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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	apostle_n	church_n	truth_n	3,216	5	6.2495	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A58916	A sermon preach'd in the chappel of His Excellency the Spanish embassador on the second Sunday of Advent, December 4. 1687. On which was solemniz'd the Feast of St. Francis Xaverius, of the Society of Jesus, apostle of the Indies and Kingdom of Japan. By the R.F. Lewis Sabran of the same Society. Permissu superiorum.	Sabran, Lewis, 1652-1732.	1687 (1687)	Wing S221A; ESTC R219047	32,337	38

him signing their Mission with these following words Healthe Sick raise the Dead cleanse the Leprous cast out Devils And that we might not believe these singular Graces to attend only the first Apostles he assures us without any limitation of Time or Place That those who believe in him John 14. shall do the same Works which He did and greater than those that such Signs and Wonders shall follow those who believe From this clear Method and plain Doctrin of Christ and his Apostles and from this following unquestionable Truth grounded on God's Goodness and Justice to wit That as men are bound to receive the Doctrin which God sends his Servants to preach to them so he cannot induce them into an Error by permitting it to be proposed in his Name and upheld by Prodigies which may prudently be believed to be wrought by his hand it follows First That Miracles are clear proofs by which may be resolved all doubts about questioned Revelations and consequently that there be undoubted Marks to know them by otherwise they would be useless Secondly That God in his Mercy cannot permit that a man slily covering his false Doctrin pretending to be sent by him and to teach only what is conformable to what he hath hitherto revealed in holy Scripture should work Miracles to uphold Falshood and that no one of those who oppose him should work greater in defence of Truth These Principles being thus cleared and settled I form this Argument for Christianity against a Jew or Pagan to which I crave your attention that you may observe if it faulters in any part or whether it concludes not rather in favour of Us Christians an impossibility of being mistaken in adoring Christ and an evident Obligation to it If there were such Persons as Christ and his Apostles and if they wrought such clear Miracles in Proof of the Doctrin which they taught as are related in the Testament it is certain that all men sufficiently informed of those Miracles are bound to receive their Doctrin as a Truth revealed by God. But there were such Men and such Miracles wrought by them and we are all sufficiently informed of them therefore we are all bound to believe and profess the Doctrin taught by Christ and his Apostles that is to be Christians Is this Argument plain and convincing or no May not the Major Proposition if deny'd be easily proved beyond the possibility of a Reply out of the two Principles before laid open As for the Minor no one can refuse his assent to it who considers how those Miracles were wrought in the sight of great Multitudes of which most were declared Enemies to Christ and his Disclples how the Records we find them in were handed to us from Eye-witnesses without any probable Objection ever being opposed to their Truth how they were owned by the very Enemies of Christ for true Records how the miraculous Effects of those Prodigies remain in the wonderful Conversion of the World to Christianity how they have equally been sealed with the Blood of Martyrs the Virtues and Heavenly Gifts of Confessors how these Persons and their miraculous Works were prophesied before and such Prophecies preserved in the hands of their Enemies did point out all the Circumstances that attended their Persons and Miracles how to conclude no other Religion or Belief was ever thus evidently attested by the Omnipotency of God ever thus visibly subscribed unto with his Hand and marked with his Seal Say Christians are these Proofs clear and convincing Yea or No Do you believe your selves strictly bound under pain of Eternal Damnation to believe God speaking to you as plainly as these Miraculous Proofs convince you that 't is He who spoke by Christ and his Apostles Yes or No Yes we may then well conclude our selves all bound to be Christians and we may convince Jews and Gentiles such as are not wilfully obstinate of their obligation to become Prosely●es to our Religion But now we are at variance amongst our selves These Arguments I have offered convince indeed each of us that what Christ and his Apostles did teach was the Truth that all who can come to the Knowledge of that Faith which they preach'd that Religion which they setl'd that Church which they form'd are bound under pain of Eternal Damnation to embrace that Faith to profess that Religion and to be Members of that Church but we differ as to the other main Point to wit what Faith they did preach what Religion they settled what Church they formed To reduce then all dissenting Christians to one Faith one Religion one Church what can be a more infallible and unquestionable Motive than to use the same Argument which moves us all to be Christians Which I thus offer altering only such words in it which fit it to our Case without taking away any thing from its force If there was such a man as Xaverius and if he wrought such clear Miracles in proof of the Doctrin which he taught as are related in all the Histories of the Indies and of Japan and in his Life written in all Countries and Languages it is certain that all men sufficiently inform'd of those Miracles are bound to receive his Doctrin as a Truth revealed by God. But there was such a Man and such Miracles wrought by him and we are all or may be when we please sufficiently informed of them therefore we are all bound to believe and profess the Doctrin taught by him that is to be Roman Catholics Is this Argument clear and convincing If so why are we not Catholics If not how are we Christians induced to it by the former which is the very same with this All that needs then to be attempted is only to evince the parity which I shall do first by exposing in short to your view those admirable Miracles of Xaverius which will appear to be the same with those that were wrought by the Prophets by Christ by his Apostles next by shewing that no Objection can be made against them which may not be of equal force in a Pagan's or a Jew's mouth in opposition to the Miracles and Prodigies wrought by the Prophets by Christ by his Apostles If I make good these two Points this Conclusion will unavoidable follow Whoever is a Christian on the true grounds of Christianity must also be a Catholic or if no Catholic no Christian The Prodigies which God wrought by St. Xaverius were such that I dare say of them in general they are the best Instance the Church of God hath had from the first Apostles time of the truth of two Promises of Christ the first * Ecce ego vobiscum sum usque ad consummationem saeculi Mat. 28. Behold I shall be with you to the consummation of Ages the second † John 14. The Works which I do they shall do and greater than these they shall do What greater Miracles can be an evident proof of a Prophet's or an Apostle's Mission than to command