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
A19614	Collections out of S. Augustine and some few other Latine writers upon the first part of the Apostles Creed. By John Crompe, Master of Arts of C.C.C. in Cambridge, and vicar of Thornham in Kent. First preached in his Parish Church; and now inlarged (as here followes) for more publike use.	Crompe, John.	1638 (1638)	STC 6048; ESTC S117464	55,567	64

with any jewels stollen from the Aegyptians or fabulous fictions of the Gentiles or sorraine and far-fetcht dresses of humane Arts and Sciences n●ither with any other strong and strained lines and the like Sed tantummodo Evangelicis verbis enunciare But fairly smoothly to derive my proofes and interpretation thereof onely from the sacred foun●aines as I said before For as S. Ierome saith Fides pura aperta confessio non quaerit strophas argumenta verborum that is Subtill and Scholasticall disputes or other verball arguments are no whit requisite in the pure and publike profession and confession of our Christian faith And this sufficeth for the title Now to the words themselves AN EXPOSITION UPON THE Apostles Creed Credo in Deum Patrem omnipotentem Factorem Coeli Terrae c. That is I beleeve in God the Father Almightie Maker of Heaven and Earth c. WHere first wee are to take notice of the first word Credo I beleeve which shewes as S. Augustine saith Quod non debemus discutere divina judicia sed credere In locum Serm. 181. nec rationem requirere sed fidem simpliciter immobiliter exhibere That wee ought not to question or dispute of divine mysteries but to beleeve them nor so much to require a reason of them as simply and undoubtedly yea immovably and without staggering to submit our faith and credence unto them For there are many things belonging to the salvation of Gods children which if everie plaine and simple man were driven to finde out a reason for upon the paine of his damnation hee were never able to doe it and so consequently could never be saved Nay the most learned and chiefe pillars of the Church of God themselves have beene at a stand in some of them which made S. Paul to cry out Oh the deepnesse of the riches both of the wisdome and knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgements and his wayes past finding out Rom. 11.33 And therefore Succumbat ratio fidei captiva quiescat Humane sense and naturall reason must yeeld and submit themselves when faith comes in place For faith is the evidence of things not seene saith the Author to the Hebrewes Chap. 11.1 that is not perceived or understood by the eyes of the body no nor of the minde neither but onely beleeved to be so because God which cannot lie hath said it is so So that Fides incipit ubi ratio desinit There is no place no roome for faith till reason can goe no farther For if wee could comprehend the deepe mysteries of God by reason then it were knowledge and not faith that should apprehend and lay hold upon them Now our knowledge in this life is imperfect saith S. Paul but in the next life we shall know even as we are knowne and see face to face as we are seene For then that which is perfect being come that which is imperfect shall be done away 1 Cor. 13.9 10. But now in this life abideth faith and hope as there followes vers 13. which gave occasion to S. Augustine so often in his works to call this life Tempus fidei The time of faith and beleeving answerable to that of S. Paul elsewhere Nunc per fidem ambulamus c. Now wee walke by faith and not by sight 2 Cor. 5.7 Againe if by knowledge onely men might attaine unto salvation then none but the great Clerks and learned Rabbies of the world should be capable thereof and the illiterat and ignorant poore man such as S. Peter and S. Iohn were before their calling Acts 4.13 should be quite excluded from all hope of grace and mercie But God whose mercies are above all other his works hath otherwise provided that now by the meanes of faith and beleefe the meane as well as the mightie and the poore as well as the rich may be made partakers of salvation And therefore for use and conclusion of this point let us not strive so much in this life to know as to be strong in faith and firmly to beleeve for if wee beleeve now wee shall know hereafter For too great a desire to know hath wrought our woe it being the only occasion first of our sinne and secondly of our miserie Quod homo voluit scire antequam crederet saith Cusanus That man would know before he did beleeve For by this meanes Arbor scientiae complures privavit arbore vitae The tree of knowledge hath deprived many of the tree of life And never any but heretikes did Concludere fidem intra limites humani intellectus as Alfonsus à Castro speakes that is Shut up their faith within the narrow lists and limits of mans shallow and simple understanding but it is the part and propertie of a true Christian Captivare intellectum in obsequium Christi To captivate and subdue his understanding unto the doctrine of Christ Secondly this word Credo I beleeve tells us that we must not only not dispute in matters of faith but so far subject our reason unto faith that wee doe it also without doubting without staggering For Dubius in fide infidelis est It is scarce faith at all if there be any doubting in it as appeares by that speech of our Saviour unto his doubting Apostle Thomas Put thy finger here and put it into my side and be not faithlesse but beleeve Ioh. 20.27 And Vt aliquid fides vere appelletur certitudinem exigit firmitatem in eo qui eam tenet saith the former Alfonsus that is Whatsoever is properly and truly called faith hath certaintie in it and stedfastnesse of beleefe in him that holds it Otherwise saith hee if assurance and stabilitie be wanting and any the least scruple arising it is not to be accounted faith but doubting only or opinion This being the difference between faith and opinion Quod qui credit tenaciter adhaeret That he which beleeves sticks so close unto his Tenet that no man or meanes shall be able to withdraw him from it or to wry him another way whereas hee that doth but hold opinion onely Sic accedit suae sententiae ut aliquantulum haesitet mobili intellectu assentiat Hee comes but doubtingly and with an uncertaine assent unto it As to the opinions of the Philosophers which were truths onely of consequence upon supposed grounds still disputable and therefore still uncertaine Whereas our doctrine the doctrine of Christians is a truth of foundation without question and therefore not disputed but beleeved and thorowly setled in our hearts by the operation and power of him who is both the Author and the Finisher of it as the Scripture speaketh And therefore in these fundamentall grounds of our Christian faith away with doubting and hesitation For hee that doubteth and wavereth in these is like a wave of the sea tossed of the wind and carried away as S. Iames saith Iam. 1.6 But let everie one amongst us not onely men but women also yea and children

similitude whereof man was made but adding a pronoune of the plurall number to these nounes of the singular as our image and our similitude it clearely demonstrates a pluralitie of persons as well as the other did but one God for if there were but one person as the heretique Sabellius would inferre he had not said our image but mine nor our likenesse but only my likenesse The same likewise viz. the pluralitie of persons in the God-head is further proved in another place of the same booke of Genesis and that is chap. 19. vers 24. where it is said Then the Lord rained upon Sodome and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven now if there were but one person in the God-head what Lord should this be that should thus raine fire and brimstone from the Lord but Lord being twice named it doth plainly shew the Sonne to be hee that rained Quoniam à Patre genitus Because he is begotten of his Father And the Father to be him from whom hee rained because hee is not à Domino sed ingenitus not from the Lord being unbegotten but the Lord raining from the Lord must needs be the Sonne from the Father who à quo habet esse ab illo habet operari looke from whom hee hath his essence from him also hee hath his operation and therefore it is said that by him were all things made Ioh. 1.3 And yet further Ego Paterunum sumus I and my Father are one saith Christ himselfe Ioh. 10.30 And againe this is life eternall to know thee to be the onely true God and whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ Ioh. 17.3 both which places shew plainly a pluralitie of persons though but one God But you will say that howsoever these places and the like may be sufficient to prove a Dualitie or that there are two persons in the God-head as Father and Sonne yet they doe not prove a Trinitie or that there are three persons in the same as we are farther taught to beleeve and therefore you desire proofe of this also for the better strengthening of your faith in that point which I am content to yeeld unto though it were more proper when wee shall come to that article of beleeving in the third person of this blessed Trinitie that is the Holy Ghost But if this be sufficiently proved now that labour may be spared then hearken therefore for you farther satisfaction in this point to that which followes when Abraham sate in his tent doore in the plaine of Mamre in the heat of the day it is said that the Lord appeared unto him and he lift up his eyes and looked and loe three men stood by him and when hee saw them hee ran to meet them from the rent doore and bowed himselfe to the ground and he said Lord if I have now found favour in thy sight goe not I pray thee from thy servant Gen. 18.1 2 3. Here you see three appeared yet Abraham speakes but as to one saying Lord and thy and thee all in the singular number Yea the Text it selfe expresseth these three to be but one Lord saying That the Lord appeared vers 1. and yet three appeared vers 2. Secondly the Prophet David saith God even our owne God shall blesse us God shall blesse us and all the ends of the earth shall feare him Psal 67. ult where hee names God thrice to shew a Trinitie of persons and then concludeth with All shall feare him expressing these three persons to be notwithstanding but one God Thirdly the Prophet Esay speaking of the Seraphims praising the Lord sayes they did it after this manner saying Holy holy holy is the Lord God of hosts the whole world is full of his glorie Esa 6.3 where by crying thrice holy they demonstrate a Trinitie of persons and by saying Lord God and his glorie in the singular number they declare also the Unitie of the same And these proofes shall serve out of the Old Testament in the new likewise we finde sundrie to the same purpose and we will begin with S. Paul first who saith That of him and through him and for him are all things to him therefore be glorie for ever Amen Rom. 11. ult where having named him thrice hee shewes the three persons and adding to him and not to them be glorie hee likewise manifestly teaches but one God And againe hee shewes the Trinitie in another place verie plainly though not the Unitie viz. when he sayes The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all 2 Cor. 13. ult where the three persons are expressely named which is as much as we looke for at this time having plentifully proved the Unitie before S. Iohn likewise saith There are three that beare record in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one 1 Ioh. 5 7. where both Trinitie and Unitie are apparently expressed as also in the Revelation Holy holy holy Lord God Almightie which was and which is and which is to come Revel 4.8 And lastly our Saviour himselfe likewise to manifest the same unto his Church in after ages commands his Apostles at his last farewel from them on earth to goe unto all Nations and to baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the Holy Ghost Matth. 28.19 which should never have beene done if these three Persons had not beene one and the same God Now then to finish this point if you understand these things give praise and thankes unto God that hath made you capable of such high and hidden mysteries by enabling you so to doe if you doe not understand yet faithfully beleeve and it may be a meanes to save your soules And in particular for the present Article in hand beleeve the confession of Saint Peter which hee made unto Christ himselfe demanding of his Disciples who he was Simon Peter answered for all the rest Thou art Christ the Son of the living God Matth. 16.16 So say you every one for himselfe I beleeve in Jesus Christ the Son of God The next circumstance is that he is unicus his onely Son And in Jesus Christ his only Son So that he is to be beleeved not onely to be his Son but his onely Son too for thus the holy Scriptures declare him and therefore it is our parts so to beleeve him As first where it is said The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we saw the glory thereof as the glory of the only begotten Son of the Father full of grace and truth Ioh. 1.14 And againe No man hath seene God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him verse the tenth of the same Chapter But if Christ be Gods only Son how then are we also called his sons will you say unto me yea and the Angels likewise are termed his