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	hold_v	pillar_n	2,991	5	10.6628	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85394	Hagiomastix, or The scourge of the saints displayed in his colours of ignorance & blood: or, a vindication of some printed queries published some moneths since by authority, in way of answer to certaine anti-papers of syllogismes, entituled a Vindication of a printed paper, &c. ... / By John Goodwin, pastor of a Church of Christ in Colemanstreet.	Goodwin, John, 1594?-1665.	1647 (1647)	Wing G1169; Thomason E374_1; ESTC R201334; ESTC R201335	139,798	168

alone with his owne words yet they exchange meanings with him For he doth not here speake of cutting off by the sword of the Magistrate which is by death but by the sword of the Church which is by excommunication Chrysostome with whom Calvin agrees in his notion conceives that the Apostle in his expression of cutting off alludes to circumcision which was made by abs●ission and wisheth that as they distracted the Church by preaching and urging the Doctrine of Circumcision or cutting off so themselves should be cut off Now that cutting off which was by circumcision was not to the death or destruction but to Sect. 62. the benefit of the circumcised Mr. Perkins calls the passage in hand an imprecation or curse pronounced by Paul upon the false Apostles and moveth this question upon it Whether we may not curse our enemies as Paul did To which he answers negatively No his reason For we have not the like spirit to discern the persons of men what they are and our zeale for Gods glory is mixed with many corrupt affections and therefore to be suspected So that his judgement is not onely that no argument can be drawne from this Scripture for the death or imprisonment of any teachers of errors or troublers of Churches in that kind but not so much as for any imprecation or wishing of evill against such Luthers interpretation of the place differs not much who expounds the Apostles malediction or imprecation as he calls it against the disturbers of the Church in the nature of an Anathema and makes this to be the sense of it that God would not guide or prosper either their Doctrine or their doings * Rectè igitur facit Paulus quod perturbatores ●llos maledicit pronunciat sententiam eos esse Anathema cun omnibus quae sunt docent faciunt quodque imprecatur eis ut ex●i●dantur ex bac vitâ precipue ex Ecclesia hoc est ne Deus gubernet fortunet Doctrinam omnes actiones eorum Luther ad Gal. 5. 12. Musculus understands the place cleerly of excommunication I would they were cut off saith he But from whence Even from the body of the Churches of Christ into which they had infinuated themselves as if they had been members of them whereas indeed they were pernicious pests They who are cut off are abalienated from all communion and fellowship therewith c. It is true he speaks afterwards of cutting off by the Christian Magistrate but his Text according to his own interpretation of it administers no ground at all unto him so to wish Nor indeed doth he wish any such cutting off as this but upon this ground or supposition that the Churches of Christ have no other meanes whereby to be rid of those unworthy teachers and Pastors whom he judgeth meet to be cut off which yet they ought to have yea and might have if they did not willingly suffer themselves to be deprived of it and then they should stand in no need at all of the strong hand of the Magistrate for such a purpose Whereas they adde that Christians in former ages submitted to Sect. 62. suffer with profession that if they had been Heretiques or Blasphemers they had deservedly suffered and for proofe hereof alledge that of the Apostle Paul when he was accused to have offended against the law of the Jews and the Temple If I be an offender or have committed any thing worthy of death I refuse not to dye Act. 25. 8. 11. they here also commit that iniquity by which they still build Sect. 63 their house of High Presbytery I mean they misuse the good Word of God For is there any thing in the passage they cite which so much as colours with that assertion which they argue from it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostle i. e. if indeed I did or doe injustice or have committed any thing worthy of death I refuse not c. Doe any of the Heretiques or Sectaries now as these men are pleased to call all those who refuse eandem insanire insaniam with them refuse to suffer or die upon such tearmes as these Let them produce any one man of that generation which they so avile and tread under their feet like clay and mire or stones in the streets who ever refused to suffer for injustice proportionably to his offence or to dye having committed any thing worthy of death It may possibly be that some of them have pleaded their innocency when matters of injustice have been laid to their charge and others have declared their judgements in opposition to some who would make what they please or what pleaseth not them matters worthy of death But in both these they are so farre from going against that they follow the example of the Apostle Paul who denyed that he had done any injustice or committed things worthy of death as his malicious accusers had traduced and falsely charged him to have done O England when will thy Teachers cease to pervert the streight wayes and word of the Lord when shall it yet be Their Answer to their fifteenth Argument is somewhat faint Sect. 63. and tender They speake here as if they cared not much whether they spake or no yet they take courage to say that the publique holding of some opinions may be so prejudiciall to the publique peace as may deserve imprisonment and yet not deserve excommunication c. But their strength is wholy spent with bringing forth the bare assertion that they have not left wherewith to cloath or guard it with any proofe And indeed a thousand such sayings may more easily be asserted then any one of them substantially proved I desire to know what opinions those are the publique holding whereof may be so prejudiciall to the publique peace as to deserve punishment and yet not be so prejudiciall either to the honour of God or to the proceedings of the Gospell or to the well being of that particular Church which ought to take cognizance of them as to deserve excommunication I feare that the publique peace is oftener Sect. 63. prejudiciall to the publique holding forth of many truths then the publique holding forth of any opinion whatsoever prejudiciall unto that Whereas they adde that the Apostle did not call them beloved Brethren that at Corinth denyed the resurrection but the rest of the Church that ●●ld the Truth except either they will say that they speake it by Revelation or else give some either Scripture or reason to prove it I trust they will give us leave to judge it Apocryphall and to number it amongst the transgressions of their pen. That which followes is yet of a more ignoble calculation for they say neither were there any such in the Church of Corinth or Christian Churches then that held opinions of farre worse consequence then very many or even then any of those errours which the Ordinance threatens with death But first why or in relation

are fornicators adulterers drunkards deceitfull covetous oppressors proud persecutors c. Doe they suppose I say that such abomination-workers as these doe not at all provoke God against the State or bring dishonour to him or do mischiefe unto his people For without such a supposition as this it is evident that those who maintain some one yea or more of the heresies so called or errors made punishable by the Ordinance may be as truly serviceable to the State as those of contrary judgement yea and this with the full consent of that very reason which is here brought to prove the contrary Or doe these men conceive that whosoever will undergo the penance of bowing downe his neck to the yoke of high Presbytery shall hereby obtaine Sect. 66. a plenary remission of all his sinnes from God yea and Do●a●i●tae qui prae s● omnes alios Christian as condemna●ant severitatem censurae in suos re●ana 〈…〉 et in suis ●aetibus h●mi es 〈…〉 os ●● opt● o● Gildo●ia●●s Primianosque pa ●●●autur●● Mart. Loc. Class 4 cap. 5. ●●ct 15. further be made uncapable of all further provocation These men who are so furiously clamorous against Sectaries and Heretiques in which bundle of clamour they binde up the names of many that are precious in the sight of God and good men doe themselves imitate one of the worst straines that was found in one of the worst kinde of Sectaries I meane the Donatists with the reproach of whose memory and practise they so frequently stigmatize those who dissent from them The Donatists saith Peter Martyr who condemned all other Christians in comparison of themselves were very remisse in their censures of those of their owne Sect. and patiently suffered even the most impure of men in their Assemblies * And of Eunomius the Heretique it is reported that suis sectatoribus quodvis scelus indulgebat That is he favored Sect. 68. his complices or followers in any mischiefe whatsoever Fourthly whereas they alledge that each of the erroneous opinions punishable by the Ordinance hath somewhat of visible prejudice Sect. 67. to the Church and state and from hence argue that those who hold and publiquely maintaine any of these opinions cannot be so serviceable to the State as those who hold the truth in those things may be this is a bird of the same feather and hath beene pluck't already Doubtlesse they who hold the truth in th●se things may notwithstanding hold such erroneous opinions otherwise and withall be so unworthy beyond the others in their practises and course of conversation that there may be much more visible prejudice both to the Church and State in these yea in either of them then in the errors of the other But when they adde that the Queree against which they argue seems to inferre that no Law is to be made to afflict or punish those that are godly and serviceable to the Common-Wealth they lay a necessity upon me either to judge them selfe-condemned in the charge or else weak beneath the line of such men who understand plaine English For the cleer truth is that there is not so much as the least s●emingnesse of any such inference or intimation in the Querie In their Answer to their seventeenth Argument they follow Sect. 68. their occupation first they dictate and then calumniate They dictate that the Ordinance is not like to discourage they meane from the Ministery any but hereticall and erroneous spirits who would do mischiefe in the Ministery if they were admitted unto it By the way is it not much that Ministers of an Anti-Congregationall Interest should speake against those who doe mischiefe in the Ministery Therefore saith the Apostle thou art unexcusable O man whosoever thou art that judgest for wherein thou judgest another thou condemnest thy selfe for thou that judgest dost the same thing * Rom. 2. 1. But how doe they prove that the Ordinance is not like to discourage any but hereticall and erroneous spirits No otherwise then by the profound demonstration of an Authoritative silence They are n●●i ad imperium borne to Sovereignty and it is an indigne thing to put them upon the servility of disputing The rule is Lex imperet non disputet and is it not meet that Law-makers should partake of the honour and priviledges of the Law But if they could content themselves with the office of Dictatours and not Sect. 69. intrench upon Sathans imployment also of calumniating it were a very considerable deduction from that summe of misery wherewith the nation is now charged by them Our Anti Querists have borrowed Gangrena's forehead and are not ashamed to say that it is the Querists calumnious insinuation that the common doctrines of the Churches of God in this present age are but misprisions and common errours in matters of Religion Reader if there be so much as the quantity of a mo●e in the ●unne of any such insinuation in the Querie let them weare the crown of Sagacious and quick-discerning men and let the dung hill meet for slaunderers to sit on be assigned unto me for my portion But if they in the charge have sinned the sinne of the dung hill why should sinne and shame part company All the Querie can so much as seem to intimate about this point is that men of greatest worth for parts and abilities are more likely then other men to discover the common errours and misprisions of the present age in matters of Religion But doth he that supposeth there are common errours and misprisions in matters of Religion intimate that the common doctrines of the Churches of God are but misprisions and common errours in Religion Or doth he that supposeth that there is much base and counterfeit coine abroad intimate that the best Silver and Gold are but counterfeit Or doth he that supposeth that illiterate and ignorant men are common in the world intimate that the wisest and most learned men are but illiterate and ignorant Apagè calumniarum quisquilias In their eighteenth Answer p. 20. pretending to answer an Sect. 69. Argument drawn from the parable of the tares they say that the parable doth not forbid to pluck up the tares in one field for feare left others should plucke up the wheat in another field In this doubtlesse they speake most truly For Christ was not afraid left the plucking up of the tares in this world should occasion the plucking up of the wheat in the next world For the field wherein both the wheate and the tares are to grow together is expresly said to be the world i. e. this present world The field is the world Matth. 13. 38. So that our Antagonists thus farre in the point in hand speake most substantially for matter of truth but most childishly as for matters of Answer or reason otherwise Whereas they adde that the parable forbids to pluck up the tares when by the Sect. 70. same act they may be in danger to

thing more strange to suppose this then it is to suppose that all men are not Kings nor all Princes nor all Nobles nor all wise nor all rich with the like Surely these men through the abundance of their zeale will shortly vote it wickednesse blasphemie impudence Atheisme Devillisme an impiety calling for an Anathema a delivering up unto Satan c. for a man to suppose or intimate that light is not darknesse or that darknesse is not light that sweet is not bitter or that bitter is not sweet that a mans feet are not his hands or that his head is not his feet The most cleere and pregnant truth is that the intimation wherewith they charge the Querie now in Sanctuarie and this undeservedly too and against which they rise up in the might of their indignation is of no more demerit no more worthy censure then one of these yea and that the most innocent of them if any be suspected Deare English soules take heed of putting a Scepter into the hands of these men For they can be angry and become Lyons and call eares hornes when they please By the way before wee leave this point I desire by occasion of the ground lately mentioned as the common if not the generall Tenet of our best and most Orthodoxe Writers that it be taken into serious consideration whether or how farre it is meet to punish or censute poore miserable men for not holding or not asserting the Truth of those things which they cannot come without much labour and contention of mind yea not without some good degree of reason and understanding too to judge so much as probable nor at al to come to believe or know them CERTAINLY but onely by an immediate and supernaturall work of the Spirit of God Are men to be punished because God hath not imparted unto them his Spirit of Grace and supernaturall illumination Seventhly and lastly Neither is it true as hath been prov'd at Sect. 26. large that all the opinions threatned with death in the Ordinance are either contrary to the manifest word of God or overthrowing the foundations of Christian Religion Therefore no such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or properties in them as these can be any reason to prove that the makers of the Ordinance must needs CERTAINLY know them to be damnable Sect. 27. heresies For non entis nulla est efficacia nulla operati● That which is not cannot be a reason or cause of that which i● A mans person cannot be protected by a Castle in the aire By the way I suppose that by the manifest word of God the Answerers meane Texts or passages first of such Scriptures which are manifestly i. unquestionably and without all dispute the word of God And secondly which are capable of no other exposition sense or meaning but what as plainly and directly as in the very termes themselves exhibit and give out the opinion whether one or more asserted by them If they intend or meane any thing lesse then this by their manifest word of God they speake snares and ambiguities therefore in this sense I understand them and counter-argue with them thus First that all the Opinions sentenced with death in the Ordinance are not contrary to the manifest word of God is evident by what hath been already argued concerning this which is one of them viz. that God is not one in three Persons a Sec Sect. 19 20 21. This how untrue or erroneous soever in a sense it may be is not contrary to any manifest word of God Nor have the Syllogismers proved so much as one jot or title of this and yet I believe they have proved as much of it as ever they will doe or can doe So againe That Christ is not God coequall with the Father which is another of these Opinions neither is this contrary to any manifest word of God in the sense declared though I judge it contrary to the Truth Probatio incumbit affirmanti Let the assertors of it to be so prove their assertion but to say much and prove little is one of the principall pillars in their Schoole So againe that Christs death is not meritorious in the behalfe of believers is another of these Opinions I marvell what manifest word of God they will finde unto which this is contrary That the Scriptures are not the word of God is another taking the word Scriptures for all the bookes of the Old and New Testament divifim and conjunctim as they are now received and acknowledged amongst us which is the onely sense the Ordinance can reasonably meane if they can find me any manifest word of God whereunto this is contrary I will in recompence of such a favour abate them three absurdities and foure in the sequell of my examination of their Vindication Againe Sect. 27. Secondly neither are all the said Opinions sentenced in the Ordinance with death overthrowing the very foundations of Christian Religion Sect. 27. Taking the word Scriptures in the sense even now declared viz. for all and every the bookes of the Old and New Testament this Opinion that the Scriptures are not the word of God doth not overthrow the foundations of Christian Religion The book of the Revelation is Scripture or a parcell of the Scriptures yet was this booke for a long time together denyed to be the word of God by far the greater part of Christians in the world who yet remain'd unshaken in the foundations of their Religion Luther denyed the Epistle of James to be the word of God and yet was built as strongly upon the foundations of Christian Religion as these severe Taxe-Masters themselves no disparagement to their Faith Musculus himselfe so farre professeth himselfe to reverence the judgement of some of the Canonicalnesse of the latter Epistle of Peter the two latter Epistles of John the Epistle of Jude the Epistle to the Herbrewes and the Apocalyps yea and of some later writers also for he speakes in the plurall number who discanon the Epistle of Jude that he judgeth himselfe lesse tyed or bound up in his judgement by these Scriptures then by other a Inter libros Novi Testamenti sunt nonnulli d● quibus etiam veterum sententiae variant utpote Epistola posterior Petri duae posteriores Johannis Epistola Judae Epistola ad Hebraeos Apocalypsis Iohannis quae in Concilio Laodiceno cap. 39. ultimo inter Canonicas Scripturas non recitatur quibus etiam eam quae Iacobo inscribitur quidam reccen●iores connumerant M●● modestiae non est ut de his pronunciem sintneeorum sub quorum nominibus extant vel secus ludicia tamen veterum hoc efficiunt ut minùs simillis quam coeteris Scripturis astrictus l●cèt haud facilè quaevis damnanda cens●am quae in illis leguntur Musculus Loc. De sacris Scripturis It were easie to adde more instances of like nature And though for my selfe I can and doe without sc●uple subscribe to the

so cleare in any other Churches as it is here in England I see the morall of the fable verified if a man be the painter the Lyon shall be made to couch at his feet Thirdly That the truth of it is not setled in other Kingdomes or States as it is amongst us it seems they make a difference between cleering and setling and so I beleeve that in their sense there is a very great difference indeed the former being Gods way the latter mens In the fourth place they adde it may justly be beleeved that if he Calvin were now alive in this Kingdome he would not publish or maintaine any thing contrary to the observation of the Lords day as it is enjoyned by the Lawes and Ordinances of this Realm But may not the justnesse of these mens beliefe in this case be justly questioned Is it a just or righteous thing to beleeve or to suppose that a man of worth of able parts of eminent learning of a composed judgement of a tender conscience would baulk with God and his own soule in shunning to declare what upon mature studie upon diligent and faithfull inquirie he judgeth to be the counsell or will of God thorough feare of an Ordinance or Law in a civill State I beleeve if Calvin were now alive whether in this Kingdome or in any other he would conne these Gentlemen small thankes for such a commendation The dregs setled in the bottome of this Answer are these can it be lesse then a wilfull slaunder and malicious purpose of rendring the Ordinance odious to name death as a punishment for maintaining any thing against the Ordinances and Lawes about the Lords day c. But so this Querist deales in other of his Queries c. But let charity or reason or common sense or who yee will judge whether it be lesse then a wilfull slaunder and malicious purpose of rendering the Querist odious without a cause to charge him with naming death as a punishment for maintaining any thing against the Ordinances and Laws about the Lords day To Queree whether Calvin deserved either imprisonment or death for teaching and maintaining c. which is the tenour of the Queree is this to charge Sect. 56. the Ordinance with threatning death as a punishment for maintaining any thing about the Lords day against the Ordinances and Laws If not how can it render the Ordinance odious except haply it be either in the jealous consciences of such men who are under some regret and secret counterworkings of conscience through feare lest the Ordinance though pleasing to them that is to their flesh should yet be odious indeed in the sight of God or else in the over-jealous conceit of those whose chiefe hopes and comforts on earth are bound up in the honour and successe of the Ordinance and who lye under the bondage of this feare that if the Ordinance should prove odious in the eyes of men themselves should suffer and beare the same burthen with it To say that Nicholas or Matthew or any other person is either homo or BRVTVM is it any wayes to name or intimate that brutu●s is either the genus or species of either But when mens mindes are set to doe unworthily they become uncapable of greater differences then are between conjunctive and dis-junctive particles though there be no such affinity or likenesse between these which need incumber any sober mans judgement in or about their dijudication But Gangraena and her Paramour hath justified all the sons of Presbytery besides in all their slanders calumnies false aspersions malicious imputations and reports they that are malicious are not malicious in comparison of him that super-abounds in malice Omnis Caesarea cedat labor Amphitheatro Vnu●● pro cunct is fama loquatur opus Let all mens malice give Gangraena place Let Fame instead of all this one piece grace In their Answer to their twelfth Argument if they meane as Sect. 56. they say they make some part of atonement for their delinquency against the Queries hitherto For here they grant that no man is punishable for his meere mistake whatever his opinion be but for being so pertinacious in his mistake in matters of great consequence as that he will not forbeare to publish his mistakes to the infection of others and the mischiefe of their soules and to the ruine or at least miserable Sect. 57. disturbance of the Church of God I freely acknowledge that whosoever out of pertinacy in his mistake not onely in matters of greater consequence but even of lesser will not forbeare to publish his mistakes to the infection of others c. i. e. with a desire or intention to infect and mischiefe the soules of others c. deserves severely to be punished nor shall I ever plead mercy for such a man If the Ordinance had explained it self after any such manner as this I I presume with many others should have been satisfied in it without any more adoe and not have needed to crave satisfaction about it as now wee have done But in case any man shall really and conscientiously judge that opinion of his which others call a mistake and perhaps is so indeed to be a truth of God and shall withall really judge that he is bound in conscience to hold forth such an opinion as being in his judgement and conscience the undoubted truth of God and withall necessary to be published and made known unto men for their spirituall benefit and good in case I say the publishing of his opinion or mistake upon such termes as these shall prove the infection of others or inconvenience or if you will mischiefe the soules of others c. I have no ground either in Reason or Religion to judge this man worthy either death or bands Nay if to publish such mistakes and that even with pertinacy which tend to the infection of others and mischiefe of soules c. were a matter worthy either death or bands I have sufficient grounds both in Reason and Religion to judge and think that very many Ministers of the Anti-Independent interest yea many of very eminent repute amongst them would upon due examination and triall be found in the condemnation The strength of their Answer to their thirteenth Argument Sect. 57. leanes upon this staffe That the open and publique profession of errors is more pernicious then the practise of sins in a like kinde and degree they instance To teach there is no Christ is more dangerous they say then to live as if there were no Christ and yet make a profession of him Well but my judgement and the judgements I beleeve of many more and this Doctrine are at oddes But these men attempt a reconciliation by the mediation of this reason for the proofe of their Doctrine The one they mean the publique profession of errours justifieth what it doth as lawfull under pretended Sect. 57. grounds of truth The other practiseth and yet POSSIBLY not so impudently