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	reason_n	7,423	5	5.8303	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-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