primitive Christians as indeed it was meet that those who pretended a new Revelation from God should confirm it with a Divine attestation but since the Christian Religion is now diffused both far and near for the same reason all Miracles are at an end As men water Orchards at the first planting of them but when the Trees are well rooted they do so no more But amongst the Schismatical Papists Miracles are still pretended who care not what wrong they do to the Christian Religion or the common cause of Christianity so they encrease their own Party By means hereof they delude the more ignorant and credulous sort of people of whose souls their Priests make great merchandize In King Henry the Eighths time by the diligence of the Lord Cromwell one of the chief Ministers of State many of the abominable cheats and forgeries of the Papists in this kind were made manifest throughout this Nation which was one great cause of the Reformation that followed And it is no slight evidence of the verity and Divine Authority of the Scriptures of the New Testament that this was foretold therein some hundreds of years before it came to pass for so it is there recorded that there should be a great Defection or Apostasie in the Christian Church which also should be headed by the Bishop of Rome and though he be not named yet any one with half an eye may perceive he is intended never did Glove better fit a hand nor shoo a foot than the Character the Scripture gives of the Head of that Apostasie doth agree to the Romish Pope And concerning him it says expresly That his coming should be after the working of Satan with power and signs and lying wonders In the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with wonders of a lye an usual Hebraism as you understand to note the notorious falshood of his wonders And in another place it speaks of a Beast meaning the same person whom the world should wonder after and worship too and that for this Reason Because he doth great wonders in the sight of men This may fuffice for these lying Wonders with their impudent Authors But as for the Miracles of our Saviour and his immediate followers they are of another nature and wear upon themselves marks of infallibility they are recorded in the age and places when and where they were wrought they were done as this worthy person well observed not in a corner but in the face of the world before multitudes of witnesses and those persons of known credit and integrity Insomuch that your Ancestors the Jews that liv'd in those days and enquired diligently into these things did never once deny the matter of fact that such Miracles were indeed done but they said they were done by Diabolical assistance And others of them have said that Jesus had found out the right pronunciation of that ineffable name the nomen Tetragrammaton and that it was sewed in his thigh and that by the power thereof he did all his Miracles How ridiculous are such evasions It seems evident enough that many of the Pharisees and Rabbies themselves in those days lay under this conviction That Jesus came from God and was the Christ and profest too their faith in him though the most of them did it secretly for fear of the Jews Who had agreed that if any did confess that he was Christ they should be put out of the synagogue Josephus a man of great Learning who lived near those times and who was a Jew by Nation and Religion in the 18 Book of his Antiquities doth publish this passage to the world That in the time of Tiberius Caesar there was one Jesus a wise man if says he it be lawful to call him a man for he was the performer of divers miraculous works and the instructor of those who willingly entertained the truth This was Christ who being accused by the Princes of our Nation before Pilate and afterwards condemned to the Cross yet did not his followers forbear to love him for the ignominy of his Death for he appeared unto them the third day after as the Divine Prophet had before testified of the same and divers other wonderful things of him Let me desire you to use your reason Do but think with your self if the Miracles I am speaking of had been forged or feigned how easie a matter had it been for the Jews that lived in those times to have discovered and disproved the fraud and falshood thereof Put the case there should at this instant go abroad a report of one in London that did great Miracles and that very frequently that cured the blind the lame the deaf the dumb the diseased of all sorts that came or were brought to him with a word speaking that he cast out Devils and raised the dead and that his followers did the like and that frequently in all parts of the Land and that these things were done in the presence of thousands of throngs and multitudes of people I pray you judg if it were not the easiest matter in the world to disprove this if it were false and feigned and whether it were possible that whole Cities and Countreys should believe it and seal their belief thereof with their blood nay consider whether the easiness and certainty of disproving this report were not like to bring them all under the greatest scorn and contempt imaginable that should publish it You see the case is parallel and I need not stay to apply it 't is strange to observe that the Jews of those times whose hearts were ready to burst with envy and malice at the success of the Gospel never publickly objected the forging or feigning of those Miracles by which it was confirmed Yea 't is farther observable that the Heathens themselves and the great ones amongst them too did openly assent to the reality thereof We find it in true Records how Tiberius himself upon a Letter from Pilate concerning Jesus of the Miracles he wrought and of the manner of his Death and Resurrection did move in the Senate of Rome that he might be admitted amongst their gods and though they refused the motion because as some say it was not first moved by themselves or as others say because if

St. Winifred vowing Virginity was wooed by a Kings Son To make her escape she pretends to dress her for he found her much unready and to return again but out of a back-door she goes and makes towards the Church on the side of a Hill she is overtaken by her Suitor whose love was turn'd into rage and she continuing in her obstinacy he cut off her head and there rose up a Well which still bears her name The head tumbles down into the Church amongst the People St. Benno takes it up seeks the murtherer and finds him wiping his bloody Sword upon the grass he pronounceth his Curse against him whereupon he falls down dead St. Benno often kissing the Head joyns it to the Body covers it with his Mantle and goes to the Altar to say Mass that done to the Body he returns and begins a Sermon and prays for the Virgin whereto the People say Amen Presently the Virgin riseth up as if it were from sleep wipes her face from dust and sweat and goes to the Church to give thanks Only where the section was made there was a circle like a white Thred all her life St. Clare a Noble English man to avoid Marrying a noble and beautiful Virgin runs away to France there a Lady falls in love with him to scape her he leaves the Monastry he was in this turns her kindness into fury she sends two Murtherers who cut off his head he riseth streight and with his hands takes up his Head carries it unto a Fountain into which he cast it thence he takes it again and carries it unto the Oratory of his Cell and thence went forvvard to a little Village near the River Epta where for ought appears he ended his procession My allotted time vvill not suffer me to proceed though I have collected some scores of these Miracles and indeed there is great plenty of them to be had In one thing to conclude the Miracles of these modern Saints exceed the Miracles of Jesus or his immediate follovvers for they are recorded to have delivered Souls out of Hell-torments vvhich Jesus himself did never pretend to do Gregory the Great one of your Chief priests vvept so long for Trajan the Emperour that he obtained deliverance of his Soul from Hell although vve read he vvas charged to ask no more so great a favour for any at least that died unbaptized So St. Dunstan delivered King Edwins Soul from Infernal torments and vvhen the Devils quarrel'd vvith him about it he stopped their mouths by asking them vvhat reason they had to find fault vvith it if Christ and he thought good to pardon him St. Nicholas also delivered his ovvn Brothers Soul from Hell though it cost him Fifteen days and nights praying and weeping as St. Antonine reports Now Sir I think I am even vvith you in point of Miracles and must tell you that we Jews however we are charged with Infidelity are not such Infidels or Ideots rather to believe a reality in any of these Stories Surely the Almighty Power would not trifle thus with mortals These are therefore either errant Forgeries or else devillish Atchievements and we cannot but think the same of the Miracles of Christ and his Disciples because the one are recorded and received by you as well as the other And therefore they are no proof that the Testimony of Jesus was Divine or that he is the Messiah Father S. sate all this while as I could perceive very uneasily and when the Rabbi had ended he never looked up nor made one word of reply but his countenance as well as his silence did argue him full of confusion and disturbance in his mind I looked upon Mr. B. and shook my head I fear'd occasion might be given these Jews to triumph if the Conference ended thus and that they would be hardened themselves and would also harden others in their unbelief and prejudice against the Christian Faith wherefore I hoped that Mr. B. would take up the argument and confute the Rabbi's cavils Nor was I disappointed for anon he rose up and drew nearer the Table and said Sirs you have greatly obliged me in permitting me to be present hitherto in the capacity of a Hearer and you will further oblige me if you will permit me now there has been so long a silence to interpose a little as a Speaker As my Discourse is not premeditated so it shall not be prolix The Argument this worthy person hath urged to prove that Jesus our Lord and Saviour is the Christ is of greater weight than to be so easily blown away As you have already granted his Major so I question not but you will also grant his Minor Proposition when I shall make it manifest that there is a vast difference or disproportion betwixt the pretended Miracles that you have gleaned out of some latter Writings and the real Miracles that were done by Jesus our Lord and his immediate followers as they are recorded in the Scripture As for the former falshood and forgery is ingraven upon them in capital Letters This will appear if you consider how the report of these Miracles comes not forth till many years after they are done or there is no mention of a competent number of credible persons that were witnesses of the doing of them Besides the greatest number of Christians either never heard or never approved of any such Miracles yea there is nothing they have more disowned both by word and writing than the Legends of such fabulous Wonders they have always accounted them as a subtle device of Satan the old Serpent to disparage the Christian Religion and the wicked policy of a certain Sect amongst them to uphold an Antichristian faction Let it not stumble you that I speak of Sects and Factions amongst us Christians they are found in all Religions they are with you Jews and they were of old with your Fathers who were divided and crumbled into Sects and Parties such as the Pharisees Sadduces Essenes Herodians and the like With us Christians there is a great Sect or Faction of those who are commonly called Papists or Roman-Catholicks who have made the greatest schism or rent that ever was in the Christian Church who anathematize and curse all those that are not of their Faction or Communion and although they are numerous and pretend to be the Catholick Church and do fill Spain and Portugal and some other Countrys with which it may be you have been most conversant yet they are but few comparatively that is in comparison of other Christians that are in the Western and Eastern parts of the World as the Protestants of several Kingdoms and Commonwealths the Moscovites the Greeks the Abassines the Armenians the Copties the Circassians the Mengressians the Georgians and the like 'T is then with this Popish Sect only that these fictitious Miracles are found the generality of Christians do openly declare that Miracles are long since ceased nor was there any need of their continuance

they received him they must renounce their other gods yet the Emperour persisted in his opinion of Jesus and gave the Christians great liberty all his days Yea the Turks acknowledg Jesus our Saviour to be sent of God and that he confirmed his Mission by Miracles and upbraid the Jews for not believing God by his Prophet Jesus and Mahomet threatneth judgment against them for it in his Alchoran saying that Jesus Christ was the Word and Power of God sent to convince the World by Miracles That he was born of a Virgin conceived without an earthly Father by Divine inspiration that he cured all manner of Diseases and raised the dead to life again That he was taken at length into Heaven and shall come again Thus much of our Faith is confest by those Infidels I could go forward but that I see the time is well nigh expired that you allowed for this Conference and therefore I shall not be guilty of a farther absurdity but I beg your pardon for that I have already committed by an unrequested interposing in your serious debate And for a close I must tell you Sir that you must yield the Conclusion in this Gentlemens Argument or else deny his major proposition which yet you say is founded upon the greatest reason or else you must fly to the evasion of your Fathers which is That Jesus our Lord did indeed work Miracles but it was by the power of the Devil And to say this pardon the expression is no less than Blasphemy It is in effect to say That the Devil is God and to ascribe the Attributes and Prerogative of God unto him For if Satan can do such Miracles without controul to perswade poor mortals to an entertainment of error and to delude the World who have no sufficient means as was said before to discover the delusion then it plainly follows that he is a God in Power and the Almighty Governour of the World or at least that God hath so little mercy or justice or care of mankind as to give them to the power of the Devil to be remedilesly deluded by him And he that will believe this rather than the Christian Faith deserves to perish in his blasphemy and infidelity I have done when I have made this one request to you That you will please to favour me with such another meeting and I shall hope by the assistance of that Spirit which proceeds from the Father and the Son which three are one God the same in substance equal in Power and Glory I say by his assistance and by other Arguments and by those taken from the writings of Moses and the Prophets and some of your own Rabbinical Authors clearly and convincingly to demonstrate That Jesus is the Messiah yea the only begotten Son of God and the Saviour of the World L. the Jew was much affected as I did perceive with Mr. B's close and warm Discourse and indeed what with the matter and his manner of delivering it I think we were all affected more or less he turns to his friend and desires him by all means to accept of this Gentlemans motion and appoint another meeting The Rabbi made a low bow to Mr. B. and said Sir I heartily thank you for your plain and ingenuous Discourse and I willingly acknowledg that I have received more information from it than from any person or Author that ever I yet conversed with yea what if I should say Within a little you have perswaded me to be a Christian I must not conceal that it hath been the opinion of some of our Learned men That the Messias is come and that for our sins he lyes concealed I have been often staggered in my self when I have thought of this matter I dare not shut my eyes against clear light but open them as wide as I can Therefore Sir on this day fortnight at the same hour I shall gladly meet you and if it may be I am content that this house in which we now are should be the place only I beg leave to bring one or two of my Brethren with me and yet I desire also that we may be private and that not above the number of three or four at most be present besides our selves I told them my House was at their service and that I was rejoyced to see so good an effect of the past Conference I called for a bottle of Sack they drank in a friendly manner to one another so L. and his friend took their leave When they were gone Father S. applied himself to Mr. B. and thanked him for his seasonable interposition and desired his farther acquaintance I must said he confess to you That I am one of those that you call Roman-Catholicks but I was not aware that our Church by the Miracles she approves of and allows to be wrought in her did give such a stab to the Christian Faith as I now find it doth I confess I have been long of opinion that those Miracles of our Saints that are so much magnified amongst us are most of them false and fabulous And I remember that I have read in Ludovicus Vives a learned Writer of our own how he calls the Golden Legend a History unworthy of the Saints and that the Author had a brazen face Yea he says expresly that the lives of the Saints are corrupted with abundance of lyes and that the Authors did set down not what the Saints did but what themselves would have had them done Mr. B. understanding that Father S. was a Roman-Catholick desired his pardon that he had spoke so keenly against the Church and Pope of Rome adding that he saw a necessity of it for the undeceiving of the Jew And Sir said he give me leave to tell you that your Church by her lying Wonders and forged Miracles hath greatly disserved and disparaged the Faith of Christ and gone about to invalidate the chiefest argument as you your self acknowledged for the confirmation of it And let me add that the Jews are farther prejudiced against Christianity by the Papists amongst whom they mostly converse especially in these Western parts of the World and that is by your Adoration of Images the Host the Cross and the Relicks of the Saints for they are great Zealots in the second Commandment and utter enemies to all Idolatry To which may be added your debarring the general use of the New Testament which is the probable means of the obtaining the knowledg of Christ and the Christian Religion Father S. replied that though he was a Roman Catholick yet withal he was a Christian and I think said he 't is high time for me and all Christians besides to think of renouncing Communion with that Church whose principles and practises shall encourage men to continue Jews and Infidels and as the Jew said That within a little he was perswaded to be a Christian so could he say that within a little he was perswaded to be a Protestant Upon this they take leave of one another promising to meet again at the time before mentioned Sir I judged this Narrative would not be unacceptable to you If any thing occurs in the next meeting that is worthy your notice it shall be readily communicated by Yours in many Obligations N. H. FINIS