Selected quad for the lemma: faith_n
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A33395
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A Clear proof of the certainty and usefulness of the Protestant rule of faith Scripture, after the help of ministerial guides, finally interpreted by each men's private sense / published with allowance.
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1688
(1688)
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Wing C4620; ESTC R35645
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8,105
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14
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A CLEAR PROOF OF THE CERTAINTY and USEFULNESS OF THE Protestant Rule of Faith SCRIPTURE After the Help of Ministerial Guides Finally Interpreted by Each Man 's Private Sense Published with Allowance LONDON Printed by Henry Hills Printer to the King 's Most Excellent Majesty for His Houshold and Chappel And are to be sold at his Printing-house on the Ditch-side in Black-Fryers 1688. A Clear Proof of the Certainty and Usefulness of the Protestant Rule of Faith Scripture after the Help of Ministerial Guides finally Interpreted by each Man 's private Sense THis proof is drawn from the Answer to the Address presented to the Ministers of the Church of England The Author thereof had required that clear and plain Texts of Scripture be offer'd which interpreted in the Protestant-way by those who receive it thus expounded for their whole Rule of Faith should so prove the two principal Articles of Christian Belief the Trinity and the Incarnation of Christ as also the Obligation of keeping holy the Sunday and not Saturday as one of the Commandments seems to require and that so convincingly that a Christian might ground on them his Faith. Interpreted I say in the Protestant-way without any deciding Church-Authority when doubts arise about the sense of the Letter The Addresser holds if he be a Catholic That Scripture rightly understood is a Rule of Faith That the Gospel revealed by Christ preached by the Apostles and preserved by the Catholic Church is so much our whole Rule of Faith that we own with Tertullian De Presc we need not be curiously searching since Christ nor further inquisitive since the Gospel was preach'd No new Revelations no new Articles being receiv'd as of Catholic Faith but those Truths only retained which the Church proposes as delivered to her by the Apostles her whole Authority being ever employ'd as Pope Celestine delivers it to the Council of Ephesus Ep. 7. in providing that what was delivered and preserved in a continual Succession from the Apostles be retained So that nothing is of Faith but what God revealed by the Prophets and the Apostles or what evidently follows from it the Catholic Church ever handing it to us and declaring it to be so Scripture thus interpreted is a Catholic Rule of Faith The Addresser therefore meant nothing less than to diminish its Divine Authority his design was to preserve it and that each man's private sense might not sacrilegiously pretend to be that Word of God which as St. Peter minds us is not of private Interpretation 'T is not against the Authority or Use of Scripture he writ but against the Protestants unjust and insignificant method of using it I will here make good the Charge hoping that when he thinks fit he will much more fully perform it by the very Answers given to his Questions which I shall set down in that Order and Sense in which the Answerer construed them Qu. 1. Whether all things necessary to Salvation are contained in Scripture Ans Scripture must contain these necessaries All Catholics ever owned what St. Augustin teaches De Doctr. Ch. l. 2. c. 9. That all things which concern Faith and Manners of Life are found in those things which are plainly contained in Scripture So that as St. Gregory expresses it God needs speak to us no more by any new Revelation For as the same St. Augustin observes in the Question betwixt Him and the Donatists about true Baptism which he held absolutely necessary to Salvation Tho' we have no proof in this case from holy Scripture yet we follow the truth of holy Scripture even in this case when we do what the Vniversal present Church approves of which Church is commended by the Authority of the very Scripture But the case in this first Question as it appears stated by the Addresser is Whether all things necessary to Salvation are immediatly and expresly contain'd in Scripture or drawn thence by an evident Consequence Our Answerer proves they are so by the three following Texts his Proofs I will set in a due form that their force may lie open to all The first Text is taken out of John 20.31 where the Evangelist having premised v. 30. Many other signs also did Jesus in the sight of his Disciples which are not written in this Book says v. 31. These which he had set down are written that you may believe that Jesus is Christ the Son of God and that believing you may have Life in his name Now what Conclusion can be drawn from this Text to our present purpose but one in one of these two forms First thus The signs set down by St. John ch 20. are sufficient to make us believe that Jesus is Christ the Son of God but precisely to believe that Jesus is Christ the Son of God is all that is necessary to have Life in his name or to Salvation therefore the 20th Chapter of St. John contains all things necessary to Salvation Or else thus in the Answerer's words All that is as sufficient in its kind to beget Faith in us as Faith is to save us contains all things necessary to Salvation But the 20th Chapter of St. John 's Gospel as it appears by ver 31. is as sufficient to beget Faith in us therefore that 20th Chapter contains all things necessary to Salvation A special piece of Logic However his Conclusion eases the Members of his Congregation from the obligation of reading any part of Scripture besides the 20th Chapter of St. John's Gospel The second Text of Scripture is 2 Tim. 3.15 16. where the Apostle having thus warned Timothy immediatly before v. 14. Continue in those things which thou hast learnt and are committed to thee knowing of whom thou hast learnt by which words he renews the commands he had given him 1 Tim. 6.20 2 Tim. 1.13 O Timothy keep the depositum have a form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in Faith The said Apostle minds him that in his Infancy he had read the Old Testament which bears sufficiently witness that Christ was the Messias v. 15 16. Because from thine infâ—ncy thou hast known the holy Scriptures which can instruct thee the Protestant Version hath make thee wise to Salvation by the Faith that is in Christ Jesus All Scripture inspired of God is profitable to teach to argue to correct to instruct in Justice that the man of God may be perfect instructed to every good work Hence the Minister argues thus The same Apostle that says all Scripture i. e. each part of Scripture is given by Inspiration of God says that the Scriptures are able to make us wise to Salvation But men cannot be wise to Salvation without knowing what is necessary to Salvation Here he leaves us but I will make up the Syllogism Therefore the Old Testament alone nay every part of Scripture contains all things necessary to Salvation Thus you see the Minister rests satisfied with the first Chapter of Genesis for his whole
said Jo. 6. Unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man you have no life in you the Jews who said how can this man give us his Flesh to eat and his Disciples who walked no more with him understood that he spake of his natural Body which they should corporally eat therefore Christ did really mean they should corporally feed on his natural Flesh This Popish Conclusion is in the same Form. Q. 5. Is the Mystery of the Incarnation of Christ clearly exprest in Scripture Or can it be clearly made out by Scripture that those words John 1. The Word was made Flesh own'd by all Christians to be true are to be understood in such sense that Both Natures were in One Person so that what is said of the Man Christ Jesus be truly said of the Son of God for example that the B. Virgin was Mother of God and not as the Nestorians understood them to wit that Christ was indeed a true man made of the Seed of David and that the Eternal Word true God was indeed in him but not by a strict Personal Union Ans Not one word from Scripture What indeed all the Nestorians supposed he proves but as to the Unity of One Person uniting these two Natures not one word This man any one may see is of those who take the Nestorians to be a part of the Catholic Church and no one will grudge their Congregation the Title of such a part of the Cath. Church that is a Member sever'd from the One Body of Christ Q. 6. The first branch of this Question is What Scripture hath absolv'd us from obeying one of the Commandments which imposes the keeping of Saturday holy The second What Text of Scripture exacts of us the keeping holy as the Lord's day the Sunday Ans To the first part not one word of Scripture and for excuse he tells us That here was no need of an express abrogation because Sunday being set apart for the public and solemn Worship of God the Sabboth-day as well as the Holydays and New-moons of the Jews being a shadow must surrender to the Sunday Here is as little Reason as Scripture for the Sabboth did appertain to the Law of Nature and was not a shadow only of a thing to come but a memory of the past and never-to-be-forgotten benefit of the Creation Gen. 2.3 from the work whereof God rested on that day and blessed the seventh day Here 't is pity at what a loss the Answerer is to find the Chapter and Verse wherein the abrogation of Circumcision is clearly exprest 'T is a charitable condescendency to instruct him let him look then in Gal. 5.2 where behold Paul tells you that if you be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing For the second part he produces a Text Rev. 1.10 I was in spirit on the Lord's day then he flourishes to teach us ignorant people that 't is usual in Scripture after that Times Places Things and Persons were set apart for the service of God by Divine Institution to have his Name as a mark of propriety given to them But in the name of sense and reason what means all this There is a Lord's day no doubt St. John was in spirit that day 't is certain But the question is What day of the week was it or was it only some peculiar day of the year as Easter-day or Good-friday Hath he Scripture for this Not one word I find forty Texts that call the day of general Judgment or that of each man's death the Lord's day but not one that mentions Sunday under that name I find Act. 2.46 how they that believed were daily continuing with one accord in the Temple or breaking Bread from house to house but not a word of a day appointed for stated Assemblies Scripture failing our Adversary he seeks supplies from Reason but the misfortune is that the first and chiefest he offers at stands against him The Moral Sabboth says he in the Patriarchal Church and the Ceremonial in the Jewish Church were on the days following the Creation and Deliverance from the Slavery of Aegypt True but what follows Therefore 't is not to be kept by Christians on the day in which Christ rested afteâ— he had accomplish'd our Redemption on the Cross by a solemn Consummatum est and his precious Death Not on Saturday Raillery aside what can be I will not say more dull but spoken more directly in spight of sense and reason Q. 7. Am I bound to believe the sense given to a doubtful Text because my Guides tell me I must do so Ans No plainly No And he hath two Texts for it the first 2 Cor. 1.24 Not for that we have dominion over your Faith but are helpers says St. Paul and Mat. 23.8 Call no man Master on earth for one is your Master Here not only the Walls of the City of God are broken down but the very Foundations of Prophets and Apostles are digg'd up is it all St. Paul could do all you allow him to give some light some helps when his Proselytes had any doubt about the sense of Scripture Were they not oblig'd to believe the Sense and Interpretation He gave to the Text Then that Faith is vain which was founded on the Apostles Preaching and all Christianity stands on a wrong bottom Now our Answerer takes his turn to ask Questions He tells us that for the first he has a pinching one 'T is this If I must know the Church by some Marks or Notes then I must find those Marks first and where must I seek them This is pinching indeed Suppose in a Gazette I should find some marks of a man that is sought for were it not a severe objection against the man who gave them and a pinching Question I must find these Marks before I find the man and where shall I find them I conceive such pinching would force a smile and this Answer Why Friend the Marks and the Man are found at once for they are to be seen in his face At the same time as one takes a view of the Catholic Church he sees therein a continual Succession of Bishops and Teachers from the Apostles he discovers her in all parts of the World and finds her thus Catholic he sees in her an undivided Faith Union under one Pastor in the use of the same Sacraments and finds her One he observes her Rule is Let nothing be alter'd of what was receiv'd from the Apostles by a constant Universal Tradition in the Churches which they founded and is convinced she is Apostolical he finds God favours her with the Gift of Miracles promised Matt. 10. and Joh. 14. that she hath fulfilled the Prophesies concerning the Conversion of Nations converted to Christianity by her Children only and he concludes this is she 'T is also observable at what a distance these men are from the true Church who conceive it so hard to find her out All holy Fathers ever judged it a most easie thing to each person insomuch that the holy Doctor St. Augustin thus delivers his sense of it CC. 2. in Psal 30. I tell you with truth Brethren the Prophets have spoken more obscurely of Christ than of the Church I believe because they saw in spirit that men would make Sects against the Church but would not be so much divided about Christ But 't is natural for a Criminal to question the Power of his Judge and these men know it hath ever been the sense of all Christians which St. Augustin exprest in the following words There is no Salvation out of the Church who doubts of it De Vnit Eccl. l. 4. c. 18. therefore whatever you have from the Church Scripture Creed Sacraments c. help you not to Salvation out of the Church whether you believe contrary to the Truth or being divided from the Vnity gather not with Christ whence St. Paul says to Heretics Those who do such things shall not possess the Kingdom of Heaven Gal. 5. His other Quaere's have no difficulty and withal so little of sense that I shall not offer to force my Readers attention on them All well-meaning Protestants finding that Scripture interpreted the Protestant-way is so far from being an easie and clear Rule of Faith that a Protestant in the Answer to an Address made to the Ministers of the Church of England approved by a Chaplain to the highest Ecclesiastical Authority under the King cannot as much as teach by it the first Principles of Christian Religion will seek a better method of using that Divine Rule and not be hereafter so easily imposed upon by those Guides who give them but their own private fancies under the Veil and Name of the Word of God. I was I confess surpriz'd to find Guil. Needham c. approving this Answer but God and Truth are of our side Et inimici nostri sunt Judices the weakness of our Opposers Arguments bear a proof to it Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam FINIS