Selected quad for the lemma: reason_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
reason_n	church_n	faith_n	infallibility_n	2,236	5	11.5991	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52773	Six Sermons preached (most of them) at S. Maries in Cambridge / by Robert Needham.	Needham, Robert, d. 1678.; Calamy, Benjamin, 1642-1686.	1679 (1679)	Wing N410; ESTC R26166	88,797	240

and true c. Such also are the general notions of good and evil which God hath planted in every mans soul which have so evident an obligation that no pretended demonstration in the World ought to shake our belief of them But there are other opinions which men take up upon lesser evidence which they are sometimes as tenacious of as of those first fundamental principles And these sort of prejudices are commonly the great hindrances of the propagation of truth there being scarcely any Sect in Religion which have not some peculiar tenets which they take up upon weak and incompetent grounds in proportion to which they judge of all other doctrines and make them the rule and measure according to which all places of Scripture must be interpreted Now in regard we all confess our selves liable to infirmity and mistake it is certainly the most equitable and reasonable thing in the World that when we come to enquire after truth we resolve with our selves always to submit to clear evidence though we have been otherwise persuaded Now that the want of this temper is a very great hindrance both to the receiving the Gospel and to our understanding it aright when we have received it I shall endeavour to prove by two notorious instances of the power of prejudice in either of these cases The first instance shall be that of the Jews in our Saviours days The great opposition which our Saviour met withall among the Jews the great reason why they would not receive him for their Messias was grounded upon this prejudice that they took it for granted that their long expected Messias was to have been a temporal Prince and to have appeared with worldly pomp and splendor and that he should have delivered them from the Roman Yoke and have reigned gloriously in Jerusalem And therefore when they saw him appear in so mean and despicable a condition not all the demonstrations of a divine authority accompanying him in all his mighty work not the greatest wisdom with which he spake not the most divine and excellent precepts he gave not all the predictions of their Prophets fulfilled by him not any of these things though they were in themselves as great evidence as they could have required yet none of them could prevail with them against that one prejudice that his Power was to be temporal and that he should restore the kingdom to Israel in a literal sense which was inconsistent with that state of sufferings in which our Saviour appeared Now that this Opinion of the Jews was taken up upon insufficient grounds is evident from hence because though there are glorious things spoken of the Messias yet his sufferings also are foretold by the same Prophets in as plain words as the other Nay it is expresly said by Isaiah that the glory that should be given to the Messias was to be consequent upon his sufferings as a reward of them And the Jews themselves have been so far sensible of the force of those predictions to prove that the Messias should suffer that to salve those prophecies they invented a Fable concerning a two-fold Messias one of which was to suffer for them and the other to redeem them and to reign gloriously over them Though the Prophet Isaiah ch liij v. 12. expresly attributes both to the same person making the suffering of the Messias the reason of the glory which God would afterward confer on him Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he hath poured out his soul unto death c. But the minds of the Jews were strongly affected with the love of this present World and the glory of it and they hoped that in the days of the Messias they should plentifully enjoy all the blessings of this life and therefore they were resolved to believe no more of the Prophets than agreed with this opinion that was so suitable to their inclinations and were uncapable of being convinced by the most powerful demonstration to the contrary that could possibly be given Thus we see how great the power of this one prejudice was to hinder the Jews from receiving the Gospel at first Nor is the power of preconceived opinions and prejudices less dangerous to hinder our understanding the Gospel when we have received it And of this I might produce many instances in the several dissenting Parties in Christendom every Sect having some peculiar and darling Notion which they hold tenaciously against all opposition and to comply with which all other doctrines must be bowed and wrested as they can best contrive it I shall give but one instance of this kind and that is the doctrine of Infallibility as it is maintained in the Church of Rome This is the leading prejudice of that Party which being once firmly received it becomes the Mother of the most absurd and contradictious opinions in the World and which is worst of all makes those who believe it uncapable of conviction by any argument though never so clear and cogent For what argument can possibly prevail with those who resolve to reject the testimony of their senses though never so well qualified rather than call in question the infallible decision of their Church And this the Papists plainly do in the doctrine of Transubstantiation which hath so many plain absurdities in it and is so clearly contradicted by our several senses that are capable of judging in that matter that there can be no other reason of their obstinate defending of it but that they cannot renounce the doctrine without quitting their claim to Infallibility It is beside my present business to consider upon what grounds they build that infallible power of their Church in determining matters of Faith but yet methinks I cannot persuade my self that they have any Argument for it so plain and cogent as the testimony of their senses and therefore it cannot but seem a strange way of arguing which they use to deny matter of fact evident to their several senses to maintain a doctrine for which they have infinitely less evidence than that they reject We see then how far preconceived opinions and prejudices may prevail both to make men uncapable of receiving the Gospel and of understanding it rightly when they have received it and consequently how much this simplicity of mind doth contribute to our success in the enquiries we make after divine truth 2. The second branch of duty which doth highly conduce to our receiving the Gospel and understanding it aright is purity of heart which consists chiefly in the moderation of our sensual appetites and pleasures He that intends to do the will of God must not retain in his bosom any lust or habitual inclination which he is not willing to forego if he find it contradictory to his will whom he resolves to obey and for that reason must have a constant watch over his sensual desires to keep them in their due bounds Those natural