Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	council_n	rome_n	trent_n	6,575	5	10.2927	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27169	A discourse shewing that Protestants are on the safer side, notwithstanding the uncharitable judgment of their adversaries and that their religion is the surest way to heaven.	Beaulieu, Luke, 1644 or 5-1723.	1687 (1687)	Wing B1572; ESTC R20774	24,111	46

whatever Countries or Communions they be and may establish a sure Hope of eternal Happiness to his own Soul if he doth heartily profess and obey those undoubted Truths which are embrac'd and acknowledged by all Christian Churches He that is fully persuaded of the Truth of Christianity and willing to depend for his Salvation upon that plain and essential Part of it which is confessed by all and to lay the great Stress of his Hopes and of his Obedience upon his Creed rather than upon controverted Points he hath what will comfort his Soul and encourage him to live well and he is safe peaceable and unmoveable in the midst of all Divisions he may be doom'd and called Names by them that would impose their Opinions as Articles of Faith but it doth him no harm whilst he stands firm upon the Rock of the Christian Creed and the Christian Life together These two are acknowledged of all sides to be both requisite and sufficient to Salvation Faith and Works together making up the whole Condition of that Gospel-Covenant to which is annexed the Promise of eternal Life Therefore in enquiring why they are all condemn'd as Reprobates that are not of the Roman Communion we must consider what are the Advantages peculiar to that Party I. Whether their Faith be more ancient and Catholick II. Whether their Worship be purer more conformable to God's Word III. And whether their Righteousness exceeds that of all others I. I begin with that Faith which is peculiar to Rome and is at large set down in the Introduction It indeed contains more Articles than that of any other Church and it may still receive further Encrease whilst their Popes and Councils can make and impose new Definitions as necessary but we believe that Saving Truths are neither made by Mens Authority nor evidenced by Number We are contented with that Faith once delivered by Christ and his Apostles and from the Beginning received by the whole Church and for this are declared Hereticks and adjudged to Perdition That Roman Faith about which we differ is made so essential and so necessary that their Converts are appointed by the Roman Pontifical in answer to the Bishops Questions that reconciles him to make an express Profession of it and if he were a noted Heretick even to swear to it condemning all to Damnation that embrace not the same and promising that if ever he acts or believes any thing contrary to that Oath he takes with both his Hands on the holy Evangils he will submit himself to the Severity of the Canons Although we be so far agreed with the Church of Rome as hath been seen before yet they lay so great a Stress upon their new Creed and derive so much of their Devotions from it That it is an astonishing and formidable Change to pass from our Church into theirs Besides the Surprise of their publick Worship which by a great Variety of Ceremonies Images and the Latin Tongue appears very strange They have a prescribed Form of reconciling Hereticks to which none can submit but they that are fully persuaded that those Opinions which became a Creed since the Council of Trent are Part of that Saving Truth of God which must be believed and profest under Pain of eternal Damnation It is not as some may fancy or perhaps are told when solicited to change that they shall find it very easy and be received upon what Terms they please But the Church of Rome as all other wise Societies hath its fixt Rules and Forms and follows them without taking Notice of the Talk or Thoughts of private Persons There is nothing can justify the Change or make it tolerable to a Man of Conscience but the being convinc'd of the Truth and Necessity of these Roman Doctrines which thitherto were no Part of his Creed When he hath search'd and us'd all proper means to understand the Points in Dispute and to satisfy himself and finds himself thoroughly persuaded that there is no Salvation in our Church and that the Belief and Worship peculiar to the Church of Rome are truly Christian and the necessary Terms of our Acceptance with God then is he oblig'd to follow his Light and to make Profession of what he believes to be Truth But till a Man be thus convinc'd his forsaking ours to joyn with the Church of Rome is a great Prevarication against God and Men that will make him odious to both and be inexcusable here and hereafter The formal Abjuration of all that the Roman Church doth condemn and the solemn Profession with a sacred Oath of all her Religious Doctrines and Practices in their full Latitude as is pretended in the Roman Pontifical should make every doubting Person amonst us very serious and very inquisitive cleerly to know what he doth leave and what he must embrace if he resolves to forsake ours and embrace the Roman Communion The case will be much more tolerable with them that were born and educated in that Persuasion if they are in a Mistake they having never profess'd nor perhaps had means to know any thing else is a Plea of which they are not capable who grown to Years of Discretion turn from one Church to another These had need take great Care that they deal uprightly and examine to the Bottom of things otherwise they mock God and Men and must expect to fare accordingly I do not deny but that Persons of Understanding and Sincerity may be prevail'd upon to pass from ours into the Roman Church for whilst Men are mortal they may err and be impos'd upon And may they all obtain Mercy that truly fear God and embrace what they judg to be his Truth though they be mistaken I only say that no Man educated amongst us that really believes his Christian Creed and would not throw his Soul away can make Profession of the Roman Faith till he becomes fully convinc'd of its Truth and Necessity For now it is not as it was before the Council of Trent when the Church of Rome it self had no other Confession of Faith but only the Christian which is common to all Churches and those Opinions which have since become Articles of the Roman Faith needed not be explicitly profest if they were but let alone and not disputed against Whereas now since Pius the 4th Hereticks so called that become Proselytes must make a solemn and express Declaration that they believe every thing that the Church of Rome doth either teach or practise and that they will submit and conform intirely to all that she prescribes either for Faith or for Divine Worship This I say no Man of Conscience or Honour can do till he become equally persuaded of the Truth and Necessity of the Roman as of the Christian Creed Confidence proves nothing and makes nothing to be really Divine and we all know that Religion is not what some Men will call so neither can we believe as we would or as we are bid we must have sufficient Reasons

and proper Sacraments of the new Covenant instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ and necessary to the Salvation of Mankind tho not all of them necessary to every Man viz. Baptism Confirmation the Eucharist Pennance extreme Unction Orders and Matrimony all which do confer Grace and whereof Baptism Confirmation and Orders cannot be repeated without Sacriledg I likewise receive and admit all the received and approved Rites of the Catholique Church in the solemn Administration of all the aforesaid Sacraments All and every thing which was defined and declared about Original Sin and Justification by the most holy Council of Trent I embrace and receive I profess likewise that in the Mass is offered to God a true proper and propitiatory Sacrifice for the Quick Dead and that in the most holy Sacrament of the Eucharist there is really and substantially the Body and Blood together with the Soul Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ And that there is a Conversion made of the whole Substance of Bread into his Body and of the whole Substance of Wine into his Blood which Conversion the Catholick Church calls Transubstantiation I also confess that under either Kind or Species only whole and entire Christ and the true Sacrament is received I constantly hold that there is a Purgatory and that the Souls there detained are helped by the Suffrages of the Faithful As also that the Saints who reign together with Christ are to be worshipped and prayed to and their Reliques to be venerated I most firmly assert that the Images of Christ of the Blessed Virgin and of the other Saints are to be had and retained and that due Honour and Worship is to be imparted to them I also affirm that the Power of Indulgences was left by Christ to his Church and that the Vse of them is most salutary to Christian People I acknowledge the Holy Catholick and Apostolick Roman Church to be the Mother and Mistress of all Churches And I promise and swear true Obedience to the Pope of Rome who is Christ's Vicar and Successor to St. Peter the Prince of the Apostles I also without doubt receive and profess all other things delivered defined and declared by the sacred Canons and Occumenical Councils especially by the most holy Synod of Trent and all things contrary to them with all Heresies whatsoever condemned rejected and cursed by the Church I likewise reject and condemn and curse This true Catholick Faith without which no Man can be saved which at present I freely hold and profess I will by God's help constantly retain and confess intire and inviolable to my last Breath and take care to the utmost of my Power that the same shall be taught held and profest by all under me and whose Care shall belong to me in my Office I the aforesaid N. promise vow and swear it So help me God and these holy Evangils This Roman Creed it is about which we differ for as to the Christian Creed there is no Dispute betwixt us only that we account it sufficient and will profess none else This is the State of the Difference betwixt the Church of Rome and ours We stand for that Faith which is confest of all sides to be truly Catholick and Apostolick and disown that Roman which they would impose upon us I know that they seek to retort this Objection of making of new Creeds and would make the distinct Denial of the several Points of theirs to be in like manner so many Articles of ours as if it were with us as fundamental a Truth that there is no Roman Purgatory as that the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all Sins Whereas it is most apparent that the Negative of false Opinions doth in no wise become a Part of the Christian Doctrine nor of the Christian Creed True Religion is not to swell in Proportion to the Encrease of Errors for then every new Addition to Christianity would make a new necessary Article for the rejecting of it and it would be in the Power of every Heresiarch to enlarge the Rule of Faith against him Whereas the Christian Faith was once delivered to the Saints and must ever remain the same whatever Heresies some Men are pleased to broach That Saints and Images are to be worshipped is a Point of the Roman Faith that they are not is not a Point of mine 't is only a Declaration of my disowning this Roman Doctrine as being neither in the Christian Creed nor in the Word of God The refusing of Mens Errors whether they be Pagans or any Hereticks is not a Part of our Belief but rather of our Disbelief Our denying that Jupiter or Great Diana or any Creature though never so solemnly canoniz'd are to receive Religious Honours is only a renouncing of Mens Devices but doth not constitute so many new Doctrines only what God hath commanded in this case is Part of our Religion Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Our Creed and Religion therefore is still universal and truly Primitive although our rejecting some Points which they have made Part of theirs in the Church of Rome can be neither so Primitive nor so Universal What our Church owns for her Saving Belief is own'd and ever was by all Christian Churches what she rejects from being such is of a later Date and was never so general So that instead of asking us Where was our Religion before our Forefathers were forc'd to leave the Roman Church it should rather be enquired why they threw off those several Tenets contained in the Roman Creed and then the Question would be plain and fairly stated and might from every Man that hath but read the Bible receive a clear Answer But it is very unreasonable to demand such Authorities for refusing of any new and absurd humane Inventions as for the receiving those Truths which God hath expresly revealed and his Church received all along As for the Vices or Vertues of King Henry the 8th or any others who were engaged to struggle with the Papal Power and Usurpations they signify nothing to us The enormous Faults of such as are reputed Supreme and Infallible Guides of a Party may well reproach them But our Religion hath no dependence on Historical Passages of any Mens Doings God's Veracity and Revelation is the Ground we depend upon Him we worship and in Him we believe as is to be seen in our Publick Liturgies For that we claim the Warrant of his Word and the Suffrage of all Christian Churches than which no better Ground nor no higher Authority is ever to be had If the Roman Creed had the same we would embrace it heartily for the well-being of our Souls or if it were less repugnant to the Christian Institution we might be persuaded to comply or to be silent for the Peace and Tranquillity of our present Welfare But my Design is only to settle and to pacify them that are stagger'd and disturb'd with the ruder