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	word_n	5,359	5	4.6154	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62842	An apology for Mr. Toland in a letter from himself to a member of the House of Commons in Ireland, written the day before his book was resolv'd to be burnt by the Committee of Religion : to which is prefix'd a narrative containing the occasion of the said letter.	Toland, John, 1670-1722.	1697 (1697)	Wing T1761; ESTC R10393	18,667	54

the cognizance of such things into their own Hands And tho his Book should as it 's very probable happen to fall under their Censure yet his love to Mankind cannot but make him extremely pleas'd with the Consequences he foresees must necessarily follow from such an authentick Precedent in this Country where it was most peculiarly wanting Nor does he think it more reasonable for him to be angry at his private ill luck than it would be for some to be out of love with Parliaments themselves which is the best Constitution in the Universe because they are mistaken sometimes and that an Act is repeal'd in one Session which was establish'd in another not considering that such an Inconvenience is infinitely overballanc'd by several excellent Laws and by the Remedy that may likewise be had to this pretended Disorder from that very Court upon better Information or Temper Secondly Mr. TOLAND does not complain that he alone in the Kingdom is disturb'd for his Opinion but is heartily glad that no more are troubl'd upon that account For as he takes Persecution to be one of the chief Marks and Pillars of the Antichristian Church so he looks upon an impartial Liberty of writing and speaking whatever is not destructive of Civil Society to be the greatest advantage of any Country whether the Learning or the Commerce or the very Peace and Tranquillity thereof be consider'd Yet it cannot but look mighty odly to indifferent Persons that all the Dissenters from the Establish'd Church that the Papists who pervert Christianity it self that several declar'd Socinian ay and Iacobite Pamphlets should escape the burning Zeal of those who so furiously prosecute one young Man only for the suspected Consequences of his Book as if the very Being or Destruction of all Religion depended upon the fate of him or his Writings Thirdly As for the Errors commonly laid to Mr. TOLAND'S charge they are so various and inconsistent with one another that no Man of ordinary sense could possibly hold them all at a time and being credited by his Enemies without book he may with more Justice deny than they can affirm them He 's not therefore oblig'd to take notice of any thing but what is alledg'd in formal words or plainly inferr'd from his Book Indeed some Consequences an Author might not perceive which should render him the more excusable but Mr. TOLAND confesses he foresaw several Consequences of his Book even to part of the Opposition with which it has met tho not that after the Pulpits Presses and Juries the Commons of Ireland should likewise honour it with their Animadversion Now what is said to have been objected in the Committee is First That the very Title CHRISTIANITY NOT MYSTERIOVS is Heretical Whether the Committee decrees a new or declares an old Heresy Mr. TOLAND neither knows nor is much concern'd to understand being conscious to himself of neither If the Title be made good in the Book 't is orthodox or sound enough and if not yet he 's still to seek for the Heresy of it If it be an old Opinion others would gladly be inform'd in which Century it was first taught who the Author of it might be or by what Council it was condemn'd and if it be a new Notion they desire likewise to know whether the House of Commons alone can decree it Heresy being yet perfect strangers to any such Power claim'd by that Honourable Body But 't is affirm'd that by his Title he rejects the Mysteries of the Gospel If by Mysteries be meant the Doctrines themselves he denies none of them but that after Revelation they are not mysterious or obscure he still maintains for the Honour of Christianity A great many without doors very wisely conclude that he believes not the Doctrines because he thinks they are plain and therefore the more credible for that 's all he means by not mysterious But some People otherwise credulous enough believe no body capable of rendring that clear and easy which to themselves seems difficult or insuperable It was likewise objected that he makes a doubt whether the Scriptures be of Divine Authority That bare Expression If the Gospel be really the Word of God imports no such matter but very frequently the contrary as for example If the Gospel be true this frame of the World shall be dissolv'd which is not to question but more emphatically to assert the truth of the Proposition But this I confess is nothing to the case before us The words in the Conclusion of the Book are these Nothing contradictory or inconceivable however made an Article of Faith can be contain'd in the Gospel if it be really the Word of God for I have hitherto argu'd only upon this Supposition for the Reason to be seen towards the end of the Preface The sense of the words then must be determin'd by that Reason and the Passage referr'd to in the Preface is this viz. In the following Discourse which is the first of three c. the Divinity of the New Testament is taken for granted In the next Discourse c. I attempt a particular and rational Explanation of the reputed Mysteries of the Gospel And in the third I demonstrate the Verity of Divine Revelation against Atheists and all Enemies of Reveal'd Religion Now is it not something strange that a Man should question what he takes for granted and which the Method he follow'd would not permit him to prove before his time that is not form the Conclusion before the Premisses In one place he positively affirms the Scriptures to contain the brightest Characters of Divinity but that the force of Calumny may evidently appear let this other Passage of the same Book be consider'd What we discours'd of Reason before says he and Revelation now being duly weigh'd all the Doctrines and Precepts of the New Testament if it be indeed Divine must consequently agree with Natural Reason and our own ordinary Ideas THIS every considerate and well-dispos'd Person will find by the careful perusal of it and whoever undertakes this Task will confess the Gospel not to be HIDDEN from us nor afar off but very nigh us in our Mouths and in our HEARTS But this whole Chapter must have been transcrib'd were all that 's to our purpose in it to be nicely quoted for every word of it from N o 22. to the end is a Justification of the Method and Stile of the New Testament Yet lest any suspicion of Fallacy might remain where the Particle IF occurs I demand what Declaration can be conceiv'd in stronger terms than the following Passage for you shall be troubl'd with no more tho I might easily cite forty others relating to this Head The words are Whether or no Christianity is mysterious ought to be naturally decided by the New Testament wherein the Christian Faith is originally contain'd I heartily desire to put the Case upon this Issue I appeal to this Tribunal for did I not infinitely

give him any trouble of that kind so that his Reasons are like to continue as good as ever they were But Mr. BROWN'S Book comes now under Consideration as it was one of the Machines invented to render Mr. TOLAND dangerous or odious And this he does not only by endeavouring all along to prove him a most inveterate Enemy to all Reveal'd Religion but he expresly solicits the Civil Magistrate to take a course with him which looks not very generous in an Answerer how much concern soever he may pretend for his Faith In one place he says I have no more to do here but to deliver him up into the hands of our Governors We may confute his Errors but 't is they only can suppress his Insolence we only can endeavour to heal those already infected 't is they alone can hinder the Infection from spreading further And afterwards he adds Here again I would deliver him into the hands of the Magistrate not mov'd by any heat of Passion but by such a Zeal as becomes every Christian to have for his Religion I am fully satisfy'd this murdering Zeal is not inspir'd by Genuine Christianity and as for his want of Passion the Inquisitors themselves shew as much seeming Reluctance against killing or maiming of those whom they procure to be condemn'd for Hereticks At the very instant they deliver 'em over to the Secular Power they address themselves to the Magistrate in these terms We most earnestly beseech you my Lord Iudg that for the love of God and from a sense of Piety and Mercy as well as out of regard to our Entreaties you would neither inflict the loss of Life or Limb upon this miserable Creature Tho at the same time if the Judg should take the holy Fathers at their word they would infallibly excommunicate him for his ready Obedience whereof they are so fond in all cases but those of Iustice and Clemency which is the Motto of their Standard Here we may observe how strangely Words of a good signification may be detorted to countenance very ill Actions Thus to abuse a Man is in the Language of some term'd Zeal and so it is to murder him in that of others nor were the barbarous Irish wanting to sanctify their Massacre by that Name But lest the broaching of simple Heresies should not serve the turn Mr. TOLAND must by all means be made the Head of a Sect and of no ordinary one for if you credit Mr. BROWN he designs to be as famous an Impostor as MAHOMET To confirm this Character which was well enough invented to amuse the People with vain Terrors there was a ridiculous Story handed about whether true or false God knows for Mr. TOLAND remembers nothing of the matter 'T is said in short that about the fourteenth Year of his Age he gravely declar'd he would be the Head of a Sect e'er he was Thirty and before he was forty he should make as great a stir in the Commonwealth as CROMWEL ever did Risum teneatis Here 's an old Prophecy found in a Bog with a witness and which Mr. HANCOCK and Mr. BROWN have labour'd to fulfil in part that superstitious Folks might trepidly apprehend the event of the rest Mr. BROWN says The real design of this Man is plainly no other than what he formerly declar'd and what he openly affects to be the Head of a Sect and doubts not but he has a great deal more to say whenever this new Sect of his becomes so numerous that they shall outbrave the Laws and labour for a publick Reformation of the Mysterious Doctrines of the Gospel Would any body believe this did they not see it plainly own'd in Print Nay he tells us that he has trac'd this Heresiarch from the time he first gave out he would be Head of a Sect before he was thirty Years of Age till he became an Author and from thence to his coming into Ireland to spread his Heresies and put his Design in execution I assure him he wants two Years still of Thirty and if his Disciples as they 're call'd take not other measures than he did to erect that same Sect in Ireland St. PATRICK may securely possess his Apostleship in that Kingdom till Doomsday which is an Honour Mr. TOLAND does not envy him I ought not by any means to forget here the Sagacity of a certain Gentleman who wonder'd at his Impudence for presuming to set up a new Religion in their Country where he had not a foot of Land which inclines me to believe he has met with better Records of the Apostles Possessions than Mr. TOLAND could in all his reading Well then if all this wo'nt do what shall we make of him next He must e'en be represented as dangerous to the Government and truly so he 's like to be if Irish Presages hold good for their Prophecies were never worth a farthing How far Men in power says Mr. BROWN according to their several Stations are oblig'd to intermeddle in point of Conscience I shall not now enquire But sure I am in point of Policy it is become no less than necessary for the Writers of this strain have given broad hints that they are as little friends to our Government as our Religion This Man can say that MAGISTRATES are made for the PEOPLE and every one knows what Doctrines of REBELLION Men are wont to insinuate by this SAYING O! is it thereabouts then Why truly the Doctrine of Passive Obedience was exploded by this same Saying which Mr. TOLAND acknowledges to be one fair Quotation JAMES the Second was justly abdicated according to this Saying because he was an Enemy to the People for whom he was made a King and our most Glorious Hero WILLIAM the Third the Restorer of Universal Peace and Liberty was invested with the Supreme Power by the honest People of Great Britain for whose good he has indefatigably employ'd it ever since in vindicating settling and enlarging their Civil and Religious Rights Mr. BROWN has been pleas'd to say that Mr. TOLAND was proud of running down three Kingdoms with one cross Question which is How can a Man believe what he does not know and he that does so knows not what he believes Now I would gladly be resolv'd by him for whom the Magistrates are made unless for the People Were they made for themselves or whether the People were made for the Magistrates But he adds that this sort of Men deserve to be look'd to that their numbers grow formidable and makes little doubt but their design is at length to shew us That all Dominion as well as Religion is founded in Reason Let him assure himself they will never begin to shew that for they have clearly prov'd it long ago What Dominion is not founded in Reason must be doubtless unreasonable and consequently Tyrannical There was nothing more reasonable than for Men first to unite themselves into Societies for