Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A34182
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The bishop of London's charge to the clergy of his diocese at his visitation begun Ann. 1693 and concluded Ann. 1694.
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Compton, Henry, 1632-1713.
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1696
(1696)
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Wing C5663; ESTC R32775
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23,015
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41
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off in Pomp and Noise For its Extent was confin'd within Europe all the Churches in Asia and Africa disowning it and there still remain'd in the heighth of their Triumph Bodies of Men that Opposed their Superstitions and many of them with their Blood Sealed to the Truth Besides its Reign is not near of that Length it pretends to The continual Attempts it made upon the Jurisdiction of other Churches and the aiming at Universality were long in agitation and never yet settled to their mind farther than in Italy and there next door it is rejected in Sicily It s Pernicious Errours have generally been Disowned by their soundest Members and by their greatest and ablest Writers and few Established by Authority till the Council of Trent after the Reformation was begun as you may see amongst others in our excellent Dr. Field of the Church Yet these and all other Considerations do not Captivate a good Christian so as to make him lay aside all his Reason but in the midst of Miracles and the Power of the Holy Ghost with the Noble Bereans search the Scripture whether Things be so or no. How suddenly would our Schisms Vanish away were some among us so Ingenuous as to go to the Fountain-Head to Search the Scriptures and not have Mens Persons so much in Admiration as to take all for Gospel that they say Ye see then the modest Cautiousness which ought to be used to confirm us in the Truth lest either by too much Implicitness we suffer Error to grow upon us or by Assuming too much to our selves we be Misled by our own Indiscretion I shall refer my self in this Point to what St. Augustine says in a Treatise against the Donatists Who knows not that the Holy Canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are contained within their certain Limits and are so far Preferr'd before all after-Writings of Bishops that the Truth or Justice of whatever appears to be Written in them is not to be doubted or call'd in question But what Episcopal Determinations have been or are made since the Canon of the Holy Scriptures has been confirm'd may if they appear Faulty be Corrected either by a Hand happily more Skilful or by the Authority and Prudence of more Bishops and Wiser Men or by Councils And Councils themselves which are held of particular Nations or Provinces are without more adoe to yield to the Authority of Plenary and General Councils and they likewise which have gone before to submit to the Correction of the later when any thing is discover'd which was not known before and that without the least swelling of Pride transport of Arrogance or spiteful Contention but with a Sanctify'd Humility in Catholick Peace and Christian Charity Wherefore St. Cyprian so much the Greater by being the more Humble and who was so in love with the Behaviour of St. Peter that he said setting it forth as an Instruction to us of Concord and Patience that we should not be too fond of our own ways but rather esteem those to be ours if True and Just which are now and then opportunely suggested to us by our Brethren and Colleagues He shews plainly enough how easily he would have alter'd his Opinion if any one had made it appear to him that Christian Baptism might be Administred to others by those who left the Church for the same Reason that they cannot lose their own by their Departure Of which though I have said much I should not have dar'd to have utter'd one Word unless I had been supported by the joynt Authority of the Universal Church to which I make no doubt he had likewise yielded if in his time the Question had been canvased and decided by a plenary Council But though the Rule of Discretion and common Prudence taken from the natural Course of things direct this way yet such is the headstrong Temper of corrupt Nature as will break through all For we see in the very Infancy of Christianity when Mens outward Senses were Gratified with continual Miracles their Minds taught by the Insallible Guides of the Church the Apostles Their Expectation and Dependance upon Things here below prevented by incessant Persecutions and powerful Oppositions yet would they not retain Sincerity and Innocence For we see even in those Days there was an Hymeneus and an Alexander and a Diotrephes and divers others complain'd of by the Apostles themselves there was the Heresie of the Nicolaitans and that of the Gnostics too if some have guess'd aright which provok'd St Peter to give this Warning There shall be false teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction And many shall follow their pernicious ways by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of c. And St. Iohn thus counsels Christians upon the same Account Beloved believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the world No wonder then if the Scripture advertises us of the Mischiefs which should happen to the Church in after-Days Now the spirit speaks expresly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils speaking lies in hypocrisie But more emphatically have we it from the same hand in the Charge given at Miletus to the Clergy of Ephesus Take heed unto your selves and to all the flock over the which the holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood For I know this that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them Which is confirmed by the Mouth of Truth it self Many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many And that we may be apprised of the Reason why it has seemed good to the Divine Wisdom to expose the Church to these uneasie Tryals we are told I hear there are divisions among you There must be also heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest among you Being thus forewarned of those Unnatural Distractions wherewith our Holy Profession is to be Visited and that in all probability they will continue to the end of the World because the Reason for them does so Ye ought always to be upon a strict Guard against the Incroachment of so Dangerous an Evil. For the Honour of God the Support of Truth the Salvation of Mens Souls and the Peace of the Church are all concerned in it What is it preserves the Communion of so many Churches so widely distant in Place Discipline and Worship but the Harmony of Confession the Consent in that which is the Life and Soul of our Holy Religion the Articles of our Faith It is our Creed
alone that preserves the mutual Confidence between Churches far and wide For the Pursuit of which we have Two infallible Directions 1. Hold fast the form of sound words 2. Rightly dividing the word of truth I. From the first I suppose we are directed to keep to the Common Style of the Church without First Addition Secondly Subtraction or Thirdly Variation First The Papists are most notoriously Guilty of the first notwithstanding that they generally hold all the Fundamentals by superinducing so many false Articles of Faith Idolatrous Worship grievously Superstitious Practices and setting up their own Laws under greater Penalties if not above the very Law of God thus shamefully Defiling his Worship and with the Rubbish of their own Inventions and the Doctrines of Men Perverting and Smothering the Truth of the Gospel Add thou not unto his words lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar Secondly They are likewise Guilty of a Sacrilegious Subtraction by withdrawing the Cup of Blessing entirely from the Laity and holding back the Word of Life the Holy Scripture from the People and deceitfully amusing them with Legends in its stead But they whose great Business it has been to Narrow the Word of God to Enervate the Power of Godliness and to Destroy the Efficacy of Saving Faith are the Pelagians the Socinians and their Harbingers These do it with a witness whilst they attack the Essential Foundations of our Hope by denying the Meritorious Purchase of Christs Death in our Redemption the Imputation of his Righteousness Seal'd to us by his Blood and Confirm'd to us by his Resurrection for our Justification shutting the Gates against the King of Glory and his Divine Majesty disowning the inward Assistance and Comfort of the Holy Ghost and the Blessed Effects of the Gospel Sacraments To such as these had the Author to the Hebrews an eye when he says He that despised Moses law died without mercy under two or three witnesses of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who has trodden under foot the son of God and has counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite to the spirit of grace Now both to the Superstitious and Prophane to him that would add and to him that would take away hath God given this Charge What thing soever I command you observe to do it thou shalt not add thereto nor diminish from it And this is St. Iohn's Witness in God's Name I testifie unto every man that heareth the prophesie of this book if any man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this bock And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophesie God shall take away his part out of the book of life c. Thirdly The Variation though in it self not so Malicious is yet of dangerous Consequence It may I confess proceed from a Luxuriant Fancy and a Heedless Affectation But there is a Fault even in this For it is an unmannerly Trespass upon our Governours and Superiours to pretend to correct their Style and in a Private Capacity to be wiser than the multitude of Counsellours Besides the Confusion and Uncertainty it creates in the Apprehension of the Sense of Doctrines thus delivered For every Art and Science has its peculiar Terms and Expressions confin'd to one peculiar Sense and Meaning so fixed by long Use and Experience and if that be once passed by and a Liberty taken by the several Professours to use the Various Words and Loose Expressions of Common Conversation and Entertainment or which may otherwise be the Original Propriety of the Language all Points and Cases will become Unintelligible through Ambiguities and Difference of Acceptation Should we put Coetus for Ecclesia in the different Senses apply'd in our Ecclesiastical Style what a Confusion would it make the former being never otherwise understood than for a Company of Men met together whereas the latter is extended to the utmost Meaning it can bear For sometimes it is taken for the Material Church sometimes for a Congregation and that either of one Parish or Collectively of many as the Church of England or farther for the whole Body of Christians throughout the World or yet more extensively for the Church Triumphant as well as Militant Should we Change the English Word Church into any other Expression what Work would it make For though it properly signifie the Material Edifice or Building as being Deriv'd from the Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet by a most extended Metonymie is it used in as large a Sense as Ecclesia in the Latin Were Comitia apply'd instead of Concilium how uncoothly and strangely would it for want of Use suit with the Epithets of Provincial National Patriarchal Ecumenical and the like Castalio has Translated the Bible into a Ciceronian Style but he is blamed for it by all who have weighed the Inconvenience of such a Novelty And yet there would not be so much Hurt in this if the Mischief reached no farther than an Affected Singularity But they who stop here serve only for Blinds to give a more easie Introduction to Heresie For under New and Unusual Terms the Hereticks Equivocate their Meaning and are contented to Manage the Simple-hearted in the best Manner they can till they find a proper Season to speak out Thus did the Hereticks of old couch their Errors under Dubious Expressions and Colourable Words So did the Arians Pelagius Nestorius and Eutyches as may be seen in the Records of the Church II. I come now to the other Direction Rightly dividing the word of truth And I take this Translation of ours to come the fullest up to the Sense of the Original of any in what Language soever The Import of which Words I take to be 1. An Advice of Discretion to Administer the Word according to the Capacity and Strength of the Hearer 2. An Advice of Justice to make known the whole Mind of God concealing no Part but giving to every Portion its due Weight I. In the first Sense the Expression seems to have relation to the Distribution of a Sacrifice cut of divided into due Proportions For we know the Body of the Church is likened to the Body Natural which consists of several Members under different Dispositions according to their respective Uses Therefore as in the Natural so in the Politick Body there must be regard had to the different Office and Constitution of each Member Some are more of less Honouraable some more or less Necessary some more or less Powerful each is to be Treated in that way which is most suitable to its Disposition and if any Member be Sick or Weak proper Remedies must be apply'd And I am sure however it be Practised it is one of the most necessary Duties incumbent upon our Calling The Truth of it is where there is a