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
A66427	A short discourse concerning the churches authority in matters of faith shewing that the pretenses of the Church of Rome are weak and precarious in the resolution of it.	Williams, John, 1636?-1709.	1687 (1687)	Wing W2734; ESTC R7663	18,741	33

has not sufficiently proved the Doctrins in dispute betwixt us and that if we had no more would be Authority enough for us to refuse them and depart from her since She will not receive us to Communion but upon Conditions which they cannot make out to be reasonable unless we grant that false Supposition of Infallible Authority They ask farther who is to be Judg of the Controversies and Reasonings between us I answer every Man must for himself For as every Man must believe so every Man must have a Reason why he believes and sure every one must be a Judg of his own Reason whether he be Convinced or no. We are told That then there will be Heresies and Schisms it is true there are so and for ought I see will be so still But that 's no more than the Apostle told the Corinthians must be that those which are approved may be made manifest The Church of Rome may appear yet more unequal in Her Pretences for that She advances a Doctrin which cannot be believed even by those who pay the utmost deference to her Authority and that is Transubstantiation which implies several Contradictions Some that own the Churches Infallible Authority and are resolved to rest upon it may so overrule their Minds as to keep them from considering or thinking upon that Doctrin and so for the time do not as it were disbelieve it but whenever they come to weigh it their Minds cannot imbrace it because there can be no Reason for a Contradiction For sure Church Authority cannot go on where the Power of God ceases If it be said it is only a Contradiction in appearance that comes to the same thing for 'till it can be made not to seem a Contradiction it must have the same effect upon all Mens Minds as upon ours who know it to be really a gross one And this makes me sensible That it is a greater absurdity to believe as they say implicitly or indefinitly as the Church believes when a Man considers not what that is than to Pray implicitly or in a general intention with the Church when one knows not what the Church Prays for It being absurd to say a Man believes any thing which the Mind does not particularly imbrace or apply it self to and the Mind cannot be said to imbrace that which it thinks or knows nothing of Here it must not be forgotten that I am not speaking of the Habit but the Acts of Faith. Nor do the Principles I have laid down oblige me to think every one has alwas a true ground for his Faith. I doubt not but many believe upon inducements that would if examined be found Slender and Disproportionate for such it is their good fortune if they believe aright but if they are in the wrong they must answer for not taking greater Care. But if they have used their utmost Care and Diligence and yet continue in the wrong we may leave them without any desperate apprehension to the mercy of God. Most of the Points about which we differ with Rome have been discussed in particular Treatises and so I will meddle little with them having from the first designed in chief to consider the grounds of Faith. I would here have taken leave but that I am stayed with a Pretence That the Faith which we own we had from the Church of Rome I will not here inquire into the merits of this Pretence but examin what use they make of it Suppose now we had the Scripture and the Creeds from them what follows Why then they would have us receive all the rest of their Additional Articles too Indeed if we had received all we believe upon their Churches Authority it had been a better inference But they know we did not receive any Articles upon any Authority but the Reason of them and therefore where that ends our Faith stops and we receive no more They would it seems prescribe and supposing we imbrace some Truths which they pretend to have delivered to us would have us entertain whatever else they offer This is very strange indeed If any one hearing the Devils declaring Jesus Christ to be the Son of God as the Gospel tells us they did should have believed him so and Tertullian we know made it a great Argument and appealed to the Heathens upon it when the Devils made Confession must they therefore have believed all the Devils said at any time because they saw reason to believe what they said some times 'T would have been a strange Case with Religion unless Men had been assured the Devil's inclinations to deceive should have always been overruled and they like Caiaphas should have been made to speak Truth whether they would or no. In like manner to have received some Truths from the Church of Rome can be no reason why we should believe others Thus far I have considered the Grounds of Faith and shewed the Weakness and Insufficiency of those Means which the Church of Rome takes to resolve it by I pray God by his Grace so to inlighten the Understandings and dispose the Wills of all Christians that they may heartily endeavor the Peace and Unity of the Church by an humble and impartial Enquiry after Truth the only Way effectually to bring it about Popery has of late been Expounded to a more favourable Sense and Represented in a less formidable Dress than it wore heretofore And so far am I from being angry at it that I am heartily glad hoping it may tend to the Scattering those thick Mists of Prejudice and Ignorance that have obscured the Truth and hindred many from discerning it I only wish they would manifest the Sincerity of their Representation by a Practice answerable to it They took away the Scriptures from some least in reading they should misinterpret it And I wish they would take away Images which have been horribly misunderstood since they now tell the World they think them but as Books to instruct the Ignorant and honorary Remembrances to the Learned This would be one reasonable and fair Step toward restoring Peace and healing the Schism And since we are told that no Power upon Earth can limit alter or annul any Precept of Divine Institution contrary to the Intention of the Law-giver a Position highly reasonable we expect the Cup should be given to all of the Communion seeing that our Saviour instituted and gave that as well as the Bread. And after his Institution the same Night that he was betrayed I cannot find that he made the least Alteration To say our Saviour had no Mind that should be done which he appointed would be very absurd Therefore what he once instituted must continue in force as his Mind still unless they can shew that he altered it and this would be another good Step toward our Union They have now reduced their praying to Saints departed to a desire only that the Blessed would assist them with their Prayers to God as we desire good

and divided by many Heresies and contrary Opinions How must the Truth be cleared and Peace be restored to Christendom By the Churches Authority say the Papists But it has been proved that the Churches Authority extends no farther than she has Infallibility and the Pope being not Infallible alone and their being no Council assembled under him the present Church has no Infallibility and so by Consequence no Authority to determine Controversies about Faith. Peradventure it will be said the Council which sat in the last Age defined all Points and so determined our Faith. I answer That what that Council defined is one thing and its setling Faith and determining Controversies appears by the effect to be another It will be said it determined all but what Pride and Obstinacy still kept on foot But if Controversies still remain whether from Pride or Heretical-pravity or from any other Cause whatever it matters not Why should the Scripture be taxed as insufficient to be a Rule of Faith for not effecting what their Infallibility cannot bring to pass Sure there is no reason why it should Well but for obstinate and prejudiced Persons we will set them aside and see what can be done for inquisitive People such as are Willing to be Convinced what shall these do They tell us They must be guided by the Definitions and Decrees of the last General Council assembled at Trent But how shall they be ascertained that they have a true Copy of the Acts of that Council For upon occasion Suppositious Canons have been alledged by the Church of Rome The Authority of the present Church cannot do it as you may conclude from that which has already been said besides it is the thing in Question However suppose from the Testimony of the present Church witnessing though not authorising and by such Methods as we receive the Works of other Writers we should admit the Acts of the Council of Trent to be truly derived to us What shall we do to attain the true Sense and Meaning of them without which they can signifie nothing And to shew you that this is no Captious Question some great Men among them have interpreted that Councils Decrees very differently And the late Representer of a Papist has construed them in a Sense very wide from what some eminent Doctors long since gave of them Are we not now in a fair way for Peace and Unity After all if so many Difficulties surround the Learned what shall Women do and such as only understand their Mother Tongue I can meet with no Answer to this but that the Learned must with honest Minds and just Diligence search out the Sense of the Churches Definitions and from them must those of less Judgment and meaner Capacities receive it But if the matter must rest here for my Life I cannot see why the like Care and Pains should not bring a Man to the true Sense of the Scripture as well as of a Council 'T would be an ill Reflection upon God's Wisdom to say he ordered his Will to be written but not so intelligible as human Writings And if there be some who for want of Ability in themselves must rest their Faith upon other Mens Judgments I do not see why the Clergy of the Church of England may not as well be relied on as the Priests of the Church of Rome since the World has no reason to think them less Learned or less Sincere The Church of England among all impartial Men has this manifest advantage that She derives Her Faith from Scripture not fancifully Interpreted but Expounded to a Sense which the Text reasonably leads to And to strengthen Her Exposition She takes in the Testimony of the Church in Her four first General Councils Not that She rests upon an Authority in them but She takes them as Witnesses to shew that in Her Interpretation She is neither Singular nor Private Thus in short a Member of the Church of England proceeds He is certain his Faith is right and true because it is founded as to its Object upon the Will of God. He is certain it stands upon the Will of God because it stands upon the Word of God. He is certain it is built upon the Word of God because it is built upon the Scripture He is certain the Scripture is the Word of God because the Prophets Evangelists and Apostles that wrote it were Divinely Inspired And he is made certain that they were Divinely Inspired by the Divine Testimony of Miracles which God gave them Nor lastly can he doubt but whatsoever God sets his Seal to is Truth for he will not he cannot Lye or Deceive If he be asked how he knows these Books to be Written by those Inspired Men to whom they are attributed He Answers for that he has an universal Testimony of Friends and Enemies through all Ages Which is as good an Evidence as a Matter of Fact can bear or does require and when he reads them he is farther Confirm'd by finding them so admirably Compiled and Suited to that Character If he be asked how he attains the right Sense of them He answers by using due Attention and an unprejudiced Mind with such other helps as are fit for that Purpose he gains as great Certainty of the true meaning of Scripture as Sense and Reason can bear in an ordinary Capacity I mean as far as concerns the Articles of Faith summ'd into his Creed and is as safe in this Resolution as was the Primitive Church with which he agrees More than this he does not apprehend necessary After this since the Papists have taxed our Faith as wavering and uncertain how unjustly you may easily discern I might here make them a Requital by telling the World that upon their own Principles they can have no Faith at all For if what Faith they have arises from the Churches Authority then if the Church has no Authority they can have no Faith. But I have proved before the Church can have no such Authority because it has not Infallibility and it cannot reasonably pretend to Infallibility because it can make no Evidence of it and without Evidence no Man can believe But God forbid I should say or think they have no Faith I only offered this to shew the weakness and insufficiency of the Principles they go upon and what little Reason they have to charge us And now to that Question so often asked By what Authority we depart from the Faith of the Church of Rome I answer by an Authority which is inseparable from the Mind of every Man to refuse to believe any thing for which he has not a Reason to him sufcient indeed no Man can believe without it For the Mind of Man is so disposed as to Truth that it immediately imbraces it and closes with it as soon as ever it discerns it But if the Mind discerns no Truth in a Proposition it cannot assent to it whatever Profession the Man makes The Church of Rome