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
A76079	A declaration demonstrating and infallibly proving that all malignants, whether they be prelates, popish-cavaleers, with all other ill-affected persons, are enemies to God and the King: who desire the suppression of the Gospel, the advancement of superstition, the diminution of the Kings prerogative and authority, with the oppression of the subject. All which is evinced by strong proofes, and sufficient reasons. By John Bastwick Dr. of Physick.	Bastwick, John, 1593-1654.	1643 (1643)	Wing B1061; Thomason E101_8; ESTC R1900	48,987	64

fellow in his Kingdoms that will suffer his Imperiall Majestie to be trampled upon the suffer it in silence For his own part this Defendant confesseth that he is but poor and the Prelates have made him so but as rich in Loyalty as any Subject in his Highnesses three Dominions and as Iob said concerning God though the Lord should kill him yet he would trust in him so this Defendant saith Though the King should leave him to the mercylesse fury of the Prelats yet he will ever honour him with his ife and all that ever he hath and as he was borne under obedience under obedience he will die and will ever say vivat Rex let the King live for ever and our gracious God put it into his Royall breast to look into the devilish plots of the Prelates that doe not onely equalize the painted Tombes in Christs time but far exceed them in cruelty and wickednesse This he is resolved living and dying to doe invito Diabolo to give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are Gods for he is bound to this duty by Christ himselfe neither will he ever rebell against his blessed will Now the things that belong unto God as he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and by whom alone kings raigne is an absolute command and Soveraignty over his Church and who requires of all his Subjects that they should love him with all their hearts with all their Soules and with all their mights and that they should not serve him by any of their own inventions And for the manner of his worship he hath abundantly declared it in Sacred Writ And Saint Paul writing unto Titus warnes him sharply to rebuke his auditors that they may be sound in the faith not giving heed unto the commandments of men that turne from the truth and chargeth the Corinthians that they should not be servants of men nor wise above that which is written and sayes unto the Colossians wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world Why as though living in the world are ye subject unto ordinances and Christ himself saith In vain do they worship him teaching for Doctrines the commandments of men By all which it is manifest if Christians will give unto God that which is his and will not worship Him in vaine as they must love him with all their hearts so he onely must rule in them and they must give him his own worship and such service onely both for matter and manner as he requires at their hands and commands from them and not serve him according to mens precepts and devices for in his worship they must not be the servants of men for he is the onely King and Lawgiver in his Church and this is his prerogative Royall which no man may meddle with and this is to give unto God that which is Gods and this duty he the Defendant saith all Christians are bound unto Againe for all Subjects duties toward the King the Defendant saith that must also freely and willingly be yeelded and that by speciall precepts for they are commanded to fear God and honour the King and to be subject unto his Authority in all things in the Lord and to give unto Caesar that which is Caesars Now in regard of his duty both to God and the King and also of his speciall Oath of allegiance the Defendant saith he could do no lesse then that which he did in writing his book being provoked thereunto by an enemy of both And so much the rather because himself and all Christians are commanded to give a reason of their hope to whomsoever shal demand it of them earnestly to contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints he saith in all these respects he could do no lesse in answering that Popeling then that he did by giving unto God the right of his government in the hearts and consciences of men and taking it from the Pope that Vicar rather of hell then of Christ and by giving the King that jurisdiction and authority of regiment in his Dominions and over his Subjects which God hath conferred upon him Both which Authorities Spirituall and Temporall the Pope and Popish Bishops most blasphemously arrogate unto themselves trampling all Divine Lawes and Kinglie regality under their polluted feet making Kings and Emperours their Vassals which is a most horrible arrogancy and usurpation and not to be suffered by either Kings or their Subjects And therefore when this Defendant did nothing but that which by his speciall duty he was bound unto If this by the Informers be thought either Schisme Faction or Sedition he this Defendant is resolved to live and die in it and never to think any a good Subject that is not of his minde He doth withall freely confesse unto this honourable Court that he looked for no ill usage of the Prelates for this his indeavour which when he found at their hands it was the occasion of the writing of many other books since that time amongst the which there is one called Apologeticus ad Praesules Anglicanos c. Dedicated unto the privie Counsell but whether the book that is annexed unto the Bill be the same that the Defendant knoweth not but a book with that Title he confesseth he writ wherein he set downe the proceedings of the Prelates against himself and their dealings towards other of their brethren the theame of which book he the Defendant desireth the honourable Court to take a briefe relation of at this time that they may the better be informed of the falsity of the Information And first for the principall theame and matter of the booke it is the State of the questions in his Flagello Pontificis for which he suffered with the summe of the Arguments he produced for the confirmation of the truth The questions arising between the Babylonian and the Defendant concerning the authority of the Pope were these The first whether Christ did constitute Peter sole Monarch of the Catholick Church The second whether the Pope of Rome if he be a Bishop as he is a Bishop hath Authority and jurisdiction over Kings and Emperors Thirdly whether Popish Bishops be true Bishops or no and of the discussing of these questions the Defendant saith his adversary was the sole cause In the handling of the which the Defendant further affirmeth that he used all the caution that was possible as he supposed for man to use prefacing in his book that being to dispute about the Authority of the Bishop of Rome he desired candidly to be understood of all men for while he disputed of Episcopall Authority he medled nor contended not against such Bishops as acknowledge their Authority and jurisdiction from Kings and Emperours into whose hands the government of States Kingdomes and Common-wealths is by God committed For if the Popes themselves would acknowledge their immense and unlimited authority from Kings and Emperors he the

defendant there said if they commanded nothing contrary to the will and Word of God that he for his part out of the reverence duty and loyalty to his Prince would obey it The Words in the Originall are these Verum de Episcoporum autoritate locutus à bonis bene intelligi cupio Non enim litis litem moveo quatenus ab Imperatoribus Regibus Principibus Terrae quorum interest salutem civium tueri potestate Ius Imperiii in socios totumque Dei gregem adepti sunt Nam si Romani Episcopi immensam illam nullus limitibus circumscriptā autoritatē indulgentiae Principū acceptā ferrem voluntati Episcopali nihil voluntati divinae inimicum jubenti obtemperandū putem ob reverentiam Principi si volenti debitam c. So that the Defendant having thus plainly set down his minde before and knowing that all the jurisdiction that the Bishops in England now exercise over others is from the King he thought himself not onely secure from danger but expected favour at least from the Bishops and their helping hand especially when the opposing the Popes Authority in England is a thing that the King and State have ever so well allowed of And that this honourable Court may yet be farther informed of the speciall cause for which the Prelates are so displeased with the Defendant it was for the truely and narrowly disputing and discussing of the second question to wit whether the Pope of Rome if he be a Bishop as he is a Bishop have Authority and Jurisdiction not onely over his fellow brethren but over Kings and Emperours which the Defendant there denyed for many warrantable Arguments the summe of which he desireth here to relate unto this honourable Court for his just and necessary defence and justification For by the very light of nature and unanswerable reason it is evident and manifest that where there is an equality parity amongst men there the one doth not exceed the other in power or Dominion Paris enim in Parem non esse imperium inter Naturae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est Now Divine constitution hath made Bishops and Presbyters or Elders a like and equall which that it might the better appeare the Defendant propounded three things to be proved The first was that Bishops and Presbyters were by the Word of God one and the same Secondly That Presbyters had equall Authority of Government Ordination Excommunication with Bishops wherein only consists their preheminency and Authority above their brethren which things being proved it will necessarily follow That the Pope of Rome as he is Bishop doth no way exceed other Bishops and Presbyters they being in all things alike and equall unto him much lesse hath any Authority and power over Kings and Emperours And for the proofe of the first position the words Presbyter and Bishop do sufficiently evince it which is holy Scripture though diverse in sound signifie one and the same thing as not to cite the words themselves which would be large The Apostle Paul to Titus in the first Chapter doth sufficiently shew where the words Bishop and Presbyter are confounded And likewise in the first Epistle of Peter and the fift Chapter there Presbyter and Bishop signifie one and the same thing And the Epistle to the Philippians the first Chapter and the first verse doth apparently demonstrate it and divers other places might be produced dilucidating the same thing But the 20. of the Acts puts all out of controversie where Presbyter and Bishop signifie one and the same thing for office honour and function so that the idenity of their office is signifyed by those two expressions Neither is there a confusion of their names with a difference still of their functions and administrations as some would cavill for in these places where Presbyters are called Bishops the disputation is not about the title but about the office signified and specified by the title For when Saint Paul exhorts the Presbyters to have an eye to their duty and charge he useth this reason that the Holy Ghost hath made them Bishops and the truth of this is so evident that the Rhemists themselves as learned men as any Bishops in England and as able to maintaine an error are forced ingeniously to confesse it saying in expresse words in their Notes upon the 28. vers of that Chapter That in the Apostles times there was no difference between Presbyter and Bishop so that for the first position it is not onely by the Word of God clearly evident but by the very confession of the adversaries of the truth granted as a thing without controversie Now for proofe of the second position that Presbyters as well as the Bishop of Rome have the power and right of Government Ordination and Excommunication by which in these times Bishops onely exceed Presbyters the Defendant will here briefly demonstrate it referring those of this honourable Court that have a desire to search into the full truth of it to his book And for the proofe that the Government was committed unto them and that they exercised the same it is most perspicuous out of the first of Timothie 5. where the Apostle saith the Presbyters that rule well are worthy of double honour especially those that labour in Word and Doctrine By this testimony it is evident that they had rule and government in their hands And that they had power also of Ordination and imposition of hands it is likewise apparent out of the first Epistle of Paul to Timothy the first Chapter For the Apostle speaking to Timothy saith Do not neglect the gift that is in thee which is given thee for prophesie by the imposition of the hands of the Presbytery Here also the Presbyters had the right of imposition of hands And that they had the power of Excommunication and Absolution it is likewise manifest from the fifth of the 1. of the Corinthians and the second Chapter of the second Epistle where the Apostle gives them the power of casting the incestrous person out and upon his repentance receiving of him in againe By all which Authorities of Sacred Writ it is sufficiently cleare and evident That the Presbyters had the Authority and power of Government and rule in the Church with the faculty also and ability of Ordination and Excommunication and all this by Divine institution and expresse words of holy Scripture howsoever this right and their due was through the fraud and deceit of the Bishop of Rome and Romish Bishops afterwards taken away from the Presbyters Wherefore the Defendant concluded That if there were any difference between Presbyters and the Bishop of Rome which he denied that then the Presbyters in dignity and honour exceeded and that greatly the Bishop of Rome and Romish Bishops for all these Priviledges of government Ordination and Excommunication are in formall words given unto the Presbyters and no where granted unto the Bishops And for farther illustration and proofe of this the Defendant

upon his head and with all his State and Magnificence and his Nobles in their service with the reverence that is yeelded unto him then he beleeveth no longer because the Servant told him that it was the King but because by his own reason he is evinced of it knowing that such attendance and such a guard and so great pompe dignity and State belongeth to none but Kings And it would be thought not madnesse onely but treason to say if one had not told him that it was the King otherwise the King could not be known or that he that told him was greater then the King or his Authority greater The same may be said of the Holy and ever blessed Word of God that it is a great madnesse and impiety to conclude That the Holy Scripture cannot be known to be the Word of God without the Authority of the Fathers or Church or that the Authority of either is greater then the Scriptures which to affirme is without doubt blasphemy in a High degree against Almighty God and his blessed revealed will and able to provoke his indignation upon us because it is an error against the very light of nature art and reason and the apparent Words of the Scripture where the Word of God is called the immortall seed 1. Peter chap. 1. verse 23. which liveth and abideth for ever Now all seed by its inward vertue sprouteth into a blade and is by it self and his owne fruits knowne to be what it is So is the Scripture of it selfe knowne to be the Word of God and as Paul saith in the 1. of the Corinthians chapter 2. verse 4. the Word of God is in the demonstration of the Spirit and in power and maketh the hearts of the beleevers burne within them as it did to those that went with Christ to Emmaus Luke the 24. verse 32. and as the Apostle saith in the first to the Thessalonians the 2. chapter verse 3. that they received the Word of God not as the word of man but as it is in the truth the Word of God which effectually worketh in those that beleeve and in the 4. of the Hebrews the 12. Paul saith that the word of God is quick and powerfull and sharper then a two edged Sword piercing even to the dividing asunder the soule and Spirit and of the reines and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart So that by these testimonies and thousands more that might be produced it is sufficiently evident that the Scriptures of themselves are declaratory and by their own native and inbred splendor doe conciliate Authority and credit to themselves neither have they any need of help from man or the Fathers Authority to prove them the word of God For before there were any Fathers the Scriptures had their Authority and were knowne to be Divine Neither did the Fathers or Church make them Authentick or the Word of God no more then a Pillar maketh a Proclamation to be the Kings will and pleasure because it stands upon it but the Church or Fathers declared them so to be neither doth or can the very Synagogue of Rome deny this How impious then and blasphemous are the Prelates that they dare thus vilifie the holy Scriptures and make their authority nothing And can any man of judgement see any reason why one should beleeve the Fathers more then the Scriptures Or why one should beleeve that these are the workes of Augustine or Ambrose and should doubt that this is the Gospel of Luke John or that these are the Epistles of Paul Of these things the Defendant for his part can see no reason Neither can there any solid reason be yeelded why one should beleeve the Fathers more then the Scriptures themselves when the Fathers are not to be credited but as they accord with Scripture as the very Popish Canons and Papists themselves acknowledge for in the Canon Law thus speakes the Pope Patrum quantalibet doctrina sanctitate pollentium Scripta ex Canonivis sacris consideranda nec cum cred●ndi necessitate sed cum judicandi libertate legenda sunt Neither is Baronius his opinion other concerning the authority of the Fathers as at large may be seene in his Annales ann 34. Sect. 213. and ann 44 Sect. 42. And for Bellarmine he is of the same minde in his 2. Booke concerning Councels in the 12. chapter in these words Sacra Scripta Patrum non sunt regulae nec habent autoritate obligandi And when the very adversaries do thus fully expresse themselves that whatsoever authority is in the Fathers Books and writings it is only as they harmonise and accord with the Scripture shal any man then think or suppose that there should yet be more authority in the writings of the Fathers or in the Decrees of Councels then there is in the holy Scriptures from whence as the fountaine those streams do issue very reason will confound the fatuity of this devilish doctrine for the streames and brooks are never so pure nor good as the fountain for it is ever the fountaine that gives authority of goodnesse and the name of excellency to the little sucking rivers as men know and they commend the waters ever from the fountaine they come so that the Spring hath ever the precedency and is of greatest Authority and without all controversie as it overthroweth all reason so it is exceedingly impious against our great God the fountaine of all good and the giver of every good and perfect gift and they that shall speak so contumeliously as the Bishops doe of these Fountaines of living waters the holy Scriptures is they did the Defendant will ever maintaine they are contemners and despisers of the Holy Scriptures and in this opinion he will live and die Neither did they lesse offend in saying that the Scriptures could not be knowne from the Apocrypha without the help and authority of the Fathers which point also the Defendant desireth this honourable Court to hear a little discussed it being a thing of so high nature concerning not onely the glory of God but the good of every mans soul the peace of the Church and the tranquility of the whole Kingdom And therefore he humbly craveth favour that he may agitate it here a little for the further Demonstration of the justnesse of his accusation he chargeth the Prelates with viz that they are disgracers and contemners of the holy Scriptures They say that the Scriptures cannot be distinguished from the Apocrypha but by the Fathers which assertion is against sense and reason it self and too impious for Prelates to speak Is not this an essentiall property of the Scriptures of the old Testament that they were written in the Hebrew tongue and that they did give witnesse of Christ and received Authority from him and that they were put into the hands and keeping of the elect and chosen people of God as a Treasury Now the Apocrypha had none of all this

honour Neither did ever the Jews account of them as Scripture yea to this day they reject them Neither for these reasons onely are they distinguished from the Apocrypha but for many others the divinity purity sublimity appears in the Canonicall Scriptures the futility folly and falsity in the Apocrypha are too too manifest and is there any man so stupid and blockish to think that this age wherein we live cannot distinguish or discerne gold from lead without the Authority of the Fathers There is a vaster difference between the Apocrypha and the Canonicall Scriptures then is between gold and lead Every mans reason will tell him an apparant difference between brasse and beanes But if any be desirous of Authority to distinguish them will not Christs and the Apostles suffice The very Papists that have not abjured all honesty and goodnesse do freely acknowledge and confesse that those onely are Canonicall Scriptures which the Apostles did either write or approve of But they did never approve of the Apocrypha The Canonicall Scriptures of the old Testament did in shadows and figures set forth that which the new Testament clearly speaks They did adumbrate the new Testament expresseth in lively colours one and the same thing They consent one with another and yeeld each other mutuall aid and help Now the Apocrypha do neither foretell the new nor are by their authority and approbation illustrated and declared Christ commends Moses the Prophets and the Psalmes as books without all exception Luke 24. and grounds his doctrine upon them but never honours nor graceth the Apocrypha with his commendations or witnesse How then can the Prelates without great contumely unto the sacred Scriptures say they cannot be distinguished and knowne from the Apocrypha but by the Fathers especially after the judgement of Christ himself is given and hath passed upon the Scriptures for the authorizing of them to be the word and will of God The Fathers as the learned acknowledge were for their times many of them worthy of honour but yet they were subject not to a few errors and often agreed not with themselves and are ever at variance with others and have been indeed the originall and cause of almost all the controversies with which the Churches are now tormented And therefore to conclude this point the Defendant saith that the Prelates are disgracers and contemners of holy Scripture when against so much light of reason and Divine authority they say they cannot be distinguished and knowne from the Apocrypha but by the Fathers Neither is the third Thesis and Position freer from impudency and outrage against the Scriptures then the two former In that they say the meaning of the Scripture could not be knowne but by the Fathers For in this they doe as much as plainly affirme there is an other way to heaven then by the Scriptures which if it be not a contemning and disgracing of holy Scripture then there never was any Nay if it be not blasphemy the Defendant knoweth not what blasphemy is ●and therefore all those that desire salvation and to go to heaven must come to the Schoole of the Fathers and not to the Doctrine of the Scriptures And how then will the poor people doe to be saved that never knew what a Father was Nay how did all those goe to heaven that dyed before the Fathers For the Prelates say that the meaning of the Scripture cannot be knowen without the Fathers and without the knowledge of the Scripture there is no salvation It is most manifest by these expressions of the Prelates that they with their untempered morter would put out the light of the Scriptures and make them not onely inferiour to all mens writings but a very pack of Non-sense for wheresoever there is any sense there can something be gathered out of it especially if it be so large a Booke And howsoever there be many depths in Scripture there is also great perspicuity so that according to the ancient saying as an Elephant may swim a lamb may wade there also But if it should be so as the Prelates say that without the authority and interpretation of the Fathers the meaning of them could not be known and found out then the Defendant affirmeth they should be inferiour to all other writings yea to every Letter and Epistle that men pen with understanding for they ever carry their own sense end meaning along with them or to what end are they otherwise writ If the letter that discoverd the gunpowder Treason had not had a match and light of understanding in it that Popish plot had never been discovered till by its cruell flames it had declared it self and by the funerall of the whole Kingdome had been made known and left those that survived and lived in perpetuall mourning If every Letter writing and book then that is penned with judgement carry its own sense and meaning in it and the books for which the Defendant is now questioned and if all Proclamations Letters and Edicts of Princes are easily to be understood and carry their own interpretation with them so that none after their publication may pretend ignorance dare any man be so bold and adaciou as to say that the Letters and Proclamations of the King of heaven an God of the whole world cannot be understood when notwithstanding David saith they give light and understanding to the simple and that by reading and meditating in the Law and Testimonies of the Lord he grew wiser then his Teachers and Paul that Timothie knew the Scriptures from his youth 2. Tim. chap. 3 verse 13. and notwithstanding all this dare the Prelates affirme that the meaning of this Scripture cannot be knowne without the interpretation of the Fathers We have great cause to praise and blesse God that hath so graciously afforded us better Masters to be taught by It is good ever therefore to listen unto them Let us hear now then what the Prophets Christ and his Apostles have taught us concerning this weighty matter and of so great consequence and let us follow their example and instruction which lead us into all truth and not to listen to the contemners of holy Scripture They send those that are studious of the wayes to heaven to the Law and to the Testimonies Esai 8. to Moses the Prophets and the Scriptures not to the Traditions of the Elders and custome of Antiquity And they that bring any other doctrine are not to be listened unto neither may we bid them God speed The Word of the Lord is the way light and lanthorne to our Feet which send forth sufficiently the beames of truth and shines so clearly of it self as it may be both knowne proved expounded and unfolden by its own brightnesse They do as it were lend lustre unto the Sun from a smoaking snuffe that from the mist of the Fathers would bring light unto the Scriptures God is the Authour of the Scriptures who is the originall and fountaine of all light and