Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	age_n	church_n	time_n	2,142	5	3.6322	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19355	One God, one fayth. Or A discourse against those lukewarm-Christians who extend saluation to all kinds of fayth and religion; so, that the professours do belieue in the Trinity, the Incarnation, the passion &c. howsoeuer they differ in other inferiour articles. VVritten by VV. B. Priest.	Anderton, Lawrence.	1625 (1625)	STC 578; ESTC S118955	85,092	194

against Gods Church shal be damned But here I will stay my selfe wading no further in the disquisition and search of the great dissentions betweene Catholikes and Protestants touching faith and beliefe only I will reflect a litle vpon the premises And heere it is made most euident first that the Catholikes and Protestants do mainly differ in the sense and construction of the Articles of the Creede and consequently seing the sense and not the words do make the Creed that they both do not belieue one and the same Creede but haue to themselues seuerall Creedes from which point is sufficiently discouered the want of Vnity in faith among them both which Vnitie is so necessarily required to mans saluation as in the precedent chapter is demonstrated Secondly that though by supposition they did belieue the Creede and the true sense therof with an vnanimous consent yet it is proued there are diuers other articles not contayned in the Creed which are indifferently belieued as necessary to saluation both by Catholike and Protestant Thirdly seing also there are sundry Controuersies in Religion as is aboue exemplified which immediatly concerne saluation being houlden as necessary meanes therof by Catholikes but disclaymed from and abādoned by the Protestants as mayne errours and false doctrines Therfore from all the former premises I do auerre that it is a manifest errour to make the Creed the sole rule of Fayth and that he who maintaynes that both the Catholikes and Protestants notwithstanding their great disparitie of beliefe and fayth the one side necessarily belieuing maintayning Heresie can be saued or enioy one heauen is wholy depriued of all true iudgement reason and discourse and for want thereof may deseruedly be ranged among them of whome the psalmist speaketh (h) Psal 11. nolite fieri sicut equus mulus quibus non est intellectus THE SAME PROVED FROM the authority and priuiledge of the Church in not erring in her definitions and condemnation of Heresies and first of Councels CHAP. VI. FROM the inuiolable vnitie of faith we will next descend to the priuiledges of Gods true Church Of which priuiledges I will at this time take only one into my consideration that is that the Church of God is endued with a supreme priuiledge and prerogatiue of not erring in her definitions of fayth or condemnatiō of heresie This point is warranted by innumerable texts of holy Scripture as where it is sayd (i) Esay 72. Vpon thy wall ô Hierusalem I haue set watchmen all the day and all the night they shall not be silent But God did not set watchmen ouer his Church to teach errour And agayne The (a) 2. Tim. 3. Church of God is the pillar and foundation of the truth what more perspicuous And further whereas ech man ●s commaunded to repayre in difficulties matters of small consequēces to the Church it is threatned by Christ himselfe that who wil not heare the Church shal be accompted ●s an Heathen or Publican according to ●hat his commination Si Ecclesiam non au●ierit (b) Mat. 18. sit tibi sicut Ethnicus Publicanus where we find no restriction but that in all things we are to heare the Church Agayne Christ himselfe speaketh to his Apostles and in them to the whole Church He (c) Luc. 10. that heareth you heareth me But if the church could erre neither would Christ refer vs to the church especially vnder so great a penalty neither by hearing the church could we be iustly sayd to heare Christ Finally the Church is so gouerned by Christ as its head or spouse and by the holy Ghost as its soule as therefore we find the Apostle thus to write (d) Ephes 1. thereof God hath made him head speaking of Christ ouer all the Church which is his body And agayne (e) Ephes 4. One body and one spirit yet more The (f) Ephes 5. man is the head of the woman as Christ is head of the Church From which texts it followeth that if the church should erre in its definitiōs or resolutions of fayth and condemnation of Heresy this erring might well be ascribed to Christ and to the holy Ghost and consequently it followeth that the Apostles in making the creed would haue omitted that Article I belieue in the Catholike Church For why should we be bound to belieue the church if the church could erre This truth I meane that the church of Christ cannot erre in her sententionall decrees is so illustrious and euident that Tertullian speaking of certaine Heretikes of his tyme obiecting the erring of the whole church thus figuratiuely or Ironically writeth Age Omnes (g) in l. de praescript c. 28. Ecclesiae errauerunt nullam respexit spiritus Sanctus vti eam in veritatem deduceret ad hoc missus à Christo ad hoc postulatus de Patre vt esset doctor veritatis c. That is Go to Belike all the Churches haue erred and the holy Ghost hath regarded no Church that be might lead it into truth being sent for this purpose by Christ and to the same end begged by Christ of the Father ●hat it might be the teacher of truth And S. Augustine Disputare (h) Epist 118. contra id quod Ecclesia vniuersae sentit insolentissimae insaniae est To dispute agaynst any point maintayned by the whole Church is extreme madnes To whose iudgment herein most of the more sober and learned Protestants do indisputably subscribe since diuers of them doe with all feruour earnestnes maintayne that (i) D. Bancrost in his Sermon printed anno 1588. Fox Act. mon. fol. 464. b. art 4. The deuines of Geneua in their propositions and principles disputed c. p. 141. and diuers others the church of Christ cannot erre and that what she defineth for truth is most true or what for Heresy or ●alshood is hereticall and to be condemned This Basis or foundatiō of the church not ●rring being thus firmely layde we are heereupon to conclude that what points of Religion the catholike church of Christ hath condemned for Heresies the same are by vs to be reputed for Heresies since the churches condemnation or approbation is most infallible and the maintayners of the sayd Heresies for Heretikes and consequently that such Heretikes as departing out of the Church of God by their houlding of the sayde Hereticall opinions cannot be saued Now because the iudgment of the Church in matters of fayth is discouered two wayes first by the sentence of generall Councells secondly by the frequent attestations of the sayd chiefe Doctours of the Church in euery age in their particuler wrytings they not being contradicted therin by any other Orthodoxall Fathers or Doctours of the same age I will therefore distributiuely handle both these wayes shewing that both in generall by Councels and also by the particuler iudgement of the learned Fathers many opinions though not touching the Trinity the Incarnation the Passion or the expresse Articles of

defence of the Apology Kēnitius in exam Concil Trident. part 1. p. 74. diuers others Protestants themselues exempt her from errour most truly insufferably erred in condemning certayne opinions which are not fundamentall for Heresyes and their maintayners for Heretikes and consequently the Scripture and Christ himselfe haue deceaued vs by ascribing to the church an (m) Mat. 18. Luc. 10. 1. Tim. 3. c. infallibility of erring in her definitions of fayth and condemnation of Heresies and by commaunding vs to obey the churches authority and sentence in all things as styling her the pillar and foundation of truth And further it should follow that the Church should thus intollerably erre both in generall councells the highest Tribunalls heere vpon earth as also in the priuate Authorities and sentences of all the learned Fathers in those firster tymes And thus for example the councell of the (n) Act. 15. Apostles should haue erred in decreeing it vnlawfull to eate in those tymes bloud strangled meates In like sort the first councell of (o) Euseb l. 3. de vita Constant Epiphan haeres 70. Nice should haue erred in condemning the Quartadecimani for Heretiks because they would not keep Easter day according to the custome of the Church And to pretermit all the other Councells aboue alleadged the Councell (p) Euseb l. 6. Hist. cap. 33. of Rome vnder Cornelius for condemning the Heresy of the Nouatians who reiected the Sacrament of Pennance as also for condemning of Anabaptisme And thus farre of Councels condemning points of seeming Indifferency for open wicked Heresies But now heere graunting that the sayd points as they were houlden by the maintayning of them were not Heresyes that the belieuers of them be saued then two mayne absurdities doe immediatly follow the first as is sayd is the erring of the whole Church of God in cōdemning them for Heresies they being not Heresies but true doctrines The second the inconsiderate cariage of the Church in these matters For to what end or purpose were all these Councells consisting of many hundreds of the most graue and Reuerend men of all Christendome celebrated with such labour trauayle out of all countreys infinite charges if the doctrines for the impugning resistng and condemning whereof they were gathered might be indifferently maintayned defended on all sides without breach of true fayth or daunger of Saluation The erring of the church is no lesse manifested in the sentences and condemnations giuen by many of the most auncient famous le●rned Fathers in the Primitiue Church not any one Orthodoxall Father contradicting them therein agaynst diuers maintayning opinions that seemed in regard of the Trinity Incarnation c. of small importance ●f so those opinions be not Heresies nor the belieuers of them Heretikes but men in state of Saluatiō And thus according heerto Flo●inus though he taught God to be the Au●hour of sinne might be saued In like sort the Heretikes who in S. Ie●ome his dayes denyed the possibility of the Commaundements The Manichees who ●enyed freewill The Eunomians who ●aught that only fayth doth iustify The Ae●ians who denyed prayer sacrifice for the ●ead and tooke away all fasting dayes Vigilantius who taught that Priests might marry and that we ought not to pray to Saints Iouinian who held marriage better then virginity The Donatists who taught the Inuisibility of the Church And finally to omit many others for breuity sake the Pelagians who denyed the necessity of Baptisme in Children All these men I say might be saued notwithstanding their former doctrines if so it be that euery man might expect Saluation in their Religion And yet we find that the foresaid men were branded for wicked Heretikes their doctrines for damnable Heresies as in the seauenth chapter aboue is shewed by Ireneus Ierome Epiphanius Philastrius Augustine Theodoret and others diuers of which holy Fathers writing catalogues o● Heresies did place the foresayd doctrines their Authours within the sayd catalogues this they did without any reluctation o● gain-saying of any other auncient and learned Father of their tymes From which consideration I doe gather if those opinions were not iustly condemned for Heresies and their Authou● for Heretikes Then not only the churc● did fouly erre in so great a matter but al● euen the aforesaid alleadged Fathers to wi● Ireneus Ierome Epiphanius Austine wit● many such others should deseruedly be reputed for Heretikes for their condemning of true Doctrines for Heresies and the belieuers of them for Heretikes and on the contrary syde Florinus the Manichees the Eunomians Vigilantius Iouinian the Donatists Pelagius many other such should be accompted for their teaching of true Doctrines Orthodoxall Authors and might haue iustly complayned of their insupportable wronges and indignities proceeding from the pens of the foresaid fathers An absurdity which I thinke no man enioying the benefit of his fiue senses wil allow And yet the admittance of our Newtrallists Paradoxe inanoidably draweth on this inferēce Another Absurdity accompanying the former doctrine is this that Heretikes should be true members of Christs church This I thus deduce for seing by the consent of all learned men none can be saued but such as are true members of Christs church for otherwyse Turkes and Iewes dying in the state of Turcisme and Iudaisme might be saued and seing the foresaid registred Doctrines and their Authours are condemned for Heresies Heretiks both according to the Authority of Gods church according to the true definition of Heresy aboue in the beginning set downe for the said Heretikes haue made choyce of those their heresies and do maintaine them most frowardly against the whole church of God not submitting their iudgments to it must of necessity follow that if those men could be saued then Heretikes continuing Heretikes are members of Christs true church then which what Paradoxe can in it selfe be accompted more absurd or in the iudgment of learned men more incredible considering with what acerbity of comportement the Apostles and all the Orthodoxall learned pious Fathers both in their wrytings and otherwyse haue in all ages entertayned Heretikes as aboue I haue manifested Furthermore if an Heretike continuing an Heretike can be saued then hath the auncient church of Christ vsed great tyranny to diuers such Professours by vndeseruedly punishing such mē with losse of Goods Imprisonments Excommunication Banishment sometymes with death it selfe for such were the punishments appointed by the auncient church and Christian Emperours against Heretyks as I haue shewed in the nynth chapter Againe supposing the truth of the doctrine of these Omnifidians yet obserue how repugnant it is to all reason and otherwise absurde eue● in it owne nature I will heere passe ouer diuers reasons alleadged in the precedent Chapters insist a little in some few of them The first It is certaine that that Faith which belieueth some articles and yet belieueth not other articles which are no lesse true and