Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	according_a	faith_n	true_a	2,988	5	4.5560	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A16944	A sermon preached at Pauls-Crosse, May 30. 1626 vvherein may be seene whom we are to repute hereticks, and schismaticks, what sleights they vse to deceiue, Gods iust iudgements on them, and how we may escape those nets which they lay for vs : also good councell to the magistrate, minister, and subiects, necessary for these times / by Mattheuu Brookes.	Brookes, Matthew, fl. 1626-1657.	1626 (1626)	STC 3837; ESTC S4166	26,742	50

agreed vpon in certaine Articles in the Conuocation confirmed by the royall authority which Articles are a declaration of what our Church approueth in the most principall points concerning saith and the publike seruice of God Let mee beseech them to marke those that cause deuisions and offences contrary to that receiued doctrine Yet with a iust distinction as well of the persons of those that cause deuisions and offences for some are obstinate and some are tractable as also of the deuisions and offences by them caused and maintained for of those also some are damnable some onely dangerous and to the honour of the Church of God scandalous For the better effecting of this let me remember them further that the old Aegiptians who were not altogether sottish in worldly matters were wont to paint their Iudges blindfolded and their President or chiefe Iustice without hands as intimating that Iustice should neither see the person of any man or feele his reward which if it be to bee practised in matters temporall how much more in this great matter which so neerely and meerely concerneth the soules of men Secondly let mee beseech the Ministers of the Word whom Christ calleth for the worke of their profession the labourers of his haruest who are the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God To looke backe vpon those forenamed Articles and to remember whereunto they haue all subscribed with their owne hands not with equiuocation I hope as Arius but with synceritie and with a good conscience as good Christians ought to doe and more especially as men of God should doe and therefore ioyntly with their hearts and mouthes to stand in defence of that truth vnto which they haue giuen their hands On the other side if any man preach another Gospell or defend or maintaine any contrary opinion by which the peace of our Church is disrupted with such a one according to the Apostol call counsell to haue conference and to admonish him to returne to the soundnesse of faith and into the bosome of our Church like Noahs Done into the Arke againe A m●n that is an Hereticke after the first and second admonition reiect Where I desire them to obserue that admonition in that place is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word pointeth out the end and purpose of our trauells rather than the paine and labour of them namely to put a right minde into him or to bring him into his wittes againe For hee is madde as Nazianzen spake of Apollinaris and as Eusebius saith that Manes was madde according to his name therefore must wee labour to reduce him to his right wits againe Indeed to cure a mad-man seemeth to bee a most miraculous thing seeing how few will bee reclaymed But let vs not despaire seeing that God hath sometimes blessed the labours of his seruants in this kinde Berillus Bishop of Bostra in Arabia who denyed that Christ was existent before hee tooke flesh of the Virgin by the painefull trauell of Origen was brought into his wits againe In like manner Coracion who had beene infected with the error of Nepos an Aegiptian Byshop father of the Chiliastes was conuerted to the faith by Dionysius B. of Alexandria But if none of our admonitions will preuaile with them but because they are filthy they will still be filthy let vs then reiect them for their prophane and vaine babblings will increase vnto more vngodlinesse and their word will eate as doth a Canker Let vs haue no more acquaintance with them than the Iewes had with the Heathen men or Publicans or St. Iohn with Cerinthus Let those that haue authority in the Church after the example of the Apostles and the godly Fathers of the prime age of the Church deliuer them to Sathan that they may learne not to blaspheme And let vs after the like examples vtterly auoide their companie and societie as knowing them to bee the diuells sonnes which doe gigantum more bellare cum dijs warre against God as the Poet feigned certaine monstrous Gyants to wage warre against the gods Let vs leaue to conuerse with them which say they are Iewes and are not but are the Sinagogue of Sathan In a word if wee cannot conuert them let vs be sure to auoide them and vtterly to reiect them lest God say vnto vs as he said to the Angell or Bishop of the Church of Pergamos thou hast them that maintaine the Doctrine of Balaam c. For if we proceed not against them by that lawfull power which God and the King hath giuen vs or if we will not doe so much as to auoide them it cannot be denyed but that we haue them Lastly let me speake a few words in the eares of the people and because they are of two sorts either those whose hearts are deceiued by good words and faire speeches or those pillars of the sonnes of Seth against whom the flouds of Beliall which haue euen ouer-flowen the world like the great and generall Deluge haue not preuailed Let me first direct my speech vnto those that are fallen whom I will not terrifie with the greatnesse of their fall by pointing vpward from whence they fell and downeward to let them see whither they are fallen I beseech them to looke on our Christian charitie who doe not esteeme them to be Heretickes or Schismatickes but doe denie them so to be vnlesse with obstinate mindes they will defend and maintaine their dangerous conceipts My counsell vnto such therefore is that they will resort to our Sermons and Lectures where they may heare the reasons giuen in publique for the faith which we professe and if ioyntly with this they will follow Christ his counsell searching the Scriptures adding instant prayer vnto God that hee would be pleased to reueale vnto them the mysteries thereof they shall doe well and I doubt not but they will returne againe into the bosome of our Church to bee ingrafted as naturall branches into the true Oliue from which for a time they haue been cut off and wee shall reioyce exceedingly that they are come againe yea the Angells of God in heauen shall ioy for their conuersion Secondly to those whose hearts are not yet inuenomed let me speake a word in due season Obedience must be giuen to the faith Therefore let them cleaue close vnto it and not suffer themselues in any sort to be seduced It is a rule to interpret the Scriptures Let them expound the Scriptures according to the proportion of faith For if they meete not in all places with the naturall sense and the direct meaning of the holy Ghost for that in the Epistles of St. Paul and diuers other bookes of the Scripture Some things are hard to be vnderstood yet so long as they interpret nothing contrary to the Articles of their faith Augustine will tell them that they are like vnto a certaine traueller who hauing lost the direct way wandreth in those

whom wee now speake their god is their belly as if he should haue said that they onely regard the things of this world for them they study and doe their vttermost deuoire Magister artis ingenique Largitor venter their belly teacheth them their skill and bestowes their wit vpon them See here the meaning of that place they cause not Deuisions and offences contrary to the doctrine of the Gospell for any care or conscience to serue God but to serue their belly in acquiring the things of this life And this is an especiall marke of infamie with which they are alwayes branded in the Scriptures Paul to Titus saith that they teach things which they ought not for filthy lucres sake The Apostle Peter saith through couetousnesse shall they with feigned words make merchandize of you And the Apostle Iude saith that they runne greedily after the errour of Balaam for reward This being their aime we need not seeke the cause why those of the Romish Church so obstinately maintaine their masses Indulgencies Pardons and such like Satanicall sigments for because they are separated from the Congregation of the Lord it cannot bee but their studie is to serue their belly Againe this being their aime wee need not wonder if in this flourishing Church of England and as it were in the noone-tyde of the Gospell as well the doctrine as the discipline of the Church being agreed vpon in publique conuocation by the learned and religious of the Land and authorised by law you haue yet many among you who willingly would and doe as farre as they dare alter the forme of our publike Church-Seruice and Ceremonies and feigne would innouate something either in respect of substance or of circumstance and if you haue Sects of Anabaptists Brownists Papists Familists Catharists and those who mislike all things but their owne inuentions For what wonder shall I bring if that I tell you that it is possible there may be couetous men among vs For the loue of money is the roote of all euill which while some coueted after they haue erred from the faith and pierced themselues through with many sorrowes Now because these Leopards doe hide their clawes and sometimes vnder the profession of voluntary pouertie doe practice couetousnesse the Apostle will therefore shew you wherein they hide them lest because you see them not you may thinke them to haue none and so like children play too familiarly with them not finding out their priuate end their belly By good words and faire speeches The Doctours of the Romish Church among other blasphemies are wont to teach that the holy Scripture is a nose of Waxe and a leaden rule meaning thereby that it may be bowed wrested and turned to contrary expositions and interpretations for the maintenance of priuate opinions and absurdities It is most blasphemous to say that the Scripture is so and yet St. Peter takes it for granted that it may be wrested yet with this Prouiso to the destruction of them that wrest it Now because it is true that false Prophets shall come in sheepes cloathing to deceiue therefore it doth follow that they shall bring nothing more than the Scripture in their mouthes which they haue wrested to their owne damnation A thing which the diuell himselfe hath taught them who when hee tempted our Sauiour Christ in the Wildernesse could yet cite the Scripture to his purpose If thou be the Sonne of God cast thy selfe downe for it is written hee shall giue his Angells charge concerning thee and in their hands they shall beare thee vp least at any time thou dash thy foote against a stone These are those good words the Apostle speaketh of with which the mouthes of all those that cause deuisions are stufft Adaptare cupientes ea quae bené dicta sunt ijs quae malè adinventa sunt ab ipsis Striuing to fit those things which in the Scriptures are well spoken according as there they are spoken to what they themselues haue mis-inuented With these good words so ill implyed will the Valentinians goe about to establish their 30. couple of Gods and Goddesses The Manichees their duo Principia or brace of gods the Arians to denie the true diuinitie of Christ the Papists their Purgatorie their Transubstantiation and all the parts of their Masse and euery new deuiser his owne brain-sicke Fopperies therefore as good coyners are not wont hastily to receiue and to approue of euery peece of gold but will first trie it and proue it by the touchstone especially if it be an vnknowne coyne So if any man bring vnto vs any newes in matters of religion and will thrust it vpon vs for gold in the name of the Scripture as good coyners wee must bring it to the Scripture and compare Scripture with Scripture that so wee may iudiciously discerne and see Quis nummus probus sit quis adulter which is good coyne which is Copper And the reason is because it is the practice of those that serue their belly to come with good words euen with the most blessed words of the Scripture in their mouthes like as the Hiaena is wont to counterfeit a mans voyce to obtaine his prey Faire speeches I referre to their moralitie by which they striue to be compleate euery way For it is the condition of an hypocrite to counterfeit vertue for Hypocrisie it selfe as Chrysologus in one of his Sermons obserueth is virtutum fucus the false painting or shadowing of vertue therefore must they come with faire language and vertuous speeches that they may with more ease bee receiued It is true that their end is their belly yet doe their outward actions beare such a shew of holinesse and charitie that to our shame it may bee spoken to the sight of the world they exceed vs farre And hence it is that so many Churches Temples Oratories Colledges Schooles of learning Hospitalls Almes-houses and other monuments of all sorts which our eyes daily doe behold haue beene erected euen in the dayes of blindenesse to say the truth we scarce repaire and vphold those most necessary buildings of all sorts which our Progenitors in the time that they dranke of the waters of Babylon haue erected to our hands Wee must not bely the deuill you shall see more almes-deeds of all sorts done by the hands of Papists more strictnesse and reformation of life and manners among Brownists and Anabaptists more religious obseruation of oathes and promises among the Turkes themselues than among the Formalists of our profession It is true we cannot say these men to be vertuous notwithstanding these great workes for because their good deeds are directed to a wrong end they are but Vmbrae simulachra virtutum the shadowes pictures and counterfeites of vertues and as one of the Fathers saith vt magnae vires cursus celerrimus praeter viam like to great strength and exceeding swift running when a man is