Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	believe_v	church_n	infallible_a	12,577	5	10.4116	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41780	Hear the church, or, An appeal to the mother of us all to all the baptized believers in England, exhorting them to stedfastness in the truth, according to the scriptures : together with some farther considerations of seven queries, sent to the baptized believers in Lincolnshire, concerning the judge of contriversies in matters of religion : in three parts / by Thomas Grantham.	Grantham, Thomas, 1634-1692.	1687 (1687)	Wing G1536; ESTC R5931	41,980	66

that are to partake of that Bread thereby may feed upon the Body of Christ which is the true Bread and by him live for ever Then he breaketh the Bread pronouncing the words of Christ This is my Body c. willeth the People to receive it in remembrance of Christ and as shewing forth the Death of Christ till he come the second time without sin to Salvation In like manner he taketh the Cup after the People have received the Bread and with Prayer suitable to that great Mystery it being sanctified he poureth out of the Wine remembring the words of Christ This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood c. partakes of it himself as he did also of the Bread and gives it to the Deacons to Communicate to all the Congregation and they all drink of it Then some word of Exhortation is given to the People under the consideration of the unspeakable Mercy of God in the gift of his Son to dye for us that we might live Eternally with him all is concluded with Prayers to the Lord for all his Blessings in the most joyful manner that the Minister is able to express them and then usually something is given to the Poor as every mans heart maketh him willing being not constrained thereunto but as the love of Christ constraineth him TO say nothing here of the Roman Church denying to give the Cup to the People the Priests only drinking of it nor of the Priest only partaking of the Bread and Cup in divers of their Masses the People only looking on neither of their Adoration of the Elements of Bread and Wine in these words I Worship thee I Glorifie thee I Praise thee Nor yet of that Passage in the Communion of the Mass Let us Worship the Sign of the Cross which are things too large to be discoursed in a Letter It shall suffice to set down the manner of their Celebration 1. All is done in an unknown Tongue which the People understand not 2. The Benedicamus Domino is sung ten times together and Ite Missa est is sung thirteen times with long and tedious Notes 3. The Priest is to say divers Prayers privately to himself 4. He is taught by the Rubrick to make thirty several Crosses upon the Bread the Cup the Altar and his forehead 5. Their Gestures are as followeth The Priest boweth his Body and lifting up himself kisseth the Altar on the right side then he boweth again and looketh toward the Host that is the Bread he joyneth his hands wipeth his fingers lifteth up the Host then he lifteth up his eyes and boweth himself and lifteth up his eyes again he boweth again and lifteth up the Host above his forehead then he uncovereth the Cup and holdeth it between his hands keeping his thumb and his finger together Then he boweth and lifteth up the Cup a little then to his Breast or above his Head. He setteth it down again and wipeth his fingers then he spreadeth his Arms a-cross He boweth his Body rising up he kisseth the Altar on the right side He smiteth his Breast uncovering the Cup he makes five Crosses with the Host beyond the Cup twice on each side under the Cup and before it Then he layeth his hands upon the Altar the Deacon reaching him the Paten he putteth it to his right eye then to his left he maketh a Cross beyond his head with it he kisseth it and layeth it down Then he breaketh the Host in three holding two pieces in his left hand and one in his right over the Cup which with a Cross he letteth fall into it Then he kisseth the Corporas the Deacon taketh the Pax from the Priest giveth it to the sub-Deacon and he to the Quire. Then humbling himself he first taketh the Body and then the Blood so he goeth to the right horn of the Altar the sub-Deacon poureth in Wine and the Priest rinseth the Cup and washeth his hands turning himself to the People Cometh again to the Altar and turneth to the People the second time Then bowing his body and closing his hands he prayeth to himself he riseth again making the sign of the Cross and bowing again goeth from the Altar Thus Brethren I have given you a brief account of the Ceremonious Observations of those who would be thought the truest Church on Earth though they have assuredly changed the Ordinances of our Lord more than any sort of Christians I have also set before you the purity and simplicity and yet the great utility of these two great Ordinances that you may be more inwardly affected with them but especially with him whom they so excellently represent for to this end are they ordained to set forth Christ and him Crucified Of all the difficulties with which you are likely to be tried in respect of your Religious Profession that Question which concerns the Judge of these and other Controversies in Religion is like to be the most dangerous because you have been little exercised in it as also because many persons of great Eminency and Authority are deeply radicated and very expert in an opinion diametrically opposite to yours for they say that the living voice of the Church assembled in a General Council of her Bishops and Doctors is the only infallible Judge to determine all Controversies in matters of Faith and Religion On the other side We have been taught and have constantly believed that it is all Christians Duty to rely chiefly and before all things upon the Authority and sufficiency of the voice of God himself as he speaks in the Holy Scriptures as the best and only infallible Decider of all Questions that shall arise especially in the Christian Church and since the holy Scriptures were written and received about matters of Faith and Religion And indeed it seems very strange that any man should think there is a better Judge than God himself of what is true and what is otherwise in matters of Religion and to be sure he speaks to us with the greatest Certainty and Authority by the holy Pen-men of the Scriptures And it is as strange that the Church who must derive all her Light and Authority from God and his Word should appeal men to her self rather than to him methinks they should say to us as Caesar's Substitute said to St. Paul Hast thou Appealed to God as he speaks in his Scriptures to God and his Scriptures shalt thou go And especially when this is the question What sort of Christians are the true Church of Christ for it seems then the most unreasonable thing in the World that any Party contending for this Title The Church should be her own Judge and seeing the Church cannot by meerly avouching upon her own Testimony only that she is the Church make any proof or demonstration that she is so it remains then that we must have some Infallible Rule by which to find the Church And now if God himself does not reveal to us

question be about Christ and his Church there must we find them both or no where If any Man like not this Doctrine let him shew me if he can these lovely Objects without being beholden to the Scripture Some I have known to attempt this but with lamentable success being soon driven to a shameful silence and indeed the whole World must depart into utter silence as touching this great Mystery Christ and his Church unless the Word of God as it is delivered in the Holy Scriptures through Faith makes us wise in these great Concernments of Salvation 2 Tim. 3. 14. Let men alledge all the Authors in the World and all the Tradition that ever was if the Holy Scriptures must not be their own Evidence and so capable to command our Belief of them then for the same or rather more forcible Reasons then any Man can bring against the Scriptures all Authors and all Traditions shall be dumb and useless as to the production of the least iota of Divine Faith so that the Papists at the long-run must if they know how shew us their Church without Scripture or any Author and without Tradition also as I have formerly written unto you being provoked thereunto by seven Queries sent by a Learned Papist who in his last to me does undertake to deliver himself from this difficulty after this manner We may saith he prove the Church by the Holy Scripture and the Scripture by the Church and this by a Regressus Demonstrativus without a vicious Circle because we suppose them both sufficiently proved and prudently accepted for such by all the Motives of Credibility as Miracles Holiness c. by which Christ proved himself and his New Gospel But as for the Sense of the Scripture I have more than sufficiently demonstrated that the Scripture it self cannot bear witness for it but that this must be had from a Living Judge viz. the Church the Infallible Interpreter of Gods Word To this I answer briefly That is a vicious Circle out of which no man can lawfully deliver himself but must run in a Round without end and truly such is this Circular Argumentation of my Adversary he will prove his Church by the Scripture 2. He will prove the Scripture to be true by his Church and he will prove his Church true by the Scripture before the Scripture be proved true and he will prove the Scripture to be true after it hath proved his Church true This Meander is no way to be avoided that I can see but by suffering either the Scripture or the Church to be its own Evidence for his Demonstrative Regress makes his Case worse for by it they be both sufficiently proved before either of them be proved and both prudently accepted before either of them be accepted and which is most strange of all the rest these things are all done before the Scripture hath any sense known for of this he is the most of all confident that the Sense of the Scripture must be had from a living Judge viz. the Church the Infallible Interpreter of God's Word So that this is the Conclusion of the whole Matter The Scripture without Sense must prove the Roman Church and the Roman Church must then give the Sense of that Scripture which had no Sense before when it proved Her to be the Church here is indeed a Regressus but no such thing as a Demonstrativus Methinks wise men should consider that the Holy Scripture is its own Interpreter in a great if not the greatest part of it the New Testament being the best Interpreter of the Old Testament and of it self also in many places for Example It tells us in one place that the Heavens must receive Christ from the time of his Ascension till the times of refreshing shall come from the Presence of the Lord. Act. 3. 21. And hence we hold that no Christian must say that the real Body of of Christ which ascended to Heaven is upon the Earth till he shall be sent the second time for God shall send Jesus saith St. Peter because the Scripture tells us in another place That if Jesus were on Earth he should not be a Priest Heb. 8. 4. It is therefore as plain as plain can be that the Papists make void the Priesthood of Christ and contradict St. Peter himself when they tell the World that the real Body of Christ which ascended into Heaven is now really carnally corporally present upon the Earth that is upon their Altars and in the Hands and Mouths of their Priests and People as often as they celebrate Mass and consequently he is so far from being received into Heaven till the time of his second coming that he is according to their own Opinion received bodily upon Earth ten thousand times and in ten thousand places to his being once received bodily into Heaven Sure their Opinion is directly against the Scripture as sure as their Transubstantiation is directly against the best Sense and the best Reason with which Almighty God hath endowed the best of Men as has been clearly evidenced by many learned Discourses among which I would commend to your Perusal one lately published under the Title of A Discourse against Transubstantiation Printed this Year and sold by Mr. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange Price Six Pence My Learned Adversary and indeed the Papists generally do urge us vehemently after this manner admitting that the Church is to follow the Rule of God's revealed Word in all her Definitions yet they hold it extreamly irrational that all that can read it should be his own Interpreter of it for so say they He will be his own Judge And as in a Nation where no Judge of the Law is appointed there can be no Justice but every man will be his own Judge so likewise unless there be a Supream Judge in Matters of Faith to wit the Church from whom no Appeal may be allowed there can be no end of Controversies c. This Objection is considerable to which I say 1. What my Adversary means by God's revealed Word I do not very well understand but I doubt he extends that Term farther than the Holy Scripture else I am sure enough the Church of Rome has no revealed Word of God to follow in very many of her Observations but to let this pass at present I answer to the Objection thus 2. It seems to be built upon many dangerous Suppositions such as these That we ought to rest upon the Sentence of a Priest for we must hear the Church out of his Mouth for the state of our Soul as on the Sentence of a Judge in a Civil Court for a matter of Debt c. and that we are no more bound to search the Scriptures for Eternal Life than to search the Statute-Book for our Temporal Life nay here I do them no wrong for they will permit us to read the Statute-Book but they forbid us to read the Holy Scripture It supposes

they have punished with the cruelest Death such as in Conscience could not subscribe unto it God give them a better Vnderstanding and more Moderation for the future But ye Brethren as you have received these Holy Decrees among the rest of the Heavenly Rules left unto us by the most Antient Fathers even the Apostles of our Lord so walk in them and keep the Ordinances as they were delivered by them who received them of the Lord. Now the Lord increase our Faith that we may be able to stand fast in the Truth and to overcome all Difficulties So prays your Brother Thomas Grantham Hear the Church c. OR AN EPITOME OF THE CHIEF CONTROVERSIES BETWEEN THE PAPISTS AND THE Baptized Believers By THOMAS GRANTHAM Let that therefore abide in you which you have heard from the Beginning if that which ye have heard from the Beginning shall remain in you ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father and this is the Promise which he hath Promised us even Eternal Life 1 John. Unto the perfect Words of the New-Testament nothing may be added and from which nothing may be taken away by him that will lead a Life agreeable to the Gospel Apollinar l. 5. c. 14. LONDON Printed in the Year 1687. THE EPISTLE TO THE READER Christian Friend IT is now about six and twenty years since it pleased a Learned Papist to send seven Queries to the People commonly called Anabaptists in the County of Lincoln about which many Papers were exchanged and in the Year 1662 some part of them were Printed under the Title of the Baptist against the Papist or the Scripture and Rome in Contention about the Supreme Seat of Judgment in Controversies of Religion To which the Querist never replied in Print but only sent me a few Notes in Manuscript which seven Queries with my seven Anti-queries I shall annex to this Epistle The Truth is I did then and do still look upon this sort of Christian-Adversaries so I call them to be the most subtil as well as coherent with their Principles keeping close to their Arguments and using all very much the same Mediums and were the Truth with them as in many things I am satisfied it is not this very thing would be their high Commendation But missing the Heavenly Mark more is the pity they must needs be the more dangerous wherein they stand opposed to the Truth of which being very sensible I cannot as I love plain Truth and the Souls of all Men but indeavour as much as in me is after a Christian sort to undeceive if it may be some of them and to prevent others from being deceived by them I speak not this as fearing them but as truly loving them as they bear the name of Christians and doubtless are as zealous in their way as any tho I do verily believe they are under the greatest mistakes of any that prof●ss the Christian Religion except professed Enthusiasts That I treat them in Love is no new thing let my Words written more than twenty years since witness now in my Epistle to the Reader thus you find them Not that I envy those of the Papal Church or desire them any evil Not that I desire they should be exposed to a Suffering Condition for matters of Religion or that they should be denied any liberty in that Respect which I desire my self nor for any other prejudice God knoweth do I publish this small Treatise c. And what I said then I say now being verily perswaded by the Scripture and all good Principles which I could ever meet with that they and all men living soberly and quietly under the Government ought to have at least a friendly connivance under our differing sentiments from the established Form or Order of Worship c. But I am no Dictator I must leave these things to the pleasure of God and the prudence of our Governors only this is my Determination in Christ's strength to live and die faithful to what I know of the ways of Truth and to my own Conscience Praying constantly for the happiness of my Prince and all his peaceable Subjects Tho. Grantham Hear the Church The Third PART CONTAINING AN EPITOME OF THE Controversies depending between those who are commonly called PAPISTS and those commonly called ANA-BAPTISTS Occasioned by Seven Queries propounded by a Learned PAPIST LET the Christian Reader know that it is no idle Conceit of the Parts of the Author above his Brethren nor yet above his Adversaries many of whom are undoubtedly Men of very rare Parts and Accomplishments which moveth him thus to appear and to call forth all the Strength of Rome in Argument to defend their Church and Religion against the poor Baptized Churches in this Nation But it is only the Clear Evidence of Truth on their side as contained in the holy Oracles of God which gives Boldness to this great Undertaking Which in all due Humility Christian Love and yet with holy Confidence is thus attempted for a fair Trial of the Case or Cases depending between the Parties above mentioned In the Name of God therefore let us proceed to the Particulars of the Seven Queries sent to the Baptists by a Learned Papist which indeed contains the Sum of the Controversies between the said Parties Papist Query 1. Baptist Anti-query 1. Whether we are to resolve all Differences in point of Religion only out of the Written Word of God What Controversie in point of Religion can you resolve without the Written Word of God And whether the written Word of God be a perfect Rule for Matters of Religion The first Part of this Anti-query concludes in the Negative the latter Part in the Affirmative and affords as I think this undeniable Argument That which is the only perfect Rule to all Christians in the greatest Matters of Religion and that without which neither Christ the Church nor Christian Religion can be known is the only infallible Rule by which all Controversies in point of Religion are to be resolved But the Holy Scriptures are the only perfect Rule to all Christians in the greatest Matters of Religion and that without which neither Christ the Church nor Christian Religion can be known Ergo The Holy Scriptures are the only infallible Rule by which all Controversies in point of Religion among Christians are to be resolved Papist Query 2. Baptist Anti-query 2. How know you precisely what is the true Word of God Whether some Book must not of necessity speak for it self or be received for God's Word upon its own Evidence and whether the Holy Scriptures do not best deserve that privilege And whether it be not too great presumption to say There are no Holy Books but those which you and we have received for such seeing those which we have tell us there were other Holy Writings which never yet came to our Hands nor to yours Forasmuch as no Society of Christians in these days can bear witness to the truth of any