Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	church_n	scripture_n	true_a	13,977	5	5.9688	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93277	Two books of Mr Sydrach Simpson, late master of Pembroke-Hall in Cambridg; and preacher of the Gospel in London. Viz. I. Of unbelief; or the want of readiness to lay hold on the comfort given by Christ. II. Not going to Christ for life and salvation is an exceeding great sin, yet it is pardonable. In the first book is shewed (besides many other things) 1 What unbelief it is that is here spoken of ... 7 Helps to attain readiness in beleeving. In the second book is shewed, 1 That unbelief is a great sin, and exceeding provoking unto God ... 7 God hath pardoned unbelief, and wil pardon it.	Simpson, Sidrach, 1600?-1655.; Nye, Philip, 1596?-1672.; Loder, John, 1625 or 6-1673.	1658 (1658)	Wing S3827; Thomason E962_1-2; ESTC R203574	187,195	298

men even concerning the things of the Gospel which is contrary unto their lusts But yet it s not grounded upon any thing but meerly upon demonstration upon demonstration I say or experience and therefore it doth not save There are some therfore that receive Jesus Christ only into their reason Into their reason only I have made these severall steps in the laying open of this truth because that the Devil doth with the Souls of men even as Warriers do when they have a place to hold out against an enemy If so be that they cannot keep one Wal or one part of the Fort they get to another and there strengthen themselves They would keep them out of al. If the Devil can keep Christ out of the fancies of men he wil. If he cannot stay him there by reason of the means that they live under then he staies him in Reason and labors to set him up there You shal know what I mean by it by and by A man may receive Jesus Christ into his reason and yet have no good wil to him which is the Point that I have in hand For as the Eye being opened cannot but see the light so neither can the Understanding but take notice of the truth that is propounded unto it The Will hath a power when the Object is before it to refuse it But the understanding hath no such power But when as a thing is propounded it cannot but observe it A man may not like nor own what is propounded but he cannot but take notice of it And therefore by the way when we say that men will not know or men are wilfully ignorant The meaning is this They wil not be known to know or do wilfully keep themselves from reflecting upon the consideration of what they do know for when the light comes It cannot I say but be received Therfore for the better opening of a mans receiving Jesus Christ into his reason Know that there is a difference between Reason and Reasoning In the Latine tongue they have two words that do aptly express it Ratio and Rationis operatio It is that reasoning which God hath given unto men to joyn truths together which are of one sort and belongs unto one subject And to collect and gather the consequences which follow thereon This is reasoning And by this many men come to be great disputers and contenders as you shal hear by and by for that Faith of Christ which they have not dwelling in their hearts As in the time of the Law The Jews had some who kept their Genealogies who retained the knowledg of every Tribe the heads of the families and the kindred and the alliances which every one had to another by matches and marriages So God hath given Reasoning in the soul this office To keep the foundation or principall heads of truths and to keep also in memory the consequences which are as it were the kindred of those foundation truths the marriages which one common head hath with another the influences which one point hath into another This Reasoning ads nothing unto truth but doth arise from the nature of truth it self and is in the thing in the truth whether or no that it be reached by us or not As for example We reason thus If God made the World then the World was not eternall Whether we collect this or not yet in this saying viz. That God made the World This viz. that it is not eternal is comprised And this kind of Reasoning the Scripture makes use of in the matters of Faith Rom. 3.28 Therefore we conclude that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but by Faith in Jesus Christ And in Matth. 22.32 Upon this Jesus Christ proves the resurrection of the bodies of men viz. God hath said That he will be the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and of those that beleeve upon him If he hath said saith Christ that he will be their God then by consequence They do live unto him and their bodies also shall live together with their Spirits And because the Scripture maketh such use of these consequences or this kind of reasoning therefore we are commanded to attend unto reading because the words of scripture are means whereby things comes thus into our Understanding And we are required to Search the Scriptures John 5.19 which is a Metaphor taken from Hunters whether they be Beasts or Men They look after the foot-steps of their Game As by instinct the Dog taketh the sent here and there and follows the Game as if it were following the conclusion So the mind of a man puts things together and must put the things together that are in the Scripture and conclude from them But besides this Reasoning There is also Reason which is the principles and notions of things that are in us by nature And these are of two sorts Some are common and universally true True in every Matter or Science As for example That the rule is before and more known than that which is ruled by it That the Cause is more excellent than the Effect That the means so far as it is a means is less excellent than the end These and divers others are true not only in humane Sciences but in matters of Faith As for example It is as true that the scripture because it is a rule is before mens Faith and before the Church and of greater authority and efficacy Even as it is true that the Laws of men are in order of nature before any thing can be done lawfully or to have a reward or acceptation And so again The Body of Christ though it be in Heaven and ful of Glory yet notwithstanding is as well contained there and not every where as it was in one place and not in another when it was upon the earth Now besides those generall and universal principles of reason there are in us by nature particular principles or notions which do belong unto particular subjects As Unto the nature of God and unto Righteousness and unto Justice Whether that righteousness be personall and morall or whether it be political or that which a man is to exercise as a Iudg towards others There are notions which are proper unto the beings and kinds of Creatures Now to draw unto the thing that I would speak unto in divers cases Both Reason reasoning may argue an unwillingness to receive Iesus Christ and so a want of true faith The receiving Jesus Christ may be such both into reason and into reasoning as argues a man not to beleeve upon Christ unto the Salvation of his soul Give me but leave to instance but in some of these as breifly as I can As I. When no more is beleeved concerning God and Jesus Christ Mark it when we beleeve no more of God and Jesus Christ then can be deduced out of the principles of the knowledg of God which are in us by nature Take the principles of the knowledg of God which