Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	believe_v	faith_n	fundamental_a	1,746	5	10.1277	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A15508	Charity mistaken, with the want whereof, Catholickes are vniustly charged for affirming, as they do with grief, that Protestancy vnrepented destroies salvation.	Knott, Edward, 1582-1656.; Matthew, Tobie, Sir, 1577-1655, attributed author.; Potter, Christopher, 1591-1646.; Potter, Christopher, 1591-1646. Want of charitie justly charged.	1630 (1630)	STC 25774; ESTC S102197	54,556	140

sees cause or not to belieue any doctrine which is not fundamentall without incuring the sentence of damnation Vpon this it followes that there is nothing in all Christian Religion which according to their groundes it imports a man more exactly to learne then what is fundamentall and what not nor which it more imports the Doctours and guides of the Protestant Church to make knowne to all that people which they pretend to guide in the way of saluation And yet neuerthelesse there is absolutely no one thing which hath beene so frequently importunately desired as that they would giue in some exact list or Catalogue of all and the only fundamentall points of faith and yet is there no one thing wherein we are so litle satisfied and which vpon the matter they doe so absolutely refuse And yet as hath beene here expressed if according to their groundes a man should faile of belieueing any one fundamental point of faith by his not knowing ●hrough their fault that the point which he belieued not was fundamentall he must be sure to perish and that for euer But the Protestants are wise inough in their owne waye and well they know what they do in order to their owne ends both when they frame the distinction of fundamentall and not fundamētall points of faith and when also they refuse to giue in a Catalogue of which is which For by making first the distinction and then by concealing the particulars contained vnder the branches thereof they saue themselues harmeles amongst ignorant people from being cōuinced to be of a different Communion and Religion both from the Fathers of the primitiue Church on the one side and from their fellow sectaries of this age on the other Whereby they gaine a kind of reputation with their vulgar auditours and readers as if th●y maintained a sufficiency of vnity with both Whereas if either they framed not the distinction of fundamentall at all or else would clearly let men know which points alone were fundamentall then this would followe That whensoeuer we should conuince them of any particular doctrine which is denied by them and which yet was belieued by the ancient Fathers they would be obliged to professe that either that point was not fundamentall which would disable them from rayling at vs for belieuing the same or else that the Fathers were of a differēt Religion in fundamentall points from them and that in their opinion those very Fathers could not be saued which would put them to much preiudice another way And so vpon the same reason they would also either be forced to renounce the cōmunion of the Lutherās if they were found to differ from thē in fundamentall points of faith or else to avowe expresly that those points which they belieued differently from them were not fundamentall which would be of no lesse dāger disreputatiō to thē But now when we vrge them for example sake with the doctrine of praying to Saints of prayer for the dead or the like out of the ancient Fathers that once we bring them from denying via facti that the Fathers taught that doctrine which yet they will be sure to confesse as cautelously as they can they then tell vs streight that those Fathers were but men and had their errours We aske them then if those errours depriue them of saluation They say noe because those points forsooth were not fundamentall and thus as hath bene said they will seeme to keepe a kinde of quarter with the Fathers In the selfe same manner when we vrge them in the name of Lutherans with the Reall Presence of of the body of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar or with their casting the Epistle of S. Iames and diuerse others out of the Canon of holy Scripture by their forbearing to avowe and declare that these points of Religion are fundamentall they goe inuisible to the eyes of simple people and still make a shift to seeme to be in vnity with the Lutherans when yet the world knowes and we haue seene that Luther himselfe declared them directly to be heretickes Not only doth this distinction of their doctrines into fundamentall and not fundamentall saue their credits amongst weake mē by making them belieue that they ioyne in vnity of faith both with the Fathers of the primitiue Church and Lutherans but they enable themselues also thereby to affirme with some very litle shewe of colour though it haue no truth at all that they haue had a continuall visible Church in all the ages since Christ our Lord without being so easily detected to the contrary And their way is this When they are prest by vs to shew a continuall visible Church of their Religion which they know well inough that they are not able to produce those aduersaryes of ours who are of any ingenuity at all are wont clearely to confesse that indeede they haue had no continuall visible Church But so also they declare that there is no necessity at all that the Church must haue beene continually visible to the eyes of men The rest who see how absurde this doctrine is say that indeede there must alwayes haue bene a visible Church but then againe they subdiuide themselues in that opinion For some fewe of them affirme when they are vrged by vs to shewe that visible Church of theirs that theirs and ours do make but one true Church and so in shewing the visibity of ours they doe withall as they say shewe their owne to haue beene visible And these men treade in this way because they well know that no other Church but ours can indeed be shewed to haue beene visible through all ages since Christ our Lord. But a third sort of men there is who pretend to shewe a Church distinct from ours which hath continually been visible in the profession and practise of the Protestant Religion Wherein Fox hath shewed the way to the gees who follow him For in fine when they are put to name their particular professours of former ages they doe but muster vp those seuerall single false doctrines which haue been held by other heretickes by retayle during tenne or twelue ages since Christ our Lord many of which Doctrines together themselues doe now professe in grosse For what other men of former times did they euer or can they euer name as men of their Religion but such as belieued some one or two of those hereticall doctrines which now themselues embrace and wherein they are contrary to vs But by that reason our aduersaries might say as well that both they and we yea and all those others also are of one and the same Religion because we all agree together in many points though we differ in many more and though we be excommu●i●ated by one an other And if their belief may be examined whom our aduersaries cite out of former times as men to whose communion in Religiō they now lay claime it will be found as hath aboundantly beene prooued that

naturally prooued that this Church is enriched with those very qualities and markes which are auowed by vs her children contested by the aduersaries thereof as namely with a perpetuall visibility or els he had giuen vs a commaunde which it were not possible for vs to obey For how should we at all times find out and consulte our difficulties and manifest our cōplaints to that Church which at all times could not be seene by the eyes of men with a most certaine infallibility For otherwise a man might perish for beleeuing and professing false doctrines through his obedience to the cōmaundant of Christ our Lord in submitting to an erring Church But especially which makes most to our purpose the entire vnity of the Church is prooued here by the exact obedience which we are obliged to exhibite to the same Church For els if there might be two seuerall true Churches dissenting from one another they might holde me for a Publican and Pagan if I did not obey them both which were impossible for me to doe they cōmaunding contrary things And if one of thē dissented from the other I must be tossed betwixt two damnations For if I should obey that true Church erring I should incurre damnation by obeying her and by embracing and persisting in her errours yet if I should not obey her I should incurre damnation by the expresse sētēce of Christ our Lord himselfe who appoints me to be held a Pagan if I obey her not And this shall suffice for this Chapter wherein we may haue seen what holy Scripture saith to this question and in the next we shall find that the Fathers of the Primitiue Church who follow it as their guide will not fayle to vtter the same voice The expresse vnity of the Church is prooued by the authority of the Fathers of the most primitiue times CHAPTER IIII. THe holy Fathers in the most primitiue times who are iustly called Fathers and reuerenced as such by vs were yet withall most obedient and humble children to the holy Catholicke Church of their time and so treading in those very steps which had beene traced out for them by the holy Ghost in holy Scripture they haue shewed many wayes how they beleeued and knewe that there was but one true Church and that the perfect vnity thereof was to be so very carefully maintained as that whosoeuer broke it must euerlastingly perish I say they haue shewed many wayes what their dictamen was herein for some of thē haue writtē whole books expresly and to no other end at all but to prooue the necessity of vnity in the Church of Christ our Lord as namely S. Cyprian and S. Augustine Others haue written framed expresse Catalogues of all the heresyes which had risen in the Church of Christ our Lord from his Ascensiō to heauē til their own time expresly shewing hereby that both the vnity of the Church was directly broken by the obstinate beliefe of any one doctrine which was held in disobedience to the same Church and withall that whosoeuer did so breake it must forfet the saluatiō of his soule thereby And this was doone by S. Epiphanius Bishop of Cyprus by Philastrius Bishop of Brescia both who are cited to this purpose by the incomparable S. Augustine in his treatise de heresibus ad Quod vult Deū Where himself also maks an exact Catalogue of all the heresies which had sprung vntill his time and where by the way I must needs obserue in a word that he recoūts diuers heresies which are held by the Protestāt Church at this day and particularly that of denying prayers and sacrifices for the dead and then he concludes in the end that whosoeuer should hold any one of them were not Christian Catholick Besides this way of proofe concerning the vnity of the Church I will also cite the Fathers who are full of expresse and positiue texts whereby vpon occasion they proue the vnity of the Church and I will begin with S. Ireneus who discourses thus Lib. 1. cap. 3. Hac praedicatione c. The Church hauing receiued this word preached and this faith as was shewed before and hauing spred the same ouer the whole world doth diligently preserue it as inhabiting one house and doth likewise beleeue those thinges which are taught thereby as hauing one soule one heart in the same conformity she preaches and teaches deliuers it as indeed possessing but one mouth For though there be in the world different expressions tongues yet the vertue and power of Tradition is but one and the same And neither those Churches which are found in Germany nor those others in Spaine nor those in France nor they which are in the Easterne parts nor they which are in Egypt nor they which are in Libya nor they which ar setled in the middle parts of the world doe beleeue or make traditiō of doctrine any otherwise in one place thē in another But as that creature of God the Sunne is one and the same in the whole world so is the preaching of the truth a light which shews euery wheare and illuminates all men who will come to the knowledge of the truth And those Prelates of Churches who haue most power and grace of speache will deliuer no other things but these For noe man is aboue his maister neither will such an one as hath meaner talents in speach make this doctrine and Tradition lesse but since Faith is but one and the same neither doth he inlarge it who is able to speake much of it nor that other diminish it whoe speakes lesse De praescrip aduer Haeret Valentinus c. Tertullian shewes plainly that whosoeuer denyes any one doctrine of the Church reiecteth all for thus he sayeth vpon occasion Valentinus approueth some things of the law and the Prophets some things be disavowes that is be disallowes all whilest he approues some And the same Tertullian De praescrip c. 8. Caeterū multos c. doth also elswhere in the same booke inferre the truth of Catholicke doctrine by the exacte vnity thereof whilest he sayth after this manner Quod apud multos c. That which is found to be one amongst soe many is not to be thought to haue crept in by errour but to haue beene recommended by Tradition S. Cirill Patriarche of Ierusalem Catech. 18. assigning reasons why the Church of Christ our Lord is called Catholicke doth excellently giue this one amongst the rest Quia docet Catholicè id est vniuersaliter c Because she teacheth Catholickely that is to say vniuersally and without any defect or difference all those doctrines which ought to be knowne concerning things either visible or inuisible celestiall or terrestriall S. Cyprian in his booke de vnitate Ecclesiae sayeth thus Ecclesia Domini luce perfusa c. of the vnity of the Church The Church being stroken through by the light of our Lord doth sende her beams throughout the whole

humane and fallible motiue whatsoeuer it is cleare that I could haue no supernaturall faith at all euen concerning that one single article of Catholicke doctrine And the same is to be said of the rest whether they be many or few great or smalle And the vndoubted reason hereof is because I giue not my firme assent to it vpon the only true infallible motiue which is the reuelatiō of God the propositiō of his Church For whatsoeuer is lesse then this cannot erect and qualifie an act of supernaturall faith with must be absolutely vndoubted and certaine and otherwise it is noe true faith at all but opinion and persuasion or humane beliefe He therfore with belieues not euery particular Article of Catholicke Doctrine which is reuealed and propounded by Almightie God and his Church doth no assent euē to any one of them which he belieues vpon the sayd only true and infallible motiue For if he did he would as certainely or rather indeede could not choose but as willingly belieue all the rest since they all come recomended to him by the same Authority And now if there be truth in this which indeed cannot be called into any question the Catholikes and Protestants are farre inough from being of one faith and Church since it is demonstrated that besides the maine differēces which runne betweene vs either they or we haue not really any true and supernaturall faith at all of any one doctrine of the Church wherein yet we seeme to consent together For as Turkes and Mores who belieue in God the Father haue yet no true supernaturall faith euen of that one single Article nor the Iewes of any thing contained euen in the old Testament so neither hath any heticke of any thing contained either in the old or new since they all resemble one another in this that whatsoeuer they belieue it is not done vpon that motiue which only can make an act of true and supernaturall faith And thus it shall suffice me to haue proued according to the maine proiect of this discourse that there is but one true faith which is the foundation of the only one true Religion which is exercised in one only true Church wherewith Christians are bound to communicate and that out of this Church there is no saluation to be found and lastly that both Catholicks and Protestants can by no meanes be accounted for members of one and the same true Church of Christ our Lord. But Protestants Qui nolunt intelligere vt bene agant though their reason tell them that al this is true do yet find their Religion to be so vnsoundly built that they can hardly be drawne to an acknowledgment thereof And therefore they are wont to say that such vnity of faith as this whereof we haue spoken is a kind of impracticable thing in this life that the holy Scripture speaking thereof is not to be vnderstood in such a rigid sense that the Fathers of the primitiue Church were too precise that way that their discourse of this kind was metaphysicall and that saluation is no so hard to be obtained but that there is roome inough in heauen for both Religions And finally they obiect that there is no such exact vnity as I haue her described euen amongst vs Catholickes and that thēselues maintaine a sufficiency of vnity in faith both with the Fathers of the primitiue Church and with their owne fellow brethren the Lutheranes yea some moreouer will be so courteous as to professe that they agree euen with vs moderne Papists in all Fundamentall points of faith But I will consider in the next chapter both how litle reason they haue in what they obiect herein against vs and in what also they alleadge for themselues The auoiding of three obiections which they make against vs to disproue our vnitie in faith amongst our selues and of a fourth allegation whereby they would shew that they hold as much vnity both with the Lutherans and euen with vs Catholickes at this day as they are boūd to maintaine CHAPTER VII THey first striue to impeach our vnity in faith by obiecting that variety of opiniōs in some points which they find by our books to be amongst vs whereby they would inferre that there is also amongst vs a diuersity of beliefe and faith and there is nothing more vsuall with them then this discourse But the answere is shortly and clerely this That wheresoeuer they find our Doctours to be of a contrary opiniō they shall also find those points in question not be haue bene defined by the Church but left at liberty to be debated and disputed as men see cause Such are a world of difficultyes betweene the Thomists and Scotists de auxilijs betwene the Dominicans and the Iesuites wherein either side defendes that which they take to be the truth opposing the contrary opinion by all the argumēts that occure And both sides the while are resolued ready to submit to the iudgmēt definitiō of the Church whensoeuer it shall be declared so captiuating their vnderstanding to the obediēce of faith as the Apostle exhorts And in the meane time they preserue the spirit of charitie in the bond of peace If our aduersaries could sh●w that they erected Altare contra altare or that they were resolued not to obey to the definition of the Church when it were declared they should haue reason on their side but otherwise they are either very ignorant or els full of malice who make this obiection And let them either shew what Iesuite and Dominican breakes communion with on another or els betake thēselues to some better prooffes The next obiection is yet more stupide then the former and I wonder how Caluins rage against the Church could put him so farre out of his wits as that he would euer take it into his mouth For it is he who being pricked by our noting their want of vnity towards their fellow brethren thinkes to re●ort it backe vpon vs by saying that we are not in case to obiect any such thing against them forasmuch as that forsooth we haue as many sects amongst vs as we haue seuerall Orders of Religious men and then he rekons vp Benedictans Carmelites Dominicans Franciscans whom els he will Wicked man who well knewe that no one of those holy Orders doth differ in any one point of doctrine from any of the rest are so farre from breaking communion with them as that still they preuent one another in all honour and good respects according to the aduice of the Blessed Apostle and much more do they exhibite all possible reuerence and obedience to the same Church and the Prelates thereof The difference which indeede raignes amongst them is who shal strip themselues soonest of all earthly incombrance and so fly the faster to heauen They haue seuerall Rules indeed which were framed by their seuerall Founders those men of God whereby they might the better direct their course to this iourneyes end according

to those seuerall spirits which our Lord imparts to seueral persons For though any man may be good in any lawfull state of life but especially in some holy Order of Religion yet because men are not only of seuerall constitutions in body but of as seuerall dispositions also in minde and that some are apter for contemplation others for a more actiue life some for corporall austerities others for mentall reflections and mortifications some for catechising preaching and cōfessing others for silence and recollectiō Vt omnis spiritus laudent Dominum it was most agreable to the sweete prouidence of Almighty God to inspire his eminēt seruants with seuerall spirits who might erect seuerall Orders at seuerall times which seuerall natures might affect and so apply themselues to God both more cheerfully more fruitfully therein especially if they conserue that spirit with which the Order was first indued And as wel wisely might Caluin haue cōfest a differēce of Religion amongst thēselues because some men weare gownes others cloakes as to haue argued a disuniō amongst our Religious men because of their differēce in habit or diet either frō other Orders or else from secular people I heare them also make a third obiectiō against our vnity in points of faith in regard of the difference betweene our learned and vnlearned men for in consequence thereof they say that some one of vs belieues incomparably more then an other For the clearing of this point I will open a certaine distinction the subiect whereof they are wont to lay to our chardge as a crime but if they lend me a litle patience the same will serue them for a light to let them see that thēselues are out of the way This distinction is of Explicite and Implicite faith A man is sayd to haue Explicite faith of any Article or doctrine when he hath heard it particularly propounded to him and hath some particular knowledge thereof and giues particular assent thereunto But as for Implicite faith of any Article or doctrine a man is then sayd to haue it when he belieues that concerning it which the Church teaches them explicitly who are capable thereof although for his owne part he haue not perhaps so much as heard of it in particular or if he did he hath forgot it or if he remember it he hath not capacity inough to apprehend or vnderstand it But howsoeuer as I sayd he is resolued to belieue both of that and all things else as the Church teaches wil giue an Explicite consent to it whē he shal be informed hereof be made ab●e to vnderstand it hath this firme resolutiō that he will neuer hold he cōtrary either of that or of any other thing which they Church shal require him to belieue This I say is our doctrine concerning Explicite and Implicite faith and I dare confidently affirme that whosoeuer considers the same indifferently and with a resolution to receaue satisfaction if there be cause and not to be still cauilling whether there because or noe will confesse that not only the doctrine of Explicite and Implicite faith doth not only not impeach our vnity in beliefe in regard that some mē belieue some things more Explicitely ●hen others do but that if it were possible to abo●ish this doctrine which indeed it is impossible to do because it is rather deliuered vs by the voice of nature it selfe which hath ordained a different capacity in the mindes of men it would be wholly impossible to maintaine any Church in any vnity of faith at all For example will any man amōgst them be so absurd as to cōceaue that any plough man or Trades man or silly Woman doth belieue the same things Explicitely concerning Originall sinne or the relation which runnes betweene free will and grace and a hundred other questions of this nature which may be Explicitly belieued by some principall Doctour of diuinity amōgst them who haue particular studied these questions And if they confesse they cannot will they be content that we shall inferre thereby that there is no vnity of faith maintained amongst them Infallibly they will not and therefore it is but reason that they measure as they would be measured to and that they acknowledge that if dissension in point of faith could depend vpon the Explicitenesse or Implicitenesse of a mans belieuing seuerall doctrines there would be in effect as many seuerall faithes amongst vnlearned Christians as there are seuerall capacities For as much as we can hardly finde two such men whereof the one belieues iust as much Explicitely and no more then the other doth because the notice and the attention and the capacity and the memory and the profession is euer in effect more or lesse in one then in another and according to the more or lesse of these circumstance will the Articles Explicitely beleiued be either more or lesse The truth concerning this particular holds not only in the Catholicke Church but in all congregations which professe any Religion whatsoeuer consisting of seuerall Articles parts They who are learned and haue eminent endowments of nature and apply themselues with particular industry must euer belieue Explicitely more points of their Religion whatsoeuer it be and those others who are of contraries qualities must belieue Explicitely fewer points And this is also clear that the more points of any Religion which a man belieues Explicitely the fewer doth the leaue himselfe to belieue Implicitely and so on the contrary side the more he belieues Implicitely he reaches so much the fewer with an Explicite faith He may must belieue all the Articles and Doctrines of his Religion with a true entire most certaine and supernatural faith but that he should belieue them all with an Explicite faith is neither necessary nor possible But by belieuing as much as he can with an Explicite faith and what he can not with an Implicite a Cardinal Bellarmine and a Collier nay the simplest Catholicke woman in the whole world and the most glorious Mother of God if she liued still on earth should be absolutely fully of the selfe same Religion faith wi●h one another So that the sw●rd of our aduersaries prooues a buckler to vs and that obiection which they make to disproue our vnity in faith vnder which they would both shelter their weaknes when we iustly obiect their departure from the Church against thē also authorize their malice when they haue a minde to cast the scandall of affected ignorance vpon vs prooues a foundation to vs of that truth which shewes how our vnity is made perfect These are the three obiections which Protestants are wont to make against our vnity in point of faith And now there remaines an allegation or argumt wherby they procure to defend themselues against our obiectiō that they want vnity amongst themselues For in vertue hereof they affirme that they ought not to be held in disunion either with the Fathers of the primitiue Church