Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	authority_n	believe_v	infallibility_n	2,951	5	11.3667	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A48817	The difference between the Church and Court of Rome, considered in some reflections on a dialogue entituled, A conference between two Protestants and a Papist / by the author of the late seasonable discourse.	Lloyd, William, 1627-1717.	1674 (1674)	Wing L2677; ESTC R18276	29,803	41

frequent repetition of the Statutes against Provisors in the time of our Ancestors and applied as a competent Security against those Usurpations of the Pope which were said by the seasonable Discourse to tend so much to the impoverishing of this Nation But in the mean time the Author doth not consider that the frequency of those Statutes sheweth as much their insufficiency as the making them argues the good will of the Legislators nor is it probable that any Remedy can be sufficient when the Supremacy of the Pope is acknowledged and where the whole belief of the Professors is concluded in that one rule of believing as the Church believes For the Pope being supposed to be the Head of the Church what Interpreters of the Churches Faith can they meet with equal to the Head of it Not to speak of those who believe in the infallibility lodged in the Pope General Councils are not every day assembled nor is it probable the Pope will permit them if likely to contradict or lessen his Authority In their absence what is there which can be put in ballance with the Reverence given to St. Peters Chair amongst the Professors of that Religion Shall the opinion of one or two Priests stand in competition with the Pope Can any man believe this plausible Doctrine of the power of Kings and contempt of the Pope's in comparison of theirs can have any other aim or effect than to procure a connivance or admittance of that Religion which whatever the opinion of some few Professors may be and what their sincerity is may be another question when it recovers its strength must turn like the Countrey-man's snake to sting those who with so much charity and kindness shall cherish and favour it To make this whole matter obvious to a common understanding let us suppose some loyal person stumbling at the irregular claims of the Pope and confusion and miseries brought into the world by that exorbitance and upon the conviction of that one Point which for its plainness he best understands and for its influence and effect upon his secular Interests he most studiously minds holding fast the loyal Principles of the Church of England since no other batteries can shake him comes Father N. and tells him he is in a great mistake to think that the great exaltation of the Pope's Authority is so necessary a Doctrine that for his own part he doth not believe it Well that stumbling-block being removed there is a Convert made to the Romish Church perhaps eminent enough to lead many others by his Example at least it is highly probable he wants not influence upon his Wife and Children if not others of his Relations and Acquaintance to pervert them also probably without conditioning so severely for their loyalty But what will become even of that capitulation when after perhaps some years of confirmation in all the Romish Opinions and particularly that of submission to the Churches Authority death or the censure of the Pope may have removed or a preferment have converted F. N. or such loyal Casuist For why may he not change his Opinion as Father Cressy did his in that very particular who in the first Edition of his Exomologesis made a Protestation of his Duty and Obedience which is corrected in the second And in any of these cases our Proselyte shall find himself entangled with the new Doctrines of his Confessor who in a season when Factions of State or other Circumstances prepare men for such dangerous Doctrines as they are too subtle to avow them or at least press them unseasonably shall urge the submission to the Churches opinion and then the quotations of so many Doctors which are now by our Author rejected and sleighted in comparison of one or two plausible opinions shall sound loud in concurrance with the Head of the Church who besides the credit of his own determination has the prescription of so many Ages the actual deposition of Princes in all parts of Europe from time to time and the decrees of Universal Councils to justifie his claim In vain shall the Penitent alledge to his Confessor that Father N. was of that opinion The Reply will be easie that Father N. was a good yea and a learned man in things where he agrees with the Church but still he was a man and subject to error and therefore not to be credited when he disagreed with the Church of which the Pope Colledge of Cardinals General Councils and so many Doctors who have wrote before and after Father N. are better and more credible Expositors than he It will be hard for any body to disentangle himself from this Argument if he have once surrendered his Faith implicitely to that of the Roman Church or as we have shewed under the usual Obligations been engaged in its Communion And if a person of so remarkable loyalty as we in this Instance suppose our Proselyte to be cannot be able to withstand and secure himself what shall we suppose of those his Relations and Acquaintance whom his Authority and Example turned to the Church of Rome perhaps with less Circumspection I have many Reasons to believe F. N. to be a very honest man as I know him to be ingenuous and learned and therefore stand amaz'd to see him offer to the World a Proposal so unreasonable as this is If he be in earnest as I must suppose him to be his Address to one of our Church whom he would bring over to his Part will run in this or such like Form Those only belong to the Fold of Christ who are under the conduct of the Universal Pastor his Holiness the Pope and they alone are sound in the Faith and consequently capable of Salvation who believe the Doctrine received by the Catholick that is the Roman Church It is therefore necessary for you as you tender the eternal welfare of your Soul religiously to obey this Pastor and believe all the Proposals of this Church But notwithstanding though this Pastor and as I shall presently demonstrate this Church have solemnly declared that Princes may be Excommunicated and then deprived of their Dominions by his Holiness you must by no means believe that damnable Doctrine and though you are sure to be excommunicated for your stubbornness therein as F. N. at this day is for this only crime you must endure it rather than comply with those false and rebellious Tenets that subvert the Laws destroy the Peace and endanger the Sacred Persons of Soveraign Princes In short upon pain of damnation you must be in Communion with the Roman Church and yet under the same penalty you must be content to be excommunicated you must believe as the Church believes and yet you must not believe so Before I leave this Point I must beg leave to add one Observation which may be useful to the determining how far it will consist with Prudence to hearken to the Proposition made for the encouraging by the relaxation of Penalties those