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	false_a	teacher_n	2,669	5	9.2326	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20674	A discourse concerning the abstrusenesse of divine mysteries together with our knowledge of them May 1. 1627. Another touching church-schismes but the unanimity of orthodox professors Feb. 17. 1628. By I.D. Mr of Arts and fellow of Merton Colledge in Oxford.	Doughty, John, 1598-1672.	1628 (1628)	STC 7072; ESTC S110101	29,744	58

they raise debates that they may bee said to haue raised them like hote furious spirits abroad who delight soly in fights and vproares 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meere louers of strife Vpon these motiues fore cited doe Schismaticks chiefly vndermine the Churches vnity men otherwise oftimes of no meane esteeme and worth But as it was said of Curio the tribune that he was facundus sed malo publico euen so they in truth seeme able and sufficiently learned but it is to the Churches annoyance whilst they imploy those gifts perversly with which they might haue aduanced the common good Yet also giue me leaue if a little I misdoubt such if I iudge them not throughly sound at heart In 13. Nehem. v. 33. where the Israelitish parents mix with the women of Ashdod the children speake an vncertaine idiome halfe the Ammonitish language and halfe the Iewish examine their tracts and discourses aright they may seeme the issue of a mixt faith Religion if once ambiguous cannot choose but betray it selfe some sparkles will here breake forth though neuer so carefully supprest wherefore as Iosuah asked the angell Ios 5. v. 13. art thou for vs or for our aduersaries Let me likewise demand whose part take they for now by walking so doubtfully and in a mist they merit applause from neither side more reason there is that they bee refused of both Saint Hierome somewhere speaking touching such neutrals the Hebionites Dum volunt saith he Iudaei Christiani esse nec sunt Iudaei nec Christiani whilst they hang betweene two sects they deserue to bee ranked no where meere batts in religion are they as nature hath placed these as t were in no certaine degree either of beastes or foules thus they for there ambiguous profession may hardly be numbred among Christians in any ranck You haue seene the subiect of divisions briefly displai'd persons very contagious in the Church and as Miriam long since a Schismaticke too leprous throughout It is not vnseasonable if therefore in my fourth point I prescribe the Apostles caution which is first marke then avoid them What our Saviour forespake touching false teachers Math. 7. 15. seemes not more true in regard of their demeanour then of their preaching doctrine They come indeed clothed with sheepes clothing cover'd ouer with a pretended shew both of truth and zeale Hard it is in so neere a likelyhood to discerne where they conforme to the truth and where they breake off St Ignatius for this termes them sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 creatures hauing though no more yet a Christian outside elsewhere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exact and able counterfeits Came they drest in their proper shape we might the more easily keepe safe it were no difficult taske to eschew their infectious tenents A wound if open and apparant may be quickly cured that especially is dangerous where the soare lies hid or the passage proues inuolu'd Well doe Schismaticks conceaue the weaknesse of their cause should they attempt to obtrude their falshoods vpō the Church in their naked deformity it were a vaine designe Errours be naturally displeasing to the vnderstanding whereas truth is no lesse outwardly pleasing then admirable in it selfe Therefore they colour varnish ouer their absurdities with ounning deceipt First they refute one bad opinion that they may set vp a worse Eutiches you knowe would needs maintaine a confusion of natures in Christ now this he vndertooke saith Flavianus vnder pretence of confuting Nestorius who held oppositely as much amisse Are there none now which cry downe Puritanisme whereby to establish Papisme Is there no such new stratagem Yea farther are there not those who deale with religion in a sense inverted as David did with king Achish 1. Sam. 27. vnder shew of fighting against the Philistins our adversaries they fall vpon their countries faith Another way they haue of intermingling truth with errour Amidst their discourses they craftily mix some drams of verity to commend the rest nay so they doe more hurt and d●●plier infect Poyson if given in wine or hony pierceth the veines with greater violence even thus falshood sweetned with a relish of truth eats most dangerously into the bowels of the Church A third devise is by faigning of some good intent whilst they labour a breach in christianity to make shew of a desired vnity and peace Arminius euen then when hee was forging those opinions vpon which such endlesse troubles haue ensuech compos'de a treatise touching a generall reconcilement like Ioab to Amasa 2. Sam. 20. at once hee offers embraces to the Church and stabs it More shifts besides they skill of to obscure their malitious drifts There want not infinite tractlesse mazes wherein they can lurke vndiscerned so as what a petty historian speakes of the Ligurians inhabiting bogs and bushy places Maior aliquanto labor erat invenire quàm vincere may be here applied It is easier to convince their errours then perfectly trace it out Not in vaine then are we bid to marke obserue we ought their subtle passages mudding still the streame wheresoer'e they goe neither yet is this enough after we haue thus descried their falshoods we must also avoid and shun them what communion hath light with darknesse saith the Apostle 2. Cor. 6. In the 1. of Gen. v. 4. no sooner had God created light but in the same v. he diuides them straight wee are though not light yet the children of light and therefore must be carefull least by mixing with the sonnes of errour our light be dim'd and weakned How seriously diligent were the primitiue Fathers in declining such How watchfull to represse them Should I here recount their various edicts and provisoes framed therevpon I might happily make more vse of reading then of moderation and iudgement Only for a tast you may from the course of Ecclesiasticall stories gather a treble censure thus disposed First they inflicted vpon them abstension or as I may say incommunication with the Church Next a positiue eiection else deposition from their clericall degree at length if both these reclaim'd them not the vtter Anathema Adde here to those seuerer cautions of the Apostolicke Synode that men rightly orthodox might not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not ioyne in prayer with such Can. 44. of the Laodicean not to deale with them or vse commerce Can. 57. So carefull were those ancient sages least a contagious Schismaticke if let alone might perchance infect the whole Christian flocke It may be in former times there appeared greater danger About the first plantation of the Gospell we finde in truth heresies more rife and frequent Satan was then most busie that he might choak vp the word before it tooke sure root Thus Mat. 13. 25. the envious one presently sowes his cockle as soone as the owner had ended Notwithstanding although such Church diseases be now lesse pregnant yet are they poysonous still alike A mixing of things vnwholsome with pure corrupts as much as

inquiring too narrowly after the restauration of the Iewish estate Act. 1. 6. how much more is it to be feared that hee will sharply rebuke those forenamed intruders if they learne not betimes to curb their knowledge Austin in one of his Epistles hath a pretty allusion of a certaine passenger falne perchance into a pit Obsecro saith hee there so falne to one comming to his rescue quomodò hinc me liberes non quomodò huc ceciderim quaeras stand not to expostulate with me how I slipt in but rather kindly helpe me out We are all falne through Adam into a wide gulfe of vnhappinesse let vs endeauour to recouer our selues let vs examine rather by our course of life our hopes of blisse or not then curiously looke it in the first decree Our sinnes and miseries require the goodnesse of a mediatour as for a Sophister to dispute the occasion we need not especially since as Arminius himselfe concludeth these points be not requisite neither to be knowne or beleeued it is in his declaratione sententiae before the States Yet are they still so fraught with subtilties that the very pervsall may seeme of greater danger then it can be of profit How often see wee many here to suffer shipwrack whilst they couet to goe farther then their ability or strength will permit them The Prophet David Psal 36. compareth the iudgements of God to a depth or an abysse Now in a depth as long as we can finde footing we be well and safe but if that faile a feare streight seizeth on vs of being plunged thus in abstruser mysteries as long as we can haue the help of reason too wee may wade the more securely on but when that once is swallowed vp a mazelesse confusion must needs followe You knowe what Poets faine of Pentheus he was torne but for viewing too neerely the rites of Bacchus vpon which one of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such wisdome is madnesse outright You may remember how the Lord long since gaue vp the ancient Philosophers to vanish in their owne deuises because they vsed the talent of their wits to idle disquiries and not to the donours praise Let vs take heed least we deserue alike sentence by trespassing too far vpon Grace as they did vpon the light of Nature Neither doe I by this approue the lazie dulnesse of any not of such who thinke it acutenesse sufficient to cry downe more acute disputes Men may deseruingly canvase these poinrs if they shall in their discourses be guided by reason and not by fancy or boldnesse It is here as it was in Ovid his Medea a matchlesse Poem saith the Rhetoritian si ingenio suo temperare maluisset quàm indulgere if he had not beene too lauishly witty We be placed by nature in a mid distance betweene beasts and Angels thus also ought our knowledge to bee lesse then that of Angels as more then what beasts haue wee must bee content to forgoe many difficulties if wee can percance vnderstand any But so it is that those who meddle here do for the most part exceed their limits as it happeneth in ambition of state they neuer deeme themselues high enough till they touch vpon danger God in many places of Scripture is said to be a fire as Deut. 4. v. 24. Ezek. 8. 2. If to a fire wee approach not too nigh it comforteth but otherwise it burnes and scorcheth so here concerning diuine matters a temperate knowledge instructeth vs but a superfluous or presumptuous search confounds the iudgement I will close vp this point with that of Salvian Genus quasi sacrilegae temeritatis est vt plus scire cupias quam sinaris it is not so much curiosity as a kinde of sacriledge to prie into the forbidden secrets of Gods owne closet it argues a foule presumption in vs of our strength when as God knoweth our knowledge is but small and weake which is my third point Knowledge indeed is the very light of the soule a iewell inestimable yet so apt are men to bee misled by arrogancy that they inuert that to their harme which the Lord hath bestowed on them for their greate vse I told you before of the danger of an encroaching wisdome of drawing too nigh vnto the flaming bush to which notwithstanding Moses might not Now of this there is no greater an incentiue cause then this of pride when men doe fauour more their own wit then the iustnesse of the argument they haue in hand for this reason you may note how errours in times past brake forth most rife in the Eastern Churches there that of the Novatians Eunomians first tooke root and indeed what not Whereas there of the West as being placed vnder a duller clime so were they for heresies lesse disposed The Valentinians saith Iraeneus were men qui semetipsos perfectos vniversorum agnitionem habere dicebant they deem'd themselues as it were composed of wit and knowledge neither is it a rare sight to see men now adaies to slip from pride to errour whilst not being seasoned with charity they swell with selfe conceipt Hence the Apostle layeth it for a principall and main ground of perverse doctrines 1. Tim. 6. But alas what is the highest pitch of mans science or wherein doth he so excell but in that he may bee said best to know if he confesse his ignorance Can he sound the true depth of the least point in nature is he able to satisfie himselfe in any triuiall obiect Looke but vpon the loadstone and thou shalt find as many amazing wonders as there be properties Consider the remora so called shew mee how so small a creature doth check the tallest ship in its full course view the curious frame of mans body ponder the encrease of the buried seed Vbique saith Scaliger clamandum est nos nihilscire one neuerthelesse who did I beleeue iudge as charitably of himselfe as another man Reason and sense be the only or chiefe promoters of our knowledge in this world now these for the most part are as subiect to errour as weak in their helpes whereby it hapneth that those things which we doe vnderstand we know but in the rine slightly like Aesop's Fox who did licke the outside of the glasse when he could not come at the substance As for tumor then and height of conceipt it argueth nothing here but want of an experienced insight the very claime to much knowledge proues this that the title is neither good nor right Saint Paul makes it a principle that such pretenders at least wise concerning the Christian doctrine were but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meere nouices 1. Tim. 3. In the 6th Ch. he couples them together proud and knowing nothing v. 4. vpon the same ground perhaps also the word infrunitus of the ancient latines doth as well imply an insolent man as one that is void of sence when the limbs swell and wax ouerbig it is no signe of