Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	book_n	church_n	tradition_n	5,140	5	9.1021	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A32204	Copies of two papers written by the late King Charles II together with a copy of a paper written by the late Duchess of York : to which is added an answer to the aforesaid papers all printed together.	Charles II, King of England, 1630-1685.; Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699. Answer to some papers lately printed concerning the authority of the Catholick Church.; York, Anne Hyde, Duchess of, 1637-1671.	1686 (1686)	Wing C2946; ESTC R29952	29,168	42

COPIES Of Two PAPERS Written by the Late KING CHARLES II. TOGETHER With a Copy of a Paper written by the Late DUTCHESS of YORK Published By His Majesties Command To wich is added An ANSWER To the aforesaid PAPERS all Printed together DVBLIN Reprinted by Ios. Ray on Colledge-Green for Rob Thornton at the Leather-Bottle in Skinner-Row MDCLXXXVI COPIES Of Two PAPERS Written by the Late King Charles II. Together with A Copy of a Paper written by the Late Dutchess of York Published by His Majesties Command Dublin Re-printed for Robert Thornton Bookseller at the Lether-Bottle in Skinner-Row 1686. The First Paper THE Discourse we had the other Day I hope satisfied you in the main that Christ can have but one Church here upon Earth and I believe that it is as visible as that the Scripture is in Print That none can be that Church but that which is called the Roman Catholick Church I think you need not trouble your self with entring into that Ocean of particular Disputes when the main and in truth the only Question is Where that Church is which we profess to believe in the two Creeds We declare to believe one Catholick and Apostolick Church and it is not left to every phantastical mans head to believe as he pleases but to the Church to whom Christ left the Power upon Earth to govern us in matters of Faith who made these Creeds for our directions It were a very irrational thing to make Laws for a Country and leave it to the Inhabitants to be the Interpreters and Judges of those Laws For then every man will be his own Judge and by consequence no such thing as either right or wrong Can we therefore suppose that God Almighty would leave us at those uncertainties as to give us a Rule to go by leave every man to be his own Judge I do ask any ingenuous man whether it he not the same thing to follow our own Phancy or to interpret the Scripture by it I would have any man shew me where the Power of deciding matters of Faith is given to every particular man Christ left his Power to his Church even to forgive Sins in Heaven and left his Spirit with them which they exercised after his Resurrexion First by his Apostles in these Creeds and many years after by the Council at Nice where that Creed was made that is called by that name and by the Power which they had received from Christ they were the Judges even of the Scripture it self many years after the Apostles which Books were Canonical and which were not And if they had this Power then I desire to know how they came to lose it and by what Authority men separate themselves from that Church The only pretence I ever heard of was was because the Church has failed in wresting and interpreting the Scripture contrary to the true sense and meaning of it and that they have imposed Articles of Faith upon us which are not to be warranted by Gods Word I do desire to know who is to be Judge of that whether the whole Church the Succession whereof has continued to this day without interruption or particular men who have raised Schisms for their own advantage This is a true Copy of a Paper I found in the late King my Brothers Strong Box written in his own Hand JAMES R. The Second Paper IT is a sad thing to consider what a world of Heresies are crept into this Nation Every man thinks himself as competent a Judge of the Scriptures as the very Apostles themselves and 't is no wonder that it should be so since that part of the Nation which looks most like a Church dares not bring the true Arguments against the other Sects for fear they should be turned against themselves and confuted by their own Arguments The Church of England as 't is call'd would fain have it thought that they are the Judges in matters Spiritu●l and yet dare not say positively that there is no Appeal from them for either they must say that they are Infallible which they cannot pretend to or confess that what they decide in matters of Conscience is no further to be followed then it agrees with every mans private Judgment If Christ did leave a Church here upon Earth and we were all once of that Church how and by what Authority did we separate from that Church If the Power of Interpreting of Scripture be in every mans brain what need have we of a Church or Church-men To what purpose did our Saviour after he had given his Apostles Power to bind and loose in Heaven and Earth add to it that he would be with them even to the End of the World These words were not spoken parabolically or by way of Figure Christ was then ascending into his Glory and left his Power with his Church even to the end of the World We have had these hundred years past the sad effect of denying to the Church that Power in matters Spiritual without an Appeal What Country can subsist in peace or quiet where there is not a Supream Judge from whence there can be no Appeal Can there be any Justice done where the Offenders are their own Judges and equal Interpreters of the Law with those that are appointed to administer Justice This is our Case here in England in matters Spiritual for the Protestants are not of the Church of England as 't is the true Church from whence there can be no Appeal but because the Discipline of that Church is conformable at that present to their fancies which as soon as it shall contradict or vary from they are ready to embrace or joyn with the next Congregation of People whose Discipline and Worship agrees with their opinion at that time so that according to this Doctrine there is no other Church nor Interpreter of Scripture but that which lies in every mans giddy brain I desire to know therefore of every serious considerer of these things whether the great work of our Salvation ought to depend upon such a Sandy Foundation as this Did Christ ever say to the Civil Magistrate much less to the People that he would be with them to the end of the World Or did he give them the Power to forgive Sins St. Paul tells the Corinthians Ye are Gods Husbandry ye are Gods Building we are Labourers with God This shews who are the Labourers and who are the Husbandry and Building And in this whole Chapter and in the preceding one S. Paul takes great pains to s●t forth that they the Clergy have the Spirit of God without which no man searcheth the deep things of God and he concludeth the Chapter with this Verse For who hath known the Mind of the Lord that he may instruct him But we have the Mind of Christ. Now if we do but consider in humane probability and reaso● the Powers Christ leaves to his Church in the Gospel and St. Paul explains so distinctly afterwards we cannot

the World hath and therefore can never lose it The former is only Matter of Testimony and all parts of the Church are concerned in it and it dep●nds as other Matters of Fact do on the Skill and Fidelity of the Reporters And by what Authority Men separate themselves from that Church What Church The Catholick and Apostolick We own no Separation from that but we are d●s-joined from the Communion of the Roman Church that we may keep up the stricter Union with the truly Catholick and Apostolick Church And this is no Separating our selves but being cast out by an Usurping F●ction in the Church because we would not submit to the unreasonable Conditions o● Communion imposed by it the chief whereof is owning all the Usurpation which hath by degrees been brought into it To make this plain by an Example Suppose a prosperous Usurper in this Kingdom had gained a considerable Interest in it and challenged a Title to the whole and therefore required of all the Kings Subjects within his Power to own him to be Rightful King Upon this many of them are forced to withdraw because they will not own his Title Is this an act of Rebellion and not rather of true Loyalty Schism in the Church is like Rebellion in the State The Pope d●clares himself Head of the Catholick Church and hath formed himself a kind of Spiritual Ki●gdom in the West although the other parts of the Christian World declare against it as an Usurpation However he goes on and makes the owning his Power a necessary Condition of being of his Communion This many of the Western Parts as well as Eastern disown and reject and therefore are excluded Communion with that Church whereof he is owned to be the Head The Question now is Who gives the Occasion to this Separation whether the Pope by requiring the owning his Usurpation or We by declaring against it Now if the Cond●tions he requires be unjust and unreasonable if his Authority he challenges over the Catholick Church be a meer Usurpation for which we have not only the Consent of the other Parts of the Christian World but of Scripture and the Ancient Church then we are not to be condemned for such a Separation which was unavoidable if we would not comply with the Pope's Usurpation And upon this Foot the Controversie about Schism stands between Us and the Church of Rome The only Pretence I ever heard of was because the Church hath fail'd in wresting and interpreting the Scripture contrary to the true sense and meaning of it and that they have imposed Articles of Faith upon us which are not to be warranted by Gods Word I do desire to know who is to be Judge of that whether the whole Church the Succession whereof hath continued to this day without inter●ruption or particular Men who have raised Schisms for their own advantage The whole force of this Paragraph depends upon a Supposition which is taken for granted but will never be yielded by Us and we are sure c●n never be proved by those of the Church of Rome viz. That in the new imposed Articles the whole Church in a continued Succession hath been of the same judgment with them and only some few Particular Men in these last Ages have opposed them Whereas the great thing we insist upon next to the Holy Scripture is that they can never prove the Points in difference by an Universal Tradition from the Apostles Times either as to the Papal Supremacy or the other Articles defined by the Council of Trent We do not take upon our selves to contradict the Universal sense of the Christian Church from the Apostles Times in any one Point But the true Reason of the proceeding of the Church of England was this While the Popes Authority was here received and obeyed there was no liberty of searching into abuses or the ways of Reforming them But when Men were encouraged to look into the Scripture and Fathers and Councils they soon found the state of things in the Church extreamly altered from what they ought to have been or had been in the Primitive Church But they saw no possibility of Redress as long as the Popes Authority was so absolute and inviolable This therefore in the first place they set themselves to the accurate Examination of and the Result was that they could find it neither in the Scriptures nor Fathers nor Councils nor owned by the Eastern Churches And therefore they concluded it ought to be laid aside as an Usurpation Our Church being by this means set free even with the consent of Those who joined with the Church of Rome in other things a greater liberty was then used in examining particular Doctrines and Practices which had crept into the Church by degrees when Ignorance and Barbarism prevail'd and having finish'd this enquiry Articles of Religion were drawn up wherein the sense of our Church was delivered agreeable to Scripture and Antiquity though different from the Modern Church of Rome and these Articles are not the private sense of particular Men but the Publick Standard whereby the World may judge what we believe and practise and therefore these are the sense of our Church and not the opinions or fancies of particular Men. And those who call the retrenching the Popes exorbitant Power by the name of Schism must by parity of reason call the casting off an Usurper Rebellion But certainly those who consider the mighty advantages and priv●ledges of the Clergy in the Church of Rome can never reasonably suspect any of that Order should hope to better themselves by the Reformation And if we judge of Mens actings by their Interest one of the most surprising considerations at this day is that the Clergy should be against and Princes for the Church of Rome AN ANSWER TO THE SECOND PAPER IT is a sad thing to consider what a world of Heresies are crept into this Nation But is it not a strange thing to consider that no distinction is here put between the Religion by Law established and the Parties disowned by it and dissenting from it And yet many of these though justly liable to the charge of Schism embrace no Heresies against the Four or Six first General Councils But if the Dissenters were guilty of never so many Heresies how comes the Church of England to bear the blame of them when the weakning its Power and Authority was the occasion of such an overflowing of Schisms and Heresies among us And it is indeed a sad thing to consider how many Ways and Means have been used by all Parties to introduce and keep up Schisms and Divisions amongst us and then how the Church of England is blamed for not being able to suppress them But if all Doctrines opposite to the Church of Rome be accounted Heresies then we desire to be informed how the Church of Rome came to have this Power of defining Heretical Doctrines or how any Doctrine comes to be Heresie by being contrary to its

from being Parts of the One Catholick and Apostolick Church And if they be not excluded how can the Roman Church assume to it self that glorious Title So that it seems to me as visible as that the Scripture is in Print that the Roman Church neither is nor can be that One Church which Christ left upon Earth And this Principle being removed which ought to be taken for granted since it can never be proved we must unavoidably enter into the Ocean of Particular Disputes And I know no reason any can have to be so afraid of it since we have so sure a Compass as the Holy Scripture to direct our passage But the reason of avoiding particular Disputes is because the evidence is too clear in them that the Church of Rome hath notoriously deviated from this infal●ible Rule And it is as impossible for a Church which hath erred to be Infallible as for a Church really Infallible to err But if a Church pretend to prove her Infallibility by Texts which are not so clear as those which prove her to have actually erred then we have greater reason to recede from her Errors than to be deceived with such a fallible pretence to Infallibili●y Well! But it is not left to every phantastical mans head to believe as be pleases but to the Church And is it indeed le●t to the Church to believe as it pleases But the meaning I suppose is that those who reject the Authority of the Roman Catholick Church do leave every man to believe according to his own fancy Certainly those of the Church of England cannot be liable to any imputation of this Nature For our Church receives the three Creeds and embraces the four General Councils and professes to hold nothing contrary to any Universal Tradition of the Church from the Apostles times And we have often offered to put the Controversies between Us and the Church of Rome upon that issue And do not those rather believe as they please who believe the Roman Church to be the Catholick Church without any colour from Scriptures Antiquity or Reason Do not those believe as they please who can believe against the most convincing evidence of their own senses Do not those believe as they please who can reconcile the lawfulness of the Worship of Images with Gods forbidding it the Communion in one kind with Christs Institution and the praying in an unknown Tongue with the 14 Ch. of the first Epistle to the Corinthians But all these and many other Absurdities may go down by vertue of the C●urches Authority to whom it is said Christ left the Power upon Earth to govern us in matters of Faith We do not deny that the Church hath Authority of declaring matters of Faith or else it never could have condemn'd the Antient H●re●ies But then we must consider the difference between the Universal Church in a General and free Council declaring the sense of Scripture in Articles of Faith generally received in the Christian Church from the Apostles Times as was done when the Nicene Creed was made and a Faction in the Church assuming to it self the Title of Catholick and proceeding by other rules than the first Councils did and imposing new Opinions and Practices as things necessary to the Communion of the Catholick Church And this is the true Point in difference between us and those of the Roman Church about the Churches Authority in matters of Faith since the Council of Trent For we think we have very great reason to complain when a Party in the Church the most corrupt and obnoxious takes upon it self to define many new Doctrines as necessary Points of Faith which have neither Scripture nor Universal Tradition for them It were a very irrational thing we are told to make Laws for a Countrey and leave it to the Inhabitants to be Interpreters and Iudges of those Laws for then every Man will be his own Iudge and by consequence no such thing as either Right or Wrong But is it not as irrational to allow an Usurper to interpret the Laws to his own advantage against the just Title of the Prince and the true Interest of the People And if it be not Reasonable for any private Person to be his own Iudg why should a publick Invader be so But we hope it will be allowed to the Loyal Inhabitants of a Country so far to interpret the Laws as to be able to understand the Duty they owe to their King and to justifie his Right against all the Pretences of Usurpers And this is as much as we plead for in this case Can we therefore suppose That God Almighty would leave us at those uncertainties as to give us a Rule to go by and leave every Man to be his own Iudge And can we reasonably suppose That God Almighty should give us a Rule not capable of being understood by those to whom it was given in order to the great End of it viz. the saving of their Souls For this was the main end of the Rule to direct us in the way to Heaven and not meerly to determine Controversies The Staff which a Man uses may serve to measure things by but the principal design is to walk with it So it is with the Holy Scripture if Controversies arise It is fit to examine and compare them with this Infallible Rule but when that is done to help us in our way to Heaven is that which it was chi●fly intended for And no M●n can think it of equal consequence to him not to be mistaken and not to be damned In matters of Good and Evil every mans Conscience is his immediate judge and why not in matters of Truth and Falshood Unless we suppose mens ●nvoluntary mistakes to be more dangerous than their w●l●ul sins But after all We do not leave every Man to be his own Iudge any further than it concerns his own Salvation which depends upon his particular Care and Sincerity For to prevent any dangerous Mistakes by the Artifice of Seducers we do allow the Assistance of those Spiritual Guides which God hath appointed in his Church for the better instructing and governing private Persons We embrace the Ancient Creeds as a summary comprehension of the Articles of Faith and think no Man ought to follow his own particular Fancy against Doctrines so universally received in the Christian Church from the Apostles Times I do ask any Ingenuous Man whether it be not the same thing to follow our own Fancy or to interpret Scripture by it If we allowed no Creeds no Fathers no Councils there might have been some colour for such a Question But do we permit Men to interpret Scripture according to their own Fancy who live in a Church which owns the Doctrine of the Primitive Church more frankly and ingenuously than any Church in the World besides without setting up any private Spirit against it or the present Roman Church to be the Interpreter of it And now I hope I may have leave