Selected quad for the lemma: doctrine_n
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A40636
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A sermon to the clergie at Stony-Stratford in the county of Bucks, Octob. 27, 1670 by Ignatius Fuller.
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Fuller, Ignatius, 1624 or 5-1711.
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1672
(1672)
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Wing F2392; ESTC R2184
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24,037
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46
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Christians amongst Desinunt tum Christiani haberi apud nos Apol. Haec non admittet omnino qui natus à Deo fuerit non futurus Dei filius si admiseâ—it Devestro numero carcer exaestuat Christianus ibi nullus nisi aut reus sua c. us And in another Treatise having enumerated very many of the works of the Flesh he says He that is born of God will by no means commit these things for if he should commit them he would be no longer the son of God So Minucius Felix Your Prisons are crowded with your own number but not a Christian amongst them nisi aut reus suae Religionis aut profugus unless guilty only of his Religion or a Runagado from it So Lucian in his Peregrinus tells us They worshipped their crucified Sophist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ep. 97. and lived according to his Laws So Pliny to Trajan tells us speaking of Christians They were wont to convene on a set day before it was light and there Carmen Christo quasi Deo dicere secum invicem Ne furta ne latrocinia ne adulteria committerent ne fidem fallerent ne depositum appellati abnegarent Ad capiendum â—ibum premiscuum tamen innoxium Mic. 6. 8. James 1. 27. to sing alternatly an Hymn to Christ as if he were God and to bind themselves by oath to no wickedness but that they would commit no Thefts nor Robberies nor Adulteries nor break their faith nor betray their trust which done they were wont to depart and to meet again to eat bread in common but very innocently Agreeably hereunto doth the Prophet Micah reduce Religion to Righteousness Mercy and an humble Piety and Saint James places true and genuine Religion in Beneficence and Purity of life So that if Christians will contend as such there remains to them only a laudable Ambition to excel in Meekness and Humility in Mercy and Charity in Purity and Peaceableness and not in multiplying Articles of Faith and then like foolish Builders making all of them of the foundation whereof St. Hilary doth gravely complain to Constantius That after the Councel of Nice Christians did Conscii nobis invicem sumus post Niceni Conventus Synodum nihil aliud quam fidem scribi little else but write Creeds Nor in determining fruitless and indeterminable Questions which all Christendom may truly say is Fundus nostrae Calamitatis the Ground of all our Schisms and Divisions Had the Tridentine Fathers had a right notion of Christianity they would have spared their Anathemata and Geneva their Fires and Dort their Wagons had they considered that such and only such Articles are necessary without the explicit knowledge of which we could not perform the conditions of the new Covenant That is Believe in God and Christ and observe their Precepts this entitles us to the Promises They would rather have spent their Zeal in preaching The worthy Author of Causes of the decays of Christian piety hath one chapter of the mischiefs arising from disputes St. Paul's Doctrine of Repentance from dead works and the exercise of Charity For I would the Proud Disputer and the whole Polemick Rabble should know that necessary Articles are neither many nor obscure Not many How succinct was that Creed upon which our Lord built his Church We believe and are sure that Matth. 16. 19. thou art the Son of the living God and this was Marthas Creed and Salvation John 11. 27. was particularly promised to it This was the end of writing St. John's Gospel that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that John 20. 31. believing we might have life through his name That Jesus Christ was the Son of Acts 8. 37. God was the Eunuchs Creed So St. Paul Rom. 10. 8 9. This is the word of Faith which we preach that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved And this simplicity did the antient Church retain Irenaeus who when he had recited that Creed which then was not so long as now it is adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not the most eloquent of all the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deminorabit traditionem Iren. l. 1. 23. Prelats in the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 believes any more and the most simple Ideot believes no less the Faith being one and the same They who have the greatest plenty of words do not exceed it and they who have the fewest do not diminish it So Tertullian tells us the Rule of Faith is only one stable and unalterable Regula fidei una omnino est sola immobilis irreformabilis Arbitratur Rex rerum absolute necessariarum ad salutem non magnum esse numerum So that it is no wonder that excellent Prince in his Answer to Perrone thinks the number of things necessary to Salvation is not very great And further his Majesty thought there was no more expedite way to Peace than diligently to seperate Necessaries from Non-necessaries and that we might all agree in Necessaries in non necessariis Libertati Christianae locus detur in unnecessary Articles let Christian liberty take place The King further says That if we made use of this distinction for deciding of Controversies Videsis responsionem ad Epist Card. Per. Londini 1612 at this day there would be neither long nor fierce Contention amongst Pious and Modest men about Articles absolutely necessary Nam pauca illa sunt ferè ex aequo ab omnibus probantur i. e. That they are both few and upon the matter receiv'd by all who would be accounted Christians Nay that learned and pacifick King doth so much value this distinction for the lessening of Controversies which excercise Gods Church that he judges it the Duty of all that are studious of Peace diligentissimè hanc explicare urgere docere most diligently to explicate urge and teach it And this is but the breathing of that Spirit which influenced the first and best Ages of the Church How else shall we understand Justin Martyr who answering that objection of Trypho That Christ should be God before the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 World was and be made man and be born and yet not be born according to the manner of men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. saith Trypho it seems to me not only incredible but also foolish The holy man answers If I cannot demonstrate that he did pre-exist the Son of him that made the Vniverse and was a Man born of a Virgin herein only 't was sit to say I was mistaken but not to deny that he was the Christ if it should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Videsis Just Mart. p. 63. Edit R. Steph. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril p. 101. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appear that he was a Man born according to the manner of men and