Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	apostle_n	doctrine_n	prove_v	3,310	5	5.9535	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29073	A discourse about Christ and antichrist, or, A demonstration that Jesus is the Christ from the truth of his predictions, especially, the coming and the seduction of antichrist : to which is added a treatise about the resurrection / by Edward Bagshaw ...	Bagshaw, Edward, 1629-1671.	1661 (1661)	Wing B408; ESTC R37055	55,746	68

Rev. 19.20 So that our Saviour and his Apostles do both grant that Miracles may be done by a false Power and likewise affirm that whoever hath nothing else to alledge for his Religion but meerly Miracles that same is Antichrist For Truth stands not in need of such outward Circumstances to underprop it and according to the Scripture Miracles are not to prove the Doctrine but the Doctrine is to prove the Miracles whether they are from God or not But yet saith our Saviour with those Arts and waies he shall so far prevail as even almost to stagger the belief of the very Elect Many shall follow their destructive Doctrines 2 Pet. 2.2 Rev. 13. saith Peter the World shall wonder after the Beast saith John and he shall deceive the Inhabitants of the earth c. all which places do note an almost Universal seduction And if any ask how it comes to pass that Corruption so contrary to the received Tenets and Maximes of Christianity should be so generally embraced 2 Thes 2 10 11 the Apostle Paul hath given it Because men have not received the love of the Truth that they might be saved therefore shall God send upon them the strong working of deceit 2 Thes 2.9 that they should believe a Lye i.e. Men being unwilling to give themselves up to the guidance of Truth which shines clearly by its own Light both in Scriptures and in their own Understandings therefore shall God suffer them to be so brutish and Sottish as to quit their Reason and to be led up and down by any fond and ridiculous Errour as those Impostors shall guide them I have done with the Prediction of our Saviour concerning Antichrist V. Canenes Concil Trident. and if upon your enquiry you find that there is that Religion in the world which hath espoused and embodied into their Confession of Faith all the Opinions of Antichrist If there be that Church in the world which still pretends to do and for ought I know doth reall Miracles upon which they bottome their Plea to be the true Church if they maintain Persecution Violence and Fraud if they have dispirited and disenvigoured Religion by their worldly Pompe and Gallantry and make thriving in this world a sign that God doth love and favour them all which are Antichristian Tenets and Practices If there be that Person in the world who hath assumed the very stile of Antichrist who hath trampled upon Kings and trode upon the Necks of Emperours who in his Canon Law is called God and like God doth dispense with all both Divine and Humane Laws then first certainly Antichrist is already come and to deny it is to deny as great evidence and notoriety of fact as to deny it is day when the Sun shineth And secondly He which foretold that Antichrist should thus come with all these Circumstances that I have summed up he was undoubtedly a true Prophet the true Messiah for to repeat the Argument in my Text He told us these things before they came to pass and we find that they are come to pass and therefore he is The Use that I shall make of this whole Discourse is 1. To convince the Unresolved 2. To confirm those who are already setled Use 1 The first use shall be to convince the Unresolved I have already spoken something to awaken those that are resolute and peremptory Unbelievers but there are many who may be yet in their enquiring doubting and disputing state who are not unwilling to embrace the Faith of Christ but they find it to be so repugnant to every thing of natural Reason within them and likely to be attended with so much hazard and danger that they are either ashamed or afraid to own it but yet are not fixed in positive denial of it but through uncertainty they are alwaies Anxious and wavering Such as these ought to be tenderly and gently dealt with and two things I shall propose to them which may help to alleviate and to abate their Prejudices 1. That Christian Religion is in no part of it unreasonable for since the Proof of it in general depends upon the clearest Demonstration viz. The fulfilling of Prophesies then the belief of it must needs be rational I know very well that the things contained in the Scriptures viz. The Incarnation of the Son of God three Persons of the Godhead the Immediate Acting of the Holy Spirit upon the heart of Believers and the like are all Mysterious and no waies reconcileable to Humane Apprehension but then we must consider that these things are not proposed to our Understandings to comprehend them but meerly to our Faith to believe them which where there is a firm and demonstrable ground of Beliefe may be done even to many things that we understand not And the great hindrance that hath kept Christian Faith from entring into the minds of men is want of attendance to that distinction for many have both confounded themselves and subverted the Faith of others by pressing upon them a comprehension of what is no waies by us Intelligible And therefore all those Disputes about Predestination Trinity Resurrection Incarnation and the like are for the greatest part of them unprofitable and dangerous because they are not content barely to assert the Truth which is then best done when it is put into the plainest and most unscholastick Language of Scripture but our Arguers do over and above enquire de modo and labour to give reasons for those stupendious and amazing Mysteries which the Apostle Paul cries out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon and for the most part ends the Dispute with a Reproof of the Disputer And therefore such of you as are not yet fixed in your belief set your selves purely upon this Article viz. to enquire whether Jesus be the Christ and never give it over till it hath pleased God fully to confirm you in it And my Reasons for this Advice are these three 1. Because this is the most effectual and ready way to prove unto you the Divine Authority of the Scriptures Those who set upon this work by endeavouring to prove the Scriptures to be the Word of God as they lye in gross and in their diffused Bulk proceeding by Chapter and Verse do undertake a Tedious and Impossible Task for there those ordinary and trivial Objections of mistakes and variations in Copies mistranslations and the like are never to be assoiled but if you draw the several lines in Scripture into their Center and contract them into Christ as you use to do the Sun-beams into a burning-glass then do they cast a quick and vigorous lustre sufficient to enlighten and warm even the most stiffe and rigid Opposer He that would demonstrate the Providence of God would not I suppose begin with the Minutiae mundi the lesser things of the World as Flies and Insects but he would fix as David doth upon the Sun or some noble and conspicuous part whose Use is undeniable and

Therefore instead of such dismal contrivances let Heresies be suppressed by the same way by which they were raised and that is by Preaching and in the mean while let not the Believer be troubled that many Errours are commonly vented now for he understood not the Nature of his Religion nor the vain-glorious and yet foolish Pride of man if he did not expect them For the Scripture is difficult exceeding difficult and hard to be understood and man is foolish and so apt to mistake Proud and so apt to presume Vain-glorious and so apt to publish his Conceits which in the end prove Heresies But convince men once that it is their duty to be Humble then they will cease to vent that they are to be charitable and they will forbear to contend for their singular Fancies and unto this Posture of mind nothing but the blessing of God upon Preaching can bring them 2. This likewise will comfort Believers in respect of Persecutions which may come That the Church of Christ is a Ship which doth best in a Storm and that Faith must like Gold be tried in the Fire is so known a thing that I need not insist upon it All that I infer is that the having Afflictions foretold should keep us from grieving at them when they do come They Joh. 16.1 saith our Saviour to his Disciples shall put you out of the Synagogues and when they kill you think they do God good service And I tell you these things that you might not be offended but remember that I told you of them Thus the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians 1 Thes 3.3 4. Let no man be moved by his Afflictions for ye know that we are appointed unto this And even when we were with you we told you before that we should be afflicted even as also it is come to pass Those who are forewarned of approaching Evils are usually armed against them And therefore I have often wondred at that timid and abject Spirit which is in many under their Afflictions which is a certain sign that their Fear is above their Faith and that they inwardly distrust their Cause or doubt of their Reward If ye are reproached saith the Apostle Peter for the sake of Christ 2 Pet. 4.14 2 Tim. 1.7 8. happy are ye for the Spirit of Glory and of God rests upon you And Paul to Timothy We have not received the spirit of Fear but the spirit of Power therefore be not ashamed of the Testimony of Christ So that I conceive no condition is more joyous to a true Christian than to be endued with courage to suffer for as in Winter the Fire doth redouble its hear so God at that time of trial doth poure into the soul a more abundant supply of Comfort However he that suffers is on the surer side For though one may suffer and yet not be in the Right yet he that persecutes is certainly in the wrong as doing a thing which he hath no warrant for So that as the Apostle Peter adviseth 1 Pet. 4.19 Let them who suffer according unto the Will of God not be solicitous about the Event but go on in their Duty though the World frown and commit their souls unto him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator 3. Lastly The reflecting upon our Saviours Predictions and the fulfilling of them will be a great Comfort unto Believers in respect of Future Glory which is yet delayed but will certainly come I make no doubt but every serious resolved Christian doth often wish with the Apostle Paul To be dissolved Phil. 2. and to be with Christ which certainly is a condition much better than to struggle with the difficulties and uncertainties of Life or to be clogged with a decaying sinful and enticing body of Flesh We that are in this Tabernacle 2 Cor. 5. saith the Apostle do groan being burdened we would fain be stripped and disrobed of this Cleg of Flesh and be put into present possession of our Inheritance But as Heirs must wait patiently 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 untill the time appointed by their Father so must we Let us hold fast saith the Apostle Heb. 10.23 the Profession of our Faith without wavering for he is faithful that hath promised i.e. God will be as good as his word and he hath shewn it by fulfilling so many things already So that Ib. v. 36 37. as he adds Ye have need of Patience that when we have finished the will of God we may receive the Promise For yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Life it self is but of a very short date stretched out to its utmost span but what a nothing is it if compared to Eternity And cannot we wait some few years to do our Masters business on Earth but we must cry out for our wages before we have done our work And because Unbelief is ready to creep in and to make that Objection which some in Peter do 2 Pet. 3. Where is the Promise of his coming Why doth Christ seem to neglect his Church as if he had no regard unto his Vineyard If these thoughts arise as do what we can come they will 2 Pet. 39. silence them with that of Peter God is not slack concerning his Promise as some men count slackness but he is long-suffering towards us not willing that any should perish but that all should come unto the knowledge of the truth God hath yet some Jewels to gather out of the Worlds Rubbish and it is for their sakes that the present frame of things is so long continued for when their Number is accomplished the Heaven shall be wrapped up as a Scroull and the Earth shall be removed as an useless Scene Wherefore that I may conclude in the Apostle Peters words Ibid. v. 18. Believers Ye knowing these things before beware that ye be not led away by the seduction of ungodly men and so fall from your own stedfastness but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ To whom be glory now and for ever AMEN The Resurrection of the Body Asserted and Cleared ACT. 26.8 Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the Dead THese are the words of the Apostle Paul spoken by way of Apology in defence of himself and of that most questioned and contradicted part of his Doctrine viz. the Resurrection of the Dead This being in it self so accounted by him the chief Foundation of a Christians Hope where ever that great Apostle came he first laies and then builds upon it At Athens among the learned Greeks Act. 17.18 we find him by their own confession preaching but two things Jesus and the Resurrection Afterwards when he was empleaded by the Jews he doth openly avow his Faith I am saith he a Pharisee i. e. Act. 23.6 I do with them hold and maintain the Resurrection of

our Saviour doth often appeal to their Testimony as where he saies I have a greater witness than that of John for the works which the Father hath given me to finish the same works that I do bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me And again If I had not done among them the works which no other man did Joh. 15.24 they had not had sin But that which our Saviour most insisted upon was the Scriptures to them he refers the Jews out of these do the Apostles altogether argue and to the search of these are all conjoyn'd and still we can ground our belief upon their Testimony whatever we boast of is not Faith but Fancy and will not hold out in a time of Triall Then the soul can only sit down satisfied when by comparing the Predictions of the Old Testament with the fulfillings of the New it can subscribe probatumest I have examined and find it true Now because this is a matter of very great importance and yet too much neglected therefore I shall press it upon these Considerations 1. This will sweeten our Obedience Till we are satisfied as Men we can never obey as Christians For Faith is nothing else but another kind of Reason whose Basis and Foundation is laid in humility Therefore the Apostle calls that great Action of a Christian when he doth not as in the Old Law sacrifice an Oxe but himself up to God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a service suiting us as reasonable Creatures In things of Art the hands will not do what the head doth not direct so in spiritual things we quite mistake our way if we think of going blindfold and hood-winck'd to Duty Ignorance and Implicite Obedience is a fit Sacrifice for the devil whose kingdom is founded in darkness when as Regeneration is nothing else but renewed Light And the clearer Discoveries are made to the Understanding the more pliant and obedient is the Will 1 Cor. 14. and the more easie doth it find the Yoke For this end is Preaching and Prophesying in a known Tongue commanded that there might be a Race of knowing Christians And Paul would not so much as Sing or Pray or do any other Act of Religious Worship with his Spirit only but with his Understanding also There cannot be a greater brand cast upon any ones devotion than to worship they know not what Joh. 4.22 for that is that which our Saviour doth especially blame the Samaritans for 2. This is the best way to win upon others And this principally concerns Ministers of the Gospel whom I may ask in the Apostles words Thou that teachest another Rom. 2.20 wilt thou not teach thy self Thou who commandest another to believe wilt thou not give him a Reason why he should believe and so leave him without excuse 1 Tim. 4.12 Thus the Apostle bids Timothy be an example to the Faithful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. in reasoning and gives this general charge that a man of God must be apt to teach in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves There are indeed some men of diseased minds who have quenched in themselves all Principles by which they may recover and be enlightened But there are in the World many sober Dissenters who stand off from embracing Christianity meerly from the apprehensions they have that the Tenets of it are Absurd and Unreasonable Act. 17.20 such as these must be won by Argument Thus Paul dealt with the Athenians who when they desired to be better informed of his Doctrine he makes a most excellent discourse to them concerning Providence and clears by unanswerable Reason that their way of Worship was false because it begot in mens minds low and mean opinions of the Deity as if he were confined to Place or did take delight in outward Representations Thus did our Saviour deal with Nicodemus In short Ignorance in a Gospel-Teacher is a capital crime for our Saviour when ever he preached he did it with this Preface Hear and Understand and when his Disciples were somewhat dull of Apprehension he sharply reproves them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What are you whom I design to be Lights and Guides of the World without Understanding 3. The want of this is the cause why Christians stand so much at a stay and make no better Progress Total Ignorance is a certain sign of Perdition ● Cor. 4.3 If our Gospel saith the Apostle be hid it is hid to them that are lost Partial Ignorance is a sign of weakness for there is that Light that Evidence in our Religion that if it be followed it will alwaies fill the mind with fresh Discoveries They who first read the Scriptures are like such that see a glorious Palace at a distance it is wrapped up in a Mist and the Beauty of it lies concealed but the nearer we approach the more intently we view it the more is the Lustre of it manifested The World i.e. Carnal men do count the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Idoll and a Foolish thing but Paul tells us and all true Believers find it to be the Wisdome of God a Plot laid from all Eternity for the effecting of which the World was made and when the Mystery of Salvation there declared is perfected the World shall be laid aside as an useless Scene Christ to invite our Study doth stile himself the Light of the World and who doth not see that all who are not enlightned by him are covered with Darkness Uncertainty and doubting But John calls our Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. in the proper signification of the word Reason he being that Eternal Fountain from whom true Reason sprung and by whom our lost and ruin'd Reason is repaired 1 Cor. 2. The Spirit saith the Apostle searcheth the depths of God i.e. the Spirit of God in man makes him unquiet and restless in his search till he hath sounded those depths which the Ignorant and Lazy World pass hastily over How easily by this light would those Mists about Incarnation Providence Resurrection c. which to this day perplex the disputing world be all dispersed and scattered As to this last the Apostle here is very Positive that he would venture all upon a Dispute and that the best reason should carry it Use 2 The second Use is to shew the Necessity of Christian Life and this is so clear from the Premises that it need not be long insisted on For If the Dead rise not 1 Cor. 15.32 the consequence which Paul brings in wicked men making is very Natural Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye But if the dead rise then Peter hath made a Rational Inference 1 Pet. 4.7 The end of all things is at hand let us be sober and watch unto Prayer For the time is coming when the hidden things of our shame shall be brought to light 1 Cor. 4.5 this certainly if once believed would keep us honest in the dark one Sermon about it made Felix tremble though being a Roman his Unbelief made him careless and his calling valiant Did but men once give themselves leave to think of it they would not so spend their daies as if they had nothing but this Inch of time to provide for For as our souls are alwaies on the wing so our bodies are not entirely our own but hereafter to be resumed again and made either Cages for Unclean or Mansions for Clorified Spirits And therefore that unchangeable state into which they shall once pass is by all wise and knowing men most to be secured So that I shall conclude in the words of the Prophet Hosea Who is wise Hos 14.9 and he shall understand these things Prudent and he shall know them For the waies of the Lord are right and the Just shall walk in them but the Transgressour shall fall therein FINIS Errata PAge 16. Line 2. by yet more r. yet more by p. 13. l. 24. doctrine dangerous r. doctrine is dangerous Ib. l. 26. have r. leave p. 18. l. 7. Regimen● r. Reg●men p. 24. l. 34. destroyed r. descryed p. 25. l. 13 Bounds r. Mounds p. 27 l. ● 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 32. l. 19. desire r. desired p. 56. l. 28. still r. till