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	reveal_v	5,457	5	8.8529	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61457	An account of the growth of deism in England	Stephens, William, d. 1718.	1696 (1696)	Wing S5459; ESTC R19943	19,063	34

Religion that is distinguished from their particular Interest To what end have so many Perfecutions and Penal Laws been set a foot by the Clergy in Christendom was it to bring Men to any one Point of that full Description of Christian Religion which you cited from Sir Matthew Hale or only to bring them to that short Article of their Clergy Religion i. e. to submit to their Power Did not the Honourable Sir R. H. lately write a Treatise wherein with great Learning and accurate Judgment he distinguished betwixt Religion and Priest-craft and was he not treated for it with a true Priestly Insolence and Malice in the Pulpit at White-hall by A. one of their Majesties Chaplains and represented as a Scorner and an Atheist because he scorns to submit to any Religion but what is of Christ's Institution Suppose a Man should govern himself by the Law of Christ and go no further is there any Christian Church which would own such an one for a Member If you will be a Son of the Church of England you must hold Kings and Bishops to be jure divino the Apostolical Doctrine of Passive Obedience you must not be indifferent to their Ceremonies though declar'd but indifferent things and the Reason is because you must have a profound Respect for the Power of the Bishops by which these Ceremonies were ordain'd And besides this you must shew a perfect Abhorrence of all who do not submit to the Spiritual Royalties of their Diocesan Bishops for your Churchmanship will not appear by any Mark so well as by the Hatred you bear to all Dissenters in Conjunction with a deep aversion to all the ancient Rights and just Liberties of your Native Country In fine said he when your Clergy Preach the Law of Christ without turning it to any By-end or false Interest you shall meet me at Church You know the Clergy love Precedency of the Laity Let them turn Christians first and I can follow 6. I have known some who have alledged as a Reason why they have forsaken the Christian Faith the impossibility of Believing Many Doctrines say these are made necessary to Salvation which 't is impossible to believe because they are in their nature Absurdities I replied That these things were Mysteries and so above our Understanding But he asked me to what end could an unintelligible Doctrine be revealed not to instruct but to puzzle and amuse What can be the effect of an unintelligible Mystery upon our Minds but only Amusement That which is only above Reason must be above a rational Belief and must I be Saved by an irrational Belief If a Proposition be inconsistent with it self I cannot but believe it to be false 'T was once to serve a Turn against the Papists your Church held all Doctrines necessary to save Souls were plainly revealed in Scripture How could you say plainly revealed unless you understood the Revelation Besides I cannot think that the belief of any unprofitable Doctrines i. e. such as admit of no Application to Moral Duties can be a saving Faith so much as in part nor can I imagine that Faith tends to save a Soul because what we believe is only True for so the belief of Euclids Elements might have a saving Effect upon Souls but because our Belief is Good it has a practical Effect and tends to make us better Men. Besides you all agree the Belief of your Trinity is absolutely necessary to Salvation and yet widely differ in what we must believe concerning it whether three Minds or Modes or Properties or internal Relations or Oeconomies or Manifestations or external Denominations or else no more than a Holy Three or Three Somewhats or otherwise only one of these Three to be God in the highest Sense and each of the other two to be a God without Self-subsistence and Independence I am confident if I should be perswaded that an Explanation of the Trinity were necessary to save my Soul and see the Learned so widely differing and hotly disputing what it is I must believe concerning it I should certainly run mad through despair of finding out the Truth But since these Doctors cannot agree which Party of 'em shall captivate my Belief in Obedience to his Faith I will reserve it to be the Hand-maid of Truth whenever she appears she shall command it 7. I remember one Gentleman objected to the Christian Faith that it made Men insolent quarrelsom and ill-natur'd From whence I concluded as I told him that he had never read over the Gospels truly he could not say that he had read 'em carefully but yet that in reading the History of what had passed in Christendom he observed that most of the Quarrels in which this part of the World had been engaged arose from Contentions among the Christian Priesthood Church-History is chiefly a Relation of Church-mens Wrangles and D. Cave in a late Book of his had denominated every Century from some eminent Quarrel which arose among the Clergy But besides this what was the Holy War what all the holy Massacres and Croisados which filled Europe with Blood but the Inventions of Holy Church And what is holy Inquisition but a perpetual Series of Murthers carry'd on in barbarous Forms of Law against the common Sense of Mankind Does History account for any Barbarities so great as those committed by the Popes Any Cruelties so savage as those of the Holy Inquisition Any Murthers so solemn and religiously brutal as the Acts of Faith Any Pragmaticalness so insufferable as that of the Jesuits is not their Humanity extinguished by their Christian Religion such is their Malice that no Man can eat Bread where they have to do unless he submit his Faith to their guidance witness the present French Persecution Nor can any Sovereign Prince keep his Word or Oath though he had only sworn to maintain those Laws by which he Reigns as King any longer than this Spiritual Fatherhood will give him leave as Lewis XIV of France and James II. of England do witness Let these Inhumanities be considered as supported and carried on by the name of Catholick Church and if the Devils believe you may as decently say Church of Hell as Church of Rome And as Devotion continu'd our Deist to holy Church is the center upon which all things turn on the other side the Water so is it the same thing here Do not our Priesthood of England make as high Pretences to dispose of all Offices and Trusts in the Kingdom to those of their own Faction as those of Rome Have they not long since got their Bill of Exclusion to be passed into a Law whereby no Man can enjoy a Place of Profit or Trust in the State but whom they qualify at their Altars where Men were capacitated to be Bumbails keep Gaming-houses and sell Ale What was it but the Insolence of the Priesthood that brought about Father Laud's and Father Peter's Revolutions Besides said he do you not observe what a keen Edge

AN ACCOUNT OF THE GROWTH OF DEISM IN ENGLAND LONDON Printed for the Author MDCXCVI AN ACCOUNT OF THE GROWTH OF DEISM SIR 'T IS now three Years since you and I had a serious Discourse concerning the rise and progress of Deism which is an Opinion of late Years crept into England tho not so widely spread here as in other parts of Europe I well remember we were both agreed that there was no shadow of Reason why any one should suspect the Gospels of Forgery since the matter contain'd in them hath not the least savour of any worldly Interest or indirect Design but all the Lines of them do only center in the highest Improvement Humane Nature is capable of So that in conformity every Man may take great comfort in himself and all Mankind live well with one another Besides the Preachers of this excellent Doctrine had at first all the Discouragements which an irreligious and idolatrous Age could give them as is confessed by their Enemies insomuch that nothing but their own personal full Conviction of the Truths they professed could engage them to Preach 'em and the intrinsick Goodness of the Law of Christ was sufficient to gain mens hearts after Miracles had born down their Prejudices and gain'd their serious Attention In fine you and I could see no reason to doubt of the Truth of any matter of Fact contain'd in the Gospels which relate the miraculous Birth Life Death Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ but what would oblige us to deny the truth of all History whatsoever And from these Considerations laid together we concluded that the Doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ was undoubtedly sent to us by God This still made it appear more strange to us both how DEISM which is a denial of all reveal'd Religion should creep in upon us where the Scriptures are made so publick and where so many Learned Treaties are written which so strongly assert their Authority to be Divine I confess I was as desirous to know upon what Grounds Men rejected the Gospel as you your self were and therefore I willingly undertook the Task you laid on me viz. To collect and put together those Motives whereby some had been induced to lay aside all Revelation For which Performance I was the fitter because it doth not require any Learning and strength of Wit but only Observation and Inquiry which I might easily make because of the numerous Acquaintance I have contracted in Town where you know I spend the Winter and in the Country where I bestow my Summer Visits But all I shall do in this matter is barely to give you a Relation of those Prejudices and as I think false Reasonings which have drawn some of my Acquaintance from Revelation to DEISM 1. Now first I have observed that some who pretend themselves Deists are Men of loose and sensual Lives and I make no wonder that they dislike the Christian Doctrine of Self-denial and the severe threatnings against wilful Sinners You may be sure they will not alledge this Reason But having read Spinosa and Hobbes and been taught to laugh at the story of Baalam's Ass and Sampson's Locks they proceed to ridicule the reality of all Miracle and Revelation I have conversed with several of this Temper but could never get any of 'em serious enough to debate the reality of Revelation But a witty Jest and t'other Glass puts an end to all further Consideration These are meer Sceptics and practical Atheists rather than real Deists 2. But there are others who although they have not a due regard to Revelation are Men of Sobriety and Probity who with great freedom have let me into their Thoughts whereby I can very clearly and fully as I think at least discern the rise and progress of this their Opinion which is this 1. In the time of King Charles the First which confineth my longest acquaintance with Men 't was usual for Gentlemen to send their Sons abroad into Italy Spain France Germany c. to accomplish themselves by Travel But lest they should be prevail'd upon to change their Religion care was taken that their Tutor or Governour who travelled with 'em should shew them the Idolatry and Superstition of the Roman Religion and also let 'em in to see that Popery in all its Branches was only a device of the Priesthood to carry on a particular Interest of their own to encrease their Wealth Honours and Power over the Lay-people to exalt the Head of their Order above all the Crowned Heads in the World and equal one whole Order of their Clergy viz. the Cardinals to the Princes of Christendom Nay since all People were obliged to make their Confessions to and receive their Absolution from the Priest the meanest of which Order could create a God for the People's Worship 't is plain that their Religion was calculated for the Profit Power and Honour of the whole Order of the Priesthood in this World whatsoever advantages they might find by it in the other Now the Young Gentleman being throughly convinced of this Holy Cheat returneth to Old England where he meets with very zealous Contests about Religion as was pretended between the Church of England headed by Arch-Bishop Laud on the one part and the Presbyterian Kirk on the other and having carefully read the Debate as it appeared in the Prints on both sides with those very Eyes which he had so lately cleared up in Italy or France he could not forbear to see that both these Protestant Parties under the pretence of Religion were only grasping at Power and that the Controversy at bottom was not who 's Religion was best but only what Sect of the Clergy should make the best Market of the meer Lay-men And as this Young Gentleman had before resolved with himself not to become a Property to the Popish Priesthood no longer now will he be such to the Protestant Clergy of any Denomination since both pursue the same Ends. He perceiveth that our Protestant High-Priests do all of them rival the Sovereign Power the Bishop's House like that of the King must be called his Palace he must still keep up his claim to the Miter and Crosier to vie with the Crown and Scepter and as the Stile of the King's Courts is Anno Regni nostri i. e. In the Year of our Reign So that of the Bishop's Court is Anno Consecrationis nostrae i. e. In the Year of our Consecration the Year of the King's Reign being unknown in the Bishop's Court The King speaking to the People doth usually call 'em his Loving Subjects the Bishop doth not make himself so familiar but stileth the People of his Diocese barely his Subjects Jurisdictioni nostrae subditos The King is Inthroned and the Arch-Bishop Inthronized both derive their Power from a Divine Right but the Bishop is the higher Power because by the Principles of Episcopacy he can Excommunicate the King i. e. forbid him the very Conversation of his Subjects and