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
A61596	Scripture and tradition compared in a sermon preached at Guild-Hall Chapel, Novemb. 27, 1687 / by Edward Stillingfleet ...	Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699.	1688 (1688)	Wing S5632; ESTC R14282	19,664	34

not only supposes it very possible but he bids them have a particular Eye to them lest they should be deceived by them The Church of Corinth was planted by Paul and watered by Apollos and there were Disciples of Cephas and of Christ himself And yet in the midst of so many Infallible Teachers they had like to have lost all their Faith as one of them tells them How say some among you there is no Resurrection of the dead And if Christ be not risen then is our Preaching vain and your Faith is also vain Could not they remember to day what was taught them yesterday and so what the Apostles at first preached to them The Churches of Galatia had such an opinion of St. Paul upon his first preaching the Gospel among them that they received him as an Angel of God even as Christ Iesus yet presently after he saith am I therefore become your Enemy beause I tell you the Truth What! Of an Angel of God or of one received as Christ Iesus to become their Enemy and that upon the most unjustifiable account because he told them the Truth But where truth can make Enemies errours may easily gain Friends And so we find it was in the Apostolical Churches even under the Conduct and Teaching of the Apostles The Colossians were not yet so far gone but they were in such danger that the Apostle writes this Epistle with great concernment for them He tells them v. 1. he had a sharp Conflict in his own mind about them They had not yet seen his Face in the Flesh being converted by some sent by him of whom Epaphras is most taken notice of but he was present with them in Spirit v. 5. i. e. He was deeply affected with their Condition for he understood the Designs and Artifices of the Seducers among them He knew what fair and plausible pretences they had viz. that they went about not to undermine Christianity but to advance it by taking in some Jewish Customs and some Gentile Observances and Modes of Worship which might easily be Accommodated to the Christian Doctrine and so a great deal of the Ammosities both of the Iews and Heathens would be removed and Christianity would thereby gain more Friends and meet with fewer Enemies The Apostle finding how necessary it was at this time if possible to keep them Stedfast in the Faith 1. He assures them that the Christian Doctrine was of it self so sufficient for the good of Mankind that it needed no Additions either from the Law of Moses or the Philosophy of the Gentiles which might introduce several things with a specious Appearance of Wisdom Humility and Mortification but they ought to be assured that from Christ they had all that was necessary or useful for Salvation For in him are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge 2. That this Doctrine was at first truly delivered to them and they ought to be stedfast in it which is the design of the Text. But they might object that Epaphras was no Apostle of Christ himself and if he were yet there were many Apostles and the false Apostles pretended to be true ones and although St. Paul interposed his Authority yet he was but one and the Iudaizers would not yield to it but were ready to suggest that the other Apostles were more favourable to the Jewish Customs than he and therefore it was necessary some more general and common Rule be found out whereby to distinguish the Original and Genuine Doctrine of Christ from that of Pretenders and Seducers The clearing of this is in it self a matter of great consequence and not only was to those of that Age but is so in every Age of the Christian Church where the same Question may be put What was the true Primitive Doctrine of Christ and by what means may we come to it which concerns us this day as well as them And the Answer lay in two particulars which I shall endeavour to clear 1. 〈…〉 the Apostles did in common deliver to 〈…〉 by them was the Genuine Doctrine 〈…〉 2. That which they have left in their Writings after it came to be contested which was the true Doctrine of Christ. 3. That which the Apostles did in common deliver to the Churches planted by them For we have all the reason in the World to believe that the Apostles delivered one and the same Faith to all the Churches having the same Infallible Spirit to direct them There was no need for them to meet together before their dispersion and to agree upon some common Articles of Faith as Russinus imagins lest they should differ from each other For how could they differ who had the same Spirit of Truth to lead them into all Truth And we find nothing like a Combination among the Apostles as to matters of Doctrine And if there had been it would have rendred the Faith they delivered more suspitious in that they durst not trust particular Persons with delivery of it without an antecedent Confederacy among themselves which would have cerning him and the Disciples when they first heard him were amazed after this he took a course by himself and did not go up to Ierusalem to the College of Apostles there resident but went into Arabia so that if any one might be thought to set up another Doctrine it was he but he was so far from it that he established and confirmed the truth of what they delivered and was very successful in his Apostleship in all places And when there had been some whispers concerning him as though he proceeded not in the same way with the rest he went up to Ierusalem and there upon full examination James and Cephas and John who were the leading Apostles gave him the right hand of Fellowship in token of their full consent in the same Faith. 2. The truth of the Gospel was the more plainly discovered All this while the Apostles only preached and delivered their Doctrine to the several Churches by verbal Instructions but after these had been received in the hearts of such multitudes that there could be no suspition that a false Representation of Christs Doctrine or Actions could be received by those Churches then the Wise Providence of God took care for Posterity and imploy'd several Persons in distant Places and Times to write the History of our Saviour And there was this advantage to the Church that the Gospels were written no sooner For all the Churches planted by the Apostles were then made Judges whether the Gospels written were agreeable to the Doctrine which the Apostles had taught and if not there would have been just reason to have question'd either the Truth of what had been taught them or what was delivered in the Gospels But when they found the main to be fully consonant to what they had been taught the Testimony of every one of these Churches did shew the concurrence of all the Apostles as to the Doctrine