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truth_n believe_v strong_a unrighteousness_n 1,917 5 11.2143 5 false
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A69071 Directions to know the true church. Written by George Carleton, Doctor of Diuinitie Carleton, George, 1559-1628. 1615 (1615) STC 4632; ESTC S112818 32,595 148

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blaspheme the Church dispersed ouer the whole world except the Church of Rome and some few of the West Then it followeth that in his iudgement the Church of Rome was not the Catholicke Church because Vrbicus who blasphemed the Catholike Church commended and followed the Church of Rome Many things might be brought for this purpose but I striue for breuitie This may suffice to prooue that the ancient Fathers did not hold the Church of Rome to be the Catholike Church In this Church there is a communion of Saints which Communion the Papistes deuise to bee betwene the Saints in heauen and the Saints on earth and them that bee in purgatorie These bee vaine conceits without any ground For the Church hath this Communion with GOD the Father and with IESVS CHRIST and among themselues as Saint Iohn teacheth 1. Ioh. 1. 3. Our Communion is with the Father and his Sonne Iesus Christ And declaring this Communion which the members of the Church haue one with another hee saith If wee walke in the light as hee 1 Ioh. 1. 3 7. is in the light wee haue Communion one with another and the blood of Iesus Christ doeth cleanse vs from all sinne In which wordes hee declareth who are partakers of this Communion and consequently who are members of this Church For wee haue Communion one with another and the blood of Iesus Christ cleanseth vs from all sinne Then they haue this Communion who by the blood of Christ are cleansed from all sinne And therefore they who are in Purgatorie can haue no part of this Communion because they are not cleansed from all their sinne by the blood of Christ This Communion then is a Communion which the Church of the redeemed haue among themselues These bee they who sing that new Song Thou art worthie Apoc. 5. 9 to take the Booke and to open the Seales thereof For thou wast slaine and hast redeemed vs to God by thy blood out of euery kinred and tongue and people and nation This is the Communion that the Church of the redeemed haue and therefore it is called The Communion of Saints that is of such as are sanctified by the blood of Iesus Christ But this Communion is not in the Church of Rome For the Communion which is in the Church of Rome is such a Communion which by their owne confession is held among such men as haue no inward grace but onely the externall profession of Religion This being their owne confession it must needs follow that the Communion of Saints is not among them For Saints haue no Communion with wicked who haue no inward grace who are the members of the deuill and not of Christ The reason is because betweene the members of Christ and the members of the Deuill there can bee no Communion as S Paul prooueth For what fellowship 2. Cor. 6. hath righteousnesse with vnrighteousnesse or what Communion hath light with darkenesse or what concord hath Christ with Beliall or what part haue beleeuers with vnbeleeuers c. Thus haue wee prooued that there is no agreement betweene the Church of Rome and the Catholike Church because the Church of Rome is neither holy nor Catholike neither in it is found the Communion of Saints Then they who boast so much of the Catholique Church the Catholique Church suffer themselues to be blinded by cosening companions who know not the trueth For they thinke to hold the Catholike Church before they will bee acquainted with a particular Church Let them bee intreated to vnderstand that if they desire to be in the Catholike Church without which there is no saluation they must betake themselues to some particular Church heere on earth which holdeth Vnitie with the Catholike Church And then shall they be sure to bee in the Catholike Church when they are found in such a Church which holdeth Vnitie with the Catholique Church that is by the ministery of the Church wherein you liue and are taught you must vnderstand that you are collected as members into one bodie that from the Head you may receiue an increase of this Body to the edifying of your selues in loue and so bee truely knit to the Head of the Church Iesus Christ that by one and the same Spirit you may be iustified and sanctified so holde the vnitie of the Spirit that by one rule of faith you may be taught and ruled and that you may be sure that the same rule which hath been the rule of faith from the Apostles times and continued euer in the Church be the rule of your faith When thus by the ministerie of a particular Church in whatsoeuer place of the world that Church be you are gathered into one Body vnder one Head gouerned by one Spirit holding one and the same rule of Faith then may you be assured that you are in the Catholike Church for the Catholike Church being vniuersall and not particular cannot be fixed to any one particular place but the men that must be gathered into the Church are particular men and holde particular places and therefore must vse the helpe of particular Churches to bring them to the Catholicke Church or else they shall neuer find it If thus men would seek the Church they should be sure to finde it there is but one way they that receiue not the loue of the trueth are iustly deceiued and perish that all might be damned who beleeued not the trueth but had pleasure in vnrighteousnesse So that when deceiuers come with their strong illusions yet shall they be able to preuaile against none but onely such as loue not the trueth But they who loue the trueth and seeke it with care and diligence as they would seeke siluer and golde or things that are esteemed more precious shall by the great mercy of God vndoubtedly bee saued from errour and damnation And all such by the free mercy of God shall be brought into the true Church that therein as in the Arke of Noah they may be saued For vnto the ende of the world must that alwayes be verified which is written The Lord added to the Church Acts 2. 47. from day to day such as should be saued FOrasmuch as I haue taken this as a thing granted by the Papists That they haue added their vnwritten Traditions which they call Apostolicall vnto the Scriptures to make vp the totall rule of ●aith the Scriptures making ●ut one part thereof and ●heir Traditions another by which alteration of the rule of faith they haue forsaken cōmunion with the Church which till that time alwayes held this rule which to the end of the world must holde ●t I haue here set downe the words of the Trent Council and of Car. Bellar. expounding the same for their sakes who being ignorant may doubt whether this be true or not CONCIL TRIDENT Sess 4. Decret 1. Omnes Libros veteris noui Testamenti nec non Traditiones ipsas tum ad fidem tum ad mores pertinentes tanquam vel ore tenus à Christo vel a Spiritus sancto dictat as continua successione in Ecclesia Catholica conseruat as pari pietatis affectu ac reuerentia suscipit ac veneratu● Tridentina Synodus That is All the books of the old and new Testament as also the Traditions themselues pertaining both to faith and maners as being either pronounced from the mouth of Christ or deliuered by the holy Ghost and by continuall successiō preserued in the Catholicke Church the Councill of Trent receiueth and honoureth with like and equall affection of piety and reuerence Card. Bellarm. lib. de verbo Dei non script cap. 3. Asserimus in Scripturis non contineri expressè totam doctrinam necessariam siue de fide siue de moribus proinde preter verbum De● scriptum requiri etiam verbum Dei non scriptum id est diuinas Apostolicas Traditiones That is Wee affirme that in the Scriptures is not conteined expressely all necessarie doctrine whether of faith or maners and therfore besides the written word of God is required also the vnwritten word of God namely Diuine and Apostolicall Traditions Card. Bellar. ibid. cap. 4. Scripturae sine Traditionius nec fuerunt simpliciter ne●essariae nec sufficientes That is The Scriptures without Traditions were neither simply necessary nor yet sufficient Card. Bellar. ibid. cap. 12. Dico Scripturam etsi non ●it facta praecipuè vt sit regula fidei esse tamen regulam fidei non totalem sed partialem Totalis enim regula fidei est verbum Dei siue reuelatio Dei Ecclesiae facta quae diuiditur in duas regulas partiales Scripturam Traditiones That is I say that the Scripture though it was not made especially to be the rule of faith yet is the rule of faith not in whole but in part for the whole rule of faith is the word of God or the reuelation of God made to the Church which is diuided into two partie-rules Scripture and Traditions These things the learned Papists make no doubt of and ●herfore I take them as things granted by them because all ●heir learned men grant the ●ame For the vnlearned I ●aue set them down that they may vnderstand that the rule of faith which the Church held before which holdeth ●he Church in vnitie is by ●hem forsakē And therfore if they will seeke a true Church they must seek such a Church which holdeth still the same rule of faith with the true Church of Christ which was before the Trent Council and must stand till the end of the world FINIS
we finde the rule chāged in the present Church of Rome therfore we are sure that it cannot bee the true Church that hath chāged the rule of faith by which the true Church was alwaies knowen heeretofore and must bee knowen heereafter And as they haue changed the rule of faith so haue they changed the Iudge of the controuersies of faith For before the Councill of Trent the Church neuer held the Pope to be Iudge of Controuersies of faith Before the same time the Church neuer helde the Pope to bee aboue generall Councils but his authoritie alwayes euen in the greatest ruffe and pride of Popes was yet helde to bee vnder the authoritie of a generall Councill Concerning the iudge of controuersies of Faith the ancient Writers and the writers of the Church of Rome haue written no otherwise then as we write and speake In the Council of Nice Theodoret Lib. 1. cap. 1. declareth how Constantine described the iudge of controuersies of faith In the disputations of things diuine sayth hee the Bishops haue the doctrine of the holy Spirit written For the Euangelicall and Apostolicall bookes and the oracles of the ancient Prophets doe fully instruct vs and therefore let vs take the determination of questions from the wordes of the holy Ghost In which words he declareth first that in diuine Disputations or in Controuersies of Faith wee haue the doctrine of the holy Ghost written then let them tell vs from what spirit the vnwrittē word of Trent proceedeth Secondly he sayth that the writings of the Prophets and Apostles doe fully instruct vs then that writing is the full rule of faith for that which doeth fully instruct vs and not in part is the full rule and not a part thereof Thirdly he saith that all determinations of doubts must be taken from this written word Then hee prooueth vndoubtedly that this written word doeth suffice to ende all controuersies of faith because the words of men may be subiect to errour but the wordes of the holy Ghost are not This is the Catholike determination of the iudge of controuersies in faith which hath beene in all succession preserued vntill the Councill of Trent Optatus an ancient Father holdeth the same way in seeking a iudge for thus he reasoneth against the Donatists Let no Optat. lib. 5. man beleeue you let no man beleeue vs for all we are contentious men Iudges must be sought but if wee take Christians they cannot be helde indifferent for both sides because the trueth is encumbred by contentions Wee must then seeke a iudge without But if he be a Pagan hee cannot vnderstand our mysteries if a Iewe he is an enemy to Christian baptisme Therefore on earth no iudgement will be found for this wee must seeke the Iudge from heauen But what need we knock at heauen seeing wee haue him here in his Gospel Thus Optatus sought a iudge and could find none but Christ speaking in his Gospel in his written word How easie had it beene for Optatus to haue named the Pope if the Pope had then beene esteemed the iudge of controuersies of faith But this is a late inuention not knowen to the ancient fathers Saint Augustine speaketh in like sort This matter Libr. 2. cap. 33. de nupt concupisc saith he writing against the Pelagians requireth a Iudge and therefore let Christ iudge And then hee produceth the words of Christ as the words of the Iudge Hee saith also Let the Apostle iudge with him for in the Apostle Christ speaketh And then he produceth the words of the Apostle as being the words of Christ the Iudge And in another place It is not without great cause that Ad Cresc lib. 2. cap. 31. the Canon of the Scriptures is ordeined with such wholesome vigilance whereunto certaine books of the Prophets and Apostles doe pertaine which wee dare not iudge at all but according to them may we freely iudge of other writings whether they be written by beleeuers or no beleeuers After this till the Councill of Trent the Church helde the same determination still concerning the Iudge of controuersies of faith Indeed there were some Friars and Canonists that flattered the Pope and the Pope was as willing to make vse of their flatterings But these flatterers were reiected as men odious and could neuer finde any credit in the world before the Council of Trent In so much that the Popes themselues and what is it that they durst not doe durst not claime this authoritie before that time Pope Clement the first hath Dist. 37 cap 14. This Pope liued anno 1047. these wordes You must not seeke a strange sense which may be adulterated and inwardly corrupted nor confirme such a sense by the authoritie of Scripture but a man must take the sense of the trueth from the Scriptures themselues seeing that one may haue the full and firme rule of faith and trueth in the Scriptures Thus sayth a Pope Integra firma regula veritatis ex Scripturis Then there were no vnwritten Traditions thought of at that time to be thrust into the rule of faith Secondly he saith that the vnderstanding of the trueth must be sought out of the Scriptures themselues So that hee knew no other Iudge of the controuersies of faith Thus was the doctrine of the Iudge of controuersies maintained vntill the time of the Council of Basill The Councill of Basil doth likewise maintaine the ancient doctrine of the Church concerning this point For thus they say Lex diuina praxis Concil Basil Sess 4. Christi Apostolica Ecclesiae primitiuae vna cum Concilijs Doctoribusque fundantibus se veraciter in eadem pro verissimo indifferente iudice in hoc Basiliensi Concilio admittentur That is The diuine Law or holy Scripture the practise of Christ of his Apostles and of the Primitiue Church together with Councils and Doctours grounding themselues truely thereon shall be admitted for the most true and indifferent Iudge in this Council of Basill We finde by this what was the sense and iudgement of the Church in our fathers dayes for this was done about the yeere of Christ 1440. Then before the Councill of Trent there was no change in these things but there they haue changed all and made a new Church but with such sleights and cunning that it is apparant that it was not religion and conscience which mooued them but ambition and a singular estimation and pride of their owne wit holding such a scorneful conceit of other nations whom they call Tramontani that they presume that they can make all other men fooles This they practised in the Council of Trent and through the simplicitie and ouer-much credulitie which they haue found in some haue partly well confirmed their purpose for there were certaine questions which were determined in that Councill of Trent and yet neuer discussed as namely whether the Popes authoritie be aboue the authoritie of a generall Councill and whether the Pope be the