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A61645 A stock of divine knowledge, being a lively description of the divine nature, or, The divine essence, attributes, and Trinity particularly explaned [sic] and profitably applied the first, shewing us what God is : the second, what we ought to be / by the late learned and laborious preacher, and worthy instrument of Gods glory, Richard Stock ... Stock, Richard, 1569?-1626. 1641 (1641) Wing S5693; ESTC R34616 191,839 352

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bee spoken of viz. The dignity of the Word which hath two parts the first the Authority of it the second the Sufficiencie of it because wee are to build on it and to rest upon it as the ground and rule of Faith and these are the two things which wee will handle at this time For the former of these Quest What is the authority of the written word Answ It is that by which it is authenticall and worthy of credit in it selfe being the divine and onely Canon and Rule for all things to bee beleeved and done That the Word of God hath this authority this verse which I have read doth prove So also Isa 8.20 To the Law and to the Testimonies if they speake not according to this word it is because there is no light in them if questions be asked about the dead To the Law and to the Testimonies whatsoever others say reject it this hath authority of it selfe to this is added 2 Pet. 1.19 Wee have also a more sure Word to these I add Gal. 6.16 As many men as walk after this rule peace be on them this is the rule of all things Joh. 2.16 If any man bring any other Doctrine bid him not to thy house where the word sheweth that there is no other word of any authority but this Word thus the Word witnesseth of it selfe therefore it must be true John 10.35 the Word cannot be broken therefore it must bee of that authority worthy of credit in it selfe and being divine wee must beleeve it and it must bee the Rule and Canon by which all things must bee done And this is the proofe of the first point Quest What ground have you for this that the Scriptures are thus authenticall Ans There are these First because they are Gods word to whom it belongs to appoint every one a cannon and rule that must give them direction to all things to be beleeved and done Secondly Because God hath written them for this end that they might be such a rule that might be alwayes in the Church that men should not dare to swerve from it Thirdly Because this Word is the first divine truth of God himself To explane these first they are Gods word c. This is manifest of it self that it belongs to God to appoint a rule and a cannon we further confirme this thus Deut. 7.11 Keepe my commandements my statutes and my judgements why so because they are my statutes I command you the Word is a lanterne to my feet saith David Psal 119.105 Thou shalt keepe my statutes so that if we enquire into the ground what the reason of the authority of the Scripture is it is manifest it is authenticall because it is the word of God who should teach me saith Saint Ambrose the things that appertaine to heaven God and not man Who can better teach me concerning God then God All other Divine things had need of testimony saith Salvian but onely these things spoken by God need no more testimony while therefore it is God that hath wrote this and he onely hath Divine authority therefore this must needs be of Divine authority The second answer was thus much because that this was written by God to that end that the Church might alway have a rule from which it should not dare to swerve Deut. 5.32 Take heed to my statutes turne not to the right hand nor to the left and that Rom. 15.4 These things were written that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope therefore from hence it is manifest that they are written to be a rule Thirdly because that this is the first divine trueth of God himselfe therefore it hath this name Ephes 1.13 Iohn 17.17 thy Word is truth with an emphasis that there is no truth but this so Ephes 2.20 it is the foundation of the Church it is builded upon the Apostles and Prophets we say it is the first truth of God himselfe because it must be first beleeved before we can beleeve by a divine faith any thing that is revealed in it faith doth first spring out of it and is last of all resolved into it and so it is the first truth This is the principle of principles and though it be not beleeved yet it hath the same authority gold is gold though no man have it the Sunne in the first day it was created was to rule the day and measure time though there was neither man nor beast to take notice of it In the Gnomen of a diall the shadow of it shewes the houres of the day though men sleepe principles in all Arts are to be granted are not denied without grosse absurdities Here are our first principles that there is a God that God hath a Word that the Scripture is the Word of God these are and ought to be assented unto by whosoever would be called Christian the denying of any one of these is to open the gate to Atheisme and all prophanesse so then this is manifest that this Word of God is of Divine authority The first Use then teacheth us that then fals to the ground the Doctrine of Popery that tels us that the Scriptures have no authority but from the Church some have spoken very blasphemously of the Word of God one for all the President of the Councell of Trent saith that the Scriptures have no more authority then Esops Fables without authority from the Church of Rome and others say they have no more authority then any other prophane books others more moderate say they have no more authority in them then they receive from the Church the question is not what authority the Church doth give to the Scriptures but what authority they have in themselves the Church can but declare their authority the Scriptures have it in themselves I had not beleeved the Scripture saith Austin We never denied that the Church hath excellent Offices concerning the Scriptures as first it is to keep them and preserve them therefore the Church is compared to a publique Notary like to the Court of Rowles the Master of the Roles gives no authority to Records but keepes them Secondly the Church is to publish the Scriptures therefore she is compared to a crier and this is the fidelity of the crier to publish the speech of the Prince and the Churches duty is to publish the Law of God The third office it hath is to discern the true Scriptures from forgeries and apocryphall It cannot make that which is Apocrypha Canonicall but it hath a power in discerning which are Apocryphall which Canonicall as it is in a City the Magistrates receiving a letter as from the Prince out of their experience are able to discerne whether it be the Princes letter or not so they that are Gods Ministers can do nothing but discerne the Word they cannot give any authority to it we conclude the Scripture hath authority in it selfe Ephe. 2.20 It is the foundation of the Church then the
because the Scriptures never tell us of any originall or beginning that the Father had therefore is unbegotten Againe the Scriptures tell us that there was one begotten and that was the Sonne Psal 2.7 Thou art my Sonne this day have I begotten thee Iohn 1.14 the onely begotten Sonne Rom. 8.32 he is called his owne Sonne then it is manifest that there is a second which is begotten Lastly the Scriptures tell us of one that proceeded from them both it is manifest Iohn 15.26 The comforter that I shall send is the holy Ghost and thereupon he is called the Spirit of the Father Mat. 10. and the Spirit of the Sonne whom the Father will send in your hearts why because he proceeds from them both observe a little more these are the particulars of the persons the Father begets I doe not say the Essence begets the Sonne is begotten I doe not say the Essence is begotten this is understood of the person not of the Essence why because they must have the Essence of themselves or else they cannot be God These personall actions which they exercise one to another are called internall works and hereupon that ground is that the Schooles hold that their internall works are divided that they cannot be communicated the Father in begetting the Sonne in being begotten and the holy Ghost proceeding Quest How are they distinguished by their works Answ Their workes are creation redemption sanctification and the like which in the substance are common to them all three but in manner of working are proper to some one To explane this There is a rule that the works of the Trinity without them are undivided these three persons are together and worke together for there is but one worke they worke all together The Scripture speakes plainly Gen. 1.26 Let us make man where we see there is a common worke the Father faith not to the Sonne I will make man or make you the man c. but let us make c. This is that which Christ speakes Iohn 5.25 The Father workes hitherto and I worke and so Iohn 16.15 All that the Father hath is mine whatsoever it is that is the Fathers is mine the difference is in the order and manner of working this is manifest 1 Cor. 15. Thankes be unto God that hath given us victory through our Lord Iesus Christ where God gives the victory but by Christ The Fathers use much one testimony of Paul to this purpose Rom. 11.36 Of him and through him and for him are all things to him be glory for ever Amen The Apostle speakes there of works which we call works a dextra he nameth three manners of working and yet he saith there is but one God and therefore to him be glory Now on the other side as the Essence may not be divided so the persons are not to be confounded for he saith of him and through him and for him are all things the Father workes all things of himselfe by the Sonne and the Sonne workes from the Father by the holy Ghost this is the manner of working And before I come to the Reason let me adde one thing more a distinction which Martin Luther had the workes of the Trinity are to be considered absolutely as they are God so they are common to them all and relatively that is to say that every one workes according to his personall property and so one creates and another redeemes and another sanctifies The reason is this for the Father he is of himselfe and therefore workes of himselfe the Son is not of himselfe as a person but from the Father and therefore he workes from the Father and the holy Ghost from them both and is not of himselfe as a person and therefore workes not of himselfe but from them both thus the ground of their working is the manner of their subsisting therefore we give the Father the beginning of the worke and the Son the forwarding and framing and the holy Ghost the effecting c. So that we see by this that I have opened first what is communicated to them all wherein they differ and how they differ viz. by order properties and manner of working Vse 1. This takes away an imputation that Heretiques have laid upon the Church that it hath brought in vaine appellations in expressing this misstry and they tell us that it is forbiden that a woman should speake in the Church the meaning of which place they say is that Phylosophy which is but a handmaid should not speake in the Church Arius Sabelliens the great grand hereticks denied the diety of the Sonne and the holy Ghost they had this cavell for themseves we speake no other way then God speakes we are cast out of the Church and excommunicated because we will not admit these prophane voices of Trinity and Unity but the Church is not worthy of blame neither is there any excuse for them for the Church doth not take up these names out of any affectation of novelty but as Saint Austin speakes meerly out of a necessity of speech namely because that otherwise they could not meet with nor distinguish hereticks that they might be better knowne when Hereticks began to oppose this doctrine they would say there was one God and when they saw there was three persons Father Sonne and holy Ghost they would say these three were one God but how as it is said Acts 2. the Saints had all one heart therefore the Church takes these termes one in Essence to discover these Hereticks so they will say that there was a Father Sonne and holy Ghost but that the Father was sometimes the Sonne and sometimes the holy Ghost so that he was the Father in one respect and the Sonne in another hereupon the Church upon warrant of the Scriptures found out these words that whereas Hereticks would speake with the Church and would not conceive and meane with the Church they might be severed and known to be Hereticks Vse 2. Secondly here is direction for every man that will truely and savingly beleeve in one and three in one Essence and three distinct persons not dividing the Essence nor confounding the persons he that beleeves in a God and not in three persons hath a fiction of his owne braine which he beleeves in he that beleeves that there are not three persons distinguished and one Essence cannot be saved for a man cannot be saved but by true faith but he that beleeves not in the trinity as he hath revealed himselfe hath not true faith every man therefore must labour after this manner to beleeve whereupon brethren we inferre the necessity of the knowledge of this mystery for a man cannot beleeve unlesse he know it therefore every one ought to bend his eares and his head to know it if God had revealed himselfe in generall it had bin enough to know him so but God hath revealed himselfe in particular how he is one and how he is three therefore the Church knowing that this