Selected quad for the lemma: opinion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
opinion_n	according_a	day_n	time_n	661	5	3.4471	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A37972	A brief vindication of the fundamental articles of the Christian faith as also of the clergy, universities and publick schools, from Mr. Lock's reflections upon them in his Book of education, &c. : with some animadversions on two other late pamphlets, viz., of Mr. Bold and a nameless Socinian writer / by John Edwards ...	Edwards, John, 1637-1716.	1697 (1697)	Wing E198; ESTC R21772	71,092	137

those Doctrines before rehears'd though we know nothing of the nature and intent of them nay though we never heard of them for there is but One Article of Faith and no more that is required to make us Christians and that is this that Iesus is the Messias If you believe this take it upon my word you need nothing more I mean as to matter of Faith to make you True and Living Members of Christ. This alone is that which properly deserves the Name of Iustifying Faith and is that Faith which God will impute to a man for Righteousness I have been blamed by several of my Brethren in the Ministry for preaching and printing such doctrines as this and they have baffled me as they think out of the Holy Scriptures and have demonstrated that there are sundry other Points of Faith that are required to be believ'd in order to the making a man a Christian but I can't be brought to listen to what they say Neither Church-men nor Dissenters shall bring me off from this perswasion I will rather stick to Worthy Mr. Hobbs and Mr. Lock then part with my Opinion at the sollicitation of Thousands of Divines and other Christians whom they call Orthodox I 'm chiefly confirm'd in this Notion by the latter of those Gentlemen whom I named who cruises up and down the Countries to propagate this doctrine and I hope will take Steeple in his Circuit very suddenly and then he will further satisfy you though I should not have used that word Satisfying because it is ●o hateful to him and instruct you in that and some other matters relating to Religion which no Christian ear ever heard of before After Mr. Bold had asserted the Darling Proposition he presents us with an other which is no less strange and monstrous and from whence we may guess at the Character of the Man who is Mr. L's humble admirer His express words are these Pref. p. 5. A mans knowing that Iesus Christ hath revealed such a doctrine brings him not under an Obligation to believe it but he may notwithstanding that withold his Assent This is the maxim of Mr. L's New Christian but the Mischievous Ingredients of it are sufficient to shew the nature and design of this Writer for though he will perhaps say that he delivers that afterwards which is contrary to the interpretation which I make of these words yet the Answer is plain that he makes nothing of Contradicting himself and therefore this is no Plea He can say and unsay as he thinks fit of which I gave several Instances in my Reflections on what he writ before This then is no excuse at all but rather shews his Weakness that he can't tell when he talks inconsistently or his Insincerity and Perverseness that he will make use of Contrarieties to serve his own ends I know likewise he will say that he speaks this of those Doctrines the belief whereof doth not constitute a man a Christian but this is a mere Evasion and he can't possibly make use of it with any shadow of Sense for if you ask him what those Doctrines are he will tell you that they are those which I before specified and reckon'd as Fundamentals of Christianity But he denies them to be such and he can't do otherwise for if there be but One Article of Faith necessarily to be believ'd to make a man a Christian which is the thing he so stiffly maintains then all the rest are not necessary to be believ'd to make him so or to denominate him to be such Having thus prevented and obviated the Cavils which he might start I 'll now very concisely present unto the Reader a few Remarks on that Proposition which I quoted out of Mr. B's last printed Papers viz. that I knowing that Christ hath reveal'd such or such a Doctrine brings not a man under an obligation to believe it but he may notwithstanding that with hold his assent First this baffles the end of Christ's revealing his doctrines to the Sons of men for without doubt they were reveal'd for this very purpose that we should yield assent to them But this Gentleman tells you that there is no such thing Revelation hath no affinity with Assent and therefore this could not be the End and Design of that And herein he follows the Patern sent him by a late Writer in his Christianity not mysterious p. 38. Divine Revelation saith he is not a motive of Assent nor a ground of our persuasion or a reason we have to believe a thing as if we were to receive it only because reveal'd Secondly This separates Knowledg from Belief and makes Religion and even Christianity it self a mere Notional Speculative thing We may according to this Wise Shaper of Christianity read the New Testament and see what Christ and the Apostles deliver'd there as matter of Belief but we are not under an obligation to believe what they delivered We may if we please look into the Gospel and the Acts but have a care of peeping into the Epistles and thence stock our selves with Propositions and furnish our Brains with Knowledge as well as our Tongues with something to talk of but we are excused from yielding Assent to the truth of them Such a monstrous Idea doth this Writer give us of that Sacred Institution of the Blessed Jesus Thirdly This is bidding defiance to the Divine Authority of the Scrip●ures for whoever refuses to believe those doctrines which are reveal'd in the Sacred Writings doth in effect declare that those Writings are not divinely inspired And yet Mr. L's Disciple assures his Reader that though Truths and Doctrines be reveal'd in the Writings of the New Testament yet we are not obliged to give credit to them and to profess our belief of them which is no other then annulling the Authority of the Scriptures Fourthly This Assertion destroys that very One Article which he contends for for if the revealing of a Truth obliges us not to believe it then we may with hold our Assent to this Proposition Iesus is the Messias as well as to any Other for seeing they are all equally reveal'd in the Scripture we ought to make no difference So that you see the poor Foolish Builder pulls down his own Structure with his own hands The Beloved Article which he so much insists upon is ruined by what he himself asserts This is the just Judgment of God on such audacious Innovators and Depravers of Christianity Whilest they are throwing down the Propositions which others with great reason assert they demolish their own Fifthly and lastly This wild Proposition of the Replyer is destructive of all Reveal'd Religion Let there be never so many doctrines reveal'd to us by the Holy Spirit in the Divine Oracles a Christian is under no obligations according to him to believe them for all being alike reveal'd they may be equally disbeliev'd This is the New Theology of our giddy Worshipper of that Idol Opinion of One Article One would scarcely

think that he should at this time of day have the confidence to talk after this rate and to impose such dangerous and pernicious notions upon the world Or at least one would think that this Writer and his Fellow should not stare and shew themselves so extraordinarily concern'd when we tell them that they are Betrayers of Christianity Having descanted on his Main Propositions and seen what the dismal Contents of them are I 'll look into some other things which are most obvious in his Reply I expected he would have attempted to purge himself of those Self-Contradictions which I laid to his charge and proved in the plainest manner imaginable from his own words which I faithfully set down but he like his brother-Criminal deni●●● but gives no reason why he doth so He follows the example of the Vindicator and unmercifully Repeats what he had said before And all the rest is studied Evasion Subterfuge Whiffling It is in vain to mention all the Particulars it shall suffice to propound to the Reader 's view one of them and from that let him guess at all the others I had been proving in my Reflections on Mr. B. the Absurdity of the Opinion of One Article and had shew'd how he contradicted himself one Instance whereof was this that he had said that a True Christian is as much oblig'd to believe that the Holy Spirit is God as to believe that Iesus is the Christ which are his own words and yet he saith There is but that One Article Iesus is the Messias to be believ'd to make a man a Christian Whence I inferr'd and whether justly or no let the Reader judge that he spoke things repugnant and contradictory for if a True Christian be as much oblig'd to believe one as the other then it is certain that a man can't be a True Christian without believing both and if there be a necessity of believing both to make a man a True Christian then the belief of one only is not enough Now mind what the Replyer saith to this and how fallaciously and sophistically he discourses p. 19. It is as necessary for me saith he to believe that Iesus was at Cana of Galilee and turn'd Water into Wine there as it is that he was crucified without the Gates of Jerusalem because I have the same evidence for the one that I have for the other But I can not say it is of as much Importance for a man to know the one as it is to know the other much less can I say that no man can be a Christian till he knows and believes that Iesus was at Cana in Galilee c. Which is so extraneous and foreign and every ways so impertinent and inconsistent that if one did not know with what Writer this Gentleman symbolizes it might create astonishment to hear such a sensless and incoherent application of these words for whereas I had asserted that a man can't be a True Christian unless he believes other Articles and Doctrines viz. such as I have mention'd before as well as that One of Iesus's being the Christ and accordingly to disprove this he should have shew'd that those Articles are not as necessary to be believ'd as that Single one he mentions he not regarding the matter he was about produces some Historical passages out of the New Testament viz. Christ's being at Cana of Galilee and turning Water into Wine there c. and then thinks though one would think it is impossible he should he hath effected what he undertook But doth not any considerate man see that there is no comparison between these things which he alledges and those other before spoken of between the belief of some Historical Circumstances and the belief of the Grand Fundamental Points of the Christian Religion Is there not a vast difference between these Inferiour Truths and those that are of an Higher nature even such as are of the Essence of Christianity and have Immediate respect to the Salvation of our Souls Though the belief of the former be not absolutely necessary to make a man a Christian doth it follow thence that the belief of the latter is not necessarily requisite for that purpose Who but the Replyer and the Vindicator for he takes his part as to this very thing in his Vindication could first imagine any such thing and then puhlish it to the world What Talent of Reasoning Mr. B. had before he undertook this Cause of the One Article I can't tell but since I am sure he is a very poor Arguer and makes out nothing of what he pretends to but fills up his pages with weak dilute stuff yea without any dash of what is sprightly and generous And that he and his Cause run very low is evident from what he saith p. 24. in ●efence of his One Article The Notion saith he of One Article may induce those who embrace it to esteem more Persons Christians than the other Notion can allow of And thus far I fancy and you say right Good Sir it is no more than a fancy the advantage is on the former's side for I conceive there is no hurt in letting Charity as well as Patience have its perfect work Thus he and he is pleas'd to confess that this is the suggestion that comes from a cold Phlegmatick temper If he means that it is very flat and dull I think every body will agree with him Tho truly we must grant that here are some footsteps of Ingenuity such as it is for here is set forth the True Cause why this doctrine of One Single Article is so vigorously urg'd at this day and even upheld by Pensions Old Reynard would not say a syllable of this throughout his whole Treatise of the Reasonableness of Christianity and his two Vindications of it He thought it was too gross and broad therefore the Dissembler conceal'd it But Unwary Mr. Bold who tells all he knows acquaints us with the true and proper design of the setting up of One Article and the furious appearing against all the rest By this means saith he we shall have more Christians such as they are then ever were before There are many that will imbrace One Point of Christianity who will refuse to own the rest so that we shall have Christians in abundance But whether they be True Christians or whether they be esteem'd to be such that is his word is not material but we shall have the Number of these latter much increas'd and that 's enough And besides saith he we shall have more Charity and there is no hurt in that when there is but One Single Article of Christian Faith we shall all Agree and what a fine world shall we have then Ay but Sir would it not be a better world if there were no Article at all and then besure there could be no Contention whereas now there is occasion for it for some will not allow of the One Article you speak of Therefore according to your own way