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	doctrine_n	reformation_n	2,270	5	10.2756	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A69685	The Case of the Earl of Argyle, or, An Exact and full account of his trial, escape, and sentence wherein are insert the act of Parliament injoining the test, the confession of faith, the old act of the king's oath to be given at his coronation : with several other old acts, made for establishing the Protestant religion : as also several explications made of the test by the conformed clergy : with the secret councils explanation thereof : together with several papers of objections against the test, all framed and emitted by conformists : with the Bishop of Edinburgh's Vindication of the test, in answer thereunto : as likewise a relation of several matters of fact for better clearing of the said case : whereunto is added an appendix in answer to a late pamphlet called A vindication of His Majestie's government and judicatories in Scotland, especially with relation to the Earl of Argyle's process, in so far as concerns the Earl's trial.	Stewart, James, Sir, 1635-1713.; Mackenzie, George, Sir, 1636-1691. Vindication of His Majesties government, and judicatories in Scotland.	1683 (1683)	Wing C1066; ESTC R15874	208,604	158

things we must fall down and unfeignedly confess that we are unprofitable Servants And therefore whosoever boasts themselves of the merits of their own works or put their trust in the works of Supererogation boast themselves in that which is naught and put their trust in damnable Idolatry XVI Of the Kirk AS we believe in one God Father Son and Holy Ghost so do we most constantly believe that from the beginning there has been and now is and to the end of the World shall be one Kirk that is to say one company and multitude of men chosen of God who rightly worship and embrace him by true Faith in Christ Jesus who is the only Head of the same Kirk which also is the Body and Spouse of Christ Jesus which Kirk is Catholick that is Universal because it contains the Elect of all ages of all Realms Nations and Tongues be they of the Jews or be they of the Gentiles who have Communion and Society with God the Father and with his Son Christ Jesus through the Sanctification of his Holy Spirit and therefore it is called the Communion not of prophane persons but of Saints who as Citizens of the Heavenly Jerusalem have the fruition of the most inestimable benefits to wit of one God one Lord Jesus one Faith and one Baptism Out of the which Kirk there is no other life nor eternal felicity And therefore we utterly abhor the blasphemy of them that affirm that men which live according to Equity and Justice shall be saved what Religion that ever they have professed For as without Christ Jesus there is no other Life nor Salvation so shall there none be participant thereof but such as the Father has given unto his Son Christ Jesus and they that in time come unto him avow his Doctrine and believe into him we comprehend the Children with the faithful Parents This Kirk is invisible known only to God who alone knows whom he has chosen and comprehends as well as said is the Elect that be departed commonly called the Kirk triumphant as those that yet live and fight against sin and Satan and shall live hereafter XVII Of The Immortality of the Soul THe Elect departed are in peace and rest from their labours not that they sleep and come to a certain oblivion as some Phantasticks do affirm but that they are delivered from all fear and torment and all temptation to which we and all God's Elect are subject in this life and therefere do bear the name of the Kirk-Militant As contrary wise the reprobate and unfaithful departed have anguish torment and pain that cannot be expressed So that neither are the one nor the other in such sleep that they feel not their happiness nor torment as the Parable of Christ Jesus in the 16. of Luke his words to the Thief and these words of the Souls crying under the Altar O Lord thou that art righteous and just How long shalt thou not revenge our blood upon these that dwell in the earth does declare XVIII Of the Notes by the which the true Kirk is discerned from the false and who shall be Iudge of the Doctrine BEcause that Sathan from the beginning has laboured to deck his pestilent Synagogue with the title of the Kirk of God and has inflammed the hearts of cruel murtherers to persecute trouble and molest the true Kirk and Members thereof as Cain did Ab●l Ishmael Isaac Esau Jacob and the whole Priesthood of the Jews Christ Jesus himself and his Apostles after him It is one thing most requisite that the true Kirk be discerned from the filthy Synagogues by clear and perfect Notes lest we being deceived receive and embrace to our own condemnation the one for the other The notes signs and assured tokens whereby the immaculate Spouse of Christ Jesus is known from the horrible Harlot the Kirk Malignant we affirm are neither Antiquity Title usurped Lineal descent Place appointed nor Multitude of men approving ane error Cain in Age and Title was preferred to Abel and Seth Jerusalem had prerogative above all places of the earth where also were the Priests lineally descended from Aaron And greater numbers followed the Scribes Pharisees and Priests than unfeignedly believed and approved Christ Jesus and his Doctrine And yet as we suppose no man of sound judgment will grant that any of the forenamed were the Kirk of God The notes therefore of the true Kirk of God we believe confess and avow to be first the true preaching of the Word of God in the which God has revealed himself unto us as the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles do declare Secondly the right Administration of the Sacraments of Christ Iesus which must be annexed unto the word and promise of God to seal and confirm the same in our hearts Lastly Ecclesiastical Discipline uprightly ministred as God's Word prescribes whereby Vice is repressed and Vertue nourished Wheresoever then these former notes are seen and of any time continue be the number never so few about two or three there without all doubt is the true Kirk of Christ who according unto his promise is in the midst of them Not that universal of which we have before spoken but particular such as was in Corintbus Galatia Ephesus and other places in which the Ministry was planted by Paul and were of himself named the Kirks of God and such Kirks we the Inhabitants of the Realm of Scotland Professors of Christ Jesus profess our selves to have in our Cities Towns and places reformed For the Doctrine taught in our Kirks is contained in the written Word of Godto wit in the Books of the Old New Testament in those Books we mean which of the Ancients have been reputed Canonical In the which we affirm that all things necessary to be believed for the salvation of Mankind is sufficiently expressed The interpretation whereof we confess neither appertains to private nor publick persons neither yet to any Kirk for any preheminence or prerogative personally and locally which one has above another but appertains to the Spirit of God by the which also the Scripture was written When controversie then happens for the right understanding of any place or sentence of Scripture or for the reformation of any abuse within the Kirk of God we ought not so much to look what men before us have said or done as unto that which the H. Ghost uniformly speaks within the body of the Scriptures and unto that which Christ Iesus himself did and commanded to be done For this is one thing universally granted that the Spirit of God which is the Spirit of Unity is in nothing contrarious unto himself If then the Interpretation Determination or Sentence of any Doctor Kirk or Council repugne to the plain word of God written in any other place of the Scripture it is a thing most certain that there is not the true understanding meaning of the Holy Ghost altho that Coun cils Realms and Nations have approved and

foresaid p. 253. wherein they promise upon their Honours and Fidelity Reformation of any Article or Sentence therein which shall be proved to be amisle or Erroneous so that it is not to be considered as the compleat Standard of the Protestant Faith and Doctrine in which nothing is wanting but is inserted in the body of this Oath as being the only Protestant Confession in this Church which is stamped with the impress of Lawful Authority it being ratified by the first Parliament James the VI Anno 1567. and is the most Ancient being received for six score years without any contradiction in this Kingdom and is only used in this Oath designotive to express that as a particular systeme wherein the main Substantials of the Protestant Religion sworn unto are contained If it be asked What or where is the Protestant Religion The answer is plain that it is the true Christian Religion as it is reformed from the Errors and Superstitions of the Popish Church and is contained in the harmony of the Protestant Church's Confessions which agree in the chief and principal Substantials tho they may differ in lesser maters and opinions disputable among which this our Confession is recorded But tho we are under no obligation to justifie every Sentence or Article thereof yet it deserves so much reverence from us as to justifie it so far as we may from any charge of Error or Heterodoxy and the rather that upon due tryal and examination there seemeth nothing to be contained in it which is not agreeable to the charitable Analogy of Faith and may not admit of a very fair true and orthodox sense and interpretation as the following Answers to the Scruples and Objections arising upon it will sufficiently evince It is objected by some then 1. That in the third Ar● of Original Sin it is said That by it the Image of God was utterly defaced in man which seems to run cross to the stream of the Protestant Doctrine which aslerts That the Remains of the Divine Image still abide in the Soul notwithstanding of mans fall The answer is easie if we shall carefully distinguish betwixt defacing of the Image of God which imports no more than a darkning or maiming thereof and utter destroying of that Image which implies the total subversion or abolition of it and that the former is allowed by all sound Protestants It is objected 2. That Art 17. it is said That it is blasphemy to affirm that men who live according to equity and justice shall be saved whatsoever Religion they professe since without Christ Jesus there is neither life nor salvation which some think a very uncharitable doctrine barring all the Ancient Philosophers and Moralists such as Plato Seneca Socrates Plutarch c. from eternal life and salvation Answer 1. That Clause is but a consequence drawn from the 16 th Article rather than any essential part of its doctrine as will appear upon the perusal 2. It is most infallibly true that there is no Name under Heaven by which salvation can be obtained but the Name of Jesus which imports at least a sense of sin and of the necessity of expiating the same and of propitiating God toward the sinner in every one that shall be saved which by some is termed an implicite knowledg of Christ Jesus who alone is the grand Propitiation and such a knowledg as the moral Gentiles and even the Jews had before the Revelation and Exhibition of the Person of the Messiah in the fulness of time and how far an implicite knowledg of Jesus Christ in his Doctrine and Offices before his exhibition in time is necessary to salvation is not of easie determination And therefore 3. This Clause must be supposed to respect the Gospel Oeconomy and Evangelical dispensation and to extend to such as are blessed with the manifestation of the Gospel and clear revelation of Jesus Christ thereby And in this sense it is beyond all doubt that none come to age and the clear exercise of Reason in an ordinary way shall be saved but such only as believe in him own his Doctrine and sincerely obey his holy Precepts It is objected 3. That from the 19 th Article the interpretation of the sacred Scripture appertaineth to the Spirit of God by which the Scripture was dictate and written and no● to any person or Church for any Preheminence or Prerogative personal or local which seems to cut off all power of interpreting Scriptures from the Ancient Fathers or General Councils Answ. The harmonious Doctrine of the Protestant Church is That the Spirit of God speaking in the Scriptures is as the best Judg so the only best and infallible Interpreter of Scripture whereby tho the primary and authoritative Interpretation of the Scripture is ascribed to that blessed Spirit yet thereby is not denied to the Fathers and Councils a ministerial and declaratory power in expounding the sacred Word which is of great weight and authority with all Christians who needs must believe these holy persons and Assemblies to be ordinarily assisted by the light and conduct of his holy Spirit who promised to be with his Church to the end of the world It is objected 4. That Article 19. the right administration of the Sacraments is one of the Notes of the true Church of God And Art 23. requires to the right administration of the Sacraments that they be ministred in such Elements and in such sort as God hath appointed whence some would infer That all such Churches as use circumstances in the administration thereof which are not appointed by God as the mixing of Water with Wine in the holy Eucharist or of Oyl with Water in Baptism must be by this Doctrine unchurched Ans. When the 23 d. Article requireth to a true Church that the Sacraments be administred in such sort as God has appointed it mainly relateth to the words of Consecration and to the institution which indeed are essentially requisite to the very being of the Sacraments these being null which are celebrated without them and not according to the institution As for the Elements tho these be necessary at least in ordinary cases yet the mixtures and superadditions to these appointed Elements do not absolutely nullifie tho they do corrupt the Sacraments And that this is the meaning of the 23 d Article appears clear from the words immediately following viz. else we affirm that they cease to be the right Sacraments of Christ Jesus where they are not denied simply to be Sacraments but are charged as Sacraments not rightly and duely administred as these are which are not vitiated and adulterated by superstitious mixtures It is objected 5. from that same Article 23. That to the being of lawful Ministers it is required that they be men lawfully chosen thereto by some Kirk which seems to import the necessity of popular Elections and to cancel the Rights of Patronages and to unminister such as are presented by them Answ. All Ministers presented by Patrons are elected

received the same For we dare not receive nor admit any interpretation which repugnes to any principal point of our faith or to any other plain text of Scripture or yet unto the rule of charity XIX Of The Authority of the Scriptures AS we believe and confess the Scriptures of God sufficient to instruct and make the man of God perfect so do we affirm and avow the Authority of the same to be of God and neither to depend on Men nor Angels We affirm therefore that such as alledg the Scripture to have no other Authority but that which it has received from the Kirk to be blasphemous against God and ●njurious to the true Kirk which always hears and obeys the voice of her own Spouse and Pastor but takes not upon her to be Mistres over the same XX. Of General Councils of their Power Authority and cause of their Convention AS we do not rashly damn that which godly men assembled together in General Council lawfully gathered have proponed unto us so without just examination dare we not receive whatsoever is obtruded unto men under the name of General Councils For plain it is as they were men so have some of them manifestly erred and that in matters of great weight and importance So far then as the Council proves the determination and commandment that it gives by the plain word of God so soon do we reverence and embrace the same But if men under the name of a Council pretend to forge unto us new Articles of our Faith or to make Constitutions repugning to the Word of God then utterly we must refuse the same as the Doctrine of Devils which draws our souls from the voice of our only God to follow the Doctrines and Constitutions of men The cause then why that General Councils conveened was neither to make any perpetual Law which God before had not made neither yet to forge new Articles of our Belief nor to give the Word of God Authority much less to make that to be his Word or yet the true Interpretation of the same which was not before by his holy will expressed in his word But the cause of Councils we mean of such as merit the name of Councils was partly for confutation of Heresies and for giving publick confession of their Faith to Posterity following which both they did by the authority of Gods written Word and not by any Opinion or Prerogative that they could not erre by reason of their general Assembly-And this we judg to have been the chief cause of General Councils The other was for good Policy and Order to be constitute and observed in the Kirk in which as in the house of God it becomes all things to be done decently and in order Not that we think that any policy and order in Ceremonies can be appointed for all ages times and places For as Ceremonies such as men have devised are but temporal so may and ought they to be changed when they rather foster Superstition than that they edifie the Kirk using the same XXI Of the Sacraments AS the Fathers under the Law besides the verity of the Sacrifices had two chief Sacraments to wit Circumcision and the Passeover the despisers and contemners whereof were not reputed of Gods People so do we acknowledg and confess that we now in the time of the Evangel have two chief Sacraments only instituted by the Lord Jesus and commanded to be used of all these that will be re●uted Members of his Body to wit Baptism and the Supper or Table of the Lord Jesus called the Communion of his Body and Blood And these Sacraments as well of Old as New Testament were instituted of God not only to make a visible difference betwixt his People and these that were without his League but also to exercise the faith of his Children and by participation of the same Sacraments to seal in their hearts the assurance of his promise and of that most blessed conjunction union and society which the Elect have with their Head Christ Jesus And thus we utterly damn the vanity of them that affirm Sacraments to be nothing else but naked and bare signs No we assuredly believe that by Baptism we are ingrafted in Christ Jesus to be made pertakers of his Justice by which our sins are covered and remitted And also that in the Supper rightly used Christ Jesus is so joyned with us that he becomes very nourishment and food of our souls Not that we imagine any Transubstantiation of Bread into Christs natural Body of Wine into his natural Blood as the Papists have perniciously taught and damnably believed but this Union and Conjunction which we have with the Body and Blood of Christ Iesus in the right use of the Sacraments is wrought by the operation of the Holy Ghost who by true faith carries us above all things that are visible carnal and earthly and makes us to feed upon the Body and Blood of Christ Iesus which was once broken and shed for us who now is in Heaven and appears in the presence of his Father for us And yet notwithstanding the far distance of place which is betwixt his body now glorified in Heaven and us now mortal in this earth yet we most assuredly believe that the bread which we break is the Communion of Christs Body and the Cup which we bless is the Communion of his Blood So that we confess and undoubtedly believe that the faithful in the right use of the Lords Table do so eat the Body and drink the Blood of the Lord Iesus that he remains in them and they in him Yea they are so made flesh of his flesh and bone of his bones that as the eternal Godhead has given to the flesh of Christ Iesus which of its own condition and nature was mortal and corruptible life and immortality so does Christ Iesus his flesh and blood eaten and drunken by us give unto us the same Prerogatives Which albeit we confess are neither given unto us at that time only neither yet by the proper power and virtue of the Sacrament only yet we affirm that the faithful in the right use of the Lords Table has such Conjunction with Christ Iesus as the natural man cannot apprehend Yea and further we affirm That albeit the faithful oppressed by negligence and manly infirmity does not profit so much as they would in the very instant Action of the Supper yet shall it after bring fruit forth as lively seed sown in good ground For the Holy Spirit which can never be divided from the right Institution of the Lord Iesus will not frustrate the faithful of the fruit of that mystical Action but all this we say comes of true faith which apprehends Christ Iesus who only makes this Sacrament effectual unto us And therefore whosoever slanders us as that we affirm or believe Sacraments to be naked and bare signs do injury unto us and speak against the manifest truth But this liberally and frankly

doubtful and uncertain in themselves to say no worse but in the judgment of wise and sober men inconsistent one with another 4. It 's granted by all that this Oath cannot be taken without several glosses and explications And these which are commonly offered cannot be admitted for divers Reasons 1. Because they seem to overthrow the genuine sense and meaning of the Oath 2. Because in the Oath we swear That we take it in the plain genuine sense and meaning of the words without any equivocation mental reservation or evasion whatsoever So that altho these glosses should be conceived in the plainest terms and we suffered to write them down under our hands and so cannot come under the notion of equivocation or mental reservation yet that cannot but be considered as evasions it being only by the help of them that we pretend to escape the fearful crime of perjury 3 There is no Authority that can give us Explications but the same who has imposed the Oath that is the King and Parliament For tho the King and Lords of Council and Session be considered as Interpreters and Explainers of the Laws yet that is only in matters of Right or Wrong to which men ought to submit But it 's another thing in matter of an Oath For that is always to be taken only in the sense of the Imposers And we being required not to submit to it but to swear to it no Explication given by any other but by him or them who gives us the Oath can secure or quiet our Consciences 4. These Explications tho given by the same Authority who imposed the Oath seem both useless and unsafe unless published and recorded as the Oath it self otherways the Explication will soon be forgotten whereas the Oath stands still as it was 5. It must be also considered that tho men take this Test it seems it will not secure them in their places For why may not the same alterations be made in the Church which are made in the State the Supreme Power and Prerogative being alike over both And tho this Argument will be of small force unto some yet it may have its own weight unto others 6. If it be said That divers Articles and Parts of the Test are asserted and enacted by former Laws as partly that against meeting conveening or Assembling to treat consult c. which is in the very same terms discharged and forbidden not only by Act. 4. Sess 1. Par. 1 Char. 2. but also by an old Law Act. 31. Par. 8. James 6. It is answered That there is this considerable difference therein in those Acts viz. that the ordinary judgments are excepted And it is not without reason that this clause is left out here and it is one thing to submit to a Law another to swear it 7. But some may say that we have already sworn the Oath of Supremacy to which they who took it before the year 1669. had little or no ground of scruple but by the Act assertory the Supremacy being declared to be quite another thing than ever it was understood before there are many conscientious men and the best friends to Episcopacy who cannot take that Oath now though that alone should be made the Test As for others of the Clergy who have ta●en it since that Act of Parliament they were told by the Bishop that administred it to them that the Assertory Act had no relation to the Oath and therefore they gave it them only in the old sense whereby they were perswaded to take it But now the matter is put beyond all doubt For the Kings Ecclesiastical Supremacy as it is explained in the Act being declared to be an inherent Right of the Crown and we swearing in the Test to maintain and defend all His Majesties Rights and Prer●gatives we do clearly swear to own and maintain the Supremacy as itis there asserted and declared 8. But we are told we should not oppose our sentiments to the wisdom of the Nation And if the meaning of this be that we ought to reverence our Superiours submit to their Laws and live peaceably under their Government it is willingly granted But if the meaning of the Test be that we are to believe whatsoever they say blindly swear whatever they bid us this is to erect an infallible chair in the State in the stead of the Church which is a new unheard of piece of Popery But if we stand out and refuse the Test how shall the Credit and Honour of Authority be saved It were to be wished it did consult its own Credit more before the making of any Laws and Edicts for there cannot be too great deliberation used in enacting such things as are to oblige the whole Nation at present and their Posterity for the time to come And much more heed ought to be had in appointing an Oath to be sworn by the most considerable part thereof If our Ecclesiastik Superiors had been so kind and just to themselves and their Clergy as to have consulted the wisest of their Presbyters within the Kingdom it 's like it might have prevented much of this inconveniency But now that it 's done all who can take this Oath with a clear Conscience let them take it and much good may it do them But as for these who cannot take it let them suffer patiently the penaltly inflicted by the Law and let them behave themselves orderly and peaceably without making any rent in the State or Schism in the Church and without reflecting on their Governours Ye● that it may be seen by all men they are acted by Principles of Conscience And this seems to be the best way that is now left for salving the Credit of Authority And yet many wise men think that it would be no reflection on Authority if His Majesty out of his Goodness finding how great a Grievance the urging of the Test is like to prove to his best and most loyal Subjects which could not be so well known till it was tryed should suspend the Execution of the Law till further advice It obligeth us to swear That we believe the Confession recorded in the 1. Par. James 6. is founded on and agreeable to the written Word of God Now if there be but one single proposition in that Confession either false or dubious not exprest in or clearly deduced from the Scriptures can we swea● it with a good Conscience Surely whoever reads it with understanding will find many things doubtful and uncertain at least But it deserves to be particularly remarked that it contains Doctrines which manifestly cross the many ends of the Test This was certainly designed to guard and engage men against Fanatical principles and yet for all that it obliges all that swear it to own the most capital and fundamental principles of those who are called Fanatiks They maintain that our obedience to the supreme Magistrate is to be limited and that if he be an enemy to the Truth and Cause of