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	church_n	reason_n	1,612	5	4.9023	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65715	A sermon in confutation of R. H. the author of The guide in controversies Shewing that his most plausible arguments produced against Protestants, do more effectually conclude for Judaism against Christianity. By Daniel Whitby, D.D. chantor of the church of Sarum.	Whitby, Daniel, 1638-1726.	1679 (1679)	Wing W1736A; ESTC R222007	21,763	39

sighted Person should profess himself certain that an object is white when a multitude of others the most clear sighted that can be found having all the same means of a right sensation as he hath pronounce it black or of another colour V. Rational account disc 2. Chap. 5. §. 42. p. 141. Moreover if these Scriptures or reasons be so clear even to the ignorant and unlearned Jew must they not be as clear to their Church-Guides and may not then their judgments more securely be rely'd upon at least for any thing which is presumed to be clear Disc Chap. 3. §. 37. p. 24. For if Scriptures be maintained so clear in necessaries that every one using a right endeavour cannot mistake in them then shall the Church Governours much rather by reason of this clearness obvious to every Rustick not err in them and so shall the people the more the Rule of faith is proved to be clear the more securely rely on and be referred in them to their direction 4. If you pretend a more sincere endeavour in those few converts to find out the sense of Scripture or search out the truth in these matters which in the case of the Beraeans your Scripture seemeth to assert Answ I Answer still with the same Author Disc Chap. 1. p. 4 5. that since all parties do pretend sincere endeavour in the right understanding of the Scriptures and after it do differ so much in their sense of it it follows that such sincere endeavours being indifferently allowed to all parties the sense of Scripture and the verdict of true reason ought to be pronounced clear if on any on that side as the major part doth apprehend it which certainly was not the Primitive Converts but the unbelieving Jews and their Ecclesiastical Superiors Ibid. p. 24. For surely we have reason to presume that the Chief Guides of the Church in their consults concerning a point necessary to Salvation delivered in Scripture as that of the Messiah was use at least so much endeavour as a plain Rustick doth to understand the meaning of it And whatsoever other thing is supposed necessary besides sincere endeavour or is understood to be included in it as freedom from passion and secular Interest or also a freely professing the truths which their sincere endeavour discovers to them none can rationally imagin but that these supream Church Governours should be as much or more disengaged herein than private men Ibid. p. 145. And that passion and interest blind private men or our selves sooner than General Councils or a major part of the Church See therefore here the wisdom of the unbelieving Jews who to preserve themselves from erring in this matter made use of the securest way that reason could imagine Rat. Account Disc 1. Chap. 7. §. 77. p. 74. saith R. H. or that Christians are prescribed whilst for the sense of the Scriptures that were controverted in this point of the Messiah they chose not to rely on their own judgments but on that of the Supremest Guides of the Church and Judges of Divine Truth that were afforded them on earth and so if they erred yet took the wisest course to have missed erring that Religion or Reason could dictate To which Guides also the subjects of this former Communion all believed submission of their private judgments to be due and to be commanded from whence also it follows that till they are convinced of error in this point viz. that no submission was due to the Decrees of all these Councils and the concurring judgment of those Spiritual Guides by whom your Jesus was condemned they are not capable of being convinced in any other matter If lastly you affirm that the common people had conviction and demonstration from the Miracles of Christ of the falshood of the Decrees and the Interpretations of their Church Guides in this matter and of the truth of that Christianity which they embraced in opposition to those said Decrees Answ This I confess is a great truth but then the Roman Doctors cannot plead it without rejecting most of their professed Tenets and their strongest pleas for absolute submission to the Major part of their Church Guides For 1. Admit our Saviour and his Apostles wrought true Miracles how did the vulgar perceive them so to be but by their senses and how did they infer from them the truth of Christianity but by their private Reasons Rat. Account Disc 1. Chap. 6. §. 62. p. 63. Now the evidence of sense and reason must be both neglected saith the Romanist when a Divine Revelation declares any thing contrary to them This and this only being their defence of Transubstantiation against the common sense and reason of mankind Now of the certainty of a Divine Revelation or the true sense of Scripture they make the judgment of the Major part of their Church Guides to be sufficient evidences and so there was sufficient evidence according to this Rule that all the Miracles which Christ and his Apostles seemed to work were done in opposition to Divine Revelation or the true sense of Scripture 2. Certain it is that the Rulers of the Jews and the prevailing part of the whole Nation differed from the converted Christians in their apprehensions of these Miracles and judged them all Diabolical Impostures or trials of their Faith c. Rat. Account Disc 4. Cons 2. p. 384. Now this seems necessary to be granted saith R. H. that in what kind of knowledg soever it be whether of our sense or reason in what ever Art or Science one can never rightly assure himself concerning his own knowledg that he is certain of any thing for a truth which all or most others of the same or better abilities for their cognoscitive faculties in all the same external means or grounds of the knowledg thereof do pronounce an error So that where all or most differ from me it seems a strange pride not to imagine this defect in my self rather than them especially when as all the grounds of my science are communicated to them and when as for my own mistakes I cannot know exactly the extent of supernatural delusions According therefore to this Rule it was strange pride in the first Converts to Christianity among the Jews to judg the Miracles of Christ or his Apostles true when most of their own Nation as well as Heathens differed from them in that apprehension and spake so freely every where against the Sect of Christians 3. The truth of the pretences of our Lord and his Apostles depended on two things Stillingfl ibid. p. 42. viz. the fulfilling of Prophesies and the truth of his Miracles Now according to the Roman Principles no man could be certain of the truth of either of these without the Authority of the then present Church For the fulfilling of Prophesies depended on the sense of many obscure places of Scripture of which say they the Major part of the Church-Guides must judg And

many Synods so often weighing the Adversaries reasons and evidences was not sufficient for setling such a point at least as to the obedience of future silence and noncontradiction and as to suffering the Church to enjoy her peace what can hereafter be sufficient Or can we ever hope that any Controversie shall be finally determined or ended by any future Council if this of the Messiah is not by these forepast Can there be any ground here to question the integrity or lawful proceedings of so many Councils all concurring in the same judgment for a Corporal presence saith the Romanist that Christ was a Deceiver saith the Jew Or could there be any new light in this point attainable in those times by the private person or Christian Convert which those Guides of the Jewish Church who condemned your Jesus were not capable or had no notice of 2. They who so often and so unanimously condemned your Saviour and his Doctrine saith the Jew were the Church-Guides by God appointed Levit. x. 11. Deut. xxxiii 10. Mal. ii 7. Ibid. to teach the Children of Israel all the Statutes which the Lord had spoken to them by the hand of Moses to teach Jacob his judgments and Israel his Law and by whose lips the knowledg of it was to be preserved They were the men who are in Scripture styled the Messengers or the Ambassadors of the Lord of Hosts that is the men appointed by him to declare his message to the people Deut. xvii 8 12. They were the men Ordained to Minister before the Lord in every Controversial matter 2 Chron. xix 8. men who were set for the judgment of the Lord and for Controversies In Controversie they shall stand in judgment Ezek. xliv 24. Deut. xxi 5. saith the Lord and by their word shall every Controversie be tried Deut. xvii 12. Wherefore to act in opposition to the judgment of these Guides must be to act presumptuously as God himself declares to despise the verdict of Gods Messengers and in a Controversial matter of the highest moment to reject the sentence of those men who are by God Ordained to define it and by whose words according to his Ordinance it must be tried 3. As for the common people who in this matter did oppose their private judgments to the Decrees of their Church Guides not acquiescing in their Conciliar determinations that your Jesus was not the true Messiah they saith the Jew must act against that Rule which both the Law of Moses and the Prophets have prescribed for by that Law they are commanded under pain of death when any Controversie should arise among them to go to the Priests and Levites and to the Judg then living Deut. xvii 8.12 to enquire the sentence of judgment from his mouth and to do according to the sentence which they shall shew them and according to all that they inform them not declining from it to the right hand or the left Hag. ii 11. Mal. ii 7. They by the Prophets are instructed to ask the Priests concerning the Law and to seek the knowledg of it from their mouths They therefore stood obliged to assent to the determinations of the Sanhedrim and the Conciliar Decrees of Priests and Levites Scribes and Pharisees confirmed by the High-Priest and so they were obliged to believe that according to the true intent and meaning of the Law your Jesus could not be the true Messiah And consequently they must err who quitting the Decisions of the Pharisees and other Rulers of the Church embrace that Tenet of the ignorant and giddy multitude Thus the Jew pleads from Scripture against our Blessed Lord. And if you do compare these pleas and others of like nature which might be offered from the Scriptures by the Jew with what the Romanists do offer for the infallibility of any of their Councils you will soon find that all their pleas for this infallibility from the New Testament are paralleled or rather over-ballanced with places of like nature in the Old which do more strongly plead for the infallibility of the High-Priest and Rulers of the Jewish Church For 1. Matth. xxviii 20. Doth the Romanist plead Christs promise to be for ever with his Church Answ The Jews had equal reason to expect Gods presence among them Exod. xxix 42 43 44 45. Mic. iv 7. Psal cxxxii 13 14. 2 Chron. vii 16. because he promised to dwell among the children of Israel to meet them at the Tabernacle of the Congregation and there speak with them to Reign over them in Zion from henceforth and for ever He chose Zion for his habitation and said of it this is my rest for ever here will I dwell and of Jerusalem that he would put his name for ever in that place and that his eyes and his heart should be there for ever 2. Matth. xviii 20. Do they add that Christ hath promised that where two or three are gathered together in his name he will be in the midst of them Answ Psal cxxxiv. 3. Exod. xx 24. God also promised to the Jews that he would bless them out of Zion and that wheresoever he did record his name there would he come and bless his people 3. Luke x. 16. Matth. xviii 17. Do they alledg these sayings of our Lord to his Disciples viz. He that heareth you heareth me He who neglects to hear the Church shall be accounted as a Heathen and a Publican Answ Deut. xvii 12. God also said that he who will not hearken to the Priest that stands to minister before the Lord even that man shall die for his presumption 4. Heb. xiii 7 17. Do they say that Christs Apostles commanded Christians to obey those that had the rule over them and to follow their faith Answ Matth. xxiii 3. Our Jesus did command his hearers to do all that the Scribes and Pharisees did say unto them and that because of their Authority derived from Moses Deut. xvii 10. and God himself commanded all his people to do according to all that they should be informed of by the Priests And 5. John xvi 13. Chap. xiv 26. Do they plead Christs promise made to his Apostles that he would send the Spirit of Truth to guide them into all Truth Answ Whereas this promise doth personally belong to the Apostles John xiv 26. John xvi 13. and not to their Successors for it is a promise to bring to their remembrance by his Spirit what he before had said to them and to shew them things to come to which Spirit of Prophesie the Roman Doctors do not now pretend I say whereas this promise did belong to the Apostles only God stood obliged by Covenant to cause his holy Spirit to remain among the Rulers of the Jewish Church Hag. ii 5. For thus he speaks according to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Aegypt so my Spirit remains among you

Numb xi 17. Moreover God promised to the Sanhedrim that he would put the spirit of Moses upon them and in compliance with that promise he came down in a Cloud and took the spirit which was upon Moses and gave it to the seventy Elders so that they Prophesied and did not cease Or 6. Do they argue for their infallibility because the Church is stiled by St. Paul 1 Tim. iii. 15. the pillar and the ground of truth by reason of that truth which is preserved by her Governours Answ God also hath declared touching his Priests Mal. ii 6. Zech. viii 3. that the law of truth was in their mouth and of Jerusalem that she should be called the City of truth And if the Church of Judah hath since failed so also hath the Church of Ephesus of which alone St. Paul affirmeth that it was the pillar and the ground of truth 7. Eph. iv 11 12. Do they conclude that the Church-Guides must be infallible because God hath placed in the Church some Apostles some Prophets some Pastors and some Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrine Answ Were not the Jewish Priests placed also for this end for the work of their Ministry the perfecting of their Saints the edifying of their Flocks Were not their lips to preserve that knowledg which should restrain the people from their errors Ezek. xxxiv 4. Were not they appointed to heal that which was sick and bring again that which was strayed Or Lastly Do they triumph in that promise of our Lord Matth. xvi 18. that the Gates of Hell should not prevail against the Church Answ Jer. xxxiii 20 21. God also promised that his Covenant made with his Levites Priests and Ministers should be as certain and perpetual as that of day and night So that I need not add that by this Phrase Essay Chap. 3. Christ only promiseth that pious Christians shall not for ever be detained under the power of the grave which I have elsewhere shewed to be the natural and only import of these words the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church Moreover the plain meaning of the foregoing words viz. Thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my Church is as a Si quia dixerit Petro Dominus Super hanc petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam id circo praesumis ad te derivasse solvendi ligandi potestatem qualis es evertens commutans manifestum domini intentionem personaliter N.B. hoc Petro conferentem sic enim exitus docet in ipso Ecclesia exstructa est id est per ipsum ipse primus in Christi Baptismo reseravit aditum caelestis Regni De Pudicitia cap. 21. p. 574. B. Tertullian well informs us only this Thou who hast first of all my Disciples acknowledged me to be the Christ thou shalt first preach this Doctrine to the World and by so doing lay the first foundations of a Christian Church Which he accordingly performed first laying the foundation of a b Acts 2.41 Church among the Jews by the conversion of three thousand souls And after laying the foundation of a Church amongst the Gentiles by the conversion of Cornelius and his friends Christ having to fulfil his promise c Acts 15.7 made choice of him among the rest of the Apostles that the Gentiles by his mouth should hear the word of the Gospel and believe Now to pretend to be St. Peters Successor in this matter is in effect to say that the foundations of a Christian Church are not yet laid If therefore Roman Catholicks conclude from these ambiguous and obscure places for the infallibility of Councils or of the major part of the Church guides concurring with the Pope in any Sentence or Decree although these places do not speak one syllable of any Pope or major part of the Church-Guides and much less of the Romish Prelats and less of their infallible assistance what Ovations and Triumphs would they have made had it been said expresly of their Cardinals and Councils as it is said of Jewish Priests that they were set for judgment and for Controversie had God fixed his glorious presence at Rome as he did at Jerusalem and setled there a seat of Judgment and a continual Court of highest judicature as was that Sanhedrim which in Jerusalem was setled had he dwelt in St. Peters as he dwelt in the Temple had he left with them as he did with the Jewish Priests a standing Oracle a Vrim and a Thummim to consult with on all occasions so that this plea being much stronger for the infallibility of the Superiors of the Jewish Church than for the infallibility of the whole Western Church or any of its Councils the Roman Doctors must acknowledg either that they fallaciously urge it against Protestants or must confess that it stands also good against the Christian and is a confirmation of all those traditions which were condemned by our Saviour and a sufficient plea for all those errors and corruptions which as the Prophets do complain were generally taught and practised by the Church-Guides in the declining Ages of the Jewish Church V. Stillingfl Sermon upon Acts 24.14 p. 39. For if these Arguments be good now they were so then and if they were good then for ought that I can see the High Priest and the major part of the Church Rulers of the Jews were always in the right and Christ and his Apostles with the Holy Prophets must be in the wrong Moreover had we no evidence from Scripture may the Jew say in prosecution of this Argument reason seems very strongly to conclude for this submission of the common people and some few Priests to the concurring judgments of their Church-Guides and of the major part of Jews who joyned with then in condemnation of your Jesus as a Blasphemer and false Prophet and of his followers as Hereticks and Schismaticks or men who worshipped God after that way which by the Jews was called Heresie Acts 24.14 ibid. v. 5. and were Ring-leaders of a Sect. For still to argue after the manner of the Romish Doctors 1. Is it not reasonable to conceive that they who were Gods Ministers appointed for this very thing to judg in controversial matters and to make tryal of such as did pretend to Prophesie as was the Jewish Sanhedrim I say is it not reasonable to conceive that the assistance of the Holy Spirit should be vouchsafed to these Rulers of the Church and Doctors of the Law rather than to those common people who bore no such relation to God had no commission from him to direct others in the meaning of his word but had so many and such express injunctions to seek it at the mouth of their Church-Guides Can we