Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	believe_v	divine_a	revelation_n	3,649	5	9.8192	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67621	The natural fanatick, or, Reason consider'd in its extravagancy in religion and (in some late treatises) usurping the authority of the Church and councils by John Warly ...	Warly, John, d. 1679.	1676 (1676)	Wing W876; ESTC R15139	52,674	234

of a visible Church at any time since it was founded if not the being of any truly so called For that principle which obligeth a man to believe that all Councils have been fallible will never put him out of doubt whether the profession of the Church at any time was agreeable to the truth of Religion For seeing the Reasoners rule admits of nothing as certain further than it is knowable by some faculty of the Soul independent form Divine assistance it is impossible that he can have any more than conjectural knowledg Reason being not able to inform him of a Criterion of a true Church by its own evidence but by Revelation which says the true faith shall not fail Now that this true faith is in a doubtful case must be determin'd by those who have power from God to make a certain discovery of it That which is said is so agreeable to the Apostolical rule no Scripture is of private interpretation which must be confest by the Reasoner though there was no Sacred Authority to confirm that Canon that it is only necessary that objections are remov'd The first of which may be this that by the delivery of Reason in private persons to be determin'd by that which prevails in a multitude is to make or set up a Rational Papacy For as each Member of the Roman Church is no further esteem'd Orthodox than he delivers up his private reason either to the Pope alone or as he is in juncto with a general Council which is said to have such power to determine infallibly though the interpretation make Scripture to be no Scripture So every Christian is to be esteem'd Orthodox or Haeretical according to the sense of the Council which hath power to interpret and make his reason to be no reason No such conclusion can follow and if it did it would not break the force of the arguments which confirm the former positions For suppose the Definitions of Councils as conclusions which Reason draws from the premises nor as none can be so rash as to say Reason makes the conclusion true which was so before only it could not commend it to the will and understanding as an object of natural faith till the two propositions were brought as witnesses of the truth of the conclusion or that Logick creates truth but only assists the invention in its search for it so by the same reason none may say that Councils make Articles of true Religion though they are the means of their discovery But let this objection be consider'd as it relates to Papal Decretals The name Pope will never affright the sober man out of that reverence which is due to just Authority Councils and holy Synods or if it be found to be so in a single person For if it could be prov'd as some have affirm'd that the Pope was and is the Church Virtual it would be beyond dispute that infallibility did at some time since Christian Religion was in the World sit in the Chair or at least may do when fundamental controversies arise which threaten the Churches ruine without the imputation of making Scripture to be no Scripture by his Authority It may be safely said by any Christian that he would not give assent to several Doctrines which are urg'd as matters of faith necessarily to be believ'd for the attaining Salvation did not the Church declare them to be so yet the same person on the same principle is not oblig'd to think that which is so defin'd by the Church is made true by its definition Hitherto I have us'd this comparison which makes the determinations of Councils as conclusions of a Syllogism made by the Heads of the World to illustrate the answer to an objection but it being so apposit to another design it shall be us'd to shew that the Reasoner in a Council is not capable of making a Syllogism from mere natural Topicks to demonstrate the truth of that which is debated This will appear to be true from the consideration of the Structure of a Syllogism which leads us to the knowledg of a proposition which was less known by others which are more evident and easie to be understood For the medium which is an ingredient of both propositions is as clear and as certain as a common notion and the truth of the conclusion depends on it which if mistaken makes the Syllogism a fallacy Suppose therefore the Members of a Council as so many Scholasticks arguing they have no such common notions as Philosophers have by which as media they can draw conclusions Although it must be confest that the understanding by its own evidence can judg of the truth of some propositions viz. It is impossible God can do any act which implyes a contradiction c. Yet Divine Revelation is the medium by which truth in propositions which are more obscure is determined Hence it sollows that the Sanctions and Definitions of Councils must be said to be Hypothetically pronounc'd true as this saying is viz. If the Moon is Eclipsed the Earth interposeth it self between it and the Sun Not unlike this is the way of arguing in a Council which proves Christ's humanity from his Passion for if he suffereth humane nature did interpose it self else he could not suffer Now as none will say there is and always was anecessity not in the nature of the Moon but in the manner of its motion that it must be Eclipsed at some times for to say so is to confine the Almighty's wisdom to one System and to take away the possibility of the Worlds being in such a frame in which neither Sun or Moon might be Eclipsed but when it is seen to be so it is evident that the Earths interposition is the cause of that seeming defect So a Council cannot conclude the necessity of Christs being Man but Hypothetically For the Divine decrees which reason cannot know but by Revelation are as the condition or antecedent which makes Christ's humanity necessary Let not this assertion seem strange since it is impossible but that reason must be defective as it appears from the former instance as also from this consideration that the mere Reasoner cannot conclude the necessity of Christs incarnation and will be more at a loss in other mysterious matters of faith The definitions and conclusions of Councils thus hypothetically drawn are not less certain because they are such seeing the Antecedents of their propositions are matters of fact contain'd in holy Scriptures and those who discourse have Divine assistance in discerning the connexion and inferring the consequences Now the connexion and sequel is true because of the Divine direction as is already prov'd and the Antecedent viz. matters of fact is so as it appears from the miracles which confirm'd their truth which were such as reason might discern to be Divine for Reason may be allow'd a Judg in this case though not in all doubts which come under debate in a Council The reason of which is this

in a high degree who would not give up or resign his private reason to their determinations The great assertor of the Roman Church D. Stap. was not altogether mistaken when he introduc't Divine assistance to help the Church in making a Syllogism though the manner of its conveyance seems inconsistent whilst he makes the Members of it to be discursive in the premifes as mere Reasoners but infallibly assisted in the conclusion for Revelation must take place of pure natural invention in the whole matter of Religious debates That there is a necessity of the Resignation of Reason to Authority must be granted and it is urg'd by several methods Two late Authors who consider'd and examin'd humane Reason endeavour to convince men of the necessity of giving up our private reason to the publick judgment of other persons who have better means of knowing of truth than we our selves have as one expresseth it and both press it by an instance of an appeal in naturals from sense to reason This way of arguing may be perswasive but not cogent enough to evince men of the necessity of that which they design'd to prove for although it is safely concluded that the Members of Councils have better qualifications for discovery of truth than private persons yet their learning and natural endowments are not that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the foundation on which faith is laid Besides the similitude of appeals from Sense to Reason is not apposit and implies a supposition of the senses being erroneous which in strictness cannot be allow'd but let that be suppos'd it cannot well be accommodated to the case for sense and reason in man are not so much strangers as the publick Representatives of the Church in Councils are to its particular Members The same percipient is imploy'd in reason and sense and according to its different acts and objects hath distinct compellations sensual or rational as the same River takes several names from the Channels through which it runs For when the Soul perceives material impresses on the Brain without any consideration or reflex act it is call'd sensation as when it perceives a body as it is figur'd in that part which nature design'd for Phancy to be Triangular or Globular red or white or as it is represented in other figures or colours but when it deliberates and draws conclusions such as cannot be the work or result of a naked representation of the object it challengeth its just title rational Now to suppose this similitude exactly apposit is to conclude that every private person should have his Soul imployd and acting as junto which cannot be imagin'd in every particular debate of a Council as the percipient is in sensation and Reasoning More arguments might be urg'd to evince the necessity of Councils but I do not intend to be so voluminous but to pass to another inquiry concerning truth and its certainty of being so as it is in lawful Councils Satisfaction will be given to this inquiry if it is considerd that the true faith was once delivered to the Saints as St. Jude says and what that true faith is may be found in some conciliary Definitions since Christ's coming into the World and that it may be safely concluded that it is found when there is a general consent which is an infallible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and as certain as any medium in Demonstration Suppose one true opinion in Philosophy and a Thousand in which there is truth but mixt with error If they all agree in some positions it is an undoubted argument of the truth of those in which all agree This way of passing judgment on Definitions of Councils upon examination will appear as certain as that which draws conclusions from this rule Quoe in aliquo tertio conveniunt inter se conveniunt That trite saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is more than a proverbial conclusion for it is founded in reason which must conclude error hath many Moeanders and distracting paths but truth hath a narrow way in which only it self can walk And it must needs be so for this reason truth being in some Conciliary Definitions they must be as the Center in which all which are true necessarily meet If it is said that it is possible that those Definitions which are to be as a Standard to measure others may not be found the Church being defrauded or abus'd by misfortune or cunning and consequently at a loss in the search for truth as much as he who sails without a Compass This cannot be suppos'd because of the Divine promise of the preservation of the truefaith though not at all times discoverable But let it be imagin'd that some true Conciliary Definitions may be wanting then the supposition is destroy'd which implyes a Catholick consent which cannot be so call'd if but one Definition is left out Therefore it may be concluded that Truth is to be found by this Method though with as much difficulty as Archimedes discovered the Gold and the quantity of it in his Princes Crown which a Cheat had Adulterated with baser Metals Religion therefore being in its own frame and nature fitted for the severest Inquisition it will not stand in fear of the boldest Adversary Authority in its name bids the Reasoner be modest and its matter which it injoyns further commands him to be so whilst he speaks of that which transcends his understanding It may now seem proper to suggest these Arguments which seem to invalidate Authority and render it less valuable This is done by objecting the errors of Councils and the manner of their Process by Votes or Suffrages the first of which seems to insinuate to the Christian the posibility of the body of the Church being altogether disjointed and its total Apostacy with the same reason that a man may conclude that man-kind cannot be exempt from the possibility of being Cripples because that some bones have been out of their proper place and the other seems to render them more contemptible by comparing them with Processes of Courts which are purely humane both these are as easily confuted as named and may be more effectually retorted on reason as it is exercised in the several ways of Government in several ages For the former objection is removed in the precedent Disquisition and the other will appear to be weak and disabled if it is considered that Votes and Suffrages in holy Councils are as Lots in the choice of an Apostle which having infallible Direction from God may vie certainty with a Decree or any way of Election Matthias was no less an Apostle neither was his Authority more doubted with which he was invested by Lots than that of the other Apostles who had an oral mission from Christ himself I might further assert Ecclesiastical Authority by shewing the safety of relying on the Authority of Councils with a more firm assent than History or the humane Law-giver can challenge For the Historian I mean the profane commits not Annals to