Selected quad for the lemma: ground_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	authority_n	church_n	truth_n	2,214	5	6.2511	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59251	A vindication of the doctrine contained in Pope Benedict XII, his bull and in the General Council of Florence, under Eugenius the III concerning the state of departed souls : in answer to a certain letter, printed and published against it, by an unknown author, under this title, A letter in answer to the late dispensers of Pope Benedict XII, his bull, &c., wherein the progress of Master Whites lately minted Purgatory is laid open and its grounds examined ... / by S.W.	Sergeant, John, 1622-1707.	1659 (1659)	Wing S2599; ESTC R12974	85,834	208

principles and consequences to be true that there is no Error no Ignorance no Succession in Separated Substances now in their present state of Separation How inconsequent is it as he there tels us That they are now just that as to their affections which this state of union with their bodies and mortality made them What a frivilous discourse he introduces arguing in the same 17 Acc. As an Embri● sayes he or seminal Mushrom delineates a future man so the thoughts and affections of this life design by their impressions the future condition of the Soul So that death produces such an Entity as from the man so disposed is naturally producible thus to remain till Resurrection For this hath no Connexion with the precedent Doctrine of the Immutability of Souls in the state of Separation If we should suppose that there is no variety in them no succession in that single state of Separation how will it follow there is no change of affections in these two and those so different States of Separation and Vnion Besides Sir if the Antecedent of this his Argument reach home to his purpose it is a Position destructive of all Christianity if this Embrio or seminal Mushrom delineate the future man if the Soul be such as the quality of the matter exacts and determines it to be as he tells us it is at the first infusion into the body and remains so or else he tels us nothing to his purpose Our liberty is destroyed There remains no hopes that these his Determinations by the matter or body should be changed by education by vertue should be corrected by Grace Since then this his Doctrin is absolutely false and since souls in truth by the assistance of Divine Grace do perfectly overcome even whilst in their Bodies what they contract or are determ●nod by their Bodies as our holy Faith teaches how excellently is it concluded That Souls now in Separation do not Correct what was in them by the commerce of that unworthy Clay which before inclosed them And how will it not be as well or more effectually concluded that Souls at their Re-union too passing now from Separation to Union as well as before from Union to Separation carry with them their unchangable Affections and so never get out of his Purgatory neither before nor at the day of Iudgment By these short reflections my Reader will easily observe how far these Adamantin unshakeable grounds fall short of that so much boasted Evidence even of Truth some of them being most perfect falshoods the rest groundless uncertain dreaming Assertions and yet they are such as shall serve the levity of some men to abandon the authority of the whole Catholick Church and upon these shall be Errected a new modled Purgatory as upon other the like they have built us a whole new faithless Religion of which they are so fondly inamoured and peremptory that now they boldly pronounce The hither to received Faith of the Church proceeded out of Ignorance of the Nature of Separated Substances Sect. 35. But to conclude my Adversary and our business if this his Position be true That no Souls are delivered out of Purgatory before the day of Iudgment What serve for all our Devotions Prayers Alms Offerings Doth the holy Sacrifice of the Altar which the Church hath defined to be Propitiatory even for the Dead avail those distressed Souls nothing at all No my Adversary dares not as yet venture upon this The Councils are so cleer so home to this Point his credit were ruined if he should attempt to deny it His new Purgatory then must be furnished with some new way by which our endeavours may be beneficial to those poor Souls or else no Catholiques Ears could be open to his new Divinity Is it perhaps the intermitting at some times or abating of the fury of their torments O no this Doctrin finds no admission in his School His indivisible duration admits of no intermission and where the Soul by her now unchangable affections is her own executioner no Allay or Abatement of torment can be hoped for till Reunior What then perhaps shall our Prayers be of force to obtain their Release O no this the least of all It were against all their Demonstrations and therefore is reserved to his new changeable state at the Resurrection What then is the effect of all our tears and prayers What benefit doe Separated Souls receive by them This and onely this That the day of Iudgment is hastned by them And is this all Yes truly this is all our new Systeme of Purgatory can admit of as to the Assisting of the Souls detained in it But what if this accelerating the day of Iudgment prove no advantage no help at all to those distressed souls Would not all Christians be justly charged with an intollerable folly Would n●t the Church be unavoidably guilty of a ●upereminent Error in a Doctrin which draws so much practice after it Whilst both the Florentin Council here and that of Trent pronounce and all Christians agree That the Souls detained in Purgatory are assisted delivered by the Prayers and Suffrages of the Faithful yet living And yet certain it is that the hastning of the day of Iudgment is no advantage to them in these their Positions and grounds Let this great Master himself plead the Cause Let him fairly deliver us his sublime sense in his own words Whether our devotions assist those souls or no Whether the hastning of the day of Iudgment be any way beneficial to them and that by his very ●bylosophical grounds the basis and foundation of the duration of souls now detained in his new minted Purgatory In spiritual acts says he whether they bring happiness or misery there is no proportion to time so as to make pain which lasts longer to be greater or that which ends sooner to be less for these are the properties of corporal things Every act of a pure Spirit reflected on it self being of its own nature out of the reach of time not subject thereto but greater then the whole extension of time c If then to a thing or separated soul which co-exists to a longer part of time nothing be thereby added or to a thing that is a separated soul which coexists with a less part of time nothing be diminished there can be no reason why duration should represent either more or less grievous in these respective cases So that whatsoever grief of a separattd soul is by the quality and force of its essence greater the same grief let its co-existence to time be what it will must be more vehement and that which is less by the force of its essence less Nothing being gained or lost by the perpetuating or contracting of the motions of the Sun or other Celestial bodies So that whatsoever time intervenes between death and the Restauration of the world at the day of Judgment is to separated souls as one moment This doctrin presupposed What can separated

2. 22. Tab. Suff. tab. 21. And having thus rid his hands of the Pope he proceeds against the infallibility of the Councils in his Tab. Suff. tab. 22. This being his signal Doctrine Non est impossibile c. It is not impossible that the Pope or Council should attempt to establish that as now of Faith which was some time before not of Faith and by that very attempt fall into an error and even promulgate that error c. And further he tells us As to a certain prophetick inspiration immediately and miraculously enlightning the Council or Pope if constantly and by the ordinary Law of God it be asserted to be required it is altogether fabulous and asserted without any solid ground Thus he Upon these grounds I say did this good proficient in this his Masters School endeavour to sustain your otherwaies ruinous Fabrick of Purgatory for in truth there is no other means left to support it but by the destruction of all the Authority of both Popes and Councils to deliver us our holy Faith And now I desire my Reader to consider for his just and full satisfaction of the design of this School that if these grounds be once admitted Christian Faith which they now combat is a meer mockery For if after all the Canons of Councils all the Anathmaes pronounced against any Opinion the very Anathema it self carrying with it and being an exercise of that power invested in the Church to oblige us to submission and beleef it still remains to be showen that the Pope or Council determined conformably to Tradition or else Master Whites styling the doctrine and profession new will not savour the least of Heresie or that it is not impossible a Council may err and promulgate an errour we are at an irrecoverable loss For no Catholick claims any other assurance of his Faith then upon this firm foundation that our holy Mother the Church is his infallible Directress That the Councils her mouth are the unerring Deliveres of Truth Which if it stand no firm absolutely but upon a supposition of a due application it being impossible we should have any higher or more authentique proof of this supposition then the Council it self there is no security no assurance left of any thing delivered by them Not so says he We may easily know when Councils and Consistories apply themselves aright by examining tradition of what we have seen and heard And shall I a private an illiterate Christian not yet acquainted with these solid and cleer-sighted Persons recall all the decrees of Councils to a new examine is there still a higher Court to which I may and ought to appeal from their sentence as to a superiour Iudg and Umpire over them shall I take this liberty upon me to censure their Proceeds to admit to reject their definitions as my weakness shall find them consonant to or dissonant from what I have seen and heard and if they were to receive their approbation from this Court How can I unless a senseless pride blind me hope that my industry in the search my ability to find shall not only equallize but even exceed that of five hundred perhaps a thousand Bishops and Prelates and the scrutiny of numberless Divines assisting them in this Inquest And even to ease us of this sollicitude you see what exact care is taken in these proceeds Pope Benedict here tells you of the holy Church that she teaches nothing rashly brings in nothing unwarily introduces nothing in faith unadvisedly And hence it is that all such sacred decisions are still ushered in with some such expressions as these After an humble invocation of the holy Ghost After a careful examination of the matter After a dilige●● deliberation with our brethren c. But if all this sollicitude in truth signifie nothing if we must not acquiesce here but re-examine all in a higher tribunal i● not this the utter Extermination of all that authority we hitherto have believed the Church is furnished with to deliver us our holy Faith Is not this to resolve finally en dernier resort our Creed into our own brests to make every idle head competent Judge of Popes Councils Consistories All And them Judges of just nothing wherein do those loose bands of disagreeing Protestants all disagree from us and all agree against us but in this that we acquiesce and submit to the holy Church as the faithful keeper and dispenser of our Faith and Tradition and so submit that from her sentence we admit no Appeal against her decrees we admit no Contradiction whilst they by a supereminent pride assume to themselves a power to judg this Pillar of Truth and resolve All into their own capriccioes private reason spirit fancies pride and nothing And yet I pray you consider whether by this appealing from the Church to Tradition what we have seen and heard we are not sunk into a deeper sink of Errour of Independancy then they for they appeal to Scripture which though irrationally they accept as Canonical they admit their Translations as authentick and contest the sense onely with the Church whilst this Doctrine affoords us a far more full and ample reserve to evacuate all Faith at our pleasures since it is still in our power and we competent Judges what is Tradition what not where the Council proceeded with due Application upon the depositum of Faith where upon the uncertain wavering opinions of Schoolmen or pretended assistance of the Holy Ghost which extends to Creeds Catechismes Definitions yea the very Canon of Scriptures and indeed All that any way belongs to Christian Religion Nor will it avail if this Gentleman should tell me that I do him wrong to rank his Doctrine with that of the Protestants or indeed hold it worse then theirs for the Protestants down right tell us the Church hath erred de fact● in these these Points in particular He and Master White more modestly and shily mince the matter and teach us that possibly onely or not impossibly the Council may err and promulgate an errour And perhaps he will say that these inconveniencies are saved by this his succeeding Doctrine in the same place Tab. 22. For there having delivered this his Doctrine against the infallibility of Councils he presently adds But it is impossible that such an errour thus promulg'd by the Council should pass into an establisht Doctrine of the Church and be accepted as a Doctrine delivered by the Fathers and preached by Christ For as to the first it will presently appear even in this our question that if their new model of Purgatory be subsistent not only possibly or not impossibly but de facto the Florentin Council and Church hath erred in this particular And since to say even not impossibly the Council may err the foundation of all assurance is now pulled up I know not but this Doctrine is as high and higher Independancy then theirs And as to those words of Master Whites I answer that they

of Purgatory cannot subsist or else the Council in our very point in question hath not only possibly or not impossibly but de facto proceeded to an erroneous definition de facto by this attempt hath fallen into an errour and de facto publisht it to the World And the Church which hath constantly imbraced this Faith hath de facto erred as well as it And now I hope your peremptory When hath received its answer your so many times reiterated question When is this purgation perfected comp●eated ended Take the Popes answer since I hope you are not so good a proficient as to detest and abhominate his authority to teach you faith before the resumption of their bodies and the general day of Iudgment Let the Council satisfie you if you are not poysoned with that detestable Doctrine that it may err too as well as the Pope being purged even uncloathed of their bodies presently Agree and reunite your self to the Catholick Church and be refractory no longer upon the itch of novelties of seeming wiser then all the Christian World ever was before you Sect. 21. But still you bite the Bridle these words so directly opposite to your errour are in these sacred decisions there they are and there they must remain maugre the Gates of Hell which shall never prevail against this Faith and when you have turned your self into all your postures you appear with this pitiful evasion these words are ●here indeed but say you pag. 19 20. c. they reach not home to our point The Popes ante reassumptionem c. before the reunion depends on the precedent words when after death they shall be purged and after the aforesaid purgation which words also should have stalked in great Letters This purgation is indeed supposed but no way defined and for the Councils Presently it also depends on the foregoing words being purged uncloathed c. which presupposes a purgation held by some divines in the state of separation but no way Decrees it and since the question was not then of the truth of this supposition as now it is but that then it was admittted without more adoe you grant us that in that supposition those words passed into the Pope and Councils Decrees The Pope indeed was of the opinion that the purgation ●f souls might be compleated in the state of separation but what does that concern you You lawfully dissent from his Opinion if you find reason but not from his Faith where he opin●s you follow him as far as his reason leads but where he defines you submit Now Sir as to this I wondered at your last word submit for I understand not you if you understand your Master We are here in a business of Faith and certainly you pass a very handsome complement upon the Pope when you tell him you submit to his definitions If this be real since your submission in faith can not be grounded but upon the supposition that he is infallible your Master will instantly discard you out of the School For an Heretick an Arch-Heretick for an introducer of Antichrist into Christendome This censure he hath fixt on this Doctrine as I have told you before But as to your plea though to use your own Phrase it is incomparably false as is before evinced nor can it according to your Masters own grounds take place in the Council where they proceed upon the depositum of Faith Yet to give you that satisfaction we will joyn issue in this your subtility as if your plea were allowable And in truth when you say that they proceeded on this as a supposition onely Yonr moderate Reader will much blame the boldness of this attempt because it will leave very ill consequences behind it and besides he will tell you that you had a very great disesteem both for the Pope● and Council and that you fancied them to be admirably ridiculous Persons who should proceed to definitions of Faith to declar● us Articles of our belief which regulate so much practis● on suppositions not only false but impossible The whole Christian World was in labour about the state of souls in Purgatory the East and Western Churches meet the diligent scru●iny of Divines make a search into all Libraries Papers Scrowls and after all these Throwes the issue is n●nsensical definitions upon not onely ridiculous and false but impossible suppositions If they had troubled their heads to tell us that when the Sky falls we shall catch Larks it had been tollerable the supposition had been foolish not impossible But to tell us and make ●uch a putther to tell us when you remaining yet what you are shall become an Angel what then shall happen when indeed nothing shall happen or any thing may happen is to render the supream Pastor of the Church the sacred Assemblies of ●h● shepheards of our souls a laughing stock to children And yet this is our very case according to you for upon this bare and impossible supposition that the purgation of separated souls might be compleated before reu●ion issued this impossible Doctrine that they were presently and before the day of Iudgment received into heaven And if you had but weighed those very Examples you use pag. 20. 21. you would have observed this What sense will this bear A Prisoner when acquitted by Proclamation becomes a free-man or Fire applyed to combustible matter presently burns if it be absolutely impossible the Prisoner should ever be acquitted by Proclamation or that fire should ever be applyed to combustible matter what practise can we regulate by such Positions and yet your self had a ●winkling light of it p. 21. for having asked your friend when you should see him in the Coantry You complain of his canting answer when he tells you as soon as he comes down he will visit you since as you say it was the confidence of this which made you inquire the other We must be confident then of the supposition or else what is drawn out of it is nothing If it were impossible your time should ever be out under this your new Master your setting up a new School for your self would signifie nothing If it be impossible That you should ever hav● performed your previous exercises your presently proceeding Doctour would be out of doors So ●hat without being an Oedipus if the supposition as you will needs have it that Souls may be purged uncloathed of their Bodies be impossible the definitions both of the ●ope and Councill are more silily ridiculous then any Fable in Aesop or Ovid for in these there is still some Morall or Physicall Mystery coucht for our Instruction in them nothing at all But how do you parrallel pag 22 23. your Adversaries proceed in obscuring some words in an obscure Letter or render it worse then if he should set in Cpaital Letters Christ is not risen from the dead and our preaching is vain in lieu of these words of St. Paul If Christ is not risen from the dead Then