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	reason_n	scripture_n	3,945	5	6.1612	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85399	Innocencies triumph. Or An answer to the back-part of a discourse lately published by William Prynne, Esquire, intituled, A full reply, &c. The said back-part beginning at the foot of pag. 17. with this superscription; certain briefe animadversions on Mr. John Goodvvins Theomachia, &c. Published by authoritie. By John Goodvvin, pastor of the Church in Colemanstreet.	Goodwin, John, 1594?-1665.	1644 (1644)	Wing G1174; Thomason E14_10; ESTC R15803	18,790	28

desire of comming in unto us and joyning with us if there were any Christian ground to judge them meet for such a relation they were without any further covenanting entertained by us 3. And lastly to the charge in hand whereas hee calls this Congregation of mine Independent by way of opposition to the Parishionall Congregation my answer is that I cannot understand why or wherefore the one should be termed Independent more then the other I verily beleeve that that which is called Independent depends every whit as much upon God upon the Scriptures upon Principles of reason and equity as the other and claimes as little exemption from the authority or jurisdiction of any of these as the other And the truth is that dependency upon these is as much for matter of dependencie as can with reason or good conscience bee required or expected from any man Dependencie upon man is pronounced accursed by God Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm Jer. 17. 5. Or if by Independent he means that which will not submit in the government of it to that which shall be recommended or imposed upon i● by an Ecclesiastique authority superior to it selfe I answer 1. That that which beares the heat and burthen of the name cannot as yet however be called so more then the other because there is nothing at all yet either recommended unto or imposed upon either by any such authority 2. Though haply it likes not Imposition so cordially altogether as the other yet let that which shall be imposed be according to the will of God and mind of Christ if God will please to give eyes unto it whereby to see it confident I am and doe hereby engage my selfe for it as farre as my interest reacheth that it will and shall submit as willingly as cheerfully thereunto as the other If he therefore asperseth it with the name of Independent because it will not say God speed to him that bringeth the Doctrine of blind obedience unto it I trust it will I am sure it may sit down by the reproach as by its glory I am all thoughts made with the fullest assurance that for the generality of them as well the Persons as Congregations in the land sir-named but far out of the propriety of the word Independent will as soon submit to be led by a young child as the Prophet speaks in a way of reason and truth discovered unto them much more by men of wisdome and place as any other either Persons or Congregations whatsoever in the land Whereas my learned Accuser further taxeth me as having refused to baptize some children and to administer the Sacrament to my Parish for some months I answer 1. That for the latter I have done nothing in it but what hath been done by very many godly Ministers in and about the Citie as is known to thousands yea most of them if not all of a different judgment from mine in the point of Church government yea some of them if my memory deales faithfully with me of the Assembly it selfe 2. I proffered unto that honorable Committee before whom was called that if either themselves or any other would please to assigne me a rule by which I might safely walk in that administration I should be willing to take up again what I had laid down for a season and to accommodate with my Parishioners in that ordinance For as for the rule prescribed by the Rubrick in the book of Common prayer themselves seemed not so well satisfied with it 3. For some of those who out of the smart of this soare petitioned against me I beleeve they are so farre disadvantaged by an incapacity of this ordinance that the largest charity of a conscientious Minister of what judgment soever for Church-government would not redeem them 4. Whereas severall Ministers in and about the Citie yea some of good report and esteeme nor should I mistake for matter of truth whatever I may doe in point of good manners if I should say some very neer related unto the Assembly it selfe have demanded and had pretty considerable summes some twenty pound thirty pound yea some fourty pound a yeare of their Parishioners onely for their consent and leave that the Gospell might be preached unto them out of their Pulpits by such a Minister or Lecturer as they should chuse I have been so far from tying my Parishioners to this appletree that I not only gave my consent freely unto them to chuse what Minister they pleased either to preach or to deliver the Sacrament unto them but further offered them twenty thirty yea if it were fourty pound a year out of mine own allowance in case they would stil continue it to their former proportion for otherwise I could not be able toward the making up a valuable consideration unto him for his pains whom they should chuse in such a way 5. And lastly for the latter I confesse that since my first comming to the place and people with whom I yet am which wants but a little of eleven yeares compleat I have refused the baptizing of two or three children of my Parish but upon such grounds the opening whereof if it were meet to publish them would I verily beleeve make all contestation and complaint against me in this behalfe ashamed I feare I have made my selfe a farre greater transgressor by not refusing then by refusing in this kind And besides if my intelligence will beare the weight of that confidence which I lay upon it as I think it will in case such omissions or refusals as these be just matter of offence the Assembly it self wil not in all the Presbyterian members thereof be found innocent The third and last grievance of which I complain in my overoffended adversary and petition the wits and charity of men in all their conjunctions throughout the world for reliefe is his extraction of so many crooked conclusions of his own out of my streight premises It is somewhat an hard case when one man shall beget children and another be made to keep them Because I say in my Epistle that there is cause to feare lest the truth which onely is able to make us free should by being rejected and opposed by us increase our bondage and misery And because I onely cite that saying of Nazianzene p. 44. that he never saw good end or desirable successe of any Councell or that they procured any decrease but rather increase of evils with some few other as innnocent and well meant sayings as these he chargeth me p. 18. l. 1. with tacitly reflecting upon the present religious Parliament and Assembly raising needlesse feares and jealousies of them both in matters of Religion and Church government as if they really intended to increase our misery and bondage by rejecting and oppressing Truth Surely the worst digestion that ever was never made such gall of such hony in any mans stomach I wonder what Logicall sympathy or Symbolicall property

was under the hands of some of them in writing upon my condescending to their request of preaching two expository lectures weekly unto them to finde me an assistant to preach once on the Lords Day this assistant after some short continuance departing to a place of better accommodation whilest I was able I both continued my two weekly Lectures and besides preached twice unto them on the Lords Day by my self when I was able by the ablest I could procure when I was not able my self notwithstanding I never received so much as a penny to my knowledge from any of them for a whole yeares labour in preaching those two weekly Lectures nor did I receive above 12. 1. 10. s. a yeere for them at any time Since I was necessitated to discontinue these two weekly Lectures for which as I have said I received nothing for a whole yeare together nor was likely to receive any thing any more though this was the least ground or reason of their discontinuance I have upon the request of some of them and that without either promise or hope of any pecuniary consideration at all from any man ingaged my self and performed hitherto and that with advantage to expound some part of the Scripture before Sermon on the Lords day as oft as I should have libertie and opportunitie to preach my self Nor did I ever diminish my Parishioners portion in my ministeriall labours or attendance in the least for that Congregations sake which the Gentleman is pleased to baptize by the name of Independent nor did I ever preach to this Congregation apart from my Parishioners Sometimes I confesse I prayed with them and now and then debated a question in mine own house but ever with my doore open and libertie given to any of the Parishioners to come and partake in those exercises which severall of them have from time to time accepted of and been present with us The reason why I preach not to some of them as oft as I was wont to doe is onely because they doe not come so oft to heare me as they were wont yea my innocency in respect of this part of my charge was fully attested under the hands of 45. of my Parishioners the greatest part if not the whole number of them being of the best affected both to Parliament and Religion in the whole Parish in a Petition tendered unto the Honourable Committee before which I was called for my continuance with them 2. Whereas I am charged with receiving their tiths my answer is The Parsonage is impropriate in the Parishioners hands the vicarage onely endowed with 11. l. per Annum that I demand no tiths of any of them nor have I or ever had I any right to doe it Nor have I ever received any thing from them in the nature of tiths but as their voluntary Contribution For this last half yeere I have received very little above 20. l. excepting onely the one half of the yeerly rent of a small house let sometimes but for 12 never for above 14. l. a yeer Out of which summe 12. l. 10. s. being deducted for the rent of my house the remainder is of as low a proportion as envie her selfe lightly can desire for the maintenance of a Minister his wife and 7 children most of them very small in such an expensive place as this City is But if Mr. Prynne knew how small a proportion of subsistence it is that I now receive and what my labour pains are amongst my Parishioners notwithstanding I verily beleeve that in stead of upbraiding me with receiving Tithes he would pity me that I receive no more It is well knowne that there are many Ministers in and about the Citie that receive more for preaching once a week yea divers for preaching but once a fortnight then I doe for preaching twice weekly besides my labour in expounding not much short of that in preaching and yet I think there is no man that judgeth their consideration greater then their work But as for those who found themselves aggrieved and appeared petitioners against me I understand by the Church-warden who gathereth that slender allowance which my Parishioners amongst them think me worthy of that they have made a very provident use of their exceptions against me and have sav'd their purses harmlesse for a long time 3. Whereas he chargeth me to have gathered an Independent Congregation to my selfe out of divers Parishes and mine own I answer 1. That I know not what he means by gathering If his meaning be that I have gone about from place to place as gathering especially of severall things into one band or bundle imports to desire or perswade any man man or woman rich or poore young or old to be of my Congregation or to the way wherein my Congregation walketh I utterly deny the truth of this charge I I never opened my mouth to any person whatsoever to any such purpose save only what I have publickly preached in the course of my Ministery in the face of my Parochiall Congregation And what I have here said in this kind there are many hundreds if not some thousands to testifie If by gathering such a Congregation as he speakes of he means the receiving of persons upon their Christian requests and desires in a Church relation and so as to become a Pastor unto them in this sense which is yet very unproperly called a gathering I confesse this part of the charge or commendation rather to be in part true I have with the consent of my Parishioners in a publick Vestry received some out of other Parishes in such a way who yet have liberty upon request at any time yea and without request if they thinke not good to make it to withdraw themselves to any other Pastor or Congregation for their better accommodation in their spirituall affaires Of what I have done in this I am ready to give an account with meeknesse unto any man that shall require it of me But 2. Whereas I am further charged to prescribe a covenant to them before they are admitted I answer let them all be called before a Magistrate and if it be thought meet examined upon oath though I beleeve there be very few of them but will speak the truth without any such ingagement I doe not think there is any one of them that can say that there ever was any other covenant prescribed to them in reference to their admission but onely their consent of walking with us and that testified by themselves without any prescription or injunction by me or others in their own free desire and request of comming in to us As for those agreements that were drawn in writing in a Parish Vestry which were brought in by me to the Committee before which I was called besides that I had no more an hand then divers others in the draught or forming of them they were never urged nor pressed upon any for their admission but whosoever expressed any

there is between my foundations and Mr. Prynnes superstructions They have not so much as a quartile aspect the one upon the other Because I say There is cause to feare lest the truth being rejected and opposed should increase our bondage and misery which is nothing else but what the Scriptures themselves will abundantly justifie and warrant doth it therefore follow that I reflect or raise needlesse feares and jealousies either of Parliament or Assembly When the Apostle Paul wrote thus to the whole Church of Corinth Know yee not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdome of God Be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor theeves c. shall inherit the Kingdome of God did he reflect upon the chiefe persons amongst them or raise needlesse feares and jealousies of them in the mindes of the rest as if he suspected them more then others for the practice of such sins Was it not a serious admonition a cautionary doctrine that equally respected them all without the least accusation of any I doe not say that there is cause to feare lest the truth should be rejected or oppressed by any or any sort or rank of persons amongst us I onely professe my feare that in case it shall be no better intreated by us it will increase our bondage and misery from what rank or sort of men soever amongst us it shall suffer in that kind Such dealings as these with a mans harmlesse and in offensive sayings are a temptation of like tendency and danger with that which David encountred when he reasoned thus with himself Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency If a man had the least mind to pick a quarrell against all faire and faultlesse speaking and to speak nothing but swords and spears and hot burning coals for the time to come such constructions as these are are proper nourishment for such an inclination to feed fat upon yea enough to set the smoaking flax into a lightsome flame But that God whose Grace hath been shield and buckler unto mine innocency in this kinde hitherto will I trust protect it by the same hand in the midst of these and all other provocations whatsoever untill the day of its coronation Jesus Christ did not give over his gracious occupation of casting out Devils because some charged him that through Beelzebub he cast them out Malè audire cùm benè feceris Regium est Some other impeachments there are of like nature with this managed against me in that paper which hath interrupted my peace and studies hitherto but it is the fate of ungrounded imputations Spreta exolescunt they soone wax old and vanish away if they be neglected Thus have I fairly and I trust fully acquitted my selfe in all things charged upon me by way of demerit and crime in Mr. Prynnes Observations What further is charg'd herein upon me by way of weaknesse and insufficiency in point of argument and reason I must crave a few dayes respit and I doubt not but I shall bring in a faire account of this charge also As for that emptie Pamphlet called Faces about the Author of it what face or faces soever he had for it may be he carries two in a hood it seemes he dares shew none He feares his Name would have suffered if it had been seen in the company of such a piece Yet the truth is that the paper is a glasse and there is the face of a man such as it is to be seene in it The man that looks out from behind the lattises of the lines of it is ignorant that the Lord of glory was numbred amongst transgressors and crucified between two theeves or else he would never have thought to disparage me by putting me into the same account with Socinians and Arminians It is the saying of a Roman Historian Post Carthaginem vinci neminem puduit After Carthage was taken by the Romans no Citie or Nation thought it any discredit to be overcome by them Jesus Christ being crucified with malefactors hath spoyl'd their market that desire to sell mens reputations under disgrace by coupling them with names or persons of any infamous resentment whatsoever FINIS