Selected quad for the lemma: faith_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
faith_n	believe_v	divine_a	revelation_n	7,143	5	9.8233	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A80578	Roman-Catholick principles, in reference to God and the King explained in a letter to a friend, and now made publick, to shew the connexion between the said principles, and the late Popish Plot. By a well-wisher of his countrey.	Corker, James Maurus, 1636-1715.; M. B.	1680 (1680)	Wing C6302A; ESTC R229566	11,561	17

sight both of God and Man they should nevertheless upon the very brink of Eternity Wittingly and Willingly cast themselves Head-long into an assured Damnation and this at a time when they might have saved both Bodyes and Souls by meerly discharging a good Conscience in acknowledging the Truth and becoming honest Men This I say is Inhumane and contradictory to all sense and reason to believe Now therefore I am come to what you so often and so earnestly press me to viZ to satisfie the world The intent of this Epistle and cleare my self my Fellow-sufferers and my Religion from the Imputation laid upon us on pretence of such Principles by a true and candid Explanation of my Belief and Iudgement in the main points of Faith and Loyalty controverted between Catholicks and Protestants as they severally Relate to God and the King PARAGRAPH I. Of the Catholick Faith and Church in Generall Redemption in Christ 1. THe Fruition of God and Remission of Sin is not attainable by Man otherwise then a Eph. 2.8 1 Cor. 15.22 in and by the Merits of Iesus Christ the Son of God who gratis Purchased it for us Applicable by faith 2. These Merits of Christ are not applyed to us otherwise then by a Right b Mark 16.16 Heb. 11.6 Faith in Christ 3. This Faith is but c Eph. 4.4 one entire and conformable to its Object which is but one being Divine Revelations to d Jam. 2.10 all which Faith giveth at undoubted assent Supernatural 4. These Revelations contain many Mysteries e 1 Cor. 1.20 Mat. 16.17 transcending the Naturall Reach of Humain Wit or industry Wherefore By the Divine providence to be Learnt 5. It became the Divine Wisdom and Goodness to provide Man of some f Isa 35.8 Way or Means whereby he might Arrive to the knowledge of these Mysteries Meanes g Ioh. 9 40. Visible and apparent to all Meanes h Mat. 11.25 Proportionable to the Capacityes of all Meanes i Ioh. 15.22 Sure and Certain to all Not from privat interpretation of Scripture 6. This way or means is not the Reading of Scripturs Interpreted according to the Privat k 2 Pet. 3.16 Pro. 14.12 Mat 22.29 Reason or l 1 Ep. Ioh. 4.1 6. Pro. 14.12 Spirit of every Disjunctive Person or Nation in Particular But 7. It is an attention and m Mat. 18 17 Luk. 10.16 submission to the Doctrine of the Catholick or Vniversal Church But from the Universal Church Dilated Continued and guided by the holy Ghost for that end established by Christ for the instruction of all n Psal 2.8 Isa 2.2 cap. 49.6 Mat. 5.14 spread for that end throughout all Nations and visibly continued in a Succession of Pastors and People throughout all Ages From which Church o Isa 59.21 Jo 16.13 Eze. 37 26. Eph. 5.25 1 Tim. 3 15. Mat 16.18 guided in Truth and secured from Error in Matters of Faith by the a Mat 28 20 Iohn 14.16 promised assistance of the holy Ghost every one may and ought to b Deut. 17.8 c. Mat. 23.2 learn both the right Sence of Scripture and all other Christian Mysteries and Duties respectively necessary to Salvation 8. This Church thus spread thus guided thus visibly continued This Church is the same with the Roman Catholick c Cant 6.8 Jo. 10.16 Rom 15.5 Jo. 17.22 Phil. 2.2 in one uniform Faith and subordination of Government is that self-same which is termed the Roman Catholick Church the Qualifications above-mentioned being applicable to no other Church or Assembly whatsoever From the Testimony of which we believe the Scripture to be God's Word 9. From the Testimony and Authority of this Church it is that we Receive and Believe the Scripture to be God's Word And as she can d Mat. 16.18 1 Tim. 3.15 Mat. 18.17 assuredly tell us This or That Book is God's Word so can she with the like assurance tell us also the true Sense and meaning of it in controverted Points of Faith the same Spirit that writ the Scripture e Isa 59.21 Ioh. 24 16. enlightning her to understand both it and all other Matters necessary to Salvation From these Grounds it followeth Divine Revelations only matters of Faith 10 All and only divine Revelations delivered by God to the Church and proposed by her to be believed as such are and ought to be esteemed Articles of Faith and the contrary Opinions Heresie And What Heresie and what Schism 11. As an obstinate separation from the Vnity of the Church in known declared Matters of Faith is formal f 1. Co. 11 19. Mat. 18.17 Heresie so a wilfull separation from the visible Vnity of the same Church in Matters of Subordination and Government is formall g Tit. 3.10 1 Cor. 1.10 cap. 12.25 Schism How Matters of Faith are proposed by the Church 12. The Church proposeth unto us Matters of Faith First and chiefly By the h Io. 5.39 holy Scripture in points plain and intelligible in it Secondly By i Act. 15. per tot Definitions of Generall Councils in points not sufficiently explained in Scripture Thirdly By k 2 Thes 2 15. cap. 3.6 2 Tim. 2.2 Apostolical Traditions derived from Christ and his Apostles to all succeding Ages Fourthly By her l Jam. 2 1● Practice Worship and Ceremonies confirming her Doctrine PARAGRAPH II. Of Spiritual and Temporal Authority What is the Authority of generall Councils 2. GEneral Councils which are the Church of God representative have no Commission from Christ to fraime new Matters of Faith Gal. 1 7. ● these being sole divine Revelations but only to a Deu. 17 ● Mat. 18 1● Act. 15. per tot Luk. 10 1● Heb. 13. ● 17. explain and ascertain unto us what anciently was and is received and retained as of Faith in the Church upon arising Debates or Controversies about them The Definitions of which generall Councils in Matters of Faith only and proposed as such oblige under pain of Heresie all the Faithfull to a submission of Iudgement But An Explanation of the same Authority 2. It is no Article of Faith to believe That general Councils cannot Err either in Matters of Fact or Discipline alterable by Circumstances of Time and Place or in Matters of Speculation or civil Policy depending on meer humane Iudgement or Testimony Neither of these being divine Revelations b 1 Tim 5.20 deposited in the Catholick Church in regard to which alone she hath the c Joh. 14.16 promised assistance of the Holy Ghost Hence it is deduced A Deduction from thence concerning Allegiance 3. If a general Councill much less a Papal Consistory should undertake to depose a King and absolve his Subjects from their Allegiance no Catholick as Catholick is bound to submit to such a Decree Hence also it followeth A second Deduction concerning the

Roman-Catholick PRINCIPLES In Reference to GOD and the KING Explained in a LETTER to a Friend And now made Publick to shew the Connexion between the said PRINCIPLES and the Late POPISH PLOT By a Well-wisher of his Countrey Mat. 22. v. 21. Render to Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things that are Gods LONDON Printed in the Year 1680. SIR I Find your last as full of Doubts and Inquietudes as your former was o● Heat and Zeal whether meer Compassion hath altered your iudgement or that you fear your own Turn may be next I cannot tell but I easily perceive you and the greatest part of honest thinking Protestants as well as you begin though late to suspect Miseries inflicted on Catholicks That Catholicks have wrongfully suffered the loss of their Fame their Goods their Fortunes and many their Lives Nor do I wonder to see you touched with some Concern at our Miseries for besides the sad spectacles of Bloodshed which I mention without any Resentment or Disrespect to the Government the Prisons have been filled with us whole Families ruined and exiled poor Widows and innocent Orphans have perished through distress the very Woods and Deserts have not wanted men dying with cold and hunger and all this upon account of a Plot horrid indeed and detestable in it self but which could never yet be proved against us by any one credible Witness or probable Circumstance evincing the Crime Through the Perjuries True it is Dr. Oates Captain Bedloe and others of debauched Lives and desperate Fortunes allured by Gain and encouraged by Indempnities have positively sworn if bare positive Swearing without any other probability of truth Of wicked Men may stand for good Evidence to a multiplicity of Particulars But these men have been and are so notoriously stigmatized with all sorts of Vice and Infamy their Oaths have been confronted with so many self-Contradictions their Forgeries accompanied with such incredible such impossible Circumstances their Lyes and Fables so stuffed with Absurdities Non-fence and Follies the Crime of Perjury so often so palpably proved against them in short both their past and present Villanies are now become so apparent and perspicuous that the greatest part of the Nation hath an abhorrence of them But you tell me and you are in the right That the thing which hath rendered credible the Testimony of otherwise incredible Witnesses against us Evil Principles wrongfully imputed and which hath invalidated all contrary Evidence given in our behalf is a Perswasion many Protestants have that the Catholick Religion is made up of traitorous Principles destructive to Peace and Government You say you have been informed by common Report by printed Books nay by some Ministers in their very Pulpits That Catholicks hold it an Article of Faith to believe That the Pope can depose Kings absolve their Subjects from their Allegiance and dispose of Kingdoms to whom he please That to murder Protestants and destroy the Nation by Fire and Sword for prop●gation of the Catholick Faith are Works of Piety and meritorious of Heaven These and the like horrid Aspersions together with I know not what feigned Idolatries Superstitions and Abuses are as you have rightly intimated laid to the charge of Roman Catholicks whereby to render both their Faith and Persons odious to many otherwise well-meaning People who not sufficiently examining the truth of things but taking all for granted judge nothing ill enough can be said or done against men so principled And is it not strange and severe And always disowned by Catholick● That Principles and those p●etended of Faith too should be imposed upon men which they themselves renounce and detaste ●f the Turk's Alcoran should in like manner be urged upon us and we hanged up for Mahumetans all we could do or say in such a Case would be patiently to die with Protestation of our own Innocence And this is the posture of our present condition we abhor we renounce we abominat such Principles we protest against them and seal our Protestation with our dying Breaths What shall we say What can we do more To accuse men as guilty in Matters of Faith which they never owned is the same thing as to condemn them for Matters of Fact which they never did You press the Question and say Some of our generall Councils several Papal Decrees and many of our Doctors and Divines assert the fore mentioned Principles Sir I have been instructed in the Articles of my Faith and I acknowledge the lawfull Authority of general Councils yet I profess I never learnt or found asserted in any of them such Principles And I propose unto you this plain and short Dilemma Either the abovenamed Principles are esteemed by us Matters of Faith or not If they be What farther can be required of us then to deny and forsake such a Faith And this we constantly do But if they be not Matters of Catholick Faith nor owned by us as such Why are Catholicks as Catholicks punished for them Why is our Religion persecuted on that account Let these in Gods name if any there be of what Religion soever who hold such Tenents suffer for them Why should the Innocent be involved with the Guilty There is neither Reason nor Iustice in it An Objection Hereunto some Persons I hope out of zeal and misinformation rather then Malice stick not to say That Dispensations and I know not what Indulgencies and Pardons whereby to legitimate the Crimes of Lying and Forswearing when the Interest of our Church requires is a main Part of our Religion And by consequence the Denial of our Principles is no sufficient Iustification of our Innocence Answered I answer First It is in the highest measure censorious in any one to impose upon all our Ancestors and the greatest Part of Mankind who are or have been Members of our Religion such an excess of Folly and Wickedness as must needs have perverted all Humane Society Secondly If we could lawfully deny the Principles of our Faith when interest requires why have we lost our Estates our Liberties our Lives for the Profession of it To what purposes are Oaths and Tests devised to entangle us How impertinently is the frequenting the Protestant Church and receiving the Communion proposed unto us and refused by us Thirdly Though many Men may be induced to Lye and forswer when they have some hopes or prospect thereby of Temporal advantage yet that Persons Dying for their Conscience and Religion as divers have done and those no Fools even by the Confession of our Adversaries should be so stupendiously Sottish and Mad either to imagine that Lyes and Perjuries for Concealment of Treason Murder Massacre and Destruction of others by Fire and Sword should be Acts of Vertue pleasing to God Dispensable by the Pope and Meritorious of Heaven Or that on the contrary knowing and believing as needs they must such Monsters and Horrours to be Odious and Detestable in the

same 4. The Subjects of the King of England lawfully may without the least breach of any Catholick Principle renounce even upon Oath the Doctrine of deposing Kings excommunicated for Heresie by any Authority whatsoever 1. Pet. 2.13 c. as repugnant to the fundamental Laws of the Nation injurious to Soveraign Power destructive to the Peace and Government and by consequence in his Majesty's Subjects impious and damnable Yet not properly Heretical taking the word Heretical in that connatural genuine sence it is usually understood in the Catholick Church Of the Oath of Allegiance on which account cheifly it is that many Catholicks of tender Consciences refuse the Oath commonly called The Oath of Allegiance The Bishop of Rome supream Head of the Church But not Infallible 5. Catholicks believe That the Bishop of Rome is the Successor of St. Peter d Mat. 16.17 Luk. 22.31 Joh. 21.15 Vicar of Iesus Christ upon Earth and Head of the whole Catholick Church which Church is therefore fitly styled Roman Catholick being an universal Body e Eph. 4.11 united under one visible Heed Nevertheless 6. It is no Matter of Faith to believe That the Pope is in himself Infallible seperated from a general Council even in expounding the Faith By consequence Papal Definitions or Decrees though ex Cathedra as they term them oblige none under Pain of Heresie to an interiour assent Nor hath any temporal Authority over Princes 7. Nor do Catholicks as Catholicks believe that the Pope hath any direct or indirect Authority over the Temporal Power and Iurisdiction of Princes Hence if the Pope should pretend to Absolve or Dispence with his Majesties Subjects from their Allegiance upon account of Heresie or Schism such Dispensation would be vain and null and all Catholick Subjects notwithstanding such Dispensation or Absolution would be still bound in Conscience to defend their King and Countrey at the hazard of their Lives and Fortunes even against the Pope himself in case he should invade the Nation The Church not responsible for the Errours of particular Divines 8. And as for Problematical Disputes or Errors of particular Divines in this or any other matter whatsoever the Catholick Church is no wise responsible for them Nor are Catholicks as Catholicks justly punishable on their account But 9. As for the King-Killing Doctrine Conc. Const Sess 15. or Murder of Princes King-killing Doctrine Damnable Heresy excommunicated for Heresie It is an Article of Faith in the Catholick Church and expresly declared in the General Council of Constance that such Doctrine is Damnable and Heretical being contrary to the known Laws of God and Nature Personal misdemenours not to be imputed to the Church 10. Personal Misdemeanors of what nature soever ought not to be imputed to the Catholick Church when not justifyable by the Tenents of her Faith and Doctrine For which Reason though the Stories of the Paris Massacre the Irish Cruelties Or Powder-Plot had been true which yet for the most part are notoriously misrelated nevertheless Catholicks as Catholicks ought not to suffer for such Offences any more then the eleven Apostles ought to have suffered for Iudah's Treachery 11. It is an Article of the Catholick Faith to believe that no Power on Earth can license Men to Lye No Power on Earth can authorise Men to Lye Foreswear Murther c. to Foreswear and Perjure themselves to Massacre their Neighbours or destroy their Native Countrey on pretence of promoting the Catholick Cause or Religion Furthermore all Pardons and dispensations granted or pretended to be granted in order to any such ends or designes have no other validity or effect then to add Sacriledge and Blasphemy to the above-mentioned Crimes Equivocation not allowed in the Church 12. The Doctrine of Equivocation or mental Reservation however wrongfully imposed on the Catholick Religion is notwithstanding neither taught 2 Cor 1.12 nor approved by the Church as any part of her Belief On the contrary Simplicity and godly sincerity are constantly recommended by her as truely Christian Vertues necessary to the Conversation of Iustice Truth and Common Society PARAGRAPH III. Of some Particular controverted Points of Faith Of Sacramental Absolution 1. EVery Catholick is oblidged to believe that when a Sinner a Ez. 18.21 2 Cor. 7.10 repeateth him of his Sins from the bottom of his Heart and b Psa 32.5 Pro. 28.13 acknowledgeth his transgressions to God and his c Act. 19.18 1 Cor. 4.1 Jam. 5.16 Ministers the Dispencers of the Mysteries of Christ resolving to turn from his evil ways d Luk. 3 8. and bring forth Fruits worthie of Penance there is then and no otherwise an Authority left by Christ to Absolve such a penitent Sinner from his Sins which Authority Christ gave to his e Joh. 20.21 c. Mat. 18.18 Apostles and their Successors the Bishops and Priests of the Catholick Church in those words when he said Receive ye the Holy Ghost whose Sins you shall forgive Of Satisfaction by penitential Works they are forgiven unto them c. 2. Though no Creature whatsoever can make f Tit. 3.5 condign satisfaction either for the guilt of Sin or the Pain eternal due to it g 2 Cor. 3.5 this satisfaction being proper to Christ our Saviour only yet penitent Sinners redeemed by Christ may as members of Christ in some measure h Act. 26.20 Jona 2.5 c. Psal 102.9 c. Psa 109.23 Dan. 9 3. Joel 2.11 Luk. 11.41 Act. 10.4 satisfie by Prayer Fasting Alms Deeds and other works of Piety for the Temporal Pain which by order of Divine Iustice sometimes remains due after the guilt of Sin and Pains Eternal are gratis remitted These penitential Works are notwithstanding satisfactory no otherwise then as joyned and applyed to that satisfaction which Iesus made upon the Cross in vertue of which alone all our good works find a gratefull i 1 Pet 2.5 acceptance in God's Sight 3. The guilt of Sin or Pain eternal due to it is never remitted by Indulgencies Indulgences are not Remission of Sins but only of Canonical Penances Abuses herein not to be charg●d on the Church but only such k 1 Cor. 5.3 c. 2 Cor. 2.6.10 c. Temporal punishments as remain due after the guilt is remitted These Indulgencies being nothing else then a Mitigation or Relaxation upon just causes of Canonical Penances enjoyned by the Pastors of the Church on Penitent Sinners according to their several degrees of demerit And if any abuses or mistakes be sometimes commited in point either of granting or gaining Indulgencies through the remissness or ignorance of particular Persons contrary to the ancient Custom and Discipline of the Church such Abuses or Mistakes cannot rationally be charged on the Church nor rendered matter of Derision in prejudice to her Faith and Doctrine There is a Purgatory or state where Souls departing this Life with