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	zeal_n	zealous_a	105	3	8.6686	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41549	The reformed bishop, or, XIX articles tendered by Philarchaiesa, well-wisher of the present government of the Church of Scotland, as it is settled by law, in order to the further establishment thereof.	Gordon, James, Pastor of Banchory-Devenick.	1679 (1679)	Wing G1279; ESTC R10195	112,676	318

Errant to be compared unto that vain Roman Ventidius Bassus of whom it was said That he spoiled a good Muleter and made but a bad Consul But I shall shut up this Paragraph with the Observation of some very Judicious Persons That the Principal Reason wherefore Pallas hath so few painted Shields in this Nation is because the Sons of Minerva receive so little Encouragement from their Superiours the much easier Arts of Adulation and implicit Obedience being more valued than the wearisom Trade of Evisceration it being no unfit Etymology of the Word Minerva quod nervos imminuat and of Pallas quod pallidos reddat For there is much Sence in that of the Poet Sint Maecenates non deerunt Flacce Marones And some in this too quis enim Virtutem amplectitur ipsam Praemia si tollas Time was even among the Heathen that Learning was a sufficient Protection against Tyranny Winess Antonius Triumvir who when Varro his Enemy and of a contrary Faction was listed for Death thus gallantly superscrib'd his Name Vivat Varro vir doctissimus Not to mention Alexander the Great his sparing of the House and Family of Pindarus in that total Eversion and Epidemical Destruction of the Thebans because he was the Renowned Prince of the Lyrick Poets and unimitable as Horace terms him For though this Domitian Maximinian and Lycinian Age affords but few Examples of this nature yet ancient Records have almost innumerable Instances to this Purpose It cannot rationally be expected that this Article should be confirmed as the former are with many Ecclesiastical Canons seeing in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of our Citations there were few Universities in the World that of Pavia and Bononia the oldest in these Western Parts of the World being by many years posteriour thereunto and scarce any Doctors Honore Doctoratus as it is now used which is not properly an Ecclesiastical Dignity but a Civil Honour conferred by the Secular Prince upon Incorporations I mean the Faculty of dispensing it or on particular Persons Thus D' avila in his excellent History of the Civil Wars of France tells us of that Privilege which Henry the third the French King vouchsaf'd on the Cardinal Bur●on 〈…〉 make Doctors 〈…〉 or liberal 〈◊〉 For it being a 〈◊〉 Honour most originally desire it's 〈◊〉 from the 〈◊〉 Yet 〈◊〉 somee mention of Doctors and some Orders concerning them in a Councel holden within the Intervall of our Allegations viz. Concil Caesar Augustan which was celebrated in the 6th Century But whether it was that Honour we have been lately describing or a Dignity purely Ecclesiastical adhuc dubitant Doctores though it is most probable that it ●lludes unto those Catechists who were appointed to instruct the Catechumem gra●des which was an Office equivalent to our Professours of Theology such were Pantaenus Clemens and Origen in the School of Alexandria And if we give Faith to S. Hierom. Lib. De Script Eccles. there was a continual Series of such Ecclesiastical Doctors in that Church from the Days of S. Mark the Evangelist unto Pantaenus Of which some interpret those Teachers mentioned Eph. 4. 11. For as pastors govern the Church so these Theologues say they govern the Schools But of this Article enough if not too much THE PERORATION BEing stirred in Spirit I have adventured yet with all due submission to tender these Nineteen Proposals unto the serious Consideration of the Governours of this Church And sure I am the Conscionable Practice of them would be found more Honourable and much more useful both to Church and State than were the Propositions of an equal number which by the mischievous Long Parliament were sent after that Glorious Martyr King Charles the first whom they had first driven from his Royal Residence by most insolent Tumults If the Author had not resolved long ago never to raise his insignificant Name out of the Dust of Oblivion by giving the Press the Trouble thereof which is already too much oppress'd with a Shoal of others he would not have been asham'd to owne those Lines before all the World with as much Confidence and more Innocency too than Heliodorus espoused his ingenious Romance But this ingenuous Boldness had never its Rise from a Reflection upon the Eloquence of these few Sheets for he is throughly convinced that his blunt Style is very far from the Art of Oratory and his Genius no less removed from any Affectation of the Flowers of Rhetorick but it is the Sense of these sad Truths and good Wishes embosom'd in those Lines which did create that Confidence with something also which his Conscience calls Zeal for the Glory of God and good of his Church Wherein he hath endeavoured to trace the Footsteps of Salvian that zealous Bishop of Marseils who in a Parallel case to Ou●s speaks to this Purpose Non verba sed res non Ornamenta sed Documenta affectamus nudus enim Veritatis ensis intimiùs penetrat at vitrum fucatum veritatis Lucem excludit and Gildas his ruthful Lamentations for the great Degeneracy of the British Church And if his heart deceive him not very much he may confidently appeal to the Searcher of all Hearts That it was no Dissatisfaction with the present Form of Church-Government which prompted him to pen this Pamphlet but rather a sincere Affection thereunto and an ardent Desire to see the Glory of the second Temple transcend the Splendour of the First which he would account a kind of Beatifical Vision upon Earth and wisheth not to live one minute Longer than to behold this Church once in Possession of that Blessing For since he was blessed with any Understanding he had alwayes a Veneration for that mode of Government as having in the greater Lines thereof a greater Analogy to the Primitive Regiment than any other Form coyn'd in the Mint-house of Geneva And if the most ancient Records of Church-History and Fathers of the Church be made Judges in the matter which in matters of Fact must needs be unless any be so Enthysiastick as to expect Divine Revelation de novo to determine this Controversie I suppose the little Antiquity which he hath read would engage him to pawn his natural Life upon the Probation of that Assertion against all the Paralogisms of Blondel and Salmasius the two great Genevian Champions and the more foolish Cavils of many other Praters to the same Purpose Now though the Author hath humbly tendered this Advice unto all of that Sacred Order yet he would not have any to imagine that he undervalues any of them or that he values all alike He knows that there were some two or three Stars among them of the First Magnitude now Eclipsed from us the dark Curtain of Death being drawn divers years ago betwixt them and this World who when they were in it were looked upon by all honest men as Persons of approved Integrity and who suffered much for Conscience-sake even Imprisonment Banishment and Confiscation of their Goods yea some

undertakes it in this Age becomes rather the object of Pity than Envy it being truly said by the Emperour Dioclesian Difficillimum est rectè imperare how much more in this Iron Age in which that Wish is absolutely unnecessary Materiamque tuis tristem Virtutibus opta And as for any imputation of Malice if his heart deceive him not very much he would be much more ready to make Use 〈…〉 Paludamentum of Constantine the 〈…〉 make any i●vidious Detection And till the Reader can convince him that there cannot be Pax cum hominibus bellum cum vitiis in sensu composito he hopes Charity will dissever them in his behalf Yea as Seneca hath observed well Cato the Elder was no less useful to the State of Rome than Scipio Africanus because as this Noble Roman did defeat the Physical Enemies of his Countrey so that austere Censor did successfully Combat against the Moral Adversaries thereof That Apology which St. Hierom made for his Tartness is a sufficient Vindication of the Author For if a Stylus aculeatus be allowable against a Charge of Heresie it is no less lawful in the Cause of God For when the Honour of the Divine Majesty and the Interest of his Church are deeply concerned we ought to regard the Glory of the Supreme infinitely above that of any other Superiour For Amicus Socrates amicus Plato sed magis amica Veritas To which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Truth and Interest of the Church all truly zealous Ecclesiasticks are animated by that notable Saying of Saint Augustine Qui veritatem occultat qui prodit Mendacium uterque reus est ille quia prodesse non vult hic quia nocere desiderat But though Tiberias none of the best of Emperours used to say In Civitate libera linguam mentemque liberam esse debere yet sure I am If these Gravamina which would amount to the number of German ones if they were subdivided and sold by Retail had been heard patiently in private they needed not have been told in Publick though there were never more Provocations for all men to speak than now when all the Mischiefs that other Ages did but imagine are now practised and when Oppression hath made a Wise man mad and in the mean time the dumb Asses are taught to forbid the Madness of the Prophets But there being too many in the world who as Aristippus said have their ears in their feet and they who are straight finding it very inconvenient to stoop so low therefore are necessitated to take other measures of Communication Desperata ejus Principis salus est as said a Wise man cujus aures ita formatae sunt ut aspera quae utilia nec quicquam nisi jucundum accipiant Nam Libertas Consilii est ejus vita essentia quâ ereptâ Consilium evanescit But perhaps it may be objected That it is fit that all Papers which are design'd for the Press should in prima instantia be presented unto those who Iure eminentiae are appointed Supervisors thereof I shall refer it to the Judgment of the Candid Reader if the Author had not good reason to conclude that he might spare his pains in making such an Address by the strange ensuing Narration told him not long ago by one who had designed something very useful as he supposed for the Church viz. An exact Method of studying the Primitive Fathers even to the Death of Gregory the Great whom he accounted the Last of those Worthies as one called Brutus and Cassius Vltimi Romanorum though Venerable Bede Holy Anselm and Devout Bernard have merited eternal Remembrance in the Church Which Method if prosecuted as he intended he humbly conceiv'd would be found more useful for all Unbyassed Readers than the Treatises of Baronius Sixtus Senensis Bellarmin Possevin Perron Lawney Sirmundus and Contius to that purpose or the Tractates of the Magdeburgenses with their Epitomator Osiander Scultetus Reinolds Cocus Rivet Blondel and Dallee the Popish Authors being generally too lax though the four last in order are either Nasutiores or much more ingenuous than the rest and the Reformed too strict on that Subject the former discovering too palpable a Design to buoy up a forlorn Cause by Supposititious Fathers and Spurious Books and the latter having too much of the Critick and Satyrist in them The Diagram of which great Design being presented by the Author to a Principal Member of that Order in order to the giving of his Judgment as to the propos'd Method And what he concluded to be either defective or redundant therein the Author was resolved to take in very good part thinking himself bound to reverence the Opinions of his Superiours But he did meet with no other Verdict or Complement save this astonishing Answer from such a Person That he had no Leisure to look after such Books he being distracted too much with other Imployments and that there were too many Books already in the World which hasty Censure he passed on that whereof he had never read one Line Which could not but appear very strange to any in his right Wits when he reflects upon the Disposition of the Country whereof it was spoken We find indeed in a late Satyrist who had the Spirit of his Calling as abundantly as any a Nation taxed as being Epidemical because they send forth many Examina of the Fruit of their Bodies into forreign Countries and divers Colonies to New Plantations but it is the first time I have heard them charged with the exuberant Spawn of the fruit of their Brains And though that Observation concerning Africa semper aliquid adfert novi may be also applyed to this Country yet it is not to be understood of the one or the other in reference to new Books but rather of renewed monstruous Productions both these Countries being in these latter Ages of the World sandy and barren as to intellectual Births But in fine he remitted the perusal of that Platform to another of his Order who was no less taken up with the Study of Modern Politicks than himself yea was become so much in Love with that Trade that he had put the intervall of many German Miles and Years betwixt himself and his proper Charge that he might practice the Principles of his beloved Art upon a fitter Scene whereby this ghostly Mountebank did emulate the Sagacity of a Sharleton as to the Conveniency of the Erection of his Stage all Quak-salvers who have the Spirit of their base Calling being sure to resort unto those places where there is most Money and the greatest Concourse of People The slighted Brother finding such Addresses to be in vain immediately call'd to mind the Answer which that cruel Duke de Alva gave to Henry the 4th of France who having demanded of him if he had observed that great Ecclipse of the Sun which had lately happened the Duke ingenuously reply'd That he had so much adoe upon Earth that he could not

either directly or indirectly with their former Immoralities For Carere debet omni vitio qui in alterum dicere paratus est And if any of them should prove such bold Adventurers they have this recriminating Repartee in readiness for such shameless Upbraiders Quamvis dignus essem hac Contumeliâ indignus tu qui diceres tamen or that other which is parallel thereto Loripedem rectus irrideat Aethiopem albus But it is a matter of Lamentation that their Endeavours of Depression have prov'd too successful though Nascitur indignè per quem denascitur alter For suppose we had lived the Life of Nestor none could remember that ever they saw this Holy Function under so much Obloquy and Contempt as it hath been these few years past For unless a man have something else to Commend him than the Dignity of his Office though it is most Sacred and should render the Exercisers of it every way inviolable yet it is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to protect him from the Scoffings and scurrile Expressions of the Profane nor from the Undervaluings of those who pretend to some Shadow of Civility and Religion Yet I should wish in behalf of the Church That what is grated from the Circumference were at least cemented with the Center But alack we find there is such an unhappy Conjuncture in this Affair that there is too perfect a Resemblance thereof unto Pharoah's Dream of which we read That the lean and ill-favoured Kine did eat up the first seven fat Kine yet it could not be known that they had eaten them up for they were still lean and ill-favoured as at the Beginning But that we may put a Period to this grating Article I do firmly believe That if his Gracious Majesty had been well inform'd of those deplorable Inconveniences He would have chosen rather to have sent down some English Doctors to have govern'd us in prima instantia than have permitted any of those Willy-wisps to jump into these empty Chairs our neighbour-Neighbour-Church being such a fertile Soil that it could easily spare a Charitable Antidote against the Famine of another though to speak Truth it is a kind of Nazareth to our wildest Fanaticks for they cannot foresee that any Good shall come from thence Yea I am con●ident if our own Ierusalem had been search'd with Light Candles as many who have been constantly Loyal and have suffered much too upon that account would have been found to be Pares Negotio who are inferiour to these late Daemagogues in nothing that is truly good and much superiour to them all in real Honesty Yea it is the Opinion of many judicious Persons That some leading Secular Subjects whose Hearts were not well disposed towards the Government had a hand in the Advancement of such that through their sides which were too patent to Reproaches this sacred Regiment might be easily wounded their feeble Arms not being able to susslaminate that Burden they conjectured that the weight thereof would make them faint at last and so permit that celestial Load to fall to the Ground before an Hercules could be found to support it with his Shoulders But as for those who longed for the Reestabliment of that ancient Government upon lasting Foundations and cordially wished to see all that Dirt of Obloquie and Contempt which had been thrown in the Face of that Primitive Regiment and sullied it for half an Age so wiped off that it might shine with a greater Lustre than before these well-wishers knowing that outward Esteem and Reputation is the same to great Persons especially of the Clergy which the Skin is unto the Fruit For though it be but a Slight and Delicate Cover yet without it the Fruit will presently dis-colour and rot Sure it would never have entered into the minds of those real Friends of the Church that no better Expedient could be found to appease a raging Sea and to procure Halcyonian Seasons unto that Storm-beaten and almost Shipwrack'd Vessel than to invert the Story of Ionah by placing those runnagate Prophets at the Helm of the Church the more dexterous and auspicious Pilots being in the mean time thrown over Board into a Sea of Confusion and contempt like to the scattered Limbs of Innocent Absyrtus and all for that end to retard the just Pursuit of a Criminal Medea But seeing it hath been the unhappy Fate of this Church that such Persons have become the Steer-Masters of that fluctuating Ark yet true Repentance being as S. Hierom hath said Optima Tabula post Naufragium I should wish that there had been a day of Solemn Humiliation appointed wherein these Fugitive Lapsi might have given Glory to God by confessing before all his People and that from deep Conviction too a penitent Sense of their former Schismatical and Seditious Courses Which Exomologesis in my humble Judgment should have been found more justifiable and much more edifying too than to attest the Searcher of all hearts That their Consciences did still approve that persecuted Way even then when they were preaching and acting with all their Might against it whereby they detected themselves either to have been Hypocrites all that time than which Heart and a Heart nothing is more odious in the Sight of that God who delights in Uprightness or at least that they would have others to repute them such For I deny not the truth of that Maxim Ne pudeat ad meliora transire the meaning whereof as to the present case is this That these Malefactors should not be asham'd to repent of their former Perverseness and to learn more Candour and Christian Ingenuity for the future But I fear that many of those who were Protei before the year 1660 if there come a new Revolution which as long as I breath I shall every day pray God to prevent would easily become Vertumni And that the canting Language of a bold Usurper would cast them into a new Paroxysm of their old Vertigo so that they should again become the Ecebolii of their Age. Vid. Concil General 1. Can. 9. Concil Elibertin Can. 30 51 76. Concil Arelat 2. Can. 25. Concil Aurelianens 4. Can. 8. Concil Toletan 4. Can. 52. Concil Valentin Can. 4. Concil Carthag 4. Can. 68. Concil Tolet. 1. Can. 2. Concil Agath Can. 29. 33. Concil Illerdens Can. 5. Concil Aurelianens 3. Can. 5. Concil Matisconens 1. Can. 2. Vid. Tertul. Apolog. Arnob. Lib. 7. adversus Gentes Euseb. De Praep. Evang. Lib. 12. Greg. Nazianz. Orat. contra Iulian. Apostat S. Basil. Lib. De Spiritu Sancto S. Ambros Lib. 2. De Offic. Chrysost. Lib. 1 2 3. De Sacerdot Greg. 1. Lib. 4. Epist. 17. Lib. 7. Epist. 25. Isidor Hispal De Eccles Offic. Lib. 2. Bern. De Consid. Lib. 3 4. Article XIX THIS Article concerns only those Bishops who are Chancellours of Universities And I wish they look upon that Honourable Prerogative as a special part of their Province having a particular Care that the respective Houses