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	ground_n	pillar_n	2,625	5	10.3132	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26615	Protestancy to be embrac'd, or, A new and infallible method to reduce Romanists from popery to Protestancy a treatise of great use to all His Majesties subjects, and necessary to prevent error and popery / by David Abercromby, D., lately converted, after he had profess'd near nineteen years Jesuitism and popery.	Abercromby, David, d. 1701 or 2.	1682 (1682)	Wing A86; ESTC R6382	30,832	174

form of Prayer appointed to be said after every Council they pray that God would spare their ignorance and pardon their errors and if they curse and anathematize such as reject their decisions this argues not they arrogate to themselves any infallibility in deciding for the same is the practice of Provincial and Particular Councils who neither pretend to be nor are look'd upon by the Romanists as infallible Judges 9. This undeniable truth is of greater moment than perhaps it appears to be of at first For if the General Councils be not infallible when they decide in matters of Faith none of their decisions can be holden by Romanists as divine and reveal'd truths unless they be evidently conformable to God's written Word Wherefore receive they not the definitions of a private man as reveal'd Oracles the reason is because they know he is fallible and lyable to error Now the same being the condition and fate of General Councils they must of necessity confess they impose no obligation upon us to believe their decisions as Articles of Divine Faith Who then rejects as Protestants do Transubstantiation Invocation of Saints Image-worship Power of Popes to depose Princes Prayer for the dead and all other points we yield not to the Romanists deny's only what is asserted by errable Councils and consequently no Articles of Divine Faith we are therefore notoriously calumniated when on this account we are called by Papists obstinate in error and Hereticks 10. But how sayes the Romanist shall we resolve our doubts in matters of Faith if we acknowledge not the definitions of General Councils as divine and infallible Oracles You was told before by S. Austin how to behave in this case I repeat his words set matter with matter sayes he cause with cause reason with reason try the matter by the authority of Divine Scriptures never yet corrupted in material points nor ever shall by Gods especial and necessary Providence over his Church if then you read his Infallible Word with true humility and a sincere desire of your own spiritual profit he will open your understanding resolve your scruples give repose to your conscience and as great insight in his Word as he knows to be convenient for your spiritual interest 11. This method is better and securer than that of the Romanists what-ever is decided by a lawful general Council is to them an Article of Faith a reveal'd truth a divine Oracle but such Councils they hold none to be unless the Members thereof have been really baptiz'd which they can never be certain of because this depends on the uncertain intentions of those who Baptiz'd them For they generally teach besides the pronunciation of the words I Baptize thee in the Name of the Father c. The Ministers intention to confer the Sacrament is absolutely necessary so if it be wanting as easily it may the Child is not Baptiz'd On the same account they are not certain if their Popes be Priests because perhaps the Bishop who ordain'd them had no such intention when he pronounced the set form of ordination Of this I shall say a word again in another place 12. But if the general Councils be not infallible what mean the Scriptures by asserting The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church the Church is the pillar and ground of truth To this I answer There is nothing here as is evident relating to that ptetended infallible decisive faculty of General Councils The first Proposition signifieth only the true Church shall have an existency and being to the end of the World maugre the opposition of Tyrants Persecutors and all her Enemies though it may fall out she be not always visible in any Assembly or Congregation As it happen'd to the Primitive Church at Jerusalem when all her Members were scattered abroad throughout the Regions of Judaea and Samaria as it happen'd when Christ was smitten and all the rest were hid as it happen'd in Elias his time who thought he was left alone not knowing where th' other seaven thousand true Worshippers of God were as it happen'd during the Persecution of the Roman Emperors and lately before the General Reformation of the Christian World yet the Gates of Hell prevail'd not against the Church because she was ever existent though not visible as now to the World Her Meetings and Assemblys being of necessity in that juncture of affairs very secret and unknown to her Enemies She is said to be the pillar and ground of truth by reason of Gods especial Providence over her Children never suffering them all to fail and err but still stirring up some or several in opposition to Superstition Idolatry and Errors ARTICLE II. PRINCIPLE II. That Protestants may be saved more easily and with greater security than Romanists I Hope the foregoing Discourse will be an occasion of moderation to the most severe Romanists who reflecting impartially on their former mistakes rash Judgments and preoccupated opinions will convert their former zeal or rather fury against Protestants into Brotherly Love and Charity I say more if they will be at the pains to consider a moment or two and seriously the Contents of this second Article they shall I doubt not let go the uncertain take what is surest and embrace Protestancy as the easiest and safest way to our Eternal Happiness since by the grace of God it wants these lets and impediments to be met with in the Profession of Popery To run over some of them with order and method we shall take notice 1. Of their Faith and Doctrine 2. Of their Divine Worship and Ecclesiastical Discipline SECT I. Their Faith and Doctrine 1. THeir Faith is so blind that I have heard many of them say if a General Council had defin'd white to be black they would believe it whereby you see they are disposed to admit of any error if it be authoriz'd by a General Council though the infallibility thereof be no point of their Faith as I have proved evidently in the foregoing Article 2. They believe Baptism absolutely necessary to Salvation and none a true and real one if the Minister when he pronounceth the words intends not to Baptize which no doubt happens frequently since his intention may be easily diverted to his other designs and affairs Let all the World judge if people thus principled can enjoy a true repose of mind or peace of Conscience the only foretast we have in this life of that to come For how can they know assuredly whether the Minister or Priest really intended to Baptize them or not and so they may doubt if they be Christians for such they grant none is to be accounted without true Baptism and of this they can have no certainty because they are still uncertain of the Ministers intention judg'd by them so necessary to the validity of this Sacrament that if he intended only the meer pronounciation of the words I Baptize thee in the name of the Father c. The Baptism could be

in their intentions so sincere in their words and upright in all their procedures 10. How than can Romanists without the guilt of an extream uncharity impose so pitifully upon the ignorant sort causing them to believe on their bare word and authority without the least rational inducement imaginable that no Protestants are Elects that to be a Reprobate and a Protestant is one and the same thing Are they God's Counsellors Adviseth he with them who is to be saved and who not If a rash judgment be a sin as undoubtedly 't is they are not innocent when rashly and upon groundless grounds they condemn so unmercifully their Neighbours who are as good if not better than themselves 11. Believe they not all the Fundamental points whatever is contain'd in the Creeds and Scripture And if acts of Divine Love have been ever thought necessary and sufficient means to the attaining of our last end where shall we find a greater aptitude and better dispositions to such acts than amongst Protestants 12. As Ignoti nulla cupido There is no Love without Knowledge The more knowledge we have of and the greater perfections we discover in the object we tye our hearts to our love is ordinarily so much the more ardent The Reformed Churches have this advantage above all others They read the Scriptures and command them to be read by all their Subjects whereby they attain to a high knowledge of Gods infinite Power Clemency Wisdom Mercy and his other attributes Their understanding thus enlightned their will takes easily fire and burns with a flame of true Divine Love The Origine whereof is no other but that not ordinary knowledge of God they attain to by reading often and meditating frequently his infallible Word Which I know certainly to be wanting amongst Romanists because of their slight performance or rather intire neglect of such a Christian duty 13. Out of these foregoing reflexions the Charitable and Impartial Reader may easily gather they go streight on their Journey and not one step out of the way who forsaking Popery imbrace Protestancy and if any Romanist doubt yet of this self-evident truth I shall be at the pains to convince him once more by an argument beyond the reach either of a rational answer or flat denyal it runs hus ad hominem 14. The learnedest sort o Romanists teach it lawful and secure in Conscience to square our actions by the rule of a probable opinion yea the Jesuits hold it safe to stand to that opinion which is less sure and participates less of probability than the opposite though in reality surer and more probable their reason is because a man so doing acts prudently and consequently sins not 15. But the main and material point is to know what is understood by a probable opinion The Romanists generally and I think none can deny it mean by a probable opinion that which learned and pious men hold and follow For if they be pious godliness and piety will be their sole aim in all their practices if learned they will believe nothing without sufficient grounds and good reason this definition of a probable opinion laid as a confess'd Principle and immoveable ground-stone I build thereon this ensuing clear and short Discourse 16. Who-ever follows a probable opinion sins not does neither rashly nor imprudently but who holds that Protestants may be saved follows a probable opinion ergo he sins not he neither does rashly nor imprudently in so doing The second proposition I prove argumento ad hominem invincibly thus that opinion is probable which is believed and defended by learned and pious men that Protestants may be saved 't is believ'd and defended by learned and pious men ergo 't is a probable opinion and by a necessary inference may be followed and believ'd without the least appearance either of sin rashness or imprudence 17. The middle proposition is not unlike to a self-evident principle and on this account can be denyed by none as have their Wits about them or so much of common sence and understanding as to see through the terms 't is enounc'd in Dare they say Protestants are neither pious nor learned Auditum admissi risum teneatis amici I am perswaded they will be asham'd of such a childish and groundless answer For if they be neither pious nor learned they must then both be wicked and ignorant I know no middle this must be their inference which is so pitiful that the meer recital of such an extravagancy is a full and intire refutation thereof enarrasse refutasse est 18. But sure I am they will grant willingly their own Divines to be both pious and learned men yet they teach and I was taught by them that all Protestants are not Reprobates To understand this 't is observable they distinguish two sorts of Protestants the one they call material and th' other we may call for distinction's sake formal The Material Protestants are bred up in an invincible ignorance of what the Romanists think necessary to Salvation as the belief of Transubstantiation of Purgatory and the like In an Ignorance I say invincible because living in the midst of Protestants they are supposed to want all opportunity of instruction and so must rely on their Pastors authority To these they extend their charity and grant they may be saved they are not so merciful to th' others who live they say in a vincible ignorance of Catholick truths which they may easily dispel and overcome but will not through wilfulness and obstinacy 19. But to such also I shall cause them to be favourable and by a parity of reason paritate rationis force them to impart will they nill they a part of their Charity Because generals produce not such a clear knowledge as particulars do I shall take this particular the Transubstantiation for instance The belief of this mystery sayes the Romanist is necessary to Salvation yet confesseth a Material Protestant may be saved without it because he liveth in an invincible ignorance occasion'd by his want of opportunity to be instructed But the Formal Protestant upon another account liveth likewise in an invincible ignorance of this necessity because the Reasons he is convinc'd by are stronger in his opinion than yours and so you shall never influence him by your arguments to believe acknowledge or understand the contrary what then the want of instruction or understanding worketh in the Material Protestants this wit effectuates in those whom for method's sake we have called formal If those I mean the former be guiltless because hearing nothing of Transubstantiation they cannot assent to the existency thereof these are not to be blamed for though they hear of such a mystery yet their understanding is conquer'd by lights destructive to it which discovering to them clearly the truth of this Negative there is no Transubstantiation remove far from their intellective faculty the knowledge of this Positive there is a Transubstantiation 20. I say then they are not to be

the most part than praying At least certain it is the common sort is withdrawn by such outward shows from uniting their hearts to God by fervent Prayer The use of Images then is not so great a help to Devotion as the Romanists do falsly imagine 4. Nevertheless their Image-worship though to be rejected is not so intollerable as their adoration of the Consecrated Wafer because besides what I have said before it may happen and I am of opinion very frequently that their Priests either want the necessary intention or intirely forget or designedly will not Consecrate the Wafer In this case meer unconsecrated Bread is ador'd and expos'd on their Altars to the publick Cult Will they say this is no inconveniency though the People may be guiltless because of their invincible ignorance and strong imagination of Christ's Body really there existent The thought of this accident which no doubt happens frequently with-draweth several Romanists from yielding to the Wafer that Soveraign Cult due to God only 5. There is another inconveniency not unlike the precedent in a sort of Worship ordinary amongst Romanists They honour the Relicks of Saints as their Bones Garments and Parcels of their Bodies they expose them to the publick Cult on their Altars they carry them with a ceremonious pomp in their solemn Processions But what if these Relicks be of Men that are not in Heaven For I suppose 't is no Article of their Faith that whom the Pope Canonizeth as they speak is not a Reprobate since his infallibility was never yet declared by any of their eighteen General Councils he is not infallible when he declares this man to be in Heaven or that Woman to be a Saint Perhaps then you invocate a damn'd Soul you kneel before the Bones of a Reprobate you ask help from those whom God has rejected than which I can imagine nothing more absur'd If this were well reflected on by the Romanists they would not be so forward in worshipping the remainder of the dead 6. 'T is now full time lest I exceed the bonds I have set to my self to speak one word of their Ecclesiastical Discipline When I consider besides the Written Law of God how many and how heavy Obligations the Romish Church imposeth upon her Subjects I am fully convinced that Popery is justly called and without exaggeration a meer slavery the Crown'd heads are lyable to it no less yea rather more than others Most of Romanist Divines teach without any warrant either from Scripture or reason the Popes of Rome have power to depose Princes untye their Subjects from their sworn allegiance to give their Dominions primo occupanti to such as can conquer them if they refuse to purge their Kingdoms of opinions judg●d by Romanists Heretical This you may see at large in the Council of Lateran held under Innocent the third third Chapter 7. The Romish Church enslaves so far the understanding of her Followers as to forbid them the use of that rational faculty God has bestowed upon us chiefly to find out by its light the true Church and having found it to govern our selves therein by the same to search the Scriptures to try the Spirits if they be of God or not lest we be carried away by the wind of all sort of Doctrine But this is not permitted to the Romanists they must pull out their eyes and say white is black if a General Council though never as yet proved by them infallible affirm it This occasion'd an ancient Philosopher to call the Christian Religion the Religion of Fools not because they believe things above the reach of Humane Reason for that is no folly but on this account that some of them to wit the Romanists believe as 't was instanc'd in the Eucharist or Lord's Supper that which is contradicted by the experimental knowledge of all our Senses 8. 'T was a Liberty and Priviledge of the Primitive Church as S. Paul witnesseth to the Corinthians that whatsoever is sold in the Shambles whatever is set before us we may eat asking no question for Conscience-sake that every Creature of God is good and nothing to be refused if it be received with Thanksgiving the Roman Church has taken away this Priviledge and commands abstinence from Meats ordains Fasts observed most punctually by some of them falsely perswaded the best part of Christian perfection consists in such indiscreet Rigors not knowing that true vertue consists mainly in an intire Victory we should endeavour to get over our own Passions our most dangerous because Domestick Enemys So many commanded Fasts as we see in the Romish Church under the pain of Mortal Sin are no doubt an occasion of sin and disobedience to many who think themselves obliged in Conscience to observe them as injunctions of their Church Cardinal Bellarmine that Renown'd Romanist was of this opinion 'T is reported he was wont to say that if ' ere he happen'd to be Pope he would abolish the Obligation of the Lent Fast No doubt because he judg'd it a too heavy Yoke and on this account more hurtful than profitable 9. Marriage in the purest age of the Church was not forbidden to Ecclesiasticks saith not S. Paul that a Bishop may be the Husband of one Wife That Marriage is honourable in all and the Bed undefil'd And writing to Timothy that forbidding to Marry and commanding to abstain from Meats is the Doctrine of the Devils Was not the Forerunner of Christ the Son of the High-Priest Zacharias an evident mark that our Saviour approv'd of and honoured such sort of Marriages yet the Romish Church adding still great and heavy weights to the yoke of Christ forbids expressly Ecclesiasticks to Marry though S. Paul saith let every man that is whether Clergy or Lay-man unless he hath the Gift of Continency have his own Wife which Gift is always suppos'd when a Man or a Woman vows Chastity So if you find by experience you have it not you are obliged not to vow or if you have vowed rashly flattering your self you had this Gift you are no more engag'd by your former vow because none is obliged to perform beyond what lies in his power and 't is in no man's power to live continently without a Gift of Continency which God bestoweth on whom he pleases and refuseth it to others as he thinks fit who may and perhaps are obliged in this case to secure themselves from Sin and Temptation by a lawful Marriage For in this conjuncture Melius est nubere quam uri 't is better to Marry than burn 10. 'T is observable the most of those that enter these Orders they call commonly Religious make their vows so young and so inconsiderately that they hardly ever reflect on what they undertake several of them protest they are forced thereunto by their Parents or upon the account of some other humane respects and interest and if afterwards they renew twice a year as 't is customary amongst the