Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	authority_n	church_n	primitive_a	2,508	5	9.0550	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33240	Two letters written by the Right Honourable Edward, Earl of Clarendon, late Lord High Chancellour of England one to His Royal Highness the Duke of York, the other to the Dutchess, occasioned by her embracing the Roman Catholick religion.	Clarendon, Edward Hyde, Earl of, 1609-1674.; James II, King of England, 1633-1701.; York, Anne Hyde, Duchess of, 1637-1671.	1680 (1680)	Wing C4429; ESTC R23246	5,230	6

poison which can only corrupt and prevail over You by stopping Your own Ears and shutting Your own Eyes There are but two persons in the World who have greater Authority with You then I can pretend to and am sure they both suffer more in this Rumour and would suffer much more if there were ground for it then I can do and truly I am as unlikely to be deceived my self or to deceive You as any man who endeavours to pervert You in Your Religion And therefore I beseech You let me have so much Credit with You as to perswade you to communicate any Doubts or Scruples which occur to You before You suffer them to make too deep an Impression upon You. The common Argument that there is no Salvation out of the Church and that the Church of Rome is that only true Church is both irrational and untrue there are many Churches in which Salvation may be attained as well as in any one of them And were many even in the Apostles time otherewise they would not have directed their Epistles to so many several Churches in which there were different Opinions received and very different Doctrines taught There is indeed but one Faith in which we can be saved the stedfast belief of the Birth Passion and Resurrecti●n of our Saviour and every Church that receives and imbraces that Faith is in a state of Salvation if the Apostles Preacht true Doctrine the reception and retention of many Errors does not destroy the Essence of a Church if it did the Church of Rome would be in as ill if not in a worse Condition then most other Christian Churches because its Errors are of a greater magnitude and more destructive to Religion Let not the Canting Discourse of the Universality and extent of that Church which has as little of Truth as the rest prevail over You they who will imitate the greatest part of the World must tu●n Heathens for it is generally believed that above half the World is possessed by them and that the Mahumet●ns possess more then half the remainder There is as little question that of the rest which is inhabited by Christians one part of four is not of the Communion of the Church of Rome and God knows in that very Communion there is as great discord in Opinion and in matters of as great moment as is between the other Christians I hear you do in publick discourses dislike some things in the Church of England as the Marriage of the Clergy which is a point that no Roman Catholick will pretend to be of the Essence of Religion and is in use in many places which are of the Communion of the Church of Rome as in Bohemia and those parts of the Greek Church which submit to the Roman And all men know that in the late Council of Trent the Sacrament of both kinds and liberty of the Clergy to marry was very passionately press'd both by the Emperor and King of France for their Dominions and it was afterwards granted to Germany though under such conditions as made it ineffectual which however shews that it was not nor ever can be look'd upon as matter of Religion Christianity was many hundred years old before such a restraint was ever heard of in the Church and when it was endeavoured it met with great opposition and was never submitted to And as the positive Inhibition seems absolutely unlawful so the Inconveniences which result from thence will upon a just disquisition be found superiour to those which attend the liberty which Christian Religion permits Those Arguments which are not strong enough to draw persons from the Roman Communion into that of the Church of England when Custom and Education and a long stupid resignation of all their faculties to their Teachers usually shuts out all Reason to the contrary may yet be abundant to retain those who have been Baptized and Bred and Instructed in the Grounds and Principles of that Religion which are in truth not only founded upon the clear Authority of the Scriptures but upon the consent of Antiquity and the Practice of the Primitive Church and men who look into Antiquity know well by what Corruption and Violence and with what constant and continual Opposition those Opinions which are contrary to ours crept into the World and how unwarrantably the Authority of the Bishop of Rome which alone supports all the rest came to prevail who hath no more pretence of Authority and Power in England than the Bishop of Paris or Tole●o can as reasonably lay claim to and is so far from being matter of Catholick Religion that the Pope hath so much and no more to do in France or Spain or any other Catholick Dominion then the Crown and Laws and Constitutions of several Kingdoms gave him leave which makes him so little if at all considered in France and so much in Spain And therefore the English Catholicks which attribute so much to him make themselves very unwarrantably of another Religion than the Catholick Church professeth and without doubt they who desert the Church of England of which they are Members and become thereby disobedient to the Ecclesiastical and Civil Laws of their Country and therein renounce their subjection to the State as well as to the Church which are grievous sins had need have a better excuse then the meeting with some doubts which they could not answer and less then a manifest evidence that their Salvation is desperate in that Communion cannot serve their turn And they who imagine they have such an evidence ought rather to suspect that their Understanding hath forsaken them and that they are become mad then that the Church which is replenished with all Learning and Piety requisite can betray them to Perdition I beseech you to consider which I hope will over-rule those ordinary Doubts and Objections which may be infus'd into you that if you change your Religion you renounce all Obedience and Affection to your Father who loves you so tenderly that such an odious mutation would break his heart you condemn your Father and your Mother whose incomparable virtue and piety and devotion hath plac'd her in Heaven for having impiously Educated you and you dec●are the Church and State to both which you owe Reverence and Subjection to be in your Judgment Antich●istian You bring irreparable dishonour scandal and prejudice to the Duke your Husband to whom you ought to pay all imaginable Duty and whom I presume is much more precious to you then your own Life and all possible ruine to your Children of whose company and conversation you must look to be deprived for God forbid that after such an Apostasie you should have any power in Education of your Children You have many Enemies whom you herein would abundantly grat●fie and some Friends whom you will thereby at least as far as in you lies perfectly destroy and afflict many others who have deserved well o● you I know you are not inclined to any part of this mischief and therefore offer those Considerations as all those particulars would be the infallible Consequence of such a Conclusion It is to me the saddest circumstance of my Banishment that I may not be admitted in such a season as this to confer with you when I am confident I could satisfie you in all your Doubts and make it appear to you that there are many Absurdities in the Roman Religion inconsistent with your Judgment and Understanding and many Impieties inconsistent with your Conscience so that before you can submit to the Obligations of Faith you must divest your self of your Natural Reason and common Sense and captivate the dictates of your own Conscience to the Impositions of an Authority which hath not any pretence to oblige or advise you If you will not with freedom communicate the Doubts which occur to you to those near you of whose Learning and Piety you have had much experience let me Conjure you to impart them to me and to expect my answer before You suffer them to prevail over You. God Bless You and Yours