Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sense_n	church_n	scripture_n	way_n	3,397	5	5.4178	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47737	The charge of Socinianism against Dr. Tillotson considered in examination of some sermons he has lately published on purpose to clear himself from that imputation, by way of a dialogue betwixt F. a friend of Dr. T's and C. a Catholick Christian : to which is added some reflections upon the second of Dr. Burnet's four discourses, concerning the divinity and death of Christ, printed 1694 : to which is likewise annexed, A supplement upon occasion of A history of religion, lately published, supposed to be wrote by Sir R-- H--d [Robert Howard] : wherein likewise Charles Blount's Great Diana is considered, and both compar'd with Dr. Tillotson's sermons / by a true son of the Church.	Leslie, Charles, 1650-1722.	1695 (1695)	Wing L1124; ESTC R19586	72,850	37

Reflections upon their Adversaries They generally argue matters with that Temper and Gravity with that Freedom from Passion and Transport which becomes a serious and weighty Argument And for the most part they Reason closely and clearly with extraordinary Guard and Caution with great Dexterity and Decency and yet with Smartness and Subtilty enough with a very gentle Heat and few hard words A Man could hardly describe his Mistress in a softer Air. The Socinians must be very ill natur'd if they take any thing amiss which this Gentleman has said against them It was meer necessity they see how unwillingly and artificially he has done it and when rightly understood no doubt they understand him what he has said is with a design to give a better account of them than has been done to take off that frightful Character with which some have painted them not allowing them the very name of Christians Whereas alas The Dr. has told us that there is nothing betwixt them and us but a meer Controversie about words which all mean the same thing And then that they are the best Temper'd the Goodest sort of People in all the World So that we need not be afraid of them nor stand upon our guard against them And then they are the most Ingenious and the Sweetest Men that we should love to Converse with them and Read their Writings all the Christian writers are but Scolds and Bunglers to them This is our Author's Method of opposing Socinanism nor are they behind him in their Civility and due Respect in the Answer they have Publish'd this year 1694. to his abovesaid four Sermons with other Discourses against them He say they that is Dr. Tid whom they call Arch Bishop of Cant. is the Common Father of the Nation Considerations on the Explications of the Doctrine of the Trinity Occasion'd by four Sermons Preached by his Crace the Lord Arch Bishop of Cant c. p. 43. and has Instructed the Socinians themselves with the Air and Language of a Father not of an Adversary or a Judge He is Respected and Lov'd by All but those that are also known to Hate their Country He hath no other Maligners but the Enemies of the Nation it self c. CLAW ME AND I 'LL CLAW YOU Here is Love and good Correspondence in abnudance These Gentlemen know their Friends And the Cause of Christianity is like to be well Defended when it is maintain'd by some of a Party on purpose that it may be soundly an-swer'd by others of them who play Booty to one anothers Hands And commend and recommend one another to all Mens Esteem and Veneration But that this may not be discover'd they Argree sometimes like Counsels at the Bar to fall foul upon one another even to Scold and call Names which to the wise Observers serves only to expose either their Contradictory Banter or otherwise their Hypocritical Malice and Deceit Thus notwithstanding of Dr. T 's Honey Words above told and all his Love-fits to the Socinians he sends them a Bit and a Blow Amantium Ira He plays with his Clog First I will give you his Character of Secinus himself the Head and Founder of that Order and then of the Socinians his followers 1st Serm. p. 17. 18. He tells the method of Socinus in Interpreting Scriptures which was meerly by Criticising upon words and searching into all the Senses they are possibly capable of till he can find one tho' never so forc'd and forreign that will save harmless the Opinion which he was before hand res●lved to maintain even against the most Natural and Obvious Sense of the Text which he undertakes to Interpret p. 44. That he puts quite another Sense upon the Scripture than the Dr. believes was thought of by any Christian Writer whatsoever before Socinus p 45. He accuses the Novelty great Violence and Vnreasonableness and utter Inconsistency of Socinus's Interpretations of Scripture And that it may not be forgot he repeats all this again 2 Serm. p. 57. and in p. 58. he calls Socinus's Interpretations Strain'd and Violent Pitiful and wretched shifts Precarious and Arbitrary without either Reason or Modesty p. 68. And as to the Novelty of it Socinus himself makes no difficulty to own it nay he seems rather to rejoyce and Applaud himself in it Vnhappy Man That was so wedded to his own Opinion that no Objection no Difficulty could divorce him from it p. 77. Socinus Imposing a new and very odd and violent Sense Contrary to the Sense of the Christian Church in all Ages down to this time And all this only to serve and support an Opinion which he had entertain'd before and therefore was resolv'd one way or other to bring the Scripture to comply with it And if he cou'd not have done it it is greatly to be fear'd that he wou'd at last have call'd in question the Divine Authority of S. John's Gospel rather than have quitted his Opinion And to speak freely I must needs say that it seems to me a much fairer way to reject the Divine Authority of a Book than to use it so Disingeniously and to wrest the plain Expressions of it with so wuch straining and violence from their most Natural and Obvious Sense for no Doctrine whatsoever can have any certain foundation in any Book if this Liberty be once admitted without regard to the plain Scope and Occasion of it to play upon the Words and Phrases p. 80. Socinus by a dangerous Liberty of imposing a forreign and forc'd Sense upon particular Texts has brought the whole H. Scriptures into uncertainty p. 82. Any one that reads him may see he was sufficiently conscious to himself of the Novelty and Boldness of his Interpretation p. 83. Socinus was the first Author of this Interpretation because it was impossible he could ever have been so fond of so ill favour'd a Child if it had not been his own p. 114 Of which Antiquity as Socinus had but little Knowledge so he seems to have made but little account This is our Author's Character of Socinus a Man of no Learning despising Antiquity because Ignorant of it Arrogant and Conceited past all Modesty Boasting that none in the World understood the true meaning of Scripture before himself Of which the Dr. gives several Quotations out of his own words 2 Serm. p. 69. Yet that his Shifts were Pitiful and Wretched Strain'd and Violent Precarious and Arbitrary without either Reason or Modesty That he was so positive an Opiniator that he wou'd rather have deny'd the H●ly Scripture than been convinc'd of his Error that he dealt so Disingeniously with the Holy Scripture wresting the plain Expressions of it in such a manner that the Dr thought it preferrable to reject their Divine Authority rather than to abuse them as he has done Nay that no Writing whatsoever can have any certain meaning if Socinus's Liberty be allow'd of playing with the VVords and Phrases Thus much for Socinus himself Let us now

all Religions to an uncertainty and determinable only by the Civil Power against whose Command Dr. T. does not think it lawful to Preach the Gospel Preach'd before K. C. the ad at White-Hall the 2d of April 80 upon J●sh 24.15 without such extraordinary Commission as the Apostles had and that we were able to vouch it with Miracles as they did which is as much as Hobbs himself could have ask'd if he had got into the Pult it in Person and not sent his Deputy He is own'd by the Atheistical Wits of all England as their true Primate and Apostle They Glory and Rejoice in him and make their publick Boasts of him He leads them not only the length of Socinianism they are but slender Beaux have got no father than that but to call in question all Revelation to turn Genesis c. into a meer Romance to Ridicule the whole as Blunt Gildo● and others of the Doctor 's Disciples have done in Print They now cry there is nothing but Natural Religion All that which is called Revealed is at most but Gods Compliance with the Superstition of the vulgar and what does that concern Men of Wit and Sense Since Religion has no deeper a Root what Reverence what Veneration is due to it All the Ordinances and Constitutions of the Law and Gospel are but Politicks to secure Government and the threatenings even of Hell it self are no more and therefore there is no necessity no certainty that they will be inflicted as our Primate has boldly asserted in the very Face of the Government and his Sermon was Printed by their Majesties special Command Thus to the Deists Triumph And thus actum est d● Religione if none dare oppose these depths of Satan and the Spiritual wickednesses which are now set up in high places When this Sermon of Hell was first Published it was handed about among the great Debauchees and small Atheistical Wits more than any new Play ever came out He was not a Man of Fashion who wanted one of them in his Pocket ot could not draw it out at the Coffee-House and read a Lecture of the Priest-Ridden Ages who were frighted with the Eternity of Hell only to keep them in absolute subjection to the Church forsooth And then to run two or three Divisions in praise of Dr. T. as a Man of Sense and Reason and not afraid to undeceive the World and break off from a Company of formal and narrow-spirited Church-men who going on in the track of their Fathers durst not understand the Scriptures out of the ancient Roade in a Generous Latitude over the Pailes of any Church or Profession whatsoever but crept on still in their straight and narrow way to Heaven which Dr. T. like another Prómetheus having stole the Divine Secret has opened so broad and wide as to let in the Latitudinarians that is all the World and after some reasonable time even Hell it self For God has only threatened that they shall not enter into his Rest and the Dr. has determined in that Hellish Sermon p. 13. and 15. That God is not obliged to Execute his Threatenings tho' he is to perform his Promises But having spoke at large of this in a former Conversation with you I will not Repeat I am now only from the c●nstant Tract of all his Sermons as well before as since this Revolution but now highly improved and grown bolder shewing you what a Face he puts upon Religion he gives it quite another turn from what all other Divine Ancient and Modern except those infected with H●bbism have told us They make the chief business of Religion to respect another World tho' it is likewise highly useful and the most efficacious of any other means whatsoever to preserve the Peace of this But Mr. Hobbs Dr. T. c. make its chief and indeed almost onely consideration to respect the Peace and Quietness of this World Which is largely set forth in his Sermon before the House of Commons the 5th of November 1678. upon Luke 9.55 56. where as if Religion were good for nothing else but to secure Temporal Government and Peace in this World He demands Magisterially and with great vehemence in these words And for God's sake what is Religion good for but to Reform the Manners and Dispositions of Men to restrain Human Nature from Violence and Cruelty from Falshood and Treachery from Sedition and Rebellion And then In the very next words he roundly and without mincing the matter comes to the Objection That if this be all the end of Religion it were better to have no Religion at all than to disturb our outward Peace and Tranquility for it Because the End is always to be preferr'd before the Means And therefore if the End of all Religion be only to preserve the Peace of this World it follows necessarily that Religion must give place to the Peace of this World so that if both cannot stand together we must part with our Religion to preserve the Peace of this World Here the Dr. does distinguish and puts in a Salvo for his dearly beloved Natural Religion because he can make of that what he will But he plainly and in terms gives up the Cause as to all Revealed Religion That it were better have no such thing that is no Christ or Christianity rather than to disturb our Peace in this World for it Better it were says he there were no Revealed Religion and that Human Nature were left to the Conduct of its own Principles and Inclinations which are much more mild and merciful much more for the Peace and Happiness of Human Society than to be acted by a Religion that is continually supplanting Government and undermining the Wellfare of Mankind This is their outward Wellfare he is still speaking of And above in the same page aggravating the mischiefs of disturbances upon account of Religion viz. setting a keener edge upon Mens Spirits and making them more Cruel and Bitter to one another he concludes thus For let any Man say worse of Atheism and Infidelity if he can Here is a bold Challenge and the Dr. could not but foresee the Answer which would be ready in every Man's Mouth That Hell and Damnation which are threatened as the punishment to Atheism and Infidelity were much worse than any Embroylments could be in this World But he has made Hell precarious and consequently Religion to look no further than this World at least with any certainty But it is not only matters of such consequence as Government which the Dr. prefers to Revealed Religion But to shew his utmost Contempt of it he has found out so very mean a thing to compare to it and prefer before it as must surprise and astonish every Christian Reader He makes a Womans giving out her Child to Nurse to be a more heinous matter than to renounce Christ and all Revealed Religion His words are these And this says he that is a Womans Nursing her own Child

see whether this Author gives a more favourable Character of his Disciples to make good the High Eulogiums above told Serm. 2. p. 69. speaking of Schlictingius one of the first Form in his School our Author says he carry'd himself with more Confidence but much less Decency than his Master That he spoke so Extravagantly and with so much Contempt of these Great and Venerable Names who were the chief Propagators of Christianity in the World and to whom all Ages do so justly pay a Reverence That he said those Ancient Interpreters went so far from the Apostles meaning as if they had Rav'd and been out of their Wits And the Dr. says in general of the Socinians Serm. 1st p. 39. That their Interpretations of the Holy Scriptures were strange and extravagant p. 44. did contradict not only the Ancient Fathers but the General Consent of all Christians for 1500 years together p. 61. That they avoid the plain and necessary Consequence of Holy Scriptures by strain'd and forc'd Arts of Interpretrtion p. 62. Than which nothing can be more unnatural and violent p. 65. Which I dare say no Indifferent Reader of St. John that had not been preposess'd and byas'd by some violent prejudice would ever have thought of p. 75. The plainest Text for any Article of Faith how Fundamental and Necessary s●ever may by the same Arts and ways of Interpretation be cluded and rendered utterly ineffectual for the establishing of it p. 92. 93. This is so Arbitrary and Precarious a supposition that I must confess my self a little out of Countenance for them that Men of so much Wit and Reason should ever be put to so sorry and pitiful a Shift p. 96. This is so Inartificial not to say Absurd a way of avoiding a Difficulty that no Man of common Ingenuity would make use of it p. 99. A Sense so very flat that I can hardly abstain from calling it Ridiculous p. 113. We may plainly see by this That they can Interpret a Text right when necessity forceth them to it and they cannot without great Inconveniency to their Cause avoid it But when Men have once resolv'd to hold fast an Opinion they have taken up it then becomes not only Convenient but Necessary to understand nothing that makes against it And this is truly the present Case But in the mean time where is Ingenuity and love of Truth p. 115. They Triumph without Modesty and without Measure p. 125. Do they see no Absurdity in all this Nothing that is contrary to Reason and Good Sense Nothing that feels like Inconsistency and Contradiction p. 129. Which way the Socinians way of dealing with them the Holy Scriptures seems to be really more Contumelious to those Holy Oracles than the down-right rejecting of their Authority And single Serm. p. 18. He that can deny this the Doctor 's Argument against the Socinians is perverse to the highest degree and I fear beyond the possibility of being Convicted p. 20. Men may generally wrangle about any thing but what a frivolous Contention what a Trifling in serious matter what Barretry in Divinity is this p. 30. So little do Men in the heat of Dispute and Opposition who are resolv'd to hold fast an Opinion in despight of Reason and Good Sense consider that they do many times in effect and by necessary Consequence grant the very thing in express terms they do so stifly and pertinaciously deny p. 32. And this for no other reason that I can imagine but because they have deny'd it so often and so long F. These so different Characters which the Dr. gives of Socinus and the Socinians may be Reconciled by saying as I suppose the Dr. means that this later Evil Character belongs to them only in this present Controversy of the Trinity the Divinity and Satisfaction of Christ But that the former High and most Extraordinarly Excellent Character is due to them in other matters of Religion as against the Church of Rome which the Dr. seems to intend 2. Serm. p. 79. where he says That the Socinian Writers have managed the Cause of the Reformation against the Innovations and Corruptions of the Church of Rome both in Doctrine and Practise with great acuteness and advantage C. And yet in the very next words he says That the Socinians have put into their the Papists hands better and sharper Weapons than ever they had before for the weakening and undermining of the Authority of the Holy Scriptures And p. 129. That nothing hath given a greater force to the Exceptions of the Church of Rome against the Holy Scriptures being a sufficient and certain Rule of Faith than the uncertainty into which they the Socinians have brought the plainest Texts imaginable for the Establishing of Doctrines of the greatest Moment in the Christian Religion by their Remote and Wrested Interpretations of them And p. 124. That to avoid the shaddow and appearance of a Plurality of Deities they ran readily into it And into downright Idolatry Now how invalidating the Holy Scriptures and introducing Idolatry is managing the Cause of the Reformation with Accuteness and Advantage against the Church of Rome I leave to the Worthy Dr. to Explain And likewise how Men can deserve such extravagant Commendations for Wit and Modesty and all Discretion and Temper in one point of Controversy and in another to be quite void of all these to fall into all Ridiculous Absurdities and Contradictions and to manage either without Reason or Modesty to be so Wedded to their own Opinion as rather to Renounce the Holy Scriptures than endure to be convinced by them in their most foolish and groundless Errors taken up against the whole Christian World since the days of Christ. Modesty and Sweetness in a-Mans Temper will shew it self in all his Actions And a strong Reason cannot overlook a Contradiction in one case more than another at least not to be obstinately so Wedded to it as to be deaf to all Conviction But we have spent too much time upon this Author's Character of these Socinians which is not material otherwise than to shew his own Unconstancy and Inconsistency with himself How unwillingly he is brought to appear against them And what Salvoes and Shifts he makes use of to make them understand him That he might not lose their Favour God grant Him and Them true Conviction and Save Unstable Souls from their Snares POSTSCRIPT SInce this was wrote the Author before spoke of Dr. T. has Printed A Sermon concerning the Vnity of the Divine Nature and the B. Trinity And here if ever we might expect full Satisfaction in this point But it is so far from it that of all the others we have consider'd this Sermon does most palpably bewray his wretched Socinianism if not something worse for he not only speaks the very Socinian Language of the Trinity but he really undermines the Vnity of God by his setting it up upon a Foundation which he himself in this same Sermon quite overthrows