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	word_n	14,132	5	4.8692	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85746	Of the authority of the highest powers about sacred things. Or, The right of the state in the Church. Wherein are contained many judicious discourses, pertinent to our times, and of speciall use for the order and peace of all Christian churches. / Put into English by C.B. M.A. The method of every chapter is added in the margent, and collected at the end.; De imperio summarum potestarum circa sacra. English.	Grotius, Hugo, 1583-1645.; Barksdale, Clement, 1609-1687, translator.	1651 (1651)	Wing G2117; Thomason E1244_1; ESTC R202244	156,216	365

unlesse he can find no way to fix his judgement upon Divine Authority or upon some Internall principle Yet may we acquiesce thereto in all things the search whereof is not commanded us So the sick man doth well if he take a Medicine preserib'd by a Physician of good fame yea being in perill of death he is bound to follow the Counsell of Physicians if himself be not of that wit and skil to make a certaine judgement upon principles of nature As to Divine Authority God reveales some things and proposes them himself other things He reveales himself and proposes to men by others as by Angels Prophets Apostles Whensoever the thing is propos'd by others before the mind can fully rest it is necessary we be assur'd the Proposer can neither be deceiv'd nor deceive in the thing that is proposed This assurance we obtaine either by some other Divine Revelation as Gornelius concerning Peter Paul concerning Ananias or else by signs of Divine Power yeilding undoubted testimony to the Veracity of the Proposer That wee must acquiesce to every Proposition thus made no Christian doubteth But between the more subtile of the Romanists and those of the Evangelicall Church this is the true state of the Question Whether since the age of the Apostles there be any visible Person or Company all whose Propositions we may and ought to receive as undoubted truths The Evangelics deny the Romanists affirme Hither is also brought this great controversy of Government in Sacred things for the Romanists doe not deny Kings to Governe this Hart granted to Renolds they doe not deny all Government to proceed from the judgment of the Governour this Suarez plainly affirmes Neither doe the Evangelics deny the judgement of Kings as well as of private men to be determined by Divine Oracle if there be any such if there be any Prophets that cannot erre for all men are under God but whether there be any such since the Apostles that 's the Question and that at last is reduced only to the Pope for that single Pastors Kings also and private men Synods Provinciall Nationall Patriarchall and even they that were gather'd out of all the Roman world are fallible and have been in errour no man can deny Wherefore supposing that which is most true and which some of the Romanists doe grant concerning the Pope himself That every man in the world is subject unto errour for any thing that we know yea every Congregation also that is visible let us see how farre one is bound to follow the judgment of another that is thus fallible First we say no man is bound to follow anothers Directive judgment universally Chrysostom of old hath said the same How absurd is it in all things to be sway'd by the sentence of other men For possibly wee may be certain either by internall Principles or by Divine Authority the judgement of sentence is false That any private man grounding his sentence upon the Gospell is to be believed before the Pope is confess'd by Panormitan and Gerson And the pious Bishops who had learned out of the Gospell that the Word is God and God only One did well in not giving place to the judgement of the Synod at Ariminum Moreover even when the mind doth not plainly witnesse the contrary yet is no man bound precisely to follow anothers Directive judgment because it is lawfull for him to enquire and try whether himselfe be able to aime at the knowledge of the Truth Then he is bound to follow when by defect either of wit or time or by other businesse he is diverted from that inquiry So the Lawyers teach that a Judge is not tyed to the judgment of a Physician in the question of a wound or of a Survey or in limining the bounds or of an Arithmetician in taking of Accounts but that himself upon diligent consideration of the matter may decree that which he conceiveth most agreeable to truth and equity But further in the case of saving faith no man can safely acquiesce to the judgement of another The reason is not only because matters of faith are plainly and openly propos'd unto all so that Clemens of Alexandria calls it a vain pretext taken from severall interpretations for they that will saith he may find out the Truth but chiefly because that faith is not faith unlesse it rest upon Divine Authority as the Romanists themselves confesse Abraham believed God and it was accounted unto him for righteousnesse Also Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God Wherefore although men may be led unto the faith by others as the Samaritans by that woman yet then are they only right believers when they believe not for the words of another but because themselves have heard and doe know that Jesus is the Saviour of the world What hath been spoken of faith is no lesse true of Divine worship for in vain saith God doe they worship me teaching for doctrines the Commandements of men And Paul commends the Thessalonians that they received his word not as the word of man but as indeed it was the word of God We conclude then that in the things defined by Divine Law either way no man is bound by anothers Declarative judgment which is one kind of the Directive nor can his conscience safely rest therein In the other kind of Directive judgement which we here called Suasory because it is conversant about things not determined by Divine Law more may be given to the Authority of another yet not too much For as we doe not praise them that are too stiffe in their own opinions so neither them that are too easily drawn by other mens And herein consisteth the difference between Counsell and Command that commands not contrary to the Law of God lay upon us an obligation which Counsels doe not He that giveth counsell saith Chrysostom speaks his own opinion leaving the hearer at liberty to doe as it shall please him Now if the opinions of Counsellours which must be weighed rather than numbred doe not agree there especially ought the Supreme Governour to interpose his own Judgement And truly in the knowledge of private right in Physick Merchandise and such like things it is not only excusable but often-times comendable for the Highest Power to be ignorant by reason of greater and better cares But to neglect the knowledge how to rule the Church than which no knowledge is more excellent none of more importance to the Common-wealth this at no hand is lawfull Those that have eased themselves of this duty and cast it upon others wee find by Histories to have been circumvented by men and punisht by God and either to have lost their kingdomes or else being deprived of the Power to have reserved only the name and shadow of King's The Objections out of the Old Testament to prove that Kings are bound to follow the Pastors judgement in Sacred things doe

Christian Magistrate as the true Deputy of God in his Dominion So the Basil Confess Yea the English Church denounces Excommunication against them that deny the King of England that Authority in Ecclesiasticall affaires which was used by the Hebrew Kings 'T would be tedious to transcribe what hath been written in defence hereof Besides the Divines all the writers of Politie that are worth the reading have given account of this not only as a part but as the principall and best part of the Imperiall Right Neither have only the antient Christians and late reformed but other Nations also deliver'd this with so great consent that 't is most manifestly the very voyce of right reason common to all man-kind and being derived from the most antient before the depravation of Religion by a long Succession hath been deliverd to their Posterity The first care in a Common-wealth is about things Divine thus Aristotle and Plutarch This is the first thing in making Lawes It is fit saith he the Best should be honour'd by the best and He that ruleth all by him that ruleth The most ancient Law-givers Charondas and Zaleucus approv'd the same by their own example and the twelve Tables the Fountain of the Roman Law derived from the Greeks contained sundry Precepts about Sacred things Justinian and Theodosius have Lawes concerning Religion in their Codes and Ulpian defines the wisdome of the Law to be the knowledge of things Divine as well as Humane Suarez himselfe confesseth It hath been alwayes observed among men though particular offices Civill and Ecclesiasticall were given to severall persons because the variety of actions required that distinction yet the Supreme Power of both especially as to making Lawes was seated in the Prince and so it appears by Histories that unto Kings and Emperours in the City of Rome and the Empire this Power was ever given The same is also probable of other Common-wealths Generall Custome saith the same Schoole-man declares the institution of Nature Indeed Thomas and Cajetan seem to have thought all the care of Law-givers in those Nations to have regarded only the publick Peace But this thus precisely taken is very hard to be proved and scarce credible For the Christian Fathers doe prove most evidently that the Greeks of old believed Rewards and Punishments after death to be reserved for men by divine Judgement That they thus believed and other Heathens too there are very many Testimonies of most faithfull Authors Why then may we not believe this end was look'd upon by some of their Law-givers especially when Austin saith 'T is not to be doubted very many beside Abrahams Family although the holy Scripture mention only Job and a few more did believe and hope in Christ to come But besides that end eternall happiness the prime and principall this also is a just cause for the Highest Powers to take Religion into their charge the great Consequence it hath to outward felicity and concord and that for two reasons the first in respect of Gods providence for piety hath the promises not only of the future but of the present life Seek first the kingdom of God and all other things shall be added unto you And in the old Law of the Hebrewes a prosperous Reigne fruitfulnesse of the earth victory over enemies are proposed to the godly to the ungodly are threatned most grievous curses Nor were the Gentiles ignorant of this no not after they had departed from the one true God unto their Idols Livy saith All things fall out luckily to those that worship the Gods unprosperously to the despisers of them In Plato there is much to this purpose For Christian writers take only that of Leo to Martian I rejoyce that you are studious of the Churches peace and this shall be your reward the peace you give to the Church your Empire shall partake of The other reason is from the nature and proper efficacy of Religion which is of force to make men quiet obedient lovers of their Country keepers of Justice and Equity and where the people are so well disposed the Common-wealth must needs be happy Hence Plato calls Religion the fortresse of Power the bond of Lawes and good Discipline Cicero The foundation of humane Society and Plutarch sayth the City may more easily be built without ground than the Citizens preserv'd without a persuasion of the deity Cyrus in Xenophon thought his houshold would be the further from any evill enterprize against him or one another the more they feared God and Aristotle notes that Subjects doe most esteem and trust the King whom they believe to stand in awe of the divine power Even false Religion conduces somewhat to outward peace and the nearer it comes to truth the more it prevails to that end but for Christian Religion to let passe the testimonies of her friends the adversaries have given it this praise That it binds men with a holy tye not to commit stealth or robbery not to break their word or faile in their trust as Pliny speaks That it teacheth nothing but what is just and gentle as Ammianus Marcellinus that it is a persuasion which destroyes all wickednesse as it is in Zosimus Nor is this the effect of Religion in that part only where it prescribes a rule for manners and strengthens it with threats and promises the Doctrines and Rites also have no small moment to the furthering of good life and advancing the publick happinesse Xenophon perhaps thought it was a witty conceit when he said T' was all one as to manners whether we believe God corporeall or incorporeall but Truth it self hath taught us otherwise when from this that God is a Spirit is inferr'd therefore He must be worshipped in spirit The most vertuous mind as Seneca also acknowledgeth is the best worship and most acceptable to God So doe even the Philosophers teach that no foul deed is to be committed because God is every where present and because God knowes all that shall come to passe they shew that nothing shall befall good men but what shall turne to their benefit Tiberius was the more negligent of religious duties as Suetonius hath it being perswaded all things were carryed by Fate and it was not in vaine that Plato said If you would have the State goe well you must not suffer any one to teach that God is the cause of Evill deeds which to say is impious and therefore to the Common-wealth most pernicious The same Plato shewes at large that it is of much concernment what rites are used and with what mind in the second Book of his Republick where he setteth down the harme those Ceremonious expiations doe by the use whereof without amendment of life men hoped for pardon of their wickednesse Other causes but lesse principall might be added for which the highest power cannot relinquish the command over sacred things without the very great hazard of the Common-wealth for some Priests are of