Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	build_v	peter_n	rock_n	30,238	5	9.7701	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66213	The missionarie's arts discovered, or, An account of their ways of insinuation, their artifices and several methods of which they serve themselves in making converts with a letter to Mr. Pulton, challenging him to make good his charge of disloyalty against Protestants, and an historical preface, containing an account of their introducing the heathen gods in their processions, and other particulars relating to the several chapters of this treatise.	Wake, William, 1657-1737.; Hickes, George, 1642-1715.	1688 (1688)	Wing W246A; ESTC R4106	113,409	130

of the Book of Judith which for some time seem'd to him Apocryphal till the Council of Nice declar'd it otherwise now tho' I doubt not it was his design to establish the Authority both of a General Council and the Book of Judith by this one instance yet he hath unhappily fail'd in both the confidence with which he backs this Affirmation being all the strength of it for it was impossible there should be any truth in it seeing when the Council of Nice sate St. Jerome was either not born or but two years old and the Council made no Decree at all about the Books of Scripture yet doth that witty Author venture these three untruths in one Chapter as if because setting a good face on the matter prevails with the people of his Communion who are kept from examining what they hear affirmed we must therefore believe all he saith with the same implicit Faith. But when Baronius and Bellarmine those Champions of the Church of Rome care not by what means they establish the Doctrine of the Pope's power which is the character given of them by a learned man of their own Communion their unfaithfulness being so obvious that a Franciscan Fryer yet living observes that the great Annalist Baronius seems to have had no other end in writing his twelve laborious Tomes than to heap together how well or ill soever all the Topicks he could imagin for asserting to the Bishop of Rome the universal Monarchy when we find that Pillar of the Cause pointing out the way to the inferior Missionaries 't is no wonder if an exact imitation of these great Examples be affected by them And indeed this disposition is so natural to the Guides of that Church that no sooner can a Proselyte breath among them but he is running in the same path thus Mr. Cressy very seriously attempts to perswade the world that when examination is made of Miracles in order to the Canonization of any Saint the Testimony of women will not be received for which he gives this reason because naturally imagination is stronger in them than judgment and whatever is esteemed by them to be pious is easily concluded by them to be true but though there be very much weight in this reason yet the matter of Fact is so notoriously false that there is scarce any of their noted Saints in the process of whose Canonization we do not find the Oaths of women pass current nay sometimes without any other Testimony to confirm them for as his Right Honorable and Learned Answerer observes the single Testimony of the Nurse was the only evidence of the first Miracle that St. Benedict Mr. Cressy's great Patron wrought and in the Canonization of Ignatius Loyala the Founder of the Jesuits the Attestation of Isabella Monialis was taken to confirm his working Miracles and yet no doubt this plausible Assertion of Mr. Cressy's passes for truth among very many who being destitute of opportunities to discover the mistake yield firm credit to it because it is confidently advanc'd There is nothing more frequent in these Gentlemens mouths than ALL THE FATHERS are of this opinion ANTIQVITY is VNANIMOVS in this point and such like bold expressions though they deserve as much credit as Mr. Cressy's pretence and very little more For though Mr. Mumford the Jesuite tells us that the Text of St. Paul Let a Bishop be the Husband of one Wife was only a permission at that time when it was impossible to find fit men for that office who were single an Assertion perfectly false that the Apostle would have no man who married a second Wife be made a Bishop and that the Text is so interpreted by the COVNCILS and FATHERS VNANIMOVSLY St. Chrysostome will tell him that this Text is so far from being only a permission of Marriage for a time that it is designed for encreasing the esteem of it and if he pleases to consult him in another Homily upon the same Subject he will find that the interpretation he calls ridiculous is given by that great Divine the Apostle saith he forbiddeth excess because among the Jews the Association of a second Marriage was lawfull and to have two Wives at once so that all the Fathers we see are not unanimous in his Exposition though he is pleas'd to say they are and if we are as he tells us in the same place ridiculous in interpreting the words of Saint Paul in this Sense that a Bishop should have but one Wife at once we have very good Authority for being so though his Consideration or Sincerity was but small when he tells us ALL the Fathers are VNANIMOVS of his side and that 't is ridiculous to dissent from him With the same briskness we are told by the IRISH Animadverter on the Bishop of Bath and Wells's Sermon that Melchisedeck's Bread and Wine is own'd by all to be a Type of the Sacrament I suppose he meant ALL of his Communion for he must be very ignorant not to know that the Protestants deny it and yet by his telling the Bishop that he durst not meddle with that point because of this VNIVERSAL Consent he seems to extend his ALL beyond the narrow ●ounds of the Roman Church But we may well expect such a spirit of Confidence in the Members of a Church in whose RVLE OF FAITH the COVNCIL OF TRENT we find this Assertion that the ancient Fathers when they gave the Eucharist to Infants did not teach it was necessary to Salvation that they should receive it An affirmation which we may in some sort excuse the Fathers of that Council for being so hardy as to advance their Skill in Antiquity being so very small that it is more than probable very few of them knew the contrary though a little more modesty might have been expected than so rashly to pronounce against the whole current of the Fathers and the universal Tradition of the Church for some Ages nay against the decree of Pope Innocent the First who as Saint Augustine assures us taught that little children cannot have eternal Life without Baptism and the participation of the Body and Blood of Christ with which place when Mr. Campion was press'd he after the example of this Council as positively answer'd there is no such Decree though the very work of Saint Augustine was brought and this passage shew'd him With the very same Sincerity doth Bellarmine affirm that the WHOLE CHVRCH and ALL the Greek and Latin Fathers teach that when Christ said upon this Rock will I build my Church he thereby meant Peter and Alexandre Natalis that the Fathers with a NEMINE CONTRA DICENTE interpret the Rock to be that Apostle there needs but very little reading to confute this notwithstanding all the assurance it is back't with for not onely particular Fathers tell us that when our Lord said upon that Rock he meant upon the Faith of the Confession Peter had

then made insomuch that Saint Ambrose is positive it is not of the flesh but of the Faith of Peter that this is said but that main stream of Antiquity runs this way to establish that exposition which St. Austin so plainly gives that the Church was established upon that Faith which Peter had then confessed when he said thou art Christ the Son of the living God nay so far are the Ancient Writers from being unanimous in this point that there are three several Opinions among them some and but very few affirming it was Peter's Person in the same sense as all the Apostles are called the Foundation of the Church others that it was himself CHRIST designed by the word ROCK and the third that which I have mention'd that it was the Faith then confessed by St. Peter which hath near threescore Fathers and Councils to authorise it where the first hath hardly six judge now on which side the NEMINE CONTRA DICENTE lies By this time I think it pretty evident that these Gentlemen are too much akin to those who are desirous to be Teachers of the Law but understand not or at least mind not what they say nor whereof they affirm which makes the Advice of one of themselves in another case very seasonable who tells us that this huffing humour is caution enough to any reasonable man to take care for if it be our duty to take nothing in Religion upon trust it is certainly of very great concern that we be suspicious in trusting those whose insincerity is so very great that they are not asham'd to publish the most palpable Vntruths what is to be expected then from their discourses with ignorant and unwary men especially in private where they are in no such danger of being expos'd CHAP. III. Of their Slanders WHen the Prophet Jeremiah was in the name of the Lord endeavouring to Reform the Corruptions of the JEWISH CHURCH he complains that his enemies said one to another Come and let us devise devices against him and let us smite him with the Tongue Report say they and we will report it which made him give that Caution and Advice to those who obeyed the Voice of the LORD by him Take ye heed every one of his Neighbour and trust ye not in any Brother for every Brother will utterly supplant and every Neighbour will walk in Slanders whose Case being so very like that of the REFORMED CHURCHES both in the work he undertook REFORMATION and in the opposition which was made to him by CALUMNIES and SLANDERS his Advice is as seasonable to us as to the Reforming Jews we having to deal with a politick sort of men who notwithstanding the WISE Solomon hath pronounc'd that he that uttereth Slanders is a fool establish it as a Maxim which they are very diligent observers of THAT IT IS NO MORTAL SIN TO CALVMNIATE FALSLY TO PRESERVE ONES HONOVR like the Hereticks St. Augustine speaks of who not being able to defend their Cause set themselves to revile their adversaries spreading the most false reports that seeing they cannot evade the force or obscure the evidence of the truth contained in the holy Scriptures they may render those who preach it odious by reporting all the evil of them they can invent I know this is a severe charge and will be look't upon even by many sober and impartial men as uncharitable but if they can either prove that the passages I relate are false or the Authors I cite who maintain it lawfull are forged and corrupted I am willing to lie under that imputation But on the other side if they prove to be truly cited I must desire of the Reader that their Character of religious men and their formal pretences to sincerity may be look't upon as indeed they are but a fair covering and cloak for their designs and I CHALLENGE the WHOLE BODY of them to prove one particular Instance or Citation false wherein I do not as Mr. Pulton in his Remarks charge those Slanders on them which are only the additions which a story gets by running from hand to hand for I know it is possible a man may relate things that are false without being guilty of the Slander by being deceived in the account which was given him of those matters but when men make it their business to defame and assert the lawfulness of doing it by false Reports I think it is no piece of injustice or want of Charity to call them SLANDERERS I am not insensible that the generality of men are apt to reason with themselves that surely Religious Men cannot be of such sear'd Consciences as to damn themselves by such malicious backbiting but in this case such a reflexion is ungrounded for their great Casuists defend it to be lawfull and are so far from being apprehensive of damnation that they justifie its practice as Father Dicastillo informs us I have maintained saith he and do still maintain that Calumny when it is used against a Calumniator though grounded on absolute Falsities is not for that any mortal sin either against Justice or Charity And to prove it I have brought a cloud of our Fathers to witness it and whole Vniversities consisting of them all whom I have consulted and among others the Reverend Father John Gans Confessor to the Emperor the Reverend Father Daniel Bastele Confessor to the Arch Duke Leopold Father Henry sometimes Preceptor to those two PRINCES All the publick and ordinary Professors of the Vniversity of Vienna all the Professors of the Vniversity of Grats all the Professors of the Vniversity of Prague of all whom I have at hand the Approbations of my opinion written and sign'd with their own hands Besides that I have on my side Father Pennalossa a Jesuite and Confessor to the King of Spain Father Pillecorolli a Jesuite and many others And when this was objected to the Jesuits by the Author of the Provincial Letters in his fifteenth Letter the Answerers of that Letter where they undertake to defend themselves instead of condemning add more Authority to Father Dicastillo's Position by citing several Authors besides those mentioned before in defence of it Neither do they deny the Doctrine of Caramuel who asserts that it is a probable opinion that it is not any mortal sin to caiumniate falsly to preserve ones honour for it is maintained by above TWENTY grave Doctors so that if this Doctrine be not probable there is hardly any such in all the body of Divinity And the same is asserted by the Theses of the Jesuits at Lovain Ann. 1645. in case of calumniating and imposing false Crimes to ruine their Credit who speak ill of us Besides these Vniverslties and Divines who teach the lawfulness of Calumnies and false Reports we find it among other Rules of the Jesuits that they should be sure to put this Doctrine in Practice even against those of their own Cummunion the

another Subject but still designing to raise Devotion in the Spectators where they bring in Lewis the Thirteenth dedicating himself and Kingdom to our Lady for which they extol him in these Lines Lewis whose Virtues Fame resounds a far Lewis the just in Peace the just in War Was ne're so just as in one glorious Deed By which he did even himself exceed And hath a Rule to other Princes given Off'ring his Kingdom to the Q. of Heaven And thus having introduc'd false Gods to honour the Virgin in the next place they endeavour the same by false Assertions for Victorie and the Virtues carrying Palms and crown'd with Laurels expose upon seven Tablets the great Actions of the present French King which he performed for the honour of the Virgin. But because the World would not easily believe that the ensuing Particulars were undertaken with that Design they pretend a revelation of it which like the old Heathen Oracles is deliver'd in verse An Inscription for Lewis the Great While the whole World his mighty Actions sees It wonders at th' amazing Prodigies Before unheard of but the true Design It cannot find because it can't Divine That lay unknown to all from all conceal'd Till Heav'n applauding it the cause reveal'd He sought not Glory for himself alone But he preferr'd the Virgins to his own To honour her more than himself he fought And won his Victories her Glory to promote Then descending to Particulars the first Tablet tells us of Churches built and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. The second sets forth the taking of so many Towns in Holland and re-establishing the Worship of the Virgin in their Churches The third informs us that the Enemies of the Virgin are driven from Port Royal and out of France In the fourth they tell us that the Algerines were punished by the French Bombs for being Enemies to Mary The fifth brags of the extinction of the Hereticks in France Enemies of the Mother of God. The sixth and seventh are much to the same purpose importing that the French King hath put an end to the War which was so dishonourable to our Lady so that now they can go on Pilgrimage and pay their Devotions to her These Tablets are compos'd of so many false and ridiculous Materials that I cannot forbear inserting some Reflexions which one of the Roman Communion hath made upon them who wonders that they should pretend the War of Holland was on a Religious Account but is very much scandaliz'd at their telling the world that the Reconciliation of the Churches was in honor of the Virgin while they take no notice of the greater parts of their Worship then restor'd which passage he freely acknowledges would incline one to believe that they place all Religion in the Adoration they pay to her He positively affirms that the second Tablet is absolutely false and laughs at the Inscription of the third for if the design against Algiers had been to punish them for their Enmity to our Lady they would certainly have been obliged by the Articles of Peace to render her more Honour for the future He charges them with misrepresenting those they call Hereticks in the fifth Inscription who he says are no Enemies to the Blessed Virgin and that in the sixth they have represented that great Prince whom they design'd to flatter as an Enemy to the Q. of Heaven while they tell us that the War of Luxembourg was dishonourable to her when all the World knows the City was besieg'd and taken by that Monarch And indeed the whole Procession throughout was such a piece of Heathenish Pomp that the same Author tho' a ROMANIST complains of it as unworthy the gravity of the Christian Religion and which is sufficient to make the Worship of the Blessed Virgin be look't upon as superstitious and prophane for saith he can any one believe that it was possible for so many persons of all sorts as were Spectators out of Curiosity and little enough acquainted with spiritual things to have any serious reflexions upon the great Mysteries of Religion in the midst of so many vain Shews which continually distract the Mind and insensibly lead it to other Subjects These Considerations are so Weighty with that Reverend Prelate the Arch-bishop of Mechlin that he hath prohibited not only such profane Spectacles in their Processions but even the carrying the Images of their Saints at the same time with the Sacrament which is found by Experience prejudicial to Devotion the generality of the people being so busied in observing the curious Images and their rich Ornaments that they have no leisure for serious Devotion And this perhaps is one of the Reasons why that Bishop is said to be a Jansenist and but little esteem'd among them Neither is it altogether to be pass'd over that these Jesuits could not be content to expose those Pagan Deities under the names of Gods and Divinities to the Eyes of the Spectators but they have also published an Account of the Procession which because I could not procure I have given but an imperfect Relation from the Adviser but which I think is sufficient to the end for which I have inserted it and I appeal to all the world whether it be possible for such a representation wherein there is not one word of Scripture but several passages out of Heathen Poets nothing of Religion of the Benefits and Beauties of it but Pagan Divinities bestowing Blessings delivering from War c. and such a medly of Falsities to tend any way to promote Holiness when every particular is in it self destructive of it § 2. Every day furnishes us with fresh Instances of the strange immodesty of these Gentlemen I have shewn p. 29 30 31. that it is an usual practice among them when press'd with any passage out of the Fathers or other Writers to deny that they wrote the Book out of which it is quoted or else to set themselves to devise some interpretation by which to avoid its force the Reader will find several Instances of it and that the Inquisitors and other of their Divines defend this Method and advise to use it but Mr. Meredith without any proof affirms that when the Work of any Father is quoted by Catholicks if it were ever doubted of there is no remedy but it must pass for spurious and when it shall happen to be undoubted they will do as much as in them lies to render it dubious at least in those places which are quoted But when nothing of this will do their last shift is Interpretation And this he says is one of the methods which the Protestants use in their Disputations 'T is true the Papists have forg'd so many Authors and corrupted others to that degree that it is reason enough to be suspicious of every thing they publish but we are so far from doing this that the