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	life_n	4,645	5	4.9113	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56411	The fire's continued at Oxford, or, The decree of the convocation for burning the Naked gospel, considered in a letter to a person of honour	Parkinson, James, 1653-1722.	1690 (1690)	Wing P494; ESTC R1197	18,231	16

Facto only Have we not reasonable grounds to suspect the Passive-Obedience-men of the Convocation to be such And perhaps our Author may have somewhat more incurr'd their Enmity by his being as I hear he is a de Jure Liege-man and did not join his Sufferage in that Decree This burning Decree of the Convocation of Oxford July 21. 83. brings fresh to my Mind the most unjust Expulsion of Mr. Parkinson from that University and consequently from his Fellowship in Lincoln-Colledg whereby and from his Pupils he receiv'd about 120 l. per Annum of all which he was depriv'd without any Trial about the very time of that Convocation and for holding as was pretended some of those Propositions condemned by that Decree and whilst he stood indicted for the same at the Assizes of Oxford where and at the King's-Bench Westminster he was forced to give attendance for about three Years And tho' he has been restor'd to the Liberty of the University by the late Vice-Chancellor now Bishop of Bristol yet to this Day he cannot procure restoration to his Fellowship much less reparation of his great Damages sustain'd in the space of full seven Years How does Dr. H 's Conscience suffer him to sleep while it is not done since he was the chief Agent in that Expulsion Let me enquire now how these Gentlemen-burners make good their Sentence That the Naked Gospel plucks up by the Roots the Primitive Doctrine once delivered to the Saints destroys the chief Mysteries of our Religion and not only denies but exposes to scorn that very Jesus Christ our Lord who bought us and who is God blessed for ever A heavy Charge indeed and which is to be abominated by all Christians But what shall we say of these Judges if they fail in their Proofs must they not fall under the Character of false Accusers and unjust Judges The Matters contain'd in the Book from first to last shew plainly that the Author is neither Arian nor Socinian for he is so far from denying even the Eternal Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ that he plainly enough confesses it but if he both confesses it and denies it he contradicts himself and cannot be said absolutely either to confess or deny it But that he confesses it and denies only the necessity of understanding and believing the manner of it appears in divers Passages which is one main distinction which the Learned Judges ought to have considered As 1. Chap. 5. pag. 24. I st Edit The same infinite absolute implicit Belief which is acknowledged due to God is also due to Christ Which could not be said by one that did not believe him an Infinite God Again 2. Chap. 6. pag. 36. Other Characters speak an unmeasurable Excellency but this the only begotten Son of God speaks an incommunicable One. And a few Lines after he addeth That the Divinity of our Lord maketh the Dignity of his Person unintelligible and for that very reason he is to be believed in with utmost confidence P. 37. Then consider 3. what he affirmeth Pag. 39. that our Saviour in answering the Jews who were offended at him for having stiled himself the Son of God did not upon so pressing occasion assert his right but abating so much as exceeded their comprehension speaks nothing of what he had been from Eternity in himself but what he was in relation to the World and in comparison with other Messengers of God to it Thus did he like Elijah contract himself to their Dimensions requiring only such a measure of Faith as was suitable to their Vnderstandings and his own Designs Here the Author saying that our Lord did not assert his Right must mean his Right to that Title which the Jews accus'd him of Blasphemy for usurping which was that he being a Man made himself God clearly supposes him to be God And again in saying he spake nothing of what he was from Eternity in himself He supposeth it was a Truth beyond controversy that he was from Eternity and that so much the more plainly because it comes as part of a Discourse which shews that our Lord did not assert his Right 4. What the Burners produce as Heretical in evidence of their Charge viz. That his Generation must needs be-so much above our Vnderstanding as the Nature of God is above our own may much more justly be produced in defence of the Author as a proof that he believed our Lord's Divinity than be objected as subverting the Faith of it Since therefore he acknowledged our Lord's Divinity for a Truth as we see the Propositions the Burners cite as denying it must be as clear as these or else the Author does not contradict himself but must be reckon'd Orthodox in the Faith For obscure Passages ought in reason to be explicated by those that are clear And then the Burners fall short in proving their heinous Charge and all the Fault of the Author must lie in his denying it to be a matter of necessary saving-Faith But the great Champions of the Catholick Doctrine were generally guilty of the same Heresy St. Hilary wrote no less than twelve Books concerning the Trinity yet in the close of the 10th hath these words Non per difficiles nos Deus ad beatam vitam questiones vocat c. God doth not call us to a blessed Life by difficult Questions nor solicites us by a manifold kind of Eloquence the way of Eternity is plain and easy to us viz. To believe that God-raised Jesus from the Dead and to confess him our Lord. In which words we see not only in the present Question concerning our Lord's Person but in all others how little of mere Belief is required to Salvation Nor do we find the least Hint to the contrary in the History of those Times wherein the Controversy raged tho' they Persecuted one another they did not Damn one another they contended for their Opinions as for great Truths wherein our Lord's Honour was concern'd not as for Articles of Faith whereon the Believer's Salvation depended Sr. Chrysostom says All Necessaries are clear and manifest And Nazianzen after thirteen Years study calls them Fools who too curiously enquire into the Incarnation of our Lord. Yea and those who were so eager for condemning the Naked Gospel to the Flames cannot sure but think it more dishonourable to the Saviour of the World to believe he will damn any Man for failing of so difficult a Truth when he sincerely believes the clear Gospel than any other Error concerning the Divinity of his Person can be A second Distinction which the Author might juslly have expected from such Learned Persons was That the Question in debate was not concerning the Divinity or mere Humanity of our Lord's Person but concerning a Nicety so inconsiderable that neither the Emperor nor a Council could find the difference between the Nicene and Arian Confession And doubtless it must be something worse than Inadvertency that can blind any Man so far as to disable

whose honour the Writer professeth to advance and upon this account they think it more reasonable that those Expressions which exalt our Savior's Person to an Equality with the Father should stoop to those which speak him Inferior than that those which speak him Inferior should be strained up to those which speak him Equal And however this is the safer Way since it will lead us to such a Belief as will suffice for that end for whose sake alone Belief it self is required pag. 59. of the Interpolated Edition ' To this Question Whether any promise of God does necessarily import a restitution of the same numerical matter ' He answers That the Words of St. Paul Thou fool that which thou sowest c. plainly deny the Resurrection of the same numerical particles ' To another Question Whether it be more honorable to God and more serviceable to the design of the Gospel that we believe the Contrary ' He answers That it is the same as to ask Whether it be more honorable to salve all his Perfections or to robb one that we may clothe the other Answ To this and the other two following Paragraphs I answer That they relate to the Differences of those Times wherein the hot Bishops on both sides eagerly contended with one another to the unspeakable Detriment of the Church and Disturbance of the Empire But wise and stay'd Men such as the Emperor Constantine and those Bishops that were his Counsellors had such an esteem of those Controversies as our Author But 2. as to our Times and the Question about the Athanasian Creed I see not but that they who hold it so stiffly and persecute their Brethren on that score have no mind to remove Occasions of Difference and Separation but to continue them which one may be tempted to believe they would not do but for the sake of some secular and base Interest See more in the Judgment of one of our most eminent Bishops summing up that Letter of Constantine which this Author pressed Infra p. 14. This Persecution of the Author of the Naked Gospel and the manner of it is so threatning both to those of the National Church and the Dissenters from her that a fiercer Persecution may reasonably be expected than any we have seen in the late Reigns The Example is clear in those that being of the Church have any thing to lose pertaining to it And for Dissenters the Burners and other their Brethren do well know that none of 'em can give assent to the Athanasian Creed except some Presbyterians and non-assent let 's loose all the Penal Laws hungry Chancellors peevish or bigotted Justices and rascally Informers against them Is this the Temper that was promised If it should come to this How much worse would the Protestant National Church of England deal with her Children than the Papal Church of Rome This prohibits 'em to read the Bible and so prevents the occasion of questioning her Doctrines but that gives us the Scripture to read but will persecute us if we believe not and profess more than or contrary to what is therein contain'd contrary to the common Principle of Protestants and most expresly of this Church her self in her Sixth Article which saith ' The Holy Scripture containeth all things neeessary to salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein nor can be proved thereby is not to be required of any one to to believed as an Article of Faith or of necessity to Salvation If they do not mean by proved thereby proved to the satisfaction of every sober Man the Church of Rome will prove all her Articles in the same way and manner Thus Sir I take the freedom of telling you my thoughts upon this occasion but now I must return and ask you whether the Learned Assembly of Burners have proved that the Naked Gospel does not only deny the Godhead of our Lord Jesus Christ but ostentui habet as their Phrase is expose him to scorn or make a shew of him Do all their Exscriptions prove any part of their horrid Charge As for his denying the resurrection of the same numerical Particles you know that since the newer Philosophy got Credit that Doctrine is often taught in our Pulpits and I am inform'd even at St Mary's in Oxford too besides in divers learned Mens Writings Good God! when shall the Spirit of Persecution be cast out when will Christians learn to be just as Men not to say loving and tender-hearted as Brethren They boast of the truth of their Faith but it is not such as worketh by Love What is it to honour Christ in their Words and dishonour him in their Lives Fourteen Hundred Years experience has taught the World that Men contend for Opinions and Speculations in Religion for the gratification of their Pride Covetousness Revenge and the like worldly Interests Though my Letter has been so long I 'le venture still to entertain you Sir with something considerable about Dr. Bury the supposed Author of the Naked Gospel of which I am credibly inform'd To have a Book condemn'd long after 't was printed nay when its Author and his Colledg were strugling against heavy Oppression in their Rights and Priviledges will put the World upon enquiring into the Reasons and Motives of such an Action as well as the Life and Conduct of the Author The Rector of Exeter Colledg then having done what lay in his Power for his King was expell'd from his Fellowship for refusing to submit to the Visitors in 1648 and the only Person who had courage to read the Prayers of his then distress'd Mother the Church of England in the Colledg when extempore Ones were in fashion for which he was led by a Fileof Musqueteers to the next Port turn'd out and forbid entrance again upon pain of Death and he never after ran counter to so good a beginning Would not one think Sir this sufficient to procure him the respect and veneration of those who are his worst Enemies Had any of them fallen into Circumstances less troublesome what out-cries I sancy would there have been what writing of Letters what trumpeting of Praises what noise of Loyalty and past Sufferings not a Figure in Rhetorick but must have been drawn dry by one Wit or other and had that fail'd the World must have been hector'd into a good Opinion After he was made Rector he never did any thing that look'd as if he had forgot his first Loyal Principles but led a quiet sober and unblameable Life given very much to good Works as may be prov'd by his Buildings in the Colledg his large Contributions to the Company for Relief of Clergy-mens Widows and Orphan besides other less visible Instances not fit to be mentioned while he 's alive All which none indeed can deny that will not basely wrong him He was so strict an observer of what he thought the Will of his Founder that he would have declar'd his own Son's Fellowship void staying some time longer