Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sense_n	faith_n	reason_n	see_v	6,880	5	4.6981	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44765	A discourse on persecution, or, Suffering for Christ's sake clearing the notion of it, and making a discrimination of just from vnjust pretensions to it : and passionately recommending true Christian suffering to all those who shall be call'd thereto : occasionally representing the folly and sinfulness of illegal, arbitrary courses for the prevention of it, and the security of our church / by John Howell ...	Howell, John, b. 1658?	1672 (1672)	Wing H3130; ESTC R9661	29,187	50

ambition of ordinary men There are few that have it in that full measure as to endure the Terrible tests of Torments By this it is that the Upright Christian Shows how Great he truly is Whoso impatiently bears Affliction makes it appear that they that inflict them are greater than himself but he who braves it shews that 't is out of the power of any thing but guilt to make him Tremble 'T is Great and it is Glorious to shew a Bravery in the Field a Fearless daring of the Enemy and Defiance of danger And yet this may be ow'd to the hopes either of revenge or victory and to the promising probability of an escape But to behold a necessary and an unavoidable Grave to mount the Scaffold with an undaunted Look and an undissembled Courage this is most eminently Brave and Noble I had almost said peculiar to a Suffering Christian to a Christian Suffering for Christ's sake 3. All Suffering for Christ's sake is attended with Faith The excellency of that Faith for which and by which we Suffer is evident in that it transcends our reason and the Examinations of Sense To Believe a thing we see with our Eyes or fathom with our reason is not Faith but knowledge or persuasion but to Believe that which neither Eye hath seen nor Ear heard neither hath it entred into the Heart of Man to conceive to Credit that which we could not Believe but that we Believe withal that there is an everlasting Being who can do all things This is Faith an Heroick an Exalted Faith I must confess I cannot approve of that resolution of Tertullian Credo quia est impossibile I do therefore believe because it is impossible No nor of His who said there were not Impossiblities enough in Religion for an Active Faith if he means as he should not seeming but real ImImpossibilities My reason is This the very being of an Impossibility implies a contradiction It supposes a thing to be and not to be to be possible and not to be possible at the same time which I am sure is impossible to conceive Well but my Faith will soar thus high I Believe a thing let it seem never so Strange and only not Impossible to me because God has said it who cannot lie And as for Miracles and the Mysteries of our Religion I esteem that Faith the noblest which least concerns itself in prying into them And like not that slow-pac'd Faith of Nicodemus signified by a How can these be Our Christian Sufferer questions not the truth of any thing his Saviour has told him tho it seem to run almost counter to his reason That his scattered ashes shall all be reunited and his Soul recalled to its former habitation tho it be Marvelous yet he believes it tho he knows not how and it looks like Impossible yet he is assur'd of it as much as if 't were already come to pass He is fully persuaded of a Heaven in the midst of the Flames and tho it does not yet appear what he shall be he is Confident he shall be in a state of Bliss and convert his Groans into Halelujas And This I call a Generous a very Excellent Faith 4. All Suffering of Men for Christ's sake is attended with Love a Love of their Saviour for whom and a Love even of their Persecutors by whom they Suffer 1. A Love of their Saviour for whom they Suffer They thorowly contemplate his Love to Them which was so Great as to Die for them and cannot having an opportunity and knowing his desire I say they cannot but Love Him again with the same Effects with Dying for Him Thus as one flame enkindles another does the Love of Christ beget a Love in them a Love only inferior to His. Thus are they drawn with the cords of a Man not such Cords as bind and must be born but such as like the Nerves and Ligaments are endued with a quality not only of Binding but of Supporting too Hence is their Love both firm and noble a Love that sooths and ravishes the Heart amidst the acutest pains for it reconciles Tortures to the most tender Constitution and is such a Perfect Love as according to the Apostles Description casteth out fear 2. Their Suffering is attended with a Love even of their Persecutors by whom they Suffer If you Love them that Love you what reward have you do not even the Publicans the same And if you salute your Brethren only what do you more than others do not even the Publicans so There is nothing of Generosity or Gallantry in this above other Men above the most Barbarous of the Heathen for they kiss and embrace those that are Nearest and Dearest to them But to Love your Enemies to Bless them that Curse you to do Good to them that Hate you and to Pray for them that Despitefully use you and Persecute you This is Generous This is Heroick it is worthy of a Christian and like one and truly shews you to be Disciples and Followers of Christ And now our Sufferers for Christ do certainly bear such a Love to their Persecutors for they would otherwise disobey Christ who requires it of them But that a Man should Love Him with All his Heart as Suffering for Him does imply and not keep His Commandments All His Commandments is what I have observ'd before to be against his Doctrine and against Reason If This will not do we have the Exemplary Love of our first Martyrs for an Argument a Demonstration of the Matter in hand How Chearfully how Kindly did They take their Sentence of Death some of them Thanking their Judges as if 't were a Favour as if they had design'd to Oblige them by it all of them expressing an undissembled Love in an unfeigned Prayer for them fearful they were and unwilling that Misery and Torments should be their Portion by whom themselves were to be sent to Heaven to be sent to Heaven in a nearer and more compendious way by whom because Persecuted as they did deserve so they might expect a greater degree of Bliss 5. I come now at length in the last place to offer some Motives to a resolute and chearful Suffering at what time soever it shall please God to Call us thereto Of which there are several but I shall sit down with two or three 1. Then I would have it consider'd That all those who are called to It do meet with extraordinary Encouragements and Assistances of the Holy Spirit We are sure of This That God will require no more of us than we shall be enabled to bear or perform and where we do want Strength of our own we may very safely depend upon His. And now to suffer is so repugnant to Nature and so uneasie to the Flesh that tho it be an extraordinary Priviledge yet a Man had need of very great Encouragement to resolve upon it and greater still to go thorow with it It must be the Work of that Holy

communicating with it as far as their Consciences give them leave If they did this as they cannot deny but they ought to do we might then hope for a general a thorow Union and Conformity we might then expect their Complaints would cease with their Sufferings the Occasion of them for certainly they that will go as far as they may in compliance with the Orders and Offices of our Church can never sit down under a thorow Conformity there being nothing requir'd or expected in our Communion but what is very decent inoffensive and orderly nothing but what may be to the edifying and satisfaction of any Man that has but his Thoughts and Reason about him I proceed 3. To shew That all those Christians who suffer rather than they will conform to the Church of Rome do truly and really suffer for Christ Provided always that they do not allow themselves in any known Sins but that they equally heartily forsake them all For the clearing of this Point likewise I need not say much An easie Reflexion on the Principles foregoing together with some few Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome will abundantly suffice Be it therefore consider'd That where the Laws of any Church or Society of Men do clash and interfere with the Laws of God the Apostolical Rule ought to be ours we are to obey God rather than Man The Reason is plain The Commands of God are directly constantly and universally binding whereas the Laws and Injunctions of Men do no farther oblige than as they agree and square with These If they do and as far as they do run counter to the Laws of God the Matter of them is sinful and they are for that Reason null and void Neither is it in the power of any Humane Law or Dispensation to make them obligatory or lawful And now this is the Case of those Christians who suffer rather than they will conform to the Church of Rome That Church requires several things to be believ'd that ought not to be believ'd as being false and erroneous repugnant to the Doctrines of Christianity and the Light of Reason It requires several things to be perform'd that cannot be perform'd without Sin without a Transgression of a Divine Law insomuch that if She should be obey'd God would be disobey'd an Universal Obedience to both being absolutely impossible Let all things be done to edifying says the Holy Spirit by the Apostle particularly forbidding all Prayers and other Publick Offices in an unknown Tongue Ay but says the Church of Rome you must pray in Latin whether it be edifying or no whether it be a Known or Unknown Tongue Our Saviour said Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him Only shalt thou serve As for the worshipping of Angels in particular an Angel forbad it See thou do it not was the Charge of one of them to St. John in the Revelation And as for Saints deceas'd they do not if we will believe the Scripture and it is a part of their Happiness that they do not understand the Affairs of the World Thus Solomon tells us The Dead know nothing at all and Abraham is said to be Ignorant of us And now those that are Ignorant of us and know Nothing relating to us must be very improper Objects of our Prayers But so it is he that will he a Papist must worship Angels he must pray to Gods that neither understand nor hear him to the Souls of Departed Saints and of notorious Miscreants yea and to such Imaginary Men as in all probability had never any Being upon Earth to the verifying of that of the Apostle in the most Literal sense An Idol is Nothing in the world Again The Scripture tells us and it is a considerable part of our Christian Faith That Jesus Christ ascended into Heaven and sitteth at the Right-hand of God the Father Almighty and that having continued there till the end of the World from thence he shall come to judge the Quick and the Dead And our Reason tells us that a Body cannot be in two several Places at the same time insomuch that the Angel's Inference was strong and irrefragable He is not here for he is risen And yet in contradiction to the Holy Scripture in contradiction to all Sense and Reason the Church of Rome doth believe and doth exact this Belief of all her Members that he is Bodily present upon Earth where and whenever the Priest shall please to command him down that is to say as often as he shall think fit to offer the Sacrifice of the Mass for Christ himself is that Sacrifice if you 'll believe them and you must eat Him Flesh and Bones and all and believe that you do so at least declare that you believe it if you would pass for a true Roman if you would do as they do And now should you declare your firm Assent to This That you eat the real Body of the Son of God and at the same time believe nothing less why you 'd sin beyond all the Pardons and Indulgences of Rome and nothing but a sincere Repentance could set you right Indeed you would make a Declaration against your own Judgment and be evidently self condemn'd And now this is the Case of those suffering Christians we speak of They know and are assur'd that Prayer in an Unknown Tongue is unedifying and unlawful forbidden by the Apostle and unpractis'd by the Primitive Church They are fully satisfied of the sinfulness of Saint-worship and Angel-worship with the rest of the Idolatrous Practices of the Romish Church They do stedfastly believe that their Saviour is in Heaven there to abide till the Day of Judgment and therefore not on Earth They cannot reconcile the several Contradictions of the Bodily Presence in the Sacrament and being they cannot reconcile them and indeed it is impossible they should they will not nor can they believe them and being they cannot believe them they will not upon any Terms profess that they do These are the Reasons with many others which I forbear to reckon up because I need not I say These are some of the Reasons which prevail with them to stand out against all the Temptations and Terrours of Rome They cannot comply with That Church because their Compliance would be sinful and they therefore suffer because they cannot comply They embrace Suffering not out of choice not for the love of its self but out of a Principle of Obedience out of pure Obedience to plain particular Commands of God So their Cause is Good they would certainly sin if they did not suffer And That is their Call 4. I am now to consider the Excellency and Usefulness of True and real Suffering for Christ And this will appear 1. In that Persecutions and Sufferings for Christ's sake are so far from weakning and depressing Religion that they advance and improve it It must be confess'd that Persecutions may and sometimes do prevail so far as to debar those that