Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	apostle_n	believe_v	word_n	5,252	5	4.0580	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A76020	A treatise of adhering to God; written by Albert the Great, Bishop of Ratisbon. Put into English by Sir Kenelme Digby, Kt. Also a conference with a lady about choyce of religion.; De adhærendo Deo. English	Albertus, Magnus, Saint, 1193?-1280.; Digby, Kenelm, Sir, 1603-1665.	1653 (1653)	Wing A876; Thomason E1529_2; ESTC R25226	62,177	159

discerne Therefore we may safely conclude that this doctrine ought to be delivered unto us originally by God himselfe For after the first branch which is of withdrawing our affections from sensible goods although out of naturall principles that doctrine is to be collected yet that is not a sufficient meanes to settle mankind in generall in the beliefe of it For the discourse that proveth it is such an abstracted one as very few are capable of it being that it requireth both a mature age to be able to reason so before which time many dye and likewise strong and vigorous powers of the understanding which we see more doe want then are endowed withall And besides of those that have both yeares and capacity to wield such thoughts there are so few that are not in a manner forced away from such interior recollections by their particular vocations and the naturall necessities they are obliged unto as to beate it out by themselves is not a sufficient meanes to serve mankind in this case And to thinke that those few who haveing great partes may with much labour have attained to the knowledge thereof should instruct others that are simpler and are taken up by other imployments and courses of life were very irrationall since no man be he never so wise is such but may be deceived and then how can it be expected that another man should without sensible demonstration beleive his single word in a matter so contrary to sense and wherein he must forgoe so great contentments and present utility And for the other branch which is in the instructing mankinde concerning the right object that he is to know and love to be happy that is altogether out of the reach of any man whatsoever by himselfe to discover and therefore much lesse can he in his owne name instruct others therein And if any man should goe about to doe so and to introduce a new doctrine of faith not formerly heard of drawing the arguments for confirmation thereof onely out of his owne ratiocination and discourse that alone were enough to convince him of falshood since he should thereby undertake to know what were impossible for him of himselfe to attaine to the knowledge of Therefore it is necessary that the author of the doctrine we must believe the instructor of the actiōs we must performe and the promiser of the happinesse we may hope for be God himselfe who onely knoweth of himselfe what is sayd in matters of these natures who onely is neither liable to be deceived nor can deceive others as being the prime verity it selfe But because the weaknesse of our intellectuall nature is such whiles we remaine here in our earthly habitations imprisonned in our houses of clay as we cannot lift up our heavy and drousie eyes and steddily fixe our dimme fight upon the dazeling and indeed invisible Deity nor entertain an immediate communication with him like the children of Israel who desired that Moses not God might speak unto them it was necessary that God himselfe should descend to some corporal substance that might bee more familiar and lesse dazeling unto us And none was so convenient as humane nature to the end that he might not onely converse freely and familiarly with us and so in a gentle and a sweet manner teach us what wee should doe but also preach unto us by his example and himselfe bee our leader in the way that he instructed us to take The conclusion then of this discourse is that it was necessary Christ God and man should come into the world to teach us what to beleive and what to do 10. The tenth conclusion shall be that those unto whom Christ did immediatly preach this faith and unto whom he gave commission to preach it unto others and spread it through the world after hee ascended to heaven ought to be believed as firmly as hee himselfe The reason of this assertion is that their doctrin though it be delivered by secondary mouthes yet it proceedeth from the same fountain which is God himselfe that is the prime verity and cannot deceive nor be deceived But all the difficulty herein is to know who had this immediate commission from Christ by what seal we should discern it to have been no forged one The solution of this ariseth out of the same argument which proveth that Christ himself was God and that the doctrine he taught was true and divine which is the miracles and wonders he did exceeding the power of nature and that could be effected by none but by God himselfe for he being truth it selfe cannot by any action immediatly proceeding from him witnesse and confirm a falsehood In like manner the Apostles doing such admirable works and miracles as neither by nature nor by art magick could be brought to passe that must necessarily inferre God himselfe cooperated with them to justifie what they said it is evident that their doctrine which was not their own but received from Christ must bee true and Divine 11. The eleventh conclusion shall bee that this faith thus taught by Christ and propagated by the Apostles and necessary to mankind to believe as well that part of it which is written as the whole which is not dependeth intrinsecally upon the testimony of the Catholick Church which is ordained to conserve and deliver it from age to age By which Catholike Church I mean the congregation of the faithfull that is spread throughtout the whole world for we have proved before that the way to the true faith ought to bee open and plain to all men of all abilities and in all ages that have a desire to embrace it and this cannot be but either by the immediate preaching of Christ or else by the information either in writing or by word of mouth of them that learned it from him and their delivering it over to others and so from hand to hand untill any particular time you will pitch upon But from Christs own mouth none could have it but those who lived in the age when he did therefore there remaineth no other mens to have it derived down to after ages then by this delivery over from hand to hand of the whole congregation of fathers or elders dispersed throughout the world to the whole congregation of sonnes or youngers which course of deducing faith from Christ wee call tradition so that this conclusion proveth that the Church is the conserver both of the whole doctrine of faith necessary for salvation and likewise of the divine writ dictated by the Holy Ghost and written by the Prophets Evangelists and Apostles which we are also bound to believe And the same assent that we are to give to the truth of Scriptures that is to say that the Scriptures wee have are true Scriptures the very same we are to give to other articles of faith proposed unto us by the Church for they alike depend of the same authority which is the veracity of the Church proposing and delivering them unto

us to be beleived And we may as well doubt that the Church hath corrupted the Scriptures as that she hath corrupted any article of faith 12. The twelfth conclusion shall be that into the Catholike Church no false doctrine in any age can bee admitted or creep in that is to say no false proposition whatsoever can ever be received and imbraced by the Catholike Church as a proposition of faith For whatsoever the Church believeth as a proposition of faith is upon this ground that Christ taught it as such unto the Church hee planted himselfe and so left it in trust to bee by it delivered over to the next age And the reason why the present Church believeth any proposition to be of faith is because the immediate preceding Church of the age before delivered it as such And so you may drive it on from age to age untill you come to the Apostles and Christ Therefore to have any false proposition of faith admitted into the Church in any age doth Suppose that all they of that age must unanimously conspire to deceive their children and youngers telling them that they were taught by their fathers to believe as of faith some proposition which indeed they were not Which being impossible as it will evidently appear to any prudent person that shall reasonably ponder the matter that so many men spread throughout the whole world so different in their particular interests and ends and of such various dispositions and natures should all agree together in the forgery of any precise lye it is impossible that any false doctrine should creep into the Church But because the force of this argument may peradventure not appear at the first sight to your Ladyship that happily hath not had much occasion to make deep reflection upon the certainty that must needs be in the asseveration of any history of matter of fact subject to the sense which shall be made by a great company of men so distant from one another and of such different interests and affections as they cannot conspire together in the forgery of a falsehood But that you may happily think since any one man is lyable to bee deceived or out of some indirect end may be induced to deceive another it is also possible that a multitude of men be it never so great consisting of particular men may also deceive or bee deceived I will therefore for a further declaration of this matter propose for the thirteenth Conclusion that faith thus delivered is absolutely more certain and infallible then any natural science whatsoever And yet sciences are so certain I mean such as depend of experience and demonstration as he were not a rationall man that should refuse his assent unto them And consequently he would incurre the like censure that should not yeeld credence to faith in this manner proposed unto him In the proofe of this conclusion I must use two words appropriated to philosophy to wit matter and forme which is contrary to my intention at the first which was to abstain from all termes of artificial learning and make onely a familiar discourse that should require no precedent help of study but onely a clear and strong judgement such as yours is to weigh the strength of the reasons But I am the lesse scrupulous to avoid these words because I know your Ladyship understandeth what is meaned by them and they have often occurred in our discourses To come then to the examination of this conclusion I say that faith dependeth on these two propositions first that whatsoever God saith is true Next that God said this whatsoever it be that is delivered thus by the tradition of the Church For the former of these assertions there is no doubt made by any side since all agree that God being the prime verity whatsoever proceedeth immediately from him must necessarily be more infallible then any collections made from creatures either by experience or ratiocination of men The second assertion I shall also prove to be more infallible then any such collectiōs in this manner Among material things that are subject to time and place and are here in the sphere of contraries and of action and passion although the lawes that govern them are in the generall certaine else no science could be acquired of them yet in the particular they are subject to contingency and defection from those lawes which contingency doth proceed from the resistance of the matter and the contagion and leprosy if so I may say that the matter infecteth the forme withall which were it not for that would alwayes constantly worke the same effect in all occasions and according as the forme hath in particular more or lesse predominance over the matter the contingency and defect in them from the true nature of that body considered in his perfection is the greater or the lesser Let us illustrate this by an example According to the ordinary doctrine of Philosophers in the Schooles we collect by many particular experiences that the nature of fire proceeding from the forme of it is to ascend and of them we frame a generall doctrine that fire is the lightest of all the elements and that his naturall place is above them all yet we see that when the forme of fire is introduced into grosse and terrestriall matter it is wrested from his owne naturall inclination and is forced insteed of ascending then to descend as when wood iron earth coale and such other terrestriall matter is set on fire And it is more or lesse violented from his naturall place according as the subject it resideth in hath more or lesse power over it and is more or lesse materiall for it sheweth more of his levity and naturall propension to ascend when it setteth an oyly or ayery substance on fire and breaketh up in flames then when meeting with a more materiall terrestriall substance as wood it turneth it into a coale Now to apply this to our purpose I say that of all formes whatsoever that are joyned to matter the noblest and most elevated above the faeculency of matter is the soule of man for it is not onely the forme of the noblest materiall creature that is but besides that it is so full of efficacy as it evē overfloweth the capacity of matter which not being able to imbibe as I may say and take it up all it hath a particular subsistence belonging to its selfe from whence Philosophers prove the immortality of it Therefore we may safely conclude that mankind in the originall appetences and naturall desires of his soule is lesse subject to contingency and more secure from having his nature corrupted and perverted from his due course then any other materiall creature whatsoever is in the performance of those actions that proceed from the activity of his forme and so consequently being considered in generall proceedeth most certainly and infallibly to the pursuance thereof and it is impossible it should fall off from its owne nature and suffer that

to be extinguished in it although in some particulars by the immersion in matter and the terrene habitation it dwelleth in some soule may be drawne or rather wrested to a contrary byas unto that which originally nature implanted in it Now the primary originall naturall appetence of mans soule is the love of truth which it vehemently desireth and is alwayes unquiet and ardent in the search of it upon what occasion soever and is never appeased and at ease untill she have found it out which she no sooner hath done but the violence she was in is calmed she is contented and she setleth her selfe to repose as having arrived to her center and naturall place of rest wherein she continueth enjoying the purchase she hath made untill some new occasion of disquisition stir her up againe in which she useth the same industry and eagernesse as before And thus we plainly see that the acquisition of truth is that which the soule in every action naturlaly aymeth at as fire doth to ascend detesteth falsehood as flames suffer violence to be reverberated downewards Therefore although any particular man may have his senses or fantasie so depraved as to take imperfect and maymed impressions of outward objects or the powers of his understanding so weake as to make preposterous and disorderly collections out of them or his judgement so misguided by preoccupation of any affection or particular end as he may in himselfe be deceived and feed his soule with falsehood insteede of truth or else that finister respects and interests or sordide apprehensions of commodity to himselfe meeting with a soule so disposed and wrought upon by the sensuall passions tyrannising over it as to cause him to swallow those bayter may make him employ the faculties of his understanding and the powers of his soule contrary unto their naturall inclination to the maintaining of a lye and industriously to deceive others yet it is impossible that all mankind or such a multitude of men as containe in them all the variety of dispositions and affections incident to the nature of man and that are dispersed throughout the world so as they can have no communion together whereby they might infect one another nor can have finister ends common alike to them all which should invite them to conspire together to forge a falsehood it is impossible I say that such a company of men should so degenerate from their owne nature which is to love truth as they should of themselves invent a lye and that in so important a matter as faith is and concurre to deceive the world of men that should come after them in things of such nature as their deceipt must of necessity damne for all eternity both themselves and all them that shall receive that lye from them and take it upon their credit without which unanimous conspiracy of one whole age of men throughout all the world we proved in our last conclusion that no false proposition could be admitted into the Church as an article of faith In a word this generall defection of all mankind from truth is more impossible then that all one entire element or any primigeniall nature should absolutely perish or loose its original propriety as for all the fire in the world to be corrupted and forsake his heat levity so consequently to have no more fire in nature all which followeth of what is said above And thus I conceive I have made good the assertion that hath begotten all this discourse upon the thirteenth head which is that faith conserved in the Catholick Church and delivered by perpetuall succession and generall tradition is more certaine and more infallible then any naturall science whatsoever for naturall sciences being grounded upon the indefectibility of the natures of those things from whence those sciences are collected and faith depending upon the indefectibility of human nature which is infinitely more noble then they and whose forme is elevated beyond the reach of matter whereas theirs is comprehended and shutt up within the wombe of matter and which is indeed the end and period of all their natures and of all the whole materiall world it followeth of consequence that faith must be lesse subject to contingency and lesse liable to error then naturall sciences are And they being universall infallible and certaine faith must be so too and more if more may be But this is not enough our disquisition must not rest here We must not content our selves in this divine affaire and supernaturall doctrine with a certitude depending only upon naturall causes The wisdome of God proportioneth out congruent meanes to bring on every thing to their proper end and according to the nobility of the effect that he will have produced he ordaineth equivalent noble causes Therefore mans obtaining beatitude being the highest end that any creature can arrive unto and altogether supernaturall it requireth supernaturall causes to bring us to that end and a supernaturall infallibility to secure us in that journey We must not onely have a supernaturall way to travell in which is faith but also a supernaturall assurance of the right way unto the discovery of which all that we have already said doth necessarily conduce for Gods providence that disposeth all things sweetly will not in any generall affaire introduce into the material world any supernaturall effect untill the naturall causes be first disposed fittingly to cooperate on their partes and then he never faileth of his As for example when a naturall creature is to be produced into being the father and the mother must both concurre in contributing all that is in their power to the generation of a child and yet we are sure the soule to be produced hath no dependence of them yet notwithstanding without their precedentaction no new soule would be but when the matter is fittingly disposed in the mothers wombe he never misseth creating of a soule in that body which is not so able an effect and as much requiring the omnipotency of God as the creating of nothing all the materiall world and yet we may say that the matter when it is arrived to its last disposition for the reception of such a forme may in a manner claime that miraculous action depending of his omnipotency since for mankind he created the rest of the materiall world and therefore there ought to be as certaine and necessary causes for the productiō of man as there are for the production of other materiall things which we see doe seldome misse in any when the matter is fitly disposed for the reception of their severall formes And so in like manner we may rationally conclude that in this high and supernaturall businesse of delivering over from hand to hand a supernaturall doctrine to bring mankind to the end it was created for he will first have all the naturall causes fittingly disposed for the secure and infallible performance of that worke and then that he will adde and infuse into them some supernatural gift