Selected quad for the lemma: diversity_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
diversity_n	gift_n	miracle_n	teacher_n	556	5	9.5967	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26741	Reason and authority, or, The motives of a late Protestants reconciliation to the Catholic Church together with remarks upon some late discourses against transubstantiation.	Basset, Joshua, 1641?-1720.; Gother, John, d. 1704.	1687 (1687)	Wing B1042; ESTC R14628	75,146	135

surprising Doctrines that they make a Man gape and stare as if he were Thunder struck or had some strange Apparition Why truly your great Champion the Learned Chillingworth brings you still off with flying Colours I 'l give you his own Excellent words in p. 102. Where he says For me to believe further this or that to be the true sense of some Scriptures or to believe the true sense of them and to avoid the false is not necessary either to my Faith or Salvation for if God would have had his meaning in these places certainly known how could it stand with his Wisdom to be wanting to his own Will and End as to speak obscurely Or how can it consist with his Justice to require of Men to know certainly the meaning of those words which he himself hath not revealed p. 18. For my Error or Ignorance in what is not plainly contained in Scripture after my best endeavour used to say that God will damn me for such Errors who am a lover of Him and lover of Truth is to rob Man of his Comfort and God of his Goodness is to make Man desperate and God a Tyrant But he goes on p. 92. The Scripture is a Rule as sufficiently Perfect so sufficiently Intelligible in things necessary to all who have understanding whether learned or unlearned neither is any thing necessary to be believed but what is plainly reveal'd for to say that when a place in Scripture by reason of ambiguous Terms lies indifferent between divers Senses whereof one is true and the other false that God obligeth men under pain of damnation not to mistake through Error and humane Frailty is to make God a Tyrant and to say that he requires of us certainly to attain that End for the attaining whereof we have no certain means What an easie compendious and certain Rule of Faith is this But before we proceed let us consider what our Author understands by His meaning in these places speaking obscurely plainly contain'd in Scripture things necessary ambiguous Terms lying indifferent between divers Senses By all which he seems to insinuate that there may be some ambiguous Terms in Scripture which because they are not plain to every Understanding therefore not necessary to be truly understood and believ'd Indeed had he told us what was not ambiguous and what not necessary he had made our work much shorter I shall presume therefore to reduce the Question and affirm that if he means any thing by all this he must mean the whole New Testament to be ambiguous for let him shew me any one Text of Doctrine from the first of St. Matthew to the last of the Revelations the Moral Law and the Law of Nature only excepted which he thinks to be the most clear and I will produce whole Bodies of learned Christians who dispute it and believe contrary to one another in it If so then it appears demonstrably and by matter of Fact that all is ambiguous and by consequence every Man is safe in the Belief of the most opposite Doctrines if he useth his best Endeavours to which also he hath given a great Latitude to understand it aright For says he By my best endeavour I mean such a measure of industry as humane Prudence and ordinary Discretion my abilities and opportunities my distractions and hindrances and all other things consider'd marry and a great consideration it is shall advise me unto in a matter of such consequence Chill p. 18.19 The whole Sense as far as it concerns my purpose runs thus There are some ambiguous Terms which lie indifferent between divers Senses whereof one is true and the other false but if a Man of understanding whether learn'd or unlearn'd uses his best endeavour to understand them that is by reading Scripture he will safely Err or not Err at all or else God is a Tyrant That there are ambiguous Terms is most certain for we find many most Learned Pious Men differing from and contradicting one another in most Points generally reputed Fundamental Secondly That in Fundamentals no man can safely Err because it is of the Essence of Christs Church to hold the Unity of Faith in Fundamentals uncorrupt And Lastly Most Christians are inclined to believe that God is no Tyrant Our Author from his own Promises and by what hath been already said seems evidently to draw this Conclusion that possibly and very probably a Man may safely Err in Fundamentals or God must be a Tyrant Now for my part when I read his excellent Works lately and some years since I always drew from the same Premises a most different Consequence that is That since there are ambiguous Terms in Points highly Fundamental therefore lest we should damnably Err in these or more impiously think God to be a Tyrant I concluded that God in his Wisdom and Goodness had certainly left us some infallible visible Authority which might unerringly deliver to us the true Sense of these ambiguous Terms Now besides the strong Evidences which we have from Scripture to believe this As for Example when our Saviour says Go ye into all the World Mark 16.15 and Preach the Gospel to every Creature He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned As thou hast sent me into the world John 17.18 even so have I also sent them into the world And again 1 Cor. 12.28 God hath set some in the Church first Apostles Secondarily Prophets Thirdly Teachers after that Miracles then gifts of healing helps Governments Ephes 14.11 diversities of Tongues So also And he gave some Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers And Lastly that this Authority was to continue to the End of the Word All power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth go ye therefore and teach all Nations Mat. c. ult teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you always even unto the End of of the World I say besides this and much more to this purpose let all sober Christians witness for me whether it be not more pious more rational more comfortable to our selves and respectful to God to conclude as I have done that God hath left us such an Authority especially since such an Authority with good Reason offers it self to us than to agree with our Author That either God is a Tyrant or we may safely Err in Fundamentals Since therefore from our Authors own Premises notwithstanding the weight and plainness of them I should have made so contrary a Conclusion it may happen that in reading the Bible we might make as different Interpretations and whilst he believes Jesus Christ to be the Son of God Consubstantial and Equal with the Father as to his Divinity I may affirm Christ to be meer Man and only Divinely Inspired Such things I have heard of but it may be worthy Fathers you may not think this a necessary