Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	answer_v	faith_n	true_a	5,103	5	4.8933	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A38076	Remarks upon a book lately published by Dr. Will. Sherlock ... entituled, A modest examination of the Oxford decree, &c.	Edwards, Jonathan, 1629-1712.	1695 (1695)	Wing E221; ESTC R17931	28,355	66

Oecumenical or National He must therefore only be so either virtually or by way of representation And sure some such thing he fancies of himself viz. that the Christian Faith or at least the words wherein it is to be expressed are committed to his care or rather are to be disposed of at his pleasure Otherwise sure he would never talk as he doth in this book For instance p. 16. He hath these remarkable words Now since Person is the Catholick word which long Ecclesiastical use hath rendered familiar I should by no means allow of any other word in this mystery could we retain the Catholick Faith together with the word What must words be used or laid aside at his discretion He acknowledges the word to be Ecclesiastical the Church hath made it her own she hath adopted it into her Creeds and confessions of her Faith by long use it is now rendered familiar and is become the common Language of all Christians What Authority I pray hath he to order the laying of it aside I should by no means allow c. It is fit he should be told upon this occasion that this word was anciently used without his leave and will still continue to be so without his allowance For neither the faith nor language of the Church have any such dependance upon him as that they must stand or fall at his pleasure But lastly whatever Authority the Church may have to alter the usual and received forms of speech yet to be sure she would never exercise it except forced as was intimated before by some very great and some very apparent reason To this he answers that there is as great reason and necessity for such an alteration of words now as ever there was in any age of the Church p. 12. And the reason that he assigns is this viz. That we are in great danger of losing the Catholick Faith by the revival of the Heresy of Sabellius p. 16. which walks publickly abroad tho under the disguise of a new name And if we believe him it is one of those doctrines too publickly received in the Church of England which are not the true doctrines of our Church p. 44. Now this I cannot but say is not only extremely false but likewise a very scandalous suggestion Because it must not only affect our own times and Nation but likewise bring all other Churches Ancient and Modern Eastern and Western Roman and Reformed under the same suspicion For all these are at perfect agreement both in the belief of the Doctrine of the Trinity and in the manner of expressing their Faith which is by the profession of three persons and one nature or substance So that if by retaining the old words there is danger of losing the Catholick Faith it must be lost out of the Catholick Church and this revolt to Sabellianism must be both the most lasting and the most general Apostasy that ever was foretold or feared should happen to the Christian Church But as to what may concern this Church I believe if all wise and good men in it have reason to fear any danger 't is from another quarter I mean from the revival of the Heresies of Arius Pelagius and Socinus which some evil men with great industry and with no small art endeavor to propagate among us But 2dly Tho the charge of Sabellianism be a very great and heavy one yet we ought not to look upon it to be such a bug-bear as thereby to be affrighted out of our Religion We may comfort our selves with this that this imputation is no other nor better than what hath formerly bin made by Hereticks against the Orthodox For the Arian against whom Zanchy wrote in his Antithesis doctrinae Christianae Antichristi de uno vero Deo and Valentinus Gentilis in order to establish his Doctrine of three distinct infinite Spirits made the very same objection against the Catholick Faith with relation to the error of Sabellius Cantilenam Sabellii nobis obgannit saith Aretius of Gentilis eandem nobis cantilenam occinit Decanus may we say But as they who believe three persons and but one nature or substance are as far from being Sabellians as any the greatest Tritheist so they no doubt will be as ready to oppose the attempts of such who at any time hereafter may endeavor to revive the Heresy of Sabellius But in order to combate that Heresy they will not think themselves obliged to use any other weapons than those with which in former times it hath bin so succesfully vanquished The faith hath bin transmitted down to us for these thirteen centuries in that form of sound words viz. Three Persons and one nature and hath conquered all opposition made against it and in all times since they who have refused the Language of the Church have bin justly suspected to be no true friends to the faith of it which now by long use and the prescription of so many ages have contracted such a friendship that they are like to live or die together And therefore we find none as I now intimated who in any times heretofore either quarrelled with or rejected the words established in the Church but either open Hereticks or such who were justly suspected to favor their errors Thus of old the Arians and Semi-Arians were displeased with the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because these words troubled and gave offence to many forsooth and were such as rather perplexed than explained this Doctrine being above the reach of mens understanding and conceptions So the Polish and Transylvanian Unitarians in their times made the same complaints That the Church by using those words homoousion Person Essence Unity Trinity had perfectly confounded all right notions of God and in a manner overturned the Christian Religion Valentinus Gentilis echoed back the same calumnies from Bern and Geneva and called the former words monstrosae profanae voces quibus omnia divina mysteria pervertuntur And to bring up the rear we find the Dean in his vindication declaring his displeasure against them in the like expressions p. 138. where he tells us that that which hath confounded this mystery hath bin the vain endeavor of reducing it to terms of art such as Nature Essence Substance Existence Hypostasis Person and the like I am sorry to find him in such ill company Tho I charitably hope he is not engaged in the same evil designs with them However it will become all men of wisdom and integrity to avoid giving any the least countenance to such tho but suspicious practices which we have reason to think were first set on foot on purpose to undermine our holy Faith and Religion There is one thing more to be observed before I come to consider the propositions which I had almost forgotten but it must not by any means be omitted and that is his very curious and critical remark upon the Latin Decree p. 5. where he tells us that he who

as far as in them lies the growth of any pernicious Doctrines in Religion Some such had bin preached among them which they had reason to fear might in time gain ground if not timely obviated To prevent therefore the infection and growth of such false and impious opinions they thought fit to publish their Decree which as I said before had a particular regard to those persons who were committed to their care eorum fidei curae commissis But this Dean like an Universal Pastor and Bishop sets himself as it were in Cathedra and from thence he dictates to the whole Church He lifts up his voice as if he would say audiat orbis Christianus I do declare and let all persons take notice of it at their peril that the Doctrine of three Persons and one God or one Substance in the God-head which is all one as shall be shewn by and by is Sabellianism is Heresy and nonsence Would not this Dean think you have done well to have advised with some men of skill and learning how far the reputation of his wisdom and modesty not now to mention the Integrity of his Faith which thereby may be justly called in question might be affected by such a bold and presumtuous declaration The next instance of his great modesty may be found in the 11th and 12th pages of this examination where he makes an Apology for the use of new forms of words unusual unscriptural forms of speech in order to explain and declare as he calls it the Catholick Faith several of which as it is very well known this examiner had invented and made use of to this purpose in his vindication of the blessed Trinity and for which he was justly called to an account by the learned Animadverter Now among other things which he offers in vindication of this bold and dangerous practice p. 12. he tells us That the Church tho it never had authority to make a new Faith yet it always had and always will have authority to declare and explain the true Catholick Faith in such words as are most aptly expressive of it and necessary to countermine the Arts and Evasions of Hereticks And this he saith will justify the use of such expressions as these Three distinct infinite Minds and Spirits or three substances how novel soever they may be thought To this suggestion of his I have several things to Answer First he saith the Church hath Authority to use new and unusual forms of words in Articles of Faith But I am apt to think she would be very unwilling to exercise her power and would never do it except when pressed with a great and an unavoidable necessity We have reason to think it would be one of her last remedies when all other methods of preserving the faith had proved ineffectual It is true indeed in the Ancient Church the meaning of certain words which sometime were of doubtful and ambiguous signification were afterwards settled and determined such as was substantia persona 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And some new unscriptural words such as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were made choice of by the Fathers and put into their Creeds in order to detect the hypocrisy and Heresy of the Arians But this was not done till after many disputations and great deliberation and afterwards they thought themselves obliged to declare the necessity they were under of settling the sense of one word upon this important subject which was not a new word neither but such as had bin formerly used before they would impose it on the Church So weighty a thing was the faith and peace of the Church in the opinion of those great men in those days But tho they introduced some new words and settled the signification of others they never did attempt to alter and lay aside the use of any which had formerly bin of general usage and universally received among Christians in order to introduce new ones in the room of them On the other hand the Church hath condemned all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all new invented terms and hath forbid the introducing any such under the pain of deprivation or Anathematization And for this Decree of the 6th General Council the third of Constantinople the Church in succeeding ages hath preserved so great a veneration that none either Greek or Latin Roman or Reformed have ever since complained of the hardship of that Synodical sentence or have endeavored to reverse it But on the other hand they have declared a high displeasure against all such who have at any time attempted any such innovations As is evident from the fate that attended Abbot Joachim and Valentinus Gentilis the one in his book the other in his person All this the Dean had formerly bin put in mind of by the learned Animadverter and yet notwithstanding this monition he still persists in that presumtuous humor of using and defending these new unusual inconvenient forms of speech and which he himself allows may be liable to an Heretical meaning But 2dly Let it be granted that the Church may alter old phrases but hath she actually made use of that her Authority in the case before us Hath she published any declaration whereby she hath discovered her pleasure in this affair viz. that the old words such as those of persons Hypostasis subsistence should be laid aside to make room for self-consciousness and mutual consciousness Or that one nature one essence one substance must be discarded and in their place the phrases of three distinct minds spirits and substances should be introduced That maxime in Law is true here in Divinity eodem modo res solvitur quo ligatur The Church hath tyed us to the use of these words I pray who hath set us at liberty why he saith or at least intimates that the Church hath But what Church I beseech you why none that I know of except it be that which is included and which he carries about with him in his own person How comes he to be styled the Church That you must know is by a Synecdoche whereby the Dean of a Church may be called the Church it self Tho others may account it rather a Catachresis or vocis abusio when a word is abused being transferred from a proper to a very improper and absurd signification But sure the Dean cannot so far forget himself as to arrogate to himself the name of the Church He doth not that I know of indeed assume the name but he plainly doth the Authority of the Church And under her name and power he shelters himself For as was said before p. 16. he justifies his own innovations by saying that the Church always had and always will have Authority to use such words as she thinks most expressive of the faith How can this Apology vindicate him except either he be the Church or at least be commissioned by her and invested with her Authority I presume he will not pretend to be formally the Church either