Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	according_a	call_v	word_n	1,705	5	3.8890	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59757	S. Pauls confession of faith, or, A brief account of his religion in a sermon preach'd at St. Warbroughs Church in Dublin, March 22, 1684/5 / by William Lord Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh.	Sheridan, William, 1636-1711.	1685 (1685)	Wing S3231; ESTC R32664	19,031	32

that Church with which they own they agree in Doctrine and is established by Law for they know not what reason but because they will I say if they did think on this and sadly reflect that whatever the Church of England either has already or may hereafter suffer through Popery is wholly due to themselves for having murdered the best of Kings and forc'd his Royal Issue to seek for safety under great necessities in Popish Countries and thereby exposed them to the dangers and temptations of the Romish Clergy who never fail to improve all opportunities for the advantage of the Church or rather Court of Rome I say if they did think on this they would now at least being so very obnoxious for their own preservation close with us in our Communion and not separate from that manner of Worship which we give to the God of our Fathers with the Apostle here in the Text which was the object and the second thing I was to speak of and leads me to the manner of his Worship which is the third particular in these words after that way which they call Heresie Whence we may first observe that it is no new thing for Religion and the Professors thereof to be traduced for Christ was scoft at as a Carpenters Son and Christianity is called Heresie and Christians Gallileans and this proceeds from the innate Malice and Ignorance that every Man has in him since the Fall which as the Spider extracts Poison out of the sweetest Flowers makes the worst interpretations of the best things and actions 2 Sam. 6.14 15 16. so that if David dance zealously before the Ark he shall not want a Michol to laugh at him and if Ezekiah destroy Idolatry some Rabshekah will not stick to say Is not this the God whose Altars Ezekiah broke down If Mary Magdalen pour a little Oil on the Head and Feet of our Saviour some Judas will be ready to say what needs this waste Constantine Joh. 21.4 for his bounty to the Church shall be called Pupillus one that needs a Guardian and Theodosius for his Piety Imbellis a Coward But as the Moon goes on silently in her course thô Dogs do bark at her so let us go on in our Religious Worship without regarding the Calumniations of our Adversaries 2. Observe That if we be morally certain that what we profess is true and according to Gods Word it matters not that the Papists call us Hereticks and the Separatists call us Papists Truth will justifie it self St. Paul you see is not offended that they call his Religion Heresie And this brings me to the fourth thing in the Text namely the Rule in these words believing all things that are written in the Law and the Prophets God who requires man to worship him has prescribed a Rule for his Direction and least this Rule might be forgotten or corrupted in tract of time by a bare oral Tradition of it from age to age he committed it to Writing for though the Word spoken be more efficacious yet the Word written is more durable therefore it was that Moses was commanded to write the moral Law in two Tables and that the Spirit in the Revelation says write and here St. Paul makes the Rule of his Faith all that is written in the Law and the Prophets It would not be proper now to dispute whether it be necessary to Salvation for a man to believe all that is written in the Old and New Testaments and therefore I shall only for resolving this Doubt and many other Objections that may follow thereupon offer these few particulars 1. That every distinct Sentence of the holy Scriptures does command and require our Belief as much as the whole or any part of them 2. That though a man may be saved without knowing all that is conteined in the Scriptures yet if he refuse to give credit to any part of them when it is revealed to him as such he cannot be saved 3. That every man is not only obliged under pain of Damnation to believe all that is Scripture when revealed to him but he is also bound to believe what is not revealed to him in preparation of mind 4. That we may and ought to infer from St. Pauls words in the Text that the Scriptures are a sufficient Rule of Faith and that there is enough conteined in them without any other additions both for our Direction and Practice Yet I deny not but that an undoubted Tradition if we were so well assured of the Truth of it by a general consent of all Ages as we are of the Truth of the Scriptures has the same Authority with Scripture for until the means of Salvation was fully perfected and the Scriptures committed to Writing Tradition was the Rule For St. Paul bids Timothy to take heed to all that he had received either by Word or Writing And though we do not with the Romanists allow Tradition to supplant the Scriptures by giving it equal Authority with them yet we allow much to an Apostolical Tradition because it may be necessary though not absolutely so to the clearing and better understanding of some intricate and mysterious passages in Scripture And this leads me to the fifth particular in my Text to wit the principal ground of his Confession in these words and have hope towards God which they themselves also allow that there shall be a Resurrection of the dead both of the just and unjust From which we may first observe That Prudence and Wisdom are consistent with true Religion for you see St. Paul says which they themselves also allow that is the Pharisees who did believe a Resurrection that by this means he might gain their favourable Opinion and so divide them and the Sadduces who did deny a Resurrection For God never gave a man Religion with design to deprive him of the use of his Reason and to make him a meer Natural He that charges his Disciples to be as innocent as Doves bids them be as wise as Serpents Mat. 16.10.17 and bids them to beware of men that will bring them into their Councils which shews that we must not with the Donatists of old and the Quakers now court the Lash and the Prison and seek for occasions of Trouble He only is the resolute Champion for Christ that will neither for fear of suffering weakly betray his Cause nor out of an ignorant Zeal run into needless dangers 2. We may observe from hence that the Hope of the Resurrection of the dead is a most powerful Argument to persuade men to believe and embrace and practise the Christian Religion For when a man seriously considers that he is not only to give an account here of what he has done and that this life does not set a period to his sufferings or rejoycings but that he shall rise again and undergo a new and impartial tryal and be for ever determined to live in eternal bliss or misery This consideration I say

S. PAULS CONFESSION OF FAITH OR A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF HIS RELIGION IN A SERMON Preach'd at St. Warbroughs Church in Dublin March 22. 1684 5. By William Lord Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh The Second Impression Dublin Printed by Joseph Ray at Colledge Green for William Norman Bookseller in Dames street 1685. PREFACE TO THE READER SInce the Preaching of the ensuing Sermon I find that both it and the Author have undergone various Censures some object Vnseasonableness against it and others Disloyalty and for this reason being not willing to lie under that Imputation and being conscious to my self that I never entertain'd so much as a disloyal thought I am resolved the Sermon shall shift for it self But I am a little more concern'd to satisfy the World as to its seasonableness because even some of my Friends seem unsatisfied What needed you say they meddle with such a Subject why at this time Could you not let things run quietly and be content to preach if you must be preaching the Principles and Motives of and to a good Life without medling with Controversies and Disputes I must confess if those Principles against which I preach'd had no influence on mens Lives or were not pernicious to their Souls I should be of their Opinion but being convinced of both this alone is sufficient for justifying what I have done But I am resolved to be ingenious with the World and discover the true Motives that put me on this Subject I found that one of the Clergy of Dublin though a very loyal person for his imprudent medling with the State had been justly suspended by his Diocesan and that the People who seldom know or consider the true causes of things thought this Punishment was imposed on him for arguing for our Religion the tender sense they have for that put them into mighty Fears and Despondencies and made them reflect upon the Clergy as if they must either decline the Defence of the Truth which they value above their Lives or be silenc'd I easily saw what ill effects such Surmises might produce and although several private Clergymen said enough to satisfie the people of the falseness of the Conclusion they drew from that accident yet seeing them still dissatisfied I consider'd to remove their Jealousies was a work proper for one of an higher Degree in the Church and being invited to preach at St. Warbroughs where there is generally a very full Auditory I was glad of the opportunity of discharging my Duty and satisfying the People and convincing many Roman Catholicks who were then present to spy out our Liberty that we had and would take the same liberty as ever to defend our own Religion and to shew the Falshood of theirs and I have some reason to believe that what I then delivered had a good effect on their minds both as to the Government and the Clergy But I must further tell these Gentlemen That whatever policy may seem to be in being silent at this time it is too mean and has too much of the World in it ever to be expected from a Clergyman especially it cannot from a Bishop whose very Consecration obliges him to preach and drive away all Erronious and False Doctrine contrary to Gods Word and both privately and openly to call upon and incourage others to the same such we believe the Doctrines of the present Church of Rome to be and while we do so it is not to be expected that any worldly consideration should prevail with us to be silent our Vows oblige us to the contrary and the Charity which we owe to the Souls of Men is a farther tie upon us to warn them of the danger they bring on themselves by listning to such Doctrines or persevering in them though they have embrac'd them We are perswaded our silence in this case would prejudice our own People against Vs and the Truth and flatter our Adversaries with hopes of our going over to them and so confirm them in their pernicious Errors Let who so will hold such Errors Truth is Truth and must be defended And if the Romanists will but do as they would be done by they cannot take this ill at our hands especially while we have not only the Law on our sides but also the Word of that King who is famous for having never broken it to defend our Religion and if they be angry for this we cannot help it Truth is dearer to us then their favour We look on the Supremacy of the Pope and his unjust Vsurpation over Kings and his fellow Bishops as the fundamental Article of Popery and it is required by the second Canon of the Curch of Ireland of every Preacher to the utmost of his Wit Knowledge and Learning to preach against it four times a year And the twelfth Canon further requires That the Ministers in all their Preachings c. shall teach the People to place their whole trust and considence in God and not in Creatures neither in the Habit or Scapular of any Frier or in Hallowed Beads Medals Relicks or such like Trumperies And while these Canons stand in force we will we must do our duty according to them and the Government would have just reason to take notice of us if we should omit it And till I seer better reasons then I have yet heard I must think my Sermon a very seasonable intimation of our resolution of being true steady to our Laws Oaths and Duties and that it will be impossible to withdraw us from those Principles of Religion which we profess and upon strict and diligent examination know not only to be true but necessary also even in such a degree as to concern the Salvation of Mankind And let the Romanists take it as they please they must expect a great many such and blame themselves that this does now appear in print Because the false representation they made of what was then said hath made this publication of it necessary and these two following Letters written to me on that occasion hath convinced me of that necessity My very good Lord YOur Lordships late Sermon preach'd at St. Warbroughs Church in Dublin has given me an occasion of representing the several Censures upon it to your Lordship and withal of freely communicating my thoughts to you concerning it The Gentlemen who would pass for the only Catholicks in the world censure it as disloyal and tending to Sedition the Phanaticks are offended because you boldly tell them the truth and lay the blame of our present misfortunes where 't is justly chargeable at their doors and there is a third sort of men whom I may call the Politicians of the age that do not condemn but only censure some things in it as unseasonable and not fit to be spoken in these times It was my misfortune not to be present at the Delivery of it but however upon the experience of above thirty years acquaintance with your Lordship I can vouch as much for your