Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	church_n	faith_n	holy_a	1,059	5	4.7060	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66207	The false-prophets try'd by their fruits being a sermon preached at St. James's Westminister, November Vth 1699, in which it is shewn, that the principles, and practices, of the Church of Rome, with relation to those whom they call hereticks, are not only destructive of civil society, but are utterly irreconcileable with the gospel of Christ / by William Wake ...	Wake, William, 1657-1737.	1700 (1700)	Wing W246; ESTC R39410	20,598	38

permitted freely to judge and determine according to the Holy Scriptures must needs be of more Authority and probably may be more sure than what is resolved by Every single Christian apart Yet when all is done as every particular Person is to Answer to God for his Own Soul so he must Examine as far as He is Able both What He Believes and How He Practises and upon What Grounds he do's Both And not follow any Assembly tho' of never so much Seeming Authority contrary to that which is of much Greater Authority than any Humane Assembly whatsoever can be I mean The Word of God And it may as well be said that all the other Parts of Christian Piety delivered by our Saviour Mat. v vi vii in these Chapters belong not to Single Persons or to Ordinary Christians at all but only to the whole Church or at least to the Pastors and Governors of it as that this Command of taking heed of False Prophets and of Knowing them by their Fruits is the Business of Such only and not the duty of every Private Person But 3 dly and to conclude these General Reflections If such be the case that it is not only lawfull for but the Duty of every Christian to Search the Scriptures and to Examine what is Proposed to him and to satisfie himself Whether it be the true Doctrine of Christ or no Then it will follow farther That if upon such a Proof of what is tender'd to Us by any Person or Church whatsoever we should chance to be clearly and evidently convinced that they have departed Themselves and would draw away Us from the pure Faith of Christ deliver'd to Us in the Holy Scriptures it is our duty to take heed that we do not follow them in their Apostacy but resolve rather to forsake Them than to abandon that Gospel which both They and We are commanded to adhere unto That it is possible for Men either by Interest to be Corrupted by Prejudices to be byass'd or thro' Infirmity to be deceived and by any or all of these Means to fall away from the Purity of the Christian truth both the Condition of Humane Nature assures us and the very Caution of the Text do's evidently suppose That by a Careful Attention and diligent Enquiry into the Doctrine deliverd to Us in the Holy Scriptures we may be able to discover when they do so and to distinguish between Truth and Falsehood Right and Wrong as to these matters not only our Saviour's Command to do this but the plainness wherewith most of those things are delivered which make up the summ of what is necessary for us to Believe and Do in order to our salvation Effectually shew But then to what purpose should we trouble our selves to Search the Scriptures and to Understand our Religion and to know that we are dealt fraudulently with by our Guides in it if after all there is no Remedy But we must follow our Church and the Pastors of it whether they teach Us the true doctrine of Christ or whether they lead Us into Damnable Hereresies destructive of the very Fundamentals of it And yet how Confidently do some Men here also rise up against Us And tell Us that we must Believe them before our Own Reason nay and in effect before God Himself That 't is Schism and Heresie and I know not what besides to doubt of or differ with them in any thing that they require us to Believe And that much better were it for us to shut our eyes altogether and Go on blindfold under their Conduct than to follow the clearest Light that Scripture Reason or even Sense it self can Give us in Opposition to their Errors But let them assume what Authority they please to themselves and raise what Clamours they can against us When all is done this Conclusion will remain firm as Heaven and clear as any first principle of Science that if the Scriptures be Rom. xv 4. 2 Tim. iii. 16. 2 Pet. 1.19 as we all agree that they are the Word of God and were written for our Instruction then we must follow the Conduct of Them And hold fast to the Truth which they deliver tho' not only a Company of assuming Men calling Themselves the Church but upon what Grounds no body could ever learn and pretending to Infallibility in Despight of the Grossest Errors but the whole World should conspire together to Oppose Us in it And thus have I shewn you what that General Vse is that we ought all of Us to make of this Command of our Saviour to Beware of False-Prophets and to Know them by their Fruits I proceed 2 dly To that more particular Application which I proposed to make of it to the Subject of this Days Solemnity I shall not need to tell you that we are now met together to Bless God for those wonderful Deliverances which He has twice afforded Us of this Nation upon this very Day from the Designs of Those who are the professed Enemies of our Religion and who have never Ceased from the first Beginning of the Reformation among Us to do what in them lies to subvert That and to destroy Us upon the account of it But of all the measures that were Ever taken by them in order thereunto never was there any more Remarkable than that which was intended to have been Executed on this Day had not God by a miracle of his Providence discovered and disappointed it A Design it was so Black and Horrid that we find many among Themselves ashamed to own it And therefore They either altogether deny that there was ever any such Plot carried on by Those of their Communion Or else pretend Papists Apology p. 31. With the Answer Comp. p. 34. Calendar Catholicum An. 1662. 5 th Nov. Hen. Morus Soc. Jesu Provinciae Anglic. Hist. l. 7. Sect. 19 21. that it was onely a private attempt of a Few-Desperate Men of their Religion Censured and Condemn'd for it by all the Better and more sober Members of their Church And indeed far be it from me to charge the whole Body of our English Papists either with the knowledge of this Conspiracy heretofore or with the Approving of it since I am sensible that Several among them have not only declared their Abhorrence of the Design its self See Widdrington contr Suarez pag. 12. 153. but of the very Principles on which it was founded But yet when all is done Certain it is that both the Doctrine on which it was Established has been * Concil Lateran 3. Can. 27. Concil Lateran 4. Can. 3. Concil Lugd. 1. Lab. Tom. 11. Col. 640 c. Concil Constant Sess. 45. Mart. PP Bull c. p. 259. Tom. 12. Lab. See more below Confirm'd by those of the Highest Authority in the Roman Church And that their Greatest Men have not only given their Approbation to such Attempts † As Tesmond Gerrard who were Both concern'd in the

Whether with Respect to Faith or Manners to what we are to Believe or what we are to Do in obedience to his Gospel Or 2dly By their Fruits we may Understand the Efficacy of their Doctrine on the Minds and Consciences of those who are Guided by Them and the natural Tendency which it has either to promote that Piety which our Saviour came into the World to teach or to lead men into any Wickedness contrary thereunto These are the Fruits by which we may judge what the Prophet is who comes to us Whether He be indeed a True-Prophet and as such to be received by us Or whether He be only a Woolf in Sheeps-cloathing and of whom we are therefore to Beware And from all which we may now lay down these Three Rules as containing the summ of our Saviour's Advice to Us with relation to this Matter First That whosoever in Matters of Faith shall Preach any Doctrine contrary to Gal. i. 8. or otherwise different from that Doctrine which was taught by Christ to his Apostles and by them deliver'd to the Church and the Substance of which is fully and clearly contained in the Writings of the New Testament is a False Prophet and to be Avoided by Us as such Secondly That Whosoever Eph. v. 6. Coloss. ii 18. 1 Tim. iv 1 c. 2 Tim. iii. 5. c. in respect of Manners shall preach any Doctrines which are Inconsistent with the Piety of the Gospel Or otherwise apt to corrupt the Morality of it He do's also thereby shew himself to be a Deceiver and an Impostor and it is our Duty to Beware of Him as such Thirdly If such a Prophet shall deliver this False-Doctrine whether in the business of Faith or Manners not of his Own Motion but as Commission'd by some Church or Society of Men calling themselves a Church so to do Then that Church or Society of Men which do's Commission him must be look'd upon to be a Corrupt and Erroneus Church and be no less avoyded by Us than He who is so Sent or Commission'd by it And thus have I endeavour'd to give you a clear Account of the direction of our Blessed Saviour in the Words before Us I Go on now to the Use I proposed II. To make of this Caution 1 st In General as it respects All Those who shall at any time Pretend to be our Guides in Matters of Religion And 2 dly In particular As it may be in a more especial manner Applied to the Solemnity of this Day 1 st Of the General Use we are to make of this Caution As it respects All Those who shall at any time pretend to be our Guides in Matters of Religion And here 1 st If it be Our duty to Beware of False-Prophets and if the way of Discovering of them be To Know Them by their Fruits that is as I have now shewn by the Doctrine which They Teach and the Practises which They allow of then it must follow That it is not only lawful for Us but our Duty in Obedience to this Command to Examine the Doctrine which our Spiritual Guides propose to Us And to Compare it with that of Christ and his Apostles And either to receive them as true and lawfull Pastors if what they Teach be Agreeable thereunto Or else to reject them as False-Prophets if it shall appear to be Otherwise And indeed However some the better to maintain their usurped Authority over the Consciences of Men have set up another Method and told Us that the Prophet is to Give Credit and Authority to the Doctrine not the Doctrine to the Prophet And in consequence thereof have forbidden Men to Examine what is deliver'd by Them and made them Believe that it is sufficient that They have it from such hands as can neither mistake Themselves nor Mis-lead Others Yet not only our Reason directs us to a contrary Procedure but the Holy Scriptures themselves every where exhort Us to Examine what is proposed to Us And not take any thing at all Adventures in a matter of such Vast concern as it must needs be to Us to be Guided a-right in those things which regard the Glory of God and the Salvation of our Immortal Souls Hence it is that we are commanded sometimes Not to Believe every Spirit but to Try the Spirits whether they are of God Because many False-Prophets are gone out into the World Jo. iv 1. At other times to Search the Scriptures Jo. v. 39. And of Our selves to judge the things that are right Luke xii 57. And as for what concerns the Authority of any man or Company of Men to the contrary are told by St. Paul Gal. 1.9 That tho' They the Apostles of Christ Or an Angel from Heaven should preach any other Gospel unto Vs than that which We have received They should be Accursed And if an Angel from Heaven or an Apostle should he rise from the dead and preach to Us must not be received any farther than what He delivers shall appear to be agreeable to the Gospel of Christ much less ought We not either without all Examination to Receive or against the plain Authority of Holy Scripture to submit to the Pretensions of Designing Men Who the more they set up their Own Infallibility and decline the Tryal of God's Word the more ought they to be suspected by Us and the more narrowly to be enquired into that We be not deceived by them But 2 dly Since our Saviour deliver'd the Caution of the Text not to his Apostles only but to the whole Company of his Disciples Mat. v. 1. Luk. vi 17.20 to all Those who came to him and offer'd themselves to be Instructed by Him it will follow farther That this Right of Examining what is proposed to Us in Matters of Religion is not any special Privilege of the Pastors or Governours of the Church but is the Common Right and Duty of All Christians whatsoever Who as they are All concern'd to be secure in what they Believe and Practise in such Cases as these so are they All required in order thereunto 11 Thess. v. 21. 11 Jo. iv 1. to Beware of False Prophets and to Try them by their Fruits And this may serve yet farther to shew the little regard we are to give to their Pretences who tell Us that the Judgment of these Things belongs only to the Church that is as some of them interpret it to the Pope as successor of St. Peter and if we will believe them Head of the Church As others understand it to the Bishops and Chief Pastours of the Church And to Them not separately and alone but convened together into a Synod And that again not in any Particular Church but in the Catholick to Them or Their Deputies lawfully met together in a General Council For tho' it is not to be doubted but that what is fairly debated and orderly concluded upon in such an Assembly where it is fully Assembled and