Selected quad for the lemma: doctrine_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
doctrine_n	apostle_n	church_n	primitive_a	4,139	5	9.1134	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A69670	A catechism and confession of faith approved of and agreed unto by the general assembly of the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, Christ himself being chief speaker in and among them : which containeth a true and faithful account of the principles and doctrines which are most surely believed by the churches of Christ in Great Brittain and Ireland who are reproachfully called by the name of Quakers ... : to which is added An expostulation with and appeal to all other professors / by R.B.	Barclay, Robert, 1648-1690.; Barclay, Robert, 1648-1690. An expostulation with and appeal to all professors.	1673 (1673)	Wing B725; ESTC R26677	71,924	193

A CATECHISM AND Confession of Faith Approved of and Agreed unto by the General Assembly of the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles CHRIST himself being chief Speaker In and Among them Which containeth a true and faithful Account of the Principles and Doctrines which are most surely believed by the Churches of Christ in Great Brittain and Ireland who are reproachfully call'd by the Name of Quakers yet are found in the One Faith with the Primitive Church Saints as is most clearly demonstrated by some plain Scripture-Testimonies without Consequences or Commentaries which are here collected and inserted by way of Answer to a few Weighty yet Easie and Familiar Questions fitted as well for the wisest largest as for the weakest lowest Capacities To which is added An Expostulation with and Appeal to all other Professors By R. B. A Servant of the Church of Christ. Search the Scriptures or ye search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have Eternal Life and they are they which testifie of me and ye will not come to me that ye might have Life John 5. 39 40. THE PREFACE TO THE READER SINCE first that great Apostacy took place in the Hearts Heads of those who began even in the Apostles days to depart from the Simplicity and Purity of the Gospel as it was then delivered in its primitive Splendor and Integrity innumerable have been the manifold Inventions Traditions the different and various Notions and Opinions where-with man by giving way to the vain and airy Imaginations of his own unf●able Mind hath burdened the Christian Faith So that indeed first by Adding these things and afterwards by Equalling them if not Exalting them above the Truth they have at last come to be substitute in the stead of it so that in process of time Truth came to be shut out of doors and another thing placed in the room thereof having a Shew Name but wanting the Substance and Thing it self Nevertheless it pleased God to raise up Witnesses for Himself almost in every Age and Generation who according to the Discoveries they receiv'd bore some Testimony less or more against the Superstition and Apostacy of the Time and in special manner through the Appearing of that Light which first broak forth in Germany about One Hundred and Fifty Years ago and afterwards reach'd divers other Nations the Beast received a Deadly Wound and a very great Number did at one time Protest against and Rescind from the Church of Rome in divers of their most gross and sensual Doctrines and superstitious Traditions But alas it is for matter of Lamentation that the Successors of these Protestants are establishing and building up in themselves that which their Fathers were pulling down instead of prosecutiug and going on with so Good and Honourable a Work which will thus easily appear The generality of all Protestants though in many other things miserably rent and shatter'd among themselves do agree in Dividing from the Church of Rome in these Two Particulars First That every Principle and Doctrine of the Christian-Faith is and ought to be founded upon the Scripture and that whatsoever Principles or Doctrines are not only not contrary but even not according thereto ought to be deny●d as Antichristian Secondly That the Scriptures themselves are plain and easie to be understood and that every private Christian and Member of the Church ought to read and peruse then that they may know their Faith and Belief founded upon them and receive them for that Cause alone and not because any Church or Assembly has compounded and recommended them the choicest and most pure of which they are oblieged to look upon as Fallible Now contrary to this their known and acknowledged Principle they do most vigorously prosecute and persecute others with the like Severity the Papists did their Fathers for believing things that are plainly set down in the Scriptures and for not believing divers Principles for which themselves are forc'd to recur to Tradition and can by no means prove from Scripture To shew which I shall not here insist having allotted a Chapter for it in the Book it self because to put it here would swell beyond the Bounds of a Preface Oh! how like do they shew themselves I mention it with Regreet to the Scribes and Pharisees of old who of all men most cryed up and exalted Moses and the Prophets boasted greatly of being Abraham's Children And yet those were they that were the greatest Opposers and Vilifiers of Christ to whom Moses and all the Prophets gave witness yea their chief Accusations and Exceptions against Christ was as being a Breaker of the Law and a Blasphemer Can there any Comparison run more parallel seeing there is now found a People who are greatly Persecuted and bitterly reviled and Accused as Hereticks by a Generation that cry up and exalt the Scriptures And yet this People's Principles are found in Scripture Word by Word though the most Grievous and indeed the Greatest Calumny cast upon them is That they vilifie and deny the Scriptures and set up their own Imaginations instead of them To disprove which this Catechism and Confession of Faith is compiled and presented to thy Serious and Impartial View If thou lovest the Scripture indeed and desirest to hold the plain Doctrines there delivered and not these Strained and Far-Fetched Consequences which men have invented thou shalt easily observe the whole Principles of the People called QUAKERS plainly couched in Scriptute-Words without Addition or Commentary especially in those things their Adversaries oppose them in where the Scripture plainly decideth the Controversie for them without Nicities and School-Distinctions which have been the Wisdom by which the World hath not known God and the Words which have been multiplied without Knowledge by which Counsel hath been darkned In the Answers to the Questions there is not one Word that I know of placed but the express Words of Scripture And if in some of the Questions there be somewhat subsumed of what in my Judgment is the plain and naked Import of the Words it is not to impose my Sense upon the Reader but to make way for the next Question for the dependence of the Matter 's sake I shall leave it to the Reason of any Understanding and Judicious Man who is not byassed by Self-Interest that great Enemy to True Equity and who in the least measure is willing to give way to the Light of Christ in his Conscience if the Scriptures do not pertinently and aptly answer to the Questions As I have upon serious Grounds separated from most of the Confessions and Catechisms heretofore published so not without Cause I have now taken another Method They usually place their Confession of Faith before the Catechism I judge it ought to be otherwise in regard that which is easiest and is composed for Children or such as are Weak ought in my Judgment to be placed first it being most regular to begin with Things that are Easie and