Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	authority_n	church_n	pillar_n	1,970	5	10.4442	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01020	Deuout contemplations expressed in two and fortie sermons vpon all ye quadragesimall Gospells written in Spanish by Fr. Ch. de Fonseca Englished by. I. M. of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford; Discursos para todos los Evangelios de la Quaresma. English	Fonseca, Cristóbal de, 1550?-1621.; Cecil, Thomas, fl. 1630, engraver.; Mabbe, James, 1572-1642?	1629 (1629)	STC 11126; ESTC S121333	902,514	708

hearken vnto thee when thou hast him alone tell him therof the second time before one or two This condition taken in the first sence de iniuria propria touching an iniurie done to myne own person is verie facile easie for hauing first taken him aside and priuatly acquainted him with the wrong he hath done me if this faire proceeding will not preuaile with him I may then lawfully tell him his own before one or two witnesses that they may see as Euthymius saith that I complie with my dutie and with that which God hath commanded me to doe In the second sence touching the sinning against our Neighbour and against God this seemeth to some somewhat too hard a course for the sinne beeing secret the partie reprehended before two witnesses may replie and say vnto me That I lie that there is no such matter that I defame him and call his name in question and complaining of me to the Iustice he may prooue the defamation vpon mee but I not prooue the delict vpon him Saint Hierome saith That these two witnesses ought likewise to bee his reproouers and to put to their helping hand to raise him that is fallen who cannot be Correctors of him the sinne not appearing in regard it is secret Saint Augustine likewise saith That he that correcteth a man must take one or two witnesses vnto him that the correction may be the more effectuall and the more substantiall For By the mouth of two or three euery word is confirmed so saith the Law Id est in testimonio vel sermone by the testimonie or speech vsing the figure Metonimia when the cause is put for the effect For this inconuenience sake some say That before I correct my brother the second time I should make one or two witnesses acquainted with his fault that they may ioyne with me in the correcting of him and to the end that the correction may be the grauer and the more effectuall And to him that shall replie How can I reueale that sinne which in it selfe is secret They answer That it is a lesse ill that two or three should know of it and that by them he should rather suffer losse in his fame than in his soule Against these two witnesses we haue the authoritie of Saint Augustine who willeth That if any religious person shall commit any notorious sinne or other scandalous action to his calling thou shalt first teprooue him for it in secret and if then he shall not amend his fault to reueale the same to his Bishop or Superiour And he sets it downe as a ruled Case That it were rather crueltie than charitie not to open the wound of the Soule And his reason is Ne deterius putrescat in corde Lest it grow worse and worse ranckling and festring in the heart as it is in the hiding of a wound in the bodie from the eye of the Surgeon Nor let them thinke that you doe this out of malice or ill will for you offend more in suffering your brother to perish by your silence than by reuealing his fault for his good T●is opinion of Saint Augustine made Thomas to confesse That after the first admonition I may reueale to the Prelat the delict of my brother as to a father for in verie deed your Prelates haue in this kind farre greater authoritie So that s●ch or such a sinne being to be reuealed supposing two preceding witnesses may be reuealed to the Prelat as to a Iudge but no witnesses preceding only by admonition as to a father Against this Truth there is a great argument grounded out of the said Saint Augustine In his rebus c. In those things wherein the sacred Scripture sets downe no certaintie the custome of Gods people or the d●crees of our Auncestors are to bee held for Law And the custome and vse of our Ancestors is That these delicts should be reuealed to the Superiors one while by denunciation another while by accusation without any preceding admonition so is it ordered in their Edicts without exception of any kind of faul●s whatsoeuer I answer Your Edicts are so farre forth to bee vnderstood and approoued as that they shall not any way thwart or infringe the Law of the Gospell in that which appertaineth to admonitions witnesses that therfore your superiors haue not put these things in their Edicts for that they are to be presupposed And if he wil not vouchsafe to heare thee tell it vnto the Church or make it known to his Prelat for so doth Saint Chrysostome and Saint Hierome expound it Nor doth our Sauiour Christ here treat of the secular Iudge nor secular Lawes but those that are Ecclesiasticall And therefore he saith Dic Ecclesiae Tell it to the Church for the power of Excommunication did belong vnto the Synagogues as appeareth by Saint Marke and Saint Iohn For the casting of the blind man out of the Synagogue was the same as Excommunication is now amongst the Christians But first of all two witnesses are required to the end that shame may worke the Delinquent to amendment of his fault but if this medicine shal not cure this his maladie then sharper corrasiues are to be applied to this Sore Vt qui non potuit pudore saluetur opprobrijs That him whom shame could not recal reproch should so saith Saint Hierome If he heare not the Church let him be vnto thee as a Heathen and a Publican Such Soueraigne authoritie hath the Church by the presence of Christ and such is it's firmenesse that it being as an immoouable Piller of Truth The gates of Hell shall not preuaile against it And of such continuance Christs fauour towards it that he seales this assurance with an E●ce c. Behold I am with you till the end of the world And such the especiall prouidence of the blessed Spirit towards it that hee that shall despise it his case is to bee accounted desperate These two Truths the Church by long and many experiences hath made good vnto vs. The one That hee that honours and respects the Church receiueth very great and singular fauours from Heauen He that shall glorifie me and in mee my Spouse and Ministers of my Word I will glorifie him And of these the Histories are full both Diuine and Humane Of Dauid of Iosias of Alexander Magnus Theodosius and Charlemaigne who triumphed ouer powerfull enemies for that they had respected the authoritie and dignitie of the Church preferring stil the same before the honour of their owne Crowns The other That they who haue despised and contemned it haue euer beene held base and vile They that contemne me and in mee my Spouse and my Ministers shall bee esteemed base and ignoble As amongst the Hebrewes it was to bee seene in a Saul an Ozias a Manasses Among the Romans in a Pompeius Magnus who prophaned the sacred Temple of Hierusalem yet durst not come to touch it's Treasure so Cicero affirmeth c. Thomas hath

hee said Quid faciam What course shall I take with these men Secondly He intimates a strange kind of sorrow arising from this perplexity If I am Lord where is my feare If I be a father where is my honour In the end hee resolued with Gaifas Let my Sonne die He indeered as much as he could the force of his loue sending him to saue these Murderers from death but this could not appease their malice To slay his Prophets was more than a great malice but to take away the life of his onely Sonne and heire was excessiue Saint Hierome saith There was no weight no number no measure in the ones clemencie nor in the others malice This was a Consummatum est a fulnesse of his me●cie a fulnesse of their malice Verebuntur filium meum They will reuerence my Sonne Saint Luke addeth a Fortè thereunto And the Greeke Originall a Forsitan Howbeit it may goe for an Affirmatiue as well as Vtique Forsitan petisses ab eo ipse dedisset tibi aquam c. And so againe Si crederitis Moysi crederetis forsitan mihi If yee had beleeued Moses yee would likewise haue beleeued me And so it sorts well with that Text both of Saint Mathew and Saint Marke who absolutely say Verebuntur filium meum They will reuerence my Sonne In neither of these is a May bee or a Forsitan and onely to signifie the great reuerence which was due vnto him Where by the way Saint Chrysostome hath noted this vnto vs That God for all these their outrages did desire no furthe● satisfaction from them than to see them abasht and ashamed ofthis their ingratitude and crueltie Benigno Domino sufficiebat sola vindicta pudoris misit enim confundere non punire It was their blushing not their bleeding that he desired hee wisht their shame and not their confusion Parum supplicij satis est patri pro ●●lio God is so kind and louing a Father that hee thinkes a little punishment enough for his Children Saint Bernard saith That the whole life of our Sauiour Christ from the Cratch to the Crosse was to keepe vs from sinning out of meere shame and that his maine drift euer was to leaue vs confounded and ashamed of our selues that our sinnes and wickednesse should force God against his will to punish vs For he takes no delight in the death of a Sinner Ecclesiasticu● makes a large memoriall of those things which ought to make a man blush and be ashamed of himselfe Be ashamed of whoredome before a father and mother be ashamed of lies before the Prince and men of authoritie of sinne before the Iudge and Ruler of offence before the Congreation and People of vnrighteousnesse before a companion and friend and of theft before the place where thou dwellest before the truth of God his Couenant to lean with thine elbows vpon the bread or to be reproued for giuing or taking of silence to them that salute thee to look vpon an harlot to turn away thy face from thy Kinseman or to take away a portion or gift or to be euill minded towards another mans wife or to solicite any mans mayd or to stand by her bed or to reproach thy friends with words or to vpbraid when thou giuest any thing or to report a matter that thou hast heard or to reueale secret words Thus mayst thou well be shamefaced shalt find fauour with all men This Erubescite must be the burthen of the Song to euerie one of these Versicles It is a foule and a shamefull thing to doe any of these things in the presence of graue persons to whom we owe a respect Much more foule in the presence of God who stands at thy elbow in all thy actions But foulest of all to commit these things in the presence of the Sonne of God whome his Father sent to bee thy Master thy Tutor and nayled him to the Crosse for thy sinnes that thou mightst bee ashamed to commit the like againe considering the great torment that he suffered for thee Some deuout picture or Image doth sometimes restraine a desperate sinner from committing some foule offence What would it worke then with him had God himselfe stood there present before him It may be they will reuerence my Sonne Say that wee take this Fort● or Forsit●● in the same sence as the words themselues sound it is a point worthie our con●ideration That the innumerable summe of those infinite fauours which God did to his Vineyard should end in a Peraduenture and stand vpon hap-hazard A man may thinke it somewhat strange That God should come to any place vpon vncertainties but God is so good a God that he doth not so much proportion his blessings by the measure of his Wisedome as his Loue not that he doth not certainly know what we will be but because he would faine haue vs to be what we should be For if he should reward vs according to those our actions which he in his prescience and eternall essence foresees will come to passe Who of vs should be left aliue or who of vs should bee borne Onely the Innocent saith Theodoret should then be fauoured And therefore rather than it should bee so he was willing to put it vpon the venture how or what we might prooue heereafter He knew before hand that Lucifer should fall that Adam should sin that Saul should turn disobedient that Iudas should sel him betray him yet did he not forbeare for all this to throw his fauours vpon them S. Ambrose asketh the question Why Christ would make choice of Iudas when as he knew before hand that he would betray him And his answer thereunto is That it was to justifie his loue and to shew the great desire that he had that all should bee saued yea euen Iudas himselfe And therefore knowing his couetous disposition hee made him his Purse-bearer that he might shut the doore to his excuses and that he might not haue iust cause to say That he was in want lackt mony so was forced out of meere necessitie to betray and sel his Master which otherwise he would neuer haue done but the deliuering ouer the Purse vnto him tooke away that obiection Well then What can this Traitor say for himselfe That Christ did not countenance him as he did the rest or that hee made light reckoning of him Neither will this hold water for hee had made him an Apostle hee was listed in the rolle with the rest hee wrought miracles as well as his Fellowes receiued many other fauours from his Masters hands The same reason may serue as well for the Iewes as Iudas For our Sauior knew that they should put him to death yet for all this would not he cease to shew his loue vnto them Hic est haeres venite occidamus eum nostra erit haereditas This is the heire come let vs kill him and let