Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	apostle_n	bishop_n	church_n	2,501	5	4.6398	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30059	The contrariety of popery to the blessed word of God wherein may be seen that the doctrine and practice of the Church of Rome are not consistent with the sacred oracles of the Old and New Testament ... / written by Digby Bull ...	Bull, Digby.	1695 (1695)	Wing B5410; ESTC R8749	67,944	72

Bishops of Rome do succeed St. Peter in such a Supreme Power and Authority and are now the Head of all the Christian Church is not consistent with the sacred Scriptures but directly contrary to them This is proved by what hath been said already For if St. Peter had no such Universal Power and Authority over the Apostles and all the Church as it is clear that he had not then the Roman Bishops have no ground to pretend to succeed him in such a supreme Power and Authority This is altogether vain seeing there is no truth in the former And there is no proof at all that they should be St. Peter's Heirs and Successors and be the only Masters of that Power and Authority which he had in the Church And how then can they assume such an Universal Power and Authority which he had not Heb. 5.4 And no man taketh this honour unto himself saith the Apostle but he that is called of God as was Aaron And how then can the Bishops of Rome justly assume to themselves such a supreme and universal Power over all the Church till they can shew some Divine Commission for it And for such Authority they have no Plea nor Colour from the sacred Word of God There is no clear place in the sacred Scriptures to prove that ever St. Peter was at Rome and he wrote no Epistle to them to confer any Power upon them and in those Epistles that he wrote he makes no mention of any such Power and supreme Authority that they were to have St. Peter was chiefly the Apostle of the Jews as St. Paul sheweth Gal. 2.7 And how then can the Roman Gentiles pretend that all his Power is devolved upon them St. Peter was much at Jerusalem and the Bishops of that place might have had a better Title to be his Successors in a higher manner than others if any were to have been so than the Bishops of Rome can have because he was chiefly and primarily the Apostle of the Jews St. Peter was also at Antioch some time Gal. 2.11 And the Bishops of that place may alledg as good a Plea to be his Successors as the Bishops of Rome can Again St. Paul writes an Epistle to the Romans and several Epistles from Rome but no intimation in them that the Bishops of that place only were to be St. Peters Successors and to have an universal Power and Authority over the whole Church And from hence we may see that St. Paul knew nothing of any such universal Power that the Roman Bishops were to have For if he had known that our blessed Lord had designed them to be the Universal Pastors over all the Church we may be sure that he would not have been wanting to have instructed the Churches to which he wrote in this great Point of Duty and to have let them know where the Supreme Power of the Church was lodged that they might have had recourse to it in all weighty Concerns The Apostle commandeth Christians Heb. 13.17 To obey them that have the Rule over them and to submit themselves but not a word of obeying the Roman Bishop nor any regard that is to be had to him more than to another Again if any place should have been Invested with such a Supreme Power over all the Christian Church we may well conclude that Jerusalem should have been the place For more is said of that place tending this way than of any place in the whole World besides This is the place that is renowned above all others in the sacred Word of God and the Bishops of this place might have pleaded the most of all for a Divine Right of Governing the Universal Church of Christ For this was the Holy City as St. Matthew calls it Matt. 4.5 This was the City of the Great King as our Saviour himself calls it Matt. 5.35 Neither by Jerusalem saith he for it is the City of the Great King This was the City of the Lord of Hosts the Great King of all Kings This was the place where Christ the Great Shepherd of all did exercise the Power that God the Father gave him over all the Church and for whose sacred Temple he shewed so much Zeal and was so much concerned Mar. 11.15 Within the jurisdiction of this City and among the Jews who had a dependence upon this City as their great Metropolis did our Lord do all his Miracles and exercised his Pastoral Office This was the great Metropolis of the whole World and here had Almighty God recorded his Holy Name Psal 87.2 3 The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob Glorious things are spoken of thee O City of God Great Matters were spoken and predicted of this City This was to be the City of Truth Zac. 8.3 Thus saith the Lord I am returned unto Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem and Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth and the Mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy Mountain This was the place from whence the Law was to go forth according to the predictions of the Prophets Isa 2.3 And many people shall go and say Come ye and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord to the House of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths For out of Zion shall go forth the Law and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem And Micah 4.2 For the Law shall go forth of Zion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem From this place was the Law and Word of God to go forth This is the place where God is said to dwell for ever and he promiseth to cloath her Priests with Salvation Psal 132.13 14. For the Lord hath chosen Zion he hath desired it for his habitation This is my Rest for ever And ver 16. I will also cloath her Priests with Salvation This is said of this place and the Priests thereof Here the Holy Ghost came down upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost Acts 2. Here was held the first Council Act. 15. And St. James that was Bishop of Jerusalem was President of this Council of Apostles and Elders And if all this and much more be said of this place in the Word of God we may be sure that Jerusalem should have been the place of Supremacy and Power over all the Church if any place should have been so We may be sure that the Bishops of this place should have been the Universal Head of the Church if there should have been any such Head For more may be said for a Divine Right of Ruling over all the Church for Jerusalem than for any place in the whole World besides But seeing Jerusalem has no such Superiority and doth not exalt it self over all other places we may be sure that no other place ought to do so For Rome or any other place cannot stand in Competition with it for Superiority or urge

cause Jews Turks and Pagans to cry out against it when they see such inhumane Cruelty and merciless Murders committed by the Professors of it Such bloody Spectacles are of a very moving and frightful nature and very distastful and odious to all men that have any sense of humanity left in them and the ready way to make them abhor the Christian Religion when they see such as call themselves Christians to act like the worst of men And for this must they one day answer And a sad thing it is to see that such as call themselves Christians should now be the greatest Enemies of the Christian Church and put men to death in a merciless manner purely for Points of Conscience where the poor Sufferers have Truth and the Gospel of Christ on their side By what hath been said it is clear enough that the bloody Cruelty of the Romish Church is not at all agreeable to the Gospel of Christ but flat contrary to it By these particulars without going any farther we may see that Popery is not at all consistent with the sacred Scriptures and the Gospel of the blessed Jesus but quite another Religion directly contrary to it even in the Fundamentals of it For in the Christian Religion we are taught that Christ is the Head of the Church and are positively commanded to call no one Father and Master in such a high manner and to admit no Competitor with him But in Popery the Pope is the Head of the Church And tho' he pretends to be Christ's Vicar yet in truth and reality he is no such thing but acteth like a supreme Lord of the Church himself and will admit of the Christian Law and the Commands of the Gospel no farther than they suit with his humor and pleasure or interest and at his own will and pleasure doth over-rule them and herein doth take upon him a Power above our blessed Lord. And by these Papers it is plain that the Members of the Romish Church live in an open and notorious violation of the Christian Law and the Commands of the Gospel They call themselves Christians but in truth and reality they are not Christians but men of another Religion quite different from Christianity and may be called Papists in opposition and contradistinction to Christians For as we Christians do own Christ for our Head and profess our selves to be his Disciples and look upon his Laws and Commands as sacred and to be kept inviolable and do engage to take care to keep them So do they own the Pope for their supreme Head and are his Disciples and do set up his Laws and Commands that are ratified by his Authority as supreme and above the Laws and Commands of Christ and look upon themselves as obliged to keep them inviolable and take more care to keep them than the Laws of Christ The Romish Church notwithstanding its outward profession of Christianity yet in reality is not to be looked upon as any part of the true Christian Church but as a People of another new Religion And there is no doubt to me but that the Papists are the Gentiles spoken of Rev. 11.2 and that the time is now at hand that they shall tread the holy City the true Church of Christ under foot forty and two months And that the Popedom and Romish Church is the Beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless Pit that shall make War with the Witnesses of God and overcome them And that those names of Sodom Egypt and Babylon the Great do belong to Rome and the Romish Church And the Learned and Reverend Archbishop Usher Dr. More and Dr. Barrow do not say much less Archbishop Usher 's Predictions Dr. More 's Antidote against Idolatry Dr. Barrows 's Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy And we may see that Divine Providence hath afforded as great a Cloud of Witnesses against Popery in these latter ages of the World as it hath against the Pagan Idolatries in the Primitive times of Christianity And I suppose upon a fair examination it will appear that far more have died Martyrs here in Europe in testifying the Truth against Popery than have died Martyrs in the time of the Pagan Emperors in testifying the Truth in opposition to Pagan Idolatry And when these things are fairly considered I cannot see but that Christians heretofore might with as much safety to their Souls turn to Pagan Idolatry as Protestants may now turn to Popery The glorious Martyrs that have suffered in the Popish Persecutions are as high a Testimony against Popery as any that can be found I believe against Pagan Idolatry And for my part I do not see how Protestants that turn to Popery can be saved or how Papists that wilfully continue therein when they see and consider these things can be saved and escape eternal Destruction How far God may extend Mercy over and above the declarations of the Gospel in pitying the ignorance and infirmities of some is an Arcanum that we cannot look into and belongs not to us to open But as to the declarations of the Gospel there is certainly no hope of Salvation to be had in the Romish Church as it is now corrupted And if any one thinks that I strain the Cord too far and would have me to remember to keep within the bounds of Charity I return him this answer That I am in Charity with all the World as I hope and desire the Good and Well-being of all men both here and hereafter And that I think it far greater Charity to deal plainly and sincerely in a matter of such weight and moment than to use any deceitful and treacherous Flattery to the deluding of mens precious and immortal Souls and to give them any just cause to curse me hereafter when they are wrapt up in Eternal Wo and Misery I believe St. Paul and St. John were men full of true Christian Charity and yet they positively declare that those that commit such sins as they enumerate and reckon up are not like to be saved but to be eternally damned if they do not repent in time And seeing the Romish Church is so notoriously guilty of many of those very sins there is no cause that any good Body should be offended at me for asserting That there is no hope of Salvation to be had in that Church and for being willing to save both Protestants and Papists by endeavouring to keep the one Party from falling to such a corrupt and sinful Religion and to draw the other from it And our Church in effect declareth as much as I do For in Athanasius's Creed we have these Words Which Faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled without doubt he shall perish everlastingly And our Church having made this a part of her publick Liturgy hereby doth shew that this is her sense and that this was the sense and judgment of the Primitive times And seeing the Romish Church doth not keep the Catholick Faith whole and undefiled as it it clear enough by these Papers therefore our Church doth declare that the Papists and Members of the Popish Church are like-to perish everlastingly if they do not repent in time To conclude then seeing Popery is so notorious a violation of the blessed Word of God and there are such plain declarations in the sacred Scriptures against it seeing no less than Eternal Death is threatned to the things that are constantly practised therein and the Professors of it are accounted no better than Gentiles in the Revelation of St. John seeing God hath set a whole Cloud of Witnesses and Martyrs to give testimony against it by resisting unto Blood and by chusing rather to be burnt to death in the fire than to turn to it From hence we may well be assured of the sinfulness of this Religion and that it is at the hazard of our Lives and Souls if we turn to it There is no halting in this case for if we turn to it we go presumptuously upon Destruction Let us then be wise betimes and not trifle with Eternity and run wilfully into the Lake of everlasting fire Let us not by a little Terror of men be driven to it and so bring the Curse and Wrath of Almighty God upon our selves But seeing we are warned of its coming before hand let us do what we can to prepare our selves against it that we may not be born away with the violence of it when it cometh Let us reform and amend our sinful lives and be in a readiness to dye if God should call us to give farther testimony against it and let us then call upon him for his blessed Assistance and go cheerfully to the Stake rather than to turn to so sinful a Religion wherein we are like to perish to all Eternity And I desire that all well minded Papists would seriously consider what is said here and lay it to heart and not hearken to deluding Priests and Jesuits I hope and am fully persuaded that Mercy doth yet wait upon them and that if they will now return from Popery and become good Christians and live according to the Precepts and Commands of the Gospel they may preserve their Souls and that God will pass by their Provocations hitherto But if they do not now repent and return I doubt it will go very sore with the Papists of these Kingdoms For as I am confident and well assured that Popery is at hand and will prevail here for a time so am I also confident that after the 42 Months Rev. 11.2 are expired it will be driven out again and then I fear that the Wrath of God will fall very heavy both upon Papists and upon such Protestants as turn to Popery It is very probable that there may be some Bloodshed at its entrance but I expect that the great Slaughter and Destruction of men will be when it is driven out again You may peruse The Watch-man's-Voice and the Letter of a Protestant Clergy-man c. I have no more but my hearty Prayer That Almighty God of his great Mercy and Goodness would have mercy upon the whole Kingdom and turn us all from our own sinful ways into the path of Life and preserve us safe unto his eternal and blessed Kingdom for his dear Son Christ Jesus's sake Amen FINIS