Selected quad for the lemma: earth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	day_n	father_n	heaven_n	6,178	5	5.3533	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66150	A defence of the exposition of the doctrine of the Church of England against the exceptions of Monsieur de Meaux, late Bishop of Condom, and his vindicator : the contents are in the next leaf.	Wake, William, 1657-1737.	1686 (1686)	Wing W236; ESTC R524	126,770	228

so then the Vindicator himself allows Vind. p. 102. 2dly That a Particular Church may either by Error lose or by other means prevaricate the Faith even in the necessary points of it Indeed that promise of our Saviour Matt. 16.18 That the gates of Hell should not prevail against his Church seems on all hands acknowledged to refer to his whole Church not to any one particular Branch or Portion And therefore tho' the particular Church of Rome should have fallen into gross Errors both in matters of Faith and Practice yet the Catholick Church of Christ may still as to other of its members retain so much Truth and Purity as to keep it from falling away or being guilty of an intire Infidelity And then for the 3d. Exception The allowing any other Particular Church to examine and judg of the Decisions of this Church of Rome If She her self be but a particular Church and has no more Command or Jurisdiction over the Faith of other Churches than they have over hers then every other National Church is as much impow'red to judg for her self as She is and has an equal right to examine her Decisions as those of other Churches and may either receive or reject what by Gods Grace directing her She Judges to agree or disagree with his Holy Word Nor do's one Branch of Christ's Church in this respect invade the Prerogative of another since they do herein only follow the Apostles Rule in trying all things and holding fast that which is good But the 4th Exception he says Vind. p. 102. is yet more intollerable than all the rest That it should be left to every individual Person not only to examine the Decisions of the whole Church but also to glory in opposing them if he be but evidently convinced that his own belief is founded upon the undoubted Authority of God's Holy Word Ibid. p. 103. This he says is a Doctrine which if admitted will maintain all Dissenters that are or can be from a Church and establish as many Religions as there are Persons in the World These indeed are very ill Consequences but such as do not directly follow from this Doctrine as laid down in my Exposition For 1st I allow of this Dissent or Opposition only in necessary Articles of Faith where it is every Mans concern and duty both to judg for himself and to make as sound and sincere a Judgment as he is able And 2dly As I take the Holy Scriptures for the Rule according to which this Judgment is to be made so do I suppose these Scriptures to be so clearly written as to what concerns those necessary Articles that it can hardly happen that any one man any serious and impartial Enquirer should be found opposite to the whole Church in his Opinion Now these two things being supposed that in matters of Faith a man is to judg for himself and that the Scriptures are a clear and sufficient rule for him to judg by it will plainly follow That if a man be evidently convinced upon the best Enquiry he can make that his particular Belief is founded upon the Word of God and that of the Church is not he is obliged to support and adhere to his own belief in Opposition to that of the Church And the Reason of this must be very evident to all those who own not the Church but the Scriptures to be the ultimate rule and guide of their Faith For if this be so then individual Persons as well as Churches must judg of their Faith according to what they find in Scripture And tho it be highly useful to them to be assisted in the making of this Judgment by that Church of which they are Members yet if after this Instruction they are still evidently convinced that there is a disagreement in any necessary point of Faith between the Voice of the Church and that of the Scripture they must stick to the latter rather than the former they must follow the superior not inferior Guide And however this method may through the Ignorance or Malice of some men be liable to some Abuse yet certainly in the main it is most Just and Reasonable and most agreeable to the Constitutions of the Church of England which do's not take upon her to be Absolute Mistress of the Faith of her Members See Article 20. but allows a higher Place and Authority to the guidance of the Holy Scripture than to that of her own Decisions As to the Authority by which I back'd this Assertion viz. that of St. Athanasius tho' it is not doubted but that that Expression of his being against the whole World and the whole World against him did refer chiefly to the Eastern Bishops and was not so literally true as to those of the West yet if we consider what compliances there were even of the Western Bishops at Ariminum and Sirmium and how Pope Liberius himself tho' he refused to subscribe the form of Faith sent to him from Ariminum and was for that reason deposed from his Bishoprick and banished out of Italy yet afterwards when the Emperor Constantius sent for him to Sirmium and required his assent to a form of Faith in which the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was purposely omitted Sozomen Eccl. Hist lib. 4. cap. 15. he yielded thus far and was thereupon restored to his Bishoprick I say if we consider these and the like Particulars related by the Church Historians we shall have little reason to believe that the Western Bishops or even the Pope himself did throughly adhere to the Faith of St. Athanasius and therefore that neither was He or I much in the wrong in affirming That he stood up in defence of Christs Divinity when the Pope the Councils and almost the whole Church fell away ARTICLE XXVI Of the Authority of the Holy See and of Episcopacy IN this Article the Vindicator is pleased to declare that he has nothing to say against the Opinion of the Church of England Vindic. p. 106. only he thinks fit to advise me to enquire What that Authority is which the Ancient Councils of the Primitive Church have acknowledged and the holy Fathers have always taught the faithful to give the Pope Indeed a very little inquiry will serve the turn to let a man see that their Pope do's at this day lay claim to a great deal more than those Councils or Fathers did ever allow him And we should be glad he would direct us to those places either in the first Councils or the Primitive Fathers where the Pope is stiled the Vniversal Bishop or the Supreme Head on Earth of the whole Christian Church where it is said That he is Christs immediate Vicar and that all other Bishops must derive their Authority from him These are things which he do's now pretend to but we can find no Footsteps of them in the first Councils or Fathers of the Church On the contrary we find innumerable passages which

strong for our Reformation than this one thing That the wisest and best men of the Roman Church esteem it the greatest honour and advantage they can do to their Religion to represent it as like ours as is possible and that their strongest argument to make Proselytes is this That were things but rightly understood there is but very little or no difference at all betwixt us And would to God indeed this were truly so that these differences were not only as small as they pretend but wholly taken away With what joy should we embrace the happy return of so many of our lost Brethren into the Arms of their Mother How should we go forth with the highest transports to welcome them into our Communion And celebrate the joyful festival on Earth which would create an Exultation even among the blessed Angels and Saints in Heaven And why shall we not hope that this in time shall be the issue The good work is already begun The Errors are many of them discover'd and what is more disavow'd And wherefore should we then distrust the Mercy of Heaven to hear our Prayers which we never make with more real zeal and fervour than in their behalf to shew them the Truth and open their Eyes to a perfect Conviction Till this be accomplish'd Let us who by God's Grace are already Members of the Church of England that is of the best reform'd and best establish'd Church in the Christian World so seriously weigh these things as not only to stand stedfast in that Faith which has been delivered to us but to use our utmost endeavours to convince others also of the Excellence of it Let not any fond pretences of Antiquity or Possession amuse us Vindic. p. 112 c. Against God and Truth there lies no prescription nor ought we to be at all concern'd to forsake Errors tho' never so Ancient for more Ancient Truths Let no prospect or temptation whether of worldly evils on the one hand or worldly advantages on the other draw us from our stedfastness 1 Cor. 10.13 God is faithful who will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able Matt. 10.33 And he who for any of these things denies Christ or his Religion on Earth shall be denied by Christ before his Father which is in Heaven But let us be firm and sincere to God and our own Souls careful to search out and ready to embrace the Truth whereever we find it So shall our lives be Orthodox tho' perhaps our faith should not and if in any thing we do err for we pretend not to Infallibility nor is it therefore impossible for us to be mistaken yet at least we shall not be HERETICKS FINIS APPENDIX Containing a COLLECTION Of the following PIECES I. The Extract of a Letter written from Paris concerning Monsieur de Meaux's Pastoral Letter II. An Extract of Father Crasset 's Doctrine concerning the Worship which the Roman Church allows to the Blessed Virgin III. Cardinal Bona 's Exposition and Practice of the same IV. Monsieur Imbert 's Letter to Monsieur de Meaux proving that his Persecution was truly for maintaining the Doctrine of that Bishop's Exposition V. The Epistle of St. Chrysostome to Caesarius suppress'd by some of the Doctors of the Sorbonne for being contrary to the Roman Canon of Transubstantiation VI. A Catalogue of the Editions made use of by me in my Quotations to prevent if it may be all future Calumnies LONDON Printed MDCLXXXVI ADVERTISEMENT THE following Pieces have so near a relation to the present Controversie and are in themselves of so great a Moment that if their length deny'd them a place in the Work it self their Importance hath made it necessary not to omit them here I have prefix'd to every one of them such particular Accounts as may serve to satisfie the Reader 's Curiosity concerning them and shall I hope be a sufficient Apology for me that I have so largely insisted upon them APPENDIX NUM I. The Extract of a Letter written from Paris concerning Monsieur de Meaux 's Pastoral Letter TO shew that Monsieur de Meaux does not always so write at first as not to stand in need of any Correction afterwards I will beg leave to subjoyn the Extract of a Letter dated from Paris concerning his late Pastoral Letter which 't is there said he is about to change somewhat in whether only for the better advantage of the Method and greater neatness of Stile as in his Exposition we shall be better able hereafter to judge It is in the last Nouvelle Juin 1686. Pag. 736 737. ON ecrit de Paris que M. de Meaux retranchera de la 2 Edition de sa Lettre Pastorale l'endroit où il dit aux nouveaux Catholiques de son Dioceze Qu' ils n'ont point souffert de Violence en leurs Biens ni en leurs Personnes qu'il a oui dire la même chose aux autres Eveques Je ne sçaurois dire precisement si ce sont ces propres mots car je n'ay point veû cette Lettre Pastorale je sçai seulement que c'est ce qu'on ecrit de Paris Ce Prelat a eu en vûe dans sa Lettre de preparer à la Communion Paschale ces nouveaux Diocezains Je ne sçai pas ce qu'ils ont fait mais ailleurs quand on a presenti les Convertis on leur a trouvé si peu de disposition à communier à Pâques qu'on n'a pas jugé à propos de pousser l'affair Dans la dernier Fête-Dieu plusieurs ont mieux aimé payer une Amende que de tendre devant leurs Maisons Apres cela il est apparent que M. de Meaux retranchera l'endroit ci-dessus marqué que les Gens d'honneur se plaindront in petto de ce qu'on se tue de leur soutenir que les Huguenots ont signé le Formulaire le plus volontairement du monde Bien entendu que ces gens d'honneur n'auront pas le tour d'Esprit de Conscience du quel nous avons parlé ci-dessus pag. 471. They write from Paris that Monsieur de Meaux will retrench in the second Edition of his Pastoral Letter the place where he tells the new Converts of his Diocess That they have not suffer'd any Violence either in their Goods or in their Persons and that he heard the other Bishops say the same I cannot say precisely whether these were his very words having neber seen his Pastoral Letter I only know this that thus they write from Paris The design of this Prelate in his Letter was to prepare his new Diocesans to communicate at Easter What they did I cannot tell but in other parts when they presented the Converts in order to receive it they found them so little disposed to communicate at Easter that they have not thought fit to force them to it Upon Corpus Christi day last many of them chose rather