Selected quad for the lemma: ground_n
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A41623
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Pulpit-sayings, or, The characters of the pulpit-papist examined in answer to the Apology for the pulpits and in vindication of the representer against the stater of the controversie.
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Gother, John, d. 1704.
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1688
(1688)
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Wing G1347; ESTC R18623
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55,138
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78
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by his Church to own the Scripture as the Word of God and obliged to assent to all therein deliver'd as of Divine Authority and of necessity to be believ'd with a Divine Faith whilst for Legends tho' he may read them if he pleases as he do's other Histories yet he is not bound by his Church or Religion to give assent to or believe any one Passage in any Legend whatsoever This the Apologizer understood very well pag. 23. where he proves out of Bellarmine and Canus that according to our own Principles all these things contain'd in the Lives of Saints tho' mention'd even in the Canonization depend upon Human Testimony as to particular Matters of Fact and consequently are subject to Error And therefore no sufficient ground for any Point of Faith which can be built on nothing less than Divine Authority And tho' some of these are inserted into our Offices yet they are not there propos'd as likewise Particular Revelations as the Scripture is to wit as matter of Faith but only as a Relation of some History in the Reading of which some Spiritual Advantage may be reap'd as is at large discours'd above Which is very different from what the Preacher says that he changes Scripture into Legends 2. How do's he change the Sacraments into Shows when in his Church the Sacraments are not only Shewn but likewise care taken that they be duly Administred to all her Members The Apologizer pretends the Charge to be True because the Cup is shew'd to the People which they don't partake of and the Host elevated at Mass and carry'd in Procession And might not a Jew here step in and with this Argument pretend that Christ Crucifi'd was another Show upon Calvary while he was there expos'd for some hours upon the Cross to the view of the World But all this is nothing but a Method to teach Atheists how to make the greatest Mysteries of Christianity Ridiculous We know the Benefit of that Oblation Christ made of his Body and Blood upon the Cross and likewise of that he Instituted at his Last Supper where he gave his Body and Blood after an Unbloody manner under the Forms of Bread and Wine for the Remission of Sins and which is now daily repeated in the Church according to the Command of Christ which he gave to his Apostles when he said to them DO THIS in Remembrance of me We know the Benefit there is in this Continual Remembrance And those who make a Show of this are within one Step of those Vnbelieving Jews who made a Show of Christ in his Passion when 't was said to them Behold the Man. 3. As for the Third of Preaching Purgatory instead of Repentance 't is absolutely False inasmuch as in the plain import of the words it imprints this Notion in the Hearers viz. That the Papists don 't Preach Repentance to the People but instead of this they Preach Purgatory This I say is False and so evidently that the Apologizer dares not vindicate the Preacher in so foul a Calumny and therefore instead of what the Preacher asserts the Vindicator minces the matter and pretends only that the Doctrin of Purgatory invalidates that of Repentance Which too is False in it self since we see Catholics both in their Lives their Books and Sermons urge the Necessity of Repentance as much and as effectually as Protestants And 't is much more False as to Preaching since amongst so many Sermons I have been at both Abroad and in our own Country I have heard Repentance so often press'd to the People and Purgatory never so much as mention'd unless it were to shew the insufferable Torments of the Place and how great the hazard is even of getting thither And amongst the Printed Sermons of Spaniards French Portuguese c. that are extant in Latin I challenge the Apologizer to find one that so sets out Purgatory to the People as to make them neglect Repentance and if he do's I 'll be bound to shew him a Hundred for his One that enforce the Duty of Repenting without the least hint of Purgatory or their considing in it 4. He says We Preach Faction instead of Faith c. This the Preacher said of the Papists at a time when the Church of England had been assisting a Faction about Four Years with all the help the Pulpit could give them in Consecrating their Villanies and finding Arguments to gain them Credit for the deluding the People And tho' they cannot be Advis'd to be more Cautious for the future without an Apology appearing in their behalf yet I hope 't is not without some Sense and Shame especially since they have seen the Cart and Pillory so often appearing in Confutation of those Truths that were then so often Dispens'd to the People with the Gospel As for the Faction they can discover in Our Preaching let them do their best to find even half so much we freely give them a Thousand Years to review for to match these Four of theirs Let them take in likewise the Sermons that are now Preach'd in our Chappels throughout the Kingdom I hope they 'll all appear Instructive as to Faith and Manners but free from Faction Can the Church of England say as much of theirs at present in which there are so many unworthy Reflections made upon the Religion of their Prince so much Animosity blown up Fears and Jealousies insinuated into the People and the Government made to them uneasie even in the very Method that dispos'd them heretofore to Rebellion and ended not but with the Murder of their Sovereign I can't imagine them to intend the like Mischief at present neither did they I believe heretofore when they made way for it by their Indiscreet Preaching But when they have seen so lately the People exasperated to that degree by the Pulpits against Popery as even in an Unnatural Rebellion to take up Arms against their Prince and never leave pursuing him under the Pretext of his being a Papist till they had brought his Royal Head to the Block under the same Notion Methinks such as are truly Loyal and boast themselves the Best Subjects in the World should be more Tender of their Sovereign than to venture upon the same Method with the Son which prov'd so Fatal to the Father and so Dangerous to the Brother But I fear the Excess of Jealousie for their Religion puts them upon being too Bold with their Prince and that by a Just Judgment of Heaven they are blindly practising the very Principles they have so often charg'd upon the Papists Making their Church's Interest the Center of their Religion Preaching Faction instead of Faith Esteeming everything Conscientious that makes for the Cause And not minding the Lawfulness of the Means provided the Thing be but done Twelfth Character of a Pulpit-Papist THERE is a great noise of Alms made in his Church but the Scope they too often vainly aim at is the Blessing of a Dr. Tenison ibid. Presumed
Spirit assisting in his Catholic Church to direct us while we submit to this we go safe and Rationally and being taught to understand all thus propos'd to the best of our Capacity there 's no danger of our Vnderstanding being put out 2. Popery tears out the Hearts of all others out of her Communion whom she cannot deceive she will destroy This is false too since tho' Catholics are bid to go and Teach all Nations as Christ commanded his Apostles and consequently their Successors the Pastors of his Church to the end of the World yet where Men are so obstinate as to reject all Instructions they are taught to go elsewhere and only to pity and pray for such blind Souls but not to destroy them 'T is true in the Catholic Church care is taken to preserve all such as are her Members firm in her Communion and there are not wanting Threats to keep the Inconstant from being Misled into Error as likewise Punishments to reduce such as leave her and blindly run after False Guides And if for this reason she must be said to tear out their Hearts and destroy such as she cannot deceive what is to be the Character of this Preacher's Church which by consent of Bishops is fenc'd with such Laws as punishes with Loss of Goods Imprisonment and Death not only those who leave her Communion but likewise those too who never were Members of it This is a Cruelty not to be paralell'd amongst the worst of Christians I cannot say but that Rash Zeal Headlong Revenge or Detestable Avarice may have hurried some of ours upon such Barbarous Attempts but certainly never did any Christians deliberately and with Counsel thus deeply engage themselves in Blood. 'T is one thing to shed Blood in the heat of Fury and Passion another thing to do it by Law and if ours are thus to be condemn'd of Cruelty for some Rash and unaccountable Practices of this kind which we detest upon Reflection certainly others have a better Title to this Infamous Mark who with such Severity both in Goods Liberty and Life punish those with Deliberation who never were of their Communion and are so zealous in maintaining those Laws in force by which they own themselves Bloody by Profession 3. The Absurdity of Auricular Confession is endless where a Man unlades himself of all his Sins by whispering them into Priests Ears This again is a Calumny and Misrepresentation since no Catholics teach that only Whispering Sins in the Ears of a Priest is sufficient for their Remission They own indeed Confession to a Priest in order to Absolution and the same is allow'd by the Church of England but besides this Whispering they require likewise a True and Hearty Sorrow joyn'd with a Firm Purpose of Amendment and a Sincere Resolution of avoiding thro' the help of God's Grace all Sins and the occasion of them for the future and this I hope as no body will deny to be a proper Means in order to Forgiveness so likewise every one will see how unsincere this Preacher was in saying That a Man unlades himself of all his Sins by whispering them into Priests ears To make his Followers believe the Papists to be so Sottish as to think their Sins forgiven by a Whisper only 4. Of Transubstantiation where Men must renounce all their Five Senses at once How is this true that we must renounce all our Five Senses in the belief of this Mystery since if we follow our Hearing which is the Sense by which Faith comes we are oblig'd to believe it Christ's Words expresly signifie and declare that the Sacrament is his Body These Words we hear deliver'd to us by those whom He has appointed to Teach and Instruct the Flock to wit the Pastors of Christ's Church these Words we see likewise and read in the Holy Scripture So that if we follow our Ears and our Eyes directed by the Word of God we are bound to believe this Mystery and consequently do not renounce all Five at once And thus whilst we let both our Senses and Reason be immediately directed by God's Word which is Infallible we more Reverence the Scriptures and Believe upon better Grounds than Protestants who let Natural Objects ever about Mysteries of their Faith have the direction of their Senses in which they are so often deceiv'd rather than the Word of God which cannot deceive them We acknowledge that to frame a Judgment of the Nature or Substance of a thing we must depend upon the Information of Sense and that the Common and Natural way is to Judge according to the Relation the Senses give from the External and Natural Accidents of the thing But if we desire to frame a True Judgment of what is the Nature and Substance of such an Object not according to a Natural Being but according to the Divine Power and what it may have of Supernatural the Senses ought not to be laid aside but we must consider here too the Information These give not now from the Natural Accidents but from the Word of God and the Divine Revelation for tho' the Natural Substance of the thing be connected with and best known by its Natural Qualities yet a Supernatural Being not so and therefore This is better known from what the Senses tell us from God's Word and Divine Revelation than from the External Accidents and Natural Qualities of the thing I illustrate this by an Instance in another matter If I have a Present sent me in a Letter by a Friend and I intend to make a Judgment of the True Nature of it and What it is I cannot do this without the assistance of my Senses But then These may inform me Two ways either by Looking upon the thing it self which at present I suppose is a Transparent Stone observing every Cast of the Light how Pale c. or by Reading the Letter which being sent from an Excellent Artist gives a full Account of it as likewise Hearing What the Bearer says whom I know to be a skilful Jeweller Now in both these ways I use my Senses in order to Judge of the Present as to its Nature and Value If I take the Information of my Senses from the View of the Stone in it self I Judge it to the best of my Skill to be no Precious Stone but some Counterfeit or Peble If I take the Information my Senses give me from the Reading the Letter and Hearing the Artist I Judge it to be a True Diamond upon their Authority and greater Skill who being of known Honesty do unfeignedly give me this Assurance Now in which Judgment of these ought In in Prudence finally to acquiese Certainly in this last And yet in so doing I hope I should not renounce all my Five Senses at once No even in this Judgment too I should depend upon my Senses And if in such a Case as this I prudently form my Judgment from the Account my Senses give me of such Mens Authority and Knowledge rather