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	great_a	time_n	4,486	5	3.5288	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63736	A true relation of the wonderful cure of Mary Maillard, lame almost ever since she was born, on Sunday the 26th of Nov. 1693 with the affidavits and certificates of the girl, and several other credible and worthy persons, who knew her both before and since her being cured : to which is added, a letter from Dr. Welwood to the Right Honourable the Lady Mayoress, upon that subject.	Welwood, James, 1652-1727.	1694 (1694)	Wing T3073; ESTC R13174	22,424	50

A TRUE RELATION OF THE Wonderful Cure OF MARY MAILLARD Lame almost ever since she was Born On Sunday the 26th of Nov. 1693. With the Affidavits and Certificates of the Girl and several other Credible and Worthy Persons who knew her both before and since her being Cured To which is added A Letter from Dr. WELWOOD to the Right Honourable the Lady Mayoress upon that Subject LONDON Printed for Richard Baldwin near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane 1694. ADVERTISEMENT WHereas there hath lately come out an Account of the Wonderful Cure of Mary Maillard These are to Certify the Reader That that Account is very Lame and Imperfect as will appear by the Original Affidavits and Certificates that are in the Hands of Richard Baldwin which any Inquisitive Person may see and peruse whenever he pleases Imprimatur Decemb. 20. 1693. Edward Cooke A TRUE RELATION OF THE Wonderful Cure OF MARY MAILLARD c. 'T IS not without reason that the most Rational People of the World and especially Protestants shew but a very slight and indifferent inclination to believe Miracles which are said to have been wrought since the times of the Apostles Indeed if we examine very narrowly into them we shall find generally speaking that they owe their rise to the Interest and Avarice of the Clergy who under the shelter of that thick darkness which for so long a time had covered the Christian world Invented a thousand Miracles to establish their Authority their Opinions and chiefly the great Revenues of the Church This is so manifest a truth that we need but to read the Golden Legend and Metaphrastus to be convinced of it Now as those fseigned Miracles were only established through the Ignorance of the deluded People so we saw them in some manner to disappear after the taking of Constantinople when Learning was forced to take its sanctuary in the West They began then to question the truth of Visions and the Credit and Honesty of the Clergy which made Miracles less frequent But as soon as the great Light of the Reformation appeared they vanished away entirely and since that time have not dared to shew themselves on our Horizon but in bugger-mugger if I may be allowed that common word It is true the Jesuits say that they have rose again in Iapan and in China but since they produce no other Witnesses for the proof of such a Report but the Fathers of their own Society which makes them very much to be suspected we do not think it worth our while and pains to go about to shew that these Miracles are no more real than an infinite number of other Stories related in the Legend The many Tricks and Cheats which have been already discovered upon this Subject ought to oblige every Rational man to stand upon his guard and not to believe over-hastily all the Miracles that are said to have been wrought This is a very just precaution and not to be blamed but then it is only thus far that our mistrust ought to extend for to push it further would be to drive it in partibus Infidelium But th●re are I know not how many persons that break this Rule some without ever entring into any 〈…〉 tion at all believe every thing that is 〈…〉 and if the Event be but ever so li 〈…〉 ing 〈◊〉 it goes down with them for a Miracle Others who pretend to be more refined do very stifly deny all that is said to them but if a Fact be proved so clearly that they cannot contradict it then they answer coldly that this is a Natural Effect without ever being at any trouble to examine or explain whether it be so or no though they are never so much press'd to it 'T is plain now that both these sort of persons do lay their stress upon foundations equally false the former do frame to themselves a Common-place of the power of God and to these it is enough to say that God is Almighty to make them believe the truth of all the Miracles that ever have been published On the contrary the other whether they have examined any of the pretended Miracles and found them false or else have learnt it from somebody else make to themselves another Common-place from this Errour and so concluding from a particular to the general against all the Rules of good Logick they affirm that all the Miracles which are said to have happened in the world are false and without any foundation These two faults are to be condemend but the former of them hath some appearance of goodness mixt with their simplicity whereas the Vice of the latter hath the characters of an excessive pride and malignity of heart This Remark obliges me to divide these Incredulous persons into two Classes because some of them through a foolish presumption deny the truth of all Events that do but shock the small light of their understandings and the others do avoid examining these Events for fear least they should find there the finger of Divine Providence which they would gladly efface out of the works and order of Nature The First Vice is the fault of the self-conceited half-witted sparks and the Second that of the Impious which are ironically but commonly Stiled Esprits forts From what I have observed it follows that we ought to keep a just medium between these two extreams and seriously to examine the Events we are told of before we pass a judgment on them Shall we shew a curiosity or earnestness for the least trifles and can we be cold and negligent in informing our selves of the truth of an important matter of Fact which happens against the ordinary course of the things of this World To proceed in this Examination we ought in my Judgment to do these Four things First to examine whether the Fact in it self be wonderful and contrary to the Laws or common Effects of Nature for if it hath not this character why should we spend our time in vain to seek for a Mystery where there is none Secondly We ought to consider the Person on whose behalf this Miracle is pretended to be wrought It is a Lesson that was heretofore given to the Pharisees by the Parents of the man that St. Iohn mentions was blind from his Birth We know that this is our son said they and that he was born blind but by what means he now seeth we know not He is of age ask him he shall speak for himself Io. 9. Thirdly We ought to examine the probity and the number of Witnesses because if a Fact be attested by a competent number of persons of Credit and Reputation of divers Nations of different Interests and whom we can have no suspicion of for joining in a Conspiracy to carry on a Lye such a Fact ought to be accounted as true as if we had seen it with our own Eyes for there is the foundation of the most part of our knowledge Fourthly and Lastly We ought carefully and without partiality to