Selected quad for the lemma: judgement_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
judgement_n	authority_n	holy_a	scripture_n	1,551	5	5.6936	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62570	Of sincerity and constancy in the faith and profession of the true religion, in several sermons by the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson ... ; published from the originals, by Ralph Barker. ...	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.; Barker, Ralph, 1648-1708.	1695 (1695)	Wing T1204; ESTC R17209	175,121	492

of the Rule of Faith I know that the Council of Trent declares it for the Rule they intend to proceed upon and make use of for the Confirmation and Proof of their following Determinations and Decrees But did any of the ancient Councils of the Christian Church lay down this Rule and proceed upon it Did not Constantine the Emperour at the opening of the First General Council lay the Bible before them as the only Rule according to which they were to proceed and this with the Approbation of all those Holy Fathers that were assembled in that Council And did not following Councils proceed upon the same Rule Do any of the ancient Fathers ever mention any Rule of Christian Faith and Practice besides the Holy Scriptures and the ancient Creed which because it is an Abridgment of the necessary Articles of Christian Faith contained in the Holy Scriptures is by them frequently called the Rule of Faith Do not the same Fathers frequently and expresly say That the Scriptures are a perfect Rule and that all things are plainly contained in them which concern Faith and Life and that whatever cannot be proved by Testimony of Scripture is to be rejected All this I am sure I can make good by innumerable express Testimonies of the ancient Fathers which are well known to those that are versed in them By what Authority then hath the Council of Trent set up this new Rule unknown to the Christian Church for 1500 Years and who gave them this Authority The plain truth is the necessity of it for the Defence of the Errors and Corruptions which they had embraced and were resolved not to part with forced them to lengthen out the Rule the old Rule of the Holy Scriptures being too short for their purpose Thirdly Whereas they pretend that Holy Scripture as expounded by a private Spirit may not seem so favourable to some of their Doctrines and Practices yet as interpreted by Tradition which can only give the true Sense of Scripture it agrees very well with them I suppose they mean that whereas a private Spirit would be apt to understand some Texts of Scripture as if People were to search and read the Scripture Tradition interprets those Texts in a quite other Sense that People are not to be permitted to read the Holy Scriptures A private Spirit would be apt to understand St. Paul's Discourse in the 14th of the 1st to the Corinthians to be against Celebrating Prayer and the Service of God in an unknown Tongue as being contrary to Edification and indeed to common Sense For he says If one should come and find them speaking and praying in an unknown Tongue will they not say Ye are mad But now Tradition which only knows how to give the true Sense can reconcile this Discourse of St. Paul very easily with the Practice of the Church of Rome in this matter And so likewise the Epistle of St. Paul to the Colossians with the Worship of Angels and the Epistle to the Hebrews with offering the Propitiatory Sacrifice of Christ in the Mass a Thousand times every Day And to give but one Instance more Whereas a Man by his private Spirit would be very apt to understand the Second Commandment to forbid all Worship of Images Tradition discovers the meaning of this Commandment to be that due Veneration is to be given to them So that at this rate of interpreting Scripture by Tradition it is impossible to fix any Objection from Scripture upon any Doctrine or Practice which they have a mind to maintain Fourthly Whereas they pretend the Tradition of their Church delivered from the Mouth of Christ or dictated by the Holy Spirit and brought down to them and preserved by continnal Succession in the Church to be of equal Authority with the Word of God for so the Council of Trent says That the Holy Synod doth receive and venerate these Traditions with equal pious Affection and Reverence as they do the written Word of God This we must declare against as unreasonable in it self to make Tradition conveyed by Word of Mouth from one to another through so many Ages and liable to so many Mistakes and Miscarriages to be at the distance of 1500 Years of equal Certainty and Authority with the Holy Scriptures carefully preserved and transmitted down to us because this as I said before is to make common Rumor and Report of equal Authority and Certainty with a written Record And not only so but hereby they make the Scriptures an imperfect Rule contrary to the declared Judgment of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Christian Church and so in truth they set up a new Rule of Faith whereby they change the Christian Religion For a new Rule of Faith and Religion makes a new Faith and Religion This we charge the Church of Rome with and do challenge them to shew this new Rule of Faith before the Council of Trent and consequently where their Religion was before that Council to shew a Religion consisting of all those Articles which are defined by the Council of Trent as necessary to Salvation and established upon this new Rule professed by any Christian Church in the World before that time And as they have pitch'd upon a new Rule of Faith so it is easie to see to what End For take Pope Pius IV. his Creed and we may see where the Old and New Religion parts even at the end of the Twelve Articles of the Aplostles Creed which was the ancient Christian Faith to which are added in Pope Pius his Creed Twelve Articles more defined in the Council of Trent and supported only by Tradition So that as the Scripture answers for the Twelve old Articles which are plainly contained there so Tradition is to answer for the Twelve new ones And therefore the matter was calculated very exactly when they make Tradition just of equal Authority with the Scriptures because as many Articles of Their Faith were to be made good by it and rely upon it as those which are proved by the Authority of Scripture But that Tradition is of equal Authority with the Scriptures we have nothing in the whole World for it but the bare Assertion of the Council of Trent I should now have added some other Considerations tending to confirm and establish us in our Religion against the Pretences and Insinuations of Seducing Spirits But I shall proceed no farther at present The Tenth Sermon as number'd follows THere is a mistake in Numbering of these Sermons The Tenth should be called the Ninth and so on to the end For there are but Fifteen Sermons in this Volume and should be no more A SERMON HEB. X. 23. Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering for he is faithful that hath promised THESE words contain an Exhortation to hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering and an Argument or Encouragement thereto because he is faithful that hath promised By the Exhortation to hold fast the

to them But let us enquire a little farther and see how the Apostles who received this Precept from our Saviour himself did understand it Acts 4. 14. we find Peter and John summoned before the Jewish Magistrates who strictly commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the Name of Jesus But Peter and John answered and said unto them Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God judge ye And when they still persisted in their course notwithstanding the Command of the Magistrate and were called again before the Council Ch. 5. 28. And the High Priest asked them saying Did we not straitly command you that you should not teach in this Name and behold ye have filled Jerusalem with your Doctrine They return them again the same Answer v. 29. Then Peter and the other Apostles answered and said We ought to obey God rather than men And let any Man now judge whether our Saviour did not oblige Men to confess him even before Magistrates and to obey him rather than Men. And indeed how can any Man in reason think that the great King and Governour of the World should invest any Man with a Power to control his Authority and to oblige Men to disobey and renounce him by whom Kings reign and Princes decree judgment This is a thing so unreasonable that it can hardly be imagined that any thing but down-right Malice against God and Religion could prompt any Man to advance such an Assertion I should now have proceeded to the Fourth and Last Particular which I proposed to speak to namely To vindicate the reasonableness of this Precept of Self-denial and Suffering for Christ which at first Appearance may seem to be so very harsh and difficult But this together with the Application of this Discourse shall be reserved to another Oportunity A SERMON ON MATTH XVI 24. Then said Jesus unto his Disciples If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me THEN said Jesus unto his Disciples that is upon Occasion of his former Discourse with them concerning his approaching Passion and that he must shortly go up to Jerusalem and there suffer many things of the Elders and Chief Priests and Scribes and at last be put to Death by them Then said Jesus unto his Disciples If any man will come after me that is If any Man will be my Disciple and undertake the Profession of my Religion he must do it upon these Terms of Self-denial and Suffering In the handling of these Words I proceeded in this Method First I considered the way which our Saviour here useth in making Proselytes and gaining Men over to his Religion He offers no manner of Force and Violence to compel Men to the Profession of it but fairly proposeth it to their Consideration and Choice telling them plainly upon what Terms they must be his Disciples if they like them and be resolved to submit to them well if not 't is in vain to follow him any longer for they cannot be his Disciples And to use any other way than this to gain Men over to Religion is contrary both to the Nature of Man who is a Reasonable Creature and to the Nature of Religion which if it be not our Free Choice cannot be Religion Secondly I explained his Duty or Precept of Self-denial express'd in these Words Let him deny himself and take up his Cross which Phrase of taking up one's Cross is an Allusion to the Roman Custom which was That the Malefactor that was to be Crucified was to take up his Cross upon his Shoulders and to carry it to the Place of Execution Now for our clearer understanding of this Precept of Self-denial I told you that it is not to be extended to every thing that may properly be call'd by that Name but to be limited by the plain Scope and Intendment of our Saviour's Discourse and therefore I did in the First Place remove several things which are instanced in by some as intended and required by this Precept As 1. That we should deny and renounce our own Sense in matters of Faith But this I shewed to be absurd and impossible because if we do not believe what we see or will believe contrary to what we see we destroy all Certainty there being no greater than that of Sense Besides that the Evidence of Faith being less clear and certain than that of Sense it is contrary to the Nature of Assent which is always sway'd and born down by the greatest and clearest Evidence So that we cannot assent to any thing in plain Contradiction to the Evidence of Sense 2. Others would comprehend under this Precept the denying of our Reason in matters of Faith which is in the next degree of Absurdity to the other because no Man can believe any thing but upon some Reason or other and to believe without any Reason or against Reason is to make Faith unreasonable and Infidelity reasonable 3. Others pretend that by virtue of this Precept Men ought to be content to renounce their own Eternal Happiness and to be Miserable for Ever for the Glory of God and the Salvation of their Brethren But this I shewed cannot be a Duty for this plain Reason because if it were there is no Argument left powerful enough to perswade a Man to it And as for the two Scripture Instances alledged to this purpose Moses his Wish of being blotted out of the Book of Life for the People of Israel signifies no more than a Temporal Death and St. Paul's of being accursed from Christ for his Brethren is only an hyperbolical Expression of his great Passion and Zeal for the Salvation of his Country-men as is evident from the Form of the Expression such as is commonly used to usher in an Hyperbole I could wish And in the Second Place I shewed positively That the plain meaning of this Precept of Self-denial is this and nothing but this That we should be willing to part with all our Temporal Interests and Enjoyments and even Life it self for the sake of Christ and his Religion This is to deny our selves And then that we should be willing to bear any temporal Inconvenience and Suffering upon the same Account This is to take up our Cross. And this I shewed from the Instances which our Saviour gives of Self-denial whenever he had occasion to discourse of it Thirdly I considered the strict and indispensable Obligation of this Precept of Self-denial rather than to forsake Christ and his Religion Without this Disposition and Resolution of Mind we cannot be his Disciples And if we deny him before Men he will also deny us before his Father which is in Heaven And this Confession of Him and his Truth we are to make before Kings and Governours and notwithstanding their Commands to the contrary which are of no Force against the Laws and Commands of God Thus far I have gone There remains only