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	religion_n	true_a	7,548	5	5.1593	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10206	The life of the holy and venerable mother Suor Maria Maddalena De Patsi a Florentine lady, & religious of the Order of the Carmelites. Written in Italian by the Reuerend Priest Sigr. Vincentio Puccini, who was sometymes her ghostly father. And now translated into English.; Vita di Santa Maria Maddalena de Pazzi. English	Puccini, Vincenzio.; Matthew, Tobie, Sir, 1577-1655.	1619 (1619)	STC 20483; ESTC S101534	127,169	365

Pharo's Court in despite of al his guardes That the wedge of the hatchet leaped instātly vp to the helme whē it was put into the water That the sight of a man borne blind was giuen by meanes of applying durt and spittle to his eyes That sicke persons were cured by walking only in another mans shaddow These thinges and many other like to these are recorded in holy Scripture and yet no Christian man must presume so much as once to doubt therof So as the only strangnes or supernaturallnes of any euent cannot authorize any modest and wise person to deride it but may iustly ought in prudence oblige him to doubt thereof or rather to deny his assent therto till it be conueniently proued The authority therefore is that wherupon the credit of any supernaturall thing doth depend whether it be more or lesse and not only the meere strangnes of the thing it selfe And from hence it is that whatsoeuer is recorded in holy Scripture how wide soeuer it falleth in respect of our experience or how far soeuer it ouershooteth in respect of reason must cheerefully vndoubtedly be assented to because it resteth vpon an infallible authority which is the Reuelation of God and the proposition of his Catholike Church And such an authority doth declare whatsoeuer thing to be as certainly true as truth it selfe is true and that no man may doubt thereof but vpon the price of being either an Infidell or an Heretike There is another kind of inferiour authority standing vpon humane and morall proofe exhibited vnder the Oaths of many persons being eye witnesses and free from all exception both concerning the very actions themselues of Saints and the miraculous works of God shewed in honour of them by the meanes of their intercession whereof no man that hath perfect information of the particulers can so much as doubt without extreme imprudence nor once deride without profanenesse But he that deserues to weare that Liuery will not only laugh at me translating heere the life of this moderne Saint but will make as little scruple to laugh at all our Saints Liues though written by other Saints themselues and other most excellent persons as S. Bonauenture writing the life of S. Francis S. Bernard of S. Malachias Paulus Diaconus of S. Gregory S. Gregory of S. Bennet Possidius of S. Augustine the incomparable Doctour S. Hierome of S. Paul the first Eremit of S. Hilarion Malchus a great number of most holy Virgins Cassianus of whole troops of ancient Eremits S. Ambrose of S. Agnes and S. Athanasius of S. Anthony who all relate miraculous things of those seuerall Saints in great abundance As little difficulty I say will he make to laugh at these which I heere relate in the person of my Authour whilest yet whosoeuer he be he cannot bring the tenth part of that proofe whereby he would be taken for his Mothers Sonne or the heyre of his Fathers land or that the very name he is knowne by is his owne which I will offer to the eye of any indifferent man for all that is affirmed heere concerning this great seruant of God And that any person either absurdly incredulous or prophanely blasphemous may see how little reason he hath in rebelling thus from the laws of human society and planting his owne either humorous imagination or impious assertions in place thereof I will addresse him to that excellent Treatise De vtilitate credendi written by that Top and Crowne of wits S. Augustine who by a number of most pregnant reasons and most palpable experiments doth demōstrate it to be a point of sottish pride and impertinency and not of wit or iudgment for men to be euer questioning or doubting to admit of nothing which hath passed vnder the testimony of their owne eyes We therefore that are Catholikes shall make no difficulty to imbrace with a most pious affection the beliefe of this history and Protestants I hope will find no true cause to doubt thereof And moreouer if it were but euen out of nouelty these later me thinkes ought to flye vpon this kind of studdy with great appetite for as much as concernes the vnderstanding part because in their owne Communion they haue in effect none at all of whome they write and recōmend the liues of Saints nay I scarce know of any ancient Saints whom yet they will though extremely against the very appearance of common sense pretend to haue beene of their Religion whose liues they haue written or in whose honour they haue so much as published any Sermon which yet they might do at least for admiration or imitation though they will not do it for Inuocation I cannot say what the reason heerof may be vnlesse they know not how to re●ompt the ancient Saints Liues vntruly without being reproued and confuted by vs and ●hey cannot do it truly without casting shame and confusion of face vpon themselus through the extreme vnlikenes that would instantly appeare both in the beliefe and life of these ●ew men who are but like so many prety fay●ings being compared and ranged with those venerable and sacred antiquityes of the Church which on the other side are as so many exquisite Statues drawne by the life of that deere Originall our B. Sauiour Iesus Christ himselfe of whome it was sayd to vs Inspice fac secundum exemplar c. Behould and do according to this example or ●atterne I confesse it would be excellent sport if it were not extreme pitty to see how much these good men make of a little and how they do not only gape but euen gaspe againe after the findinge of somwhat which may seeme to carry some small shew of sanctity in any of their owne brethren whilest they despise ours Wherin yet if yow come to particulers whatsoeuer truth they will tell you or euen whatsoeuer they will but aspire vnto shall not e●tend it selfe beyond the latitude and oblig●tion o● an hon●st morall man of any Religio● As that such an one is no great Gamester that he is no Swearer that he owes no man ●ny thing that he enioyes a good report an● doth his neighbours no wrong that he follow sermons close and perhaps that he is stu●ious and frequents not Tauernes or Playes Th● much they will say and they may say it truel● of many whome either the precepts of good education or the custome of good conuersatio● or the piety of naturall inclinatiō doth dispo● so well And thus much may be also most trul● sayd of many men in Turky or Barbary who haue not so much as a beliefe in Christ. But if you will further aske what heroicall acts haue beene performed by them what great estats they haue wholy giuen aw● for Gods sake what sacrifice they haue made o● themselues in imitation and vnion of th● high oblation which our B. Sauiour did 〈◊〉 much to his cost make for vs to his Eterna● Father what corporall punishment they ha● inflicted vpon

themselues what fasting an● prayer and ground lodging they haue vsed in a word what painefull things they haue voluntarily vndertaken what contentments euen not vnlawfull in themselues haue been generously by them despised if you aske them I say any such question you must be also content to make your selfe the answere for they will hardly confesse the truth of hauing no such thing as this among them and they cannot proue so great an vntruth as that they haue any such Yet blessed be the glorious name of God not only our Ecclesiasticall historyes but euen our present eyes and hands are plenae gregibus bonorum exemplorum full of admirable and sublime examples of most heroicall holy men and women And in this respect we are well content to be more subiect to their profane false Criticismes then they can well be to our true ones since they haue no Text for vs to comment vpon whereas among vs there is no want in this kind But the Poets request was b●t reasonable when he desired the Reader either not to carp at his writings or els to vtter some of his owne which might be considered of Carpere vel noli nostra vel ede tua For our parts we find no one thing to be of more assistance and vse in the way of spirit then the reading of Saints Liues which giue the bri●… to vi●e and the spur to vertue opening to vs a large and cleere prospect vpon the mercyes of God and the miseryes of our selues the best of whome being compared with them are but as dwarfes in respect of G●…ts And who can behould in this holy Woman the heroicall exercise of all vertue but he will admire God and be ashamed of himselfe In her he shall find a most prompt Obedience a most voluntary and exact Pouerty a most entire Chastity a most ardent Charity a most profound humility with a perfect contempt and mortification of her selfe and inflexible rectitude of intention and adoring resignation to the will of God and which shineth in her both amonge and aboue the rest an insatiable thirst of suffering for the meere loue of his diuine Maiesty and such a suffering as might be pure and without the society of so much as any spirituall comfort Wherein Almighty God did sometymes heare her prayer and she stood vnder all burthens with an inuincible and euen incredible constancy and strength of mind And who is there now I say that will not tremble to compare himselfe to such a patterne of perfection as this is At least who will not admire her and more admire God in her especially if he consider her life from the 52. Chapter to the end of the booke where as there is lesse mention of her Rapts and Miracles so is there much more particuler relation of her vertuous and heroicall operations wherof I had an inclination to set down some particulers respectiuely to all th●se vertues which I heere haue named but I feared to become tedious and I hope they will be drawn vp and drunke downe more profitably because more naturally at the very springes themselues where they gr●w and where I desire they may be sought Vpon the true tast digestion whereof this conclusion I hope will ●esult that whatsoeuer so excellent and hero●call actions are performed it cannot be but ●hiefly by the ins●irations and pious affections ●mparted by Almighty God that his diuin Maiesty who is supreme wisdome and good●es and who exerciseth both an vniuersall ●et most particuler prouidence ouer all his ●reatures much more ouer his holy Church 〈◊〉 generall cannot in iustice concurre towards the producing of such acts in a false Religion whereby the iudgment of men may be intangled and abused But that wheresoeuer he doth so concurre it may serue for a great argument to proue the truth of that Religion which by the performers thereof is professed and the want thereof in any other congregation of pretended Christians may not lesse assure vs that it is possessed by a spirit of errour O wretched and thrice miserable creature that Suor Maria Maddalena was if the way of pennance mortification and most voluntary suffering both exteriour and interiour be not the true and only way to heauen How many painefull disciplines rude haire-cloaths hungry meales sad nights bitter sighs and salt teares did she with a noble faythfull hart endure send forth and shed And all in vaine if it should be true which Protestants affirme that fayth only iustifyeth that Christ hath so suffered for vs all as that we are not bound in our bodyes to suffer with him that these voluntary afflictions are no better then superstitions and that any satisfaction which we pretend to make to God though we protest we can make none but by vertue of his grace in Christ are no lesse then so many derogations to the infinite valew of his sacred Passion But on the other side O happy and a thousand tymes happy is that excellent soule of hers if it be both true and euident that the way to heauen is narrow and few there are that find it and if that of liberty be a wide and open way by which men runne with ease vpon perdition if heauen be such a thing as will not be gotten by one that seekes it tamquam aliud agens and much lesse in contrarium tendens but he must be carefull and studious laborious and earnest and ardent and euen violent in the attayning thereof Et violenti rapiunt illud This was euer true since the fall of Adam and hath much more byn euident since the Redemption of Mankind was wrought by Christ our Sauiour through the mystery of the Crosse yea and through all the actions and passions of his most sacred life For though he abrogated the Iudiciall and Ceremoniall law of Moyses which being but images and shaddowes must needs yield to the Truth Life which came into the world with him or rather which was he himselfe yet not only was the Morall law not abrogated or abridged Non ve●i soluere legem sed implere but it was expresly ratifyed and may rather be sayd in some sense to haue beene enlarged by those Counsails of perfection of continuing in perpetuall chastity Qui potest capere capiat of giuing all to the poore following Christ louing our enemyes which like codicills after a sort were annexed to his last will and Testament by himselfe Besides that by the blessed example of his own admirable life those temporall benefits which vnder the old law were wont to hould so high a place as Riches Plenty Posterity and the like were then degraded in a manner and their contraryes as Paine Pouerty Persecution Chastity and Humility assumed into their place when they were sanctified in the person and by the practise of our B. Sauiour And euer since out of the abundance of his grace Et de plenitudine eius accepimus omnes the same hath beene done by the