Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
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A39896
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An essay of original righteousness and conveyed sin wherein the question is sightly stated, the latent venome of some of Dr. Jeremiah Tayler's heretical assertions detected, and accurately impugn'd. By [J.] Ford gentlemen.
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Ford, John, Mayor of Bath.
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1657
(1657)
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Wing F1464; ESTC R222666
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41,888
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180
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cleansing and taking away of original sin derived to all the relative descendants of Adam is a supernatural doctrine absolutely necessary to bring mankind to beatitude that Christ taught this doctrine and that the same the Apostles and the Church by him planted received it from him immediately and that this Doctrine was ever conserved practiced and deliverd over from hand to hand by the Primitive best Fathers and Luminaries of that Church untill this very day without any interruption which to deny were not only most impious and heretical but most absurd to whosoever considereth the infinite goodnesse providence wisedom and omnipotency of the Almighty yet notwithstanding Pelagius a Welchman and is usually stiled Pelagius the Brittan to distinguish him from Pelagius the Samosatensian Bishop his name in Welch was Morgan which signifies the Sea This pernicious wretch lived in the time of the Emperour Theodosius the younger and Honorius about the year of our Lord 416. This man I say and his followers Julianus Celestius maintained damnable Heresies against Christs express doctrine for they taught Adams sin to be noxious to himselfe only and not to his posterity and theâ—e to be no original sin Lust and concupiscence being natural not to be evill but rather good and sin not to be propagaâ—ed by generation The former being granted children to have no original sin from their parents and children though not baptized to be saved See Pontanus Cath. Heretic This Pestilent Heresie was spread abroad in many places but chiefly in England because Pelagius being driven from Rome came thither and infected it with his execrable Erroâ—s But by the diligent travels and great zeal of one Germanus Altisidorensis and Palladius sent from Celestinus Pope both England and Scotland became free from those his Errors solemnly condemned in the Synod of Carthage An. 415. in which there were assembled 2â—7 Bishops in Numidia and in the Arausican in Franc. You may find his errors set down by August Hierome Ambrose Isidor Prosper and Fulgent yet notwithstanding in these our late Error-abounding dayes partly through the instigation and malice of Satan and partly through the power of the Almighties wrath punishing the contempt of his revealed truth those damn'd Heresies of Pelagius doth begin to be covertly revived by the crafty insinuating conveyance of one Dr. Taylor the great Luminary and Pillar of the Protestant Church in England the only Idol of the Nation and whose writings are generally cryed up and highly extoll'd by the unsteady multitude for no other reason that I can imagine but for his sympathizing correspondency with them in blindnesse inconstancy and ignorance yet he is a man that hath his senses or fantasie so depraved as to take imperfect and maimed impressions of outward objects and the powers of his understanding so weak and perverted as to make preposterous and disorderly collâ—ctions out of them and whose judgment is so misguided by pre-occupation of self affection or particular ends as himselfe becomes most lamentably deceived feeding his soul with falshood iâ— stead of truth blindly wading too far without and above his obscure capacity and low proportion of knowledg into particular uselesse subtilties doting about frivolous questions and logomachies whereof commeth no fruit other then presumption dissention railings dissolution â—vill surmisings conâ—empt of Christ of his Doctrine Sacraments and divine Ordinances leaving every man to the dictamens of his own private judgment according to the several tempers and circumstances that sway in every particular which leadeth on inevitably to Atheism and unchristianity and all this for sordid apprehensions of base commodity to himselfe having imployed the faculties of his understanding contrary unto their naturall inclinations to the maintaining of lyes and the deceiving of others expresly against Scripture and the generally received Doctrine of all the Orthodox Fathers in all Ages perspicuous and eminent in knowledge of tongues inâ—ight into Antiquity profoundnesse in Sciences Perfection and true Sanctity of life which have shined most rarely in them and none will deny but these are the likeliest meanes to gain a right intelligence of the true and deep sense of Scripture and not the vain dreams and deluding suggestions of the private spirit of any Taylor Sailer Cobler Body seller Tinker or such like swarm of Locusts which have so miserably invaded and infected this brave Island all pretending to have their commission and power derived from Jesus Christ with so much intemperate boldnesse as if they were the only persons employed and entrusted by him to doe oâ— undoe as they please But let them pretend what they will its manifest Christ concluded of such John 10. 1. He that entreth not in by the door into the sheepfold but climbeth up some other way the same is a thief and a robber Our Saviour himselfe was the door to his Apostles and his Apostles and their Successors the door to all that ever were admitted Shepherds in a regular and Apostolick manner Now if any desires to know who are the false Prophets false Teachers Dr. Taylor shall resolve him in his Doctrine delivered in his Episcopacy asserted where he holds forth that Christ did institute a government to order and rule his Church by his Authority and that this government was delegated to the Apostles by immediate substitution by Christ in traditione clavium inspiratione spiritus c. And he holds further that this power was not to expire with their personâ— for when the great Shepherd had reduced his wandering sheep into a fold he would not leave them without guides to govern them so long as the woolf might possibly prey upon them and that is till the last separation of the sheep from the goats and this Christ intimates in that his promise Eâ—vobiscnm not with your persons for they dyed long ago but vobiscum vestri similibus with Apostolical Successors of yours till the end of the woâ—ld anâ— therefore that the Apostolat might be perpetuall and successive Christ gave them a power of Ordination that by imposing hands on others they might impart thâ—t power which they received from Christ which was both ordinery and extraordinary as immediate Miâ—lion unlimited Jurisdiction and miraculous Operations It followes therefore that there must remain a power of giving faculty and capacity to persons successively for the execution of that in which he promised perpetuall assistance which were the Offices and Powers of Preaching Baptizing Consecrating Ordaining and Governing necessary for the perpetuating of a Church unlesse men could be Christians that were never Christned become Priests without Calling of God and Ordination have their sins pardoned without Absolution be Members Parts and Sons of a Church whereof there is no codunation no Authority no Governour It follows therefore out of this Doctrine that if Dr. Taylor or all other Proiestant Ministers Teachers or Preachers in England have not received lawful power mission Apostalical faculty or ordination by hand-imposition from true Apostolical Successors they all
as a proposition of faith For whatsoever the Church believeth as a proposition of faith is upon this ground that Christ taught it as such unto the Church he planted himself and so left it in trust to be by it delivered over to the next age And the reason why the present Church believeth any proposition to be of faith is because the immediate preceding Church of the age before delivered it as such and so you may derive it on from age to age untill you come to the Apostles and Christ For to have any false proposition of faith admitted into the Church in any age doth suppose that all they of that age must unanimously conspire to deceive their children telling them that they were taught by their Fathers to believe as of faith some proposition which indeed was not which being impossible as it will evidently appear to any prudent person that shall reasonably ponder the matter that so many men spread throughout the whole world so different in their particular interests and ends and of such various dispositions and natures should all agree together in the forgery of any precise lye which is most impossible though any one man may be liable to be deceived or out of some indirect end may be induced to deceive others Whence I come to say that faith dependeth on these two propositions First that whatsoever God said is true Next that God I said this whatsoever it be that is delivered thus by the generall practice of the Church And the primary original natural appetence of mans soule is the love of truth which it vehemently desireth and is alwayes unquiet and ardent in the search of it upon what occasion soever and this acquisition of truth is that which the soule in every action naturally aimeth at and detesteth falshood Therefore although any particular man as Dr. Taylor may have his sense or fantasie so depraved as to take imperfect or maimed impressions of outward objects or the powers of his understanding so weak as to make a preposterous and disorderly collection out of them or his judgement so misguided by preoccupation of any affection or particular end as he may in himselfe be deceived and feed his soule with falshood in stead of truth or else that sinister respects and interests or sordid apprehensions of commodity to himselfe by the sensuall passions tyrannizing over him aâ—â—o cause him to swallow mortall baits making him employ the faculties of his understanding and the powers of his soul contrary to their natural inclination to the maintaining of a lye Yet it is impossible that all mankinde or such a vast multitude of men as contain in them all the variety of dispositions and affections incident to mans nature and that are dispersed through the world so as they can have no communion together whereby they might infect one another nor can have finister ends common all alike to them all which should invite them to conspire together to forge a falshood It is impossible I say that such a company of Saints and Doctors should so degenerate from their own nature which is to love truth as they should invent a lye and that in so important a matter as faith is they should concur to deceive the world of men that should come after them in things of such nature as their deceit must of necessity damn for all eternity both themselves and all them that shall receive that lye from them and take it upon their credit This general deâ—ection from truth in mankind is as impossible as that all one entire element or any primâ—genial nature should absolutely perish Thus I conceive I have made good the Assertion that hath begotten this discourse which is that Faith conserved and practised in the Catholick Church and delivered by perpetual Succession is most certain and most infallible But all this is not enough our disquifition must not rest here we must not content our selves in this divine affair and supernatural doctâ—ine with a certitude depending only upon natural causes The wisedome of God proportioneth out congruent means to bring on every thing to their proper end and mans obtaining beatitude being the highest end that any creature can arrive unto and altogether supernatural it requireth supernatural causes to bring us to that end and a supernaural infallibility to secure us in that journey we must therefore not only have a supernatural way to travel in which is faith but also supernatural assurance of the right way which we may with an humble confidence expect and claim at Gods divine hands God therefore hath given to his Church the continual assistance of the holy Ghost to confirm it in the true faith and to preserve it from error and to illuminate the understanding of it in right disceâ—ning the true sense of those mysteries of faith that are commited to the custody of it and to work supeâ— natural effects of true devotion and sanctity in that Church For Christs doctrine is practical and aymeth at the working of an effect which is the reduction of mankind to beatitude and that this mankinde conthreâ—â— prehendeth not only those that lived in that age when he preached but also all others that ever were since or shall be to the end of the world It is apparent that to accomplish that end it was necessary Christ should so effectually imprint his doctrine in their hearts whom he delivered it unto as it might upon all occasions and at all times infallibly expresse it self in action and in the delivery of it over from hand to hand should in vertue and strength of the first operation produce ever after like effects in all others Now unto these rational considerations let us add the promises which Christ made to his Church that the gates of Hell should not prevail against it that the true Doctrine of Christ is conserved that it can never faile but must infallibly continue until the end Thus having produced that a supernatural doctrine is necessary to bâ—ing mankind to beatitude that Christ taught this doctrine that from him the Church received it and is the Sacrary in which it is conserved that this Church planted by him in the delivery over of his Doctâ—ine cannot erre and that it is perpetual And that if any particular man should goe about to introduce new doctrine of faith noâ— formerly heard of or renew old damned erâ—ors as Dr. Taylor doth drawing the Arguments of confirmation thereof out of his own ratiotination and private discourse that were enough to convince him of falshood imposture and heâ—esie since he should theâ—eby undertake to know what were impossible for him of himselfe to attain to the knowledge oâ— for herefie I count to be an opinion repugnant to the grounds of Christian Faith obstinately maintained by any that professe the name of Christ It remaineth now that I close up this discourse by applying the premisses to my purpose and matter at hand It is an undeniable truth that Baptism ordained for the