Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	authority_n	church_n	scripture_n	4,231	5	6.1426	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61590	The reformation justify'd in a sermon preached at Guild-Hall Chappel Septemb. 21, 1673, before the Lord Major and Aldermen, &c. / by Edw. Stillingfleet ...	Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699.	1674 (1674)	Wing S5626; ESTC R14334	23,407	58

upon their own Authority to begin a new Church and to broach new Doctrines directly contrary to the judgement of the High Priest and Sanhedrin yea after they had pronounced Sentence against Jesus of Nazareth and condemned him to death and excommunicated his followers and punished as many as they could get into their power what could it in their opinion be but the Spirit of Faction and disobedience thus to oppose the Authority of their Church in believing contrary to its decrees and reforming without any power derived from it We see in our Saviours time how severely they checked any of the people who spake favourably of Christ and his Doctrine As though the poor ignorant people were fit to judge of these matters to understand Prophecies and to know the true Messias when he should appear And therefore when some of their Officers that had been sent to apprehend him came back with admiration of him and said Never man spake like this man they take them up short and tell them They must believe as the Church believes what they take upon them to judge of such matters No they must submit to their Governours Have any of the Rulers or Pharisees believed on him but this people which know not the Law are cursed i e. When they set up their own judgement in opposition to the Authority of the Church And after our Saviours death at a solemn Council at Hierusalem when Peter and John were summoned before them the first Question they asked was By what power or by what name have ye done this They never enquired whether the Miracle were wrought or no or whether their Doctrine were true all their Question was about their Mission whether it were ordinary or extraordinary or what authority they could pretend to that were not sent by themselves but let the things be never so true which they said if they could find any flaw in their Mission according to their own Rules and Laws this they thought sufficient ground to forbid them to preach any more and to charge them with Faction if they disobeyed 2. They charged the Christians with Faction in being so active and busie to promote Christianity to the great disturbance of the Jews in all parts This Tertullus accused St. Paul of that he was a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world and accordingly the Jews at Thessalonica take the Christians by force and carry them to the Rulers of the City crying Those that have turned the world upside down are come hither also This they knew was the most effectual course to render them odious to all Governours who are apt to suspect all new things as dangerous and think no truth can compensate the hazard of alterations Thus it was especially among the Roman Governours who had learnt from the counsel given to Augustus to be particularly jealous of all innovations in Religion and had much rather the people should continue quiet under an old error than have the peace disturbed for the greatest Truth This was really the greatest difficulty in the way of Christianity it came no where but people were possessed before hand with quite other apprehensions of Religion than the Christians brought among them The Jewish and Pagan Religions were in possession in all places and the people were at ease in the practice of them What then must the Christians do Must they let them alone and not endeavour to convince them of the truth of their own Doctrine If so they are unfaithful to their trust betrayers of truth and false to the Souls of men if they go about to perswade men out of their Religion they know such is the fondness most men have for their own opinions especially in Religion that where they might hope to convince one they might be sure to enrage many especially of those whose interest lay in upholding the old Religion How little doth Reason signifie with most men where Interest is against it Truth and falshood are odd kind of Metaphysical things to them which they do not care to trouble their heads with but what makes for or against their Interest is thought easie and substantial All other matters are as Gallio said questions of names and words which they care not for but no men will sooner offer to demonstrate a thing to be false than they who know it to be against their interest to believe it to be true This was the case of these great men of the Jews that came down to accuse Paul they easily saw whither this new Religion tended and if it prevailed among their people farewell then to all the Pomp and Splendour of the High-Priesthood at Hierusalem farewell then to the Glory of the Temple and City whither all the Tribes came up to worship thrice a year farewell then to all the riches and ease and pleasure which they enjoyed And what was the greatest Truth and best Religion in the world to them in comparison with these These were sufficient reasons to them to accuse Truth it self of deceiving men and the most peaceable Doctrine of laying the Foundation of Faction and Sedition Thus we have considerd the false imputations which were cast upon Christianity at first implyed in these words After the way which is called heresie 2. I now come to the way taken by St. Paul to remove these false imputations which he doth 1. By an appeal to Scripture as the ground and rule of his faith Believing all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets 2. By an appeal to the best and purest Antiquity as to the object of Worship So worship I the God of my Fathers not bringing in any new Religion but restoring it to its primitive purity 1. By an appeal to Scripture as the ground and rule of his faith The Jews pleaded Possession Tradition Authority of the present Church against all these St. Paul fixes upon a certain and unmoveable Foundation the Law and the Prophets He doth not here insist upon any particular revelation made to himself but offers the whole matter in dispute to be tryed by a common Rule that was allowed on both sides And his meaning is if they could prove that he either asserted or did any thing contrary to the Law and the Prophets then they had some reason to accuse him of innovation or beginning of a new Sect but if the foundation of his doctrine and practice lay in what themselves acknowledged to be from God then they had no cause to charge him with introducing a new Sect among them But the great Question here is What ground St. Paul had to decline the Authority of the present Church Since God himself had appointed the Priests to be the interpreters of the Law and therefore in doubtful cases resort was to be made to them and not the judgement left to particular persons about the sense of Scripture and yet in this case it is apparent St. Paul declined all Authority of the present

in his defence before Agrippa he saith And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our Fathers unto which promise our twelve Tribes instantly serving God day and night hope to come So that the Apostle produces Antiquity Universality and Consent in these Fundamental Articles of the Christian Religion only a late busie and Politick Faction of the Sadducees opposed this doctrine but why should their opposition signifie any thing against so full a stream running down from the first and purest Antiquity Thus much for the positive part of their faith and doctrine 2. For the negative pare or the reformation of abuses and corruptions among them this was S. Pauls plea Let them shew where the God of our Fathers imposed any of those heavy burdens which the Scribes and Pharisees place so much of their Religion in What ground is there in the Law and the Prophets for the Pharisaical Superstitions and Vows and severities to themselves in fetching blood and knocking their heads against the walls and different garbs and dresses to appear more holy unto men with many other customs of theirs the observation of which was made so great a part of the Religion of their devoutest men And it is a strange thing they should think it impossible such things should come in among them without great notice being taken of it for although sudden and violent changes may have all the circumstances known yet it is not to be expected in more in sensible gradual alterations A man may tell when a violent Feaver seized upon him and inflamed his blood but he cannot do so by a Hectick or a Consumption must he therefore believe himself well because he cannot tell the punctual time when he fell sick We may casily describe the circumstances of a Landflood which overflows the banks and bears all before it but we cannot do so by the coming in of the Tide which steals in secretly and insensibly and no man can assign the place where the salt and fresh water first mix together Superstition is a Hectick Feaver to Religion it by degrees consumes the vitals of it but comes on insensibly and is not easily discovered till it be hard to be cured At first it may be some devout but indiscreet men made way for it who love to find out some Modes of devotion different from the rest of the world which are greedily embraced by such who admire and follow them this example taking another begins and sets up for a more refined way than the former and so the design spreads till at last true piety and goodness be swallowed up by superstitious fopperies Which is the most probable account of all the Pharisaical corruptions some of whose observations might be begun at first with a good mind and by the devout persons of that time but afterwards every one that had a sowrer look and a worse nature than ordinary thought it not enough to follow the example of others but like a great Physician he must have his Nostrum's something of his own finding out a new garb or ceremony or posture of devotion whereby he may be taken notice of and admired for his sanctity Thus that fardle of superstitious rites was gathered up among the Scribes and Pharisees in our Saviours time whom he most severely upon all occasions rebukes for their hypocrisie in placing so much of their Religion in them And thus much for the way taken by St. Paul to vindicate Christianity from the imputations of being a new Sect or Heresie by an appeal to Scripture and the best Antiquity 3. There remains only the freedom and courage expressed by him in owning his Religion notwithstanding these false imputations But this I confess unto thee that after the way which is called heresie c. He abhorred that mean and base-spirited principle which makes it lawful for men to deny their Religion when it brings them into danger he studied no secret arts of complyance with his Adversaries to securehimself he did not decline appearing though to the hazard of his life in so just a cause He valued his Religion beyond his own safety and regarded not all the calumnies and reproaches of his enemies as long as he made this his constant exercise to keep a conscience void of offence both towards God and towards men And this he elsewhere saith afforded him more inward comfort and satisfaction than all the crafts and policy in the world could give him For our rejoycing is this saith he the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world There is nothing inspires men with so much courage as integrity and uprightness of mind doth and such persons who have the comfort of that have not only better hopes as to another world but oft-times escape better as to this than others do for even their enemies cannot but esteem them whereas the fawning sneaking and flattering hypocrite that will do or be any thing for his own advantage is despised by those he courts hated by good men and at last tormented by his own conscience for being false to God and Religion But we may see here in St. Paul a great instance of true Christian magnanimity he was sensible how great both the malice and quality of his enemies were he knew he was to answer before a Judge that regarded nothing either of Justice or Religion yet he neither flatters his Judge nor betrayes any distrust of him he doth not bespatter his enemies nor discover any fear of them but with a modest freedom and manly courage owns the main part of their accusation and effectually vindicates his own innocency and his Religion together For even Felix himself although a man otherwise very capable of being wrought upon by some wayes of address of which we read Ver. 26. yet the High Priest and the Elders with their eloquent Tertullus were forced to return as they came and leave St. Paul under the name of a Prisoner but enjoying the conveniencies of liberty ver 23. I have now gone thorough all the parts of the Text with a respect to St. Paul and the Authority of the Jewish Church which was engaged against him it may now be justly expected that I make Application of what I have said to our own State and Condition Thanks be to God we are not brought to such a tryal as St. Paul was we enjoy the liberty of speaking for our selves and our Religion and not only speaking for it but professing and owning it And may we ever do so But we have busie and restless Adversaries abroad the factors of the High Priest and Elders at Rome who have as much spight and malice against us as ever those of Hierusalem had against St. Paul and they have their Tertullus's too men of art and insinuation and who manage their cause against us just as