Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	catholic_a	church_n	true_a	3,961	5	5.4065	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61810	The peoples right to read the Holy Scripture asserted in answer to the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th chapters, of the second part of the Popish representer.	Stratford, Nicholas, 1633-1707.	1687 (1687)	Wing S5938; ESTC R9008	62,942	97

so slippery so weak various wavering changeable inconstant as you see the private Reason of the Learned is to be rely'd on by them as their Guide in expounding of Scripture How can you imagine it possible for all Christians to concur in the same Belief while the Learned who read and expound the Scripture give differing and contrary interpretations of it For as long as the Scripture is no otherwise in their Heads and Hearts than by the interpretation they make of it their Faith must necessarily be as various as their Interpretation And is not the Story of the Manna which follows as applicable to the Learned For was not the taste of the Manna as different to the Priests as it was to the People Did it not relish according to that kind of Meat that was most grateful to every Priest's Palate Now if the Priests in Canaan had receiv'd a Command of bringing forth that sort of Meat whose taste should be like that of the Manna they ate in the Desert was it possible they should all agree in their Dish Since tho the Manna was the same they all fed on yet the Relish was as different as their Tempers and Palats Don't you therefore see that Men will never be of one Spirit and one Mind until the reading of the Scripture be prohibited to the Learned and not to some but to all his Holiness as Infallible only excepted For if it be allow'd to the Cardinals notwithstanding their Eminences above others together with his Holiness they will never agree in the sense of it For I can tell you of many Cardinals who have differ'd from his Holiness and among themselves too about the sense of it Is it not then as plain as Demonstration that there will be no end of Controversies as long as the Scriptures are read by any Man in the World besides the Pope And perhaps not then neither for since he is not infallible but when he speaks from his Chair which seldom happens at other times he may chance to contradict himself and give one sense of Scripture this Year another the next It were therefore most advisable could it possibly be effected that the Book it self were utterly abolished Let not any Man interpret this to the disparagement of Learning since nothing can be more evident than that the Learned have vast Advantages above the rest of Mankind for attaining to the true meaning of the more obscure Texts of Scripture provided they sincerely search after Truth and are so humble so sensible of their own liableness to mistake that they daily implore the Divine Assistance But if they be destitute of these Qualifications they are not only as subject to err but to err more dangerously than others In the beginning of the 10th Chapter the Representer talks again at the same impertinent rate so agreeable to him is this way of reasoning that he naturally falls into it in every Chapter But the Vanity of it lies so open that it need not be further exposed If any Man please to consult the place I shall leave it to himself to judg whether it be not every whit as applicable against permitting the Scripture to the Learned as the Vulgar But the Representer may say The Church of Rome does not allow the Learned to interpret Scripture according to their own private Reason For the Council of Trent has decreed That no Man presume to interpret Scripture contrary to the sense of the Church or the unanimous consent of the Fathers And has not the Church of England her Confession of Faith contrary to which she allows none of her Members to interpret Scripture Does she not admit all such Traditional Interpretations as can be derived from the Fountain And for all such Texts as are obscure and doubtful does she not direct the Vulgar to consult their Guides Tho it is true she does not command them to believe that White is Black or that Vice is Vertue if the Priest says that it is But however the Church of Rome denies them the liberty of interpreting the Scripture in their own sense it is certain that they commonly take it else how comes it that they give such different senses of the same Scripture How comes it that many of the Learned expound the sixth Chapter of St. John of the sacramental eating of Christ's Flesh and many as learned as they say that no such matter is there intended How comes it when so many tell us that these words This is my Body are so plain for Transubstantiation that he must be quite blind who does not see it that others whose sight is as good as theirs tell us they are not able to see this in them Do these Learned Men in their Exposition of the Scripture give us the sense of the Roman Church or do they not If not they follow their own private Reason if they do their Church gives contrary senses of Scripture and is as far from being one in this respect as it is from being Catholic He confesses p. 63. That some of the Protestants to keep up the Face of the Church do speculatively contend for Authority and Guides But then he says In Fact they defeat all these their Pretensions How do they in Fact defeat them Because they own no Authority so great or safe but it is to be subjected to the controul of every private Examiner They own an Authority so great as to Matters of External Government as to be subject to the controul of no Man who lives in Communion with the Church But he means an Authority so great that whatsoever the Church commands and prescribes to be receiv'd as the Truth and Faith of Christ it ought to be received But can the Church have no Authority unless Men are bound to believe without examination whatsoever she prescribes to be believed If so then had she no Authority in our Saviour's and his Apostles days no nor for several Ages after them For if any such Authority had been own'd in the fourth Century how came it to pass that after the Nicene Council the Arian Heresy spread more than it had done before If this be to open a Gate to all the Fanaticisms and Quakerisms in the World 't is certain the Protestants did not first open it but it was long before open'd by our Blessed Saviour when he gave this Command to his Disciples Call no Man Father upon the Earth for one is Your Father which is in Heaven neither be ye called Masters for one is Your Master even Christ (h) Mat. 23. 9 10. As much as to say There is none upon Earth by whose sense a Christian is to be absolutely determin'd his Faith is not to be resolv'd into any Man's Authority But by the Creed all Christians are bound to believe the Holy Catholic Church Yes That there is such a Church and that this Church teaches all Truths necessary to be known But it is one thing to believe this another thing to believe as the Church of

more of the Commandments than what they find in their Catechism 5. As to the Sacraments Had he not need trust strongly who believes that Christ instituted the Sacrament of Order in saying Do this w Rhemes Test Annot. in Luke 22. v. 19. Abridgment of Christ Doct. p. 184 185. Behold here the Lights the Vulgar Papist enjoys Is it not now as manifest as Light it self That whosoever reproaches him with Blindness in the midst of so many Lights may with as good Reason prove him to be in the dark when Noon-day shines upon him Especially considering That besides these Books the Church hath given direction to all Parish-Priests to explicate on Sundays and Holy-days the Gospel and some Mystery of the Faith to such as are under their Charge c. But have we not reason to believe that the Explications of their Parish Priests are answerable to those we meet with in their Books and then notwithstanding these Helps and Assistances not only some but many of his Church may believe without understanding who cannot be condemned of Negligence and Sloth in the use of those means their Church has provided for them And if the Parish-Priests are generally as ignorant as many Learned Men of the Church of Rome tell us they are even they themselves believe without understanding and therefore much more the People But by what follows the Vulgar Papists are very blame-worthy if they know not the Scripture better than the Vulgar of any other Communion For it is an unquestionable Truth that when a Book contains high Mysteries of Religion Mysteries superior to all Sense and Reason and those not deliver'd in expressions suited to every Capacity but obnoxious to various interpretations that the People is in all probability likely to have more of the true sense of this Book and to be better informed of the Truth of the Mysteries it contains who are instructed in it by the Learned of that Communion and taught it by their Pastors Prelats and those whom God hath placed over them to govern and feed the Flock than any other People who have the Book put into their own hands to read it and search it and satisfie themselves In answer to which I shall propose a few Questions to the Representer 1st Whether it be an unquestionable Truth that when a Book contains not only high Mysteries but such things as for the far greater part are not above the Capacity of the Vulgar that he shall have more of the true sense of this Book who is instructed in it by his Pastors only than he who is instructed in it by them and studies it himself too In all Sciences there are some Mysteries now is he likely to understand any other Science better who takes only the Instructions of his Teachers than he who together with them diligently studies it himself also 2. Suppose nothing but high Mysteries were contained in this Book yet may not he as well understand these Mysteries who is instructed in them by the Learned and searches them himself as he that trusts only to the Instructions of the Learned 3. Is it for the sake of these high Mysteries that the reading of this Book is forbidden the Vulgar If so then 1. Why was it not forbidden sooner since these Mysteries were in it from the Beginning 2. Why are other Books publish'd for their use in which are Mysteries superior to all Sense and Reason and those not deliver'd in expressions suited to every Capacity but such as may be wrested by the Vnlearned and Vnstable to their own destruction Such I mean as the Contemplations of the Life and Glory c. Jesus Maria Joseph c. And therefore 4. Is it not evident that it is not for the sake of the Mysteries but of those things which are too plain and obvious to vulgar understandings that the reading of this Book is prohibited But he confirms what he says both by Reason and Scripture 1. By Reason Are not the Pastors more capable of teaching the People than the People are of teaching themselves An admirable Reason Let us see how it will hold in other matters Is not the Master or Tutor more capable of teaching the Scholar than the Scholar is of teaching himself He therefore will have more of the true sense of any Book in Logick Physicks or Metaphysicks that never looks into the Book himself but only hears a Lecture once in a Week or Month from his Tutor upon some part of it than he that makes the Book his constant study 2. As admirable are the Proofs from Scripture We know Moses gave the Book of the Law to the Levites to keep and read it every seven years to the People And in King Jehosaphat 's Reign the Priests and Levites did read it and teach the People so did Jeremy by God's Command so Isaiah so Ezekicl And did not our Blessed Saviour take the Book of the Prophet and read it and expound it to the People And was not this the Office of the Apostles and Deacons c. The Argument is this The Priests and Levites read the Book of the Law and taught the People so did Jeremy Isaiah and Ezekiel Yea our Saviour and his Apostles read and expounded the Scripture to the People Therefore they will understand more of the true sense of the Scripture who never read it than those who do What pity was it that Moses and the Prophets and our Saviour and his Apostles did not understand the force of this Argument for if they had they would no doubt have forbidden the People to read the Scripture and then we had never been pester'd with those Sects and Heresies that spring from it But they were altogether unacquainted with the Roman Politicks Tho therefore they read the Scripture to the People themselves and read it in the vulgar Tongue yet they left it free to the People to read it and not only so but laid it as a Duty upon them He adds For this intention was Ananias sent to Saul Peter to Cornelius and Philip to the Eunuch who professedly own'd he could not understand the Prophet in so necessary a Point as that of the Messias without an Interpreter x P. 51. None of which Instances make any thing for him but that of the Eunuch makes much against him For the Eunuch was reading the Prophet Isaiah tho he could not understand him and St. Chrysostom y Hom. 35. in Genes and others z Non intelligebat Scripturae sensum homo prophanus idiota tamen quoniam pio studio legebat subito mittitur illi Philippus interpres vertitur Eunuchus in virum tingitur aquâ ater Aethiops niveo agni immaculati vellere induitur subitoque ex mancipio prophanae Reginae fit servus Iesu Christi Eras Epist l. 29. Epist 82. observe that God as a Reward of his Diligence and Piety in doing what he was able sent him a Teacher And what follows hence First that they ought not