Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n
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A13629
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The reasonablenesse of wise and holy truth: and the absurditie of foolish and wicked errour
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Terry, John, 1555?-1625.
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1617
(1617)
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STC 23912; ESTC S118354
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27,907
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56
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may gather mud then in the Dulcius ex ipso fente bibuntur aquâ— most pure fountaine it selfe Hence spring errors saith S. Cyprian while men repaire not to the originall veritie nor the head is sought after nor the doctrine of our heavenly master is observed Cyp. de simpl praelat Sccondly to come to the doctrines of the Church of Rome concerning the Sacraments Is it not absurd that the bare pronouncing of a few words should consecrate a Sacrament and that a Sacrament should giue grace by the worke wrought albeit the words themselues bee not vnderstood nor the vses and ends for the which Sacraments were ordained Tell mee saith S. Chrysostome O thou foolish or absurd Priest doth the vertue of the word of God consist in the forme of the letters or in the vnderstanding of the sense Chrys hom 43. in Mat. Verily the Apostle teacheth that the word of God profiteth not vnlesse it be mingled with faith in them that heare it Heb. 4. 2. that is vnlesse it be so deliuered that the hearers minds may be instructed and edified thereby and so faith may be either begotten or at least strengthned in them And so doth S. Austine teach both concerning the word and the Sacraments also From whence commeth this power saith hee that water doth touch the body cleanse the soule but by meanes of the word and that not because it is vttered but because it is beleeued For in the word the vanishing sound is one thing and the remaining power another This is the word of faith which we preach Aug. in Ioh. hom 80. And againe The faith of the Sacraments doe iustifie not Fides Sacraâ—â—torum iustisicat non sacraments the Sacraments themselues And therefore saith hee in the Sacraments wee must not regard what they are but what they signifie Aug. cont Max. l. 3. cap. 22. For as in the Iewish sacrifices so in these our Christians Sacraments God doth not require the worke wrought but the reasons and ends for the which it is wrought Tertull. l. 3. cont Marc. Secondly it is not absurd that a Sacrament which of the very worke wrought as they say giveth grace should hinder grace giuen in another sacrameÌ„t as they affirme of marriage and of their holy orders As if one grace could disgrace another or one instrument Subordinata 〈◊〉 pugnant ordained to giue grace could resist the efficacie and power of another Thirdly was not their ancient order of baptising of Bels an absurd disorder As if Christ had shed his blood for the purging of the sinnes of Bells had ordained baptisme to giue to them his heavenly grace But to leaue baptisme and to come to the Lords supper what a Chaos of absurdities doe they bring in about the same First whereas the Scripture in plaine words avoucheth that our blessed Saviour at the first institution thereof tooke bread and wine in their essence and substance to make them the mysticall signes of his body and bloud they say that he transubstantiated them into the very substance of his body blood left their accidences only to be the outward signes in the sacrament Whereas Sacraments if they had not acertaine resemblance with the things whereof they are Sacraments they could not be sacraments at all and beare the name of the things themselues which Exijsdem nutrimuâ— sumuâ— Arist ex ijsdem nascimur pascimur Bern. Accidens non transit à sâ—biecto in subiectum Accidentis esse est inesse they resemble Aug. ad Bonif. ep 23. Now what resemblance can there bee betweene the accidents of bread and wine and the true and reall body and bloud of Christ Can these accidents nourish our bodies that they may resemble the nourishment of our soules by the body and bloud of Christ And is it not absurd that these accidents being separated from their subiects must not onely retaine their being but also subsist by themselues Surely it were fit that these mens bodies were fed with accidents which feed mens soules with such absurd fancies Now concerning Christs body blood which is the inward grace in this sacrament how many absurdities also doe they avouch First they will haue the very same body and blood daily to bee made of the substance of bread and wine through the pronunciation of fiue words by the mouth of a Priest which was but once made of the substance of the Virgin Mary by the operation of the holy Ghost Secondly they will haue it still here in earth which is ascended vp into heaven Yea they will haue it here to bee daily eaten with our bodily mouthes which is not onely an absurd and an inhumane impietie in the iudgement of S. Austine de doct christ l. 3. c. 10. but hath been an occasion to Insidels to condemne Christians for the wickedst monsters that were in all the whole world for that they were not ashamed to say that they daily devoured their Lord and God Thirdly they teach that the body of Christ which is a true naturall body is in their masse vncircumscribed without any dimensions and the same in heauen circumscribed and hauing dimensions Lastly they teach that Christs body here is not limited in space or place but that it is so in heaveÌ„ and therefore is in heauen a true body but not here in earth For as Austine saith take away from a body space or place and it shall be no where or in no place and if it bee no where it is not at all But all these absurdities they thinke they may cure with this salue for that all these things are and may bee still done by the miraculous hand and power of God But Austine refuseth this plaister as not fit for this sore For as hee teacheth Sacraments may haue honour as being religious but they doe not worke astonishment as being miraculous For they are such meanes as God hath appointed to confirme the faith of such as already beleeue and not to convert vnbeleeuers for the which end miracles are ordained 1. Cor. 14 22. And verily if these workes were miraculous they should be such as might be first apprehended by sense that from thence they might enter into the conscience But these which they call miraculous works are not apprehended by sense as sense it selfe doth testifie sufficiently Thirdly concerning prayer First is it not absurd that publike prayers vnto which a publike assent should be giuen by the people should be made in a tongue not vnderstood of the people For For as the Apostle saith VVhen thou blessest with the spirit viz. in a tongue vnknowne how shall he that occupieth the roome of the vnlearned say amen at thy giuing of thankes seeing hee knoweth not what thou saist 1. Cor. 14. 16. Secondly is it not absurd that private prayers should bee commanded to bee made in a tongue vnknowne to him that maketh them and therefore cannot vnderstand for what he himselfe prayeth For should any one present a
Moizare that is deliver many doctrines set downe by Moses for that hee had taken them out of him So these Sybille did Prophetizare because they had receaued these prophesies either out of their books or by tradition from the old Patriarks For as Sampson said vnto his guests that were at his wedding when they gaue him the right sense of his riddle which lie had proposed vnto them If yee had not plowed with my heifer yee could not haue found out my riddle Iud. 14. 18. So may wee as truely say that if the heathenish Prophets and Prophetesses had not consulted with our Prophets they could not haue delivered these Oracles The which is evident by this that when they were consulted by their greatest friends concerning events that were presently to come to passe they deliuered their Oracles in doubtfull sentences which might be expounded divers waies for that they were not able to deliver any certaintie thereof As Aio te Aeacides Romanos vincere posse And Craesus halim penetrans magnam pervertet opum vim Whereas our Prophets not only delivered the certaintie of the events of divers battles when they were ready to bee vndertaken as Iud. 4. 9. and 7. 9. 1. Sam. 30. 8. 1. Reg. 20 13. But also many other events many hundred yeares before they fell out As namely the deliverance of the Iewes out of the captivitie of Babylon and the particular king by whom it should bee accomplished even Cyrus king of the Medes Persians Isa 44. 45. The which prophesie as Iosephus reporteth Antiq. Iudaic. l. 11. c. 1. Cyrus reading and perceauing himselfe to be named therein some 200 yeares before he was borne and appointed to such a worke gaue liberty to the Iewes to returne to their-owne country and to build their temple and he gaue them backe the vessels thereof which had beene carried away by the king of Babylon For he vnderstood that the God of the Iewes was the true God because he had foretold such an event a long time before it was to come to passe As it may appeare by his owne words Ez. 1. 2. Thus saith Cyrus King of Persia the Lord God of heauen hath given me all the kingdomes of the earth and hath commanded mee to build him an house in Ierusalem which is in Iudah Who is among you of all his people with whom his God is Let him goe vp to Ierusalem which is in Iudah and build the house of the Lord God of Israell he is the God which is in Ierusalem Here then wee may perceaue by evident reason set downe in the Scriptures that the heathen haue and therefore still may be convinced to acknowledge him to be the true God who hath revealed himselfe in those bookes of the Prophets and Apostles and that those bookes are the authenticall word of the true all seeing and well working God And verily even the most profoundest mysteries of those bookes may bee iustified by evident reason to the heathen themselues to be the doctrines of truth proceeding from the true God as it may appeare by the bookes of these notable lights in the Church of Christ ' D. de Plessis de veritate Christianae religionis Zeged in locis com Keckerm in Syntagm Theolog. Neither must the doctrines of our Christian religion bee by reason evicted against the Gentiles but also against all Schismatiks Heretiks For albeit all these or at the least the most of them acknowledge the holy Scriptures to proceed from God yet seeing this word of God consisteth not in the letters but in the sence not in the reading but in the vnderstanding not in the leaues of the speech wherein it is delivered but in the root of the reason whereon it is grounded and seeing all Schismatikes and Heretikes be the words that are produced against them never so plaine and pregnant yet peruert and corrupt the right sense and meaning of them how can the right sense be iustified against all such persons but by cleere and evident reasons For if one testimonie bee produced to cleere another they will pervert the sense of the one as well as of the other And if the testimonies of the ancient Fathers yea of generall Councels bee alleaged against them either they will pervert the meaning of them aswell as they did the meaning of the Scriptures or else they will flatly refuse to subscribe to their autoritie The truth hereof was fully knowne vnto S. Austin who for his learned confuting of many heretikes was called the Hammer wherewith heretikes were knocked Malleus haereâ—â—corum in the head For hee writing against Maximinus the Arrian l. 3. 1. 14. saith I will not alleage the Councell of Nice to preiudice thee neither shalt thou produce the Councell of Ariminum to preiudice me I will not be bound to yeeld to the autority of the one nor thou to the authority of the other but by the autoritie of the Scriptures as by most indifferent witnesses not proper to either of vs but common to both Let matter with matter cause with cause reason with reason bee compared together let that prevaile which is the stronger and weigh most wherein there is the most weight And verily there is no other meanes to cleere the meaning of all testimonies humane and divine then by the light of cleere arguments and reasons Wherefore seeing that the power of the word of God consisteth in the right sense and meaning thereof which cannot be cleered without the light of reason without the sure apprehension thereof the people of God themselues cannot be edified therefore cleere arguments and reasons must bee produced for the cleering of all doctrines of faith and an holy life by all such teachers as seeke after the edification of the people of God The truth whereof is plainely confirmed by the vsuall practise of all preachers of the word of God Among whoÌ„ it is most ordinary after the doctrines deduced out of their texts to cleere the same with varietie of reasons and then to drawe out the vses there of which are nothing else but particular doctrines by evidence of reason collected and gathered out of the generall And verily the true Christian faith is not an ignorant credulitie but an vnderstanding assent grounded vpon a sure knowledge even such a faith as was in the Apostles themselues the which they were to preach through out the whole world Luk. 1. 77. For of this their faith our Sauiour himselfe testifieth in this very chapter saying I haue giuen them the words which thou gauest mee and they haue receaued them haue knowne surely that I came out from thee and haue beleeued that thou hast sent me v. 8. The truth where of is plainly confirmed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the words of S. Peter Ioh. 6. 69. Thou hast the wordes of eternall life we beleeue knowe that thou art the very Christ the sonne of the liuing God Neither is this vnderstanding faith proper