Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	bishop_n	church_n	succession_n	1,636	5	10.2155	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41553	A request to Roman Catholicks to answer the queries upon these their following tenets ... by a moderate son of the Church of England.	Gordon, James, 1640?-1714.	1687 (1687)	Wing G1282; ESTC R9547	37,191	48

far removed from them yet their minds should be at rest because he had already invested St. Peter with a Paternal Authority or Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction over them when he promised to him the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven but since in our Saviour's reproof we find no such Insinuation may it not be pertinently doubted if ever he meant any such matter 11. I would demand how the ensuing particulars can be reconciled to a formal Jurisdiction of S. Peter over the rest of the Apostles 1. The Care of all the Churches being committed to every one of them in solidum 2. St. Peter was sent by the Apostles and Elders at Hierusalem to Samaria he that gave the Commission having rather the Authority than the Person commissionated 3. His being called to an account for conversing with Cornelius the Centurion in Caesaria and other Gentiles by those at Hierusalem velut vehementur infensi as S. Chrysostom phraseth it 4. If St. Peter was then Supreme Governour wherefore did not the controverting Christians at Antioch address first to him in order to the indicting of a Council 5. Wherefore did St. Iames preside therein and by his Verdict determine the Controversie if we believe Eusebius and Epiphanius and not St. Peter on which account and because he was the first Bishop of Hierusalem and of the Christian World Epiphanius positively asserts that St. Iames was invested by our Saviour with a Superiority over all the Apostles 6. Wherefore was not that Decree issued forth in the Name of Peter if he was the Monarch of the Church 7. Why was St. Paul so immethodical to reckon Iames before Cephas or Peter and so arrogant as to say that he was in nothing inferiour to the chiefest Apostles for if St. Peter was his Superiour he came short of him in something which is very material and that is Authority 8. Was not St. Paul a very unmannerly Vassal to rebuke his Lord and Master for Judaizing and so solemnly that both Jews and Gentiles were witness to the Reproof 9. How could St. Cyprian say that the rest of the Apostles were the same that St. Peter was pari consortio praediti honoris potestatis Finally How could Eusebius aver in his Old Editions before they suffered the Index Expurgatorius that Peter Iames and Iohn were appointed Princes of the Apostles and that these three were equal 12. Since P. Leo the Tenth with the consent and approbation of the Lateran Council which they account General declares that our Blessed Saviour did institute St. Peter and his Successors in the Roman See his Vicars to whom by the Testimony of the Book of Kings it was so necessary to yield Obedience that whosoever would not was punished with Death thus Binius Concil Tom. 9. it may be pertinently demanded if they have Five Books of the Kings for in the Vulgar Version which have four of that Name there is not any Syllable which insinuates any such matter 13. If the Bishop of Rome was invested Iure Divino with an universal Jurisdiction over the Catholick Church or if the Roman Church either in its Head or Members severally or in all conjunctly be indued with an infallible Spirit how comes it to pass that all the antient Apologists were guilty of such a Supine Negligence from Iustin Martyr the first of them who lived Anno 150. to Theodoret inclusively who dyed about the middle of the Fifth Century as never to mention that most admirable Prerogative of the Roman Church above all the Societies in the World since some of them descend to many minute Particulars which are long ago obsolete and out of date in all the Churches of Christ 14. If it be a sufficient Answer for the Silence of the Apologists to say that they are so succinct that they had no room for such a matter For though it is easily granted that of Asianus Melito Quadratus and Aristides we have but Shreds in Eusebius and that Athenagoras Tatian Theophilus Antiochenus Minutius Foelix Cyprian ad Demetrianum I. Firmicus Maternus are very brief not to speak of many Orations written by the Fathers against Iulian the Apostate the Jews and Gentiles in general which are also reckoned among the Apologists and are yet briefer yet the two Apologies of Iustin Martyr with his Dialogue with Tryphon the Jew all the Works of Clem. Alexandrinus save his Paedagogus the larger Apologetick of Tertullian with his lesser ad Scapulam and some Books against the Jews and Gentiles the eight Books of Origen against Celsus the seven Books of Arnobius contra Gentes and so many of Lactantius his Institutions Eusebius de demonstratione praeparatione Evangelica S. Augustin his 22 Books de Civitate Dei Theodoret his 12 Books de curandis Graecorum affectibus all these are pretty Voluminous yet ne gru quidem not the least word or insinuation of any such prodigious privilegeof the Roman Church either in its Head or Members 15. What greater Elogy could have been given by any of the Fathers to S. Peter than that which S. Chrysostom applies to S. Paul that he was the Light of all the Churches the Foundation of the Faith the Pillar and Ground of Truth 16. Might not the Bishop of Antioch have claimed by virtue of Succession a Superiority over all the Organical Members of the Catholick Church as well as the Bishop of Rome since it is certain S. Peter resided seven years at Antioch and it cannot be proved from any Authentick Record that he was one year at Rome 17. May not the Bishop of Hierusalem which is the Mother of us all with better reason claim an universal Monarchy over the Church by virtue of Succession since the unquestionable Head of the Church dyed there And S. Iames the Lord's Brother was unquestionably the first Bishop of the Christian World whence Epiphanius concludes that the Principality over the Church was due to him and not to St. Peter 18. Since it s granted by Bellarmin and others that St. Peter's Martyrdom at Rome was but accidental there being no Scripture Promise or Catholick Tradition for it can the Bishop of Rome by virtue of his See pretend to S. Peter's Spirit and Power upon better grounds than Vibius Rufus did to the Genius of the Great Caesar because he bought his Chair 19. Could any of the Fathers have Complemented the Bishop of Rome with an higher Hyperbole than Synesius the Bishop of Cyrene did his Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria none of the best of men for he was a great Persecutor of S. Chrysostom by calling his Advice a Divine Response and an Heavenly Oracle 20. Can any Instance be given of any Bishop of Rome who before the famous Council of Nice presumed to exercise any proper Act of Jurisdiction without the proper Bounds of his own Patriarchat called the Suburbicarian Churches except P. Victor who for attempting to Censure others without his own Precinct was severely reprehended by Irenaeus and P. Stephen who was justly censured by

Protestant Divines do And I cannot imagine what good Infallibility does if an infallible Church has no better means of understanding Scripture than the Comments of fallible Men that is no better means then every fallible Church hath 2. When the Doctors of the Roman Church vye Reasons and Arguments with us Hereticks and dispute from Scripture and Antiquity especially in order to the establishing that beloved Palladium of their Churches Authority and Infallibility which those cross-grain'd Hereticks deny do they not appeal from the Infallibility of the present Church to every Man 's private Reason and Judgment as much as every Protestant does For it s against the very Principles of Philosophy to imagin that the Churches Authority can be a sufficient Topick to prove it self 3. If a visible uninterrupted Succession be the Mark of such a true Church as is the infallible Interpreter of Scripture as some Romanists aver wherefore is not the Greek Church an infallible Interpreter of Scripture since she hath as visible and uninterrupted Succession from Christ and his Apostles to this Day as the Church of Rome has yea if we consult the Catalogues of their Patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch we shall not find so many Chasma's occasioned in those Lists by Schisms as in the See of Rome 4. Since P. Zachary deposed Virgilius Bishop of Saltzburge as an Heretick because he truly maintained tho in a very ignorant Age the Doctrine of Antipodes may it not be pertinently demanded may not he who can mistake Truth for Heresie also mistake Heresie for Truth as no doubt P. Liberius Vigilius and Honorius did 5. Since it s confessed by Bellarmine and divers other eminent Champions for that Church that the Popes Canonizations are doubtful and subject to Error may it not be pertinently demanded if his Infallibility should chance at any time to mistake as I am pretty sure he hath done more than once in what a pitiful case are the Members of that Church who are obliged to invocate such mistaken Saints Would not that be Idolatry 6. Since in the first and last Ages of the Church there were many Schisms and Heresies which if we believe Irenaeus who lived in the Second Century were as wild and extravagant as any of later date now if the Fathers who lived in these Primitive Ages believed the Infallibility of the Roman Church at that time may it not be pertinently demanded Was there no Prudence amongst them all in going so far about by their endeavours to bring those Hereticks and Schismaticks to the Touch-stone of the Scripture and next to that to the most Orthodox and Catholick Tradition whereas how short and easie a Decision to all Debates might have been fetched hence had they had the same Apprehension of the Authority and Efficacy thereof by referring all Controversies depending to the determination of the Roman Church the Mother and Mistress of all and that infallible Conduct setled therein But not one word of that which makes it more than probable that such holy and wise men knew no such thing only when they make their Appeals to her after the express word of God it s in common with many other Churches especially those of Apostolical Foundation as is evident from Irenaeus Tertullian and St. Augustin when they had to deal with such Persons 7. How can any rational man imagin that the Popes or Roman Councils which they account General are infallible even when they are confirmed by Popes unless Errors become Truths and Contradictions be reconciled when determined by a Pope and Council Since P. Vigilius not only confirmed the Fifth General Council which formerly he had condemned but General Councils confirmed by Popes have made Definitions and Decrees plainly contradictory one to another Thus the Sixth General Council confirmed by Pope Adrian the First defined that Marriage was dissolved by Heresie And the Council of Trent confirmed by P. Pius the Fourth that it could not be so The Council of Constance confirmed by Pope Martin the Fifth decreed that a General Council was superiour to the Pope The last Lateran Council under P. Leo the Tenth condemned this Decree so did it the Decree of P. Nicholas the Fifth who ratified the Council of Basil as a true General Council 8. How can any doubt that General Councils confirmed by Popes may err since it is so manifest they have actually erred by making Decrees so apparently contradictory to the Plain Words and Sense of Holy Scripture that no impartial Person can any more question it than he can whether Theft be forbidden by the Eighth Commandment So did the Council of Constance confirmed by P. Martin the Fifth and Trent by P. Pius the Fourth the former in the Decree for Laicks Communicating in one kind only notwithstanding as themselves acknowledge that Christ instituted the Sacrament in both kinds and delivered it in both to his Disciples The later in decreeing that Divine Service should not be in the Vulgar Tongue in plain Contradiction to what St. Paul prescribes in 1 Cor. 14. not to speak that the Pope's Confirmation of Doctrinal Definitions is but a meer Ceremony it being impossible for any man to make that become true which is false or that which is false to become true 9. Since from the fitness of an infallible visible Judge for the Militant Church the Romanists are apt to pretend that God hath actually appointed such an one without which God say they had not made sufficient Provisions for the Assurance of Man's Faith and for the Peace and Unity of his Church or as it is with a strange kind of Civility expressed in their Canon Law Aliter Dominus non videretur fuisse discretus otherwise our Lord had not seem'd to be discreet may it not be very pertinently urged from this Topick of Humane Appearance that it had been yet more useful for the Church that not only the first Patriarch but all of them had been infallible yea and all the Bishops and Presbyters of the Church and if all men had been infallible certainly the Church of God should never have been troubled with any Error whatsoever but the experience of the World demonstrates that it is not so 10. If it be a fit Argument always to conclude that God hath done such a thing because the generality of Men judge it expedient to be done may it not be pertinently demanded where is that man who consulting with Flesh and Blood I mean Humane Reason who would not have thought it very fit that our Saviour after his Resurrection should have publickly taught the People of Hierusalem in the Temple as he used to do that all the Inhabitants of that great City yea all the Males throughout the Land being obliged to be there also at the Feast of the Passover might by an ocular Demonstration be convinced that our Saviour was not an Impostor when he said he would rise again the third day yet the infinite Wisdom thought it not fit For his ways are not as