Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	church_n	doctrine_n	teach_v	6,712	5	6.4919	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47331	The judgment of private discretion in matters of religion defended in a sermon on I Thessal. v. 21, preached at St. Pauls Covent-Garden, Feb. xxiii, 1686 [ie. 1687] / by Richard Kidder.	Kidder, Richard, 1633-1703.	1687 (1687)	Wing K406; ESTC R16673	16,256	40

may well be supposed to direct that Epistle to the Church or whole body of Christians which according to our version is said to be directed to the Elect Lady St. Jude directs his To them that are sanctified by God the Father Jude v. 1. and preserved in Jesus Christ and called St. Paul where he gives Laws about the Officers and Government of the Church directs his Epistles to the Governours onely as in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus otherwise he directs as here to the whole body of Christians 2. I consider the importance of the advice Prove all things The Greek word which we render Prove signifies to examine the truth or goodness of a thing and to discern the difference between one thing and another Luk. 12.56 ch 14. v. 19. Ro. 2.18 1 Cor. 3.13.11.27.16.3 It signifies to try and examine and sometime as the result of such tryall to approve It hath in the New Testament a particular reference to matters of Religion Ro. 2.18.12.2 Eph. 5.10 Phil. 1.10 These things deserve examining and there are about Religion many dangerous errours which want not the vogue and colour of truth 1 Joh. 4.1 We are required to try the Spirits and warned not to believe every Spirit We are required to examine and try the truth and goodness of things yea of all things and not to take them upon trust And this precept is subjoined to that 1 Cor. 14.3 4 5. Despise not prophecyings i. e. the preaching of the Word as may be collected from the Apostle's words elsewhere St. Paul doth frequently put us in mind to reverence the Ministers of Religion and tells us how they are to be esteemed He requires us in this Chapter To esteem them very highly in love for their works sake Heb. 13.17 1 Cor. 4.1 2 Cor. 5.20 v. 13. and bids us not despise prophecyings and yet even to this he adds Prove all things c. whence I raise this Doctrine or Proposition That it is the duty of Christian people to examine the grounds of their Religion and Faith and not to take them upon trust For the better speaking to it I shall First shew how this Proposition is to be understood Secondly I shall prove the Truth of it Thirdly I shall answer the Objections that may be brought against it Fourthly I shall make some use and application of the whole I shall shew how this Proposition is to be understood And that I shall doe in the following particulars 1. What I plead for is a judgment of discretion and not of jurisdiction and direction which belongs to our Superiors 'T is here as in the Laws of a Kingdom The people are obliged to know and keep them It is the duty and the interest of every man to know so much of them as concerns his life and property and the discharging his duty to his Prince and Countrey But then the power of making these Laws lies in his Prince or Governors and the learned in the Law are onely fit to direct and guide men in the matters of doubt and question And so it is in Religion It does not belong to every private man to be a preacher and interpreter of Holy Writ much less hath he any thing to doe to make Laws for other men But the private man hath a soul to save and in order thereunto is bound to inform himself in matters of faith Ro. 14.1 and those things which tend to the regulating his life and conversation We do not receive the people as judges of Controversies and doubtfull Disputations yet think them concerned in Religion in the mean time For matters of dispute and question the Priests lips are to preserve knowledge Here it becomes private men to be modest and to preserve a great reverence for their spiritual guides But there is a great deal of difference between asking the way when we are at a stand and pulling out our eyes and leaving our selves wholly to be led by another We may use our own eyes and our guides too 2. It is likewise a judgment of private discretion which I plead for It is not fit that a private man should judge for himself and his brother too His Conscience is not to be the common standard and measure of other mens Ro. 14.5 Let every man be fully perswaded in his own mind Every man ought to have this liberty to himself and to be content therewith and not to censure his brother 3. The practice of private men must notwithstanding this liberty be governed by the laws of their just Superiors And nothing can excuse them from an active obedience but where their Governors command what God hath forbid or forbid what he hath commanded And this determination of our practice especially in matters of order and discipline of which I would be chiefly understood is very consistent with that judgment of discretion which I am now pleading for Indeed if the thing commanded be evil I must obey God rather than man but if it be not I sin against God when I disobey my Superiors A private man is not judge of what is convenient most decent and orderly but ought to judge between good and evil lawfull and unlawfull true and false Our Doctrine does not give men a liberty to doe what they list when it permits them a judgment of discretion we do not pull out the peoples eyes nor yet allow them to break hedges and throw open enclosures and ramble whereever they list I shall prove the truth of this Proposition and shew that men are not to take their Religion upon trust That they ought to examine their Religion To try the Doctrines which they are taught whether true or false revealed by God or not And also to consider whether what is enjoined them be lawfull or not And to this purpose I desire you to consider 1. That the Scripture teacheth us this Doctrine We are here commanded to prove all things And our Saviour bids his followers take heed that no man deceive them Matt. 24.4 c. 23.10 1 Pet. 5. Christ allows no man a tyranny over the Consciences of men nor would St. Peter have it usurped nor did the Apostles themselves practice it St. Paul declares himself not to be a Lord over their faith but an helper of their joy 2 Cor. 1.24 Heb. 13.20 1 Cor. 11.1 Christ is our Master and great Shepherd His Ministers are but Stewards and Embassadors and are no farther imitable than they follow Christ Our Saviour calls upon his followers to beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees Matt. 16. Joh. 5.39 1 Joh. 4.1 Gal. 1. and to search the Scriptures And we are required to try the Spirits and not to believe an Apostle or an Angel that should preach any other Gospel God gave his law for our direction And we are assured that the Scripture is sufficient to render the man of God wise unto salvation through faith in Christ

The Judgment of Private Discretion IN Matters of Religion DEFENDED IN A SERMON On 1 Thessal V. 21. Preached at St. Pauls Covent-Garden Feb. XXIII 1686. By RICHARD KIDDER IMPRIMATUR March 19 1686. Guil. Needham LONDON Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal-Exchange in Cornhill MDCLXXXVII TO THE READER NOthing concerns us so much as the Salvation of our Souls and in order to that the choice of our Religion Here it well becomes us to use great care and strictly to examine things This we doe in matters of less moment when we purchase and when we trade when we are concerned for our Health our Estates and Properties The H. Scriptures frequently put us upon this care and the man who is diligent herein will be able to give the best account of himself hereafter and find the greatest satisfaction here Such a man will have steady Principles and have this comfort that 't is not by mere chance but choice that he is what he is This is the way to be certain that we are in the right which no man can be without understanding We may be confident indeed but can never be certain without knowledge and diligent examination of things The Church of England does not require a blind Obedience She is content Her Doctrines should be examined by the clearest light Simplicity and Truth seek not corners The H. Scriptures are allowed to the people and no means of instruction wanting among us She does not indeed vaunt of what she hath not She pretends not to any absolute Infallibility She is modest and contains Herself within due bounds and with-holds not from Her Children either the liberty or means of examining Her Doctrines But so it is that She suffers very greatly in the mean time Because She claims not Infallibility there are those who would infer that there is no certainty where the other is not But this is a wild and extravagant conclusion for the certaint● of a Thing does not depend upon the infallibility of a Person but ariseth from the evidence or clear grounds which evict its truth It does not follow that because I am fallible that I can be certain of nothing or that because I am liable to err I can never be sure I am in the right or that because I am ignorant of some things therefore I know nothing at all And yet we find it frequently pretended that Protestants want certainty and that they build upon an unsure foundation and that because they claim not that infallibility which others pretend to The best way to shew the uncertainty of our Faith would be to prove that we build on false grounds but those men who are most forward to traduce us have no great inclination to consider with due application the merits of our cause Instead of this they would have us rest upon the Authority of their Church as if the way to be more certain than we are were for us to see with other mens eyes and not with our own A man might justly expect from these men who thus declaim against Protestants that when they attempt to shew the uncertainty of their Faith they should at least prove the certainty of their own 'T will be worth our while to see if they have any better grounds for their Faith or safer way to Salvation than we have who examine our Doctrines by the H. Scriptures The best way to know this 〈…〉 Examen du livre qui porte pour ●●tre ●●●ngez ●●●●tunes 〈…〉 will be to compare them one with another They say that the desinition of the Church is our Rule where before we can be certain we must be sure of two things 1. That there is an infallible Church 2. That their Church is that infallible Church We on the other hand make the H. Scriptures our Rule and believe what they teach and here are two things also of which we must be sure 1. That what God says is true 2. That what the Scriptures reveal is from God. This is the true state of the question between us And now let any man consider impartially who builds upon the surest grounds They who build upon the Veracity of God and upon the H. Scriptures which are by all Christians owned to be the declaration of his will or they who build upon a pretence that there is an infallible Church and that their own is it The Principles on which they build are neither so evident in themselves nor yet so generally owned as ours for theirs are not so much as owned by the generality of Christians whereas ours cannot be denied by themselves And 't will appear that our way is as Easie and more Safe than theirs 'T is as easie to know what the Scripture teaches as what their Church does God intended it for the use of the people and surely then he fitted it for their use And we have great reason to believe that God can deliver his mind as plainly as a Council that he did it in all things necessary to the guidance salvation of the people for whom he wrot it This is so very evident that some of the Church of Rome have owned it Pref. part 1. pag 7. Celuy qui ne cherche dans l'Ecriture que son salut l'y trouvera The Authors of the Preface to the Testament printed at Mons declare That he who in the Scripture seeks nothing but his own Salvation shall find it there And presently afterwards speaking of some obscurity in the Scripture they add these words But that which may comfort us in this obscurity is this that according to St. Augustin the H. Scripture does propose to us after an easie and intelligible manner all that is necessary for the conduct of our life That it does explain and clear it self in expressing clearly in some places that which in others it expressed obscurely For the Doctrine of the Church 't is not very easie to know it We find at this day several representations of it from those who are all of the Communion of the Roman Church How shall the simple and unlearned man know what this Doctrine is His Curate may not be rely'd upon nor can he be secure from the judgment of any private Doctor What must he doe How shall he distinguish between the Doctrine of private Doctors and that of the Church Must he read the ancient Canons and Councils and Fathers He 'll find this an harder task than the searching of the Scriptures As our way is as easie so ' t is More safe than theirs There is danger indeed lest our lasts and worldly interests should put a byass upon us and turn us aside from the Truth but this lies on both sides But then on our side the great danger is this lest we mistake the sense of the H. Scripture here 's the great fear But then on the other side they who govern themselves by the authority of the Church are under a double danger