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	know_v	true_a	8,326	5	5.4606	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A80008	The hinge of faith and religion or, a proof of the deity against atheists and profane persons, by reason, and the testimony of Holy Scripture: the divinity of which is demonstrated, / by L. Cappel, Doctour and Professour in Divinity ; translated out of French by Philip Marinel, M.A. and fellow of Pembroke-College in Oxford.; Piuot de la foy et religion. English	Cappel, Louis, 1585-1658.; Marinel, Philip.	1660 (1660)	Wing C482; Thomason E1845_2; Thomason E2265_1; ESTC R209659	84,739	200

separated and alienated through his Injustice Pollution and Perverseness which doth incline him to deny this Providence which he feareth as his Judg. And in this Infidelity of Man God would not leave himselfe without a Witnesse but hath lively engraved and imprinted himselfe in his Works so that man maugre himselfe is forced in those things to acknowledge this Deity And this is to convince man of his errour and to make good the Justice of his proceedings and the righteousnesse of his Judgments against their impiety And from what hath been said appears the strength of this Testimony against which nothing which is considerable can be objected as being a Testimony not only Humane or proceeding from the fancy or will of man but in effect a Divine one as being the meer motion of Nature and the dictate of Reason and wherein this Proverb is verified Vox Populi Vox Dei But let us pass from this Humane Testimony to that which is directly Divine CHAP. XIII The last Argument Drawn from the Testimony of the Holy Scriptures the Divinity of which is proved against the Atheists ABove all these Proofs and Reasons which have been brought heretofore against Atheism is that which is drawn from the Testimony of the Holy Scriptures contained in the Books of the Old and New Testaments which teach and inculcate to us nothing else then an only true God maker of Heaven and Earth what he is his Virtues his Perfections his Proprieties and Attributes his Works as well of the Creation of the World and his Governing of it as also those of mans Redemption his Counsels Designs the Decrees of his Will concerning Humane kind the Salvation of the one the Condemnation of the others also the Honour Respect Service and Adoration which we are bound to pay unto him and which he doth also require of us what we ought to fear or to expect and hope from him in summ the true and only means to be perfectly and eternally happy which is that which all men do naturally desire and wish for and at which all their actions do aim So that if these Sacred Books are true and not forged and invented by the Artifice or malice of wily and deceitfull men it 's evident and not to be doubted that there is a God and that he is such an one as is there described to us To which the Atheists reply nothing but this Who say they will warrant us that what those Writers say is true and that their design hath not been to impose upon our beliefs and deceive us Moses say they says very much but proves nothing intimating that he is a Tale-teller and that he will be believed upon his bare word And one of them hath said That our Lord Jesus Christ to give the more weight to his Doctrine hath called himself but falsly the Son of God yea God himself Those persons imagine and will have the World believe that these Divine writers are such as Numa Pompilius who did attribute his Books and Laws to the Deity of the Nymph Aegeria with whom he pretended to have familiar Conversation or as Mahcmeth who saith that he received his Alcoran from the Angel Gabriel It 's not my design to proceed very far in this point to prove at large against such persons the Divinity of the Holy Scriptures 'T is too large a subject for the narrow bounds of this small treatrse besides it would be Actum agere since that all those of the Holy Fathers of the Church or Learned Divines which have lived since these 200 years which have demonstrated the truth of Christian Religion against the Heathenish and other Sects which have been raised since have ever begun this way this being the very Basis Hinge and Foundation of true Religion which is whether on purpose or not I know not basely betrayed to the Atheists by those who pretend that the Scripture hath no authority over us but only as those who call themselves the Church give it that power and validity For setting aside the Scripture these persons who call themselves the Church cannot demonstrate their pretended infallibility nor prove and perswade the world that they ought to be beleived upon their bare word whatever they say as the Divinity of the Scriptures may be demonstrated to profane persons upon their own Authority and by themselves I will only for the ending of this small Treatise bring some general Considerations by which one may see the foolishness and vanity of this frivolous exception of the Atheists and of their false accusations in saying that the Holy Scripture is nothing but a dream and invention of men without certain ground of Truth There are then 4 principal things which shew the impertinency of this exception 1. The quality and condition 2. The number and diversity 3. The Scope end of these Sacred Writers And finally The Nature and quality of the things they write These things being well considered it will appear that those things which those men have writ are not Tales and Deceits and things which they have feigned to make the world beleive them I will speak of these four things very briefly leaving those things for any man to amplifie upon As to the first Those that make it their business to deceive and make Fables and Forgeries are for the most part subtile cunning wary and knavish persons and withall of a low or mean Condition But great and high spirits magnanimous and Heroical Souls Kings great Princes and Monarchs Persons of rare and exquisite Learning and of sublime wisdom never stoop to so low and unworthy an imployment as that of Juglers deceivers And those that are rude ignorant illiterate and of too low and abject condition are not fit or able to invent such things and to give so much colour to their forgeries as to make them to be believed and received for currant Now among the Sacred writers there are some of these two sorts There are Kings and Princes great Captains and Conquerours and emment Persons in Dignity and Authority in Learning and incomparable Wisdom You have there a Joshuah one of the greatest and most eminent Captains and Conquerours that ever was You have there David one of the bravest most generous and glorious Kings and most eminent for his Valour Battells Feats of Arms and Victories that ever was seen You have there Solomon the most Rich Magnificent Illustrious and Wisest King that ever was in the World You have Daniel the first and chiefest Officer in the Court of the greatest Monarchy in the World in whom there was found more of true high and sublime Wisdome then in all those Wise men of that Nation and Monarchy in which he was an Officer You have Mordecai and Nehemiah great and mighty Persons and of the chiefest in the Court of the Kings of Persia which relate unto us their own History You have Job a great rich and mighty Person in his time yet greater in in Goodness Patience

none because they so ardently wish that it were so and that this their so vehement desire makes them to receive the most weak Reasons for good and solid demonstrations As to Authority one sometimes may believe a thing upon the meer Respect that he hath to the persons that say it and that either because such persons are sufficient and able and that he believes them to be so or because of that eminent power and Authority in which they are which hath only place in those things which one cares not much whether they be true or not and where he sees no Reasons to the contrary It cannot be said that men have been induced to believe a Deity and Providence by the bare Authority and Respect that some persons had which had no ground or Reason for what they said For who is he that hathso universally been known to be of such Sufficiency Knowledge and Ability as to perswade men only by the bare Respect they had of him to believe a thing so great and that doth so much concern them For besides that Aristotle or Plato who is acknowledged to have been the greatest and learnedst Philosopher that ever was is not so much as known by name to the thousandst part of the World it is certain that none that believes there is a Deity will confess that he believes it because such a one said it but only because he hath an inward perswasion of this Truth by some Reasons which he knowes and understands well himselfe although very often times he cannot express them And as for Eminency and Dignity there was never yet any that hath ruled over all the World and who might have had the power to command or perswade men to believe a Deity Besides that the Belief which proceeds this way ought to be of things which we care not much whether they be true or not which cannot be said of the Deity and Providence there being nothing more important or that doth more highly concern men But perhaps it may be objected That this opinion hath spread it self by Tradition from Fathers to Children c. and so is come to us Now it 's very true that the first man Adam hath taught this truth to his Children and they to theirs c. and by these means this Truth hath been believ'd over all the World But first although he hath so taught his posterity we may not therefore conclude that all have believed him for there have alwaies been wicked ones that have not cared for their Fathers admonitions and those also have not taken pains to make their Children to believe it so that this pretended Tradition hath been in many places interrupted and neglected So that we must confess that this universal belief of a Deity hath another cause then Tradition or meer Institution Add to it that this thing is of too much concernment to be believed upon the bare word of our Fathers which indeed may give an occasion to seek after this truth and incline our minds to believe it but cannot be the only true ground of so firmly-inherent a belief Secondly As to those against whom we dispute which hold the Eternity of the world how can they keeping still to this proposition viz That the world is Eternal Object That this opinion hath its Rise from meer Tradition For I will ask them Whether they think that this Opinion is Eternal as well as the world or whether it hath had some beginning again If this opinion is Eternal I will ask Whether it was generally received among all men or received of some only If they say That it hath alwaies been Universal it follows that it is natural and therefore a true opinion and theirs consequently false If this Opinion hath not been Universal but yet was from all Eternity received among some it follows that it is at least as true an opinion as theirs is since it hath had followers and hath been received from all Eternity as well as theirs But these two Opinions being contrary one to another they cannot both be equally true nor consequently equally Eternal and so necessarily the one is true and the other false the one Prior the other Posterior truth being alwaies before falshood which is a disguising of Truth and an aberration from it Here then will they say that their Opinion is the first and Eternal the other having followed long time after If this is true then it follows that all men Universally in an infinite number of Ages have constantly held this opinion That there is no God how then is it come into the minds of men to hold the contrary to that which they had alwaies held and believed And how could any one imagine that he could perswade this to any one Yea how is it possible that men should now hold a contrary opinion but that they have acknowledged by strong Reasons that the other opinion was false So then we cannot conclude neither according to their Hypothesis nor accoding to ours that this universal belief of the Deity is a meer Tradition and proceeds from Institution but it must necessarily be concluded that it proceeds from that men have unanswerable Arguments for it upon which both it and its evidence is grounded But the Atheists would willingly reply that those arguments are but captious and weak have no solidity in them But there is no reason to think so For how is it possible that a meer Phantasm or shadow without any real solidity should have deceived all the men in the whole world and that so constantly since so many ages that there hath been none found among so many men that hath demonstrated as yet the pretended vanity and weakness of these Arguments Is it possible that none hath been found among so many wonderfully-learned men of which History makes mention that hath evidenced the pretended falshood of this opinion and demonstrated how weak and vain those Arguments are on which this our opinion is grounded and by these meanes free the World from the checks and terrours which the conscience of their crimes causes in them when they consider and perceive that there is a Divine Providence This doubtless would have found place enough in the belief of men But it may be it will be said that Epicurus and his followers and some others afore him have done this teaching Atheism and the Reasons that may perswade to it Now those Persons have indeed had wit enough and very good Reasons to jear at all the vain superstitions foolish and extravagant opinions of the Religion of the Heathen at the impertinent and fabulous Stories that they made of their Gods of the multitude of them and at the false imagination they had of the state of the dead in Hell or in the Elysian fields But it will not be found nor confessed that they have strong and solid Reasons to prove that there is no Providence And those prophane ones of our dayes who think they have refined Atheism

to the height will be found as short in their Arguments if they are examined by the rules of right Reason and it will be found that the Reason why they are estecmed and counted excellent Wits is not so much because of the strength of their Arguments as because nothing is either too hot or too cold for them and that there is no absurdity though it be never so great which they do not easily swallow like to the strong stomachs of Ostriches which do digest any thing that is given them And here we should enter upon the examination of their pretended Reasons and compare theirs and ours which we have brought against them that there might be a Judgement given which are the most solid and firm but this would engage us to another Treatise whereupon we have not now a design to enter but will examine some of them towards the end of this book That which hath been said hitherto against them being well weighed and considered will be found so agreeable to right Reason that if their opinion is true they must dispute otherwise then by Reason and must be farr above it and so consequently must be much more then men But albeit their Reasons were of equal weight with ours which is not so yet have we much advantage on our side 1. Because besides these Reasons we have this universal consent which they have not 2. Because though there were no God yet there is no danger and little or no loss to believe and serve one but if there is one the Atheists for not believing and serving him are in great danger to have Hell for their portion One thing may be objected against this Universal Consent of all Nations viz. That there are errours and false opinions which yet nevertheless have been believed and received by most or all the Nations of the Earth as for example Idolatry Multiplicity of the Gods of the Heathen and in the most civiliz'd Nations and People as among the Graecians and Romans Whoredom and the sin against Nature have scarce been accounted vices there have been whole Nations and People where Robbery and Theft especially if it was committed upon those of another Nation was not looked upon as crime or sin But The answer to this is not difficult For First these errours though very general have not been so constant and universal as the belief of a Deity For Christianism hath abolished the Paganism in a very considerable part of the World and was once more universal then it is now And the Mahometan Jenish and Christian Religions all of which hold there is one only God compared with the rest of the World which yet remains plunged in Heathenish Idolatry do almost or it may be altogether comprehend the half of those men which are upon the face of the Earth Now the opinion of one only God so as the Christians Mahometans and Jews do hold it is farr more contrary to Atheism then the Pagan Idolatry How is it then if Atheistical opinions be true that the opinion of the Jews Christians and Mahometans hath so much prevailed over that of the Heathen which comes much nearer to Atheism Especially since the Christian Religion which hath preceded that of the Mahometans was propagated only by the patience and sufferings of the Professours of it which every where have been exposed and abandoned to the rage fury and persecution of the Heathen The Heathenish Idolatry and Superstition is an opinion much more suitable to our carnal sense and which corrupted man doth love and cherish much more then the apprehension which the Christians and Mahometans have of one God Therefore as we have noted heretofore its no wonder that this errour had spread it self very much since we perswade our selves very willingly and easily of those things which we earnestly desire and wish for But this same flesh is wholly repugnant to the belief of a Deity that judgeth and Governeth the World and renders to every man according to what he had done How comes it then to pass that the opinion which we have of one only God hath prevailed against the Heathenish Idolatry and Superstition and doth yet maintain it self against so many Atheists as are at this day since that we arm and defend our selves as much as we can against those things which we fear and dread Thirdly The Heathenish Idolatry and Superstition is an alteration and corruption of the opinion of a Deity and doth necessarily presuppose it as its ground and basis And this alteration as I said just now is wonderfully more accommodated to our fleshly and sensual corruptions then the belief of an only God It is therefore no wonder if the opinion of a Deity being so universally received and so deeply rooted in the heart of man the Heathenish Idolatry and Superstition which pleaseth the flesh hath spread it self also so much as it hath But the opinion of a Deity is not a corruption or alteration of Atheism It is quite contrary And this belief of a Deity doth not please the flesh as Atheism doth Therefore the belief of a Deity could not have so universally won the spirits of men but by its own proper strength and virtue which consisteth in Truth which is stronger then all things And it 's much to be wondered at and the Atheists wi●l never give a pertinent Reason of it why if Atheism be true it hath not been so universally received as its contrary but contrariwise and almost every where even among the Heathen it hath been abhorred and detested of all As to those other enormities of Whoredom Thefts and the sin against Nature and the like besides that the most honest persons in every Nation have acknowledged in these actions a great deal of filthiness and injustice when they have spoken of them in good earnest though the corrupted and base pleasures of the flesh and the depraved sense of their lusts had so blinded their understanding that they let themselves loose to all these vices without any great remorse it is not of these errours as of the belief of a Deity for these vices please and intice sensuality and therefore men are easily perswaded to them but the belief of a Deity is wholy repugnant to sensuality which would perswade it self the contrary if it could and neverthelesse this opinion hath forced mens understandings to assent to it which could not be done but by the meer strength of truth it self From what hath been said before it is plain and evident that this so universal and constant consent of all men who hold and believe even in spight of themselves that there is a God and a Providence is an indubitable Argument of this truth and an evidence of the deprivation of man by which he is fallen from his first Nature and Principles by which he was joyned and united to God unto whom he was conformable in Truth Justice and Holiness as one created to his own Image and from which he is now

which really came to pass And this is evident because they do note all the crcumstances and particularities which are observed in true Histories and by which we are wont to discern Romances and Poetical Fictions from true Narrations They would have us to hold and believe those Narrations for very truths and things which have really and certainly happened To what end should this be if their Narrations are but Dreams Do those good VVriters that will instruct and profit use such means In no wise And although one would write some Moraliz'd Romance to instruct men yet would not he publish it for a true History Besides that we have noted before that these Sacred Histories have none of the stile and garb of Romances And as to the Doctrines Sayings and Sentences of which the Sacred Books are full will the Atheists say that they are Paradoxes wild and extravagant opinions If it is so I will ask them To what good end could such things have been forged and invented For we have shewed heretofore that they could not be invented to any ill intent or pernicious design If they are meer Inventions and that there is no reality in them to what good end can they have been invented Moreover these Sacred Authours do propose these Doctrines that men may stedfastly believe them and that they may be held for undoubted truths can there be any good or reasonable end in this if these things are in effect but Extravagancies VVill they say that these Persons being willing to win men to the exercise of Virtue Justice Temperance Fortitude Truth Faithfullness Friendship Charity Patience Honour Respect Obedience Observation of the Laws of Humane Society c. did think that the perswasion though a false one of a God Creatour and Governour of this Universe Judge Avenger and Remuneratour of the good and evill and that the examples though but fictitious and false of Vices and Virtues which are rewarded or punished by a Providence would be a Powerfull motive to induce men to attain this end And that this is it which hath made them to invent this opinion of a Providence with all the consequences of it and to compile all these Stories to Patronize Vices and Virtues Almost as Horace doth pretend in that Epistle which begins Trojani belli Scriptorem Maxime L●lli that Homer in his Iliad and Odyssea doth tell us all these fine Tales and Stories to serve as Morall documents unto all men It is very true that the beliefe of a God such as he is represented to us in the Sacred Writings is the true and only meanes and the most strong and efficacious motive to induce men to true Virtue as it appears by the Examples of the Lives of the truely-faithfull under both the Testaments in comparison of which the most splendid Virtue of the Heathen is but dross and dung As an exact comparison of them would easily verifie And the first Christian Fathers that have writ against the vanity of the Heathen shewed this evidently as Tertullian Minutius Felix and others But it is also very true that if this perswasion of a Deity and Providence such as it is represented to us by the Christian Religion was false and imaginary it could not produce such an effect as to induce men to exercise the true Virtue And we may not Object that an opinion though false if it be believed for true and certain doth produce the same effect as if it were really true as many Examples do testifie For those false impressions which the mind receives do last but for a little while They deceive only for a small time It is as paint upon a face which for a time doth give some lustre but abideth not But this belief of a Deity and Providence is stable and as constant and unalterable as the Heavens And it is not a Fiction of the Holy Writers For those that never heard of them or saw their Writings have had and yet have this perswasion for we have shewed heretofore that all men in all ages were perswaded there was a Deity and a Providence There is also too manifest and palpable a difference between the Fables and Poetical Fictions of Homer and the Narrations of Holy Writ It was not Homer's intention if his design was such as Horace tells us it was viz. to instruct and please men by his Fables that we should take his Fables for Truths Nor hath he divulged these Fictions for true Histories but composed only a fine Moraliz'd Romance But as we have said the Sacred Writers do tell us their Histories as certain and indubitable things And as to the false Deities of Homer and to all those things he tells of them I think that there is none of the strong Wits at this day dares maintaine without blushing but that which the Christian Religion doth teach of a God Creatour Preserver Judge and Governour of all this Universe of his Cult and Service and of the meanes to attain to true happiness by Jesus Christ alone is farr more agreeable to the Deity if there is any and also more conformable to right Reason then all the fabulous Tales of the false Gods of Homer yea then what he hath best and more refined concerning the Deity So then it is unreasonable to say of the Sacred VVriters of the Old and New Testament that they have invented or got from some others that preceded them the things that they reach us in their VVritings All manner of reason is against this To these I will add some few remarks which may serve as a Modell for any one who will treat of this matter more at large as well it may be done CHAP. XIV Wherein there follow some more Proofs of the Divinity of the Holy Scriptures THose things which are contained in Scripture are two-fold viz. Doctrines and Histories Neither of these can proceed from man's or Devils inventions The Doctrines also are two fold 1. Dogmata so properly called because they are delivered as the objects of our faith and knowledge as that there is a God a Jesus Christ Son of God Saviour and Redeemer of the VVorld 2. Moral Doctrines which are conversant in the regulating of life and exercise of Virtue These Doctrines which respect Faith and Knowledge are so high so sublime so excellent so admirable so profound and abstruse especially those Mysteries of the Trinity Incarnation and Redemption that the Soul of man is not at all capable to comprehend them so as to have invented or divined such things and they are so contrary to the humour nature and Genius of the Devil that he could not nor would not have thought or invented any such things much less would he have taught them unto men And if these things are false good Angels would not have invented them such a Fiction being wholy repugnant to their integrity And as to the Moral Precepts they contain so exact perfect and incomparable a form of holiness to which all the Virtues of the