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	error_n	fundamental_a	2,119	5	10.4051	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A38061	A preservative against Socinianism. The first part shewing the direct and plain opposition between it, and the religion revealed by God in the Holy Scriptures / by Jonath. Edwards.	Edwards, Jonathan, 1629-1712.	1693 (1693)	Wing E217; ESTC R24310	65,484	89

advantage of the ambition and curiosity the discontent and revenge and other disorderly passions of Arius Photinus Nestorius Eutyches and others he soon prevail'd with them to assist him in the project which he had laid for corrupting the doctrine and thereby disturbing the peace of the Church For they presently broached many dangerous opinions whereby they did either plainly deny or some other way pervert the doctrines then generally entertained by the whole Church concerning the natures and the person of the Son of God But these errors having long since bin buried in the Western Church and lay forgotten in a manner with their Authors were again unhappily revived at the beginning of the Reformation by the endeavours chiefly of some Polanders and Italians in the last age and among them principally of Faustus Socinus who having gathered up the dangerous errors of Paulus Samosatenus and Photinus chiefly against the divinity of Christ he put them together in one body together with those of Pelagius in the point of original sin and those other doctrines which are supposed to have a necessary dependance upon it And herein Socinus seems chiefly to have chosen Pelagius for his pattern For the other Hereticks I mean Arius Photinus and Macedonius being content with the denyal of those fundamental doctrines concerning the divinity of the Son and the Holy Ghost or with their particular Errors about the natures and person of Christ as Nestorius and Eutyches they did not attend to or at least did not draw out those doctrines into all their pernicious consequences which might when clearly understood overthrow all the other parts of the Christian doctrine But Pelagius gave us a systeme of his Divinity and drew out his Errors into a greater length in opposition to several important parts and branches of our Religion chiefly that which concerned the doctrine of Original sin which naturally lead him into those other dangerous mistakes which did by consequence overthrow the necessity of the satisfaction made by Christ and the redemption of the world by the merit of his death and sufferings as the Fathers and particularly St. Austin directly charge him For he was master of reason enough to consider where it was that his first error would naturally lead him and he was content to follow it and thereby fell into that Labyrinth of errors from which with all his skill and sophistry he could not disentangle himself for when pressed with the arguments of his adversaries and the authority and tradition of the Catholick Church tho he could and did find as many shifts and tricks as any other to escape the force and conviction of truth yet his former and fundamental error in denying the imputation of Adam's sin and the original guilt and stain of our natures contracted thereby hung like a dead weight about him and sunk him down into those impious opinions which he broached concerning the grace of God and the liberty and freedom of mans will in religious matters in opposition to that Grace concerning the nature and efficacy of the Sacrament of Baptism the merit of good works and the justification of a sinner the nature of Gods law and the possibility of raising to a state of perfection in this life by yielding a perfect obedience to it c. all which having been picked up by Socinus together with what was deliver'd by the other Hereticks against the divinity of the Son of God and the Holy Ghost he hath at length given us the most perfect systeme of Heresies in opposition to the doctrine of the Gospel in almost all the parts and branches of it that ever was ushered into the world And indeed to give him his due tho in point of time and standing he was inferior yet in point of skill and management that is in the art of Heresie he was superior to all that went before him most of whom were but fools and ●unglers in comparison For many of the ancient Hereticks had several extravagant and incoherent notions which had no more connexion between one another then the parts of a rope of sand so that like a company of mad and hair-brained people they attacked the Christian Religion with great fury but it was at randome and without skill flinging about their mad opinions like wild-fire with which indeed they did a great deal of mischief but it was at all adventures without order and as one would imagine without any certain aim But Socinus comes more gravely and leasurely to work and what M. Cato said in another case of Julius Caesar 2 may be applyed to him Sobrius accessit ad perdendam religionem LIke a man that had his wits tho as many think not the fear of God about him he comes more soberly and with greater deliberation to destroy the Christian Religion he puts his opinions into better order his errors are better united and have as far as the nature of error would allow for the most part a good correspondence between one another like a wary and well disciplined Captain he puts his arguments into good array levels his Batteries against the great mysteries of our Religion and chiefly against the eternal Divinity of the Son of God as well knowing that if he can succeed in his attempt upon that he may promise himself an easy and cheap victory over all the rest of our Religion and therefore having as he thinks effectually overthrown that main and fundamental Article of it concerning the ever blessed Trinity he is resolved to follow his blow and to pursue his imaginary conquest in that point to the overthrow of all the other parts of the Christian doctrine He saw where Arius Photinus Nestorius c. were wanting who having as was said before contented themselves with their particular errors concerning the natures and person of Christ as persons who thought they had done mischief enough they seemed content with what they had done and went no farther But Socinus in imitation of his beloved loved Pelagius enlarged our prospect into his Religion and from the principles which he laid down he drew out his conclusions to a greater length for having denyed the Trinity and particularly the eternal divinity of our Saviour with it he could not avoid denying his satisfaction and the redemption of the world by the merit of his death and sufferings having disowned the personality of the Holy Ghost the necessity of his grace and the efficacy of his operations upon the minds of men must at the same time fall to the ground Together with these he hath published many dangerous errors concerning the nature and attributes of God concerning his prescience and providence in the government of the world concerning the creation of man and the fall of Adam and that corruption of our natures which is the consequence of it concerning justification and faith which is the means of obtaining it concerning the Church its nature and the notes whereby it may be distinguished from all other societies concerning

a fair adversary and have treated the mysteries of our Faith with such a Prostitute and Impudent Scurrility that we cannot well tell what reply to make to them except in Imitation of the blessed and meek Arch-Angel Michael we should desire God to Interpose in his own quarrel and to rebuke the Blasphemies of these men but to have mercy upon the Blasphemers To Conclude all as there is no danger at present God be thanked that we should be frighted out of our Religion so I hope we shall not be wheedled out of it by any of the Artifices of these seducers who lye in wait to deceive nor by any other specious pretences that they may make no not by the pretence of Peace which I know hath sometimes bin offered in their behalf I confess peace is a most desireable thing the blessings that attend it are so great that we cannot tell how sufficiently to value and so many that we can scarce number them So that all humble and truly pious Christians should be content to part with any thing to obtain it But I must recal that last word for upon second thoughts I find it may be too dearly purchased as it certainly will be when bought at the expence either of Truth or Justice without which Peace tho otherwise the most useful and excellent would prove one of the most pernicious and mischievous things in the World And when I speak of Truth I chiefly and principally mean those fundamental Truths which are treated of in these following Papers the Belief of which have hitherto bin looked upon by most Christians to be necessary to our Salvation and if there be any Truths of that Importance I hope every man will consider that tho Peace be much to be desired yet that it is not advisable for him to hazard his Salvation to secure it When all is done the reputation of being esteemed a Peaceable and moderate man will stand a man but in little stead when he comes to appear before the Tribunal of Christ and there to be charged with the guilt of betraying his Religion and at the same time the Souls of them committed to his charge to endless perdition and ruin In one word tho Peace be so great a blessing that a man might be content to lay down his Life yet no man should lay down his Soul for the sake of it And tho a Pious man might in some cases commendably submit to Death yet no wise man nay indeed no man not out of his wits would venture upon damnation to Obtain it A PRESERVATIVE AGAINST Socinianism IN all ages ever since the first planting of a Christian Church in the world God for many wise reasons hath thought fit to exercise it with various and different sorts of tryals The Apostles who were immediately commissioned by Christ and sent to teach all Nations and thereby to bring them over to the belief and obedience of the Gospel according to the prediction of their blessed Master in the 10 th of Matth. who had forewarned them of it met with great and violent opposition and that both from Jew and Gentile who with an extraordinary zeal or rather fury set themselves to oppress and stifle this new doctrine if it were possible at its first appearance and before it had gained much ground and footing in the world But besides the open force with which the enemies of it endeavoured to destroy the Christian doctrine the Apostles and other Ministers of it met with another and more dangerous opposition from some false brethren who did not aime so much at the destruction of the Christian faith as by some undue mixtures to corrupt the purity of it Such were the Judaizing Christians who tho they embraced the doctrine of the Gospel yet still they retain'd a weighty affection for their old Religion and the law of Moses to the observance of which they thought themselves under an indispensable obligation and not only so but would oblige all other Converts to the like observance and their zeal in this matter occasioned no small trouble to the Apostles and disturbance to the Churches where they first planted the Christian faith See Acts 15. and 5. Gal. And tho this was a matter of no small concern and might in the conclusion have proved of dangerous consequence yet it was not considerable in a manner if compared with many other execrable opinions and practices which began very early to be introduced into the Church by Ebion and Cerinthus Menander Saturninus Basilides and Carpocrates Succeeded afterwards by Valentinus and Marcus Marcion and Hermogenes and a long train of Hereticks shall I call them or Hogoblins for so I think they might well be styled if we consider either the darkness and ignorance of all religious matters with which they were encompassed or the wild pranks which they played to the great disturbance of all good men who were all descended from that son of perdition Simon Magus who was their Patriarch and Ring-leader It were a difficult task to muster up the names but almost an endless attempt to reckon the senseless and extravagant opinions of these Hereticks by reason of whose pernicious ways the way of truth was evil spoken of For many of the objections of the Heathens against Christianity tho all of them were false yet were taken from the execrable opinions and practices of these lewd miscreants who thereby brought no small disgrace upon the Christian Religion and put no small stop to the growth and propagation of it But not to prosecute this matter any farther if we descend a little lower we shall find that God had no sooner dissipated the storm that hung over the Christian Church for some Centuries and put a stop to the effusion of any more of that blood which without any distinction of Age or Sex was spilt like water under the ten famous persecutions by the advancement of Constantine to the Empire but the devil betakes himself to new shifts who finding his former methods of cruelty so signally baffled by the patience and constancy of the Martyrs he begins to play a new or rather to revive his old game and since he cannot destroy the professors of Christianity he will endeavour to undermine their Religion He had indeed made a vigorous effort to extinguish both the name and memory of the Christian Religion and to have tore up both the faith and the believers quite by the very roots but herein he was disappointed and therefore he endeavours to compass that by stratagem which he cannot effect by storm and in this method he finds greater success than in the former For being baffled as we said before in his attempts upon the disciples of Christ he attacks the doctrine which they embraced and here Inimicus homo the enemy came and sowed tares among the Wheat hoping thereby to choke the word which now he despair'd to extirpate And herein he found fit instruments for the execution of his design for taking