Selected quad for the lemma: end_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
end_n	conscience_n	faith_n	unfeigned_a	1,225	5	10.9966	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A95963	The authours, nature, and danger of hæresie. Laid open in a sermon preached before the Honorable House of Commons at Margarets Westminster, upon Wednesday the tenth of March, 1646. being set apart as a solemne day of publike humiliation to seeke Gods assistance for the suppressing and preventing of the growth and spreading of errours, heresies, and blasphemies. / By Richard Vines. Printed by order of the House of Commons.	Vines, Richard, 1600?-1656.	1647 (1647)	Wing V545; Thomason E378_29; ESTC R3304	47,605	81

notionall The Lord humble us for our declensions and swervings from the g 1 Tim. 6. 3. end of the commandement which is love out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfained and for our turnings aside to vaine ianglings The best way of fortification of our selves against the allurements and assaults of false teachers is 1. To be grounded in the principles of the doctrines of Christ or else we shall easily be tumbled up and downe like loose stones that lie not fast in the building upon the foundation 2. To study and adhere unto the doctrine which is h 1 Tim 1. 5. 6. according to godlinesse practicall and edifying truths which draw up the heart into acquaintance and communion with God and draw it out in love and obedience to him For its good that the heart be stablisht with grace Heb. 13. 9. 3. To hold faith and a good conscience 1. Tim. 1. 19. for if we thrust away a good conscience by entertaining base lusts and ends the shipwrack of faith will follow 4. To pray for confirmation and establishment by the hand of God for as it is not a strong constitution that is a protection against the plague so neither is it parts and learning which secure us from beleeving lies and delusions It s a mercy for which we are not enough thankfull that God keeps any of us standing upright when others shrink awry or that wee are enabled to discerne between truth and errour and to stand for the one and withstand the other when so many that have driven a great trade of profession are broken and turned bankerupts 5. To keep as a treasure those truths wherein you have formerly found comfort and which have been attested and confirmed to you by your owne experience sit upon those flowers still and sucke their fresh honey every day A Christian very hardly parts with those truths that have been sealed up to his experience but it s no wonder that a man should lose that out of his head which he never had in his heart To those that bring in or follow these pernicious Vse 2 wayes of damnable haeresy you shall see the crop which you shall reap swift destruction you are under judgement which slumbers not It will be destructive to you to wrest the Scriptures 2. Pet. 5. 16. and to make merchandise of mens soules for sinfull ends 2. Pet. 2. 3. To corrupt the mindes of men from the simplicity that is in Christ 2. Cor. 11. 3. and to cause divisions and scandalls Rom. 16. 17. are things which will cost you deare lay to heart the terrible expressions of wrath which are fulminated against such men in Scripture There may be differences in opinion betweene them that are godly which are not inconsistent with the peace of the Churches and for which its unlawfull 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the historian saith to make butter and cheese of one another It s a discreet rule which is laid downe by one a Conradas Bergius dedictamine c. Si non idem sentimus de veritate at saltem de pondere If we cannot agree upon the truth of every question or point of divinity yet at least lets be agreed concerning the weight and moment thereof so as not to make as great a stirr about a tile of the house as if it were a foundation stone nor erect new parties or Churches upon every lesser variation but to contend for or pretend a liberty of professing or publishing such doctrins as overthrow the faith and subvert the soule under the name of liberty of conscience can be no other then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Tim. 3. 9. a manifest folly or madnesse Is this liberty any part of Christs purchase Hath he made men free to sin and deny him that bought them what yoake of bondage doth this liberty free us from Gal. 5. 1. should we claime a liberty of being in bondage to errour or promise to men a liberty of being servants to corruption which the falseteachers in effect did 2. Pet. 2. 19. God hath as one saith reserved to himselfe as his prerogative three things Ex nihilo creare futura praedicere conscientijs dominari To create out of nothing to foretell things to come to have dominion over conscience and it is true that while a thing is within in the conscience it s out of mans reach but when ' its acted and comes abroad then it comes into mans jurisdiction and is cognizable in foro humano God onely is judge of thoughts men also are judges of actions It s a great mistake and of very ill consequence to imagine that a man is alwayes bound to act or practice according to the light or judgement of conscience though rightly informed in thesi for then I see not that there can be any place for that rule given by the Apostle Rom 14. 22. Hast thou faith have it to thy selfe before God Truth it selfe though never to be denyed yet is not alwayes to be declared for the hurt or scandall may be greater then an inseasonable profession or practice of that which is in it selfe lawfull may be worth but the mistake is yet more grosse to imagine that an erring conscience is a sufficient protection or warranty for an evill act It s sin to goe against an erring conscience Stante dictamine as its sin to ravish and force awhore It s sin also to act according to the dictate of an erring conscience as to committ adul tery with consent To make conscience the finall judge of actions is to wipe out the hand writing of the word of God which doth condemne many times those things which conscience justifies yea and men also may passe just judgement on delusions or lyes though those that vent them doe beleeve them for truths If conscience be warrant enough for practices and opinions and liberty of conscience be a sufficient licence to vent or act them I cannot see but the judicatories either of Church or State may shut up their Shop and bee resolved into the judicatory of every mans private conscience And put the case that the Magistrate should conceive himselfe bound in conscience to draw forth his authority against false teachers or their damnable haeresies and upon that supposed errour should challenge a liberty of judging as wee doe of acting would our liberty give us any ease so long as he had his and were it not better for him to judge and for us to walke by a knowne rule and if we should say that his liberty of judging is unlawfull it is as easy for him to say that our liberty of preaching or professing errours is so too To you that are Ministers of the word that you would draw forth the sword of the Spirit against these spirits of errour as not onely the duty you owe to Gods truth and mens soules requireth but also the pressing examples of the Apostles doe constraine you let not the Lord Jesus

3. they are laid together by a very learned hand the result and summe will be this that election had the force only of a nomination presentation postulation or consent so as a Minister could not bee obtruded invitae ecclesiae upon a Church whether it would or no if they were able to put in a just exception against him for which end the person to be ordained was first to be proclaimed or as I may say asked in c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concil Chalced. can 6. the Church for the very reason of Cyprians d Cyprian Ep. 68. E●it Pa●n speech that the people principally have power to chuse the worthy or refuse the unworthy is rendred in the same Epistle that they do fully know the life conversation of every man And therefore it is e Diatrib cap. 11. injudiciously spoken that ordination necessarily follows election for an irrational or meer arbitrary dissent when no just exception could be put in bar against a man could no more hinder a mans ordination then such a peevishnesse now a days can hinder the marriage of one whose name is publisht in the congregation Ab ordinatoribus plebs docenda non sequenda saith Caelestinus The cloze of this point might well have beene an Apology for speaking so much of it in this place had not the Text led me to say something and the necessity of the times together with the present occasion constrained me to this prolixity For the office of the Ministery and the power thereunto belonging are very much undervalued and laid very low by many who differing among themselves in principles doe as in a common interest joyn together to cry downe and degrade them In order to a two-fold liberty The one is the liberty of prophesying or preaching as any man is able to set up the trade in opposition to which they conceive the Ministers do stand for their own livings and power sake The other is the liberty of their lusts and ways of loosenesse and these are such upon whom the feare of the Ministery is fallen whose Spirit cannot bear too free reproofe nor their courses a too close observation And hence it is that some of them having learning doe set their wits on worke to rout this office and the power thereof by bafling the evidences of the word and endeavouring to dispute the Scripture out of doores which though God hath not pleased to deliver Systematically in a way of absolute precept or demonstrative clearnesse in every particular yet ought to be regarded in the hints and consequences and implications which afford foot-hold to a good conscience and not to be out-wrangled for our ends and lusts sake as being the becke of that great God who is able to becken us all into nothing others that calculate by the Ephemerides of policy doe discover or imagine future inconveniences which may arise from the indiscretion passion weakenesse of the Ministers and if they will but goe on to play that Cannon a little further they shall find it will batter and overthrow all Magistracy or any government that is managed by men others whose tongues are sharper then their arguments fall foule upon the ministry and poure treble contempt upon it in lieu of double honour never was ministry more blessed and witnessed unto from heaven by the successe and fruitfullnesse of it in bringing in and bringing up a people unto God though some of their chickens are caught and carried away by kites or have forsaken them as duckes forsake the hen that hatched them never more contemned That which the f Collat. Carthag 3. Donatist objected sometime to Austin is now rife againe tu quis es Filius es Ceciliani an non who ordained you you are the brat of Cecilian are you not whom they pretended to be a traditor or to have given up the holy Scripture to the fire so they say to the Ministers whose sons are you is not your pedigree by lineall descent from Antichrist is not he the top of your kin he that hath but halfe an eye may see the reason why the Wolves would have the Sheep to quitt their dogs The ministry if encouraged and supported to doe their duty will be next under the Parliament who we hope will doe theirs the greatest bulwarke or banke against the inundation of errour haeresy and blasphemy whose increase is the occasion of this humiliation It is the lot of the Ministers of the reformed Churches to be grund betweene two Mil-stones in the first reformation the popish Champions fell pell-mell upon the calling of the a Non missi non vocati non consecrati Bristow motiu Ministers of the reformed Churches pretending it to be null ac proinde nulla ecclesia and consequently saith b Non ab episcopis ordinati ac proinde nulla ecclesia Greg de Valentia Tom. 4. disput 9. quest 3. punct 2. in fine Gregory de Valentia the Churches no Churches because they were not ordained by Bishops The same conclusion is now undertaken That the present Ministers in this Church are not lawfull Ministers upon a medium quite contrary that is because they were ordained by Bishops nor are those who are ordained by Presbyters in much better account with the objectours for they are in the same line of pedigree being but once more removed from the stocke great-grandchildren to the Pope The cauills of the Papists have been long agoe laid to sleepe by the answers of c Mornay of the Church chap. 11. Sadeel de legitim vocat Minister reform eccle 〈◊〉 Minist Anglicano learned men who have distinguisht betweene the corruptions in the persons ordaining or in the fieri of ordination and the substance and validity of ordination in facto esse and the very same answers which were made for the first reformers and the Ministers ordained by them are of as full force for the Ministers now in being with us and the Ministers ordained by them nor can our Ministery fall by this argument now used against us without the fall of all ministery in the Churches of Christ in all times and places where Bishops had a hand in ordination and if the Scripture doe settle the power of ordination in a Presbytery or in the Elders of the Church it can never be made good that a Bishops hand who is also a presbyter being joyned with others can anull the ordination as neither is Baptisme a nullity because administred by a Bishop and haply with some corrupt ceremony used in the administration thereof I proceed to the second point which I will touch but breifly and reserve the use of both and of that which followes untill the close of all These false teachers are they that bring in damnable Heresies Doctrine 2 Stuprant veritatem adulterio haeretico Tertull. de praescript They defloure the truth by haereticall adultery not onely those that teach without commission but such as have a calling to teach doe by doctrines

interests have too much ingrediency into their opinions in these times the Lord will discover and blast the doctrine which he hates and them also that hold up such opinions as are under his 〈…〉 and haply against the conscience also of those that follow them for their private and unworthy ends The third place is that Titus ● 10. 11. A 〈◊〉 that is an haeretick after the first and second ad●●●i●●on reject Knowing that ●e that is such i● subver●●●● and sinneth being condemned of himselfe In the former verse there is an exhortation to avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and striveings about the Law because they are unprofitable and vaine and then it followes A man that is a haeretick c. whence the a Examen censurae pag. 272. and 280. Arminians interpret an haeretick to be one that makes contention and division upon trifling and slighty questions who is condemned of himselfe because he litigates and makes a stirre about such things as himselfe knowes to be of small importance but I conceive the matter not to be so slighty as they would make it for it is said of such a one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is subverted as a Ship that turns up her keele or a house when the foundation is turned topsy turvy and therefore Deut. 32. 20. where the extreamly desperate estate of a people at last cast is exprest the Greeke renders it by the word used in this text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is a people turned upside downe or subverted which also the b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Subvertit us cum superior pars in ●mam vertitur Avenarius Hebrew word imports both in this place and else where and so haeresy is concluded to be a subversive thing and not a peevish litigation about slight questions as the Arminians would put it off but thus much may be collected from the cohaerence that a man may be denominated an haeretick for doctrinall and dogmaticall errours holden and contentiously defended and maintained and it is observed by some that wordes of this forme and termination as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do signifie an aptitude or readinesse and so the c Cameron myrothec cui volupe est tueri falsas erroneas opiniones word in the text signifies one that with complacency and choyce adheres to such errours but the greatest doubt is what is meant by those wordes he sinneth being condemned of himselfe which d Chrisost in Titus 3. 10. 11. Chrysostom refers to the admonitions precedent for in that such a man hath been admonisht he cannot reply in his owne defence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. no man hath shewed me my errour no man hath better instructed me and so hath his mouth stopt and is condemned of his owne conscience and it is not to be denyed that very many interpreters both ancient and moderne by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doe understand a man that is convinced in his owne conscience that he erres and that he goes contrary to his owne light sciens volens but this interpretation is by e Minus Celsus pag. 13. Estius in locum cum multis aliis many disallowd and argued against that moderate and sweet breath'd f De Arrianis lib. 5. Salvian speakeing of the Arrians saith Haeretici sunt non scientes apud nos non apud se quod illi nobis hoc nos illis c. They are Haereticks but not knowingly with us they are but not with themselves And indeed the word in the text doth not necessarily carry so farre as that an haeretick is condemned of his owne conscience but as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a man taught of himselfe without a Master so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a man condemned of himselfe not merely misled by others to whom he hath given up himselfe blindfold but as one that hath electively taken up and with a fixed self-will is resolved to persist in his errour and way which he thinks to be truth and that he doth Godgood service in holding on in it there are two things that may be cleerly taken up 1. That it is made the character of an haeretick to sin because condemned of himselfe 2. That another man may know that he is subverted and sins being selfe condemned for ' its said after admonition reject him Knowing that he that is such is subverted c. But how shall this be known Is it because he sins against common notions or principles within the ken of natures light This restraines haeresy which is a subverting of the faith onely to that which is contrary to light of nature which light of nature may bee in some particular so defaced like a superscription on old coyne that though I may know he sins yet he is not convinced in himselfe Is it then because he takes an opinion for his lusts sake and private ends against his light and knowledge Then indeed he sins because condemned of himselfe but how can another know it It rests therefore that an haeretick rejecting admonition may be said to be condemned of himselfe because hee chuseth his owne errours and rejects the truth and so interpretative that is vertually and by consequence is condemned of himselfe as they who thrust away the word from them did judge themselves unworthy of eternall life Acts. 13. 46. Here is as you see an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or selfe condemning without conviction of conscience or knowledge of their own sin in it The fourth place is the Text which we have in hand and this whole chapter compared with the Epistle of Iude in both which haeresy is graphically described as hath before been opend That which remaines to be done is the drawing up of that hath been said concerning the meaning of the word or the explication of the things out of the Scriptures alleaged into a result and that is this The Scripture seemes to make haeresy a complicate evill in which there is these three things whether all of them essentiall ingredients or some of them be usuall attendants or concomitants I dispute not 1. Dogmaticall or doctrinall errour even over throwing the faith or a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Tim. 2. 18. Funditas ever tunt solo equa●t subverting the pillars and foundations of the doctrine of Christ which Jude calls the common salvation ver 3. 2. Seperation from or renting of the unity and communion of the Church some time b Schisina eructat in here sin ut non nemo ait schisme introduces haeresy when men are run out upon peevishnesse of spirit or some unwarrantable grounds they commonly run on into errour of opinion and doctrine being caught like a loose and wandring sheep severd from the flock by the wolves which lie in waite for such sometimes the schisme followes upon the errour of opinion drunke in and so departure from the truth is attended with departure from the society and communion of the Church