Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	henry_n	king_n	spain_n	3,841	5	8.4366	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A15509	Christianity maintained. Or a discouery of sundry doctrines tending to the ouerthrovve of Christian religion: contayned in the answere to a booke entituled, mercy and truth, or, charity maintayned by Catholiques	Knott, Edward, 1582-1656.	1638 (1638)	STC 25775; ESTC S102198	45,884	90

I cannot perceiue some fallacy in my reasons against it or neuer hereafter open your mouth in defence of it I answere it seemes to me that your reasons are already sufficiently prooued to be fallacyes since from them either nothing can be deduced for your purpose or else you must acknowledge your selfe to haue no certainty that there is a God that vertue is to be imbraced or that Christian Fayth is euen probable 7. And yet I adde that you must in another respect also solue your owne obiections Remember these your words (zz) Pag. 36.37 Yet all This I say not as if I doubted that the spirit of God being implored by deuout and humble prayer and sincere obedience may and will by degrees aduance his seruants higher and giue them a certainty of adherence beyond their certainty of euidence And elswhere (a) Pag. 112. Gods spirit if he please may work more a certainty of adherence beyond certainty of euidence Now you cānot deny but that these men may be tempted against their Fayth by inuoluntary doubting that they may increase in it that they may commit some deliberat sinne and may make daily progresse in Charity and good workes euen by the greater increase of their Fayth and yet you graunt them a certainty of adherence beyond their certainty of euidence And so in this case your selfe must answere your owne arguments and confesse them to be but fallacies Euen your maine reason that Christian Fayth can be endued with no stronger certainty then the probable motiues on which it relyes by this selfe same instance is proued a Sopbisme For now you grant a certainty of Fayth not without probable arguments of credibility yet not for them it being more certaine then they are and therefore you are still put vpon a necessity of answering your owne arguments And whereas pag. 330. you make a shew of answering this particuler obiection really you do not answere but plainly contradict your self labouring to prooue that it is impossible that there should be a certainty of adherence beyond the certainty of euidence as the Reader may cleerly see and shall be demonstrated in due time 8. One thing more I must not let passe and it is That whereas you say We would fayne haue Christian Fayth belieued to be infallible that there might be some necessity of our Churches infallibility it seemes you are apt inough to yield infallibility to Gods Church if once it be granted that Christian Fayth is infallible And with good reason For seeing you teach that vniuersall Tradition and other arguments of credibility cannot produce an infallible beliefe of holy Scripture and of the mysteries belieued by Christians it must follow that some other infallible meanes must be found out for the propounding to vs the holy Scriptures which other infallible meanes euen according to your persuasion being not Scripture it selfe nor euery mans priuate spirit there remaynes only the authority of the Catholicke Church which as an instrument of the holy Ghost may be an infallible propounder both of Scripture and all diuine verities Wherein there is a large difference betweene the Church and other Iudges These in their sentences or determinations intend not to deliuer points of infallible Fayth as the Church must intend and do it if once it be granted that from her we must receiue holy Scriptures and belieue them with a certaine and infallible assent of Christian Fayth The second Doctrine Chap. 3. That the assurance which we haue of Scriptures is but morall CHAP. III. 1. THis man magnifies holy Scriptures in many places as the only thing on which he relyes his Saluation but whosoeuer shall walke along with him from place to place marke well his wayes will find that they lead to the quite contrary and shew that he neither doth value them to their right worth nor doth lay any other grounds but such as are more apt to breed disesteeme then esteeme of them This may be seene in that he teacheth (b) Pag. 141. 62. That our assurance that the Scripture hath been preserued from any materiall alteration and that any other booke of any profance writer is incorrupted is of the same kind and condition both morall assurances 2. If this may be allowed it must necessarily follow that the assurance which we haue of Scripture must in degree be much inferiour to the assurance which we haue of such bookes of prophane Authors as haue a more full testimony and tradition of all sorts of men to wit Atheists Pagans Iewes Turkes Christians wheras the bookes holy Scripture are either vnknowne or impugned by all except Christiās by some also who would beare of Christians and consequently the morall assurance of them and of the incorruptednesse of them is the much the lesse and of lesse morall credit And by so same reason whosoeuer builds vpō this mans groūds cannot haue so great assurance that there was a Iesus Christ that he had disciples and much lesse that he wrought wonderous things and lesse then this that those wonders were true miracles as that there was a Coesar Alexander Pompey c. or that they fought such battailes and the like For these things descend to vs by a more vniuersall tradition then the former (c) Pag. 116. Do not your selfe speake thus We haue as great reason to belieue there was such a man as Henry the Eight King of England as that Iesus Christ suffered vnder Pontius Pilate You should haue said we haue greater reason to belieue it if we consult humane inducements only and consequently if Christian Fayth be not absolutely infallible euen aboue the motiues of credibility we are more certaine that there was a King Henry then a Iesus Christ A thing which no true Christian can heare without detestation 3. That which followes out of the same 116. page is of the like nature laying a ground for vn wary people to reiect Scripture For hauing spoken of some barbarous Nations that belieued the doctrine of Christ and yet belieued not the Scripture to be the word of God (d) Pag. 116. for they neuer heard of it and Fayth comes by hearing you adde these words Neither doubt I but if the bookes of Scripture had byn proposed to them by the other parts of the Church where they had been before receiued and had been doubted of or euen reiected by th●se barbarous nations but still by the bare beliefe and practise of Christianity they might be saued God requiring of vs vnder paine of damnation only to belieue the verities therein contained and not the diuine authority of the bookes wherein they are contained 4. If this be granted why might not any Church haue reiected the Scriptures being proposed by other parts of the Church And why may not we do so at this day Nay seeing de facto we know the verities of Christian Fayth by Scripture only according to your doctrine we cannot be obliged to belieue the Scriptures

Catholique then from Catholique to Protestant then about againe to Catholique till at last he be come to that passe that it is hard to say What he is neyther Precisian nor Subscriber to the 39. Articles nor confessed Socinian nor right Christian according to the grounds which he hath layd If you will belieue himselfe for matters of Religion he is constant in nothing but in following that way to heauen which for the present seemes to him the most probable He followes that which at the present seemes most probable A poore comfort in matters of Fayth wherin errour is of so great consequence And yet this cold comfort is vpon the point of being lost for the probability is limited to the present 2. Would any man thinke that in matters of this nature and after so much profession that he is now satisfied he should (i) Pref. n. 2. professe himselfe still to haue a Trauellers indifferency most willing to be led by reason to any way or from it And accordingly to tell vs (k) Pref. n. 1. That had there been represented to his vnderstanding such Reasons for our Doctrine as would haue made our Religion more credible then the contrary certainly he should haue despised the shame of one more alteration with both armes and all his hart most readily haue imbraced it Such was the preparation which he brought to the reading of that Booke comming with such a mind to the reading of it as S. Austin before he was a setled Catholique brought to his conference with Faustus the Manichee Did S. Austin after he was a setled Catholicke come with the like disposition to conference with any Heretique or mis belieuer To what purpose then doth this man bring S. Austin here but to shew the difference betwixt the Fayth of one that is a Catholicke and of one that is not the difference I say in point of adhesion to his Fayth the Catholicke belieuing so assuredly that he may say with the Apostle If we or an Angell from heauen euangelize (l) Gal. 1. ● to you besides that which we haue euangelized to you be he Anathema Others not being able euer to be certaine of what they belieue because they build vpon grounds which by their owne confession are not certaine and infallible 3. In which respect also it may be iustly wondred with what sense this man taking vpon him to be a guide to others and to leade them a sofe way to heauen professeth himselfe not to be setled in his way and stil to haue not only a (m) Prof. n. 2. Trauellers but an Ignorant Trauellers Indifferency willing to be led to any way or from it because he knowes not whether he be right or wrong otherwise if he know himselfe to be right certainly it were not his part to be so willing to be led to any way or from it which giues me hope that no man of iudgment and timorous conscience will aduenture the eternall saluation of his soule vpon the writings or Doctrine of one who is so vnsetled whom he either knowes not where to find or how long to keep in any one opinion or profession to whom the words of S. Bernard (n) Ep. 193. concerning Petrus Abailardus who taught that Fayth was but opinion may be applyed Homo sibi dissimilis est totus ambiguus He is a man who disagrees euen from himselfe wholely composed of doubtings I leaue out his middle words intus Herodes foris Ioannes 4. One thing certainly people would be very glad to know that whereas he maintaines that his Alterations were the most satisfactory actions to himselfe (o) Pag. 303. that euer he did and the greatest victories that euer he obtained ouer himselfe Men I say would be glad to know vpon what new and great Motiues these most satisfactory actions greatest victoryes were ouer throwne againe and frequent changes grounded For his first being Catholicke we haue Motiues in writing vnder his owne hand and now in print But what new reasons mooued him to forsake vs this would people willingly know If he had no better reasons then be the answers to his owne Motiues I scarcely belieue that any iudicious Protestant will allow the alteration to haue been good diuers of them being against Protestants themselues and some repugnant to all Christianity as may be well seene by the effects which they haue wrought in him to wit so much vnsetlednesse in beliefe and Religion that he knowes not to this day what he would be at But we may well suppose that as he willingly leaues all men to their liberty prouided that they improue it not to a Tyranny ouer others so he reserues the like liberty to himselfe and is in fine resolued to belieue whatsoeuer for the present doth seeme most probable to him and so liuing in perpetuall Indifferency be an example to others to be constant in no profession which is as good as to be of no Religion The tenth Doctrine Prouides for the impunity preseruation of whatsoeuer damnable errour against Christian Fayth CHAP. XI 1. HE is no lesse prouidēt to conserue then industrious to beget Vnchristian errours Atheismes Suppose an Orthodoxe Belieuer fall first into damnable Heresies then to Turcisme or Iudaisme afterward to Paganisme and finally to Atheisme Let him freely speake his mind to the learned and vnlearned to high and low to the Laity and Clergy to all sorts of persons Let him haue swarmes of followers let Circumcision be reduced the Saturday obserued for Sunday with Iewes or Friday with the Turkes and in confirmation of these sacrileges let Bookes be written What remedy Must these things be tolerated in a Christian Common wealth or Kingdome with resentment of a Christian Prince in despite of Christian Prelates vnder the eyes of Christian Deuines in the midst of Christian people They must be suffered if we belieue this mans doctrine (p) Pag. 297. that no man ought to be punished for his opinions in Religion We are willing sayth he to leaue all men to their liberty prouided they will not improue it to a Tyrāny ouer others (q) Pag. 179. n. 81. a good meanes to preserue euery one in his liberty without feare of punishment And the contrary persuasion and practise what is it It well becomes them who haue their portions in this life who serue no higher state then that of England or Spayne or France who thinke of no other happinesse but the preseruation of their owne fortunes and tranquillity in this world who thinke of no other meanes to preserue States but human power Machiauillian Policy How daungerous to Church euen to State this pernicious errour is and what encouragement it giues for vnquiet persons to oppose Authority and how deepely it taxes England other Protestant Churches of Machiauillian Policy and to be men who haue their portions in this life who serue no higher State then that of England or Spayne or France who thinke