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	faith_n	infallibility_n	3,493	5	11.0935	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56698	A sermon preached on Saint Mark's Day MDCLXXXVI in the parish church of St. Paul's Covent Garden by Symon Patrick ...	Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.	1686 (1686)	Wing P844; ESTC R7041	18,815	51

were that as a Storm of Wind troubles the whole Sea upon which it falls so these men disturbed the Church of Christ every where throughout the World For I think I may safely affirm That there was not so much as one Church mentioned in the Holy Writings but was disturbed if not in danger to be overturned by these Blasts of strange Doctrine which like a Tempest raged in all places where the Gospel was preached No body can be ignorant how the Church of Jerusalem the very Mother Church was troubled by men that pressed a very dangerous errour upon them For they who taught Except men were circumcised after the manner of Moses they could not be saved came from Judaea as you read xv Act. 1. In the Church of Rome it self there were those who taught that men must be justified by the works of the Law as appears from St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans In the Corinthian Church there were those who denied even the Doctrine of the Resurrection and thereby went about to subvert the Christian Faith The Churches of Galatia were so infected with Judaical Errours that they were almost removed from him that called them unto the Grace of Christ into another Gospel i. Gal. 6. The Philippians as I said before had Dogs among them Evil-workers who were of the Concision as the Apostle Sarcastically calls them iii. Philip. 2. The Colossians stood in need of a caution against vain Philosophy and such false reasonings as under a colour of humility seduced men unto the Worshipping of Angels ii Coloss 8 18. And so I might lead you through all the rest till we come to the seven famous Churches of Asia unto whom our Lord Christ himself directed particular Letters after he went to Heaven From which we learn that there were such impudent Deceivers among them as pretended to the Gift of Prophecy and yet seduced Christ's Servants to Idolatry ii Revel 20. In short there were depths of Satan v. 24. profound Mysteries of Diabolical deceit to overthrow the Faith of Christ And if it were thus immediately after our Saviour's Ascension to Heaven and while the Apostles were alive who were full of the Holy Ghost no wonder that the Church was afterward infested with divers Heresies as appears by the first four General Councils wherein they were condemned Particularly this Church of Ephesus and those in Asia depending on it whom S. Paul forewarns of this when he took his leave of them and told them they should see his face no more that after his departure grievous Wolves would enter in among them not sparing the Flock also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw Disciples after them xx Act. 29 30. And therefore it ought still to be the less wonder to any of us if the condition of the Church be the same now at this great distance from the Apostolical times since men were so bold as in the very face of the Apostles at least as soon as their Backs were turned on any place to contradict their Doctrine and teach another Gospel From which we may evidently draw these three Conclusions I. First There is no cause to forsake that Church of which we are Members or so much as to have the worse opinion of it because there are contentions in it about matters of Religion They that have had a principal hand in raising Disputes and making Divisions upon them are the men that object this to us and make it an Argument against us But without any reason for when they have said all that they can we have as much Unity of Faith among us as they had in the first Churches planted by the Apostles themselves In which there were several Winds of Doctrine stirring and many Errors which made as great a disturbance then if not greater than hath been made among us Who in the main Articles of Faith are all of one mind And our Differences are in lesser and secondary things which belong not to the Primitive Doctrines of the Christian Religion Which whosoever opposes we owne him not but look upon him as in a Faction against the Church Which is not thereby broken nor the Unity of its Faith destroyed For though some men have preached strange Doctrines and drawn Disciples after them which is no more than they did in the Apostles days yet they have not prevailed against this Church nor overturned its Faith But as boisterous Waves to keep to the Metaphor in the Text beating against a Rock dissolve into Froth so have these Blasts of contrary Doctrine made a vain and fruitless disturbance among us Some looser parts of the people have been carried away to their own shame not ours while the main Body of our Church like an unmoveable Rock still persists in firm Unity in as great Unity as was antiently in any of the Apostolical Churches and that 's abundantly sufficient II. Secondly We may further conclude from what hath been said that if we knew where to find an Infallible Guide and Judge it would not put an end to Controversies nor hinder errors from springing up and pestering the Church of Christ For when there was such an Authority it could not do this which is desired All allow the Apostles to have been Infallible and yet you see there were various winds of Doctrine and some of them very dangerous in the Churches which they planted Whereby those Churches were divided into Parties which by the Apostolical Authority could not be perfectly united St. Paul for instance interposes his Authority with the Church of Corinth in his first Epistle for the making up all divisions which he heard were among them 1 Cor. i. 10 11 c. And yet notwithstanding it appears by his second Epistle xi 2 3 4 13 14. that they still continued so that their minds were in danger to be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ And the Epistle of Clemens to that Church not long after informs us that these divisions and contentions grew into a kind of Sedition one against another More than this the Author of our faith Christ Jesus though he spake with the highest Authority yet did not by this put an end to the disputes that were between the Pharisees and Saducees and other Sects among the Jews No it was so far from having this effect that the Church of the Jews who were instructed by this Infallible Teacher fell into the most damnable error not only rejecting him but putting him to death Yes will some say because they did not own his Infallibility True But can any other Teacher though he could justly pretend to this Prerogative hope to prevail with men when the Saviour of the world could not Will any man or Church expect to be universaly acknowlledged and make an end of all differences when the Son of God could not meet with such regard and acceptance in the world Is it possible for any mens Infallibility could we suppose it to be better attested

than the Lord Christ's was Can the Disciples convince men more than their Master did If that be a hopeless thing then there will be Controversies even about this Infallibility Which leads to the Third thing III. It appears plainly from hence that God never intended all errors should be kept out of the Church by an Infallible Authority No directly contrary St. Paul saith 1 Cor. xi 19. There must be heresies that they who are approved may be made manifest That is God thinks it just that men should be permitted to follow their own foolish conceits when they will not be guided by the plain directions of his holy Gospel By which means sincere and upright men are discovered and all men are tried whether they will obey the truth or turn aside unto unrighteousness There must be a tryal made of men and therefore such order must not be taken as to make it impossible there should be any heresies No God hath left it more than possible there should for there must be Heresies that there may be approbation made of Believers whether they will sincerly adhere to the plain truths of Christian Religion or part with them for pleasing and gainful errors Besides if God had intended to prevent this by establishing an Infallible Guide to whom all should resort He would have declared this intention the most plainly of all other things And have told us also where to find such an Authority and not have left this to be controverted and disputed which was intended to be the end of Controversies More especially if any one particular Church was to have this authority over all other Churches it would have been most needful that this should have been so clearly taught as to have put it out of all doubt For we can see no reason not so much as that of convenience why one Church should have it and all others want it but in reason every Church should have it if it were to be had that men might not be put to the trouble of going far for Infallible direction And as for that Church which now pretends to it there is the clearest evidence that no Church anciently thought it to have more Authority than other Churches who lookt upon themselves as her equals I speak of the Church of Rome whose Determinations and Traditions in matters of Doctrine were rejected by St. Cyprian Firmilianus and the rest of the African Bishops who write to the Pope as every one knows who reads St. Cyprian's Epistles not as their Superiour but as their good Brother their Collegue their fellow Priest rebuking him with much sharpness taxing him for pretending vainly * V. Epist LXXII LXXV Edit Oxon. to Apostolical Authority where he had none and for not conforming himself to the rule of Truth and Peace delivered by the Apostle and in downright terms affirming that every Bishop in the administration of his Church hath power to act according to his own judgment and that none could impose Laws upon another And as for matters of Ceremony all the Bishops of the East refused to submit to him challenging as much Authority from St. John as the Roman Bishop did from St. Peter This is notorious in the famous Question about Easter and sufficient to show the truth of what Aeneas Sylvius could not but confess before he came to be a Pope that little respect was had to the Roman Church before the Council of Nice And that Council expresly decreed the ancient Customs should be every where observed By which Antioch and Alexandria claimed the same Authority over the Churches subject to their Jurisdiction that the Roman Bishop did within his Diocess And thus it continued for many years after nor do the greater part by far of the Christian World at this day own any such Authority over them as the Bishop of Rome now challenges Let us not therefore be shaken by this Wind of doctrine no more than by any other wherewith this Church hath been troubled For there is no such Infallible Authority left in the Church for the deciding all Controversies much less can that Church lay the sole Claim to that Authority there is left in it or if it could justly pretend to the highest it would not be able to do what a far more miraculous Authority could not effect and there are other means of unity and peace prescribed by God which if men will not embrace there must be discords and dissentions whereby the integrity or falseness of every mans heart will be discovered What Means those are you shall see anon when I have spoken a few words of the Second Observation which now follows II. It is a childish thing to be unsettled in Religion because of this difference or contrariety of Doctrine wherewith the Church is at any time troubled So the Apostle might well call it because there being as I have lately shown you a form of wholsome words left by them in every Church which they planted a Summary of Sound Doctrine called the Faith once delivered to the Saints there could be no reason that any men who had this deposited with them should be unresolved what to believe and unsettled by the Preaching of other Doctrine but their instability proceeded merely from the weakness of their understanding and the strength of their passions These two things are remarkable in little Children as their understandings are weak so their passions are strong and their desires violent From whence it comes to pass that they are not only credulous but fickle and new-fangled as we speak delighting in that to day which they throw away to morrow These make them rash and hasty apt to quarrel one with another about little differences and dispose them to be taken with empty shows and pageantry with things that affect the senses and have a glistering appearance though void of all inward goodness and solid worth and usefulness In short while we are Children in understanding we are naturally injudicious and consequently inconstant We do not judge aright of things that differ and so are carried uncertainly to and fro as the Apostle here speaks from one thing to another and many times from better to worse especially when we meet with confident people who easily impose upon us This is a very dangerous estate and therefore it highly concerns us to get out of it by growing in knowledge and wisdom imitating little Children only in our endeavours to be without guile but labouring as the Apostle speaks in understanding to be men and to have a thorough knowledge of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus This St. Peter prescribes as a remedy against unstedfastness in the conclusion of his second Epistle Ye therefore Beloved seeing ye know these things beware lest ye also being carried away by the errour of the wicked fall from your stedfastness but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Who it is most certain hath not left us in doubt