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A56698 A sermon preached on Saint Mark's Day MDCLXXXVI in the parish church of St. Paul's Covent Garden by Symon Patrick ... Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707. 1686 (1686) Wing P844; ESTC R7041 18,815 51

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is it not as good a Judge of any thing as of their Authority What reason can be given for using our Reason in this single affair and relinquishing it ever after Is it not the same Reason still Was it not given us for our constant Safe-Conduct By what reason then do we trust others to chuse our Religion for us without examining whether what they say be true or no but taking it barely upon their word How do they know that to be true which they propound to us May not we know it by the same means and rely not merely upon their Authority but upon the same reason that they do For they say what they deliver to us either with reason or without If with reason we ought to judge whether it be a good reason or no for why should not we judge as well as they since God hath intrusted us with a faculty whereby to judge If without reason we ought not to follow an Authority which presses things to be believed upon no ground but to look upon those as the most sincere and faithful Directors who would have us to examine and prove consider and ponder all things well before we receive them and who offer to us their assistance therein that we may see with our own eyes what God himself hath delivered to us in his holy Word Which brings me to the next thing Secondly In this proof which we make of every thing propounded to us the Scriptures ought to be the Rule whereby we judge We have no other I have formerly shewn you and they are abundantly sufficient for us and so authentick that our Blessed Lord himself and his Apostles after him constantly appealed to them for the proof of their Doctrine And as they referred all men to the old Scriptures saying no other thing but what the Prophets and Moses did say should come xxvi Act. 22. so we can send them no whither else for their information but to the same Scriptures and to the New Testament according to which if any men do not speak they are not to be received Nay St. Austine ventured to imitate St. Paul and to say * L. III. contra liter Petiliani cap. 6. Let him be accursed whosoever he be I will not say we who are not worthy to be compared with him that said THOUGH WE but though he be an Angel from Heaven who declares to you any thing of Christ or of his Church or of any other matter that belongs to our Faith and Life besides that which ye have received in the Legal and Evangelical Scriptures Unto which the same St. Paul sends Timothy himself for his instruction in both his Epistles to him Where he commands him to give attendance to reading viz. of the holy Scriptures which he had known from a Child and which were able he tells him to make him wise to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus They being given by inspiration of God that even a man of God like the antient Prophets might be perfected and thoroughly furnished unto all good works for every part of his employment 2 Tim. iii. 15 16. Which place I have explained not long ago and now mention it again because the Apostle directs him to these holy Writings as a means to preserve him in the true Christian belief ver 14. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them and that from a Child thou hast known the holy Scriptures c. What we have learned out of the holy Scriptures we have an assurance of we know from whom they come and are certain we are taught by God when we read these holy Books but cannot be assured of any other Tradition which is not contained here and therefore ought to continue stedfast in our adherence to the Scriptures and both to suspect those who would draw us from this hold and stick to those Guides who bid us stick to this and prove all things by it For it is evident they have no mind to deceive us but do in effect bid us believe God and follow his directions and rely upon his Authority who cannot mislead us and will not suffer us to be mis-led if we continue in the things which we have learnt out of the holy Scriptures For taking them to be our Rule we shall neither admit any thing which is contrary to that Rule nor shall we take any thing to be an essential part of the Christian Faith which is not there delivered unto us For it is not consistent with the notions we have of God's infinite Goodness and Wisdom to believe He would give us a Rule which is defective in necessary things No He hath abundantly provided here for our Instruction in all such matters and as we ought to refuse that which contradicts any part of these holy Books so we ought not to think it necessary that we should entertain any thing which they do not teach us And teach us plainly and evidently for in all necessary things they are very clear and perspicuous Else they could not be a Rule unto us but we must seek for some other The Apostle's Creed for instance which the Ancients called the immoveable Rule of Faith a short Summary of Christian Belief beyond which as they speak we ought not to seek for Faith together with the Nice Creed and Athanasius's which expound the Apostles ought thoroughly to be received and believed for that they may be proved by most certain warrants of holy Scripture But whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an Article of Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to Salvation This is the Doctrine of our Church in its sixth and eighth Articles unto which let us strictly keep if we would not be carried to and fro uncertainly with the blasts of vain Doctrines which have no certain Warrants in the holy Scriptures and therefore are not to be received or are contrary to them and therefore are to be rejected Here we must fix and believe that here we are safe For the Scriptures want nothing to compleat us in Christian wisdom which they do not wrap up in obscurity but as far as is needful give us a clear understanding of the Doctrines of Faith And make us understand withal if we please to consider them that having laid our foundation well in a firm belief of those great and necessary things which out of the Scriptures are summed up in the Creeds before named we need not trouble our selves about other matters which are not so evident but make it our whole business in this world to raise the solid Superstructure of a holy Life upon the Foundation of Faith in Christ This is the Second thing the holy Scriptures are the Rule whereby we must prove all things from which if we do not depart we cannot be led into any
dangerous errors Provided Thirdly that in the use and application of this Rule we take the direction of our Spiritual Guides and Governors In some things as I said there is difficulty and where there is none the cunning of deceivers may so perplex things and intangle our understandings that we may not know what to think In which case especially we ought to seek for the assistance of those that are better able to judge than our selves Which is the very means of stability and constancy which the Apostle here recommends in my Text. For having shown how God appointed several orders of men in the Church not only Apostles Prophets and Evangelists but also Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints c. he lets them know that by these means God expected that they should not be henceforth children tossed to and fro and carried away with every wind of Doctrine For this purpose were Pastors and Teachers more particularly setled in the Church that they might be Instruments of setling others After the Apostles and Prophets and Evangelists had revealed the mind and will of God to men Pastors and Teachers were left in every Church to help them both to understand what the other great men had revealed and to detect the forgeries of false Apostles who went about to supplant the Christian Doctrine These Gifts as the Apostle here calls them were bestowed last of all being intended to remain after the other ceased And accordingly you are blessed with them in this Age as they were in the beginning and they are placed over you for the same end that they were at first that you may advise with them as persons whose business it is to study the holy Scriptures and to guide God's people by them in the way of truth For this they are better qualified than any other persons and therefore ought to be consulted by the people Who must not be so bold as to lean merely to their own understanding but listen also unto them not indeed as infallible but as men of the best understanding both by their Office and by their Study pains and experience whereby they are enabled to discover the frauds and sophistry of Deceivers and to open better than any else can do the true meaning of the holy Scriptures Their Guidance therefore the Apostle to the Hebrews also commends as a remedy against their instability in Religion xiii 7 8 9. Remember them that have the rule over you who have spoken to you the word of God whose faith follow c. Be not carried about with divers and strange Doctrines for it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace not with meats which have not profited them that have been occupied therein Where one mark is given them whereby to know what Guides to follow Such as established their hearts in true grace and goodness not those that troubled them with unprofitable Disputes about meats and drink and such like things which were pressed by Judaical Teachers but made those who observed them not one jot the better if they did not make them worse by taking off their hearts from more substantial Duties And truly there is the same mark of distinction at this day All men follow some Guides or other but they alone ought to be followed who lead men not by their own authority but by the direction of the holy Scriptures whose main study it is to understand the Scriptures themselves and then to make others understand them who do not hide those Books from the people but exhort them to look into them and read them seriously and to learn therein above all things to be godly and vertuous to mortifie all evil affections and passions to purifie themselves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit and to perfect holiness in the fear of God Such Guides you are bound in Conscience to advise withal and not lightly to forsake their Conduct For if they of the contrary perswasion follow their Guides with an implicite Faith and a kind of blind obedience being scarce permitted to use their Reason how can our people answer it to God if they will not take heed to those who bid them open their eyes and see and examine and prove what they offer to them by the Rule of the holy Scriptures in the use of the most impartial and unbiassed Reason which God hath bestowed upon them and wherewith they can assist them It is not easie to apprehend how great a sin they are guilty of who neglect such guidance And I must take the freedom to tell you That to listen to other pretended Guides neglecting those of the Church of England under whom ye have been bred whose conversation you know by whom you have been long instructed and had sufficient proof of their abilities is an inexcusable sin and an unaccountable folly For in all reason you ought to have a greater reverence to the Priests of our Church than to those of any other Communion who cannot be presumed to know better than ours do nor to have more concern and care to guide you aright than ours have And therefore as none of you I hope will be carried away from the Faith of this Church by any wind of Doctrine whatsoever so you will not I trust so much as entertain a doubt of the truth here believed without consulting with the Pastors and Teachers of it who are able to preserve you from falling by Gods grace and blessing upon your and their honest endeavours You ought to make a great conscience of this if you chance to be staggered by any objection repair to those whom God hath appointed to settle your minds and preserve you upright Nay if there were nothing of Conscience in it yet it is but a due respect to them under whose ministry you have many years lived not to forsake them upon any suggestions whatsoever without hearing what they can answer to them nor to think them less able and willing to direct you than any other persons or less honest and careful in the directions they give that neither you nor they may do amiss Besides the weakness and levity nay the folly and wickedness it is a rude contempt of those whom you have the greatest reason to esteem and will be so judged at the dreadful day of our Lord to hearken to the voice of strangers and give a perfect credit to them without so much as consulting the judgment of those with whom you have been long acquainted Be not guilty I beseech you of such unmanly and unmannerly behaviour Do not so much as admit the beginning of a doubt about your Religion without acquainting some of them with it that they may resolve you and as St. Peter speaks 1 v. 12. exhort and testify to you that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand And in which you will always stand if you observe one thing more which in truth is the greatest of all Fourthly Live in
the sincere practice of all other duties of Christian piety For to do what we know to be the will of God is the surest way to be preserved by him both in truth and in holiness A godly life is the greatest security against all Impostures We shall never doubt of the truth of our belief when we feel it hath effected the design of Faith by bringing forth the fruit of it in all manner of vertue and godliness of living About which there is no doubt nor question no dispute nor controversy for all the parts of an holy life are as plainly set down in the holy Scriptures as that part of it now mentioned We beseech you Brethren know that is love them which labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and esteem them very highly in love for their works sake and be at peace among your selves 1 Thes v. 11 12. All the rest I say are as express and clear and evident as this whether they be our duties toward God or towards man whether superiours equals or inferiours or whether they concern the right Government of our selves in all Temperance Soberness Chastity Self-denial Contentedness and Contempt of this present World Without which I mean contempt of this present World all the advice that can be given will signify little to secure us in the true Religion If this one thing be wanting we are liable to be deceived and none can help us We shall turn like Weather-cocks by every wind of Doctrine if our interest lie that way and it will not be in the power of any man by the clearest and most solid demonstrations to fix and settle us For the love of this present World of riches honours and preferments dazles the eyes of mens minds blinds their judgment bribes their affections corrupts their consciences and carries them into the foulest dotages Religion and the things of the other world cannot be of any great price in his account who admires and over-values the things of this present life Which will easily perswade him as I had occasion to shew you lately when he cannot keep both to let go his Faith that he may preserve these And therefore if we will stick fast to our Religion we must not cleave too close to this present World We must not frame too high an opinion in our minds of any thing here nor set our hearts and affections on it but learn to want as well as to abound to be satisfied with a little and as the Apostle speaks having food and raiment therewith to be content remembring that godliness with contentment is great gain 1 Tim. vi 6 8. Such lessons if we learnt and faithfully practised and there is no man that need be ignorant of them or defective in them unless he will they would preserve and keep our minds from being drawn away by plausible and gainful errors Nay more than that they would put an end to all controversies and disputes better than an Infallible Judge could do For when there was one in the world there were still Sects and Factions as I have already shown you But if we would submit to the power of the Gospel and of God's holy Spirit so far as to become obedient to the plain commands which he lays upon us that is to be made truly meek and lowly in heart humble and peaceable tender-hearted and Charitable holy and heavenly-minded having no designs for this world but all for the other not intending to serve any earthly ends by our Religion but only to secure our Souls everlasting salvation being sincere lovers of truth desirous to know the whole will of God ready to imbrace it though never so cross to our present interests conscientiously resolved to do it whatsoever we deny or lose on that account this temper of mind wouldbe a far better expedient and more available for the healing of all Divisions and for the making Peace and Unity in the Christian World than infallibility of Judgment would be could we tell where to find it This is the way of God wherein if we will not walk there must be Heresies and contention and strife nay there will be as St. James's words are every evil work and no remedy can be found for it Whereas in this way I will be bold to go a little further and say that God hath taken care every particular Christian may be infallible as far as is needful for him Much Discourse and Dispute there hath been and is about Infallibility And some you know argue there must be such a thing because of the care which we all believe Christ hath of his Church in which it would be convenient there should be an Infallible Judge and therefore they conclude there is one But if Convenience were the measure and our Understanding the Measurers we might rather conclude that God hath made every particular Christian infallible because that is far more convenient than for every Christian to go a great way to one Infallible Judge and then not be able to know certainly where to find him because they that speak of such a Judge are not agreed whether he be a single Person or whether this Infallibility do not lye in more than in one nay whether it be not in a many but there is as great difference about this as any thing else whatsoever All that we can truly resolve therefore in this matter is That such is the Grace of God such his Care of his Church that He hath made every truly pious Christian infallible though not in all things yet in the main thing if he go on to the end in a course of piety That is with respect to his Journies end he is infallible though not with respect to every step he takes thither He may erre in many things he may sometimes go wrong yet if it be his constant design and watchful endeavour to govern himself faithfully in all his actions by the Rule of God's Word and to follow all the Directions therein he shall infallibly come to Heaven Let no men make you believe the contrary though you do not believe every thing that they tell you is necessary For God hath promised to guide the meek in judgment and to teach them his way His secret is with them that fear him and his Covenant is to make them know it XXV Psal 9 14. They shall certainly understand all things needful and be preserved from damnably erring in their judgment God is faithful and will keep them from falling into the errour of the wicked because they feared him greatly doing his will sincerely as far as they knew it and being ready and desirous to believe and obey it in all other things if they could have known them to be his Will Therefore let us neither decline this way nor distrust it Let us look upon this as the way of peace and let us think our selves safe in it Let all carnal let all worldly let all diabolical lusts
what to believe and what to hold and retain with a firm resolution nor exposed us without any help for it to be carried away by the errour of the wicked but abundantly provided us with all things necessary for the knowledge of the Truth and for our improvement therein unto a state of stedfast belief Which is the third thing III. We are not left by God without the means of being settled in the Faith notwithstanding the Blasts of contrary Doctrine which may be in the Church and notwithstanding the cunning and craftiness whereby they may be managed For it is the very Scope of the Apostle in this place to convince the Ephesians that God had taken such care and made such provision that they might not henceforth be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrine c. There was a remedy then against this lightness and inconstancy it was possible to discern truth from falshood the Christian Faith from the vain Doctrines which troubled the Church and if they did not continue Children they might continue stedfast in that Faith and not be moved from it by the violent Blasts of contrary perswasions God did not think fit as you have heard to lay such a restraint upon mens Spirits that none should be able to contradict the truth preached by the Apostles but permitted false Apostles deceitful Workers transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ for the tryal and exercise of the faithful whom he furnished with sufficient means to preserve themselves in a settled constant belief What those means were I shall briefly lay before you as I find them partly here and partly in other places of the Apostolical Writings and shall treat of them with a particular respect to our selves that we may be established in the truth of his holy Gospel First Nothing is to be admitted without good Proof Secondly In the Proof we make of Doctrines the holy Scriptures must be the Rule whereby we judge Thirdly In the use of this Rule we must take direction of our Spiritual Guides and Governours And Lastly We must live in the sincere practice of all other Duties of Christian Piety First The first Direction is that of this Apostle St. Paul to the Thessalonians 1 v. 21. Prove all things hold fast that which is good Which is the same with that of St. John 1 iv 1. Beloved believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they are of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the World From whence it is likely Dionysius of Alexandria formed that Precept which he calls an Apostolical voice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be ye skilful Bankers able to distinguish between good and bad Silver * Euseb L. VII Hist Eccles Cap. 7. Children indeed having not the faculty of discerning take all upon trust but it is a shame if being arrived at the state of Manhood we do not prove and try and examine as the word signifies every thing that is offered to our belief which we ought not to receive merely because confident men would impose it upon us by their Authority And if it will not abide a proof nor stand a tryal we may be certain it is deceitful Ware which they would put off in the dark and not have brought into the light Now in this proof we must be very serious for nothing can be examined thoroughly without an attentive mind Which we must awaken to ponder and consider every thing in the use of the best reason we have and whatsoever appears upon examination and proof to be agreeable to the Faith once delivered to the Saints that we must hold fast and not suffer our selves to be carried from it by any importunities of contrary affections For as we must receive nothing without good reason so we ought not lightly to forsake that which we have good reason to believe When I speak of Reason I do not mean bare natural Reason without the guidance of God's Grace For which we must heartily pray and He no doubt will readily vouchsafe unto all those who seriously seek for it with a desire to be led by it in the ways of truth and holiness For having given us his Son and by him revealed his mind and will unto us it is infidelity to think that he will not guide us by his Grace to understand his mind and will in all things necessary to our salvation Far be such a thought from our hearts which ought to rest satisfied that he will give us his Grace to direct us as freely as he hath given us his Son Christ to inlighten and instruct us He is as little sparing of his Grace as the visible Sun is of its Beams which shine into the eyes of all those who do not by wilful winking shut it out and thereby make themselves not the Sun guilty of their blindness If we love darkness rather than light or will not be at the pains to open our eyes and let it in but instead thereof give up our selves to be led about by others as they shall please to conduct us it is but just with God to deprive us of the power of judging aright and not to let us see when we would because we would not when we might He hath given us the use of Reason which if we will blindly resign to any pretended Authority what is it but to shut our eyes when we should open them or suffer our selves to be hood-wink'd when we should look about us that we be not deceived We can give no account of this to God who did not give us this talent that we should give it away to others but that we should faithfully employ and improve it our selves He never intended that we should let others judge for us but requires us to examine and judge our selves whether there be reason to receive that which is propounded to us by others This is so great a Truth that they who receive things without examination upon mere trust yet have some reason for what they do For no man trusts another till he hath reason to think he is an honest man and will not deceive him He doth not take his bare word for it that he will not deceive him but hath some ground or other to think he will be as good as his word Insomuch that they who seem least to trust to their own reason do really trust it in the weightiest matter when they trust it to chuse one for them whom they may trust They of the Roman Church I mean who would have us give up our Reason to their Authority do not pretend to perswade us to submit to that Authority without some reason for it And to be perswaded by reason as hath been long ago said that to their Authority we ought to submit our Reason is still to follow Reason and not to quit it and blindly resign it And if we must follow Reason in that why not in all things whatsoever Why