Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	article_n	believe_v	creed_n	2,820	5	10.5298	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A37176	Good counsells for the peace of reformed churches by some reverend and learned bishops and other divines ; translated out of Latine.	Dury, John, 1596-1680.; Davenant, John, ca. 1572-1641.; Morton, Thomas, 1564-1659.; Hall, Joseph, 1574-1656.; Ussher, James, 1581-1656.	1641 (1641)	Wing D319; ESTC R15642	50,356	151

hainous offence against the sacred Majestie of God Here then we may behold that grand let whereby the Reformed Churches to their great greife of heart are forced to shunne a Communion with the Church of Rome For so farre in love is shee with her Idolls and so rigorously doth shee impose the worshipping of them upon all her children that no man can be admitted into her Communion at least not continue in it unlesse he will become a notorious and down-right Idolater If the case so stood that the Germane Churches could not enter into and enjoy a blessed Unity and Peace one with another except they must be required and bound either to practise an Idolatrous worship or at the least to beleive and professe that such practice is not unlawfull I would not stick to affirme that a Communion which cannot be had but upon such hard conditions is indeed impossible to bee had since as Lawyers use to speake wee can doe onely so much as may lawfully be done by us And here we have just cause to blesse God that the Reformed Churches although they have not the happinesse to agree in all matters of lesser moment yet doe they all of them by his grace unanimously conspire joyne together against Idolatry so as not onely to condemne but also to beat downe and abolish it insomuch that if at this very houre they were all disposed and desirous to joyne hands and strike a league of amity and union it might be done without any the least danger of Idolatry Away then with that pretended impossibility of a Reconciliation grounded upon the perill of Idolatry nor let any such false surmises weaken the heart or hands of any religious Christian from going on with so good a worke The third last Obstacle which doth block up the way to an union render's it impossible is the differing of severall Churches about some fundamental point of Faith necessary to be knowne and beleived by every christian upon paine perill of eternall damnation so as that the one side doth solidly hold and maintaine it the other heretically denie's and oppose's it For to be at peace with Heretickes who goe about to undermine and subvert the foundation of our Christian faith what is it else but to revolt from Christ the rocke on which the Church is founded built Of this last Obstacle because it is of speciall use and moment I shall treate somewhat more at large In the first place therefore I conceive that to be a Fundamentall point which by the ordination of God revealing such a truth is of such necessity unto salvation to be knowne and assented unto as that a bare Ignorance much more a wilfull Opposition of it carries with it a certaine perill of exclusion from the kingdome of heaven Divines now-adaies have no Commission to invent or coine any new Articles of this nature and obtrude them on Gods Church that which was not fundamentall in the Apostolicall and Primitive times all our assertions and altercations and Anathema's will never bee able to make it such These first and fundamentall Trueths collected out of the whole body of the Scriptures put together in the Apostles Creed make up that Rule of Faith which S. Austin terme's pusillis magnisque communem a commom Rule for all men both great small and which is by him accounted necessary to bee beleived constantly by all Concerning the which that speech of Hilary also is much to the same effect 't is our safest and best course to hold fast that first onely-Evangelicall Faith which we made confession of at our Baptisme And to these fundamentall Trueths the Apostle I beleive had an eye when he stiled Titus his owne sonne {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} after the common Faith This common Faith laid downe in the Apostles Creed proposeth to all Christians to be beleived by them the wonderfull Production of all creatures out of nothing the unsearchable mysterie of the glorious Trinitie the fruit benefit that redound's to miserable sinners from the Incarnation Passion Resurrection and Glorification of Christ what follow's thereupon the Redemption of mankind the Sanctification of the Elect the Communion of Saints the Remission of sins the Resurrection of mens bodies and the Glorifying of the Faithfull He that beleive's all which wee have here comprised in this short Creed and endeavour's to lead his life according to the Commandements and Precepts of our Saviour Christ cannot justly be denied the title of a Christian nor expelled the fellowship and communion of any Christian Church whatsoever On the other side He that shall deny or oppose any one of the said Articles although he arrogate to himselfe the name of a Christian yet is he to be excluded and banished the society of all orthodoxe and sound Christians Besides these there are I confesse many other Trueths contained in the Scriptures and deducible from thence by good and solid consequence which are very profitable to be knowne and of singular use to further us in the knowledge of Divinity but they are then only and not otherwise necessary to be beleived under paine of forfeiture of our salvation or communion with the Church when 't is clearely evidenced unto us that they are contained in Gods word or may necessarily be inferred from it In these points therefore if any particular Church cannot make the Trueth which she her selfe beleive's so cleare and manifest to other Churches as thereby to winne them over to the same beleife shee must forsake them in their Errours but by no meanes may she because of such errours deny them her charity and Communion I adde further that if it should happen that two Churches should vary about some particular place of holy Writ the one conceiving that it confirme's a fundamentall point of Faith and the other thinking that it doth not so yet is not such a difference as this a sufficient cause why they should fall at odds and separate one from another so long as they agree both of them in the Point it selfe and acknowledge it to have cleare solid foundation in other places of God's word And last of all this may be added yet further that 't is not a thing impossible nor any way contrary to the duety of good Christians to entertaine a communion with those Churches which hold such a doctrine as seemes to us inconsistent with some fundamentall Trueth so that in the meane while they doe expresly beleive professe that fundamentall Trueth it selfe For 't is utterly against all Charity yea and Reason too that a man should be thought meerely for some consequences which he neither apprehend's nor grants to deny and reject a fundamentall point which yet he strongly beleives expresly affirme's yea and if need so required would not stick to seale the trueth of it with his dearest blood How much truer and more charitable is that opinion of a grave and moderate Divine

followes upon the former this they were so farre from granting that they did alwaies expressely deny it As therefore wee doe not say that the Papists doe therefore deny their Sacrifice of the Altar because they grant as we doe the perfection and sufficiency of that Sacrifice which was offered up by Christ on the crosse though in all good consequence this overthrowes that sacrifice of theirs so neither doe we think that Tertullian others of the same Opinion touching the originall of man's soule ought to be charged for holding the Soule to be mortall because this latter errour seeme's to be deducible from the former Now then how extreme faulty in this kinde Divines of both sides have beene who is there that see's not For we commonly charge our Brethren the Lutherans with Eutychianisme though they in the meane time deny and disclaime it because this errour as we think follows upon their Doctrine concerning the Lord's supper they againe on the other side stick not to charge us with I knowe not what monstrous Opinions as if we made God the author of all sin and wickednesse assertions which we justly abhorre tremble at because they perswade themselves that this may be gathered from our Doctrine about God's Praedestination and Providence Wee will not here dispute whether these things be rightly inferred yea or no from our severall Tenents and Opinions on both sides It sufficeth that whatsoever they be whether justly or unjustly pin'd upon our Opinions they are denied by us both nor can we ever be induced by any arguments whatsoever to grant that they are agreeable and consonant to our Faith For so long as this is done as indeed it is it is manifest from what hitherto hath been delivered that neither can they without injustice and calumniation bee charged with Eutychianisme nor we with those monstrous and damnable Opinions although both these errours could by true solid consequence be concluded from our severall Positions which yet neither side will ever confesse for their own part Seeing therefore that all or most of those Doctrines which the one side taxeth in the other as pernicious and such as cannot consist with Salvation are but either the private Opinions of some particular men or else but Corollaries and conclusions violently wrested by force of argument out of their severall Opinions would but men as in reason they ought forbeare to father any thing on either side save onely that which their whole Churches expresly owne and professe for their received Opinions it would be very easie to maintaine that all the Dispute and Controversie which is in agitation betwixt them is such as may be tolerated and that there is not any thing contained in the Faith and Doctrine of either side which overthrowe's Salvation Now were but this once agreed upon and beleived on both sides there would remaine litle or no difficulty in this whole businesse wherein worthy men doe at this present employ themselves namely of setling Peace and Unity amongst our Churches For seeing there are but two waies possible of being reconciled either that one side shall renounce their private Opinions and come over to the other or else that both sides shall joyne together retaining their severall Opinions and by a mutuall condescending shall each of them tolerate that which they dislike in the other's Doctrine especially if it be such as cannot be altered without perill and dammage to a whole Church the former of these two waies as we conceive is not now to be stood upon whereof triall hath been heretofore made not onely without successe but with much danger harme as appeares sufficiently from those many Disputations Conferences which have been held betwixt both sides during this whole Age whereby hatred and enmity hath been ingendred rather than extinguished and the number of Controversies rather increased than diminished Wee must therefore betake our selves to that other way of being reconciled and in it must we employ all our paines and cares studies as being indeed both the only easie and lawfull way yea and necessary too in our judgement And that wee may at length attaine unto this it would not be amisse as we conceive to proceed after this manner and method first wee must endeavour that a kinde of Truce and Cessation from our strifes contentions may be agreed upon and enjoyned the Divines of both sides and that they be stirred up and exhorted to take this whole businesse into consideration this being obtained in the next place speciall diligence must be used that after a meeke freindly and most persuasive manner it be made appeare to all that we are not at variance about any fundamentall Point of Christian Religion or such wherein men may not safely be of either Opinion without hazarding their salvation and here men must be very carefull that they refraine from all intricate Questions and trifling Disputes such wherein the Schoolemen have spent so much paines mincing and mangling every thing into I know not how many peices then handling every peice severally which serve for no other end save onely to torture torment mens mindes but no way make for edification Would but God be pleased so farre to prosper these endeavours as that thus much may be once brought to passe wee make no doubt but every man would then readily wish for this much-desired Communion which none ever shunn'd or refused but out of a kinde of Religion and Conscience conceiving it unlawfull to entertaine a Communion with any that are not of the same beleife and Opinion with themselves so soone as men on both sides shall be wrought off from this superstitious conceit they will gladly run and rush as it were into one anothers armes and embraces For it cannot be imagined that there is any man either of the one side or the other so stupid void of all reason Religion but knows how foul scandalous a thing how hurtfull to both sides how dangerous and pernitious to the whole Christian world this Schisme is which hath hitherto divided and distracted us on the other side how sweet how beneficiall both to our selves all others Unity and Peace would be so it might be had without losse of Faith and Salvation And truely the way to setle this Unity were we but once come to that is plaine and easie For seeing we doe both of us by God's grace equally acknowledge and beleive the Gospell of our Lord Jesus Christ penned by his Disciples and seeing we confesse that whatsoever is of necessity for salvation to be beleived or done by us it is all clearely and plainly laid downe in this Gospell what hinder's why we may not joyntly confirme and ratify those Articles wherein we both agree for those other Points about which wee differ wee may expresse them in such words and phrases as the sacred Scriptures afford us and not suffer our men to enquire any further or contest about thē For

and readily professe without any doubt or scruple O what enimies are we to Peace if we will yet needs quarrell amongst our selves In all this I wish we would carefully remember that usefull distinction of Iohn Gerson esse quaedam de necessitate fidei quaedam verò de fidei devotione that there are some things essentiall and necessary to Faith other some things which shee piously and devoutly beleives but yet they are not of such necessity as the other the former are such as may not so much as bee once doubted of but these latter may admit of an {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} we may safely either suspend our assent unto them or positively dissent from them The second Article wherein they differ is concerning the manner of receiving Christ in the Eucharist Both agree that Christ's body is truly and really given taken and eaten in this Sacrament together with the outward Elements All the question is concerning Vnworthy receivers An unworthy Question truly it is that the publike Peace should any way be disturbed about it We willingly grant both of us that even such as are Vnworthy doe eat that which by a sacramentall Union is Christ's body and that therefore they are guilty of the body and blood of Jesus Christ What doe wee now making any more adoe about the manner of their eating whether it be Orall or not Let Christians make this their care that they thēselves may be found worthy Communicants and let them not trouble themselves to knowe how those which are unworthy are partakers of Christ How farre the vertue of that Sacramental Union extends it selfe and whether the manner of this eating be Orall or Spirituall let the Schools dispute it Christians need not be too curious in enquiring after it nor is it fit wee should disquiet the Churche's Peace by refusing to indulge mutually one another a liberty of Opinion in such nice Points The third Article is that fatall Point of Praedestination about which Divines of both sides expresse themselves variously but yet modestly and discreetly In many things and such as are of most moment their judgements on both sides are the same as that election is most free proceeding from the meere mercy of God that God found not any cause or occasion in those whom hee elected the sight whereof might move him to chuse them rather than others but that he did from all eternity reprobate and praedestinate to eternall damnation such as persevere and persist in their sinnes and infidelity not by any rigid and absolute decree without having any respect or regard to sin but out of his most just judgement so as all the cause the blame of it ought to be sought for in the men themselves In this they are at a stand that the foresight of Faith and Perseverance is by the reverend Divines of Saxony placed before the act of God's Election so as God did from everlasting foreordaine such as he fore-saw would in time beleive c. Certainly of all the Questions about Praedestination this concerning the order of his Decree is least materiall seeing we know assuredly that the infinite all-wise disposer of things performes all this with one single most simple act There is nothing more certain than that God did foresee who would beleive and that he did praedestinate such as should be saved let but this then be granted which they of Saxony willingly professe that Faith is the sole gift of God and that whatsoever good there is in the Elect all of it doth originally proceed from the free grace meere mercy of God which was bestowed on them in Jesus Christ from all Eternity I say let this be granted and doubtlesse there can be no danger in that Opinion of Praevision or fore-sight God from everlasting fore-saw that which he himselfe from everlasting decreed to bestow in time upon such as should beleive All this is sound and safe nor is there any cause why any further strife contention should be made here about In all this I embrace and applaud this Christian and brotherly moderation and holy desires of Peace thus it becomes Christians thus it becomes Divines I am much deceived if this modest and seasonable appeasing and calming of men's minds doe's not promise a firme and perpetuall Peace to God's Church Thou God of Peace in thy good time accomplish it give eare to the prayers of thy People and grant that all Christians may be of one heart and one way till at length we come by Thee who art the Way to Thee who art the Life Amen Amen From the Palace at Exceter Febr. 25. 1634. Which is the humble daily and devout prayer of JOS EXON Afterwards the same Mr John Dury sent unto the Ld Bishop of Exceter a Coppy of a certaine pious and peaceable Decree made published by a generall vote at a publike Meeting of the States in Franckfort requesting his Opinion concerning the meanes and manner how this good worke might be advanced whereunto he had returned him this Answer TO HIS MOST FAITHfull learned and loving freind Mr JOHN DURY all happinesse SIR I Have read over with a great deale of delight the Transcript you sent me of that Decree for Peace which was lately signed by all the Protestant States and Delegates assembled at Franckfort than which Decree nothing in my Opinion could possibly have been devised more full of prudence and religion nor doe I see as the case now stand's what more could be once hoped for or what could possibly have beene proposed and resolved upon that might more conduce to the advancement of the publike Peace which all good men so much wish and desire Thus it was meet that the holy Citizens of God's Church that pious Princes and Peeres should thus carefully provide for the Peace and safety of Christendome And blessed be God the bestower of every good gift the Author of Peace who did put into their noble hearts those holy desires and purposes may the same good God be pleased at length to finish this his owne work so hopefully begun and crowne it with successe And truely neither our prayers nor our utmost endeavours shall ever be wanting hereunto neither know I well upon what hopes it is but methinkes my mind doth confidently promise and praesage a happy issue to this holy enterprise For indeed what a small and slender hedge is it which now divide's and part 's us We doe all of us of the Reformation receive and approve the same Scriptures the same Creeds the same Augustane Confession onely in one Article the sense is so doubtfully expressed that the Author himselfe did not thinke it safe to adhere to the letter of it The foundation of the Christian Faith is amongst us all one and the same entire and unshaken there 's not so much as one stone in it or the least peice of coement about which any question either is or can be made Upon this Foundation