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	scripture_n	tradition_n	4,180	5	9.2107	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54131	A discourse of the general rule of faith and practice and judge of controversie greatly importing all those who desire to take right measures of faith and to determine (at least to themselves) the numerous controversies now on foot in the world / by W. Penn.	Penn, William, 1644-1718.	1699 (1699)	Wing P1277; ESTC R1708	28,457	59

then Mine it must needs be I consenting thereto 6. How shall I be assured that these Scriptures came from God I am bound to try all things If all things then Them amongst the rest I would fain know what I must try them with with the Scriptures Then the Scriptures must be the Rule of my Examination and Faith concerning themselves which is improper If with the Spirit that gave them forth which searcheth the deep things of God a measure of which is given to me to profit withal Then is it most congruous to call the Spirit by way of Excellency and not the Scriptures The Rule 7. If the Scriptures are the Rule they must be so in the Original or Copies If in the Original that is not extant and so there would be no Rule in being for the last of it that was extant was the Evangelist John's History at Ephesus not seen almost these thousand Years If the Copies must be the Rule it were to be wished we knew which were the nighest to the Original there being above Thirty in Number This is undetermined and for ought we see Indeterminable And that which further confirms what I say is the Variety of Readings which we find among those Copies amounting to several Thousands And if the Copies cannot how can the Translations be the Rule so various if not differing from the true Sense of the Copies in many things and one from another Besides I would fain know of those of our present Age who thus contend for the Scriptures being the General Rule c. in Opposition to the Spirit upon what foot they receive them into this Place and Authority Is it by Tradition or Revelation I mean the Internal Testimony of the Spirit or the External Award and Determination of Men If the former they must unavoidably come over to us for then the Spirit will and must be both Rule and Judge If the Latter I ask how are they assured that they are not miserably Abused by Carelesness or Design since we see that using utmost Diligence both Translation Transcription and Printing are subject to numerous Mistakes and those sometimes very material against which the Scripture of it self can be no Fence But admit there were no Ground for any such Objection I further demand of our Adversaries if they are well assured of those Men that First Collected Embodied and declared them Authentick by a Publick Canon Which we read was in the Council of Laodicea held 360 Years after Christ though not as they are now received During which time They had been tossed and tumbled through many Hands and of many Judgments and Opinions Some were receiv'd and some rejected and doubtless many Thousands of times transcribed and it is not improbable that they were also abused If they miss in their Judgment here they are gone till they come to us I say how do they know that these Men rightly discerned true from spurious Either their Judgment was infallible in the Matter or it was not If it were then there was such a thing as Infallibility since the Apostles Days which is a Contradiction to your selves But be it so that they were infallible how came you to be assured they were so Not by Inspiration for that is dangerous Doctrine with you Which way was it then Not by Tradition Was it by the Scripture That were to say that the Scripture tells you that those Men that collected it for true were Right in their Judgment But we are yet to find any such place and if it were so that would but beg the Question I cannot see any other Ground besides your very great Indulgence to their Choice which you call Popery and believing as the Church believes in other Folks But if these Men were fallible as your Opinion makes them and their own Determinations prove them what then Doubtless your Condition will be very uncertain Now sure it is that some of the Scriptures taken in by one Council for Canonical were rejected by Another as Apocryphal and that which was left out by the Former for Apocriphal was taken in by the Latter for Canonical Now visible it is that they contradicted each other and as true that they both erred respecting the present Belief For your Canon and Catalogue vary from theirs and let me say without Offence from any Catalogue you can produce Behold the Labyrinth of Incertainties you run your selves into who go from that Heavenly Gift is your selves by which the Holy Scriptures are truly Discerned Relished and Distinguished from the Inventions and Abuses of Men 8. Furthermore If the Scriptures were the Rule of Faith and Life c. then because they cannot be the Rule in their Translations supposing the ancient Copies were Exact it cannot be the Rule to far the Greatest Part of Mankind indeed to none but Learned Men Which neither answers the Promise relating to Gospel-times which is universal nor the Necessity of all Mankind for a Rule of Faith and Life 9. That the Scriptures are not the Rule of Faith and Life is proved from those voluminous Discourses of Cases of Conscience that are extant among us For had the Scriptures been as sufficient as the Nature of the Rule of Faith and Life Requireth there had been no need of such Tracts Every Man might have read his own Condition laid down in Scripture without those numerous Supplements Doth not your own Language and Practice prove its Insufficiency to that End at what time you both exhort to and go in secret to seek the Mind of the Lord in this or that important Affair Why do not you turn to Chapter and Verse for Satisfaction if the Scripture be appointed of God for the General Rule Strange That what is so common in the Mouths of all sorts viz. God direct you which implieth Inspiration and Revelation or immediate Council or Guiding from God should not be known much less acknowledged by you in our Writings but disdained with such scaring Epithetes as Enthusiasm Familism Fanaticism Quakerism c. In short there are a * Thousand Cases and not a few occurring almost daily in which the Scripture cannot be our plain and distinct Rule and Guide Yet has not God left himself without a Witness in any Bosom for his Grace that brings Salvation has appeared unto all Men teaching them that believe in it to deny Ungodliness and worldly Lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present World And Christ Jesus the Eternal Word has for that End lighted every Man coming into the Wold viz. to Discover Reprove and Instruct about Faith and Practice But it may be and is objected by some Obj. If this Law and Light in the Conscience had been enough what need had there been of Scripture Answ The same Argument will hold against God Christ his Spirit and Grace all which are sufficient notwithstanding the Use and Benefit of Scripture The Case was this Man's Mind being estranged from the Light and

lose its Ru●●●● Exercise among them as that they lived ●●●hout any Sense of such a thing Therefore 〈◊〉 the Scriptures have not been neither are 〈◊〉 General Rule no not so much as of any 〈◊〉 since in no Age can it be prov'd that 〈◊〉 whole or greatest part of the World 〈◊〉 them But had they been so for some 〈◊〉 or two Ages as they never were yet 〈◊〉 granting it will not reach our Question ●●ere the Word General implieth the Na●●●e of the Thing it self respecting Man●●d from the Beginning of the World to 〈◊〉 Day and so to the End Obj. But is not the Scripture the Rule c. our Day Answ If The Rule then The General Rule 〈◊〉 whatsoever is The Rule of 〈◊〉 and Life excludeth all other from being General 〈◊〉 being but particular in respect of it 〈◊〉 Therefore not The though A Rule of Faith and Life But besides their not being General I 〈◊〉 several Reasons to offer why they cannot The Rule of Faith and Life c. 1. If now the Rule then ever the Ru●● But they were not ever the Rule and th●●●fore they cannot 〈◊〉 be the Rule That 〈◊〉 were not ever the 〈◊〉 is granted But 〈◊〉 they are not there●●● now the Rule may 〈◊〉 by some denied 〈◊〉 I shall prove thus the Faith of 〈◊〉 People in all Ages of One Nature 〈◊〉 the Rule but of 〈◊〉 Nature But cle●●● is Heb. 11. The 〈◊〉 has been but of 〈◊〉 Nature Conseque●●● the Rule but of 〈◊〉 Nature In short the holy Ancients 〈◊〉 Faith before they 〈◊〉 or wrote Scriptu●● they had a Rule ●●●●fore they had or 〈◊〉 Scripture for 〈◊〉 Faith is there is 〈◊〉 for that Faith 〈◊〉 if the Faith be One Nature the 〈◊〉 is of One Nature 〈◊〉 And since the 〈◊〉 is Inward Spiri●●●● begotten of the ●●●ortal Word in 〈◊〉 is Life and that the Light of Men that this Word of 〈◊〉 and Light was the 〈◊〉 then no Book ●●●ing or ingraving visible and perish●●● Matter can be the 〈◊〉 now ●gain such as the 〈◊〉 is such must the 〈◊〉 be But the Faith 〈◊〉 before Inward 〈◊〉 Spiritual there●●●● the Rule must be 〈◊〉 and Spiritual 〈◊〉 no Meer Book 〈◊〉 be If the Scriptures were the General Rule 〈◊〉 must have always been a Perfect Rule 〈◊〉 since they were a Rule But this is ●ossible since they were many Hundred Years Writing and are now Imperfect also as Number How then are they the Perfect 〈◊〉 That they were not the Perfect Rule ●●fore they were written must be grante● and that they were many Hundred Ye● writing must also be allowed and that 〈◊〉 are Imperfect now as to Number I prove●● First Enoch's Prophecy is mentioned 〈◊〉 Jude but not extant in the Bible The Bo●● of the Wars of the Lord Numb 21. 14. 〈◊〉 Book of Jasher Josh 10. 13. 2 Sam. 1. 〈◊〉 The Book of Nathan 2 Chron. 9. 29. 〈◊〉 Book of Shemaiah 2 Chron. 12. 15. 〈◊〉 Book of Jehu The Epistle of the Ap●●● Paul to the Laodiceans Collos 4. 16. 〈◊〉 several others mentioned in the Script●●● not now extant And lastly Luke says 〈◊〉 many took in hand to relate from Eye-Wit●● the things most surely believed c. Now 't is taken for granted that 〈◊〉 wrote many Years after Luke Some 〈◊〉 Luke wrote before Mark However M●●thew and Mark were not many and to 〈◊〉 day we see no more than those Four in 〈◊〉 Bibles and therefore many such Writi●● are lost And if lost then the Scriptures aforesaid not Perfect and if Imperfect 〈◊〉 can they be the Rule of Faith since the 〈◊〉 of Faith must be Perfect 3. My Third Reason is this The Sc●●●tures however Useful to Edification 〈◊〉 Comfort seem not in their own Nature 〈◊〉 Frame to have been compil'd and deliver● as the General Rule and Intire Body of Fa●●● but rather written upon particular Occasi●● and Emergencies The Doctrines are 〈◊〉 ●●ered throughout the Scriptures insomuch ●hat those Societies who have given forth Verbal Confessions of their Faith have been necessitated to toss them to and fro search ●ere and search there to lay down this or ●he other Principle and then as like the original Text as their Apprehensions can render ●t Whereas were it as plain and distinct as ●he Nature of a Rule requires they needed only to have given their Subscription for a Confession Besides here They are Proper ●here Metaphorical In one place Literally in ●nother Mystically to be accepted Most times Points are to be prov'd by comparing and weighing Places coherent where to allude Aptly and not wrong the Sense is Difficult ●nd requires a clear and certain Discerning notwithstanding the Clamours upon us about infallibility Now from all this with abundance more that might be said plain it is ●hat the Scriptures are not plain but to the Spiritual Man Thus Peter said of Paul's Writings that in many things they were hard to be understood Therefore not such a Rule which ought to be Plain Proper and Intelligible 4. Again the Scripture cannot be the Rule of Faith because it cannot give Faith for Faith is the Gift of God which overcomes the World Neither of Practice because it cannot distinguish of it self in all Cases what ought to be practised and what not since ●t contains as well what ought not to be practised as what ought This was the Case of Christ's Disciples who had no particular Rule in the Old Testament Writings for the abolishing of some part of the Old Testament Religion On the contrary they might have pleaded for the Perpetuity of it because Christ said unto them Do as they say that sit in Moses 's Chair more reasonably than many who make that a Plea now a-days for their invented Worships What then guided them in their declaring void and relinquishing those things For Instance God gave Circumcision as 〈◊〉 Sign for ever And Paul tells the Galatians That if they be circumcised Christ should pro●●● them nothing Was not this the Spirit of Truth that leads into all Truth that the Apostle made the Judge and Rule of their Doctrine● and Practices So said James and the Assembly of the Apostles when they told the Believers It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us c. 5. These very Men that say it is the Rule of Faith and Life diviate in their Proof from their Assertion for the Scriptures no where say so of themselves Here they fly to Meanings and Interpretations The Question arises not about the Truth of the Text for that is agreed on all hands but the Exposition of it If then I yield to that Man do I bow to the Letter of the Text or to his Interpretation If the Latter as manifestly I do is the Scripture o● that Man's Sense of it my Rule Nay the Person so interpreting makes not the Scripture his Rule but his own Apprehension whatever he may say to gain Credit to his Conceptions with others