Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	church_n	faith_n	primitive_a	3,297	5	9.1069	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B03937	Mr. Keith's sermon, preach'd on May the 12th, 1700. At Dr. Bedford's church, being Saint George Butolphs-Lane, by Billings-Gate. On Luke the 1st and verse 6th.	Keith, George, 1639?-1716.	1700 (1700)	Wing K210; ESTC R179321	14,369	16

These and a numerous other Absurdities to the Reason of Mankind are contained in that senseless Mystery of Transubstantiation to defend which their Doctors have been and are forced to deny Reason and say that the same thing may and can be and not be c. But Beloved if neither Reason nor so much as our Senses may be believed Pray what assurance can we have of any thing But Oh! What assurance had 〈◊〉 to strengthen his staggering Faith about our Saviour's Resurrection This only and that particularly from his Lord viz. Stretch out thine hand and thrust it into my side and be not faithless but believing Nay further the now Roman Church destroys the Ground of Certainty by an innumerable Company of Lying Wonders which you may Read of in their Legends which the Priests do impudently obtrude upon the belief of the silly and ignorant People only for proof and confirmation of their Religion But on the other Hand the Sects and Sepratists being in as dangerous an Extream concerning Faith c. For I found and have now just Reason to acknowledge that the greatest part of my Religion when among them was made up of senseless and absurd Notions which I am now ashamed of they being as we were wont set forth in unintelligible fantastical Phrases by as 2 Pet 3. 16. saith wresting of Scriptures to our own Destruction tho' I indeed then as well as they accounted it the heights of Spirituality and Mystery upon which we valued and boasted our selves as the only Knowing and Spiritual People When as Thanks be to God it is known now to me and all discerning Persons that there was and is nothing in such pretended Heights and Spiritualities but only vain Imagination and Dreaming which are dangerous Deceits For as the Light of Reason and Sense dispels the vain Images of Dreams So these admitted would and will cure all Phantastical Impostures and Delusions for which cause they as well as I formerly declared against nothing so vehemently as Reason under the notion of Carnal and so an Enemy to the Spirit and the things of it True I must needs confess now that there is a Carnal Reason which is Enmity to Truth and Goodness But that as I am rightly inform'd is not the Reason of our Minds but our 〈◊〉 Passions and corrupt Interests which is not Reason truly and properly so call'd no more than an Ape can be call'd a Man And for want of knowing and distinguishing the things which so differ Verily Enthusiasticks rail violently against all Reason as the grand Adversary of the Truths and Mysterys of the Gospel Nay further resolving as I did formerly all assurance either into or upon a bare belief of the Testimony of a private Spirit For as mine was so their Ground and Belief of the Scriptures both was and is this Testimony and consequently whatsoever is received from hence bottoms there The Papists as it 's confest believe the Scriptures on the Testimony of their Church but that Sect of which I was with others believe them on the Testimony of their Spirit That is in Sober Sadness by the Suggestions and Resolutions of their own viz. they like silly Women led Captive believe because they will believe finding themselve inclined to it So upon the same Reason as has been observed when the Imagination and Humour as mine did alters they then may and will cease to believe or as I do now believe the contrary I shall not appeal only to my own Experience but to that in others also For have not some vastly multiplyed Articles of Faith by making all their private Opinions sacred calling them Gospel and saving Truths whereas at the best they were but uncertainties For being senseless Imaginations they are usually false by which they expose the whole Body of Christian Principles to Suspicion and so weaken the Faith of some and destroy that of others So now having given you the Characters of a true Church Namely First that its Articles of Faith and Doctrine are antient viz. as St. Jude saith That which was once delivered to the Saints Secondly That it 's Pure and Peaceable And Thirdly That those things it commands are both reasonable and certain And since for all the fine and gay Pretences I cannot find such a Faith in these two dangerous Extreams which I have fairly and impartially Examined I will by God's assistance Examine and see whether that Church into which I am now entred being by Law Established has those Marks and Characters of a true Faith which I have before described And First I am well assured and so dare boldly assert that the Church Established without fondness or over-weaning doth profess and teach the antient Primitive and Apostolick Faith having admitted no new things that are contrary to it For it was reformed according to the Scriptures and the Apostolick Rules and Ways I say according to the Scriptures as they were interpreted by the first General Councils and Fathers those I mean next to the Apostles whom we ought to believe for they then assuredly understood what was the Apostles Doctrines and Ways nay the Church is truly and rightly called Protestant 〈…〉 against the Roman and Sectarian Innovations so according 〈…〉 Character must be true Secondly It teaches us Righteousness in general namely our duty to God our Neighbours and our Selves in the just Latitude and extent of them For it has no Shifts and Evasions of Repentance and Reformation it allows no hopes of Salvation but upon Gospel terms It teaches no Practise that is either Impious or Immoral nor indulgeth any by its Doctrine perhaps some Rotten Members may wink and connive at such For the Church it self tells us that whosoever is Evil must know it by being Judged and Condemned Nay further the Church leaves no hopes of Salvation but what is grounded on effectual Repentance and Reformation nor imposeth any Articles of belief as necessary to Salvation but the antient Creed and no terms of Communion but reasonable Orders and Decencies as are free from all appearance of Idolatry and Superstition or any thing else that i● unlawful and as to the concerns of civil Peace the Church with Christ and his Apostles hath taught all active Chearful and Conscientious Obedience both to God the King and also Subordinate Rulers in all lawful things and a quiet Submission to the Penalties of not Obeying when the things required are plainly or certainly so to its former Praise Renown and Happiness be it spoken So Lastly the Church now Established teaches no Opinions that needs such a desperate Course to defend them For all its Articles are reasonable and may be proved or defended by Reason against all Athe●sts or Infidels c. She secures also the certainty of her Faith by resolving it into the Scriptures the true Seat of Infallibility and the belief of the Scriptures on the other hand into the Testimony of the Spirit of God which confirmed it by Miracles So that by these

Three Characters of a True and Gospel Faith the Church to which I am now joined doth not only profess but practise it True the best Church and Religion may be discredited by its Professors and that the Established Religion as such is false can never be wrested out of the Mouths of those of the Church of Rome and others which seek and take occasions to Blaspheme it till such time as the composing our Differences shall take away that occasion which they have so unhappily given and we take the Apostles advice to the Epistle of Phil. 1.29 28. to stand fast in one Spirit with one Mind striving together for the Faith of the Gospel and in nothing terrified by our Adversaries which to them is an evident token of Perdition but to us of Salvation and that of God I know its possible some may not only think but say that they may maintain Charity notwithstanding they break Communion with an Established Church But Beloved give me leave to tell nay to assure you that that is next to impossible to be done for when Men's Differences are about Matters of Religion then as I know by Experience Passion is apt to slide under that fair pretext and lay claim to Conscience it self so that it becomes a piece of Zeal to be Uncharitable But give me leave to premise that it 's not sufficient for any Man or Woman's Repose to say that they are acted by Conscience which is no other than ones present Perswasion Conscience it self then must needs lie at the Mercy of every thing that has Power to perswade it and hence oftentimes it comes to pass that whilst Conscience acts such it self as I and I do not doubt but many of you have observed is acted by Passions and Weaknesses then what has must or will become of the Regularity of what some have 〈…〉 I am fully perswaded that every Christian detests the 〈…〉 of being sawyed in Matters of Religion either by Interest or P●●vis●ness or Pride or Appetites or Aversions or something that is and has been either avowedly Evil or Shamefully Weak But now I shallnot rashly charge any with being swaied with such tho' I have great Reason to suspect that all these before-mentioned have found ways to pass into some nay I may say into too many Men and Womens Consciences and there act as securely as behind a Curtain yea even at that time when such were and are ready to detest them in their naked Appearances To confirm which Truth I will appeal not only to mine own but some others undeniable Experiences themselves being Judges Nay have none of you here ever heard of nor known any who out of Wanto●ness of Wit and Affectation of Singularity have made a perfect new Model of Christian Religion by making a God without Eternity a Saviour without Satisfaction and an Hell without Torments these forsooth did first admite their Scheme and then believed it and so became Masters of a Sect and thus their Vanity passed into Conscience Others there have been and are of a Moroser Temper and Complexion which falling as it were into dislike with that Sweetness Christianity obliges to and those Sacraments and Ordinances which are the Tyes of Union and that Gospel that so incesantly presses it These as I know by former Experience being one of them verily have believed that the very Gospel-Institutions are but Types and Shadows and that every Man and Woman has a surer Word of Prophesie within Themselves and that God must be served without all possitive Commandments or Ordinances c. These you as well as I know have sprung into a numerous Sect and thus Completion and Humour have passed and doth pass into Conscience Others there are which you cannot but have heard of whose Covetousness has first inclined them to Teach and then the Success of their Doctrine has tempted them to believe that the Merits of Humane Piety may be transferred from Person to Person and that the Fruits of Repentance may be purchased at a Price So having let their Minds grow Gross and Carnal and then finding themselves either too much at Loss in their Devotions to a Pure and Invisible Being have introduced sensible Objects of Worship and humane Mediators to whom they might address both with more Boldness and Carelesness And thus both Avarice and Beastiality have passed and do pass into Conscience Others there are and have been which being fond of some Opinions and having no other Foundation to build upon have by their Dreams and vain Imaginations made them Canonical and being of a temper more Zealous and Fierce and having perswaded themselves that all is Sacred that they do for the Advancement of their own Opinions and so have allowed and practised Persecutions Murders and Outrages And thought as Saul which afterward was named Paul that in so doing they did God good Service Thus Fondness and Cruelty have Passed into Conscience Others there are and have been which being uneasie in their Worldly Circumstances and then reflecting upon that Mysterious Intimation that Christ should some time Reign alone upon Earth have as they were willing believed that that Time was near Accomplished and thereupon have cryed down all Worldly Government as Antichristian hoping thereby to set up King Jesus and themselves together And thus Discontent has passed into Conscience But to be brief Others there have been and also are which have been 〈…〉 devoted to an Aversion to the Church established as I was even 〈◊〉 their Youth being warned to avoid it and not to have any particular Communion with it on the Peril of their Souls being told as I was that it was Antichristian Popish Socinian or Pelagian being made to believe that it 's Monstrous without ever being suffered to Examine or Understand it And being thus bred under Masters better skilled in Affirming than Proving have been also taught that the most commendable Faith is that which swallows All Things without any Examination and that the more Reason one hears against ones Self the more Meritorious is and will be ones obstinacy And thus not only Curiosity but Prejudice also and Cruelty have passed into Conscience Now what can or shall I say more if both Men and Womens Appetites Passions Follies Prejudices Fondnesses Aversions Wishes and Dreams both may and have passed into Conscience and prescribed and governed there as by these you may understand and some I doubt not here may by undeniable Experience know Nay it has been by many as well as my self observed that the Matters which these of the Reformed Church differ about are very small and the Animosities both have been and are generally the higher and greater For to our Shame be it spoken the smaller the Distance or Difference the wider the Breach insomuch that most can live more Friendly with an Infidel that differs in the object of Worship than with another Christian that differs only in the Form The Reason whereof as I conjecture and judge must be