Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	apostle_n	church_n	creed_n	2,605	5	10.2206	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47331	The judgment of private discretion in matters of religion defended in a sermon on I Thessal. v. 21, preached at St. Pauls Covent-Garden, Feb. xxiii, 1686 [ie. 1687] / by Richard Kidder.	Kidder, Richard, 1633-1703.	1687 (1687)	Wing K406; ESTC R16673	16,256	40

kept from the people And they must be allowed their rule when they are obliged to prove all things If they are obliged to give a reason of their hope they must be allowed to examine its grounds 2. This serves for the reproof of those among our selves who do not use that liberty of examining which is allowed them who neither know nor will understand That are crafty and diligent in worldly affairs but supinely negligent in their truest and greatest interest Too many are wedded to their faction and fond opinions and both practice and prescribe that which they condemn in the Ch. of Rome Did they ingenuously examine things and sincerely seek the truth they might easily avoid the Errors Schisms they are now justly charged with 3. Let us then examine the grounds of our faith especially in the points controverted among us at this time then will your Communion with the Ch. of England not be the result of Chance but of Judgment and of choice I know no mark of a true Church wanting here and am sure that many things greatly commend to us her Communion First This Church does not void the necessity of an holy life It cancels none of our obligations to God or man but teacheth the absolute necessity of contrition and repentance and mortification of our lusts And does by no means indulge a liberty of living as we list Secondly She fairly proposeth her Doctrines and does not refuse to have them examined nor deprive her Children of the means of doing it by the clearest light Thirdly Nor are her Doctrines fitted to advance a secular interest or glory Religion is an holy institution heavenly in its principle and pure in its aim and disdains to stoop to mean arts for wealth and worldly dignities Fourthly This Church teacheth nothing that is manifestly false nor puts us upon any practice which is a direct violation of any divine institution Fifthly Nor does this Church want the excellent badge of charity which is indeed the bond of perfectness Religion was designed as the greatest blessing to mankind and the author of the Christian was a great lover of humane race Its precepts are full of kindness and benignity and commend the highest pitch of civility and compassion and the highest flights of friendship Sixthly As obedience to Kings and Governors is a great part of the Christian Religion and an ornament to it and was in an eminent degree practised by the first and best Christians so it is the doctrine of our Church and hath always been the practice of the members of it In a word we pray for our enemies and teach men to give both God and Caesar their due We think it safe to worship no Image and are sure we are right when we pray to God through the mediation of Jesus Christ We know that God hears but cannot say so of Saints and Angels We receive the Sacrament in both kinds as given by Christ and received by the ancient Church And do believe the Sacramental bread after consecration to be what the Apostle calls it more than once For the Doctrine of Concomitance we leave it to them who understand it We pray in a tongue we understand We follow the H. Scriptures believe the ancient Creeds nor do we reject the first general Councils We press men to piety loyalty humility and charity and earnestly desire the salvation of mankind We press men to all manner of good works but place our hope in the mercy of God and merits of his Son. If we live up to our rule we are safe If not 't is not the fault of our Religion 't is our own If we live up to our Religion we shall never be miserable in this world and in the next shall be unspeakably happy Which God of his mercy grant for the sake of Jesus Christ to whom with the Father and H. Ghost be all honour and glory now and for ever Amen FINIS

may well be supposed to direct that Epistle to the Church or whole body of Christians which according to our version is said to be directed to the Elect Lady St. Jude directs his To them that are sanctified by God the Father Jude v. 1. and preserved in Jesus Christ and called St. Paul where he gives Laws about the Officers and Government of the Church directs his Epistles to the Governours onely as in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus otherwise he directs as here to the whole body of Christians 2. I consider the importance of the advice Prove all things The Greek word which we render Prove signifies to examine the truth or goodness of a thing and to discern the difference between one thing and another Luk. 12.56 ch 14. v. 19. Ro. 2.18 1 Cor. 3.13.11.27.16.3 It signifies to try and examine and sometime as the result of such tryall to approve It hath in the New Testament a particular reference to matters of Religion Ro. 2.18.12.2 Eph. 5.10 Phil. 1.10 These things deserve examining and there are about Religion many dangerous errours which want not the vogue and colour of truth 1 Joh. 4.1 We are required to try the Spirits and warned not to believe every Spirit We are required to examine and try the truth and goodness of things yea of all things and not to take them upon trust And this precept is subjoined to that 1 Cor. 14.3 4 5. Despise not prophecyings i. e. the preaching of the Word as may be collected from the Apostle's words elsewhere St. Paul doth frequently put us in mind to reverence the Ministers of Religion and tells us how they are to be esteemed He requires us in this Chapter To esteem them very highly in love for their works sake Heb. 13.17 1 Cor. 4.1 2 Cor. 5.20 v. 13. and bids us not despise prophecyings and yet even to this he adds Prove all things c. whence I raise this Doctrine or Proposition That it is the duty of Christian people to examine the grounds of their Religion and Faith and not to take them upon trust For the better speaking to it I shall First shew how this Proposition is to be understood Secondly I shall prove the Truth of it Thirdly I shall answer the Objections that may be brought against it Fourthly I shall make some use and application of the whole I shall shew how this Proposition is to be understood And that I shall doe in the following particulars 1. What I plead for is a judgment of discretion and not of jurisdiction and direction which belongs to our Superiors 'T is here as in the Laws of a Kingdom The people are obliged to know and keep them It is the duty and the interest of every man to know so much of them as concerns his life and property and the discharging his duty to his Prince and Countrey But then the power of making these Laws lies in his Prince or Governors and the learned in the Law are onely fit to direct and guide men in the matters of doubt and question And so it is in Religion It does not belong to every private man to be a preacher and interpreter of Holy Writ much less hath he any thing to doe to make Laws for other men But the private man hath a soul to save and in order thereunto is bound to inform himself in matters of faith Ro. 14.1 and those things which tend to the regulating his life and conversation We do not receive the people as judges of Controversies and doubtfull Disputations yet think them concerned in Religion in the mean time For matters of dispute and question the Priests lips are to preserve knowledge Here it becomes private men to be modest and to preserve a great reverence for their spiritual guides But there is a great deal of difference between asking the way when we are at a stand and pulling out our eyes and leaving our selves wholly to be led by another We may use our own eyes and our guides too 2. It is likewise a judgment of private discretion which I plead for It is not fit that a private man should judge for himself and his brother too His Conscience is not to be the common standard and measure of other mens Ro. 14.5 Let every man be fully perswaded in his own mind Every man ought to have this liberty to himself and to be content therewith and not to censure his brother 3. The practice of private men must notwithstanding this liberty be governed by the laws of their just Superiors And nothing can excuse them from an active obedience but where their Governors command what God hath forbid or forbid what he hath commanded And this determination of our practice especially in matters of order and discipline of which I would be chiefly understood is very consistent with that judgment of discretion which I am now pleading for Indeed if the thing commanded be evil I must obey God rather than man but if it be not I sin against God when I disobey my Superiors A private man is not judge of what is convenient most decent and orderly but ought to judge between good and evil lawfull and unlawfull true and false Our Doctrine does not give men a liberty to doe what they list when it permits them a judgment of discretion we do not pull out the peoples eyes nor yet allow them to break hedges and throw open enclosures and ramble whereever they list I shall prove the truth of this Proposition and shew that men are not to take their Religion upon trust That they ought to examine their Religion To try the Doctrines which they are taught whether true or false revealed by God or not And also to consider whether what is enjoined them be lawfull or not And to this purpose I desire you to consider 1. That the Scripture teacheth us this Doctrine We are here commanded to prove all things And our Saviour bids his followers take heed that no man deceive them Matt. 24.4 c. 23.10 1 Pet. 5. Christ allows no man a tyranny over the Consciences of men nor would St. Peter have it usurped nor did the Apostles themselves practice it St. Paul declares himself not to be a Lord over their faith but an helper of their joy 2 Cor. 1.24 Heb. 13.20 1 Cor. 11.1 Christ is our Master and great Shepherd His Ministers are but Stewards and Embassadors and are no farther imitable than they follow Christ Our Saviour calls upon his followers to beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees Matt. 16. Joh. 5.39 1 Joh. 4.1 Gal. 1. and to search the Scriptures And we are required to try the Spirits and not to believe an Apostle or an Angel that should preach any other Gospel God gave his law for our direction And we are assured that the Scripture is sufficient to render the man of God wise unto salvation through faith in Christ