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	scripture_n	testimony_n	4,093	5	8.2532	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29396	The school of the Eucharist established upon the miraculous respects and acknowledgments, which beasts, birds, and insects, upon several occasions, have rendred to the Holy Sacrament of the altar : whence Catholicks may increase in devotion towards this divine mystery, and hereticks find there their confusion / by F. Toussain Bridoul ... ; printed in French at Lille, 1672, and now made English, and published ; with a preface concerning the testimony of miracles.; Escole de l'Eucharistie. English	Bridoul, Toussaint, 1595-1672.; Clagett, William, 1646-1688.	1687 (1687)	Wing B4495; ESTC R9439	58,294	76

THE SCHOOL OF THE EUCHARIST ESTABLISHED Upon the Miraculous Respects and Acknowledgments which BEASTS BIRDS and INSECTS upon several Occasions have rendred to the HOLY SACRAMENT of the ALTAR Whence Catholicks may increase in Devotion towards this Divine Mystery and Hereticks find there their Confusion By F. Toussain Bridoul of the Society of Jesus Printed in French at Lille 1672. And now made English and published With a Preface concerning the Testimony of Miracles Let us view more particulary what Rational Grounds Catholicks exhibit of their belief of a Corporal presence in the Eucharist and so of Adoration Def. of Ador. of the Euch. p. 27. Printed at Oxford 1687. LONDON Printed for Randall Taylor near Stationers-Hall 1687. THE PREFACE TO THE TRANSLATION Concerning the Testimony of MIRACLES IF the Doctrine of Transubstantiation wants the Authority of the Holy Scriptures it cannot be proved to come from Christ and his Apostles by Tradition unless the Fathers of the Primitive Church have conveyed it in their Writings If it has had no such Tradition then the best Church-Authority it has to rest upon will be that of the Lateran and Tridentine Synods And if they had no power to make new Articles of Faith this Doctrine is in no good case to recommend it self There are but two ways remaining I think to put it off one is to perswade us that our Learned Protestant Divines have several of them affirmed such things concerning the Real Presence as do amount to what the Papists mean by Transubstantiation and that they have laid down Principles which will save the Adoration of the Host from being an Idolatrous Worship And this is lately attempted with great appearance of Gravity by a certain Oxford Author But if this will not do there is yet another way left and that is to prove Transubstantiation and the Adoration of the Host by Miracles which has been undertaken as by several others so in particular by that Reverend Jesuit whose Collection is here Translated Our hands I perceive are now in about Transubstantiation and the Worship of the Host and the Divines have gone so far in considering all that can be said for these things that 't is pity the Controversy should not be ended all at once to which I think nothing is wanting but to represent our Adversaries Appeal to Miracles and that I suppose cannot be more fairly done than by exposing to our Countrymen what themselves have thought fit to publish in another Language concerning this Argument That nothing else remains is evident by what has been already done on † Discourse against Transubstant Doctrine of the Trin. and Transubstantiation compared in a New Dialogue 2 parts Transubst no Doctrine of the Primitive Fathers our side upon all the other Arguments and that as time will shew more fully beyond all possibility of Fair Reply I had almost forgot the desperate Defence of Transubstantiation which our Adversaries have lately made by fastning it to the Doctrine of the Trinity being for their parts content that both should sink if they could not swim together They are I hope convinced by this time that neither is their Point to be gained so and that we are able to maintain the Catholick Doctrine of the Trinity and at the same time to overthrow the Roman Doctrine of Transubstantiation That they cannot retreat for shelter to the Judgment of any Divines of this Church is now shewn in the Answer to the Oxford Author In short It has been * See Bellarm. de Sacr. Euch. l. 3. c. 23 and Discourse of Eucharist in Answer to the Book printed at Oxford p. 4. confessed by eminent men in the Roman Communion that the Scriptures do not oblige us to believe Transubstantiation and that the Fathers knew nothing of it has been confessed too by a ‡ Historical Treatise of Transubstant Learned Person of that Church now living and which is something more proved also through the First Ten Centuries Now whether Councils can make an Article of Faith of that Doctrine which is neither to be found in the Holy Scriptures nor can be defended by Testimonies of the Ancient Fathers but is in truth contrary to both I am very willing the Representer should determine * A Papist Misrepres and Repr p. 33. who tells us That he is obliged to believe nothing besides that which Christ taught and his Apostles and if any thing contrary to this should be defined and commanded to be believed even by ten thousand Councils he believes it damnable in any one to receive it and by such Decrees to make Additions to his Creed A great deal less than this if it had been said with more sincerity would have served our turn as well If Ten thousand Councils will not stir him in such a case methinks the Fourth Lateran and the Trent Councils the one a Western the other little more than an Italian Synod should not be able to do what Ten thousand Councils cannot do as for the Lateran it is yet a disputable point as * See Peter Walsh's Letter to the Bp. of Lincoln Sect. 22. some of themselves will have us believe whether the Council or rather the Pope only made the Decrees that bear its name and for the Tridentine Synod the World knows how it was from time to time influenced by the Court of Rome so that when the matter comes to be look'd into 't is indeed the Papal Authority that gives to the world this pretended Point of Faith but because certain Popes have miscarried in the Faith to the great discredit of St. Peter's Chair it was necessary that the Popes pleasure should upon all occasions of defining matters of Faith be a little disguised by being conveyed to the Church under the venerable name and Formality of a Council Transubstantiation then has nothing left to stand upon but Miracles which is as much as to say that it stands upon its last legs Bellarmine I find De Sacr. Euch. l. 3 c. 8. reserved this Argument for the last to prove the substantial Presence of Christs Body in the Eucharist I know not whether he thought it the best or no if he did I dare undertake to answer what he thought his best Argument and that by shewing that 't is none at all for if we are to trust the Old Miracles of Christ and his Apostles as without all question we ought to do then we are not to try Doctrines by new Miracles but rather to try the Miracles by the Old Doctrine Which one would think should have been a Rule to all Christians since our Blessed Saviour has warned us not to trust to Signs and Wonders Matth. xxiv 24 25 26. no tho they be Great ones Behold says he I have told you before Which Caution I must confess hath sometimes surprized me with astonishment when I consider what the Conclusion is for which according to our Blessed Lords Prediction Miracles should be pretended viz. to make us believe a

unit Eccl. c. 16. Our Lord Jesus himself says he after he had risen from the dead and when he exposed his Body to be seen by the eyes and felt by the hands of his Disciples lest they should think some Deceit was upon them thought it more necessary that they should be confirmed by the Testimonies of the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms shewing that those things which had been foretold so long before were now fulfilled in Him I should unreasonably exceed the bounds of such a Preface as I designed at first if I should bring together those Testimonies of Fathers more Ancient than St. Austin which run in this strain But I must make the more hast because having said thus much on the one side concerning the Authority which the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles received from their being foretold and from all other Testimonies concurring with them before I come to the other side viz. in what case Miracles are not to be relied upon I take my self to be something obliged to shew what there is peculiar in the Testimony of Miracles and distinct from other Testimonies and Arguments of the Truth of Christianity and for which we have infinite reason to bless and to praise God That our Religion is grounded upon Miracles as well as upon the correspondence of both Testaments upon Prophecies and the Divine Temper and Design of the Doctrine of our Lord Jesus That which I take to be peculiar to the Testimony of Miracles is that they make strong Impressions upon the mind more suddenly than any other Arguments When a thing is done that is evidently above the course of Nature it does not only raise Admiration but sets the thoughts a work concerning the reason and meaning of what is come to pass Miracles do arrest and fasten the minds of men all at once and forthwith engage them to consider what God would instruct them in by these supernatural effects of his Power and Presence If they do not presently cause belief yet they dispose the mind to it presently and fix the attention in order to farther instruction they make way into our minds whether we will or no whereas other Arguments do not penetrate till we have made way for them by comparing one thing with another and by laying a great many things together which it is not easy to perswade men to do first of all unless they are raised something above the common pitch and it is probable that many even of these had never engaged their abilities in the search of Truth by the examination of other Arguments if they had not been first awakened by Signs and Wonders into a concernment about Divine Revelations But for the generality of mankind it is evident that Miracles are the arguments which lead them more suddenly and unavoidably than any other for which reason St. Chrysostom affirmed that the Doctrine of the Cross made Rusticks and ordinary persons become Philosophers Chrys in 1 Cor. 2. Hom. 4 5 6. For says he the demonstration by miraculous Works and Signs is more manifest than that by Discourses And he prefers the short way of the Apostles in making Converts before the tedious methods of the Philosophers in instructing their hearers not only because Miracles are a Divine Argument adapted to a Divine Revelation but because also they are adapted to the understanding of all sorts of people and God would have all men to come to the knowledg of the Truth There is this then singular in the Testimony of Miracles that they rouze the attention of the dullest and if they do not at once both amaze and convince yet they engage men to farther consideration and lead them to all other Arguments that are fit to be inquired into in saying which I believe I speak to the sense of all persons that are acquainted with the motives of Faith When we first read the New Testament they are the mighty works of Christ and of his Apostles there recorded that first lay hold upon our minds and command an earnest attention other Considerations and Arguments come on by degrees Thus also the Evangelists describe the effect of those Miracles which our Lord did when he made the Blind to see and the Dumb to speak Matth. xii 22 23. Mark i. 22. All the people were amazed and said Is not this the Son of David And when he had cast out an unclean spirit in the Synagogue they were all amazed insomuch that they questioned among themselves saying What thing is this What new Doctrine is this For with Authority he commandeth even the unclean spirits and they obey him Which are manifestly the words of men surprized with earnest thoughts of a matter that they were little or nothing concerned about before and who were now in the way of considering it farther if they were not yet fully satisfied For it is not to be doubted but that divers were overwhelmed by the evidence of his mighty works and yielded without much farther enquiry But there were others again whom the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles had not brought to a full perswasion but only raised in them a vehement desire of farther satisfaction and such as these the Jews of Berea seemed to be Acts xvii 11. who were more noble than those of Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so Thus far have I been carried away by the Argument beyond what I first designed but I hope the Reader has not forgot that this last Digression concerning the singular Force of Miracles was upon occasion of the Third Difference between the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles on the one side and the latter Miracles that are so much talked on on the other viz. That tho there was an admonition before-hand not to trust to Miracles at all adventures yet the Jews were made to expect Miracles from him who should by all other Characters be known to be the Messias And this we have spoken to already Now on the other hand we also are fore-warned in the New Testament to take heed that we be not deluded by Signs and Wonders for it is foretold Matth. xxiv 24. That some should arise and shew great Signs and Wonders And who are they that should do so Our Saviour tells us that they are false Prophets and therefore a man that runs after Miracles may happen to fall into the hands of Deceivers Well but was there any alteration of the state of Religion soretold from what Christ and his Apostles left it Moses we know told the Israelites That God would raise up a Prophet like unto him to whom they should hearken in all things and they had reason to expect a Prophet that should make a great alteration in Religion not by destroying but by fulfilling the Law This then I ask Have we the like reason or had our Fathers to expect a Reformation of that state of