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	great_a	know_v	1,117	5	3.7969	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59812	A discourse concerning a judge of controversies in matters of religion being an answer to some papers asserting the necessity of such a judge : with an address to wavering protestants, shewing what little reason they have to think of any change of their religion : written for the private satisfaction of some scrupulous persons, and now published for common use : with a preface concerning the nature of certainty and infallibility.	Sherlock, William, 1641?-1707.	1686 (1686)	Wing S3285; ESTC R8167	73,491	104

wholly reject it or set up a Judge of Controversies and in my Opinion the Infidel seems to have the better of it for it is a natural and immediate consequence not to believe what we are not certain of but I can see no connexion in the World between the want of Certainty and the necessity of an infallible Judge something to be sure must come between to unite them together and the least we can think of is this That it is necessary we should be certain in matters of Religion and that there is no way to make us certain but an infallible Judge and therefore since there is no certainty in Religion without such a Judge we must grant that there is one But now if this be granted that there wants Evidence to make Christianity certain how do they prove that it is necessary we should be certain of it Which signifies that it is necessary we should be certain of that which is not certain and methinks it wants a little proof too that a Judge of Controversies is the only possible way to make men certain I would advise all Papists not to press this Argument of the uncertainty of Religion too far lest when they come to consider it throughly it make them Infidels But if men will be but reasonable what greater certainty can they desire than we have The Revelation of the Will of God contained in a plain and intelligible Writing which all honest and diligent Inquirers at least with the help of a Guide may understand in all things necessary to Salvation the promise of the Divine Spirit to enlighten our Minds to understand the Scriptures and to perswade us of the reason and certainty of our Faith and the Mercies of God to pardon involuntary Mistakes Secondly The next Pretence for an Infallible Judge is Unity For we see by sad Experience that while every man judges for himself the Christian Church is divided into Sects and Parties who first differ in their judgment of things and then separate from each others Communion and thus it necessarily must and will be till all submit to one Sovereign Authority and unite in one Visible Head And therefore since it is evident that Christ intended that all his Disciples should live in Unity with each other which he so strictly enjoyns and so passionately recommends we must conclude That he has appointed some effectual means to end all Controversies and to unite them in one Communion which can be no other than an Infallible and Governing Head Now in Answer to this I considēr 1. That a Supreme visible Head as suppose the Pope of Rome is not necessary and essential to the Unity of the Church for if all Christian Churches lived in Communion with each other they would be one Church though they were all equal without owning the Supremacy of one over the rest And therefore that Christ instituted but one Church and requires all the several parts of it to live in Communion with each other does not prove the necessity of one Visible Head because they may be one without such a Head and it is easie to prove that this is all the Unity Christ intended but of this in Answer to the following Papers 2. Though Christ has made Unity necessary with the necessity of Duty it does not hence follow that he has appointed infallible and necessary means of Unity I suppose all men will grant that Christ has made Holiness as necessary as Unity and yet he has appointed no necessary and infallible Means to keep men from Sin but we see the state of the Church suffers as much by the Wickedness as by the Divisions of her Members Unity is a necessary Duty and so is Holiness but the practice of both is the Object of our own choice and liberty and if the Commands and Exhortations of the Gospel and the hopes and fears of another World with the assistances of the Divine Grace will not make men do their Duty I know of nothing else that can and I do not see how Christ is more concerned for the Unity than for the Holiness of his Church 3. For Thirdly I think it a great Mistake to attribute all diversities of Opinions to want of Evidence and all Divisions to diversities of Opinions for it is plain that the Lusts and Interests of men have a great hand in both or else both Heresies and Schisms are more innocent things than I took them to be All the World cannot preserve men who have any Interest to serve by it from being Hereticks for Interest will make men teach Heresies without believing them or believe them without reason and Interest and Faction will divide the Church where the Faith is the same of which the Donatists of old are a sad Example And there is a present and sensible Example of this which the Romanists must own and yet if they own it it utterly destroys all their Pretences to Infallibility and Supremacy as such certain and infallible Remedies for Heresie and Schism For they must say as they do That Christ has vested St. Peter and his Successors the Popes of Rome with the Supremacy of the Church here then is their infallible Cure of Schism How then come all those Schisms that are in the Church For there are a good number of them notwithstanding the Popes Supremacy and some more for that Reason Has not Christ appointed an Head of Unity Yes but other Bishops and Churches won't submit to him How not to Christs Vicar How comes this to pass Why they dispute his Authority And has not Christ plainly given him this Authority Yes but they won't see it But is this inculpable Ignorance or Pride and Faction If the first then they must grant there wants certain Evidence for this infallible Head and this they must not say if the second then the Vices of men will make the Institution of a Supreme Head as ineffectual to prevent Schisms as the Commands of our Saviour are and it argues a good degree of Assurance in the Church of Rome to pretend the necessity of an infallible Head and Judge of Controversies to prevent Heresies and Schisms when though they say That Christ has appointed such a Head and Judge yet the Experience of the World for Sixteen hundred years tells us That there are never the fewer Heresies nor Schisms for it by which it appears That this is not an infallible Remedy against them Well! but it would be so if all men would submit to the Authority of this infallible Judge Very right and so any other way would do in which all men would agree for then I guess they would be all of a mind but this gives no advantage to an infallible Judge above any other means of Union and therefore the necessity of Unity does not prove the necessity of an infallible Judge For if the Romanists be in the right that Christ did appoint such a Judge and such a Judge be such an infallible Means of Unity

be the meaning of some particular Phrases in this obscure Text so much is very plain in it that men who build hay and stubble upon the Foundation i. e. who believe in Christ though with a mixture of many vain and hurtful Superstitions shall yet if their lives be holy and vertuous be saved by the Faith of Christ though with some loss and hazard which makes the case of honest men who live in very corrupt Communions not perfectly hopeless And in this sense it is that we grant That Salvation may be had in the Church of Rome though this is no reason for any man to choose the Communion of a corrupt Church because there is a possibility of Salvation in it However this shews what a great mistake this Paper is guilty of where it is said That the best Christians in the Church of Rome which believe such damnable Doctrines can be saved only by Ignorance which most Protestant Divines believe the Pagans themselves may be For though invincible Ignorance is an equal excuse for Pagans and Christians yet when this excuse is allowed Pagans have not such a right to Salvation as Christians have Ignorance may excuse but cannot save It is only Faith in Christ saves us which corrupt Christians have and Pagans have not which is an essential difference Secondly Suppose the Errors of the Church were not damnable why might not the Church of England reform such Errors as are not damnable Suppose they only obscure the Glory of Christ's Mediation and are dangerous temptations to sin or hinder the Edification of the Church or betray men to false Notions of God and of Religion though they are not in themselves damnable why may not such Errors as these be reformed If the Church of Rome were convinced that she were guilty of such Errors ought she not to reform her self And is not every Church in duty bound to preserve her Faith and Worship as pure and uncorrupt as she can And why then is not the Church of England bound to do so If indeed the Church of Rome had a Supream Power over the Church of England that nothing could be done without her Approbation and Order then we would grant that in case of tolerable Errors such a dependent Church could not reform it self without the consent of its Superiour as no private Christian can reform the Church wherein he lives without the consent of the Governours of it But we say that every National Church has the Supream Independent Power within herself and therefore may correct any abuses and corruptions which are crept into her Communion without asking leave of the Bishop of Rome or any other Church in the World and this justifies the Reformation of the Church of England if she reformed nothing but what was erroneous though the Errors were not damnable for all Errors ought to be reformed when they are known if the Reformers have just Authority to do it and such Errors as are damnable will justifie any man to reform himself and all that he can convince of such Errors for every man has Authority to save his Soul Thirdly If the Church of Rome be guilty of damnable Errors how does Christ perform his Promise to his Church That the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it Now the difficulty of this Objection consists only in the sound of those Phrases The Gates of Hell by which some understand That the Devil shall never be able to corrupt the Faith of the Church for if he can do that then say they he prevails against the Church But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie only Destruction for Hades is properly the state of Dead men who are laid under-ground and appear no more in this World and therefore when our Saviour promises That the Gates of Hades shall not prevail against his Church the meaning is that there shall always be a Church in the World professing that Faith which here Peter had professed and whereon Christ promised to build his Church viz. That Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God And such a Church there has been in the World ever since and the Church of Rome it self notwithstanding all the Corruptions that are in it is such a Church But that the Church may be over-run with great and damning Errors is evident from St. Paul's Prediction of the Apostacy of the later days When the Man of Sin shall be revealed the Son of Perdition who as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God 2 Thess. 2. 3 4. For whosoever this Man of Sin is he sits in the Temple of God that is in the true Church of Christ and while the Man of Sin sits in the Church we need not doubt but he brings some damning Errors with him and yet it is the Temple of God even when the Man of Sin sits there Fourthly As for the last thing mentioned it is sufficiently known that there were a great many Christian Churches in the World at the time of the Reformation who did not own the Usurpations of the Church of Rome and though they might have Errors of their own yet not of such fatal consequence But if all the Christian World had been equally corrupted at that time it had been the same thing to us for Corruptions ought to be reformed and we had Authority to reform our selves And as for joyning in Communion with other pure Churches we do so we own all pure Churches nay are ready to communicate with Churches which have some Corruptions in their Constitution if they be tolerable and do not render their Communion sinful which is all the Obligation we have to communicate with any Church For if by Communion they mean that we should have put our selves under the Government and Authority of any other Church which is the Sense of Communion in the Church of Rome which thinks no Church in Communion with her without submitting to her Authority we beg their pardon for that we will communicate with other Churches as Friends and Equals and Brethren but not as Subjects Secondly The next Argument for a visible Judge which the Paper insists on is That without such a Judge we cannot know that every particular Book of Scripture is Canonical And here are a great many Objections started against the Authority and certainty of the Canon which much more become Scepticks and Infidels than Christians of any Communion I do not think them worth transcribing for this Argument may be answered without answering these Objections which the Church of Rome is as much concerned to answer as we For those who originally made these Objections will not be put off with the Authority of a Judge without a rational Solution of these Difficulties and those who grant that there is no other Answer can be given to them but to resolve the credit of the Canon into the Authority of a Judge without any other Reason give up the Cause of Christianity to Infidels who despise the vain